For the past thirteen days, hundreds of students have been holed inside the Taiwanese parliament building, while thousands more have been sitting outside government offices in downtown Taipei. Their demand is simple: they are against "black box" politics, whereby the discussions leading up to the drafting and adoption of a trade pact that would impact millions of livelihoods, and potentially the very autonomy of the nation, is completely intransparent and lacks accountability. They are against a government that refuses to engage in dialogue, that refuses to respect the democratic process and the rule of law, and that seems completely oblivious to the demands of the common people. They want an article-by-article review of the law and a renegotiation of a trade pact that even to ardent free-trade economists baffles logic. Why would any country willingly open up its doors to another which, with its sheer market size and much lower costs of labour and prosicution, be able to swamp the economy with cheap and substandard products and services? Why would Taiwan, technically still at war with its goliath neighbour China, which has thousands of missiles pointed toward it and even vowed to invade and "liberate" the island, freely allow Chinese money to come into sectors vital to the country's security and sovereignty, like telecommunications and the media? The trade pact has (rightly) been labeled as a secret deal by a pro-Beijing government in power which aims to deliver the island nation to Beijing on a golden platter. It goes in line with China's long term ambition to turn Taiwan into another Hong Kong, but with economic and market measures and without the firing of a single bullet.

The actions of these tudents have been dubbed the "Sunflower Movement", named after the flower that seeks sunlight, inspired by the hope that transparency and acountability can shed light on the actions of the government. Contrary to how theyare portrayed in pro-government and-China media, they are not an unruly mob bent on destruction and turmoil. They are a group of well-organised and vocal youngsters who, like their counterparts in the streets of Cairo or Kiev, fear their country and their futures are disintegrating under the rule of autocracy and corruption. They enjoy the support of a wide swath of society, from fishermen to farmers to small- and medium-size business owners, who are the backbone of Taiwan's export-based economy, and who, spearheaded the country's "economic miracle". The students also enjoy the support of trade unions,  lawyers, doctors, celebrities and members of the academic community. Their actions, though some may term illegal, is an expression of their freedom of their desperation and frustration, an expression of the hardearnee freedom to assemble and protest. The strongest hurdle is against a ruling party that owns a majority seats in parliament, and a the president (who The Economist has called a "bumbler") who enjoys a meagre 9% of popular support.  

According to a poll, over two thirds of the population want an article by article review of the trade pact, if not a complete renegotiation of the terms so that Taiwan can enjoy a more level playing field when it comes to free trade and opening up its economy.  

Songs of the Wanderers

There are not many moments that you are proud to be Taiwanese. who cares or even knows about this tiny little island in the shadow of a goliath? This shunned pariah caught in the excesses of superpower politics? Who knows about the history of a people being passed from one coloniser to another, and not being able to voice or mould ones own future and destiny?  

 But then, out of nowhere comes this deep and unique sense of humanity, of humanness, this sense of beauty, warmth and depth that I cannot describe but is recognised and praised around the world-- as evidenced by a full house and loud applause and a standing ovation lasting close to five minutes. It fills your heart with such pride, such feelings of nostalgia and "home". 

Songs of the Wanderers is a piece that has toured the world for two decades, often to sold-out performance houses wherever it goes. It is perhaps Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's most famous piece, renowned for the simple use of falling grains of rice (three tonnes of it....) through the entirety of the performance. A monk stands there, stilll and calm as a tree reistant to the wear of the weather, with his hands in prayer before his chest. Rice grains keep on falling, and the stage is filled with the constant rustling sound of the yellow grains as they fall and fly and cascade onto piles on stage. At times, there are sudden showers of rice, falling like waterfalls on the stage. Dozens of dancers, wearing simple grabs and wielding sticks, resembling primitive men and women, tread and move elegantly on the fallen grains of rice. Their slow and beautifully choreographed movements are contrasted at times with frenzied  thrusting of their bodies and flinging of rice all over the stage like rain drops during a wild summer storm.   

Set to the music and chanting of Georgian monks, the piece is not long, but describes the wanderings of a lonely monk. Inspired by Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, and choreographer Lin Hwai Ming's own journey to the place of the Buddha's enlightenment, it speaks of human beings quest for that "something" beyond our daily lives. That "something", whether tranquility, inner peace or contentment, is to be found by wandering.  

  

330 demonstration

Over twelve days since students occupied Taiwan's parliament. Today will be the biggest day of protest, with over hundred thousand people expected from all over the country.
 but the police and special forces have also amassed. Six thousand strong. ministries and the presidential palace have all been surrounded by barbed wires and it looks like a hihhtened alert zone. Media reports it has not looked like this since the Martial law period, and that was over two decades ago.


Has Taiwan's democracy and peoples power deteriorated to twenty years ag? What is to become of what has always been held up as the model in Asia for human rights and freedoms?
 I am worried about outbreak of violence and more bloodshed.

The students and lead demonstrators have urged calm and called for a sitin. But I am afraid there are agent provocateurs or government forces who want to provoke violence and create an excuse to crack down and instate a state of emergency.

I'm deadly afraid...

I pray for peace and dialogue, for wisdom and understanding.
 May my country and my people come out of this unscathed and stronger and more together than ever before...