The Cross Strait Times

This post has been cross posted at Zhuangzi in the Modern World as “On Revolution.”

“Revolutions are not won by enlisting the masses. Revolution is a science only a few are competent to practice. It depends on correct organization and, above all, on communications. Then, at the proper moment in history, they strike. Correctly organized and properly timed it is a bloodless coup. Done clumsily or prematurely and the result is civil war, mob violence, purges, terror.” - Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (1966)

In some ways I do believe in this, but when we get to discussing Libya I can tell you that the issue is not so clear cut.  There is a famous misquote of Malcolm X where he states that no revolution has ever been bloodless.  But if you listen to the entirety of his 1964 speech “The Ballot or the Bullet,” you’ll hear that he continues to say that history has evolved to the point where revolution CAN be bloodless: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO9UF3q6Fhg

America today is at a time or in a day or at an hour where she is the first country on this earth that can actually have a bloodless revolution. . . . And the only way without bloodshed that this can be brought about is that the black man has to be given full use of the ballot in every one of the 50 states. - Malcolm X

And so the unrest from the Civil Rights Movement was channeled into policy instead of full revolution. Fast-forward 25 years later to Eastern Europe and you see the Revolutions of 1989 unfold.  A bloodless coups after bloodless coups brought down an authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe and ushered in new governments and a new age of democracy.

The only reported death during Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, that of one Martin Smid, was later found out to have been made up.  Ceaușescu’s Romania was the only country to undergo violent revolution, but even that was an astoundingly rapid and accomplished in just the week before Christmas of that year.

Of course, things could have ended up differently.  Why the fall of the Soviet Bloc was largely so peaceful had a lot to do with Gorbachev’s unwillingness to use military force.  Had the tanks been called in, the revolutions could have ended the way Prague Spring in 1968 or Beijing Spring in 1989 did.

The Arab Spring of 2011 has toppled three authoritarian governments as of October 2011.  True, blood has been shed in these revolutions.  However, in Tunisia and Egypt, these revolutions were brought about by peaceful protesters, not by armies.  Libya is a different story.  Eight months of civil war finally ended the brutal rule of Muammar al-Qaddafi.  However, eight months is a long struggle considering that the Romanian Revolution lasted only 9 days.

Considering the Heinlein quote, then, are prolonged, bloody revolutions necessarily premature, bringing untold misery to the people, whose efforts are only stolen by another dictator in the end?

There is a saying, “justice delayed is justice denied.”  If one says that the revolution is premature, then we are condemning people to continue to live under tyranny. Aren’t the people of Libya better off now that they’re not living under Gaddafi’s brutal rule?  Isn’t it far better for them that they overthrew him now (as violent as the civil war was) than to have to endure until the dictator died of natural causes?  No one deserves to live in oppression, so who are we to tell rebel armies, “it’s not your turn” ?

Conversely, is living under oppressed tyranny better than being killed in revolution or purged in a reign of terror?  Who can make this value judgment?  And haven’t some protracted and bloody revolutions actually been successful?  Look at the United States of America.  It had a bloodly revolution and look at how it is today.

But there is a cautionary tale in all of this:  the Chinese Revolution of 1911.  It was intended to bring democracy to the Chinese people, but instead military factions jockeyed for power, leading to a second revolution (1913) and the splintering of the country into warring factions (1916 - 1928) and a prolonged civil war (1927 - 1949) that was only interrupted by Japanese invasion (1931 - 1945).

After the Japanese were defeated, the country once again plunged into civil war and a third revolution (1946 - 1949), the aftermath of which was purges (Anti-Rightist Campaign), mob violence (Cultural Revolution), and terror (White Terror, Cultural Revolution) on both the winning and losing sides.  To boot, the winning side went on to suffer the largest famine in modern history (Great Leap Forward, 38 million dead).  From 1917 to 1987 it is estimated that 92.1 MILLION people died in the chaos following the 1911 Revolution, NOT including the roughly 20 million deaths from The War Against Japan/World War II.

By the time the dust settled normalcy was restored in Taiwan it was 1987, 76 years later.  Mainland China, while now relatively stable and prosperous, is STILL not under the democratic government envisioned by the revolutionaries of 1911.  And it’s been 100 years.

After all this, was the 1911 Revolution worth all the misery, purges, violence, and terror it led to, WITHOUT even achieving the goals of WHY the revolution was brought forth in the first place, a full century later?*

Should we have waited for a more fitting moment in history for the revolution to be carried out bloodlessly, as in the Velvet Revolution, without the ensuing tumultuous century of misery?  Even better, couldn’t all of this have been done through gradual reform, rendering revolution irrelevant?

Then, what about Libya? Will it be like America, or will it be like China? It is too soon to tell, but I hope Libya end up being more like America.

Libya’s National Transitional Council has clearly outlined the steps and timeline it will take to make Libya a fully-functioning democracy.  The recent elections in Tunisia gives hope that the democratic process will prove contagious, and that it will actually take root in Libya as well.

On Libya’s future I am hopeful. I sincerely wish them the best.

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* Arguably, the goals of the 1911 Revolution have been achieved in Taiwan, but that is poor consolation considering Taiwan’s population and area are dwarfed by the population and area of the Mainland, where the revolution occurred and was intended to take root.

For Double Ten Day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwb1Mnpp3hs&feature=related

National Father of China Sun Yat-sen’s concluding speech at the end of the CCTV series, “Towards the Republic,” which would have taken place around 1918. This remains one of my favorite monologues of all time.

My English translation of Sun’s speech follows below. An alternative translation (done by someone else) is available at: http://lily.gebweb.net/?p=131

Any suggestions or corrections to this translation or comments on the speech are welcome.

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I know that you are worried. Zhang Xun has restored the monarchy. Once more, the National Assembly can no longer convene. I know. As for me, I am not worried about this. I have been thinking a lot these past few days. We were supposed to be a republic. But how come time and again we have degenerated into feudalism and tyranny? If we do not resolve this problem, then a return to tyranny is only inevitable. The republic will forever be an illusion.

The principles of the republic are liberty, equality, fraternity, of course. But in the six years of the republic, what have we seen? Government executives of all levels have viewed the laws as excrement. The people remain enslaved.

The republic is supposed to be a nation of liberty. Liberty is the God-given right of the people! But in the six years of the republic, what have we seen? Only the people with power have freedom. Those with great power have great freedom. Those with little power have little freedom. And the people? They have no power. They have no freedom.

The republic is supposed to be a nation of fraternity. All for one and one for all. But in the six years of the republic, again, what have we seen? The only love that the people show tyrants is out of fear. And the tyrants, they merely pay lip service to the concept of fraternity. Honest, sincere fraternity is nowhere to be seen!

The republic, most importantly, should be a nation of rule of law. But in the six years of the republic, time and again we have seen the executive branch wantonly interfering in the legislature. You don’t listen? Then I buy you off. You don’t obey? Then I arrest you, even assassinate you. The legislature has become the whore of the executive that it ravages when it pleases!

Then, what is the executive? The executive is supposed to be a bureaucracy of the president and his cabinet. It is supposed to serve the people and execute a republican government. But in the six years of the republic, what have we seen? A family dynasty masquerading as a republic. And in the governance of this family dynasty, we cannot see any amount of transparency, even less an open government! How these executive officials have wasted the money that the people have earned through blood, sweat, and tears! The people cannot even begin to count how much of their money these executive officials have stuffed into their own pockets. You do not know how much, do you? I do not know, either.

Surely you know that the judiciary is an arbiter. Wherein lay the principles of its arbitration? In a sovereign, republican constitution. But in the six years of the republic, we have yet to see any such constitution, only an unripe “provisional constitution” that has been raped time and again!

Someone said . . . no, not someone . . . some people have said that the republic can only exist in name. What you, Cannon Sun [a nickname from his confrontational speeches], say is too unreal, too distant, not befitting the national temperament. It is like a balloon. It looks beautiful, but when it floats up into the sky – poof! It bursts.

I want to ask you, then, do we no longer want the republic? Is the republic truly a mistake? If we give up on the republic, then what we will have is eternal tyranny. If we give up on the republic, then what we will have is eternal enslavement. If the republic is a mistake, then liberty is a mistake. If the republic is a mistake, then equality is a mistake. If the republic is a mistake, then is fraternity a mistake? Our pursuit of a republic is no mistake. Of course, it is still imperfect. So we must, bit by bit, work to perfect it, no matter the price we have to pay!

Right. The suit that I am wearing today looks a bit strange, does it not? Even my tailor said it was strange. But when I say is that this is for the perfection of the republic, do you still find it strange? I am here to say, “This is the republic. This is the suit of the republic!”

On this [right] side, I have designed three buttons. The principles of the republic are liberty, equality, and fraternity. This side [left side] also has three buttons[, the Three Principles of the People]: civic nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood. And the constitution? No, no, I am not talking about a three-powered constitution. I have invented a new term. It is called the five-powered constitution. In here [this pocket] is the power of the legislature. This [second pocket] contains the power of the executive. This [third pocket] contains the power of the judiciary. All of you are familiar with these three powers. These are the “indirect civil powers.”

What I desire with all my heart is “direct civil power,” to allow ordinary people to have the power to directly participate and represent themselves in government. One is the power of examination. Since antiquity, we Chinese have had a tradition of using examinations to select our government officials, but we abolished it along with the imperial system. Of course, this had benefits for the spread of modern sciences. One no longer needed to take an exam to become a government official. This is a mistake! This is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

In the six years of the republic, what kind of people have been our government officials? They were all Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang people [military clique], even to this day. Therefore, we must return the right of examination to the people. From this day forward, everyone in government must take and pass an exam, no matter who they are!

Another one is the power of impeachment. There’s no place to put it. Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s placed in here, this power of impeachment. Why is the power of impeachment hidden inside? Because it is the secret weapon of the people. It may, at any given time, come out and trump you and impeach you. Therefore, you government officials must conduct yourselves cautiously and serve the people with integrity.

Surely by now some people must be thinking that I, Sun Wen, must be mad. When I eat, when I dress, all I talk about is the republic. Cannon Sun, what else do you know?

These people are right. I only know this word “republic.” In this lifetime, the only word I know is “republic.” We have had several comrades and colleagues who, for the sake of the republic, have sacrificed even their own lives.

In this life, I, Sun Wen, have no other wish, just this one wish. That is, to have the republic not just be a name, an empty word, or a façade. It must become a concrete way of life. It must become an ingrained, unshakeable belief. The republic is the choice of all people under heaven. It is the trend of the world. The trends of the world are as mighty as the currents of the ocean. Those who flow with it, prosper. Those who go against it, perish! I, Sun Wen, believe that our Chinese nation absolutely will realize a republic. In this point I firmly believe.

A few short things about Nanjing:

1. Closer economic integration will help prevent war. This is good.

2. Increased dependency on the Mainland will decrease our leverage in discussions in case Beijing brings something to the table which we would consider unacceptable. This is bad.*

3. A few things about the airlines and direct routes need to be fixed. Namely:

a) Mainlanders should be allowed to fly Taiwan-based carriers. Give people the choice of who to fly with and competition can lead to better services for all.

b) Both Taiwan-based carriers really, really need to have connecting flights beyond the cross-strait area, something that Mainland-based carriers can already do. For instance, Taipei-Beijing-Amsterdam or Taipei-Shanghai-Frankfurt would be lucrative routes. Furthermore;

b2) denying these routes to make Taipei just a spoke of any Mainland-based flight and relegating Taiwan to the frontiers does not take advantage of Taiwan’s already developed capital. Therefore, it is not good for the integrated Chinese economy that the KMT-CCP wants of having Taipei, Shanghai, and Hong Kong working together. For Beijing to hollow out Taiwan — a place that by comparison is 2% of the Mainland by population and 30% by economic size, would be Beijing shooting itself in the foot. Taiwan is a money-maker. Let’s keep Taiwan that way.

c) My personal opinion is to allow ships and planes of any flag to able to use the cross-strait routes. I think freer trade in general is good, and that protectionist measures that prevent “outsiders” from using these routes only denies ourselves more money-making opportunities. I also think that similar laws in other countries (that exclude outsiders from trading inside their borders) are silly.

WHA news:

Exciting that Taiwan will have some international space, although the name Chinese Taipei was to be expected, as was the renewal. It would be unlike Beijing to allow Taipei its own international space, knowing that the DPP could be elected and suddenly the space Beijing gave Taipei would be used against them. I would like to see something more meaningful in the future. Perhaps a formal end to military hostilities across the strait?

* Why have the negotiations between the Dalai Lama and the CCP not been going well? Because the Dalai Lama doesn’t have enough material leverage to make Beijing pay attention to him. He can rally peoples’ sympathies, but until he has something to show to make Beijing pay attention, they won’t. Let this be a lesson to Taiwan. Keep a good cards to play while dealing with Beijing to ensure a sweeter resolution to this situation.

Dear President Ma,

Yesterday was the 62nd anniversary of the terrible tragedy of 28 February 1947. While I appreciate your efforts in making amends to all people who were affected by the terrible events of that day, I think the KMT can do better in its sincerity about its responsibility for what happened.

While you are promising to get to the bottom of who was responsible for 228, what progress have you made in the other February 28th tragedy? Remember when you were running for president, you promised that you would find the culprits behind the Lin Family murders? Please don’t forget to keep your promise to do so. Those responsible for this terrible crime and tragedy must be brought to justice.

Mr. President, you have said that we need to learn from the past to have a better future, but we must investigate it thoroughly in order to do so. I sincerely hope that uncovering the truth about what happened can resolve the social divide that splits and polarizes Taiwan.

Sincerely,
James

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Here’s light-hearted cultural exchange idea:

One of the assumptions of Taiwanese cuisine is the Taiwan has best Chinese food and the highest-concentration of it anywhere in the world. In recent years, however, bloggers and reviewers have complained that the current generation of Chinese food just isn’t as good.

“Chinese cuisine has traveled to Taiwan for years. And just like the rivers that eventually flow into the sea, it’s all the same in the end.” - Eat Drink Man Woman

In light of these complaints, perhaps the government could create a grant system where chefs could apply to go to the place of their ethnic cuisine’s origin on the Mainland to get back in touch with the roots and reasons for why their food is prepared the way it is. Of course, the people who get these grants have to prove their intention of opening restaurants so they’re not just scamming the government into a free food-tasting trip.