the world according to jacob

The state of revolution - rising civil societies and how the concurrent system of power is unfit to deal with them

2011-03-30T11:10:00.000+02:00

Conventional politics (World Economic Forum) is unfit to deal with the current regime changes in the middle East, because it is inherently interested in stability and cementing the status quo so as to maximise economic profits, and thereby has no capacity for understanding or even supporting political changes brought about by local civil societies; whereas many of today's revolutions in South America and the Middle East have built connections at the alternative World Social Forum (WSF). A fiasco for established neoliberal policies and an articulate hint that we need a reformation, if not a revolution, of that current "world" system. If we did not change anything, would it be exaggeration to fear a confrontation of democratic initiatives and capitalist interests on double fronts: both within Western society (where the civil society's wish for more participation and accountability and ecological concerns contrast with long-term security, stability, and exploitability needed for maximum economic profit), and between Western corporations (not democratically accounted for) and rising local civil societies (whose fight against economicolonial ["ecolonial"?] activities is supported by Western civil society organisations)??? And what about the inherent contradiction, as actors on both sides are of Western provenance, may easily be confused, and thus conveniently made target for holistic, fundamentalist ideologies? -> Can we really go on as before? Will a more morally upright politics suffice long-term? - As the "changeability" of the likes of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy is showing quite clearly, conventional party politics is NO option fit for the upcoming challenges, because too overtly entangled with big business.

Start gathering knowledge (begin with Wikipedia, for Chrissake), update your frame of mind, change the world! There are lots and lots of interesting and like-minded people... The "end of history" reached by Capitalism's global spread is a myth! The impossibility or the not permitting of thinking alternatives is unhealthy for any ideology whatsoever, as it causes them to become dogmatic and fundamentalist.

The "Internet Revolutions" and the Possibility of a Different Kind of "Revolution" in China?

2011-02-23T12:55:00.000+01:00

These thoughts originate in an interesting blog post by Alex Pasternack on the Twitter-generated "Jasmine Revolution" (or not?) in China on February 20.
The form of organised protest may well change in a virtual reality-influenced environment, especially as regards the possibilities of organising protest in an authoritarian, monitored society.

Maybe the combination of social media and pseudoevents points a surreal way forward for public dissent in China in the web era: organizers needn’t actually gather people, as Falun Gong supporters quietly but visibly did in the late 1990s around the capital, at the movement’s eventual peril, and as occasionally happens today, in gatherings of petitioners and others that are often promptly shut down by scores of police.

Instead, they can simply spread word about a protest via one of China’s networking sites, then wait for the police – along with the journalists, and perhaps a few sympathizers with cameras – to show up and shut down something that isn’t even there. You don’t just get a “protest”; you get a display of fear by the government. Do it again, and the number of “protests” grows, along with the number of police. Repeat. [...]

Interesting to see in what direction "social networks" on the Internet will influence "social gatherings" or "protest", or indeed "social relations" in a wider sense.
Meanwhile, yesterday's regimes continue using force on their own people whose support they have long lost...

Journal Article on Taiwan Identity

2011-02-20T21:03:00.002+01:00

(a shorter version of this article was published in Powision 9 "Identitäten" ("identities"), 2010, political science magazine at the University of Leipzig, http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~powision/wordpress/magazin/)

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Orphan of Asia - Taiwan and the impossibility of the Taiwanese

Jacob Tischer, Student at Departments of Sinology and on Religious Studies, Leipzig University, Visiting Research Associate at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

The debate on Taiwan's identity is especially within Taiwan extremely tense and conflictual. This is due to the problematic situation in the conflict with China, which precludes Taiwan as the largest country not represented in the UN from international participation. Such precarious existence has grave economic, political and psychological ramifications, impacting Taiwan and its people in sports, science, international treaties and health issues like SARS. Chinese propaganda suggests that Taiwan is culturally uniformly Chinese, but I maintain that the matter is certainly more complex than that. The issue of Taiwanese identity will be tracked here in its historical, ethnic, cultural, political, and legal dimensions. In the resulting existential tension of their everyday experience as citizens of an internationally marginalised, yet functioning independent political entity, and Western swing towards an economically opening, but still authoritarian China, Taiwanese elites are virtually forced to form a distinct identity in opposition to Chinese nationalism. This identity turns out to have emerged through shared historical experience and continues to evolve around the consensual identification of Taiwan’s residents with their democratic state - both key features to distinguish them from Chinese sovereignty claims.

Ethnic and cultural identity in historical perspective

The island in the South China Sea, which was known previously under the name Formosa, has been inhabited for about 8,000 years by Austronesian settlers. Because of its tremendous genealogical diversity, it is the probable starting point of the Austronesian colonization of the Pacific islands.[1] In Chinese and Western narratives, however, Taiwan's history does not begin until its consecutive occupation by the Dutch (1624-62) and Spanish (1626-42) regimes, the Zheng kingdom of the historically illustrious Ming loyalist Koxinga’s descendants (1662-83), the Manchu-Chinese Qing Dynasty (1683-1895) - each of which controlled only parts of the plains of the mostly mountainous island - and as the Japanese Empire’s first colony (1895-1945). After Japan's surrender Taiwan was occupied by troops of the Republic of China (ROC) and since the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek in 1949 forms the ROC’s remaining, albeit internally and externally contested, territory. Chiang's Chinese-nationalist party (KMT) ruled in dictatorial fashion through the coercion of martial law until 1987. Since the 1980s, however, lack of international legitimacy, a growing opposition movement, and external pressure on the part of journalists, NGOs, and the USA forced the regime to adopt democratising policies. In 1996, the first democratic presidential elections were held despite Chinese military threats; in 2000 a former dissident was elected president, and 2008 saw the KMT return to power.[2] The question of Taiwan's political and cultural affiliation could be suppressed no longer in a free political system and – in light of the sensitive political situation in East Asia today – firms more urgent than ever. In recent survey polls more than 50% of the population identify themselves as “Taiwanese” only and less than 4% as “Chinese”, revealing a rapid transformation of identity and a call for subjectivity of the formerly subaltern.[3] Although made possible by political liberalisation since 1987, this full-scale Taiwanisation has its socio-political forebears in the literary indigenisation (Xiangtu wenxue, literally “home-soil literature”) and democratic movements of the 1970s, its roots reaching as far back as the collective experience of Japanese colonisation.

However, even the concepts of an ethnically Chinese Taiwan are highly ambiguous and interpretative. Immigration from the southern Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong did not begin to an appreciable degree until the 17th century first through labour migration for the Dutch colony and small-time merchants. These pioneers’ descendants now form the population of the “Taiwanese” (Chin. Benshengren, “people of this province”, about 85% of the population of 23 million). The immigrants formed close-knit settlements and organisations by common language, provenance from the mainland, and patrilineal descent (Chen 1994). Sociolinguistically, Hakka (15%) and Hoklo (70%) can be distinguished among them,[4] but only the Hakka identity firms historically constant (Wang 2007). Hoklo spokesmen further divided into subethnical groups based on origin, kinship, or surname and did not conceive of themselves as part of a larger, “national” community until the beginning 20th century. With Hakka and Aborigines they engaged in numerous armed conflicts, but also within rivaling subethnic groups in feud strife (Lamley 1981). Taiwan in Qing-Chinese understanding was a frontier territory outside the confines of Chinese civilisation, hence government control was weak. A popular saying has it that every three years a major uprising was due, something that statistics can confirm. Local religious cults provided an important communal identity marker and organisational anchor in these conflicts. However, religion was also crucial in establishing supraethnic cooperation and in the construction of a common, Taiwan-based identity on the expense of impoverishing links to mainland origin (Shih 2006).

The Austronesians (today 2%) were subdued and until recently categorized by different civilising projects of Confucian, Christian, and Nationalist provenance according to their degree of Sinicisation as "cooked" (domesticated, shufan) or "raw savages” (shengfan), but never on their own terms (Harrell 1995).[5] Scientifically neglected until of late has been the degree of Plains Aborigines’ assimilation into the Benshengren group. Since in Qing times migration was restricted, it was almost exclusively male pioneers who went to Taiwan and because of denied access of females and families to a considerable part took Austronesian wives. Their offspring were recorded following paternal descent and so over the course of generations "han-ised". Due to growing Chinese “civilisational” pressure, up to the 20th century whole Aborigine settlements adopted Chinese surnames and constructed patrilineal descent lines from the Chinese mainland (Brown 2004). This fact has long been overlooked in the discourse on "Chinese" Taiwan but is becoming increasingly prominent in Taiwan's modern search for identity. Scientific evidence demonstrating genetic differences between Hoklo in Taiwan and South China is a powerful means to assert Taiwan’s uniqueness. However, the distinction of Hakka and Hoklo as well as Benshengren identities from Waishengren (literally "people from outside the province”, about 12% of today's population who came to Taiwan in 1949 with Chiang Kai-shek) reflects at least as much socio-cultural as ethnic or genetic factors. A new approach distinct from Taiwan as a geographically and economically peripheral “frontier zone” is the sea-centered interpretation of its’ “island history”, which aims to include the Aboriginals and their histories but also puts Taiwan in relation to the larger Pacific island region (Tsao 2000).

Religion has been an important factor in the establishment of identities. The Chinese immigrant communities organised locally around central temple cults. [6] With the adoption of Christianity, the Aborgine groups won a strong ally and identity marker. Without the support of internationally networked churches, even more tribes’ identities might have been merged into becoming Hoklo. In recent years, the languages and even long-lost identities of groups such as the Siraya in Tainan County are under reconstruction using early Dutch bibles.

Legal and political identity

Taiwan’s international position is ambivalent: De facto independent since 1949, it is not recognized by the UN de jure.[7] Taiwan meets all requirements for inclusion in the UN and would, unlike some newly recognized states, not have to be created through intervention. However, the ruling regime in Taiwan is the state "Republic of China", founded in 1911 on the Chinese Mainland. Until 1971, the ROC held China’s permanent seat in the UN Security Council before it was transferred to the People’s Republic of China as tribute to changing political realities.

After Japanese surrender in 1945, Taiwan was taken over by the Allies under U.S. military government authority and subsequently occupied by troops of the Republican China, but was not formally ceded to the latter at any point which in recent years has led to lawsuits by Taiwanese nationals to be granted American citizenship.[8] A decision on Taiwan's political affiliation is strategically postponed by the United States continuously to this day, even though more and more Taiwanese raise claim to exert their legally guaranteed right to self-determination and decision on their own future (Chow 2008). The U.S. government keeps the island as part of its protective umbrella in the Pacific in deliberate legal ambivalence. All the more surprising in this context appears recent Taiwanese history, in which the island’s inhabitants grew their state into a democratization theory model case of economic and political development.

Political identity concerning the idea of a national community in Taiwan remains controversial. Communal awareness surpassing ethnic boundaries first became manifest during the Japanese occupation period as anti-Japanese resistance. After its retreat to the island, a KMT feudal caste attempted to maintain mainland Chinese reality, trying to establish a hegemonic ethnicised Chinese high culture, which endeavored to make Taiwan a model Chinese province and suppressed alternative readings. Exclusive access to resources by ethnic standards promoted the confinement of social groups and brought forth the collective idea of bipolar Benshengren vs Waishengren identities. Tension between both groups clashed most infamously in the island-wide 28 February 1947 uprising which was stroke down brutally and followed by a 40-year period of near-fascist rule known as “White Terror”. The ethnic groups’ hostility is still perceivable today, since Taiwanese nationalism is routinely accused of Hoklo-ethnic exclusivism - just as the KMT Chinese nationalism equaled pure Waishengren exclusivism. The narrative of Taiwanese nationalism as a history of resistance against oppression by foreign colonial powers in the eyes of some researchers prevented the emergence of an inclusive nationalism (Wu 2004). On the other hand, ethnic mobilization which increased since the 1970s led to the creation of an opposition party (DPP) and the democratization of the political system. Mainlander sensibilities, however, remain salient in public discourse, as the recent success of Lung Ying-tai’s book on the Chinese civil war (1949: Da jiang, da hai) suggests. A missed opportunity of reconciliation among the different groups may be the price Taiwan has paid for its peaceful change, as the KMT’s position of power proved impossible to be challenged effectively, leaving a critical reappraisal of its inglorious history in Taiwan out of the necessary to survive as one political party among others.

Every scientific treatise will be confronted with the fact that the ethnic, cultural, and political dimensions of identity in Taiwan itself usually get mixed up indiscriminately. Many adversaries understand the establishment of "Taiwanese identity" as a mere political project by independence supporters. The quest to create a common ethnic and cultural basis for the new political system sometimes gets dismissed as "ethnic racism" and DPP extremism harmful to relations with China and therefore to the economy. In fact, however, the construction of Taiwanese identity was closely connected with the demand for democracy, which today is recognized by all social strata and apparently also by the formerly dictatorial KMT. For the stability of the democratic state in the medium term, however, an established conjoint Taiwanese identity is necessary. Only a second, broader and more inclusivist definition of Taiwanese identity tied to state membership will work toward that end. Lee Teng-hui’s (President 1988-2000) concept of the "new Taiwanese" (Xin Taiwanren) to symbolically include the Waishengren was a step in that direction.[9] With further cultural development apart from direct Chinese control traditional ethnic differences will diminish in favour of new forms of expression. Taiwan's young are in the fast-paced, deliberate process of creating a specific culture blending local, oriental, and western influences. Although definitions of Taiwan's social, ethnic, or cultural identity are fragmented and contested, its political identity firms as a popular consensus to identify with Taiwan's democracy. Whether this modern and multicultural country will have to eke out its existence as "orphan of Asia" crucially depends on Western support for its vibrant democracy.

(Hi)story’s morale

This article intended to show that PR Chinese claims of a monoculturally Chinese Taiwan suffering from chronic separatism are a highly selective reading of the situation at best. It is linked to assumptions of Han Chinese identification which do not take any notice of inner Taiwanese discourses on identity whatsoever, yet are internationally accepted as valid. The people of Taiwan have gone through many identity crises and changes, from being officially Japanese to Chinese and now creating their own identity in a mere hundred years time. More appropriate to Taiwanese intrasocietal discourse would be a perspective on Taiwanese identity which centers on the reality of people’s lives and their identification with the liberal democratic system instead of relying on literature review, textual analysis, and abstract scientific theorizing. Political science would benefit from integrating the more sympathetic sentiment of such an anthropological approach of letting people speak for themselves.

A formal, internationally valid declaration of independence as Republic of Taiwan would – contrary to mantra-like repeated and in Western media oft uncritically accepted PRC propaganda – not pose a change of the much-quoted status quo, but merely its formalization. Changing the status quo, i.e. abandoning U.S. support for Taiwan's sovereignty as a "pawn" in the conflict with China, would not defuse the highly conflictual situation between the two antipodes. For the rising power will continue to invest in a reversal of power relations, or, in the Chinese perception, of a return to the "proper" world order with China at its civilizational center. Because of its democratic achievements and over many decades different development from the PRC the conclusion can only read – even in the context of legal ambiguity and political instability – international support for the self-determination of Taiwan's residents, regardless of whether one views them as Chinese or not!

Literature

Blundell, D. (2009), Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, History, Ethnology, Prehistory, Taipei.
Brown, M. (2004), Is Taiwan Chinese? The Impact of Culture, Power, and Migration on Changing Identities, Berkeley.
Chen, C. et al. (1994), Ethnicity in Taiwan: Social, Historical, and Cultural Perspectives, Taipei.
Chow, P. (2008), The "One China" Dilemma, New York.
Davison, G. (2003), A Short History of Taiwan: The Case for Independence, Westport.
Fleischauer, S. (2008), Der Traum von der eigenen Nation: Geschichte und Gegenwart der Unabhängigkeitsbewegung Taiwans, Wiesbaden.
Harrell, S. et al. (1994), Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan, Boulder.
Harrell, S. (1995), Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, Seattle.

Lamley, H. (1981), “Subethnic Rivalry in the Ch’ing Period”, in: E. Ahern et al., The Anthropology of Taiwanese Society, 282-318, Palo Alto.

Lung, Y. (2009), 1949: Da jiang da hai, Taipei.
Rubinstein, M. (2007²), Taiwan: A New History, New York.

Shih, F. (2006), “From Regulation and Rationalisation, to Production: Government Policy on Religion in Taiwan”, in: D. Fell et al., What Has Changed? Taiwan Before and After the Change in Ruling Parties, Wiesbaden, 265-283.

Shih, F. et al. (2008), Re-writing Culture in Taiwan, London.

Tsao, Y. (2000), Taiwan zaoqi lishi yanjiu xiju (The Sequel to Research on Taiwan’s Early History), Taipei.

Wachman, A. (1994), Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization, Armonk.

Wang, L. (2007), “Diaspora, Identity and Cultural Citizenship: The Hakkas in ‘Multicultural Taiwan’”, in: Ethnic and Racial Studies 30 (5), 875-895.
Wu, J. et al. (2004), Reimagining Taiwan: Nation, Ethnicity, and Narrative, Taipei.

[1] Maps pertaining to the dispersal of the Austronesian peoples can be found online at http://www.map-service.de/austronesian/ (Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde Leipzig; accessed 09/13/2010) and the ECAI Pacific Language Mapping Project, http://ecai.org/austronesiaweb/PacificMaps.htm (accessed 09/13/2010).

[2] In the eyes of some observers, such as former President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu (2000-08), the 1991 National Assembly and 1996 Presidential elections implicitly mark the beginning of a new state through the exertion of popular sovereignty (by the Taiwanese).

[3] Survey Results June 2010: 52.4% "Taiwanese," 40.1% "Both," 3.8% "Chinese", compared to 1995: 25.0% "Taiwanese," 47.0% "Both", 20.7% "Chinese" (Election Study Center, National Chengchi University, Taiwan minzhong tongdu Lichang qushi fenbu, http://esc.nccu.edu.tw/modules/tinyd2/content/tonduID.htm, accessed 07/15/2010). The adoption of Taiwanese identity is taking place faster than the desire for its political expression: Concerning the question of political affiliation in 2010 a total of 46.3% opted for "independence" or "keeping the status quo forever" (up from 20.9% in 1994), 11.1% preferred immediate or delayed unification with China (1994: 20.0%), while 36.6% chose keeping the status quo for the foreseeable future (1994: 38.5%) (Election Study Center, National Chengchi University, Taiwan minzhong Taiwanren / Zhongguoren rentong qushi fenbu, http://esc.nccu.edu.tw/modules/tinyd2/content/TaiwanChineseID.htm, accessed 07/15/2010). The PR China enhances its irredentist claim to ownership by threat of military action in the event of attempted "separation". The conflict with Taiwan is part of the founding myth of the People’s Republic to this day, forming the basis of its legitimacy as guardian of sacred territorial integrity and giving meaning to Chinese nationalism via delivering a concrete goal-at-hand.

[4] Although extant also in China, the groups are not considered ethnically different but are subsumed among the "Han Chinese" despite significant cultural and linguistic differences, which is also the way they are generally accepted in Western scientific discourse. Questioning these assumptions would have far-reaching implications: Who or what are the Han? To what degree is China culturally coherent, how "Chinese" is it?

[5] Interchangeably used was the pseudo-geographic binary division into "Plains” and "Mountain" tribes. Following modern Western scientific interpretations, 14 different aboriginal groups are officially recognized in Taiwan today and some more waiting for State recognition. The earlier pejorative names are still part of common vocabulary and get used under certain circumstances.

[6] The case is similar, for example, in India where national identity is also fragmentary, and in imperial China. However, the Communist Party’s extremely anti-religious policies have led to the separation of local identities from religion and – with the exception of the geographical and ethnic borders (Tibet, Xinjiang) – to greater national cohesion.

[7] Application of the One-China Principle; worldwide 23 mostly smaller states recognize Taiwan (ROC) as China’s official representation. Taiwan does participate in the WTO as „Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu“.

[8] Well-known Roger Lin and Dick Hartzell filed a lawsuit for US sovereignty over Taiwan as recently as 2009, a court hearing transcript can be found at http://www.southnews.com.tw/specil_coul/chiang/image/%E6%9E%97%E5%BF%97%E6%98%87%E7%AD%89%E4%BA%BA%E6%8E%A7%E7%BE%8E%E6%A1%88%E5%8F%A3%E9%A0%AD%E8%BE%AF%E8%AB%96%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E5%85%A8%E6%96%87.pdf (31pp.), with insightful blogger Michael Turton discussing it at http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2009/02/lin-trial-transcripts-does-us-have.html.

[9] Lee’s inclusionist stance drew heavily on ideas developed by rival presidential candidate and long-term democracy activist and refugee, Peng Ming-min, who wanted to replace Chinese nationalism in Taiwan with an inclusive political atmosphere into which everybody loyal to Taiwan would be welcomed.

The moral implications of modern communication - Cell phones and the lives they cost

2011-02-15T10:58:00.003+01:00

This is why I won't buy any mobile phone that is not second hand (and even those reluctantly - the only mobile I ever possessed was my friend's old one which he did not need any longer).

"Blood in the Mobile"
(movie's hompage)

~~Be fast watching! (It will stay online at arte another day.)~~ You can still watch short clips from the movie.
Languages: German or French

The war for minerals such as Coltan and Casserite in Central Africa (mostly the DR Congo) has cost an estimated 5 million (that is FIVE!! MILLION!!) deaths and at least 300,000 women raped since the mid-1990s (not including the approx. one million victims of 1994's genocide in Rwanda). These people have paid (and the living are continuing to pay) the price for the mobile industry's huge profits!
If this is not a new kind of economic colonialism (with the consent and active assistance of corrupt local elites - see the government official in the video at ca 5 minutes in), I don't know what is.

Documentaries are one very impressive way of showing in pictures what words can be insufficient to express.

Everything can be found online, so here is the German version on youtube (Part 1, the other parts are linked there):

Save your conscience trouble, buy consciously! Or, better even, do not buy cell phones at all!

Edit:
Journeyman Pictures has broadcast on the working conditions in the East Congolesian mines before: http://www.journeyman.tv/18683/short-films/grand-theft-congo.html. Also look at a few other videos that are linked on the youtube post, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1FQmUQ1-mM&feature=fvw.
Casserite is sold for cheap prices on the international market and needed in the production of laptops and mobile phones. The working conditions and corrupted military make lives for local people unbearable, that is , besides the fact that it is completely hypocritical for us to look for the cheapest mobile phone deal possible while at the same time lamenting about how human rights are getting abused all over the place...

Concerning Africa, Journeyman Pictures has put out two recent documentaries of interest that have received praise. One is Africa - Kamenge: Northern Quarters - Where now for Burundi's troubled democracy? (59' min 05'' sec [9 February 2011]), the other Sudan - War Child: Emmanuel Jal (55/90 min [18 February 2010]). Emmanuel Jal has become kind of star since, so his story should be rather well-known. Trailer for the second movie:

My Playlist January 2011

2011-01-18T23:25:00.003+01:00

Nach langer Zeit mal wieder der persönliche Senf zu guter (oder auch nicht so guter) Musik.

A Skylit Drive - Wires... and the Concept of Breathing (2008)

(What a say-nothing ordinary record cover...)

Ich habe mir die Mühe gemacht, mal zu untersuchen, was die heutige verlorene Generation von "Emos" so zum Schwarzfärben ihrer Haare und zum Kajallinienziehen inspiriert... Und ich bin auf diese Band (u.a.) gestoßen. Für alle, die Coheed und Cambria auf der zweiten Ebene der Turbine Blade vermisst haben. Hat Claudio Sanchez Geschwister? Oder machen seine Kinder schon Musik? - Zumindest vom Phänotyp her (glücklicherweise?) nicht auszumachen.
Ich zitiere mal die deutsche Wikipedia (dies ist kein wissenschaftlicher Artikel, also geht das): "Die Band ist bekannt für den einzigartigen, hohen Gesang von Michael Jagmin und den dazu im Kontrast stehenden harten Screams des Bassisten Brian White [...]" Das lassen wir mal unkommentiert stehen. Oder doch nicht. Unsere schnelllebige Gesellschaft erlaubt es jüngeren Generationen wohl nicht, die Wurzeln ihrer musikalischen Vorlieben nachzuvollziehen. Ach, und außerdem ist es "experimenteller Post-Hardcore", tut mir leid für die Fehleinschätzung oben (das Label "Emo" ist wohl negativ besetzt?).

Würden A Skylit Drive wissenschaftliche Texte verfassen, hätten sie in jedem Fall ein riesiges Plagiatsverfahren am Hals. Und wer weiß - vielleicht haben sie Glück, dass sie nicht noch eine Anklage dafür bekommen, dass sie einen Vorstimmbrüchigen hinters Mikro geklemmt haben.
Nichts daran ist neu, natürlich, aber irgendwie geht die Mischung doch ab, und ich mag dieses Falsettgefitsche und -gekritsche irgendwie. Für die nötigen Rasiermesser sorgen ein paar wohlgestreute Shout-Einsätze mit Doublebass-Gewitter und der okkasionelle Pathoseinsatz (Track 11 "Ex Machina"). Meine positive Einschätzung rührt sicherlich zur Hälfte aus Nostalgie, aber es gibt mit absoluter Sicherheit schlechtere Kapellen. Ich würde sogar sagen, A Skylit Drive gehören zu den besten 10% im populären Emo.

Anspieltipp: Track 12 "All it takes to make my hair grow" - Oh, Verzeihung, es heißt natürlich: "... to make your dreams come true"
Schmucke Jungs auch, lange Haare sind wohl wieder in und zeigen, dass sie eigentlich mit Metalmilch aufgezogen wurden... Aber nein, Metal ist ja eigentlich doof, sexistisch und kennt keine wahren Gefühle. Nur die Haare, die fetzen. Wenn man sie durch die Luft schleudern kann... Werden eigentlich mittlerweile Emo-Castings für neue Boygroups durchgeführt?

A Strange Isolated Place - Reflection on 2010

A very nice ambient mix from London. Here is their home page.

ASIP - Reflection on 2010 by astrangelyisolatedplace

You can download it for free, this is the link to the post.

Marvin Gaye - What's Going on (DJ Friction Extended Disco Mix 2011)

Very cool mix of a great song.

Garvin Maye - What's Going On (DJ Friction Extended Disco Mix 2011) by DJ Friction

More nice soulful Re-edits by DJ Friction (formerly collaborating with successful German Soul/Hip-Hop Act Freundeskreis) here.

Pianos Become the Teeth - Old Pride (2009)

What a monster of a record!!
I really think I've found a new favourite band in the genre of emo with screamed vocals. This band emits an incredible energy and features an astonishing drummer! The screams are perfect, very emotional and melodic (no Orchid- or Cease Upon the Capital-style screaming). The music is not as hardcore, but could be described as 'post-rock', meaning long songs with complex structures (think of Envy) - I've read them being described as 'ambient hardcore'. Is Pianos Become the Teeth a band which might be able to turn this into something that gets popular with the average listener of emotive music? -- Perhaps the next record (due soon in 2011) will tell. I for my part cannot wait. (Promising new song, New Normal, is on their myspace.)

On the moment together with Suis la Lune my favourite Screamo band. On tour in Europe with the aforementioned in March/April. Watch out for them! Best package deal in years!
Here's for an impression of the raw energy and superb drum play:

The Word Alive - Deceiver (2010)

A revolution in sound! Something you've never heard before! The definition of the shape of rock music to come!
Kidding, of course.
However unoriginal, this album is fun to listen to. It features a drummer like a machine, some nice metal guitar licks, and a good proportion of clean vocals and shouts. Definitely one of the better metal-core records, its greatest advantage being the pure pop appeal of the choruses. In one and the same song one can swing fists pretending to mosh-pit in one's bedroom, and shout pathetically one's emotions in stadium rock pose.
Broadly comparable with As I Lay Dying, but The Word Alive put more emphasis on pop melodies and clean vocals, without missing out on the metal aspects. Good and highly marketable mixture. And yeah, half the band looks like they were being casted into a metal boygroup.

Miss May I - Monument (2010)

Yeah, I confess to listening a lot of metal-core lately.
But The Word Alive and Miss May I simply put two very good records out in 2010. With that thick a production, great guitar riffs, double bass thunderstorms, and the occasional hymnic melody like the sun rising over a field of war, this is just what I need from time to time. It may not be the most sophisticated of music, but sometimes it seems there can be none greater. Further than that, there is not much to say that is much different from above (read 'The Word Alive'), except perhaps for my impression that Miss May I look less casted than The Word Alive. But I have not investigated either band's 'long-standing' rootedness in any 'local scene' or anything like that. For now I am simply enjoying the kick their music is offering.

Oh, and while we're at it, you have to have a look at these two great kids covering all sorts of metal stuff in their parents' (?) living room - if not, they must have a really weird taste in art. Just look at the fancy pictures on the wall. The furnishing is actually hilarious in relation to the kind of music that is being played within it. I love the pure irony of it. Metal is born in the safest of families.

Maybeshewill - Not for Want of Trying (2008)

The monthly (daily?) dose of instrumental postrock.
Maybeshewill are one of the better outfits in this growing niche. And they are not American (ought to like this for the simple reason of cherishing diversity) but from Leicester. Occasional use of samples and electronic music definitely fits in well with this kind of music. Also, they seem to have quite an ethical and critical political position, at least some of their songs feature very interesting and sometimes telling spoken word parts, best illustrated perhaps in the amazing video that somebody did for the song 'Not for Want of Trying'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1nrtRLhvuQ (no embedding possible)

Although I've been listening to both their full-length records a lot recently, I will introduce 'Not For Want of Trying' here especially for its gorgeous song of the same name. A new album is announced for this year, and this is definitely something you should mark in the calendar. The band is touring Germany in February.
This nice song, 'Co-Conspirators', was featured on their second album, 'Sing the Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony'.

Maxence Cyrin - Novö Piano (2010)

Something very different to the above. I heard his cover of the Pixies' 'Where is my mind' very often on French Radio fip, and it is just a wonderful interpretation of a wonderful song. There is no instrument as wholesome and pleasant as a piano, no effects needed, no strings attached (sic).
Besides this song, on the record you will also find interesting fresh interpretations of 'Around the World' (Daft Punk) and the more recent hit 'Kids' (MGMT), mong others.

Movies to watch in 2011

2011-01-09T21:13:00.001+01:00

Here is my take on movies I am looking forward to seeing in 2011, in no particular order. You are welcome to comment and make suggestions!

Hesher

Looks like a great indie movie with one of my favourite and one of the most underrated of actors in it, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 500 Days...) who plays a pot-smoking metal-head.
There is no trailer to the movie, it's only got a clip on the homepage, but it sure sounds great. Oh, and Natalie Portman is in it, and it was directed by Spencer Susser (short film I Love Sarah Jane ).

Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides

Yeah, I know, from indie to...
But the first three movies have been great fun, and you just gotta love Cap'n Jack Sparrow. Trailer looks awesome (might it be for the "addition-by-subtraction" of the-other-two-main-characters-whose-names-I-forget? - Anyway, Penelope Cruz is a surefire upgrade over Keira K.),

Rango

Same combination (Gore Verbinski + Jonny Depp) in anime, fun, and the West. Looks really fun,

especially considering that this is Jonny Depp acting for real, not smart-ass animation technology,

See?

127 Hours

I didn't like Danny Boyle's last film, this bestselling pseudo-Indian fairy-tale with the bonbon-sweet ending (despite featuring Freida Pinto aka the most beautiful face in recent film history). But this one here looks like an engaging story coupled with an academy-ripe performance by James Franco. The trailer features one of the very best rock songs recently written, Band of Horses' The Funeral, and perhaps that was the last tiny detail that got me totally enamoured with this movie. Gotta watch it!

True Grit

The annual dose of Wild Wild West. The real reason to look forward to this one, however, is its being directed by the Coen brothers. With Jeff Bridges and Määäätt Dääääimon. Trailer does not show that much yet, but it's supported by Jonny Cash, raising coolness levels by 200%.

Paul

Simon Clegg and Nick Frost, need I say more? This is going to be hilarious British humour by the Superbad-director. About an alien and lots of geek-stuff. Trailer.

The Tree of Life

Terrence Malick, Brad Pitt, and Sean Penn. Looks highly artistic, symbolic, and meaningful, might be heavy... Trailer

Battle: Los Angeles

Alien: Invasion. Unoriginal story, but looks like it is finally possible to combine explosive action with decent scripting, something like Transformers without Tourette and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Twilight - Breaking Dawn

Just kidding. Although it is good we have those kinds of movies, so we can read entertaining reviews.

Biutiful

Two major reasons: Javier Bardem and Barcelona, Trailer. I'll just quote imdb: This is the story of Uxbal (Javier Bardem). Devoted father. Tormented lover. Mystified son. Underground businessman. Friend of the disposed. Ghost seeker. Spiritual sensitive. A survivor at the invisible margins in today's Barcelona ... Uxbal's story is simple: just one of the complex realities that we all live in today.

Red State

Something for the scientist of religion in me. "A group of misfits encounter fundamentalism gone to the extreme in Middle America."

The Way Back

imdb again: "A young military officer (Sturgess) leads an escape from a hellish gulag in Soviet-occupied Poland during WWII. Making a pact with six companions, the group embarks on a daring mission across Asia to hopeful safety in India." With Colin Farrell (whom I consider an actor since Bruges).

Essential Killing

Vincent Gallo as an escaped prisoner in hostile environment, his usual enigmatic self. I don't especially like the movie's name, though.

Sounds of Stockholm - Doc

2011-01-02T19:07:00.001+01:00

Beautifully shot doc on some of Stockholm's musicians. Darn, these Swedes are just awfully talented!

Sounds Of Stockholm from valerie toumayan on Vimeo.

Piece of Poetry - You still roam these floors

2011-01-01T20:49:00.000+01:00

You still roam the floors

Of my past and memories

And I feel like a haunted house

But if an exorcist were to make you go away

I’d beg you to stay

I'd lock myself up

And not let you leave

I’ll become a prisoner of the past

In my own head

I do miss you that bad

(November 2010)

Einmal Japan und zurück – Nuancen des populären neuen taiwanischen Kinos

2010-12-25T21:08:00.011+01:00

Filmrezension

Einmal Japan und zurück – Nuancen des populären neuen taiwanischen Kinos

In diesem Artikel werden gegenwärtige kulturpolitische Tendenzen in Taiwan anhand der drei aktuellen und kommerziell erfolgreichen Filme CAPE NO. 7 海角七號, MONGA 艋舺 und 1895 IN FORMOSA 一八九五 beleuchtet.

Cape No. 7 – Heimatfilm mit Wohlfühlatmosphäre

„Fuck Taipei!“ – mit diesen Worten beginnt Wei Te-Shens 魏德聖 Kassenschlager, der kommerziell erfolgreichste einheimische Film überhaupt. Und das ist durchaus programmatisch zu verstehen, spielt der Rest der Handlung doch fernab vom hochmodernen, kosmopolitischen und (dennoch) „hochchinesischen“ Taipei.

Wir befinden uns in und um Hengchun, der südlichsten Stadt Taiwans kurz vor dem Kenting-Nationalpark mit ihren malerischen alten Stadttoren. Hier wird noch Betelnuss gekaut, grundsätzlich ohne Helm Moped gefahren und – in Taiwanisch kommuniziert. Dabei ist die Handlung an sich zu vernachlässigen: Mit den örtlichen Gepflogenheiten über Kreuz stehende Japanerin versucht, das Konzert eines japanischen Schmusesängers am Strand zu organisieren, wird in lokale Machtkämpfe verwickelt und muss schließlich eine wild zusammengecastete Vorband aus dem Ort bühnenreif trimmen. Zwischendurch wird sie mit allerhand exzentrisch-trinkfester lokaler Gesellschaft und Folklore konfrontiert und verliebt sich in den mürrischen Aushilfsbriefträger, der – Ironie des Holzhammers – zu allem Überfluss auch noch Vorband-Sänger wider Willen ist. Kurz, die Lovestory wirkt nicht gerade nachvollziehbar, beansprucht die Nerven und strapaziert den Film auf insgesamt 2:10 Stunden, wobei der Höhepunkt eigentlich schon 40 Minuten vor dem Ende erreicht ist. Die Hauptdarsteller sind entweder kratzbürstig und mit dem immer gleichen Stirnrunzelblick gesegnet (Aga), oder kreischende Nervensägen (Tomoko). Dennoch kennt den Film in Taiwan jedes Kind; viele Menschen haben ihn gleich mehrfach im Kino angesehen, obwohl der Wiedersehfaktor bedenklich nah gegen Null tendiert. Don’t get me wrong, wie sie auch habe ich den Film sehr genossen – aber warum nur?

Das liegt vor allem am kuscheligen Heimatfilmflair einer fröhlichen Südtaiwan-Idylle mit Sonne, Meer und urigen Taiyu 台語-Sprechern, die kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen. Taiwan ist eine kleine Insel, ein jeder ihrer Bewohner kann dies also mit eigenen Erlebnissen verknüpfen. Hier stecken denn auch das Herz und die Seele des Films: Es sind die sympathisch-skurrilen Figuren, die ihn sehenswert machen. Allen voran die älteren Darsteller, der überdrehte behornbrillte „Nationalschatz“ Opa Mo, der notorisch gut gelaunte Schlagzeuger „Frosch“ und Stadtratsvorsitzender Hung, dargestellt von Jonny Lin, welcher gerade seinen zweiten Frühling erlebt und mit seinen glaubwürdigen Rollen in Cape No. 7 und Monga Kultstatus im aktuellen taiwanischen Kino erspielt hat. Ihre für jeden Taiwan-Besucher durchweg nachvollziehbaren Charaktere würden in der ernsten Karriere- und Bürokratensprache Hochchinesisch nicht annähernd funktionieren. Implizit befördert Cape No. 7 damit aber eine Art „innerer Exotisierung“ Taiwans, einer Insel, deren großteils urbane Bevölkerung eben im Alltag kaum noch mit der beschaulichen dörflichen Atmosphäre in Kontakt kommt. Was nicht schlecht sein muss.

1895 – Rückblick voraus auf das neue Taiwan

Den Rahmen der Handlung bildet die japanische Eroberungskampagne zu Beginn der Besetzung Taiwans, welche aus zwei Perspektiven verfolgt wird: derjenigen der aufgeklärt und mitfühlend porträtierten Eroberer, die die Schönheit der Landschaft bewundern, und jener der lokalen Widerständler in der Gegend um das heutige Hsinchu. Kommuniziert wird in dem Film ausschließlich auf Hakka, Hoklo und Japanisch. Im Grunde sind die Motive beider Filme erstaunlich ähnlich. Sie heben Taiwans soziokulturelle und linguistische Diversität hervor. Gezeigt wird ein vielschichtiges Taiwan, das keine rein „chinesische“ Realität widerspiegelt, sondern in dem japanische Einflüsse keineswegs zweitrangig sind.

Im historischen Epos 1895 geschieht das ganz explizit in der Verbindung der Perspektiven von Besatzern und Widerstandskämpfern. Cape No. 7 sucht die Verbindung zur Vergangenheit über Liebesbriefe aus japanischer Zeit (die aber seltsam enthoben vom Filmgeschehen bleiben), heutige Popkultur-Verbindungen und Opa Mo, der beide zeitlichen Ebenen in einer Person verkörpert. Im Internet war Kritik zu lesen, warum eine ehemals japanisch kolonisierte Gesellschaft heute die Zeit der Kolonisierung schönfärben und darüber hinaus freiwillig zu ihrer erneuten „kulturellen Kolonisierung“ beitragen würde.[I.] Interessanterweise machen die in Cape No. 7 am japanisch-taiwanischen Kulturaustausch beteiligten Taiwaner durchweg von ihrer Subjektivität Gebrauch. Sie lassen sich keineswegs instrumentalisieren oder gar kolonisieren, sondern vermischen Elemente einer ganz Ostasien beeinflussenden japanischen Popkultur mit entschieden lokalen Ingredienzen.

Japan ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil des gegenwärtigen kulturellen Diskurses in „multicultural Taiwan“. Einerseits eine politisch geförderte Tendenz, entspricht sie andererseits aber auch den Realitäten sich rapide wandelnder Kulturen. Die Wahrung und Förderung kultureller Diversität ist eines der wichtigsten Projekte des v.a. DPP-geführten ersten Jahrzehnts seit 2000. Das Konsumverhalten der taiwanischen Kinobesucher zeigt hingegen nicht (nur) den Erfolg jener Politik, sondern vielmehr ihre Notwendigkeit. Politische Freiheit seit den 90er Jahren ermöglicht die freie Entfaltung von persönlicher wie Gruppen-Identität, was in 1895 und Cape No. 7 durch Kooperation und Heiterkeit in einer insgesamt wohlsituierten Gesellschaft positiv bewertet wird. 1895 handelt von reichen Hakka-Familien, traditionell stärker einem mythischen chinesischen Heimatland verbunden, doch veranlasst sie ihr Widerstandskampf gegen die Japaner zu enger Kooperation mit einer Bande von Hoklo-Freischärlern und ihren Ureinwohner-Kompagnons, nicht zum Partikularismus, sondern zur Vergemeinschaftung einer geographisch eng umschriebenen Schicksalsgemeinschaft. In Cape No. 7 wird großteils auf Taiyu kommuniziert, doch wird neben Japan auch Hakka („Malasun!“) und Ureinwohnern (vom Stamm der Rukai) große Präsenz eingeräumt. Geradezu symbolisch vereint wird „multicultural Taiwan“ in der auf der Bühne stehenden Band (allerdings ohne Waishengren, dafür mit christlichem Beistand), zu der sich im Duett einer polyglotten Version von Schuberts „Heidenröslein“(!) der japanische Minnesänger gesellt. Die Versuchung ist groß, die für manchen Slapstick genutzte Präsenz des Christentums im Film als weiteren Beleg anzuführen. Die Verbildlichung (des Wunsches?) eines harmonischen, auf Heiterkeit beruhenden Miteinanders der verschiedenen Bevölkerungsgruppen könnte das wahre Verdienst von Cape No. 7 sein. Auch wenn sich in der Realität Probleme ergeben, die der Film verschweigt, etwa die Vermarktung von „Ureinwohner-Schnaps“ durch Han-Entrepreneurs (Malasun) und die einhergehende Stigmatisierung der Yuanzhumin als allzeit benebelt-fröhliche Ohnesorgs.

Monga – Die nostalgische Verklärung des Bandenalltags

„These are the real Taiwan gangsters: Vulgar yet powerful (俗擱有力)!“

Doze Nius 鈕承澤 Film ist der zweite kommerziell äußerst erfolgreiche taiwanische Film seit Cape No. 7, dabei aber stilistisch anspruchsvoller und durchaus ansehnlich. Er erzählt eine Coming of Age-Geschichte in den Achtzigern im alten Taipeher Viertel Bangkah/Monga. Die Übernahme Mongas durch Waishengren stellt hier eine Zäsur dar, den Abschluss der guten alten Zeit. Von nun an gelten andere Spielregeln, es wird hart und auf Hochchinesisch verhandelt, Gewalt inbegriffen. Nicht zufällig endet gleichzeitig die Jugend der Hauptfiguren. Die Umstände werden rauer, die bisherige Leichtigkeit und Sorglosigkeit eines trotz aller Bandenkämpfe scheinbar behüteten Aufwachsens weicht dem Prinzip des Überlebens des Stärksten und endet in gegenseitigem Verrat. Taiwan hat seine Unschuld verloren.

Liebe zum Detail, Zeitlupen, intelligent eingesetzte Musik (in der Tradition von Millennium Mambo), die Faustkämpfe zu Walzer-Einlagen werden lässt, Kameraschwenks, Farben, die das Taiwan der 80er Jahre lebendig machen. Wirre Verfolgungsjagden durch schmale Gassen wellblechbedeckter Einstockhäuser, groteske Massenschlachten vor den Marksteinen Taipeis bis heute, Longshan-Tempel, Huaxi-Nachtmarkt und Snake Alley. Eine Geschichte von Freundschaft, Zusammenhalt und Erwachsenwerden. Jugendliches Balgen. Aberwitzige Situationen und wohldosierte Komik suggerieren die Sorglosigkeit unbeschwerten Lebens. Trügerisch, wie sich herausstellen soll. Denn das Leben im Gangstermilieu kann ein ernstes sein. All das, die bekannten Orte, die komödienhafte Leichtigkeit, der Gebrauch eines leicht ironischen Taiyu erzeugen ähnlich wie in Cape No. 7 eine Identifikation der Kinobesucher mit den Hauptfiguren, auf die sie im von hochanspruchsvollen Arthouse-Movies und belanglosen Schnulzen geplagten taiwanischen Kino lange gewartet haben. Allen voran der unwiderstehliche Boss Geta, gespielt von Jonny Lin. Spielerisch wird Geschichte aufgearbeitet und über das populäre Medium Film eine alternative Narrative taiwanischer Subjektivität erzeugt, die das Alltagsgeschehen und seine ganz normalen Helden und Unholde in den Fokus rückt. Nicht prominent, doch auch hier kommt Japan vor, als Ort der Sehnsucht für den jungen Hauptdarsteller. Konsequenterweise endet die Geschichte denn auch in einem versucht-poetischen, dabei jedoch vor allem pathetischen Verwandeln von Blutstropfen in fallende Kirschblüten – unmissverständliche Symbolik.

Ein zwar langer, bis auf das überdramatisierte Ende aber gelungener, kurzweiliger Film, der keinem weh tut. Man merkt Niu seine Zusammenarbeit mit Hou Hsiao-Hsien punktuell an. Als Bonus bekommt man einen Eindruck von den modischen Stilverbrechen Ostasiens, was Frisuren anbelangt. Das macht Lust auf mehr neues Kino aus Taiwan. Absolute (Geheim-?)Tipps sind die Episodenfilme des Paares Lou Yi-an 樓一安 und Singing Chen 陳芯宜, GOD MAN DOG 流浪神狗人 [II.] und A PLACE OF ONE’S OWN 一席之地, jeweils mit dem großartigen Jack Kao 高捷 in einer wunderbaren Rolle. Kaum warten mag ich auf das nächste Werk des Cape-Autoren, der nun aufgrund seiner Bekanntheit endlich seinen lange vertagten Film über den Wushe-Vorfall 霧社事件 von 1930, SEEDiQ BALE 賽德克·巴萊 [III.], finanziert bekommt. jt

Monga kommt am 9. Dezember 2010 als Monga – Gangs of Taipeh in die deutschen Kinos. Am 25. November startet die von Wim Wenders produzierte romantische Komödie Au Revoir Taipei.

(erscheint in Dianmo 11, http://dianmo.wordpress.com/ausgaben/)

Anmerkungen

I. Taiwanonymus, Movie Review: Cape No. 7, Kommentare, http://taiwanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/10/movie-review-cape-no-7.html.

II. Film reviews: http://home.snafu.de/fsk-kino/archiv/godmandog.htm, http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2008/04/god-man-dog-movie-review/.

III. 5 Min. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1Mhl0MQVw&feature=related, Blog: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/seediq1930&category_id=12897222. Der Wushe-Vorfall war ein Aufstand der Dekedaya, die auf Kopfjagd gegen ihre japanischen Besatzer gingen, vgl. Rudolph, Taiwans multiethnische Gesellschaft, 127f.

Abbildungen

Cape No. 7_1 http://anna69.pixnet.net

Cape No. 7_2 http://cape7.pixnet.net

Monga_1 www.mongathemovie.com

Monga_2 http://en.wikipedia.org

1895 In Formosa http://asianmediawiki.com

Erste Buchpublikation erschienen / First publication

2010-10-16T12:32:00.007+02:00

Nach fast zwei Jahren Arbeit (v.a. für die HerausgeberInnen) ist es nun endlich soweit und mein Artikel über die Geschichte der Leipziger Buddhisten -- welche 1903 den ersten buddhistischen Verein Europas gründeten -- im deutschen Kaiserreich ist in dem Pionierwerk zur lokalen urbanen Religions- und Kulturgeschichte "Von Aposteln bis Zionisten: Religiöse Kultur im Leipzig des Kaiserreichs" erschienen. Herausgegeben wurde das Buch von Iris Edenheiser im Auftrag des re.form Leipzig e.V. im diagonal-Verlag Marburg (2010), http://www.diagonal-verlag.de/14n-buch.html. Inhaltsverzeichnis, Vorwort und eine Leseprobe finden sich auf der Seite rechts oben.
Mein Artikel hört auf den Titel: "'Einst suchte ich in der Welt das Glück...' - Buddhisten in Leipzig 1903 bis 1921. Im Buch finden sich ca. 20 populärwissenschaftlich gehaltene Artikel über interessante Gruppen jener Zeit, von Atheisten über Abstinenzler, Zeugen Jehovas, Völkische, Mormonen, Okkultisten, Naturheilkundler, Theosophen uvm.

Bei Interesse an dem Artikel kann sich bei mir gemeldet werden.

--------------------

It took almost two years, but finally my essay on Leipzig's Buddhists during the late imperial period -- in 1903 they founded the first Buddhist association in all of Europe -- got published in a book on "religious culture in imperial Leipzig", a pioneering work of research on local religious history in a modern urban context. The book was edited by Iris Edenheiser, a doctoral graduate from my institute at Leipzig University, and got published through diagonal Publishing House. All information on the publisher's website is in German only, as is the entire book. It features numerous articles on different deviant social and religious groups, such as Atheists, Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons, Theosophs, Occultists, Friends of Nature and many more.

post-national Taiwan?

2010-09-04T16:44:00.003+02:00

Hypothesis:

In order to avoid becoming a subdued colonised dependent again -- this time the PRC's -- Taiwan might have to develop nationalism first to become a post-national society in the future. Where there's no (internationally recognised) nation, there can be no post-nationalist structure. By developing a post-nationalist attitude transcending conventional politics and replacing the political sphere with "entertainment", "culture", or "economic gain", the Taiwanese would risk their political independence and freedom. This would not be selling out, rather would it be incredibly naive.

Bound in Motion Furor

2010-08-29T16:57:00.003+02:00

What if this were Rome burning tonight
and we were still sticking to past mistakes
running past the same images in our minds
spinning over and over again

Would we keep our mouths shut
eyes taped, arms bound
forever doomed to the same story
told at night, but still - a convenient truth
for we are left to tell

Only - we know, it's all but a lie
and the people are bound in motion pictures
or concentrated in camps
the animals were taking over

Corpses washing down the river
the ground soaked in black and green blood
breathing a sole grievance
and everywhere the towers are growing into the sky
tongues twist as people divide

We follow the footsteps to a new home
and a bright future ahead
where distraction will keep us from
aiming clearsighted and thus is to be eliminated
outdated, the inferior falling to our furor
childish naïveté mating mature brute
this house is burning
and the dancefloor explodes in light

(written somewhat around 2008/09, inspired by visited Rwandan sites)

Formosa Betrayed - film review

2010-08-16T11:30:00.004+02:00

First of all, this is an important movie to see for everyone with an interest in Taiwanese or Asian history. Though mostly fictional, the film is based on a number of events in the 1980s. The good thing is: This movie is political, and it takes sides. Portraying the KMT regime in such a highly critical fashion, I don't think this movie might have been shot even in today's Taiwan. Although officially aiming at a neutral stance between blue and green, the movie must be called pro-TI (strange thing that neutrality today seems to imply the avoidance of mentioning anything shady about the KMT's past, or a "status quo" position in between independence and unification while altering the status quo via economic dependence is credited perfectly "neutral").

So, while the fact that it is a Hollywood produced flick surely has its advantages (concerning mostly the movie's outreach), there come a number of flaws with it. (I won't complain about Dawson's Creek ex teen idol Van der Beek starring the lead role.) Unfortunately, the acting is not very convicting since director Adam Kane was mostly relying on American actors with Asian background. Of course, their English is perfect, while there is only little Chinese in the movie and even less use of the Taiwanese language (except for the Kaohsiung demonstration). How police officer Chen was stumbling his few sentences in Mandarin - hurt. Even the most committed actor in this movie - Will Tiao - had an unmistakable American accent to his Chinese. This seriously made the film's atmosphere suffer. Another point of critique has to be its being shot in Thailand, which also means that the entire extra cast was Thai - and I would maintain that you can actually tell Taiwanese apart from Thai. The extra cast in a weird way did not feel involved in the film at all, most strikingly in the demonstration scene in Kaohsiung. I have seldom seen an agitated crowd acting less agitated. Even when security police was marching on, people hardly seemed to take notice and adjust their behaviour. The pictures of streets and houses had a certain artificial feel to them, like you could tell they were studio-made. I don't really buy into Thai studios being able to resemble Taiwan in the 80s more than parts of Taiwan today. Sure, the costs would have been higher, but if wanted there would have been some way...

To be honest, I was disappointed by the movie's overall artisanry. Like I said, this is an important movie, for it also depicts historical material (background on Chiang Kai-shek, the US and Red China etc.), but it will have a hard time attracting people solely for its entertainment value. This being said, I wish the film could be seen by more Taiwanese kids. Perhaps they will like the movie for its handsome lead actor and thus subtly internalise the messages delivered in the movie which present an alternative to mainstream KMT-imposed amnesia on its shady past. For this matter, it is definitely good news that Formosa Betrayed was showed to members of US Congress, too.
The film's title alluding to George Kerr's legendary journalist account of suppressed and abused Taiwan (1965) is a bit misleading, for at least I would expect a work more equivalent in content and quality to wear this book's name.

Citing film critic Roger Ebert on the movie:

As a result, "Formosa Betrayed" begins rather awkwardly, but ends by making a statement that explains a great many things. One question left unasked: Why did we promise to defend Taiwan with nuclear weapons but refuse to recognize it as a sovereign nation?

Review and presentation with more pictures in Chinese.
The Boston Globe has a review of the movie, and says the following of the acting:

Tiao is a passable actor at best, but he’s infinitely more genuine than Van Der Beek, who continues to be the same limited performer he was on TV’s “Dawson’s Creek,’’ just older, and, in this case, sweatier.

As a political thriller, “Formosa Betrayed’’ has enough suspense and intrigue to pull viewers along willingly. It doesn’t try too hard, which is refreshing. John Heard plays a veteran FBI colleague of Kelly’s; in another thriller he might be a double agent, but here he’s every bit as average as he seems.

And as a history lesson, the film is a decent primer. It will enlighten those who may not know much about the post-World War II era of Chinese rule over the island the Dutch named Formosa, a.k.a. Taiwan.

Along comes the trailer:

About my Intentions as a Potential "Scholar": the Ethical Component in “Science”

2010-06-04T18:19:00.005+02:00

What the people of Taiwan do in their communal construction and discussion of identity, I do according to my own calling and self-understanding as a young “scholar” doing research: support for/legitimation of their constructive efforts via scientific backing (delivering “facts”). Give them a voice in “rational” “objective” scientific discourse which makes for the internationally recognised forum/parliament of debating legitimate decision-making based selectively on terms of orthodoxy and heterodoxy (“rational” vs. “irratonal”), reflecting well-hidden (or taken for granted) power structures which exercise scientific discourse to a point where certain assumptions become consent. Thus, science ultimately serves as legitimising agency and advisory committee to the political executive. Science is neither innocent nor independent. Everyone choses which side they are on. Ideally, I view it as an imperative for any influential intellectual/scholar to not act on their own behalf or blindly bear existing structures of power, but to illuminate and side with the weak, the oppressed, the unheard, to – after objective-as-possible assessment of their situation and overall environment –work towards amelioration of society according to our conscience and scientific ideals of objectivity and impartiality. I believe we should do so along our adopted standards many of which are “Western” in nature (democracy, human rights) but which should nevertheless not be withheld from anybody outside their reach who choses to embrace them. I call for political activity by intellectuals! It is us who need to be outspoken and deliver factual and reasonable arguments in public debate, but we should not be confined by the class many of us feel part of. Instead, we need to include and enhance those voices which are not heard through their own efforts. We need to remember society of the relativity of many of its ideas and convictions, but on stable ground. For albeit constructed or imagined, we chose certain convictions, one way or the other. We would even chose to “transcend” (or deconstruct, or destroy) any idea available. Thus, we need to stay alert about the consequences of our thinking. So my conviction is we shall always think through alternative views, keep in mind our own relativity, but firmly chose our grounding, for we cannot stand without firm ground. Paradoxically, although I am convinced that my belief is relative at best, I am still able to believe. I believe what I believe in, and since I know this is me only and totally irrelevant (or relative) to the bigger picture, of course I must accept what others believe in. But I accept it as equally relative, so that still leaves me a chance to try and convince them of what I believe in. However, I can do so only through word and persuasion, by means legitimable in light of my accepting their opinion.

Talking about cultural differences, there is no “universal nature” in “human rights”, but we who enjoy their liberties and freedom are to opt for supporting those who freely chose to lead lives along similar lines, even if that means opposing reigning power in a foreign context. We have to do so to ensure the longevity of these our very ideals against an all-encompassing relativism, and we can do so only by acknowledging the historically constructed nature and not given “nature” of liberal democracy, offering it to everybody as one political philosophy among many – the superiority of which we believe in – and support those who decide for themselves to follow it. Since it is a singular political doctrine with absolute claim we propagate, does that justify military operations to safeguard its proliferation and endurance in other countries? Can we morally justify the suffering and even killing of innocent people with the outlook of achieving a better or more just society for them, a view not necessarily shared by the ones so “rescued”? In any case, understanding Western liberal democracy and human rights as one political doctrine competing for power with other, structurally similar doctrines, at least allows for the implementation of military might for a better end – social peace, multiculturalism. In contrast, perceiving them as naturally (or genetically) endowed with the human condition would inextricably lead to a moral dilemma of undermining the end – the state so to be achieved – with the means employed to reach it, and so making it virtually impossible to convince people to convert to the alleged higher moral state innate to liberal values.

To the Young People of Taiwan

2010-05-25T11:50:00.001+02:00

(A Reaction to a planned ECFA (on the bus from Taichung to Taipei, Dec. 23, 2009):

Who is going to carry on the spirit and accomplishments of the generation of those now 50 to 70 years old? It lies with you… I love you, and in this very moment I am still wondering if I love you enough to forgive you when you surrender and succumb to the solely monetary temptation of unification. At least I wish you to fight and not give up before it is all over! You still hold the power in your own hands, and the key to Taiwan’s future is yours still, and it does not lie in a Free Trade Agreement with China. It will only break the door trying to open it for a way out towards someplace labeled future.

Look beyond this narrow Taiwan Strait: Taiwan is part of the ocean, grown from the sea, comparted by an imaginary line named Tropic of Cancer, neckbone of a spinal island arc, in geoterritorial confrontation between the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea Plates which through a cruel jest of fate mirror in geopolitical terms. The sea will take you to places afar, you are an open nation, as sea farers tend to be open-minded, you are people of the south where pleasant temperatures enflame people’s hearts, you are not spatially bound to the Chinese continent, your perspective is the horizon! The ocean connects you with all places, free as fish. Open you eyes, look at yourselves and look up, let your eyes carry you over the oceans, do not be afraid, lift up your voices, be confident and proud, like I were be proud to be one of you!

I would also be so afraid, because I cannot look into your hearts sometimes, I cannot tell what you want, and whether it is the same thing we are striving for. Why do I want more for you than you do? Why don’t you think you can have it all? All at once, power and democracy, and economic success?

Everybody needs a basis, and so do you.

Your democracy, result of decades of dedicated people’s unending efforts, of your blood, sweat, and tears, it does not come by itself, it comes at a cost. You need to work for it, on it, and you need to need it to stay the people you are, the people I love. I can support you in that, and I will, but I cannot do it for you.

This my be my dream, and I didn’t stay here long enough to know what it truly is like to suffer, but for you this is but real. You cannot escape it, this is your country, your home, and you have a responsibility to protect it. For future generations; And you owe it to the ones who sacrificed so much to enable you to live that way you live now. This is the greatest opportunity, the justest cause, of your lifetime!, and it is also a mission, an assignment. Something you started. You gave me this promise of a free land full of beautiful, caring, friendly people, and now I would like you to only keep this promise.

I’m a big fan of yours, and I love you, so I beg you: Please, don’t leave my love letters unanswered.

I hope for you, I fear for you, I cry for you, I weep for you, I speak out for you. So much would I love to be with you, or be one of you, that it completely occupies my mind. I feel I can’t live without you! So I urge you, please do this for me, if you dare to accept my love, do this with all your might, and I know you can achieve everything if you only really want to. I have learned what you were able to accomlish in the past, but can you still feel it? It is not all that long ago, and it ain’t a myth. All of it is real! You are living freely through past sacrifice. Those responsible for it are your fathers and mothers, your grandfathers and grandmothers. You can still ask them about it. You are their descendants, their blood runs through your veins, which makes me know for certain you have what it takes!

Mix May 2010

2010-05-09T19:55:00.003+02:00

Eine bunte Zusammenstellung verschiedener Tracks und Stile. Das, was ich unter dem Soundtrack verstehen würde, zu dem ich meine Party rocke.

Mix May 2010 Party by foolproofsound

Tracklist:

Dune - Last Dinosaur
Against Me! - The Disco Before the Breakdown
Rancid - Old Friend
Modest Mouse - Float On
Jenny Wilson - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward
Zoot Woman - Holiday Home
MGMT - Kids
Console - Suck and Run
The Robocop Kraus - Nihil Disco
The Hives - A Little More for Little You
Head Automatica - Brooklyn is Burning
Queens of the Stone Age - First it Giveth
Fu Manchu - Freedom of Choice
The Strokes - Reptilia
Rufio - Above Me
Thrice - Deadbolt
The Sound of Animals Fighting - Act IV: You Don't Need a Witness
Aaltra Soundtrack - Sunny
Coco Freeman Feat. Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee
Beirut - Prenzlaurberg
Ska Cubano - No Me Desesperes
Fanfare Ciocarlia - Godzilla
Ray Barretto - La Cuna
Gotan Project - Diferente
Rosalia De Souza - Maria Moita
Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Mondo Bongo
Elliott Smith - Say Yes
Jan Johansson - Visa från Utanmyra

Das Ganze wie gehabt zusammengestellt mit dem Pacemaker. Hoffe, es gefällt.

Criticizing Han Ethnocentrism in Taiwan and China

2009-12-04T08:53:00.008+01:00

To be clarified beforehand: I am radically anti-racist and anti-nationalist, I consider proselytizing a crime against an individuals self-determination (although some religious determinations turned out to be better advocates of preserving cultural identities and propagating cultural diversity), and I wish for mutual respect, tolerance, and one multicultural global society without discrimination nor borders.

Let Taiwan serve as a two-fold case in point for my argument, which is to say that there is a very frightening component about Chinese Han Ethnocentrism, something masquerading as "cultural" which is very hard to distinguish from other areas such as politics and ethnicity.
By referring to two layers, I mean looking at Taiwan from an micro and a macro level angle. The macro level is rather easy to describe, since it entails the way the Chinese empire spread through the course of many centuries, incorporating colonized local people and by way of proving its "cultural" superiority convincing most ethnic groups to submit to and overtake Chinese culture. This is especially true today, when life becomes ever faster, information can be accessed almost everywhere, and there is fierce competition for job opportunities with an widening gap of the haves vs. the not-haves. This means as long as there is no real appreciation for any non-Chinese culture and multicultural diversity within the so-called ethnic Chinese group, people with a distinct culture have to get rid of some of their cultural traits, especially those that might potentially clash with Chinese custom and behaviour.
I am to this day convinced that there is no genuine appreciation of foreignness in China. In part this is due to an overaggressive nationalism which was launched in the beginning of the 20th century to confront Western invasion into China, and at the same time was a reaction to what was felt necessary at the time: the building of a strong nation state to compete with other nations. Along with a nation state, the concept of "race" was prevalent at that time and in a process of westernization (as means to self-strengthening, without losing cultural roots) seemingly had to be introduced or at least, if already existing, modified in China. Keeping traditional cultural roots didn't stay at the political agenda of the most successful movements for long. The Communist regime stands for breaking ties with most fundamental traditional Chinese idea(l)s, especially those relating to society and social relationships. However, it was constantly felt necessary to strengthen a certain nationalist awareness, which after the end of the possibility of Communist legitimation took over as one of the two foundations of the modern Chinese nation state, the other being economic prosperity. In combination they aim for China becoming the world's foremost economic power. This ideology necessarily has a couple of dogmas that cannot be touched, among them the triple 'T' (Tibet, Taiwan, Tian'anmen), which cause a lot of harm in and around China and should be examined critically. Excuses centering on China's exotic nature ("Maybe the Chinese are like that") are not of any help here, because the root of the problem is not genuinely Chinese but rather imported - it lies in the concepts of nationalism and capitalist economy. Current Chinese society is in these aspects very far from what traditional China may have looked like. My criticism as such is thus not aimed at something inherently "Chinese", but on nowadays implementations and importations of essentially Western ideas. I actually would very much like China to be more "Chinese", as I think this ongoing marriage with some mutilated currents of Western thought is a very dangerous one. Realistically, I am not hoping for many Chinese people to accept this criticism, something that may be due to national pride having already taken deep roots in most of the population. What I myself cannot accept, however, is that innocent people in a country separate from China should suffer from dogma-infested actions deriving from this misguided interpretation of outdated Western concepts.

The funny and really scary thing about Chinese ethnocentrism is that in cooperation with the Chinese language that doesn't favour definite word-meaning relationships it can quite easily clothe its appearance in more pleasant phrases such as "cultural Chineseness" (which, apparently, is aimed to include all "cultural" Chinese from overseas - Singapore, USA, Indonesia - in the great Chinese community whose representative is, of course, the People's Republic - there is even a word for this that bridges the gap between ethnicity, politics, and culture: 華人世界). This does amazingly often work with Western scholars and politicians who take Chinese phrases (designed to be foremost pleasant to hear) for their concrete meaning, mostly without having the time to cast a critical look on how those phrases relate to reality.
To me, if an ethnic group (however wildly constructed this "ethnicity" may be) separates itself as clearly as is the case with Chinese "cultural" ambitions, which at closer look reveal quite direct imperialist intentions, anti-Chinese sentiment in these places is quite a natural thing to expect. As is the case in Taiwan. Taiwanese "ethnic" identity is clearly constructed against and under the threat of Chinese ambitions to take over the island of Formosa. If there were no political pressure on Taiwan, the formation of Taiwanese identities would not have to be directed against China, but it could more naturally evolve as some sort of post-nationalist citizen- and democracy-based identity which is much needed indeed, if we are to confront Taiwan's current and future problems in society and human-nature relations effectively.

At the centre of the problem may well lie the question: What on earth are ethnic Han? - As a friend of mine put it once, the "Han" are a wild mix of different peoples, quite naturally so if one considers traditional Chinese political and cultural concepts (i.e. the imperial claim to represent everything under heaven, of course every cultural group can become part of "everything under heaven"). This makes the "Han" distinction itself more a cultural one than an ethnic one. "Friendly takeover" has happened before, many of the people now considered "Han" were "barbarians" a few centuries ago - I have a hard time believing that the "Han" may be supposed to just be much more effective in out-populating so many peoples. The modern Han race is settled on ideology and mythology, with history serving as its primary legitimation (the "5000 years of Chinese culture"), at the same time "Han" is essentially a synonym for "Chinese" today, representing about 93% of the PRC population, which is pretty convenient in legitimating China's sole representation by "Han" politicians. Some hint in how arbitrarily the "Chinese race" has been constructed can be found in comparing differences between Han and "Manchu", who are officially recognized as a minority, that is, not "Han", and differences between inner-Han groups with their own language etc. (for instance, Hakka, Hoklo, Cantonese). (On another note this may tell us a lot with Chinese preoccupation with the Northern part of the country, whilst the South has always been thought of as populated by uncivilized barbarians.)
All I want to say is that I question the Han qualifying as a single ethnic group that can be used by serious scholarship. As long as there is no genetic evidence, I keep on doubting. It appears to me that the construction process serves very real political purposes. A politically manipulated term, however, can not be mingled with independent science.

Then there is what I called the "micro level" of Han ethnocentrism.
Again, taking Taiwan as an example, on one hand the island is the concrete aim of Chinese cultural-imperialist ambitions (macro level). On the other hand, there is Han ethnocentrism within Taiwan. Although cultural diversity is recognised in Taiwan by distinguishing four different groups (Aboriginals, Hoklo, Hakka, Mainlanders), there is considerable cloudiness to how distinct the groups are. For instance, a big part of the Hoklo-"Taiwanese" are comprised of Hoklo-Hakka and former flatland aboriginals marriages. The only group easily distinguishable are the mainlanders retreating with Chiang Kaishek in 1949, although intermarriage with Taiwanese Hoklo or wives from overseas are common, so that lines get blurred. Talking more specifically about "ethnicity", it seems that all groups are taken together as "ethnic Chinese" (= Han), the only outside group being Taiwans "First Nations", the austronesian aborignals.
Let's continue this further. The Austronesians have been subdued by the influx and weapon-technological advance of immigrants from China to the point of marginalisation. Until very recently, the "ethnically Chinese" people have never doubted their superiority to the aboriginals in any aspect. This is why they took their land and resettled them in concrete buildings without bothering to ask for the politically inferior groups opinion. As Fiorella Allio, engaged French anthopologist among the Yami tribe, tells that the Yami on the Taiwanese island Botel Tobago has been resettled, and their traditional fishing grounds have become a nuclear waste deposit site. How much more disrespectful can you be in dealing with other people? All of this is reflected in the way Taiwanese politicians treat the land - there has been no consideration about a policy's effects on the natural environment (ideological reasons for Chinese indifference towards the land - for many decades, most officials have been mainlanders - can be found elsewhere - Taiwan has always been considered a tropical backwater of no use to Chinese officials. Interestingly, this has changed significantly over the past years, but to a bigger degree for mainland China than for local politicians, I fear). Still, the Aboriginals today may be welcome folklore to many Taiwanese, but they are not really an integrated part of society. They have lower incomes and education levels, higher mortgage and unemployment rates, are prone to become alcoholic, and even the tribes living next door are often separated from "Han" society and driven further out as settlement patterns spread. Settlement spreads, but not to include them, but drive them further away. Professor Hsia Chu-joe 夏鑄九 (National Taiwan University, Graduate Institute of Building and Planning) whom I heard give a talk on the planned new law on the Management of State Property Land at the NGO House in Taipei a few weeks ago put it in these terms: "When are the Han ever going to accept the Aboriginals as people just like themselves? When are they going to accept anybody outside themselves?

Although historically the Chinese political system apparently has been particularly adept at assimilating foreign cultural-ethnic groups, the outcome of this assimilation process seems to have been dictated by political power relations. Coming from a stronger, even hegemonic, position of power, the Chinese were able to conquer and assimilate outsiders according to their own terms. For as long as they were still culturally distinct, conquered minorities must have been on the marginal peripheries of a Chinese-dominated society. Support for this assumption can be found in the recent history of Taiwan’s colonization (where the trend has been somewhat stopped) where Plains Aborigines were married into becoming Hoklo-Chinese and whole settlements switched ethnic affiliation (Brown 2004), whereas the remaining distinct Aboriginal peoples live on the margins of society. But it can also be found in South China itself, where minorities live in economically and structurally weak regions and have tremendous trouble asserting themselves in a Chinese-dominated economy and polity. The recent colonization of Tibet by immensely successful Han entrepreneurs, without Tibetans profiting as much from the region’s economic opening, is another case in point. Something similar may happen in the vast, thinly populated space north of the Manchurian border in Siberia, where hundreds of thousands of Chinese have migrated.

Chinese Han ethnocentrism from China, as relating to Taiwan, is manifested in that it does not take into account the Taiwanese people's opinion regarding the future and status of their island which is a country independent from China. We might perceive this nationalist ethnocentrism as sort of outsider-friendly (even for hardline unificationists there must be some sense of Taiwan being different from China, since otherwise there wouldn't be need for such a thing as "unification") and dogmatic. Taiwan has to be kept from declaring official independence to uphold the mythological foundation of the Chinese nation state. This is a very aggressive view on cross-straits relations, especially for its denying Taiwan to make use of the basic international right for self-determination by threatening it to use violence. The only solution to this problem is either China giving up its territorial claims on Taiwan (not likely to happen), or the Taiwanese people giving in to a mixture of international pressure and economic promises (much more likely to happen). From a moral point of departure, the lack of Western support for democratic Taiwan is of great concern to me. This undermines Western democracies moral authority even further, since we are essentially buying into authoritarian China's promise of a great economic market, and selling out democratic kin in return... Apparently, 2012 is the year to look out for. If we are lucky, the world will be ending that year anyway.

For all that is good, and if a society really wants to progress, it has to look beyond the confines of its own cultural and ethnic boundaries. It has to learn to position itself in the place of any other culture that it is facing. This is the only way to enhance mutual understanding and avert competition that might lead to subordination of one people under the other. I consider this an essentially globalised human desire, because it will be the only way to the traditional Chinese ideal of "harmony"　和諧 within society, in the relations with other societies, and in dealing with the environment. To give these thoughts some additional weight, let me quote famous anthropologist Clifford Geertz:

"the primary question for any cultural institution anywhere, now that nobody is leaving anybody else alone and isn´t ever again going to, is not whether everything is going to come seamlessly together, or whether, contrariwise, we are all going to persist in our separate prejudices. It is whether human beings are going to be able, in Java or Connecticut, through law, anthropology, or anything, to imagine principled lives they can practically lead [together]."

Pictures taken from flickr (depicting scenes at the Berlin Wall).

Post Rock Mixtape Vol. 1

2009-11-19T11:00:00.008+01:00

This is a mixtape I made in July for a girl that I saw at a Caspian show in Leipzig. Actually, I saw her two days before in one of our university buildings, but only after the concert did I know she had great taste in music. Me idiot didn't talk to her, though, but instead I followed the obvious path and went to have a few drinks with my friends. Relying too much on good luck, again, but somehow I felt that since I had seen her twice in three days, I should be confident there would be a third time if this may be fate's will... So I did this mixtape for her, which entailed a DIY booklet and a card, because I did not simply want to ask her out for a coffee or something ordinary like that. Well, end of the story, I forfeited this chance, never saw her again, I left only some weeks later to come here to wonderful Taiwan... Since the mixtape is rotting at home, I might as well try and spread some beautiful music on the internet.

(Hier gibt es noch eine nette Mixtape-Definition:

Unter einem Mixtape (auch mix tape oder mixed tape) versteht man eine selbsterstellte Zusammenstellung (Compilation) von Songs ,welche in einer bestimmten Reihenfolge auf einer Compact Cassette (Audiokassette) oder CD augenommen werden.aufgenommen wurden. Gute Mixtapes pappen die Songs nicht hintereinander, sondern Mixen die Songs in einem neuen zusammenhängenen Rahmen als neue sStück Musikkunst.
Der Essayist Geoffrey O’Brien bezeichnete das persönliche Mixtape als “die am häufigsten ausgeübte amerikanische Kunstform”. Viele Mixtape-Begeisterte sind davon überzeugt, dass durch die sorgfältige A uswahl und Festlegung der Reihenfolge der Stücke innerhalb einer Zusammenstellung eine künstlerische Aussage geschaffen werden kann, welche durchaus aussagekräftiger ist als die bloße Summe der einzelnen Lieder. Will sagen, es entsteht etwas neues Ganzes.)

I did the mix using pacemaker editor, a free software you will find on the net.

Songs I used for this compilation:

The intro is taken from a poem by Hermann Hesse, Stufen, and it means "in every beginning, there dwells some magic, that protects us and that enables us to live..."
The Ghost - Red Slippers, Red Wheels (taken from the album This is a Hospital)
On the Might of Princes - Go Fuck Yrself (Sirens)
Gifts From Enola - In the Company of Others (Loyal Eyes Betrayed the Mind)
Caspian - Further In (You Are the Conductor)
Scraps of Tape
Moving Mountains

margaret's hope - 2 Songs

2009-11-19T10:12:00.004+01:00

I've wanted to upload some of our stuff for a long time now, so it feels that now is a better time than never. These two songs date back to the year 2006, and they were recorded entirely by ourselves (well, by Alex, to be honest).
You can stream them right on this page, no need to download anything. I hope you like this music which we created about 3 years ago, which is actually a very long time, especially considering that we didn't keep up with it. I am back in Taiwan now, and so everybody is in a different place. Still, I treasure these few pieces that serve as footprints to what life felt like in our adolescence, the things we valued the most. And I admit that I am still dreaming of a life grounded in arts, musics, and simply doing the things that you love to do... If all else fails, then at least having my own bar and having other people perform, play music or theater. And - why not in Taiwan?
These two songs are called "Phürditsch" and "The Fine Art of Balancing Nine-Inch Squared Balls (In One Hand, While Standing on the Other)", they are not the best we wrote but were easiest to record at the time when I was about to leave the country for Taiwan in 2006.

這是我之前在德國之樂團的兩首歌，style 大概可以描寫是後搖滾樂或所謂 Emo，可是我們卻沒有歌手。樂團名稱 margaret's hope，這個名字來自我以前喝過的印度紅茶，產生地田就叫為 margaret's hope，好像以前老闆娘之名字。我只覺得名字聼起來很不錯，而且讓聽者想到 "Margaret 是誰呢？是不是因爲失戀而寫歌？" 呵呵。
我很希望你們會喜歡，歡迎留言！我也很想繼續做音樂，不過我正在臺灣，其他樂團員都住不同的地方，事實期望不能太正式。
兩首名稱為 "Phürditsch" (不是真字，我們亂寫我們德文方言一個説法，意思大概翻成 "For You") 和 "The Fine Art of Balancing Nine-Inch Squared Balls" (開始的吉他 riff 我在瑞典想出來的，而夜裏時不斷地彈，也許腦死我的室友 ;)。

raining Taiwan

2009-11-18T10:58:00.003+01:00

rain, everlasting rain, eternal rain... we used to sacrifice for you... Taiwan is so rich in it, blessing for the island's flora and fauna... why do we stay in cold abstract amassings of concrete, waiting for the day to pass, waiting for another day to starve, letting our creativity starve in office boxes, take every bit of green out of the bricks, keeps our work ethic clean, plants keep on teasing us with questions on our true place in nature, complain we haven't come home in such a long time, and then the production line sucks us in again, numbing conscience to subconsciousness, we are wholly torn apart, this is the world we live in, and no - it is not: this is the world we made for us to live in, and we try to live forever, forever we try, can't deal with what lies beneath this our crafted walls of concrete, dreams become subject to analysis, mere substitution for what is happening while we're "awake", or perhaps we are not, anyway, raindrops fall on corrugated sheets like drums of nature to our ears, and this is the sound of now, a gift from heaven, water is creation, is creativity in process, and we keep ourselves clean and dry inside our own creations of massive gray, waiting for the day to end, another day to dawn, another day in black and white, and gray, and we love and hate, all the same over and over again, and though i might idealistically disdain myself for it, i am nonetheless able to swim with the stream, to live my life walking concrete precincts, sitting on plastic chairs, staring at virtual realities, blinded by artificial light; this is where i am, as though i did not have a choice, i'm sure it will kill me, and everybody else, and we all know, but still - we have to face it somehow everyday, and i am not afraid to admit i cannot explain, but though knowing and dreaming we may still be able to rejoice, - and i consider this a unique treasure -, and i love it, or maybe it is THROUGH knowing and dreaming that we can rejoice eventually, if knowledge is what enables us to reflect, change, and cherish what is running through our hands

(picture taken from http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/dujuan99nihon/30246100.html, Martin Winter's blog. Read it.)

Why, oh why do I make you cry? (Suis la lune) awesome swedish Screamo

2009-06-05T17:24:00.005+02:00

Wunderschöner Song der Schweden Suis la lune (Screamo oder so). Sehr nette Präsentation auch. Taken from vimeo.
Heißt eigentlich Fingers. Voice. Heart. Shake. Shake. Shake und ist von ihrer letzten LP Quiet, Pull the Strings. (Es fehlt das Intro.) Aber die Melodielinie am Ende des Songs ist so verdammt gut, dass es beinahe schmerzt. Die Band hat vor kurzem eine neue EP herausgebracht, wirklich schöne Musik ist da drauf, so eine Melange aus ruhigen, sphärischen Gitarrenpassagen und lauten Eruptionen mit sehr emotionalem Gesang. Kompositorisch immer durchdacht.
Suis la lune sind schon lange eine meiner Lieblingsbands, und das Besondere ist, dass man jeden einzelnen ihrer Songs hoch schätzen muss, denn man weiß nicht wann überhaupt mal wieder etwas erscheinen wird. In gefühlten fünf Jahren seit Gründung haben sie eine LP, zwei EPs (eine davon wird bereits nicht mehr gedruckt) und mehrere Splits und Kompilationsbeiträge herausgebracht (u.a. einen 30 Sekunden-Kracher zur Emo Apocalypse).
More songs to listen to at lastfm.
Sehr diy, sehr schön, sehr emo in the true sense of the word.

Dianmo 點墨 Kulturspezial Taiwan

2009-05-16T12:12:00.001+02:00

Was lange währt, wird endlich gut. Und das so richtig.

Eine feine Ausgabe, die wir auf den Weg gebracht haben, es finden sich Artikel über Taiwans Ureinwohner, einen Film Hou Hsiao-hsiens, ein Vergleich von Justiz in Übergangsregimen (DDR und Taiwan), Eindrücke und Erlebnisberichte, Bilder, Taiwanstudien und vieles mehr. Ab gestern online auf der Adresse eures Vertrauens.

Am 28. Mai 2009 wird sich Dianmo als AG des StuRa der Uni Leipzig im Foyer des GWZ (Beethovenstraße) vorstellen, geschlagene vier Stunden lang, von 10 bis 14 Uhr, mit Schnaps, Tee und Tanz. Interessierte und Streuner immer herzlichst willkommen, mal vorbeizuschauen!

Viel Spaß beim Schmökern! :)

A Zombie Amongst Us

2009-03-23T13:10:00.004+01:00

The appearance of a Zombie is a frightening sight.

What bothers me with recent German scholarship on China and Taiwan is that it still follows two outdated leads to view Taiwan as either a) as part of China proper (although not openly falling in with the "renegade province" CP hymn), or b) as the "other", the "free" China, as the alternative to authoritarian rule and role model for China's development.
Either one does little to enhance our understanding of Taiwanese society.

What they actually do is carry on colonialist and imperialist myth, the only difference being not Western colonialism the culprit, but the Chinese claim on the island in its place taken for granted. In a way, Taiwan has grown to play the part of the reparation the West is willing to pay for all the harm and sorrow it has shed on China in the past.
Since the 1980s the metaphor of the "other China" has become less and less attractive due to China's opening up and integration into the capitalist World system. Notions of democratic change through economic liberation and rising incomes are still going strong, so the hopes for China becoming a democratic state have increased since then. On the other hand, relativism has told us that democracy does not follow a teleologic script. It might just not fit in everywhere.
But does that ease our mind on the fact that we abandon countries which have democratized all by themselves? Can we value potential economic gain over our ideological commitment to fellow democracies (which in the long run is a commitment to our very own democracy)?

Viewing Taiwan as "China" or at least as part of it has nothing to do with Taiwan. It is about Western hopes and fears, not to mention the distinctly European origin of the mere constructs that have enabled political entities such as the nation state to rise to global domination in the first place. Taiwan has had millions of years not belonging to anybody but itself. And that's the way it should be. If there ought to be someone to judge the political affiliation of that island at all, it is its population and no one else.
In light of post-colonial theories, the troublesome concepts of Chinese Taiwan should be abandoned in an instant. All they do is continue an outmoded way of thinking, and this thinking has already profoundly impacted the ways in which Taiwanese see themselves. True liberation of the minds comes through liberation from colonial thinking.

A Zombie, even a mere conceptual one, should be laid to peaceful rest eventually, not to trouble future generations with its "one country" claims.

萊比錫書展，我的感想

2009-03-17T21:05:00.000+01:00

每年三月是萊比錫書展，德國第二大的（只法蘭克福的更大）
這次也是臺北書展基金會第一次來到萊比錫
有許多臺灣作家演講
其中有比較 established 的（陳玉慧）、有代表年輕臺灣文學的（伊格言）、也有動心的詩人（鴻鴻）
很好！

我很幸運，有機會認識了一些很善良的人
演講也算是很成功的
有德國出版公司對伊格言的作品很有興趣
所以十分希望明年臺北書展基金會可以再來

我雖然不在那工作，仍然大部分的時間都在他們攤子那裏
或隔壁的臺北代表處之攤子

因爲我們與臺灣只能有偷偷的國際關係，所以臺灣也不能有所謂的領事館
雖然功能一莫一樣
you may call that humiliating
since that is what it is
要不然威力的鄰居會生氣
德國商人可能沒有別國家商人的好處
太可惜了

我跟臺北代表處的一些人聊聊天，不小心談政治
代表處員對臺灣獨立國的未來並不樂觀
因爲已經可看到將來的暗示
國民黨政府不只不願意對金錢外交再花那麽多錢
而在外交的預算案都逐漸減少

臺北代表處在德國能花的錢越來越少

已經不知道明年能不能再來書展
1992年第一次來的
這種文化代表很重要：
雖然中國的攤子一定比我們的大、比我們的漂亮、中國作家比我們多、也一定會收較多注意
還是有人故意來找我們
還是有人在管臺灣小寶島的命運

因爲他們知道臺灣與中國不同的部分在哪
他們知道臺灣人努力地達到自由和民主
給他們看臺灣不斷以這種努力為澳很重要
這樣對臺灣已經有意見的人才不會放棄它

去年換了執政黨對代表處很有關係
在德國非常受歡迎的臺灣代表謝志偉被趕走
換了一個官僚主義者
代表處員告訴我，德國記者打電話想知道臺灣對莫一件事情的看法，
新的代表不會出一件
這樣工作氣氛對代表處員來說已經沒有意義了
好像代表對臺灣這地沒有特別的意見

這對臺灣在西方人的角度内有不好的結果
記者的影響力隨處都很大
記者如果不會收代表處的意見資料

就會去找別的資源
這樣做會間接地幫助中國看法更普及
而注意臺灣的人越來越少

支持臺灣這個民主國家的人
不少
可是他們需要先見到臺灣人民自己願意不惜代價地保護珍貴的民主制度
以及表示臺灣人自己要民主、要平等、要獨立
目前還趕得到時間
怕七年後會太晚
目前的政府已在準備經濟合作與中國大陸越來越密切，更多地靠大陸
同時把國際代表減少
對我來說，都暗示到我不想經歷的未來

我們一起努力吧
我們別分開兩派
我們做真正的我們吧！

50 Jahre tibetischer Aufstand

2009-03-10T09:45:00.003+01:00

Der Deutschlandfunk hatte eine Reportage im heutigen Kalenderblatt:
(leider dürfen die Beiträge des Kalenderblattes, jeden Tag um 9:05 Uhr, nicht mehr als stream online gestellt werden, darum hier der reine Text)

Aufstand der Tibeter

Vor 50 Jahren: 80.000 Tote bei Protesten gegen die chinesische Besatzung

Von Otto Langels

Schon im Herbst 1949, gleich nach der Machtübernahme der Kommunisten in Peking, erhob China Anspruch auf das Territorium Tibets. Ein Jahr später marschierte die Volksbefreiungsarmee Mao Zedongs in den Himalaya-Staat ein. Versuche der tibetischen Bevölkerung, sich mit der kommunistischen Regierung zu arrangieren, schlugen fehl. Die Proteste und bewaffneten Aktionen gegen die Besatzungsmacht eskalierten schließlich Anfang März 1959.

"Am frühen Morgen des 10. März 1959 versammelten sich nach Sonnenaufgang Tausende von Tibetern vor der Sommerresidenz des Dalai Lama. Die große Menschenmenge strömte wegen eines Gerüchts zusammen, wonach die chinesischen Kommunisten planten, den Dalai Lama zu einer Kulturveranstaltung in das chinesische Militärhauptquartier einzuladen und dort festzunehmen. Bis zum Mittag hatte sich der Aufruhr in einen allgemeinen Volksaufstand verwandelt."

So beschreibt der chinesisch-amerikanische Historiker Chen Jian in seiner Geschichte der tibetischen Rebellion den Ausbruch der Unruhen in der Hauptstadt Lhasa.
Die Vorgeschichte des Aufstands reicht in das Jahr 1949 zurück, unmittelbar nach der Gründung der Volksrepublik China, als die kommunistische Regierung Jahrhunderte alte Ansprüche auf die Himalaya-Region geltend machte. Peking ignorierte die 1913 proklamierte staatliche Unabhängigkeit Tibets und erklärte, das Land von den so genannten "imperialistischen Kräften" und dem "reaktionären Feudalregime in Lhasa" befreien zu wollen. 1950 marschierte die chinesische Armee in Tibet ein. Ein Jahr später schloss eine Delegation des Dalai Lama, des geistlichen und weltlichen Oberhaupts der Tibeter, mit der chinesischen Regierung ein 17-Punkte-Abkommen. Darin heißt es unter Anderem:

"Das tibetische Volk soll in die große Völkerfamilie des Mutterlandes der Volksrepublik China zurückkehren. Das tibetische Volk hat das Recht zur Ausübung regionaler Autonomie unter der Führung der zentralen Volksregierung."

In den Augen der Tibeter war das Abkommen jedoch nicht rechtmäßig, sondern durch massiven politischen und militärischen Druck aus Peking zustande gekommen.

"Tibet sah sich diesem großen Nachbarn aus dem Osten ausgesetzt, alleine, und da blieb nichts anderes, als das Beste aus der Situation zu machen. Und die einzige Möglichkeit war natürlich, den Feind zu beschwichtigen."

Weiter geht es hier.

Dafür gibt es ein Interview mit dem Gesandten des Dalai Lama in Deutschland, Keysan Gyaltsen.

Die Lage beschreibt er schon ziemlich drastisch, v.a. wenn man die dürftige Quellenlage zur Hand nimmt. "Das ganze Land ein großes Gefängnis"... Ist natürlich die Darstellung nur der einen Seite. Dennoch: man muss doch nicht das Land abschließen bzw. für ausländische Tibeter, die die Unabhängigkeit vertreten, unzugänglich machen. Ist ja schon so, als würde ihnen damit ein - ich möchte es mal "Menschenrecht" nennen, genommen, nämlich die Rückkehr in die Heimat. Stimmt schon, das passiert heute an leider viel zu vielen Orten. Auch kommt das Interview um einiges nüchterner und realistischer daher als so manche Partei-Propaganda.

Die Zeit hat schon etwas zynisches an sich. Lässt man sie durch Nichtstun verstreichen, löst sie manche Fragen wie von selbst. In einigen Jahren wird es die Debatte um den "Freiheitskampf der Tibeter", über das Wie und Wann, vielleicht gar nicht mehr geben. Tibet könnte dann so in die VR inkulturiert sein, dass die tibetische Kultur zu einem musealen Artefakt wird. Zwar wird dann hoffentlich Frieden herrschen, aber die Tibeter werden in ihrer Mehrzahl wohl Chinesen sein. Da können die einzelnen Personen vor Ort natürlich nichts für.

Ich mache mir bloß gerade Gedanken, über welch extraordinäre Macht das Modell des "Nationalstaates" eigentlich verfügt, wenn es Legitimation für Besetzung, Ausübung von Vorherrschaft, Bildung einer einheitlichen "nationalen" Kultur werden kann. Ohne dass es als historisches Produkt hinterfragt würde! Es gibt keine real existierenden Grenzen (von einigen natürlichen mal abgesehen), sie sind nur künstlich von uns gezogen. Ich habe beim Schreiben einer Hausarbeit über die Vormacht des "Staates" über "Religionen" (bei vorheriger "säkularer" Trennung der beiden "Bereiche") reflektiert, doch das gleiche ließe sich auch von "Kulturen" oder "Ethnien" sagen. Dieses Modell des modernen Nationalstaates hat uns, der Erdbevölkerung, viel Leid und Zwietracht gebracht. Vielleicht gehört es deswegen in die Schublade der (postmodernen) Geschichte.

Wenn Kinder das Sagen hätten...

2009-03-08T17:33:00.006+01:00

Kinder drücken meist direkt und ehrlich das aus, was sie denken. Was läge also näher, als Kinder zu den Themen zu Wort kommen zu lassen, die so klar und einfach beantwortet werden können, über die wir uns jedoch böse die Köpfe zerbrechen und manchmal sogar gegenseitig einschlagen würden...?

Surrender : Director: Tung-Wang Wu | Genre: Documentary | Produced In: 2004

Synopsis: SURRENDER is a documentary in which Taiwanese children of 4 to 8 years old talk about their views on surrendering to China. Asking children big questions sounds silly, and living under China's threat to Taiwan is no laughing matter. As in my other recent works, I explore the concept of reversal to provoke an accidental stream of unexplored thoughts and discover alternative perspectives on the conventional wisdom about social issues, in this case, China's constant threat to Taiwan.

Die hier interviewten hinreißenden Kinder leben auf Kinmen, der Insel direkt vor der Festlands-Küste, die aber zu Taiwan (resp. der Republik China) gehört. Infos über den Autoren, der 2004 mit "Surrender" auf dem Talent Campus der Berlinale vertreten war, hier.

Ich habe ein Weilchen hin und her überlegt, ob man Kinder unbedingt mit solchen Fragen konfrontieren muss... Und ich bin zu keinem Schluss gekommen. Warum sollte man ihnen nicht den Verstand zutrauen, auch mit solch heiklen Dingen umzugehen?

Dann wiederum drücken Kinder oft genug genau das aus, was sie in ihrem sozialen Umfeld tagtäglich zu hören und sehen bekommen. Mit diesem Gedanken im Hinterkopf können wir durchaus Schlüsse aus den Aussagen der Kinder ziehen... In Taiwan wird auch in der nächsten Generation kein "chinesisches" Bewusstsein entstehen, sondern sich der statistisch schon nachgewiesene Trend fortsetzen, sich distinkt, artikuliert und selbstbewusst als "Taiwaner" zu identifizieren.

Was mir nicht gefällt, ist dieser nationalistische Unterton bei allem und jedem, was das Verhältnis zwischen Taiwan und China anbetrifft. Ist verstärkter Nationalismus eine Form der Kompensation für die nicht gewährte Anerkennung dessen, was im Gefühl schon lange Realität ist, nämlich ein de jure anerkannter taiwanischer Staat? Ist der Nationalismus eine natürliche Reaktion auf die Drohung des "Anderen", sich der mühsam erkämpften Rechte und Freiheiten zu bemächtigen? Eine Trotzreaktion, die durch die so unverhältnismäßige machtpolitische Unterlegenheit einer kleinen Insel gegenüber dem Kontinent-gleichen China nur noch gesteigert wird?

Hier noch ein zweiter Eindruck des Regisseurs, Wu Tung-wang:

the sound for now - my playlist feb. 2009

2009-03-03T13:03:00.005+01:00

Zeit für ein wenig Leben hier...

Was folgt, ist ein kurzer Einblick in die Musik, die mich diesen Monat am Laufen und Leben und meine Abspiel-Software am Rotieren hielt - die Alben sind in keiner spezifischen Reihenfolge aufgelistet, sondern stimmungsabhängig zu genießen. Abwechslung ist die Kunst, und dies ist bei weitem keine neue Einsicht!

Thursday - Common Existence(Epitaph 2009)

Thursdays "Full Collapse" (2001) war eines jener musikalischen Erlebnisse, die meine Jugend formten. Es ist noch heute einmalig in seiner Intensität und Leidenschaft. Zumindest in Europa war es damals auch überhaupt kein Problem, zu seinen Gefühlen zu stehen und somit "Emo" zu sein. Das ist mittlerweile wohl anders. Zum Glück war Emo für mich nie eine Art, wie man seinen Scheitel und die Jeans trägt... "Common Existence" ist natürlich kein zweites "Full Collapse", und auch wenn es eine Zeit gab, in der ich mir nichts sehnlicher gewünscht hätte als das ("War all the Time" war schon eine Enttäuschung!), funktionieren Thursday mittlerweile um einiges besser als auf ihren letzten Alben. Es scheint wirklich so, dass der Labelwechsel zu Epitaph und eine wait and see-Einstellung Wunder gewirkt haben. Natürlich gibt es technisch anspruchsvollere Kapellen, doch das etwas postrockigere Gewand steht Thursday ausgesprochen gut. Die oft angeführten Envy-Referenzen aufgrund einer gemeinsamen EP (, die übrigens relativ schwach ausfiel, was aber v.a. an den heute so zahnlosen Japanern von Envy lag) kann ich nun nicht wirklich ausmachen, Thursday bleiben auch aufgrund der stimmlichen Präsenz Geoff Rickleys immer noch Thursday. Sie werden zum Ende von "Common Existence" hin zunehmend ruhiger und ich ertappe mich dabei, die Musik nur noch im Hintergrund zu verfolgen, während meine Aufmerksamkeit sich anderen Dingen zuwendet. Das zumindest wäre anno 2001 nicht vorgekommen. Ich werde wohl gleich noch einmal "Full Collapse" hervorkramen; Eine solche Atmosphäre, die mit einem Intro aufnimmt und einem Outro wieder in die normale Welt entlässt, ist einmalig! Samt der großartigen Steigerung "Autobiography of a Nation", dem emotionalen Wechselbad "Paris in Flames" und dem zu Tränen rührenden Schlussakt in "How Long is the Night?".

Anspieltipps hier: Tracks 1-4 zur Eingewöhnung und dann den Rest durchhören!

Gifts From Enola - Loyal Eyes Betrayed the Mind (Mylene Sheath 2006)

Es ist wie ein Traum.

Ich wandere über sanften Boden. Das Gras ist nass, ich spüre es an meinen nackten Füßen, die hinüber schweben, obwohl doch Winter ist und nur welkes Gras aus dem letzten Jahr auf Wiederbelebung wartet. Von rechts summt eine Melodie heran, eine Gitarre verfängt sich im Delay ihres stark rhythmisierten Metalriffes, wird von einer zweiten Melodie verfolgt und geht in einen himmlischen Basslauf über, nur um sich direkt im Anschluss in noch gewaltigere Höhen zu schrauben, mit einer absolut gewaltigen und dennoch klaren Verzerrung. Ein sphärisches Zwischenstück lässt unseren Traum sanft ausklingen. Und das in nur einem Stück.

Gifts From Enola spielen instrumentalen Postrock. Das ist soweit nichts Neues und gerade mächtig in Mode, möchte man kritisch anmerken. Der Unterschied aber liegt darin, dass sie uns genau das geben, was wir uns immer gewünscht haben: Neben all diesen wundervollen atmosphärischen und verträumten Parts, zu denen man einfach nur mit offenem Mund staunen kann und Tränen ob ihrer verschwenderischen Schönheit vergießen möchte, können Gifts From Enola nämlich auch noch richtig geil rocken! Ich bin versucht zu sagen, genau das hat in diesem Genre bisher gefehlt... Nur dass jetzt ja nicht Zehntausend auf den Gedanken kommen, genau das nachmachen zu wollen!

Ist besser als Caspian oder Russian Circles, die ich in letzter Zeit angebetet habe. Ein Stück Musik gewordene Schönheit, wie sie in Worten nicht auszudrücken ist.

Anspieltipps: Track 1 "Behind Curtains Closing" gibt die Richtung wie in Abstract-Form optimal vor. Zum Glück gehen hernach die Ideen nicht aus. "In the Company of Others" (Track 3) wäre aufgrund seines musikalischen Abwechslungsreichtum einem jeden Musikliebhaber ans Herz zu legen. Wundervolle Leads! Das Delay bei dieser hohen Verzerrung mit einer trocken verzerrten Stakkato-Rhythmusgitarre rockt ohne Ende! Dann kommt eine atmosphärische, elektronisch aufgebügelte Ruhepause, die aber nicht von langer Dauer ist. Gifts From Enola schaffen es glücklicherweise, Stimmungen auf- und abzubauen, mit "Screaming at Anything That Moved" als heimlichem Höhepunkt (Track 7). Absolut umwerfend!

PS: Die Band gibt es erst seit etwa drei Jahren. Wer nach zusätzlichem Stoff sucht, sei auf die ebenfalls geniale Split mit You May Die in the Desert verwiesen.

The Fall of Troy - Phantom on the Horizon EP (Equal Vision 2008)

Ein hässliches Plattencover soll uns nicht davon abhalten, diese 37-Minuten-EP zu unseren neuen Lieblingen hinzuzufügen...

Das Thema des musikalischen Reifungsprozesses dieses Autoren wurde oben bereits zur Genüge ausgewalzt. Ausgelassen wurde jedoch, welche Rolle the Fall of Troy in diesem Prozess spielten. Diese drei verrückten Jungspunde öffneten Augen! Dass so etwas möglich ist, wer hätte das schon gedacht... Astreinen Psychedelic Rock mit heiserem Gekeife und aberwitziger Arbeit an den Instrumenten zu kombinieren und dabei Momente von musikalischer Erhabenheit zu erschaffen, die unter Drogeneinsatz zu begehbaren Landschaften in 3D mutieren...

"Doppelgänger", das Zweitlingswerk von 2005, ist die Referenz für diese Truppe und wird es immer bleiben. Auch diese EP reicht nicht an die Klasse der einzelnen Songs von damals heran, doch ist auch das Konzept ein anderes. Hier wird mehr im Zusammenhang gebaut und die Grenzen zwischen den Songs sind mehr den Konventionen unserer Hörgewohnheiten geschuldet, bzw. um dem Werk des gebührenden opulenten Rahmen in 5 Kapiteln zu gewähren.

Langsam quält sich die EP in "Introverting Dimensions" hinein, wobei selbst im Intro eindeutig die einmalige Federführung dieser Band heraussticht (oder liegt das daran, dass ich es nun zu oft gehört habe und selbst die Dimensionen von Wahrheit und Traum kreativ miteinander kombiniere, in mehreren Bewusstseinsebenen wandele, was insofern bedeutungslos ist als es sich hier sowieso um eine rein subjektive Betrachtung handelt...). Doch schon am Ende von Chapter I blitzt das Können von the Fall of Troy in einer Hingabe von Ohrwurm auf! Bloß um dann in "Chapter II: A Strange Conversation" in einen Hit von wiedergewonnener Güte zu münden. Das letzte Studio-Album "Manipulator" hatte leider viel zu wenig von dieser inneren Kohärenz zu bieten. Die Ähnlichkeit mit den Frühwerken der Band kommt nicht von ungefähr, ist "Phantom on the Horizon" doch ein Re-Release der "Ghostship EP" von 2004. Es bleibt die Hoffnung, dass es dennoch ein Fingerzeig in die weitere Richtung dieser verrückten Barden sein wird. The Fall of Troy ist wohl das Paradebeispiel einer "Post"-Hardcore-Band, in dem Sinne, wie sie die Genregrenzen transzendiert und die Wälle einreißt, die unsere säuberlich formulierten Bewusstseinsschranken bisher erhielten. Dabei waren die Protagonisten zum erstmaligen Erscheinen der EP 2004 gerade mal Knaben von 19 Jahren! Ein Ausbund an irrwitziger Kreativität! Und das Grandiose ist vielleicht sogar, dass all die technischen Raffinesse nicht etwa die Atmosphäre leiden lässt, sondern sie vielmehr befördert. (Thomas Erak wurde 2007 von Alternative Press zum "Guitarist of the Year" erhoben.) Dabei gebe ich bereitwillig zu, dass diese Sorte Musik ein Stück Einfühlungsvermögen voraussetzt.

Anspieltipps: Chapter II: A Strange Conversation, Chapter III: Nostalgic Mannerisms, und dann alles von vorne bis hinten durch am Stück. Kopfhörer-Pflicht und bitte keine Ablenkung!

Russian Circles - Station (Suicide Squeeze 2008)

Langsam bauen sich die Bilder auf. Ein Kinderreigen aus sonnigen Melodien, zwei verträumte Gitarren, beim Tanz ineinander versponnen. Die Atmosphäre verdüstert sich kaum merklich und mündet in Lied zwei in ein dunkles Stakkato-Gewitter, gefolgt von Wällen übereinander gelagerter Akkorde. Nach einem weiteren Lead beruhigt sich die Landschaft wieder. Noch ist sie sich aber nicht ganz sicher. Die Vorsicht ist spürbar. Immer wieder lugt eine schlecht getarnte aggressive Miene hervor.

Und nochmal instrumentaler Post-Rock. Obwohl sie durchaus zu fesseln vermögen, sind Russian Circles aus Chicago jedoch nicht so abwechslungsreich und rhythmisch vielseitig angelegt wie Gifts From Enola. Doch auch sie vermengen ihre lieblichen akustischen Melodien immer wieder mit Ecken und Kanten und metallenen Riffs. Ein ideales Album zum Spaziergang durch einen erwachenden Frühlingswald ebenso wie im Herbst. Ihr Problem ist vielleicht, dass es mittlerweile zu viele dieser instrumentalen Rockbands gibt und sich auch das Niveau insgesamt steigert. Doch gehören Russian Circles eindeutig zu den besseren und sind insbesondere für jene zu empfehlen, die sich ein bisschen Muskeln in diesem Genre wünschen und nicht den "Schöne-Melodien-hoch-und-runter"-Einerlei. Songstrukturen werden aufgebrochen und wieder aufgenommen. Den Sog, den viele ihrer Kollegen erzeugen, streben Russian Circles nicht vordergründig an. Vielleicht entsteht er gerade deswegen aber doch. Nächsten Monat werde ich mich eingehender dem Vorgänger "Enter" widmen.

Anspieltipps: Und dann gibt es doch immer wieder diese genialischen Momente, wie sie gerade genau in der Mitte von Track 4: Verses auftauchen. Ein Ohrwurm von filigraner Gitarrenmelodie, der sich mit seinem ganzen Hall direkt festhakt und natürlich in eine schöne Steigerung übergeht. Das soll nicht negativ klingen! Für diese Art von Musik braucht es meiner Ansicht nach noch gar keine Innovation. Das funktioniert bestens so! Zum Vergleich seien hier Caspian, Mono, Pelican genannt (oft wird daneben noch Isis genannt). Track 6: Xavii besticht durch seine ruhige, unwiderstehliche Schönheit.

Heaven in Her Arms - Erosion of the Black Speckle (Liberation of Butterfly 2007)

So, und nun ein richtiger "take it or leave it"-Kandidat...

Wer sich einmal an das etwas gewöhnungsbedürftige Gekeife des Frontmannes gewöhnt hat, wird aber mit Momenten einmaliger Schönheit belohnt, die er fortan nicht mehr missen will. Heaven in Her Arms kommen aus Japan und das gibt die Richtung ganz gut vor, klingen sich schließlich wirklich wie die Proberaumnachbarn der Hardcore-Heroen Envy. Und auch Heaven in Her Arms wissen treibenden Screamo gekonnt mit Post-Rock zu verknüpfen, hier wechselt sich Mid-Tempo Hardcore zuweilen mit kurzen Kloppereien und sphärischen Elegien ab. Nach den letzten Enttäuschungen aus dem Hause Envy muss man wohl sogar sagen, dass Heaven in Her Arms ihnen mittlerweile den Schneid abkaufen.

Diese fleißigen Jungs haben übrigens ein paar Kostproben ihrer im Februar 2009 erschienen EP bei myspace online gestellt und meine Ohren damit so richtig eingefangen. Da lässt noch einiges auf sich warten!

Anspieltipps: Track 3: Intersection Arrangement, das sphärische Zwischenstück, und direkter Übergang in das repräsentative Track 4: Iron Wine and a Canary (Schon Envy fielen ja durch ihre wahnsinnig coolen Liedtitel auf - welche Wörterbücher benutzen die Japaner denn bitte?). Gemeinsam mit Envy sind auch diese genialen, in den Akkorden verborgenen Melodiebögen und Dur-Moll-Wechsel. Track 6: Correlative Sign und natürlich der epische Schlussakt Track 12: Erosion of the Black Speckle.

Five Minute Ride - The World Needs Convincing of All That It's Missing EP (Rise Records 2005)

Unglaubliche Power strömt da aus den Boxen! Das Schlagzeug jagt uns vor sich her, die Gitarren heulen wie Sirenen auf im Inferno und eine verzweifelte Stimme läutet mit "No one accepts you..." einen geschrienen Refrain ein. Von all der bodenlosen Ignoranz der Welt geplagt, bleibt uns nur dieser Ausweg, all unsere Wut aus uns heraus zu schreien. Keine Frage, das ist und war zum Zeitpunkt des Erscheinens nicht neu. Man tütet das heutzutage wohl schon unter "Emo" ein. Dabei machen Five Minute Ride so richtig Spaß, besonders, wenn man sie richtig laut dreht. Dann kommt die grandiose Rhythmusarbeit in Kombination mit ineinander verwickelten Leadgitarren so richtig zum Tragen. Plus natürlich diese sich überschlagende Stimme, die so gar keinen kalt lassen kann.

Keinen Reim machen konnte ich mir auf die Frage, ob die Band sich schon vor Jahren aufgelöst hat oder doch noch existiert, denn es scheint, als seien sie vom Hardcore-Giganten Victory Records gesignt. Andererseits gibt es seit Jahren kein Lebenszeichen. Das könnte eventuell daran liegen, dass Leadgitarrist Alex Poole im August 2003 an einer unbekannten bakteriellen Infektion starb. Schade wäre es schon, denn hier lag unglaubliches Potential vor. Ähnlichkeiten bestehen meiner Meinung nach zu Clarity Process und in ihrer unheimlichen Energie eventuell sogar zu The Fall of Troy.

Anspieltipps: Track 2: The Rapture Was Yesterday, Track 4: Sinking Conscience, Track 6: Oh, These Woeful Days (großartige Gitarrenlicks!)

Short Poem

2009-01-30T14:37:00.000+01:00

Original Temptation was delivered from Evil through the Eyes of Madness.
I stood remote and watched them pray for Egg-shaped Lungs of Salt.
And then two Thirds flew by an ease of mild-tempered Summer Swing
– APOKALYPSE!
But the kids went to rock on…
To my personal Hall of Fame,
climbing Steam to lay Claim to their Frame of Stains,
Stairway down Subconsiousness, Pawn of Maliciousness
bear me Witness - oh this Prowess! - I dare you Fucker Druglord!
I’ll stitch you Needles and Poison down your Vein!
None will trace thy Reign, Fucker,
and nothing is to soothe the Pain!

Police forces end to nonviolent student sit-ins in Taipei!

2008-12-11T22:03:00.001+01:00

Timing couldn't have been more ironic:
In the night after the 60-year declaration of universal human rights on December 10, at around 3 to 4 a.m., the expressedly non-violent student protesters of the Wild Strawberry Movement were forced by the police to leave their home for one month, Liberty Square (the former CKS Memorial Hall). This move made President Ma's speech of the day look awkward:

"Thanks to the government's continued efforts to uphold human rights, Taiwan has now become "the world's freest country" in terms of the people's right to assembly, which [Ma] said was very well demonstrated by several protests at the ceremony in support of a variety of causes."

This is what a friend from Taiwan wrote:

http://www.ocot.tw/blog/archives/1034

這是現場的影片..
我前一天在那裡睡覺..我們的家沒了....!12/10是世界人權日...三小時之後..大約半夜3點多..警察來把現場的西藏人(8號那天...西藏的人開始靜坐)...他們先把西藏人帶走..再來是我們!!他們說...因為我們幫助西藏的人...所以也要把我們趕走...!!我很難過...台灣的人權...慢慢被流失!!!

Note also that the eviction fell right into a time when plans for a more coordinated collaboration with Tibetan activists (e.g. for inviting the Dalai Lama to Taiwan) were being mulled over. My friend explicitly says that the reason policemen stated for evicting the students was "helping the Tibetans".
I am not sure whether anyone anticipated a move like that at the moment. But sad it is, indeed. I feel like it should be clear for everybody to see what this government is trying to accomplish, only that media in the west go out of their way to stress its "pragmatism" towards China and not mention hell about what is happening bit by bit: the vanishing of what used to be one of the worlds premier democratisation processes, a prime example for political theory until just recently. And this is truely sad, especially with the symbolic date serving as symbolic background. I'm confused whether Ma did it purposedly right then. Since actions speak louder than words, their symbolic meaning are crashing his smooth rhetoric, and this is frightening.
What else can you do when there is no opposition left? Presidency, Government, Police and Military, and a huge part of the media are working hand in hand with the ruling party to re-establish the one-party state of old. This is what I fear.
And it will have an impact on democratisation processes around the world.

What the Wild Strawberry Movement reminds me of

2008-12-07T18:49:00.000+01:00

I have once had bright hopes that I could actually be witnessing a politics-changing movement. That was back in 2003, when we demonstrated against the war in Iraq on every Monday for about 7 weeks or so. At high, there were around 45,000 people participating in Leipzig only. But somehow, we grew tired, and our spirits faded. After all, you could see less and less people coming to our Monday's demonstrations. Sometimes, I wonder if at least we could change the hearts of those who walked with us. If no change in policy-making was possible, this would be some success already. But ever since, I did not see people change their behaviour. Maybe changes take their time.

Next occasion were our student protests against the introduction of study fees in Germany in the Winter of 2003/04. Those were pretty effective, since we up to date have no regular fees in Saxony. We even boycotted the university for one whole term, creating our own seminars in public places etc. That would be a great thing to see in Taiwan, too! We found a lot of friends and like-minded people those days, and we became creative in every way. Somehow, this transcended our normal form of existence as being the weakest part of the line that makes up the system of university education. However - this is almost 5 years past now, and I still see some of my fellow protesters around (it was my first term back then), and we share a special common bandage. But everyone needed to move on and get back to their studies, too. University politics are too difficult to handle just as bypart to continuing a regular student life.
I am still waiting for the next opportunity to try and change the system again. Meanwhile, I pray (not literally) for every other student movement that tries that way. I would like to be part of it. I wish you all the power and energy it takes.
It is important that you continue your movement. Who else will?

Ma doesn't want the Dalai Lama in Taiwan...

2008-12-07T18:17:00.000+01:00

...but that doesn't mean that he won't come, does it?
Ma's rebuff of the Dalai Lama coming to Taiwan is good news because:
It will enhance international attention to what is happening in Taiwan. In his inauguration speech, Ma welcomed the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan anytime. Now, Taiwan students and NGOs are thinking about inviting him on their behalf.
According to Lynn Miles, fighting for democracy and human rights in Taiwan since the 70s, this is the way politics should be done by the people:

People! This is what we must all be doing -- taking the movement to the people. People-to-people connections, once consumated, can put an end to this tired, year-in-and-year out chasing after corrupt politicians who are already in someone else's pocket long before we even get past their secretaries.

Wild Strawberries offers us an excellent opportuunity to do this people-to-people grassroots work. Student organizations should be at the top of our list, and human rights NGOs, and so on.

Governments do not speak in the name of the people they are supposed to represent. When it comes to this, evidence can be found in the matter on Taiwan:

Consider this. Virtually all of the world's peoples outside of China recognize Taiwan as a country. Go anywhere in the world and if someone asks you what country you are from, and you say "Taiwan," that is the end of the matter. Pure and simple. So what you have is the people of the world recognizing Taiwan, on the one hand, while their governments do not recognize Taiwan on the other. How then can we call them democracies? They have all been corrupted by the big-money power!

That is why we need to change things on our own! For if we want to see things change, we need to be the change we want to see!

International Scholars' Open Letter, Responding to Taiwan's Justice Minister

2008-12-07T18:07:00.001+01:00

Open Letter no. 2 was published in the Taipei Times on 2 December:

The Formosan Association for Public Affairs

552 7^th Street. SE. Washington, DC 20003

Support Democracy, Support Taiwan.

For Immediate Release
December 2, 2008, 2008
Contact: Iris Ho at 202.547.3686

On Friday November 28^th a group of prominent international scholars and writers sent an open letter to Taiwan's Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng, expressing continued concern about political arrests and detentions in Taiwan. The group was responding to an open letter from the Minister, which was published in the Taipei Times on Tuesday, November 25^th.

In the response, the scholars and writers stated: "Based on the information available to us, however, we remain concerned about choices made by prosecutors in applying existing legal authority and strongly believe in the need for reform." The letter went on to detail concerns about "preventive detention", detention without formal charges, the absence of lawyer-client confidentiality, leaks by prosecutors to the press, and political bias in the judicial system.

The scholars and writers expressed fear that the current judicial procedures being used in Taiwan is endangering the country's democratization, and is damaging the goodwill that Taiwan has developed internationally. They concluded by expressing the hope and expectation that Taiwan's government will quickly correct the present injustices, and move towards reform of the judicial system.

-----------------------------------------------

November 28^th 2008

The Honorable Wang Ching-feng

Minister of Justice

130 Chung-Ching S. Rd, Sec 1

Taipei, Taiwan

Dear Minister Wang,

In an open letter to the Taipei Times, published on November 25th 2008, you responded to our joint statement regarding the erosion of justice in Taiwan. We appreciate your acknowledgement of the sincerity of our concerns, and are grateful to receive a prompt and serious reply. Based on the information available to us, however, we remain concerned about choices made by prosecutors in applying existing legal authority and strongly believe in the need for reform. Please allow us to highlight a number of specific points:

1. The procedure of "preventive detention." This procedure is obviously intended for serious criminal cases in which the suspect is likely to flee the country. In his November 13^th article in the South China Morning Post, Professor Jerome Cohen states that "it ought to be invoked rarely."

Yet, during the past weeks, it has been used across the board, and it has been used only against present and former members of the DPP government. This casts severe doubts on the impartiality of the judicial system. We also wish to point out that the people involved were detained under deplorable circumstances, and that they were not even allowed to see relatives.

2. The open letter contains the argument that when they were detained, the present and former DPP government officials "were all informed of the charges that had been brought against them." This is simply not correct: when they were detained, they were subject to lengthy interrogations – in some cases for up to 20 hours – which bore the character of a "fishing expedition", and do not represent a formal indictment in any legal sense. In most cases the prosecutors had had months of time to collect information: if they did have sufficient evidence of wrong-doing, they should formally have charged the persons and let them have their day in a scrupulously impartial court of law. That would be the desirable procedure under the rule of law in a democratic society.

3. The open letter also states that the persons involved had "the right and ability to communicate with their attorneys to seek legal assistance." It neglects to mention that in all cases where people were detained, the discussions with the lawyers were recorded and videotaped, while a guard took notes. This information was then immediately transmitted to the respective prosecutors. We don't need to point out that this is a grave infringement on international norms regarding the lawyer-client privilege, and makes mounting an adequate defense problematic at best.

4. On the issue of leaks to the press, the letter states that under the Code of Criminal Procedure information on ongoing investigations can only be disclosed by spokespersons of the prosecutor's offices and that unauthorized disclosure is subject to criminal prosecution. The fact of the matter is that during the past weeks, the media has been filled with information on the ongoing investigations which could only have come from the prosecutors. We may point out one example, but there are numerous others:

Only a few hours after former Foreign Minister Mark Chen was questioned on November 3^rd, the Apple Daily (a local tabloid) ran an article that "the prosecutors are thinking of charging Dr. Chen in relation to the case."

The issue of violation of the principle of secret investigation was also raised by Shih Lin District Court Judge Hung Ing-hua, who strongly criticized the present situation and procedures followed by your Ministry in an article in the Liberty Times on November 17^th 2008.

We may also mention that we find it highly peculiar that no steps whatsoever have been taken against the various prosecutors who leaked information, while we just learned that the Ministry of Justice is now taking steps against Mr. Cheng Wen-long, the lawyer for former President Chen Shui-bian, who presumably "leaked" information to the press. The Ministry sent a formal request to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office asking the office to investigate and prosecute, and also sent a formal request to Taiwan Lawyer's Association and asked the association to review the case and see whether Cheng should have his license revoked.

It is our understanding that the statements Mr. Cheng made were in relation to former President Chen's views on Taiwan's situation and its future, and an expression of love for his wife, but did not have any bearing on the case against him. We hope you realize that if the Ministry proceeds along these lines, this will be perceived as a direct confirmation of the strong political bias of the judicial system.

5. The letter states that it is untrue that Taiwan's judicial system is susceptible to political manipulation. If this is the case, how can it be explained that in the past weeks, only DPP officials have been detained and given inhumane treatment such as handcuffing and lengthy questioning, while obvious cases of corruption by members of the KMT – including in the Legislative Yuan -- are left untouched by the prosecutors or at best stalled in the judicial process?

We may also refer to expressions of concern by Prof. Jerome Cohen and by lawyer Nigel Li, who expressed his deep concerns about the preventive detentions in an editorial in the China Times on November 9^th 2008. In his editorial, Mr. Li praised the remarks made by prosecutor Chen Rui-ren, who was part of the legal team prosecuting the special fund cases, that the prosecutors' offices should "avoid the appearance of targeting only one particular political group."

The fact that the Special Investigation Task Force was set up under the DPP Administration or that the prosecutor general was nominated by President Chen is not at issue here. The problem is that the present system is being used in a very partial fashion.

We may add that the fact that you yourself have publicly discussed the content of the cases does create a serious imbalance in the playing field, and undermines the basic dictum that a person should be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Under the present circumstances it is hard to see how the persons involved – including former President Chen Shui-bian – can have a fair trial in Taiwan.

6. Lastly, the statement by the US State Department is interpreted in the letter as an "endorsement" of Taiwan's legal system and the procedures followed. It should be noted that in international diplomatic language, the term "we have every expectation" means "we are concerned and we will watch the situation closely."

For the past two decades, Taiwan has faced a difficult situation internationally. What has given Taiwan important credibility in democratic countries around the world has been its democratization. We fear that the current judicial procedures being used in Taiwan endanger this democratization, and endanger the goodwill that Taiwan has developed internationally.

In conclusion: we do remain deeply disturbed by the erosion of justice in Taiwan, and express the sincere hope and expectation that your government will maintain fair and impartial judicial practices and quickly correct the present injustices. As an editorial in the November 20^th issue of the London-based Economist indicated, Taiwan is "hungry for justice", and we also hope that your government will be willing to initiate judicial reform which would move Taiwan towards a fully fair and impartial judicial system which earns the respect and admiration from other democratic countries around the world.

Respectfully yours,

Signatories of the November 4^th Joint Statement

Nat Bellocchi, former Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan
Coen Blaauw, Formosan Association for Public Affairs, Washington DC
Stéphane Corcuff, Associate Professor of Political Science, China and Taiwan Studies, University of Lyon, France
Gordon G. Chang, author, "The Coming Collapse of China."
David Curtis Wright, Associate Professor of History, University of Calgary
June Teufel Dreyer, Professor of Political Science, University of Miami, Florida
Edward Friedman, Professor of Political Science and East Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Mark Harrison, Senior Lecturer, Head of Chinese School of Asian Languages and Studies, University of Tasmania, , Australia
Bruce Jacobs, Professor of Asian Languages and Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Richard C. Kagan, Professor Emeritus of History, Hamline University, St. Paul Minnesota
Jerome F. Keating, Associate Professor, National Taipei University (Ret.). Author, "Island in the Stream, a quick case study of Taiwan's complex history" and other works on Taiwan
Daniel Lynch, Associate Professor, School of International Relations, University of Southern California
Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania
Donald Rodgers, Associate Professor of Political Science, Austin College, Texas
Terence Russell, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Manitoba
Scott Simon, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa
Michael Stainton, York Center for Asia Research, Toronto
Peter Tague, Professor of Law, Georgetown University
John J. Tkacik Jr., Senior Research Fellow, The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC
Vincent Wei-cheng Wang, Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond, Virginia
Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
Gerrit van der Wees, Editor Taiwan Communiqué, Washington DC
Stephen Yates, President of DC Asia Advisory and former Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs

AI urging Taiwan Police to avoid using force at protests

2008-12-07T18:00:00.000+01:00

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT

AI Index No: ASA 38/001/2008

3 December 2008

Taiwan: Police should avoid using excessive force at upcoming protests

Amnesty International has urged Taiwan's police force to comply with international guidelines on the use of force and crowd control at the planned student protests on Sunday 7 December.

The organization also joins calls for the Control Yuan, the body mandated by the Taiwan Constitution with supervisory power over the Executive branch, to conduct an independent inquiry into alleged excessive police force during November's protests.

The Wild Strawberry Student Movement has staged sit-ins since 6 November to protest against what they consider the use of excessive force during the Taiwan visit of Chen Yunlin, chairman of the China-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait. Civil society groups in Taiwan are investigating multiple claims that individuals suffered head injuries and broken fingers at the hands of police during the protests.

According to police reports on 8 November, approximately 10,000 police officers had been deployed during Chen's visit; 149 police officers and 200-300 individuals were injured; 18 were arrested.

Taiwanese civil society groups claim that police have applied the Assembly and Parade Law arbitrarily to silence dissent. According to the students' spokesperson, they will not seek police approval, as required by the law, but will only "report" their plans to law enforcement authorities, in line with amendments advocated by the Movement.

The Movement is organizing the protest on Sunday 7 December to criticize the government's failure to amend the Assembly and Parade Law.

Amnesty International said Taiwan's Control Yuan should address the serious concerns raised by civil society in Taiwan and the government should cease the practice of using the Assembly and Parade Law to deny freedom of assembly and allow individuals to protest peacefully. Amnesty International also called on Taiwanese police and judicial authorities to ensure that they investigate any protesters accused of engaging in violence in a fair, transparent, and timely manner in compliance with international standards.

Background

On 3-7 November 2008, Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, led a 60-member delegation from the People's Republic of China to visit Taiwan and meet with President Ma Ying-jeou.

The police barred protesters displaying Taiwanese and Tibetan flags and anti-China slogans along the routes taken by the envoy and confiscated or damaged some of these items. The police also closed a shop near the hotel where Chen Yunlin had dinner with Kuomintang honorary chairman Lien Chan when the shop loudly broadcast music from an album titled 'Songs of Taiwan'.

There were additional reports of arbitrary detention and police brutality, some of which, according to the police, were in response to the violence of protesters.

Following the visit, hundreds of students have staged sit-ins across Taiwan protesting the police's handling of the protests and demanding amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law, which has been misused to prevent protests.

On 6 November the students started their sit-ins outside the offices of the Executive Yuan or (Executive branch), where they were eventually removed by police on the grounds of illegal assembly. They continued the sit-ins at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall and organized a daily demonstration calling for immediate amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law, apologies from the president and head of government and the resignations of the heads of the police and national security.

On 18 November Taipei police announced a list of 66 "troublemakers", who had allegedly thrown gas bombs and stones at the police and spat at the Taichung mayor. There were also reports that the police had pressured journalists and their supervisors to hand over video tapes to identify suspects who allegedly took part in the violence.

END/

Public Document

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK

www.amnesty.org

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGASA380012008

Strawberries Going Wild

2008-12-02T23:09:00.000+01:00

(History:)
Protesting the exaggerated and inappropriate actions taken by the Ma administration while hosting Chinese cross-straits envoy Chen Yunlin in Taiwan (huge police forces blocking protesters from coming any close to where the envoy met with high Taiwanese politicians, use of violence by the police forces, ban on showing ROC- and Tibetan flags, imprisonment of leading opposition politicians, etc.), has led Taiwan's students circa one month ago to form the "Wild Strawberries Movement". The movement has groups in six cities: Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Hsinchu, Chiayi, and Taichung. Their means is peaceful protest, most profoundly do they wish to hold out in a sit-in strike to pressure politicians to take on democracy and the people they represent more seriously. In the media, the Wild Strawberries have been misrepresented from the beginning, in what resembles a campaign to denounce their political engagement as being led by the opposition (i.e., the DPP) - despite their ever-repeated party neutrality and criticism towards all established parties. The KMT and pan-blue media here show just exactly the same will to manipulate public opinion and generate deep polarisation in between the people as they criticized the former Chen administration of.

This is the homepage: http://taiwanstudentmovement2008.blogspot.com/

(The Name:)
Their name seems deliberately chosen, for the young generation in Taiwan is somewhat pejoratively being called "strawberries" often (since they are said to be spoiled and unable to bear any sort of stress). Now Taiwan's students try to show that they have well recognised the signs of the present happenings: The fear that Taiwan's democratic environment and human rights situation might soon deteriorate (if they have not already).

(Aims:)
The Wild Strawberries have urged President Ma and Prime Minister Liou to apologize for the actions taken by government and police during the time of the Chen-visit to Taiwan. They also ask the directors of National Police Agency and National Security Bureau, respectively, to step down from their offices, and for the law concerning the right to assemble (dating from Martial Law times and strictly restricting such assemblings) to be revised by the Legislative Yuan.
I hope for the Berries-Students to be at least as successfull as their predecessors who were protesting in 1990, one year after the CCP had crushed a student revolt so profundly and suddenly. In 1990, the KMT didn't dare take such action against peacefully demonstrating students. Eventually, the students' protests paved the way for ameliorating the constitution, being another stone on the way that led to democratisation. Only, our fear is that Ma will play on time and wait until the protesters spirit has vanished, so to refrain from any changes in his style of politics other than rhetoric (and his rhetoric being this and that, anyway).

A few days ago, they uploaded a video introducing their movement:

(The Future:)

To work against frustration (mostly deriving from being almost completely ignored by the government) and gather new spirit in working towards a change, the movement is about to set a new step:
On December 7th, they are going to rally a few thousand people (hopefully) to march towards the Presidental Office, in obvious violation of the old Law on Assembling and without a police permit. Thus they are hoping to enhance the political debate about revising the law. Whether or not police forces will crush the "illegal" demonstration will be of significant influence for the future of that law. This should be a way to evoke reaction by the government (to "coax them out of their shell"), in one way or another, and prevent the protests from dying from inactivity and idleness.

There is also a lot more brand new information on some English-speaking blogs in Taiwan, for instance on "the view from Taiwan" and "David on Formosa". Especially the Taipei Times had some nice editorials on the student protests (example). Don't forget the protesters website and their effort to keep it updated several times a day, all in English.

An English Statement can be found here.
On this occasion, Anti-Flag spontaneously springs to mind: "You can kill the protester, but you can't kill the protest! You can murder the rebell, but you can't murder the rebellion!"

All I can wish for is: May your protest be longlived and bright, may it bring about the change we want to see!

Following is their statement in German:

Protestiert Gegen Polizeibrutalitaet!! Verteidigt Freiheit und Menschenrecht. (Statment in German)
Angefangen am 3. November, mit dem Besuch von Chen Yunlin, hat die Polizei zahlreiche Aktionen gegen Demonstranten durchgeführt, darunter die Beschlagnahmung und Zerstoerung von Eigentum, physische Gewalt, und sogar Verhaftungen. Die große Mehrheit der betroffenen Demonstranten befand sich nicht einmal in der Nähe von Chen Yunlin.

Durch Berichte in den Medien haben wir den Ernst der Situation erkannt. Es geht nicht nur um Details bei der Strafverfolgung, noch handelt es sich einfach um einen Konflikt zwischen Anhaengern verschiedener politischer Parteien. Es geht vielmehr um Polizeigewalt, die vom Staat gefördert wird und die die Zivilgesellschaft beschaedigt.

Alle diese Aktionen, die Menschenrechte und demokratische Werte ignorieren, erinnern an das Kriegsrecht. Aber der Premier Liu weicht seiner Verantwortung mit unklaren Entschuldigungen aus. Diese Reaktionen der Regierung empören und beschaemen uns.

Wir fragen uns: Muss Taiwan seine Standards bei Freiheit und Demokratie bis auf das Niveau von China senken, um mit China wirtschaftlich kooperieren zu können?

Innerhalb weniger Tage sind Freiheit und Demokratie, für die die Taiwanesen so hart gekaempft haben, durch die Polizeiaktionen ernsthaft beschaedigt worden. Unsere Regierung ignoriert dies und veranstaltet stattdessen Empfaenge und Bankette für den Gast aus China.

Wir sind eine Gruppe von Universitaetsprofessoren, Studenten, und Bürgern, die sich Sorgen um die zukünftige Entwicklung Taiwans machen. Unser Protest ist überparteilich und unabhaengig von anderen politischen Organisationen.

Wir werden weiter friedlich demonstrieren, bis unsere Forderungen erfüllt werden. Unsere Forderungen sind:
*

Präident Ma Ying-Jeou und Premierminister Liu Chao-Shiuan müssen sich öffentlich bei allen Bürgern für die Vorkommnisse entschuldigen.
*

Der Generaldirektor der nationalen Polizei, Wang Cho-Chiun, und der Direktor der Staatssicherheitsbehörde, Tsai Chao-Ming, müssen zurücktreten.
*

Das Parlament muss das Versammlungsgesetz, das die Versammlungsfreiheit der Menschen einschränkt, revidieren.

amnesty international Taiwan - Small Places Tour

2008-11-25T11:04:00.001+01:00

Small Places Tour ist eine Kollaboration von amnesty international Taiwan 國際特赦組織台灣總會mit mehreren taiwanischen Bands, u.a. den Postrock-Heroen Sugarplum Ferry 甜梅號 und Aphasia 阿飛西雅, die im November und Dezember an verschiedenen Orten auf der Insel gemeinsame Auftritte organisieren, so z.B. in der bekannten Venue "The Wall" in Taipei. Angefangen worden ist diese weltweite Aktion meines Wissens übrigens von amnesty international Canada.

Nun hat eine der beteiligten Bands namens Echo 回聲樂團 ein Werbevideo für die Small Places Tour produziert, das wie ich finde auch hohen künstlerischen Ansprüchen genügt. Über die Musik kann man streiten, ist halt catchy Taiwan Pop/Rock.

International Scholars Concerned about Erosion of Taiwan's Justice

2008-11-06T22:29:00.000+01:00

This is severe. Quoting a statement that has been published on the Website of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs FAPA http://www.fapa.org/Ma%20administration/ScholarsJointStatement20081104.htm

and signed by almost any outstanding Taiwan researchers throughout the US, and some from Europe and Australia.

This development needs more public and media awareness! It may sound obscure, but all evidence indicates that it is time for us to stand up for Taiwanese Democracy. It is by no means secure from violation! Some information here: http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/

but look for more!

/jacob

For Immediate Release

November 4, 2008

Contact: Iris Ho

二十位國際學者與友人聯署發表聲明，憂心台灣司法不公

二十位國際學者與關心台灣的國際友人於今日發表聯署聲明，就近日一連串台灣政府不符合司法程序，收押與起訴民進黨政府官員的舉動，表示高度關心與憂心。這份共同聲明也於今日寄送司法院院長賴英照與法務部部長王清峰。

這是國民黨政府一系列大動作收押民進黨政府官員以來，國際學者首度發表公開聲明，呼籲台灣司法維持中立，勿受政治影響，以確保台灣民主與人權。

November 4, 2008

JOINT STATEMENT

US, European and Australian scholars and writers express concern about prosecutions in Taiwan

The undersigned, scholars and writers from the US, Europe and Australia wish to express their deep concern about the recent series of detentions in Taiwan of present and former DPP government officials. To date there have been at least seven such cases (See list below).

以下聯署的國際學者對於近日台灣政府一連串拘留卸任與現任民進黨

政府官員的行動，深表憂慮。直至今日，據我們瞭解共有七件類似案件。

It is obvious that there have been cases of corruption in Taiwan, but these have occurred in both political camps. The political neutrality of the judicial system is an essential element in a democracy. It is also essential that any accused are considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.

很明顯的，貪污這個問題在台灣依然存在，但是這樣的案例在兩大政黨裡均曾發生。司法系統維持政治中立是民主的基本要素。堅持任何被指控者在裁定有罪前均是無罪的法律理念也是必要的。

We also believe that the procedures followed by the prosecutor's offices are severely flawed: while one or two of the accused have been formally charged, the majority is being held incommunicado without being charged. This is a severe contravention of the writ of habeas corpus and a basic violation of due process, justice and the rule of law.

我們認為檢察官所採取的法律程序有著嚴重的缺失：雖然當一、兩位被指控者已被正式起訴時，大多數被指控者卻在未被正式起訴情況之下就遭到收押禁見。這嚴重違反了人身保護令以及正當法律程序、公義與法治。

In the meantime, the prosecutor's offices evidently leak detrimental information to the press. This kind of "trial by press" is a violation of the basic standards of judicial procedures. It also gives the distinct impression that the Kuomintang authorities are using the judicial system to get even with members of the former DPP government. In addition, the people who are being held incommunicado are of course unable to defend themselves against the misreporting and the leaks in the news media.

在此同時，檢察官辦公室很明顯地將相關不利消息透露給媒體。這種「透過媒體辦案」的方式違反司法程序的基本標準；也讓外界認為國民黨政府利用司法系統來報復已下台的民進黨政府。此外，被收押禁見的人，在與外界斷絕聯繫的情況下，無法澄清外界不實報導與媒體洩密。

We do firmly believe that any alleged wrongdoings must be dealt with in a fair and open manner in an impartial court. Justice through the rule of law is essential to Taiwan's efforts to consolidate democracy and protect fundamental human rights.

我們深信任何宣稱的犯罪行為應該以公正與公開的方式，在中立的法庭裡審判。透過法治落實司法，才能強化台灣民主與保障基本人權。

We do not want to see Taiwan's hard-earned democracy jeopardized in this manner. Taiwan can justifiably be proud of its transition to democracy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It would be sad for Taiwan and detrimental to its international image if the progress which was made during the past 20 years would be erased. Taiwan needs to move forward, not backwards to the unfair and unjust procedures as practiced during the dark days of Martial Law (1947-87).

我們不願見到台灣辛苦得來的民主陷入如此困境。台灣因為在八零年代後期與九零年早期成功轉型為民主國家，而引以為傲。如果過去二十年來的民主進展從此抺煞，這不僅將令人難過，台灣的國際形象也將受到嚴害傷害。台灣必須向前邁進，而不應是開倒車回到過去戒嚴黑暗時代的不公與不義。

Signed:

簽署人：

Nat Bellocchi, former Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan 　
Julian Baum, former Taiwan Bureau Chief, Far Eastern Economic Review
Coen Blaauw, Formosan Association for Public Affairs, Washington DC
David Prager Branner, Director at Large (East Asia), American Oriental Society
Gordon G. Chang, author, "The Coming Collapse of China."
June Teufel Dreyer, Professor of Political Science, University of Miami, Florida
Edward Friedman, Professor of Political Science and East Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Bruce Jacobs, Professor of Asian Languages and Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Richard C. Kagan, Professor Emeritus of History, Hamline University, St. Paul Minnesota
Jerome F. Keating, Associate Professor, National Taipei University (Ret.). Author, "Island in the Stream, a quick case study of Taiwan's complex history" and other works on Taiwan
Daniel Lynch, Associate Professor, School of International Relations, University of Southern California
Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania
Donald Rodgers, Associate Professor of Political Science, Austin College, Texas
Terence Russell, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Manitoba
Scott Simon, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa
John J. Tkacik Jr., Senior Research Fellow, The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC
Gerrit van der Wees, Editor Taiwan Communiqué, Washington DC
Vincent Wei-cheng Wang, Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond, Virginia
Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
Stephen Yates, President of DC Asia Advisory and former Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs
---------------------------------------------------------------

Specific cases of concern:
-- The arrest and detention on October 15th of former Interior minister Yu Cheng-hsien;

-- The arrest and detention on October 27th of former Hsinchu Science Park Director and Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection Dr. James Lee;

-- The arrest and detention on October 29th of DPP Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen;

-- The indictment on October 30th of DPP Tainan City Councilor Wang Ting-yu;

-- The arrest and detention on October 31st of former National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general and Deputy Prime Minister Chiou I-jen;

-- The questioning of former Foreign Minister Dr. Mark Chen on November 3rd and insinuations in the press that he might be charged and arrested.

-- The arrest and detention on November 4th of DPP Yunlin County Magistrate Ms. Su Chih-fen.

Alive and kicking

2008-10-08T12:01:00.000+02:00

... I am. Currently investing more creative energy into my jobs at the university (preparing a tutorial on scientific research methods), being elected member of my faculty's student union, and this.
Things are going really great for our Sinology student's paper "Dianmo" 點墨, better than we could have hoped for. A lot of people offered their willingness to contribute articles, among them very interesting insights into the life of a German doctor working with the minority peoples in Yunnan, articles on Aids-orphaned kids in China and jokes in a cultural context, interviews with German expert and romancier Tilman Spengler, recipes and Chinese underground music bands.
There is much to expect yet, for we almost cannot squeeze all the articles offered to us in one issue. But that allows for duration into the foreseeable future, making our completely self-organized paper not the matter of one day only - hopefully.
Dianmo was founded 19 March, 2008, and has soon to see its 3rd issues (end of October). The name is derived from the saying 胸無點墨， literally to not have a drop of ink in one's chest, that is, to be totally uneducated (and thus uncultivated).
In my opinion, our best asset is pursuing things in a very inclusionist way. Everyone who wants to is welcome to contribute. The paper is thus more and more becoming a German-wide matter, with people from Köln, Berlin, Weimar... participating. To guarantee stability within this "open source"-approach, all threads connect at the center which is the permanent editorial staff, all students of Sinology at the University of Leipzig. While the idea is to be traced back to the original initiative of my good friend Frank Andreß, credits for the incredibly professional layout go to Thomas Baier (info here).
Comments and ideas are dearly welcomed any time!
We encourage everyone to help us make this a better paper!

Why "neutrality" is no option

2008-10-07T22:25:00.000+02:00

Foreign English teachers seemingly do have special rights attached to their position just by nature of their position, but please don't let just everyone who looks foreign have a say in public newspapers...
I am referring to David Pendery's piece in October 5th's Taipei Times, and editorial entitled "Neutrality is Taiwan's best option", the main argument being that a "neutral, non-violent stance" make it more probable for Taiwan to not be threatened by the PRC, the interior logic being that the PRC must feel offended by today's aggressive Taiwan and would thus welcome the generosity of a peace treaty offered by mighty evil ROC. A second part of the argument points out that international pressure on the PRC would be much too high to make military aggression against Taiwan a veritable option.
This just turns the actual situation upside down.

Looming behind this discussion is the possibility of war. With the discussion now largely at loggerheads, I believe that alternative solutions should be considered. Enter the neutrality and non-violence sanctioned here.

Admittedly these suggestions are problematic. Along with a constitutional amendment based on Japan’s — which states that the people “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes” — Taiwanese disarmament would have to take place. Though a dramatic move, this is by no means out of the question, having already been adopted by a select group of other peaceful, progressive nations. Of course, harsh international realities and threats cannot be ignored, and the maintenance of a viable national police or self-defense force would be necessary. This may acceptably be combined with a peaceful national posture.

In the short term, threats from China would probably not disappear, but in time we might well find that the nation would find its more aggressive tendencies limited. Were China to threaten a nation that had renounced war, for example, it would probably be subject to a storm of criticism and pressure from other nations. As well, other nations could likely support Taiwan politically and militarily, and pressure China to soften its stance if a neutral, non-violent stance were adopted. These developments could require China to pragmatically re-think it’s current positions vis-a-vis Taiwan.

Some will label this stance a capitulation, appeasement. In answer we say that the same was said of great non-violent peacemakers like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. And as for those who want to dismiss these leaders with notions of hard-nosed realism and pragmatism ... good luck.

Now guess what will actually happen in case this policy were adopted... Since cross-Strait relations in the eyes of the PRC are not state-to-state relations, a disarming Taiwan could only prove in their mind that the island people have finally come to their mind and left all this secession-poison and terrorism against the integrity of the sole Chinese state behind them. Taiwan would be swallowed up by its "rightful" owner, since no arms would be there to defend the arriving army any longer. Of course no one would ask any Taiwanese for their say on it, since all Taiwanese clearly are ethnic Chinese and there can only be one empire under heaven to represent them. The "just-as-distant possibility of unification with China" would just not be that distant any more...
So what about the International Community? In my eyes, it is pretty clear to see what stance it had on the matter for over 30 years. Since most nations (well, it might as well be all of them) have officially adopted the "One China"-principle, there would be no legal obligation to object on a transfer of the island to the mainland - since even the Taiwanese have made clear that that was what they wanted (by allowing to disarm). Economy rules out morals. Right now, and for the future to come, every nations-with-a-say interest in the Chinese market will outrule its moral support for a fellow democracy like Taiwans by far. Do you want this to be the end of the line?
Just to be sure: I despise militarism, and I would welcome worldwide disarmament right away, but not at the cost of rationally giving up on my rights and my freedom.
Comparing Taiwanese disarmament to Gandhi and Martin Luther King just doesn't work at all. They employed an utterly non-violent and peaceful approach as the only reasonably tool at hand, for they acted from a position out of nothing. There was nothing to lose by Non-violence, so to speak. This is clearly not the case for Taiwan, which already has an established democratic political system and grants its citizens a lot of freedom. Since Taiwans arms clearly are not aggressive military weapons, there is also no point in evolving politics in an even less "violent" way. From as far as I know, Taiwan already has a "peaceful nation posture" and contains only "self-defence forces" (honestly, what use would there be in attacking anyone from Taiwan?). Taiwan simply has too much to lose to take an "idealist" position just to gamble and see what the outcome may be.

Taiwan und die Demokratie

2008-05-11T20:24:00.000+02:00

Kurzer Artikel in einer amerikanischen Studentenzeitung, der sich endlich für eine Unterstützung der DEMOKRATIE Taiwan ausspricht.

Auf höchster politischer Ebene geht es viel zu selten um die "Systemfrage" (zugunsten wirtschaftlicher , strategischer, geopolitischer Erwartungen). Dabei sollte uns die weltweite Erosion von Demokratien zu denken geben. Die Demokratie ist nur eine Weltanschauung, mit ihren Wurzeln in der europäischen Aufklärung (und in der christlichen Tradition). Und gerade weil sie nur ein mögliches System unter vielen ist, können wir nicht anteinahmslos ihr gegenüber dastehen, sondern müssen uns als überzeugte Demokraten, die wir am Erhalt unserer politischen Mitbeteiligung interessiert sind, eindeutig positionieren!

Das soll ja nicht heißen, wir würden China abweisen oder als Feind betrachten. Es muss doch aber wohl selbst innerhalb Chinas möglich sein, dass es verschiedene Formen politischer Mitbestimmung gibt! China ist ja nicht per se antidemokratisch.
Eine Demokratie, die einem autoritären Regime untersteht, ist jedoch keine Demokratie mehr. Das faktische Vorhandensein von zwei politischen Systemen China, von zwei unabhängigen "chinesischen" Staaten (chinesischer Kulturraum, meinetwegen) muss ebensowenig zwangsläufig und in alle Ewigkeit eine Teilung bedeuten. Zusammenkommen können die Teile aber erst, wenn sich eines oder beide Systeme aneinander anpassen.
Ich fürchte, dass bei der VR-Führung diese Sicht der Realität zweifellos nicht auf Gegenliebe stößt, obwohl sie sich sehr wohl bewusst ist, dass sie faktisch keine Macht direkt über Taiwan hat. Dabei böte eine Entspannung große Chancen. Die zukünftige Möglichkeit einer Wiedervereinigung wäre ja ausgeschlossen. Außerdem wären Frieden und Stabilität der beste Motor für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und eine Intensivierung der Beziehungen. Beziehungen, mit denen China sicher eher ein gemeinsames Empfinden und "chinesische" Gefühle bei den Inselbewohnern etablieren könnte. Viel eher als mit der gegenwärtigen Droh- und Ausschlusspolitik. Diese führt absehbar nur zu einer Eskalation des Konfliktes in der ein oder anderen Weise (von Protestwahlergebnissen bis hin zum leider nicht unmöglichen Krieg). Nichts stärkt die langsame, natürliche Entwicklung hin zu einem festen taiwanischen Selbstverständnis mehr als die irrationale VR-chinesische Politik - je nach Umfrageart betrachten sich zwischen 40 und 95% der Bevölkerung als "taiwanisch". Der Artikel spricht interessanterweise von einem "konditionalen" Verständnis der Taiwaner: Unabhängigkeit WENN friedlich, Vereinigung WENN demokratisch.
Momentan stehen weder Option 1 noch 2 zur Verfügung. Tritt jedoch 1 ein, braucht es 2 nicht, und umgekehrt. Und was machen wir solange, bis sich China demokratisiert?
(denn das ist wohl der einzige Schlüssel zur Lösung dieser Probleme...)

Dass auf Taiwan lange nicht alles Gold ist, was demokratisch funkelt und glänzt, versteht sich von selbst. Da jedoch zuletzt vermehrt Skandale und Kritik an der "Dollardiplomatie" Taiwans (der einzige Weg, sich internationale Unterstützung zu sichern - solange, bis China den Reisbeutel ganz weit aufmacht - und ein absolut kritikabler!) von sich reden machten, sei auf Michael Turtons Blog aus Taichung verwiesen, der das Ganze immer ganz genüsslich und absolut demokratisch aufarbeitet. Daneben viel über Ma Ying-jeou und warum nicht er das eigentlich Problem ist, sondern dieselben KMT-Hardliner aus martial law-Zeiten, deren Macht im Hintergrund bedrohlich und unerkannt ist. (Erinnern wir uns an die "hohen" Ämter Deng Xiaopings in der 80ern und 90ern...)

Neues aus Taiwan

2008-03-21T21:46:00.000+01:00

Überblick über die Hintergründe des Konfliktes Taiwan-China im deutschlandfunk.

War die Freude der Taiwaner 1945 wirklich "riesengroß, dass sie endlich (!!!) in den Schoß des Mutterlandes zurückkamen"??? Hab ich da was verpasst?

Ansonsten recht ausgeglichener Beitrag, viele Expertenstimmen.
Länge: 18 Minuten

Und das eindeutige Bekenntnis Steinmeiers, Tibet und Taiwan seien Bestandteil des chinesischen Territoriums, ist eine riesengroße Sauerei!

Über die psychologische Notwendigkeit der taiwanischen vollen Unabhängigkeit

2008-03-20T15:34:00.000+01:00

Weil es mir sehr am Herzen liegt und am Samstag schon auf Taiwan der neue Präsident gewählt und über ein UN-Beitritts-Referendum abgestimmt wird, hier eine Antwort-Email an einen Freund, der überlegt, dort zu studieren.

Es geht um die Frag, ob Taiwan unabhängig sein sollte oder nicht, und warum.

Dies ist mein Herzblut, ich hoffe, damit einige Herzen erweichen zu können... :)

Natürlich, die Mehrheit der Taiwaner denkt wahrscheinlich wie du, denkt Sicherheit:
Warum den status quo aufs Spiel setzen, wo sich damit doch so fein Geld verdienen lässt? Anders formuliert: Aus Angst, Desinteresse oder der Hoffnung darauf, dass sich schon nichts ändern wird, gehen sie nicht bis zum äußersten, sondern nur den halben Weg - nicht warm und nicht kalt, nicht Fisch und nicht Fleisch, wie wir sagen würden. Was als Wahren der "Mitte" im Chinesischen aber durchaus veritable Option ist.

Ich sehe das Problem vor allem als eines psychologischer Art. Hast du schon einmal überlegt, welche Legitimationslücken einer Demokratie erwachsen, die rein wirtschaftlichen Interessen hintangestellt wird?
Einer Demokratie zumal, die aus sich selbst heraus originiert und dennoch weltweit kein eindeutiges Bekenntnis, keine eindeutige Anerkennung von den anderen demokratischen Teilnehmern unserer internationalen Sorgenrunde findet - dass vielmehr Kontakte mit ihr verheimlicht werden/ halblegal geführt werden, so als schäme man sich dafür...
Und wenn dies alles auch noch zugunsten einer autoritären Herrschaft, nur aufgrund wirtschaftlicher Erwägungen geschieht?!

- Diese Demokratie wird ihrer Dringlichkeit, ihrer Heiligkeit beraubt - von innen wie von außen. Von außen ausgehöhlt. Sie wird für bare Münze genommen und in der Reihe von Prioritäten immer wieder und immer weiter nach hinten delegiert (zuerst kommt der Wohlstand "für alle" - natürlich nicht gleichmäßig, weswegen das eben immer mehr Zeit in Anspruch nimmt - das ist ja eine Endlosspirale, weil IMMER irgendjemand reicher ist; Wohlstand und Geldverdienen), bis... - ja, bis sie irgendwann irgendwohin verschwunden ist, und keiner hat etwas gemerkt oder auch nur etwas dagegen...

Von außen wird den Taiwanern vorgemacht, dass ihre Demokratie zwar schön und gut, gegen Chinas wirtschaftliches Potential aber nur zweitrangig ist. Kein idealistischer Fürsprecher wagt es sich mit China zu verscherzen, ins Hintertreffen zu geraten, indem er gegen solche moralische Doppelzüngigkeit aufsteht. In Taiwan wird die Frage nach Unabhängigkeit verdrängt und aufgeschoben - was die Möglichkeit einschließt, sich wieder zu vereinigen - wenn China "sich demokratisieren würde". Wozu es ganz sicher in den nächsten 50 Jahren kommen wird - zu einer zwanghaften Einverleibung Taiwans jedoch vielleicht schon, wenn lauter Duckmäuser in der UN sich von den Einflüsterungen ihrer von der Dollarsucht gezeichneten und sich in jede Spur von Geld verkrallenden WIrtschaftskanaillen leiten lassen.
Ich sage das vor dem bezeichnenden Hintergrund der gegenwärtigen Unruhen in Tibet, während welcher - ohne auf Details einzugehen, weil wir die nicht objektiv erfahren - die Grenzen der Toleranz Chinas, wie auch der Blauäugigkeit jener Apologeten, die ein solches autoritäres System schon als Alternative zur westlichen Demokratie sehen, für den Blindesten offensichtlich werden. Ich möchte nie und unter keinen Umständen einer solchen Diktatur ausgeliefert sein, die mein Leben bis zu dem Punkt kontrolliert, wo sie entscheidet, welche Internetseite ich besuchen darf.

Weißt du, was diese Situation für Taiwan verheißt?
- Eine Abwertung seiner Demokratie, und daraus folgend Perspektivlosigkeit, Politikverdrossenheit, Dekadenz. Machtgebaren, Ringen um EInfluss und ökonomische Ziele kommen vor sozialen und gesellschaftlichem Zusammenhalt, da finanzielle Werte (individualistisch, kalt) über demokratische (gemeinschaftlich, heiß) erhoben werden.
Und das müsste dir als Philosophiestudenten zu denken geben...
Erste Tendenzen sind erkennbar...

Von außen sind die Taiwaner gegenwärtig mehr oder weniger zur Akzeptanz ihrer Lage gezwungen - "was bleibt ihnen anderes übrig?" - und damit ihrer freien Selbstbestimmung beraubt! Für mich ist das ein nicht hinnehmbarer Zustand!
Und aus welchen Gründen geschieht dies?!

Zum Argument "chinesischer Kulturraum": Eine distinkte taiwanische Kultur und Identität ist definitiv vorhanden, da Taiwan insgesamt etwa 250 Jahre chinesisch war, 50 japanisch, vor dem 17. Jahrhundert nur sich selbst überlassen, und seit knapp 60 Jahren selbständig ist. Es war NIE Teil der VR China und ist infolge dessen verschont geblieben von "Großem SPrung nach vorn", Mao'scher Massenmobilisierung, Kulturrevolution und den damit einhergehenden Verletzungen an Volk und Kultur.
Auf Taiwan hat sich im Verlauf dieser 60 Jahre seit 1949 und insbesondere seit den 1990er Jahren eine ganz eigenständige, vom Festland definitiv verschiedene Kultur herausgebildet, zu deren Konsens u.a. ein gewachsenes Demokratieverständnis gehört. Der Anspruch der VR auf die Insel mutet daher lächerlich an. Ein Verlust taiwanischer Selbständigkeit wäre ein weiterer herber Schlag gegen die Hoffnung der liberalen Demokratien auf eine freie Welt im 21. Jahrhundert - zu dem sie dann selbst aus Profitgier auch noch beigetragen hätten.

Darum muss die Demokratie Taiwans geschützt werden, und das beste Mittel hierfür ist nunmal die international anerkannte und rechtsgültige Unabhängigkeit. Denn sie verheißt Stabilität, verschafft Sicherheit im Gegensatz zum labilen status quo, unter dem sich das demokratische Bewusstsein Taiwans aus Angst und der Unsicherheit ob des Bestehens der eigenen Existenz nicht völlig frei entfalten kann.

Taiwan geht es sprichwörtlich wie dem kleinen gallischen Dorf, das von Römern umstellt war. Ein Zaubertrank ist nicht zur Hand, dennoch müssen die Taiwaner ihrer Angst begegnen und sich auflehnen, wollen sie weiter bestehen und in einer Demokratie leben. Scheinbar ist keiner da, der den Dörflern in ihrer Ausweglosigkeit beistehen könnte, doch - zuerst muss man beweisen, dass man überhaupt zu kämpfen gewillt ist. Die Mitsteiter wagen sich dann aus Wäldern hervor, in denen man sie nicht vermutet hätte und aus Richtungen, die auf die man nicht gehofft hatte.

Liebe Grüße in die Welt, die ich liebe

Jacob

Support UN Membership for Taiwan Petition

2008-03-17T09:19:00.000+01:00

You can sign a petition supporting UN membership for Taiwan at this place.
This is a letter by the chairman of German Bundestag's Berlin-Taipei parliamentary amity circle, Wilhelm Josef Sebastian, to the UN General Secretary supporting Taiwan's UN entry bid.

I made the following comment on signing the petition for UN membership:

I fully support Taiwan to regain its rightful place at the United Nations. In my opinion, the international community must not exclude a democratic country as vital and distinguishably sovereign as Taiwan, above all not for economic reason. The UN goals of democratisation and liberation ought not succumb to the veto of one single security council member! The Taiwanese people have all rights in the world to self-determination.

Taiwan in the media

2008-03-16T20:39:00.000+01:00

Media surfin' Taiwan...

In German:

Das Datum für die Präsidentschaftswahlen nähert sich mit Riesenschritten: Nächsten Samstag, am 22.März 2008, ist es schon so weit.
Und während ich noch auf der Buchmesse am Stand der Taipeh-Vertretung über Ängste und Folgen ob der durch die KMT bei den Parlamentswahlen erreichten 2/3-Mehrheit und der Möglichkeit eines gleichzeitigen Sieges der KMT bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen unterhielt, waren andere nicht weniger aktiv.

Auf arte lief am 15. März eine 10 min-Doku über die Wünsche für eine UN-Aufnahme Taiwans, im Deutschlandfunk ebenfalls ein facettenreicher Beitrag über die taiwanische Suche nach einer eigenen Identität. Beide sehr empfehlenswert; zum dlf-Beitrag gelangt ihr hier, die Zeiten der nochmaligen Ausstrahlung der arte-Doku erfährt man an dieser Stelle.

Insgesamt lässt sich feststellen, dass es in den letzten Jahren zu einer intensiven Neuorientierung vor allem der jungen Taiwaner gekommen ist, die sich in der Mehrzahl als distinkt "taiwanisch" betrachten und nicht als Teil Chinas. Ein Problem, das ich sehe, ist, dass Angst vor einer Veränderung des bzw. Zufriedenheit mit dem status quo herrscht - die gegenwärtige Situation mit Demokratie und Freiheit wird als unveränderlich gegeben betrachtet. Problematisch daran ist, dass der Jugend ein politischer Antrieb und gewissermaßen auch eine Perspektive fehlt. Nur so konnte es passieren (neben der Reform des Wahlsystems), dass einer Partei ein für eine ausgeglichene Demokratie bedenkliches Stimmenvolumen gegeben wurde, während sich kleine Parteien nicht genügend Gehör verschaffen konnten oder sich als Alternative zu empfehlen wussten. Hier besteht dringend Handlungsbedarf.
Denn Taiwan ist nach Freedom House die freieste Demokratie ganz Asiens, und das bereits zum dritten Jahr in Folge. Noch beeindruckender wird die demokratische Entwicklung Taiwans, wenn man sich die Veränderung im Freedom House Ranking von den 70er Jahren bis heute anschaut.
UN für Taiwan!

Informations in English:

Here you find a lot of material on the Presidential elections next week, such as a presentation of the candidates, an overview of the latest buzz etc. (official site)

The change in attitudes towards a distinct Taiwanese identity can be viewed in a recent poll published on Taiwan Headlines: according to the source, somewhat around 80 to 90+ % of those being interviewed were in favour of Taiwan applying for UN membership. 79% of those asked thought it should did so under the name "Taiwan", more than 60% held the view that Taiwan is a sovereign nation.
This is great news for the referenda which are going to be held at the same time as the Presidential election - for the first time, one of them stands a chance to pass! I cannot stress enough the importance that Taiwanese people signal their wish to be part of the international community - no matter how likely a PR veto will prohibit Taiwan entering the UN at last.

In here, of particular significance is to show nations around the world how much Taiwan wishes to be handled as a fully matured partner worth being treated equally!
Stating my case here, I don't favour any of the two Presidential candidates (I have no chance to partake in the voting anyway), but I do want to give an urgent call for making the referendum pass!

Good luck!

Bemerkungen zu Tibet und Taiwan

2008-03-14T22:15:00.000+01:00

Von den Protesten gegen die chinesische Besetzung in Tibet habt ihr sicherlich erfahren.
Als Antwort auf einen Zeit Online-Artikel von Ruth Kirchner dazu und darauf folgende Kommentare veröffentliche ich dieses Statement, inklusive einer kurzen Einschätzung der Unterschiede in den Situationen Tibets und Taiwans, die beide dem Machtgebahren Pekings ausgeliefert sind:

Warum soll es eine Schande sein, Radio Free Asia zu zitieren?
Es ist schließlich auch keine Schande, für gewöhnlich die staatliche Nachrichtenagentur Xinhua zu bringen...
(Eine Reaktion auf den Kommentar:

Einseitige Berichterstattung

Dieser Bericht ist eine Schande für diese Zeitung, denn der Author beruft sich im Wesentlichen auf zwei Quellen:

Radio Free Asia(ideologischer Radiobomber aus Washongton D.C.) und

Das Tibetische Zentrum für Menschenrechte und Demokratie (TCHRD), welches von National Endowment for Democracy (NED) massiv unterstützt wird.

Objektiver Journalismus mit freundlicher Unterstützung von den USA... )

Guter Journalismus findet eben auch in ethischer Verantwortung vor dem eigenen Gewissen statt, eine "Objektivität" ist bei einem Thema so heiß wie diesem gleich so gut wie überhaupt nicht wahrbar. Nach unseren Maßstäben ist die VR China jedenfalls ein autoritärer, nicht-demokratischer Staat, und indem wir unsere hehren demokratischen Ideale wahren wollen heißt das auch, demokratische Gruppierungen und speziell das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Völker zu unterstützen.
Es is eine Schande, dass dieses zugunsten wirtschaftlicher Vorteile mit Füßen getreten wird!
Insofern kann ich alezzos höchst abwertende Einschätzung weder teilen noch nachvollziehen. Es ist nur recht und billig, dass politische Organisationen finanziell unterstützt werden, auch wenn das Geld aus den USA stammt - die VR finanziert ja ebenfalls massenhaft Propagandastudios.

Dank auch an Konrad Hao für seine Einschätzung.
Die Situationen Tibets und Taiwans unterscheiden sich jedoch in einem Punkte gravierend:
Bei den tibetischen Unruhen handelt es sich um innerstaatliche Angelegenheiten (so bitter das ist), ein Eingriff von außen ist also ohne weiteres weder zu rechtfertigen noch zu ermöglichen. Taiwan, oder richtiger die Republik China, hingegen ist ein souveräner Staat und hat der VR niemals formal, auch nicht formal unterstanden. Die VR hat absolut kein moralisch verhandelbares Recht, sich in die inneren Angelegenheiten Taiwans einzumischen - etwa, was eine formelle Unabhängigkeitserklärung betrifft. (Das Anti-Sezessionsgesetz von vor drei Jahren rechtfertigt auch den Einsatz von militärischer Gewalt durch die chinesische Regierung im Falle von Unruhen und "Abspaltungstendenzen" Tibets und Taiwans - ein Schlag ins Gesicht der faktischen staatlichen Souveränität Taiwans.)

Das Festhalten der Bundesregierung an der Ein-China-Politik und die jüngsten Aussagen Steinmeiers zeugen jedoch leider von einer rein ökonomisch diktierten, einseitigen und kurzsichtigen Politik und sind mit der beständigen Abmahnung Chinas ob seiner gravierenden Menschenrechtsverletzungen (die es natürlich gibt!) guten Gewissens nicht vereinbar, degradieren die Menschenrechtsthematik zu bloßen Worthülsen ohne konkrete Handlungsbasis. Dies ist eine moralisch verkommene und verlorene Politik und durch keine wirtschaftlichen Vorteile der Welt zu rechtfertigen!

Vorhin habe ich mich mit einem Taiwaner über seine Jugend und der "Weißen Terror", den er selbst erlebt hat, gesprochen. Eine ähnliche Situation kennen wir Ostdeutschen noch aus eigener Erfahrung, und wir waren (und sind) uns einig, so einig wie man sich nur sein kann, in dem einen: Nie, nie wieder soll so etwas passieren!

Um es zu verhindern, sind mir viele politische Mittel recht, - eine Politik aber, die stillschweigend eine ebensolche Diktatur stützt, macht sich mitschuldig an all denen (größtenteils Unschuldigen), die der Willkürherrschaft zum Opfer fallen!

Das sollte unseren ("Real-")Politikern zu denken geben, und nicht als Kollateralschaden wirtschaftlicher Gelüste enden. Mit welchem Recht verlangen wir Demokratie und Menschenrechte für unseresgleichen und können dabei übersehen, dass sie anderswo mit Füßen getreten werden bzw. im taiwanischen Fall (laut Freedom House seit drei Jahren die freieste Demokratie Asiens - was mancher wieder eine "tendenziöse", von Amerika finanzierte Stiftung nennen mag) eine blühende, stetig im Entwickeln begriffene Demokratie durch eine kommenden "Roten Riesen" fatal in ihrer Existenz bedroht wird. Von den Auswirkungen, die beständige militärische Bedrohung (und damit Einflussnahme) auf die Psychologie eines demokratischen Landes, das dazu nicht von demokratischen "Brüdern" geschützt wird, soll hier gar nicht erst weiter gesprochen werden...

Nicht nur müssen Tibet & Taiwan endlich frei werden dürfen, nein, China selbst muss den entscheidenden Schritt zur Freiheit wagen!
Vor allem muss das Bewusstsein, dass dies durchaus möglich ist, endlich weitere Verbreitung finden und darf nicht fortwährund in kurzfristig gewinnorientierten ökonomisch-politischen Maximen unterminiert werden - ich sage all dieses aus Liebe und Respekt zu China und seiner Kultur.

Record of the Week - Music of an Era

2008-03-05T13:55:00.000+01:00

here's my playlist for this week so far:

1. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (2005)

Beautiful songs, lined up one after another. A lot like Bright Eyes, but... better?
They have a newer record (The Stage Names), I still like this one better. Emotional, at times melancholic, at times angry, love-sick, embittered or hopeful, and all of this with a constant slight touch of an atmosphere that brings back nostalgic reminiscences from Death Cab for Cutie, the Weakerthans, Desaparecidos, Cursive, and the like.

Must-listen-to: #2 - For Real, #8 The Latest Toughs

2. Comeback Kid - Broadcasting (2007)

Hits! Hits! Hits! Bursting of energy and with a heavy-handed production, this one makes you wanna raise your fist, smash your chair right beneath you writing all this shit and get out there, make revolution! Somewhere in between Hardcore and Punk with Attitude. This is the shit!

Must-listen-to: #2 - Broadcasting, #5 - Industry Standards

3. Mars Volta - Bedlam in Goliath (2008)

Weird, crazy, exaggerated, but easy-listening compared to the latest Mars Volta oeuvre. And: more Rock! Exactly what we have waited for! Prog-Rock at its finest, plenty of well-chosen electronic effects and unusual instruments (the clarinet solo at 4:00, Song#1, pipes in #7), some nice guitar solos, rhythm changes en masse (and a Rage Against the Machine rip off riff in #5!), but somehow at times I miss these latin american, tango and bossa escapades. Once you're into it, you're lost, I promise. One great comeback! (Except for that awful piece of Metallica-esque insanity in the beginning of Tourniquet Man, Song #6.)

Must-listen-to: #2 - Metatron, #5 - Goliath, #10 - Ouroborous

4. What Price, Wonderland - Feel, Express, Share, Aid 7'' (2005)

Emo! Or call it Screamo. Call it what you will. It is what it is, good honest 90s emotional hardcore. I like the vocals and the low-loud level dynamics. "We are all guilty"

Listen to: #3 - Conversation with Morality, #4 - Bearfighter

5. Diane Reeves - Good Night, and Good Luck Soundtrack (2005)

Great swinging 50s feeling! A wonderfully expressive, bosomy, versatile, smokey, dark voice. Just makes you wanna look for a partner and enter that dance floor ;)

Listen to: #4 - Too Close For Comfort, #9 - Solitude, and whichever you like

6. Sdnmt - The Goal is to Make the Animals Happy (2007)

Wonderful post rock record from Berlin, Germany. Atmospheric, picturesque, harmony-driven, spacious, melodies that tend to without you reckoning with it attach to your brain cells and build well-crafted temples of pure sensual lust in there. That band has to be known much wider around!

Must-listen-to: everything you get a grip on

Comments, critiques, additions?
Let me know...

Jay and Silent Mo - ein Blog, den die Welt noch nicht gesehen hat

2008-03-03T21:18:00.000+01:00

Wie vor kurzem bereits angekündigt, hat ein weiteres Baby die unendlich weite Welt der Bits & Frames erblickt und macht sich tatkräftig daran, ihr ordentlich einzuheizen.

Was wir, Jay and Silent Mo, ausprobieren wollen, ist die Fusion zweier idealistischer Geister auf Augenhöhe und der gleichen Plattform. Was bisher nur in Form von email-Austausch stattfand, werden wir auf der große Bühne des öffentlichen Interesses vorführen. Beteiligen daran darf sich jeder, der den verständlichen Drang danach verspürt ;) - wir bitten geradezu darum!

Wir - das sind Moritz und ich, ein Philosoph und ein Taugenichts. Diese beiden teilen einen Großteil ihrer Ansichten, zu einem Streitgespräch wird es also nicht so leicht werden - es sei denn, ihr macht es daraus!
Das Bloggen wird ja erst in dem Moment spannend, in dem Dritte sich daran beteiligen und man als Autor also bemerkt, dass das eigenhändig Geschaffene auf Resonanz stößt!

Ich werde hier selbstverständlich weiterschreiben. Doch kann es sein, dass mir Blog Nr. 2 (oder Parallel-Blog, oder Hauptblog, oder Superblog) ein wenig die Puste rauben wird. Das wiederum hängt ebenfalls zu einem nicht geringen Teil von der hoch verehrten Leserschaft ab...

Und nun... Vorhang auf, Manege frei für einen ersten Vorgeschmack auf "Jay and Silent Mo", Auszug einer meiner emails an Silent Mo:

Namaste, Mitstreiter!

Eine "Innenansicht der gebeutelten afrikanischen Seele" könnte ich es überschreiben.
Das wäre idiotisch.
Unmenschlich.
Verwerflich.
Aber es wird gemacht.

Wenn wir nach den Ursachen und Umständen der politischen Dauerkrise des subsaharischen Afrika Ausschau halten, kommen wir um eine grobe Einteilung in zwei Problemfelder nicht herum.
Ich würde sie vorläufig als "innere" und "äußere" Faktoren bezeichnen.

Was "außen" bedeutet, liegt auf der Hand. Das politische Afrika schwebt nicht im luftleeren Raum, ebensowenig wie seine Geographie von einer sogenannt "Ersten Welt" abgetrennt wäre. Aufgrund seines Resourcenreichtums ist es vielmehr Gegenstand verschiedenster Interessen anderer Staaten oder sonstig organisierter Vereine.
Das ist die eine Seite des Problems: Welche Rolle spielen Akteure von außerhalb des "schwarzen" Kontinentes? Inwiefern lässt sich an innerafrikanischer Politik der Stempelabdruck äußerer Einflusse und Machenschaften ablesen?
Das ist ein gleichzeitig leichtes und teuflisch schweres Unterfangen, weil sich das Augenmerk auf so viele Ebenen richten muss, von denen einige perfekt einsehbar sind, andere wiederum wohl nur den unmittelbar Beteiligten bekannt - und vielleicht auch dann nur in Details.
Unterhalb der offiziell zwischenstaatlichen gibt es ja noch diverse halblegale, illegale oder vollkommen verschwiegene Ebenen.

Beispiel Waffen: Es gibt eine Reihe deutscher Unternehmen, die mit Waffentechnologie gutes Geld verdient. Natürlich nicht in direkten Geschäften mit afrikanischen Diktatoren. Aber vielleicht mit ukrainischen Paramilitärs. Welche eventuell "Aufträge" in afrikanischen Krisenregionen unternehmen.
Man fragt: Woher kommt denn das ganze Kriegsgerät? Gewiss nicht von hier, oder?
Der Genozid von Rwanda 1994 ist zum großen Teil mit Macheten aus chinesischer Produktion ausgeführt worden. Selbst wenn die chinesische Regierung sie nicht direkt dorthin verkauft hat, kann ich mir nur schwer vorstellen, dass sie von den Geschäften gar nichts gewusst hat. Das Ausland (bzw. eigentlich müsste man sagen, Unternehmen aus dem Ausland) verdienen aber nicht allein an Waffenverkäufen. Sie bekommen im AUstausch auch teure Rohstoffe zu einem Spottpreis.

Da ist es nur natürlich, dass sie an einem Fortführen der Kämpfe in rohstoffreichen Gebieten interessiert sind. Denn neben einem beständigen Bedarf an Waffen sichert die instabile Lage mit wechselnden Machthabern auch die Inoffizialität und das Nebulöse der Geschäfte. Was in meinen Augen wesentliches Merkmal und ein Grund für die Erfolgsgeschichte solcher Transaktionen ist.

Planet of Bands, Pt. 1 - Sdnmt

2008-02-27T23:17:00.001+01:00

I had just written a wonderful homage to post rock band Seidenmatt from Berlin, but damned Firefox broke down and left me with a handful of nothing.

So I am only going to upload this video beforehand, the rest is to follow soon if that's the Gods will.
This is an awesome video, by the way. One of my favourites. Enjoy!

This is normality... Oh boy!

Who is going to be the next NBA Champion?

2008-02-27T19:29:00.000+01:00

Now that I've just brought my little sister to bed, we're talking hoops:

With all that trade jazz going on in the NBA just before Trade deadline last week, there are a couple of winners and the same number of losers of all that trading madness.

Winner amongst winners clearly are the Lakers whose acquisition of Pau Gasol in exchange for an overpaid eternal talent and trade bait has made them one of the top contenders for a title.

I would rate Cleveland coming in for second place. If they get their team chemistry right, they worth a bet for the Eastern Conf Finals. They added veterans and a veritable sharpshooter to their roster, making them much better than they were before. Only, they fell short of acquiring a quality point guard. However, LeBron should be used to taking care of that.

The Bulls cleared salary cap space and playing time for their youngsters, and prepared for some bigger trade action in the summer. Which was the right thing for them, going nowhere with there negative record. If they're lucky, they can still make it to the playoffs this season.

The Spurs did the right move to counter the Suns' monster trade for Shaq. This will put the Spurs in a comfortable situation for the playoffs, while the Suns traded their quickness on the floor for just that: a possible playoffs series against the Spurs. For being able to beat the Spurs, they needed to add height in the lowpost. Actually , those two teams would make for quite an entertaining playoff series. But anything else, I think the Suns paid a price much too high. However, personally I wasn't convinced they'd make it this year either.

The Mavericks brought Jason Kidd back home in exchange for a fast guard that was not really the point guard Kidd is. They will miss Devin Harris' speed, though. Everything else than a title this season would make this trade look like a bad one for the Mavericks. New Jersey did what it was supposed to do.

Another great deal was done by the Hawks who acquired PG Mike Bibby for some little-used bench players and veterans. Should get them into the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Sonics, Heat, Nets, Grizzlies, Kings just did about the same thing: cut salaries and veterans to rebuild for the future.
The Hornets did a nice move, adding Bonzi Wells and Mike James for point guard Bobby Jackson. That certainly gives them considerable depth on the bench. Still, I perceive them as being overrated on the moment.
There were other minor moves, but you can read about all that in detail anywhere else.

So let's get to the interesting part: gaming.

This is the current standing in the East:

Boston record: 43-12
Detroit 42-15
Orlando 37-22
Toronto 31-24
Cleveland 32-25
Washington 27-30
New Jersey 25-32
Philadelphia 25-32
Atlanta 22-32
Chicago 22-34
Milwaukee 22-35
Indiana 22-35

the rest doesn't really stand a chance in the playoff race.

And here for the West:

Lakers 40-17
Spurs 38-17
Phoenix 39-18
New Orleans 37-18
Dallas 38-19
Houston 37-20
Utah 36-21
Golden State 34-22
Denver 33-23
Portland 29-28

Again, for the rest the playoff spots out of reach.

Now here is my guess for the end of the season.

First, the East.

Detroit something like 62-20
Boston ~ 60-22
Orlando 52-30
Cleveland 51-31, close but they don't get Orlando
Toronto 49-33
Washington 42-40, when Butler and Agent Zero return, you'll have to watch out!
Atlanta 38-44
New Jersey 36-46

close for the Bulls (35-47) and Philly (35-47).

And the West. Really interesting, since it is so close. But the Lakers did the right move to combat for championship, the Spurs and Suns invested for the playoffs.

Lakers 60-22
Spurs 58-24
Dallas 57-25
Phoenix 57-25
Utah 54-28 who will have a good finish.
New Orleans 53-29, currently overrated, too inconsistent.
Golden State 52-30
Denver 50-32

Houston falls out of the spots because of Yao Ming's severe injury, finishing only ninth (49-33), Portland already can't keep up the pace.

This would make for interesting playoffs, in the East

Detroit - New Jersey
Boston - Atlanta
Orlando - Washington
Cleveland - Toronto

Now guess who would be the surprise team... The combined star power of Jamison, Butler, and Arenas will be just too much for Orlando and Dwight Howard. On the other hand, if Orlando is in good shape, they can make it to the finals. Anyway, in the end Detroit will win the Eastern conference finals (against Boston, my guess).

Lakers - Denver
Spurs - Golden State
Dallas - New Orleans
Phoenix - Utah

There will sure be an early upset. The Lakers and Phoenix are safe bets, however. The Spurs might be just to old and lame if the Warriors cath fire. They then would face the Mavericks and could further enhance the Mavs' Golden State trauma... If the Spurs are going to face Dallas, though, this would perhaps decide over the championship. It will either be the defending champs (San Antonio) or the Mavs gone wild.
Phoenix just did the wrong moves for the series against the Lakers, making them perhaps the unluckiest team of the era. Either way, it's going to be the Lakers or the Mavs (or the Spurs are not dead yet?).

The Finals:

The champion is going to be from the West, unless it's the Lakers contending. In this case everything can happen.

I myself actually don't believe it to happen this way. Then again, no one ever knows, and I might as well be right. If you have an opinion, post it.

Reading around

2008-02-23T19:26:00.000+01:00

Here are some articles I read in the last couple of days, and I wanted to share those with you, my greatly valued and much admired audience :)

Again and again, Michael Turton provides great insights into Taiwan's presidential and legislative elections as well as entertaining reads in between.

Religionswissenschaft.info illuminates what there is to the evangelical movement of Lausanne (in German).

Some profound knowledge about the status quo of the climate debate offers Die Zeit in a topic special (German). The Worldwatch Institute goes further into detail.

http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/02/china-official-explains-religion-policy/
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/africa/chad_sudan_darfur
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5624
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/02/darfur-a-reason-to-say-no/
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/02/elite-china-think-tank-issues-political-reform-blueprint/
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/02/china-toxic-for-africa-freedom/
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/02/winners-and-losers-from-the-rise-or-recovery-of-china-worldpressorg/

Why the UN and Taiwan Ought to Be Friends (Part 1)

2008-02-21T14:57:00.000+01:00

聯合國與臺灣爲什麽需要當朋友

Due to parliamentary and presidential elections in early 2008 as well as two referenda over an application to enter the United Nations under the name “Taiwan” (which are harshly opposed to by the government of the People’s Republic of China), even the German media have their focus on the beautiful island south-east of the Chinese mainland. On March 21 a new President will be elected and the Taiwanese will decide about the two referenda (one by each of the major parties).

(I have posted this article before in German language entitled "Warum Taiwan und die Vereinten Nationen Freunde werden sollten")

UN for Taiwan!

On January 23^rd, internationally reputed scholar Dr. Bruce Jacobs in an open letter called up on presidential candidates Ma Ying-jeou and Frank Hsieh to bundle forces and unitedly strive for UN-membership, that is, supporting one another’s referendum and call upon the populace to vote for both of them.

I recommend reading the letter (in Chinese) very much, as well as the comments made on Michael Turton’s post.

Jacobs is Director of the Taiwan Research Unit and professor for Asian studies at Monash University, Australia, and one of the world’s leading scholars on China-Taiwan relations. Personally, I admire his commitment in repeatedly speaking up for Taiwanese independence, and supplying theoretical and empirical facts to cement its importance. Regarding China scholars, this is nothing usual, since most academics try to maintain neutrality in political issues. However, being granted the benefits of insight and knowledge through thoroughly studying a given subject, in my eyes goes along with a certain responsibility to enlighten the public/ interested individuals about this very matter, to ones best knowing, ability, and fairness. I don’t agree with opportunistic relativisms, nor do I think that there is something coming close to absolute neutrality. We all carry a duty as public actors and agents of our own very conscience.

Of course, we need to get our facts straight in the first place.

It is matter of fact that Taiwan is a functioning, self-governing democracy which to date upholds official diplomatic relations with c. 30 nations around the world, being the sole representative of China there under the name “Republic of China” as according to the internationally accepted “One-China-Policy”.

Taiwan history in a short frame

In historical regard, Chinese control of the island is but a joke – a mere second in time. Jacobs goes as far as claiming that China ruled Taiwan under only 4 years: from 1945 to 1949, when it became part of the then Kuomintang-controlled Republic on the mainland. – Even if we were to add the years of Qing-rule, this would make some 200 years of Chinese rule. Jacobs, however, does rule out the Qing as being a Manchu, i.e. foreign, non-Chinese, dynasty. While this is a provocative way of putting it, one fact clearly stands out:

The People’s Republic has never ruled Taiwan, not for one single day, but is still making claims as the only possible representative of one unified China.

The first Chinese settlers, mostly Hoklo from Fujian and secondly Hakka from Guangdong, do not account for being ethnically being Han-Chinese, either. Until today, the differences between “Taiwanese” Hoklo and “Chinese” Han on the island of Taiwan are subject to conflicts and represent different stands regarding a distinct Taiwanese identity (as distinct from the Chinese mainland). These differences are visible also in China, although the government attempts to blur cultural distinctinveness in trying to form a homogenised country and strengthen their control and legitimize their rule.

While the first settlers arrived in Taiwan during the 16^th century, one can speak of a Chinese “influence” of the island only beginning in the 17^th century (in the early years of the Dutch occupation [1624-1662] there were merely 1000 – 1500 Chinese settlers on the whole island!). Ming-loyalist and Taiwanese national hero Zheng Cheng-gong (better known as Koxinga) retreated to Formosa in 1661, opening up the island to a mentionable degree for the first time.

In 1683, the Qing finally defeated Zheng and annexed it into Fujian province.

Not at all is it my intention to leave the Taiwanese aborigines out of Taiwanese history. They have been neglected and persecuted by all colonists, no matter if European or Chinese, until only recently (since 1994 they are mentioned in the constitution of the Republic of China, after the constitutional reform in 2000 they are referred to as “原住民“ and granted the rights of nationalities), most of these reforms made during the terms of the DPP-presidency. The aborigines now are granted autonomous regions (“their” lands if that “their” were not for the whole of Taiwan). Altogether, they consist of 13 officially recognised tribes, ten more still awaiting recognition. (This section followes the ethnographer Ingo Nentwig who also edited the German wikipedia entrance.)

It was only in the last 20 years of Qing rule that the government tried to incorporate Taiwan into the nation body systematically, climaxing in 1885 when it became declared a province, which indeed was primarily due to political and military concerns (Western and Japanese colonising interests).

In 1895, the Sino-Japanese war ended with the contract of Shimonoseki, making Taiwan and the Pescadores Japanese colony and putting an end to national and political integration of the complex Taiwanese society into the Chinese empire.

Despite being repressive and abusive, the Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan (1895-1945) is often viewed as having positive effects on Taiwan itself. The Japanese developed Taiwan industrially and invested in infrastructure and education (thus providing the basis for the Taiwanese post-World War economic development). Equally important, contact with Japanese nationalism left its impression on the locals; during the 1920s a variety of organisations, newspapers, and intellectuals engaged in deepening Taiwanese cultural consciousness. This point in history may well be regarded as the starting point of Taiwanese identity seriously becoming distinct intellectually.

(For most of the information above I am referring to Gunter Schubert)

The Cultural Significance

Any remodelling of the formation of a Taiwanese identity cannot leave out the “28 February 1947 incident” (二二八事件) (China was then still united under Republican rule). Corruption in the provincial government, unemployment, and supply shortcomings led to tensions between mainland-Chinese and the oppressed Taiwanese, and culminated on February 28, 1947 when protests spread from Taipei over the rest of the island. Taiwanese elites formed local comitees, but were defeated by Republican troops from the mainland in March. Following were persecution, looting, and torture which cost approximately 10 to 20000 people’s lives, leaving a severe gap between Taiwanese and 外生人, mainland Chinese.

The incident today is seen as a symbol for the origin of the Taiwanese independence movement.

The Japanese influence has been enormous, as you can still see today. Some of the oldest Taiwanese still alive rather know how to communicate in Japanese than in Mandarin.

Mother tongue with more than 60% of the population is 台語, a form of 閩南 (Minnan) which is also spoken in Fujian on the mainland. One in five speaks Mandarin as their mother tongue, and around 8% account for as Hakka. Fluency in Taiwanese is decreasing, though, in part due to KMT (國民黨) policies during the time of martial law which ended as recently as in 1987. Until then were native Taiwanese excluded from political participation at the national level since parliamentary elections were postponed until China would be united under the Republic (and MP mandates upheld until just then).

At the same time, the government pursued a strict policy of “sinisation”. Political power remained in the hands of the old elite that had retreated to Taiwan in 1949 under Chiang Kai-shek (bearing similarities with the retreat of Ming-loyalist Koxinga), the great majority of them born in China. The use of Taiwanese in schools and even at home was strictly prohibited and persecuted – the 50s and 60s are thus still labelled as the period of “white terror”.

As the propagated recovering of the mainland proved ever unlikelier with time progressing and the regime in Beijing gaining in power and legitimacy, acculturation of the island of Taiwan to KMT- and Sino-standards became a more immediate focus.

Political Development

However, political participation was possible at the local and provincial levels (according to Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People) since the 1950s, offering opportunities also for regime-critical politicians. What is further, politicians were obliged to cooperate with the local factions to keep the political system functioning.

A particularly precarious situation Taiwan faced in the 1970s; 1971 the Republic had to hand its UN seat over to the People’s Republic of China, meanwhile the United States normalised their bilateral relations with China and cut official diplomatic ties with the Republic.

The KMT-leadership responded with domestic reforms initiated by Chiang Kai-shek’s son Jiang Jingguo, fighting corruption among the elites and enhancing the “Taiwaneseness” of the party. Lee Teng-hui finally became the first Taiwan-born president of the Republic in 1988.

These reforms also encouraged the organisation of regime critics as “outside of the party” 黨外 who demonstrated for further political reforms and Taiwanese independence. International pressure urged KMT hardliners to give in and engage in negotiations with the opposition that in turn formed a political party (Democratic Progressive Party民進黨 ) in 1986.

Together with the end of martial law in July 1987, this marks the democratisation of Taiwanese politics. The KMT now spear-headed the reform movement, thus staying in power.

The first direct presidential elections were held in March 1996, and won by Lee Teng-hui with 54% of the popular vote. Under Lee, the KMT fractioned in a moderate pro-Taiwan independence stand and one subscribing to the reunification dogma. This dispute was never fully settled and exercises its impact still today, making the KMT’s opinion towards the Taiwan issue a rather blurry one.

The DPP stand, on the other hand, is pretty clear (although the party itself is not less fractioned than the KMT): it strives for full independence and application at the UN under the name of Taiwan. President Chen Shui-bien has therefore repeatedly promised public referenda at the end of each of his legislatures, the first of which did not pass, the second being held in March this year.

Today, the independence issue is highly controversial and ideologically burdened. It is being politically instrumentalised and discredited by other political affairs like the corruption affair centered at Chen Shui-bien’s family.

It is my fear that none of the referenda in March will pass, because the front lines between KMT and DPP and their supporters, respectively, have hardened so much. Many of the Taiwanese won’t support the DPP referendum because of President Chen’s corruption scandal and his populist methods. Still a lot are afraid China might start a military attack over a successful vote, despite this being more than unlikely.

However, the Taiwanese speaking up for themselves is crucial to the continued existence of their democracy because no one else will, I am afraid.