Protesters, activists meet Ma speech

‘HAPPY’ ANNIVERSARY:The president tried to woo the youth in his inauguration anniversary speech, but still called students protesting outside the venue ‘incorrect’

By Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Students demonstrate at China Medical University in Greater Taichung yesterday morning in anticipation of President Ma Ying-jeou’s arrival. Ma later delivered a speech at the university on the sixth anniversary of his inauguration.

Photo: CNA

Speaking at China Medical University in Greater Taichung on the sixth anniversary of his inauguration yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) focused on the concerns of the younger generation and took questions from the students there.

However, the president’s presence was not welcomed by all, as he faced protests from both students and labor rights activists.

Addressing the worries of the younger generation about the country’s low salaries, surging housing prices and diminishing opportunities, Ma said that the government would try to bridge the gap between study and work, improve the environment for the young, encourage entrepreneurs, welcome global free trade and engage young people in politics.

The president mentioned various policies to promote internships, help youth unemployment, support new businesses, curb real-estate speculation and provide financial aid to help young people rent or purchase a home.

Ma said salaries have been lagging because “there is little room to generate more benefits within the existing industrial structure, so we need to hitch our wagon to the global trend of regional economic integration.”

He said that “protectionism cannot protect anyone” and only by becoming an indispensable part of the global supply chain can Taiwan secure its economic safety.

“However, Taiwanese society has remained embroiled in the debate about our stance toward [China] during the course of economic liberalization, such as how the student movement reflects some young people’s hesitation toward [warming] cross-strait relations,” he said. “However, we have to understand that China is the world’s second-largest economic entity… What the government has to do is to maximize the opportunity, and at the same time, minimize the risk.”

Turning to the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement, Ma said polls showed that the majority of people believe that the cross-strait agreement oversight bill should be passed as soon as possible, with the service trade pact being reviewed clause-by-clause “at the same time.”

He called the Sunflower movement’s occupation of government buildings “undemocratic, non-peaceful and irrational,” saying that the young generation’s political participation must be “law-abiding” and that a mechanism must be built to “incorporate the young people into the establishment to be seen and heard.”

The president added that he had asked Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to consider setting up a “Youth Consultation Team” at the Executive Yuan to offer advice on public policies.

Despite his promise to listen to young people, Ma’s remarks about having the service pact reviewed in parallel with the passage of the oversight bill went against the student movement’s demands, and he was quick to dismiss the claims of students protesting outside the speech venue as “incorrect.”

One of the issues protesting students brought up was a planned special zone for medical tourism in the free economic pilot zones. They said it would not help the healthcare worker shortage and would widen the gap between the quality of medical service received by the rich and the poor.

The president said that if Taiwan did not establish such a zone, Japan and South Korea’s special medical zones would have the upper hand, and “our physicians would be poached by China” and other countries.

He did not respond to the students’ other criticisms, including the Ma administration’s blurring of the line between party and state, tampering with the Constitution’s guarantees of people’s basic rights, and “destroying Taiwan’s identity and autonomy.”

Dozens of labor rights activists also protested outside the building, including the National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories and laid-off freeway toll collectors.

They accused the government of siding with corporations, oppressing workers and failing to upgrade industry over the past six years.

My Opinion: The Trail of Tears that Led from Taiwan to Vietnam

In Taiwan and South Korea, since 1999's so-called insecurity in the labor market, many companies have drastically decreased or halted new recruitment for full-time employees with secure labor contracts as a firm strategy to reduce labor costs and to increase employment flexibility (Yun 2009). Even with existing regular jobs, firms often substituted them with contingent workers with precarious labor conditions. With employers insistence on greater flexibility in allocating and deploying labor, the government introduced or changed labor policies to make the labor market more flexible but highly insecure for the working people. Contingent labor, which comes in many different names, such as irregular, temporary, part-time, and dispatch workers has dramatically increased in recent years. The privatization of state owned enterprises (SOE) was also a part of this restructuring process, which usually involved cuts in existing employment (Y.K. Lee 2011). Since 1999, irregular workers have accounted for over half of South Korea's paid labor force (Kim 2007). In the case of Taiwan, the National Statistical Office does not  even track the composition of the labor force by the forms of employment but the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) show a rising usage of contingent labor, from 12.4 in 2003 to 18.4 in 2007. by 2014, it must be 27% of the labor force or more. 

In Taiwan, workplaces with under 30 employees cannot, by law, be unionized. Workers get the same wages as they did 16 years ago. The Sunflower Movement is too late in stemming the tide of exploitation from China. It's been done here by America for years. 

Who has a stable job in Taiwan, America, and Europe anymore? How many 'state-owned enterprises' (like public schools,  post office, etc.) have gone through privatization?  Greed runs rampant in the corporate world. Corporations need to get a cheap, stable work force to save money on salary, pension, benefits, workplace safety and abuse. That's how they get "profit." Where else can children still be used for cheap, dangerous labor? Where else can workers be abused? 

Follow the tracks in the soot of sweatshop factories. Follow the lint that floats through the air and chokes the garment workers in Bangladesh and Vietnam, the chemicals that poison the children. See the blocked exit doors that kill workers trying to escape from factory fires. Go to any developing nation and you will find these corporations spilling their toxic waters into the local streams. 

Union decimation: the number one priority of corporate controlled governments. You can't exploit workers when they protect themselves with collective bargaining in a union. 

Companies like Reebok, Nike in Latin America abusing workers and using their Taiwanese out-sourcing connections that act as smoke screens, washing money for greedy corporations and their stock holders. Formosa Plastic and Foxcom (for Apple) polluting  and sickening people in unprotected plants in Asia when the people in Taiwan stopped them.  First it was made in Japan, then in Taiwan and South Korea, next to China, then in Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia. The outsourcing of misery and despair for workers who've lost their farmland to agribusiness and have no choice but to work in Special Economic Zones as the ruling classes of Asian nations learn their lessons well from the West and exploit their own people, in the name of capitalism; this is why the workers in Vietnam are trashing foreign factories; read "sweatshops." Don't believe the New York Times which says the rioting is a misplaced anger at the Chinese government for drilling for oil in disputed territorial oceans. Exxon has been drilling there, too. 

As the filthy trail of exploitation passes from poor nation to poor nation, as workers left in the wake of developed nations struggle with minimum wage part-time jobs, who taught this to the world that it wants to tenderize for it's own ambition? 
Answer # 1 : Corporate Capitalism

How can workers end this mayhem and fight back? 

Answer # 2 : Start and join the IWW, a Workers Union

If you want freedom from wage slavery, there is power in the hands of working folk when we stand hand in hand.

It is a power that must rule in every land.

One Industrial Union grand.
For One Big Union
Solidarity, 
x 347367

Vietnamese mobs burn foreign firms in riots against China

The Vietnamese don't distinguish between Taiwan and China

Vietnamese mobs burn foreign firms in riots against China

Reuters, HANOI and MANILA

Smoke and flames billow from a factory in Binh Duong Province yesterday as anti-China protesters set more than a dozen businesses on fire in Vietnam in an escalating backlash against Beijing’s deployment of an oil rig in a contested area of the South China Sea.

Photo: AFP

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Thousands of Vietnamese set fire to foreign factories and rampaged in industrial zones in the south of the country in an angry reaction to Chinese oil drilling in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam and China, officials said yesterday.

The brunt of Tuesday’s anti-China violence appears to have been borne by Taiwanese companies in the provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai that rioters mistook as being Chinese-owned.

The row over the South China Sea was sparked by Beijing’s movement of an oil rig near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) last week. The Paracels are claimed by Taipei, Hanoi and Beijing.

The anti-China violence in Vietnam has brought relations between Hanoi and Beijing to one of their lowest points since the Communist neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979.

“I fear a dark chapter in Sino-Vietnamese relations is now being written and because China wants to keep that oil rig in place into August, these protests could just be the first pages,” said Ian Storey, a expert on the South China Sea at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Binh Duong People’s Committee vice chairman Tran Van Namb said the workers’ protests were initially peaceful, but disorder broke out when their numbers swelled to about 20,000. Gates were smashed and rioters set 15 factories on fire, he said.

“This caused billions of dong [hundreds of thousands of dollars] in damages and thousands of workers will have lost their jobs,” Nam said by telephone. “We urge everyone to stay calm, exercise restraint and have faith in the leadership of the [Vietnamese Communist] Party and State.”

A Binh Duong police official said by telephone that about 200 people had been arrested, adding: “We are working on other areas in the province... We haven’t seen any injuries.”

A Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said that the premises of a number of foreign companies in two Vietnam-Singapore joint venture industrial parks in Binh Duong had been broken into and set ablaze.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) told reporters that China was seriously concerned about the violence and had summoned Vietnam’s ambassador to protest.

Beijing has “demanded the Vietnamese side make efforts to adopt effective measures to resolutely support eliminating illegal criminal acts and protect the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions,” Hua told reporters.

It's so sad that Taiwanese sweatshops are being trashed in Vietnam because of Chinese seizure of disputed oil reserves in Vietnamese waters. Serves these locust right to lose their capital though it is a mistaken revenge on Taiwanese in Vietnam, not Chinese. The bottom line: Taiwan is not China though the sweatshops are run by Taiwanese business people who are for unification. Say no to sweatshops from any boss, anywhere!

MOFA condemns protests against China in Vietnam

RIOT ACT:The foreign ministry urged Hanoi to protect Taiwanese there after protests over China’s territorial spat with Vietnam devolved into a rampage on foreign factories

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday, calling on the Vietnamese government to prevent further attacks on Taiwanese businesspeople and companies.

Photo: CNA

The government yesterday condemned the violent anti-China protests in Vietnam over Hanoi’s ongoing territorial dispute with Beijing, demanding that the Vietnamese government get the situation under control after the factories and offices of Taiwanese businesses in the country’s southeast were damaged during what it called “acts of rioting” by the protesters.

Speaking at a hastily convened press conference yesterday morning, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) was still trying to gather information on the factories damaged in the unrest in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces that ensued after an anti-Chinese protest devolved into a violent attack against foreign businesses on Tuesday afternoon.

The mass demonstration was launched over the weekend to denounce Beijing’s installation of an oil rig close to the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea, which are claimed by Taiwan, China and Vietnam. The three also claim sovereignty over all or part of the sea, as do Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The protest intensified on Tuesday and participants started damaging any factory with Chinese-language signs, including those owned by Taiwanese companies.

“We condemn the violent acts, but we believe the situation is calming down since the Vietnamese government has deployed military and police forces to the area,” Lin said.

No deaths were reported, despite rumors said that two Chinese workers at a Taiwan-owned factory were killed, but a Taiwanese businessman was confirmed injured and received three stitches, while reports of another injury case have yet to be verified, according to Lin.

The minister said he has summoned Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei Director Bui Trong Van and demanded that Hanoi take every measure necessary to protect Taiwanese businesspeople and their families in Vietnam.

The ministry elevated the travel alert level for the two provinces where the violence occurred to “orange,” the second-highest threat level on the ministry’s four-color system, and revised the alert for Ho Chi Minh City upward to “yellow.”

Lin said the ministry has contacted China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) and EVA Airaways Corp (長榮航空) to arrange additional flights for Taiwanese who want to leave Vietnam, but that it did not think an evacuation was necessary.

Asked if the situation warranted a statement from the government reasserting Taiwan’s sovereignty and status as a country separate from China, the minister said people know that both sides “are governed separately” and that issuing such a statement would “require further study.”

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Shih (史亞萍) said that the relationship between Taiwan and China was not relevant to the cause of the unrest, adding that the Vietnamese protesters “could not tell Taiwanese businesspeople from Chinese businesspeople.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) issued a four-point statement urging the government to prepare evacuation plans for Taiwanese in Vietnam and demand that the Vietnamese government protect the property and safety of Taiwanese there.

DPP Policy Research Committee executive director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told a press conference that the political implications behind the protests deserve more attention, since President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has yet to comment on Beijing’s dispatch of the oil rig, despite the US having done so.

Ministry mulls letting teachers strike

GOVERNMENT DIVIDED:The Ministry of Labor has proposed the idea, but the Ministry of Education expressed reservations about it because of its potential impact on students

Following the example of other countries, the Ministry of Labor said it is considering allowing teachers to strike and may start pushing for revisions to the law by the end of the year.

After years of campaigning by teachers’ groups and other labor rights advocates, the ministry said it would consider revising the Act on Handling Labor Disputes (勞資爭議處理法).

However, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Shu-chen (林淑真) said the Ministry of Education was more reserved about the idea.

She said the focus of the education system should be on the students, that it is the education ministry’s job to protect their right to education and the ministry is worried about the impact on students if teachers decide to strike.

Lin said that it is a “big issue” that “should be discussed by both the labor and education ministries” before making a final decision, adding that restricting teachers’ right to strike should not have violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which now both enjoy the status of domestic laws.

National Alliance of Parents’ Organizations president Wu Fu-pin (吳福濱) agrees with the education ministry, opposing teachers being allowed to strike.

He said that teachers in public schools should not enjoy the benefits and salaries of public servants on the one hand, and ask for the right to strike that belongs to workers on the other.

“Who would be there to look after students if teachers went on strike?” he asked.

He accused the government of trying to please teachers without thinking about the consequences of the policy.

However, National Federation of Teachers’ Unions president Wu Chung-tai (吳忠泰) supported the proposal, saying that allowing teachers to strike is part of the government’s efforts to normalize labor conditions in the country.

He said that striking is a last resort for workers to defend their rights, adding that there could be a higher threshold for teachers to launch a strike or ways to make up for problems that may have been caused by a strike by teachers, but teachers should not be denied the right to strike.

Wu said that teachers would not strike often, since they would lose their salaries during a strike, and would be criticized by the public.

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Laid-off toll collectors protest against FETC

‘MALICIOUS’:The workers demonstrated outside the Far Eastern Department Store, which is also owned by Far Eastern Group, saying they were not helped to find jobs

By Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Dozens of laid-off freeway toll collectors, accompanied by rights activists, demonstrated outside the Far Eastern Department Store in Taipei yesterday, protesting against Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co’s (FETC) treatment of former toll collectors, despite its contractual agreement that it would help all the laid-off workers find new jobs.

Holding placards, the demonstrators urged the government and the FETC to help find jobs for the laid-off toll collectors, who number about 900, as the FETC had promised before it won the bid to run the electronic toll collection (ETC) system.

“We are here because we would like to let customers shopping at the department store know about the malicious things that Far Eastern Group — which runs both the department store and the FETC — is doing,” former toll collectors’ self-help organization spokeswoman Wu Ching-ju (吳靜如) said through a loudspeaker. “Most of these former toll collectors have worked for 10 or 20 years or more, yet they became unemployed overnight, as the government sold the nation’s freeways to FETC.”

Wu said that while many people spent Mother’s Day shopping as Far Eastern Department Store was holding a Mother’s Day sale, many former toll collectors who are mothers could only bring their children with them to the street to fight for their rights.

Lin Su-chen (林素珍), a former toll collector and a single mother of two children who has been unemployed for more than five months since the collectors were replaced by the automated electronic system at the end of last year, came all the way from her home in Jiaosi Township (礁溪), Yilan County, to join the protest.

“I worked as a toll collector for more than 16 years, and have been unemployed since the beginning of the year, despite FETC’s promise to help us find jobs,” Lin said. “Life has been difficult for us, especially because I am a single mother with two children.”

Lin said that FETC did introduce some jobs to her and to other laid-off toll collectors, “but most of the jobs were professional positions, such as computer engineers or electricians. How can we do those jobs when we don’t have any knowledge about them?”

The former toll collectors also walked into the store to hand out flyers to customers and employees.

Most people just quietly took the flyers, while a few reacted positively.

“I don’t feel disturbed by what they are doing,” a woman shopping in the store said. “I could feel their pain, and I would give them my support.”

After leaving from the department store, they went on to Ximending District (西門町) and continued to hand out flyers and speak to the public, hoping to raise awareness and support for their campaign.

STRIKE!!! MAY 15 FAST FOOD WORKERS

Another Greater Kaohsiung factory shut down for dumping toxic wastewater

Another Greater Kaohsiung factory shut down for dumping toxic waste water
鳳山溪又一廠商 排廢水違法被停工

Environmental workers take water quality samples in Taoyuan County’s Dayuan Township on Oct. 17, 2012.
環保局員工二０一二年十月十七日在桃園縣大園鄉抽水質樣本。

Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者李容萍

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Yet another edible oil plant near the Fongshan River watershed in Greater Kaohsiung has officially been shut down. The local government found that Chang Guann Co was dumping toxic water in the river, which makes it the third company in half a year to be shut down for illegal dumping. The highest fine possible of NT$600,000 was handed down to the factory, which was forced to halt operations.

Greater Kaohsiung’s Environmental Protection Bureau says that since 2011 refined edible oils’ manufacturer Chang Guann Co has a record of causing water pollution four times. On April 18 it was also discovered that the company’s disposed toxic wastewater is taking a toll on the water flowing in Fongshan River. The company has been punished and its plant has been closed in accordance with the Water Pollution Control Act.

Yang Han-tsung, head of the bureau’s Environmental Inspection Division, says that the test results for chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand were relatively high. Water quality tests were completed on April 25, and fines were issued according to the law, Yang says, adding that the company has not made any statements.

It was reported at the beginning of April this year that Fongshan River-based Golden Brand shredded squid-maker Chin Chi Shun Industrial Co was allegedly also illegally dumping toxic wastewater. A vast amount of milky white wastewater was released after the factory finished cleaning squid and other seafood. The company was fined NT$600,000 and the factory was forced to shut down.

Bureau director Chen Chin-de says that over the past year four companies operating plants at the Fongshan watershed have been forced to shut down, adding that nearly 20 companies operating around Greater Kaohsiung watersheds have been shut down. Chen hopes that these companies will be proactive about improving their treatment of wastewater and properly operate treatment facilities to avoid polluting rivers and harming local residents’ health.

(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. edible adj.

食用的 (shi2 yong4 de5)

例: Have you ever eaten edible underwear?

(你吃過食用內衣嗎？)

2. take a toll idiom

造成不良影響 (zao4 cheng2 bu4 liang2 ying2 xiang3)

例: This job has really taken a toll on my health.

(這份工作對我健康實在造成很大的損害。)

3. proactive adj.

積極的 (ji1 ji2 de5)

例: You should be proactive about protecting your rights.

(你應該積極保護你的權利。)

高雄鳳山溪流域又一食用油廠被勒令停工，市府查獲「強冠企業股份有限公司」放流水超標，為半年來第三次廢水超標，處以最高罰鍰六十萬元並勒令停工。

高雄環保局表示，強冠企業製造食品加工用油，二０一一年後有四次違反水污染紀錄，今年四月十八日又發現放流水超標，影響鳳山溪水體，依水污染防治法規定裁處並勒令停工。

環境稽查科長楊漢宗表示，查獲化學需養量、生物需養量濃度偏高，水質檢測於四月二十五日完成，依規定開罰，廠商未表示意見。

今年四月初，鳳山溪生產金牌魷魚絲的金吉順公司，被檢舉涉嫌偷排廢水，工廠清洗魷魚等海產後流出大量乳白色廢水，被罰六十萬元並勒令停工。

環保局局長陳金德強調，近一年來，鳳山溪流域列管事業已陸續稽查四家事業單位停工，而全高雄市各流域停工近二十家，希望相關業者能積極改善廢水處理並妥善操作處理設備，避免污染河川損及市民健康。

（自由時報記者黃旭磊）

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My Opinion: 太陽花運動揭穿民進黨不能帶來出路

太陽花運動揭穿民進黨不能帶來出路

四月 25, 2014 · 由 socialist · in 經濟, 群衆鬥爭, 臺灣

需要屬於真正工人階級的新選擇，代替新自由主義的民族主義和資本主義

本文刊登於《社會主義者》雜誌第26期台灣版

James Langdon　工國委（CWI）台灣

歷時三週佔領立法院的行動，以及歷史性的反服貿大規模抗議，再次挑起一個問題：反對黨民主進步黨（DPP）是否能成為執政黨中國國民黨（KMT）的替代方案。馬政府的民望創下歷時新低。經過多年的幻想破滅，在三月至四月的事變裡，情況已逼近爆發。然而，民進黨並無法從中獲利，甚至在民意調查上，有支持度下降的傾向。。再清楚不過的是，數以百萬的台灣人，尤其是年輕人，正在尋找兩大黨以外的替代方案。

雖然一些民進黨政客象徵性地站在「太陽花運動」一方。但現實是，該黨的立場與大多數參加抗議的年輕人是相差甚遠的。

民進黨儘管打著民族主義的旗號，但其在獨立的議題上，並沒有如其選民想像中如此激進。儘管在民進黨的平台上，始終包含著對於台灣法理上獨立的一節，但由於大資本家，例如長榮集團與鴻海/富士康科技集團等，傾向與獨裁中共和中國經濟更緊密合作，民進黨在這壓力下已經軟化了。現在，許多民進黨政客都公開主張逐漸向國民黨所擁護的「九二共識」立場靠攏，其中指出，雖然只有一個中國，但是大陸和中華民國都可隨意的以不同的方式來解釋這一點。

雖然，民進黨早年會提及一些社會民主主義的傳統用語， 現在該黨就像世界各地的社會民主黨一樣，無疑是擁抱著新自由主義政策，伴隨而來的是私有化、放寬經濟管制、自由貿易區和貧富之間差距的拉大。

在陳水扁任職總統的2000年至2008年間，我們見證了其幾乎無法與國民黨分辨的經濟政策。這包括部分銀行業、電訊及公用股的私有化，以及對退休金的打擊。許多在這行業工作的工人，回憶起民進黨的執政時代，就是一個失業、經濟不確定的和政府持續貪腐的時代。選民在2008年將民進黨拉下來，不是出於對於國民黨的喜愛，而是對這些經濟政策作出懲罰。

在2014年的今天，民進黨的經濟政策比以往執政的時候更右傾。在許多問題上，黨的立場是幾乎和國民黨相同的，而且往往他們在立法院的反對姿態僅僅是在技術層面上的問題。例如，他們在立法院對自由經濟示範區的抱怨，是建基於於監督機構的技術性問題，而不是反對寬鬆的經濟管制將帶來的就業、工資和生活條件所構成的威脅。

同樣地，2010年當討論《兩岸經濟合作架構協議》（ECFA）時，民進黨反對協議，並不是基於協議將會讓大企業降低工資，而是提出技術性的立法監督問題。就像今天的《服務貿易協議》（CSSTA）一樣，民進黨關注的是利用對ECFA的反對聲音，用來在選舉時擺姿態。今天，他們的「反對」所包括的，僅僅是要求重新審議協議這模糊的承諾，就像以前加入世界貿易組織（WTO）的時候一樣。

事實上，民進黨立委有一次又一次表示願意與國民黨肩並肩的成為台灣的新自由主義「開放」的盟友。在二月，他們踴躍地參加了專責立法院監督台灣經濟管制放寬的「跨黨派財政聯盟」，由立法委員柯建銘滔滔不絕地說：「民進黨不是站在絕對對抗的立場。」

內部分裂

民進黨知道ECFA和CSSTA都一樣會對台灣勞工的生活標準、勞動條件和薪水有負面的影響。民進黨自己的研究就顯示，因為簽訂ECFA的關係使得貧富差距加大。黨內有些人認為應該要在選舉期間利用這一點，作為馬英九和國民黨的缺點。但是民進黨也不能過於批評國家的青年就業危機、薪資和退休金下滑，因為他們自己也促進了這些情勢發展，或者沒有作出反對。

民進黨發現自己陷入危機。太陽花運動沒有提升他們的支持度，反而暴露了他們的內部分裂。儘管民進黨立委在立法院院抗議現場出現並發表演說，但是在佔領立法院後，他們的民調顯示從原本的32%下滑至28%。這並不讓人驚訝，這場運動的訴求迅速發展得比民進黨所提倡的要激進的多。自從佔領結束，黨內就有指控，不滿該黨未能妥善回應這場運動。

前民進黨立委郭正亮表示，太陽花學運「照亮民進黨心中過去原有的獨派角色」，更精確的說，這個運動衝撞了民進黨內部在台獨問題上混亂矛盾的定位。黨內有人相信需要在台獨立場上更激進，但也有前主席謝長廷呼籲台獨不再是「選舉議題」。

民進黨將2012總統大選敗選的原因歸究為「對中國過於強硬」。民進黨大老謝長廷曾公開提倡與國民黨近似的兩岸政策。他在一月時表示：「如果民進黨想重新執政，必須盡快調整對中國的政策。」謝長廷的言論似乎直接針對黨主席蘇貞昌，指責他不夠快速的去軟化民進黨的兩岸政策。

三四月份爆炸性的事件後，蘇真昌及謝長廷宣佈不競選下屆黨主席，唯一的參選者是蔡英文。她在台獨的立場雖然模糊，但謝長廷及大批資本家階級認為仍不足夠。這些內部矛盾似乎會持續困擾著民進黨。

近來的情勢發展肯定令中共獨裁政府緊繃。真正讓他們害怕的，不是民進黨的領導人，而是如近來這次的群眾運動向民進黨領袖所施加的巨大壓力。從民進黨立委的表現可見到，他們在台資（其利潤主要來自中國）的壓力下，願意放棄台灣人的生計，但也因為需要群眾的選票來打敗國民黨，所以對群眾壓力相當敏感。在學生佔領運動後新立法的「兩岸協議處理及監督條例」草案裡，民進黨使用「一邊一國」的說法令北京感到惱怒。但是，兩派民族主義陣營雖然在措辭包裝上有衝突，他們大體上都支持這資本主義協定的內容。

需要工人的替代方案

國族主義的政策並不能解決兩地民眾所面對的問題，無論是台灣或中國亦如是。台灣的政局被躲在台灣民族主義或親中的民族主義後面爭權逐利的資產階級政黨所壟斷，但都共同支持著實際上反工人的政策。對於群眾來說，包裹在「中華民國」或「台灣」裡面的私有化、去管制化、派遣化和工資下降都是一樣的。

從反服貿及反馬政府的群眾鬥爭可見，泛藍泛綠陣型皆在向北京的經濟議程面前低頭（縱使速度步伐不同），如今急需一個兩黨以外的替代政黨。在欠缺一個工人政黨下，2016 年的大選等事件，將會被新自由式政策，以及（與中美等列強簽訂的）親資本家協議所壟斷。

社會主義者和工國委台灣的支持者強調，需要建立一個新的工人政黨，此黨要完全獨立與資本主義，組織起街頭和工作場所的鬥爭，反抗兩黨建制陣型的經濟打擊。

Rights advocates pan pre-emptive detention plan

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:Rights proponents accused the government of trying to prevent people from voicing their opinion with the threat of imprisonment

By Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Police organize barricades outside government office buildings in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: CNA

A Ministry of the Interior proposal to use pre-emptive detention against protesters who have repeatedly broken the law during demonstrations yesterday came under fire from human rights advocates, who said that it could be a step toward restricting freedom of expression.

“The idea is ridiculous, because in a democracy it’s just normal for people to be out on the streets to voice their opinion,” said Frida Tsai (蔡培慧), spokeswoman for the Taiwan Rural Front, which has organized numerous street protests.

“Pre-emptive detention is designed for people who have actually committed a crime, not for people who are on the street to voice their opinion,” Tsai said.

She said that some protesters may have broken the law during demonstrations, but the police cannot assume that they will do the same in future demonstrations and detain them beforehand.

“I would like to remind the police that we are a democracy, and, as representatives of the state power on the first line, officers should always remember that their job is to serve the people,” she added.

Tsai was responding to a proposal made earlier this week by Deputy Minister of the Interior Jonathan Chen (陳純敬), who said that he would ask the police to keep an eye on “extremists” who have repeatedly engaged in unlawful conduct during demonstrations and to forward relevant information to prosecutors, making them potential targets for pre-emptive detention.

Calling the idea “absurd,” Taiwan Association for Human Rights president and lawyer Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) accused the government of trying to suppress freedom of speech by threatening the public.

“Pre-emptive detention is commonly used against repeat offenders — and the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) stipulates that the measure can only be used against offenders of specific crimes — to prevent them from repeating the crime. It is rarely used against protesters by governments around the world,” Chiu said.

“Moreover, I think it would be difficult for prosecutors to convince the judge to allow pre-emptive detention,” Chiu said.

Thomas Chan (詹順貴), a lawyer and long-time human rights and environmental activist, agreed, saying that he did not think pre-emptive detention could be used on protesters, since there is a set of strict regulations on how a person may be pre-emptively detained.