This episode looks back from the 10th anniversary of the Sunflower Movement, revisiting one of the most pivotal moments in recent Taiwanese history.
Through interviews with key activists, politicians, and critics, we explore the movement’s origins and legacy, its impact on Taiwan’s democracy, and the controversies it continues to spark. From its ideals of transparency and sovereignty to the harsh criticisms it faces today, we examine how this movement reshaped Taiwan and whether its message still resonates in a rapidly changing world.
Through interviews with key activists, politicians, and critics, we explore the movement’s origins and legacy, its impact on Taiwan’s democracy, and the controversies it continues to spark. From its ideals of transparency and sovereignty to the harsh criticisms it faces today, we examine how this movement reshaped Taiwan and whether its message still resonates in a rapidly changing world.
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NewsTranscript
00:00People are now gathering in the Legislative Yuan to protest on the controversial cross-strait
00:13pact.
00:14Protesters say it would hurt Taiwan's economy and leave the country vulnerable to pressure
00:18from Beijing.
00:19They're also calling for greater government transparency on cross-strait policies.
00:25Our reporters are sending in photos of crowds filling the streets around the building.
00:29As the two sides confront each other in a tense atmosphere, the Legislative Yuan is in
00:33a state of disarray.
00:34I saw on TV that a lot of people had joined the protest.
00:39So I told a few other lawyers that we had to go and defend the students.
00:44The next morning, when I woke up, I realized that this time was different.
00:51This time really wasn't the same.
00:53Late on Sunday, a number of protesters stormed past riot police.
00:56Yi Fei-Fan and Chen Wei-Ting led hundreds of students into the Legislative Yuan to demonstrate
01:00their protest.
01:01The Taiwanese authorities dispatched a large number of police to block the entrance to
01:04the Legislative Yuan.
01:05They then carried out three light protests.
01:06Despite the violence the night before, many students said they were more determined than
01:12ever.
01:13The mood at the time was, in fact, quite apocalyptic, that people would be pushed to the streets
01:17out of a sense of desperation.
01:18Everyone was very nervous.
01:19Will the police break in?
01:20And this went on for 23 days, continuously, all day and all night around the Legislature.
01:50In 2014, the Sunflower Movement, also known as the March 18th Movement, captured local
02:08and global imaginations, and in many ways continues to do so.
02:13This year marks the movement's 10th anniversary and an opportunity to pick over its embers.
02:20Even now, ten years on, Sunflower seems to overshadow all of its peers, but in many ways,
02:27the movement was just one event in an interlinked democratic process which began decades ago.
02:3525 years before Sunflower, an activist gave himself for the movement which ended autocracy
02:43in Taiwan.
02:44And ten years after it, a wave of protests bearing its echoes once again swept the streets
02:51of Taipei.
02:53It was from the rich soil of activism in Taiwan that the Sunflower grew, and in its shadow
02:59that new movements reached for light.
03:02Welcome to Finding Formosa on the March.
03:10Sunflower is almost like Avengers Endgame.
03:13It's like all these different movies, these plotlines, these different struggles came
03:16together in this one massive movement.
03:42Those were times in which a military coup was still on the table.
04:01Early on in Taiwan's democratization, there was always the danger that the military would
04:03just come in and wipe out everybody.
04:43He said, I'm the editor-in-chief of a magazine, I'm the founder of a magazine, I'm a scholar,
04:49I'm a thinker.
04:50I only have my pen and my thoughts.
04:52You can't judge me with your judgment.
04:55A free man would rather use his body as his only weapon to resist.
05:01He's already made it public.
05:02If you tell me I'm using my body as a weapon, I'll burn myself.
05:08But the Kuomintang still came.
05:12The Kuomintang still came.
05:42Cheng Nanzhong, known as the father of free speech in Taiwan, was a magazine editor, activist,
06:11and a pivotal figure in the history of Taiwanese democracy.
06:15His martyrdom was one of the catalysts which drove civil society to bring down the authoritarian
06:21government.
06:22And on the 25th anniversary of his death, down to the very day, the sunflower protesters
06:29were living out his legacy.
06:41也到一場來關心學生
07:11自由的這條大路25年後我們看到這棵美麗而偉大的種子已經
07:18開成非常堅挺硬朗而漂亮的花朵決定佔領國會第20天出現
07:25重大進展立法院長王金平呢他是在今天11點的時候來到了
07:30立法院還發表聲明強調在兩岸協議監督條例完成立法
07:35之前不會再召集朝野協商了
07:38經過這次的催戀我們當記取教訓行使未來國政的推動
07:44台灣加油
07:46台灣加油
07:48我想請各位同學給自己一個掌聲
07:55這場學生運動的動能已經累積到強大到它可以轉化成一場
08:03全民的運動這個時候正是我們所有全國的青年要進軍社會
08:09要轉守為攻到台灣全台灣各地播種來進行我們下一波行動的時刻
08:22我會很慶幸當時我們有成功阻擋服貿協議不但保障了台灣年輕人的工作權
08:28我們引以為傲的各種出版跟創作的自由當然也保障了我們的金融體系
08:34那但是除此之外呢其實我們看不到太多在制度性上面的變革
08:39光是有社會運動可能還不夠還需要有更多願意為了這樣子的理念來努力的人
08:46進入政府部門來共同努力才有可能會達成
08:49今天不是只有反對這個粗暴的服貿協議
08:54而是還包含了很多我們對政府的不滿
08:58然後以及我們希望能夠打破這些既有的黨國體制
09:03然後希望能夠創建一個自由民主然後屬於台灣人民的國家跟社會
09:10那民主並不是一個一條直線就是說我們就是從威權體制邁向民主
09:16那就一切都已經非常的完美當然不是民主的過程一定是非常的崎嶇
09:23然後有各式各樣的問題但是太陽華學運釋放給有權力的政治人物
09:29或者是說全世界一個訊息就是說台灣人熱切的追求民主
09:34希望能夠成為這個土地上真正的主人的這個決心
09:41This year this winding democratic road took another sharp corner
09:46right back through the same streets occupied a decade earlier
09:50A large crowd is gathering outside the island's parliament
09:54to protest controversial reform bills that have been tabled by opposition legislators
09:59They are holding placards saying that there is no discussion
10:03if there is no discussion there is no democracy
10:06有十萬人是走上了街頭展開了我們所說的青島行動
10:11有人說像是太陽花2.0
10:13This is a very different movement but also it replays many of the features of the past
10:17But then it gives this current generation of young activists or young people
10:21a taste of what has occurred in the past and what could occur again
10:24And so it seems like history repeating itself in very strange ways
10:27我去青島行動的時候看到非常非常多的年輕人
10:31然後我覺得哇這完全是十年前當時318運動的時候
10:36一樣在立法院外面的這群人只是換了新的一個世代
10:40But then you go behind the stage and Miao Boya described it as feeling like a class reunion
10:45Because you just see the same people from ten years ago
10:48這些有經驗的社運組織者過去十年前曾經有參與太陽花運動的經驗
10:52所以他在青島運動當中很快地就投入後勤
10:56那這也是你可以看到說台灣的社會運動
10:59它一定有個互相承接的關係在裡面
11:01你可以看到的是也許站在舞台上的人那個臉可能是不一樣
11:07但是後面的這個群眾的基礎其實是一代接一代
11:12這個力量是延續下去
11:14That kind of generational consciousness to me is very interesting
11:16That there's an awareness I think going into Taiwanese politics
11:19From wild lily to sunflower to bluebird movement
11:21That you always have to cultivate a new generation of activists
11:24我以前在立法院工作將近十幾年
11:29年輕人在那裡我覺得我應該去加油打氣
11:32應該去看看他們這樣
11:34所以我就過去了
11:36然後就被工作站的主持人cue到台上去了
11:43我其實不太想上台
11:45因為我覺得就是年輕人的場
11:50年輕人的台
11:51可是主持人認為說我上去可以鼓勵更多的年輕人
11:56所以我就上去了
11:58我站在台上我感觸當然很深
12:01我覺得有感慨
12:03說台灣的社會怎麼還在重複地講以前的事
12:08我們明明走了這麼久
12:10怎麼回來停下來一看說
12:13怎麼還停留在這個地方
12:16難道我們都沒有往前進嗎
12:20難道我們這麼長時間都白走了嗎
12:24可是你回頭看到台下
12:26這麼多年輕人的時候
12:28會覺得沒有白走啊
12:30只是每一個倡議
12:32它雖然有兩極化雖然很多的分歧
12:35但是每一次的議題很快
12:37它就會告一個段落又到另外一個段落去
12:40我覺得這是社會的進步吧
12:43大家的價值上應該是一樣的
12:46就是我要活得像一個人
12:49成為一個尊嚴的人
12:51我要自由地活著
12:55我要有一個公平的正義的社會
12:59大概的目標應該就差不多了
13:02應該就差不多了
13:08接下來是你們的事了
13:10我們這種年紀
13:12接下來靠年輕人好不好
13:14好
13:16對台灣人好不好
13:18好
13:19我們繼續努力
13:20抗爭的路還很長
13:22好不好
13:23好
13:24加油
13:25加油
13:27台灣加油
13:29台灣加油
13:37台灣加油
13:39台灣加油
13:41台灣加油
13:43台灣加油