2. Ongoing Cycles of Protest in Italy: State/Movement Interaction, Movement/Countermovement Interaction; Mutual Strategic Changes; Links for Pictures
3. It's interesting and convenient to watch the Italian student protest movements as a case example of much of what we discussed in class, particularly the co-evolving of state repsonse and movement strategy. The same thing happened this summer in Korea with meeting between different SMO's strategizing how to continue the candlelight vigils movement against the importation of American beef, though they moved to change protest repertoires of actions in public. Plus, the crackdown of the Lee government in arresting activists who were organizing the vigils raised the costs of participation, though that could be seen as part of the cycles of protest as well.
[I put some of my comments below in brackets.]
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This friday everybody skipped school again and took to the streets instead. [School as recruitment, mobilization zone, existing institutions and organizational behavior facilitating it.]
Even though minister Gelmini had tried to confuse things by promising extra money for universities and students with �adequate merit [attempting to encourage quiescence and divisions in the solidarity of protestors], the student mobilisation went on and its message was clear: �No cuts to education, no privatization, we ain't gonna pay for their crisis.
A week ago in Rome there was a demonstration which was really exceptional, with students and researchers from outside of Rome also.
At the same time there were significant protests in cities all over the country.
This time the demonstration in Rome was strictly local, and I didn't see any posters or flyers about it.
Still it was quite huge.
The newspaper La Repubblica says �gat least 25.000��, Global Project says �g30.000��.
There were three or more parades, which early in the morning started from different places and then joined together at Piazza della Repubblica around 11-12. The route the joint parade took was basically P. Repubblica - P. Venezia - Trastevere - Piramide - Sapienza.
The most dramatic moment took place towards the end of the demonstration at the Station of Ostiense. The students tried to occupy the station. When people ran towards the gates, the cops and guards charged immediately [state changing its strategy] and started beating people with batons.
They closed the gates and even after this, they charged one more time using their batons.
Quite a few people got hit in their head.
[Though the media seems to have covered it up, and the media pronouncements matter for how much of the 'injustice frame' about the event gets shared. Think of the power of the media for both sides in the Venezuelan coup film, and how it encouraged or disencouraged mobilizations.]
In the newspaper La Repubblica the police are quoted saying there was no charge, instead they threw bottles on us�. [sic?]
This is the Italian police: 1) using violence without a warning, 2) lying that it never happened.
There were lots of high school students. One of the parades in the morning was lead by them. This parade came from Piazza Barberini, and in the front they had a banner saying Against Gelmini, fascists and privatization.
Secondary school students in mobilization. I was told they had driven away a group of right-wingers of Azione Universitaria who tried to place themselves in the demo.
Besides high school students, this parade included also the faculties of Sapienza which are located outside the main campus: art students, architecture students, sociology students.
It was a long day, I think we spent something like seven hours in the street, from 10.00 until 17.00.
After the demo, there were still some assemblies at Sapienza, one of them at Political Sciences, about how to continue with the mobilisation until the next big day, 14 November 2008.
Lots of pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7264331@N04/sets/72157608760919909/
English language site about Student Rebellions: http://anomalia.blogsome.com/
Round-up of November 7th protests and occupations and police actions: (In Italian but you can figure the basics out plus lots of pics and videos) http://www.globalproject.info/art-17716.html
2. Cycles of potest: Newspaper Ad boycott campaign against conservative Newspapers
3. I actually tried to find an article that shows a mobilization which clearly shows 'collective identity' of which we were discussing in class this week. However it was not easy for me. Instead, I found a recent article about a protest againt major conservative newspapers Chosun,Donga,Joongang) as part of the candlelit protest against the Lee administration. Since the 3 news companies tend to support the ruling party, some people conducted a anti-chosun protest by calling companies which advertise in major newspapers and pressuring them to cut ads. This kind of a boycott strategy trying to block the flow of funds is a indirect way of protesting against the government.
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The prosecution is seeking arrest warrants for six Internet users who pressurized companies to stop running advertisements in conservative newspapers. This is the first time that netizens face arrest for such a campaign and all eyes are on whether the court will issue the warrants over what some call ``civic activities.''
Seoul Central Public Prosecutors' Office filed for warrants against six netizens including Lee Tae-bong, the head of the online Anti Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Donga Ilbo Newspapers Community.
The office said these people uploaded a list of corporations placing ads in the three papers that were critical of candlelit protests against American beef imports.
The three papers claimed they recorded 10.2 billion won in losses from dropped advertisements over two months. They said that the action was damaging their fair profit-making activity and would take legal countermeasures.
In early July, some ad boycott campaigners were banned from going abroad due to the investigation. Some critics said the boycott was not a grave crime warranting overseas travel restrictions.
The major opposition Democratic Party denounced the prosecution's move. Ahn Hee-jung, a party official, said prosecutors were taking the side of political power. Since the party has secured the chair of the legislative-judiciary committee, he said the DP will focus on guaranteeing the ``independence'' of the legal system from the administration. ``The administration is trying to suppress the media, public gatherings and even printing. I hope the prosecution will not become a slave to power,'' he said.
Netizens protested the decision, too. They said in the United States, large Web sites such as foxattacks.com or democrats.com hold such campaigns but their leaders are not prosecuted.
Also, they claimed the six people would not flee the country as they all cooperated with questioning, which makes the prosecution's action inappropriate.
3.Along with the U.S presidency election, Proposition 8, the gay marrage ban in California. Rally against it sprang up on streets and is escalating. Collective identity and networks of gay community can organize protests quickly. With respect to gay marrage issue much of religion and emotions are attached. So is ethnic issue for large portion of black and hispanic voters were for the measure.
---------------- Over 20,000 gather in Los Angeles, San Diego and elsewhere to oppose the gay-marriage ban. Proponents of the measure 'are mixing religion with politics,' one says. 'Everyone should have equal rights.' By Ari B. Bloomekatz, Joanna Lin and Raja Abdulrahim November 9, 2008 More than 20,000 protesters spilled into the streets of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and even Modesto on Saturday in mostly peaceful demonstrations over passage of Proposition 8, the statewide ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage.
The unfolding street scenes underscored the racial and religious tensions that have surfaced since Tuesday's vote threw into question the legality of 18,000 marriages of gay and lesbian couples and foreclosed the option for any more.
Election leaves gay couple feeling... Prop. 8 protesters target Mormon...Gays, blacks divided on Proposition 8 Prop. 8 and Prop. 4: Narrow votes, different outcomes Gay marriage ban: A tale of two votes
Police estimated that 12,500 boisterous marchers converged about 6 p.m. at Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards in Silver Lake near the site of the former Black Cat bar, which the city recently designated a historic-cultural monument for its '60s role as home of the local gay rights movement.
Police guided the demonstrators through the streets for more than three hours without major confrontations. No arrests were reported.
Other demonstrations, including one that attracted up to 10,000 people in San Diego, popped up across the state. At each rally, participants vented frustration and anger over the ballot item that amends the state Constitution to declare that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized" in California.
Steve Ramos, 46, of Los Angeles carried a banner through the streets of Silver Lake with the spray-painted words "Teach tolerance, not hate."
Supporters of the ballot proposition, he said, mixed "religion with politics" and missed the main point. "Everyone should have equal rights."
Others carried candles and posters of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his famous quotations. Henry Thach, a 26-year-old information technology worker from West Covina, held a placard that read, "I have a dream too."
The gay community, he said, has clearly failed to persuade blacks, who voted heavily in favor of Proposition 8, that theirs is also a struggle for civil rights.
The Silver Lake rally began with fiery speeches from the bed of a pickup.
Among the speakers was Robin Tyler, half of the lesbian couple who were denied a marriage license in 2004 and challenged that rejection all the way to the California Supreme Court.
The pair married after the court cleared the way for gay weddings, but the legal status of such marriages is now uncertain.
Tyler expressed frustration over the leadership of the unsuccessful campaign to defeat the ballot measure and lashed out at those who supported it.
"The No on 8 people didn't want us to use the word 'bigots.' But that's what they are, bigots, bigots, bigots," Tyler said, bringing a round of cheers from the growing crowd. "We will never be made invisible again. Never again will we let them define who we are."
The march's organizers, the L.A. Coalition for Equal Marriage Rights and the Answer Coalition, did not apply for a permit, police said. The protest closed Sunset between Fountain and Sanborn avenues for about two hours as marchers moved west on Santa Monica, north on Vermont Avenue, then east on Hollywood Boulevard back to Silver Lake. Later a smaller group headed toward Hollywood.
Steering the crowds, several hundred officers were on scene, riding horses, motorcycles and bicycles. Others on foot were sprinkled through the crowd. Mario Mariscal, 20, and his mother, Delia Perez, a 45-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, stood on the Sunset Boulevard sidewalk. Mariscal came out to his mother as gay when he was 16. She held a sign saying, "Give my son his rights."
Mariscal feels the No on 8 campaign spent little energy and money in the Latino community, which tilted for the ballot item. He said he was "very fearful for my future. When will they start treating me like an equal human being?"
A handful of counter-protesters were also on the scene, separated from the marching crowds by police on horseback. One man held up a large sign: "God does not love you just the way you are."
A smaller demonstration in the late afternoon near Pierce College in Woodland Hills attracted a crowd of about 300, police said. Some of them hopped aboard buses to join the Silver Lake rally.
The demonstrations across the state "are all pretty spontaneous," said Jason Howe, a former spokesman for the No on 8 campaign. "This is all pretty grass-roots stuff. They're just going out on Facebook and MySpace and Craigslist. . . . People are angry and frustrated."
Nicole Vizcarra, 21, a senior at San Diego State, said she and a friend helped organize an early morning rally Saturday in the Morley Field area adjacent to Balboa Park. Police estimated the crowd at 8,000 to 10,000 with no reported arrests.
Protests have been building all week, with thousands marching in San Francisco on Friday night and 2,000 rallying in Long Beach, leading to 15 arrests.
Additional demonstrations are planned for today for downtown Los Angeles, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, La Jolla, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose and Visalia. Organizers of many of these plan to have protesters congregate at or march to Catholic churches and Mormon sites.
Catholic organizations spoke in favor of Proposition 8, and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints marshaled millions of dollars from church members to help finance the campaign for the measure.
Bloomekatz, Lin and Abdulrahim are Times staff writers. Staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II, Sam Quinones, James Wagner and Kenneth R. Weiss contributed.
1. Graciela Nooitgedagt 2. Paying for Protests with your life.
3. This article is about the anti-globalisation movement. The shocking thing about this article is of course that a protester got shot after attacking a van
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Going global in Genoa
FROM Seattle to Prague, Gothenburg and Genoa, the anti-globalisation movement has gathered pace, and with it the violence attendant on multinational summits. Yesterday, a protester was shot dead after attacking a Carabinieri van. The movement's targets have been, successively, the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the European Union and the G8 group of developed countries. Protesters argue that these bodies are unaccountable, responsible for environmental degradation and favourable to the rich at the expense of the poor. Their frustration stems from a feeling of being disfranchised, an inability to control the activities of multinational institutions and companies whose activities they dislike; near at home, an obvious target is the protectionist racket run by the EU under the guise of the Common Agricultural Policy. With advances in information technology accelerating, that sense of alienation and impotence can only increase, and with it the appeal of the anti-globalisation movement.
It is, perhaps, appropriate that the latest confrontation between demonstrators and summiteers should be in the natal city of Christopher Columbus, whose four voyages to the New World from 1492 onwards marked a huge stride towards a global economy; by the second half of the 16th century, for example, imports of American silver were greatly aggravating inflation in Spain. Such historical antecedents show how long the effects of globalisation have been with us. At the time of the Renaissance, they were symbolised by the wealth of new products flowing across the Atlantic and, as a result of the Portuguese voyages, round the Cape of Good Hope. Today, their equivalents are space satellites, computers and fibre optic cables.
Those who resent the power that modern technology lends to the multinational institutions and corporations make use of that technology for their own purposes: co-ordination of the activities of the anarchists, environmentalists, Marxists, pacifists, debt-relief campaigners, gay-rights groups and opponents of privatisation who make up the anti-globalisation movement are greatly enhanced by access to the internet. In that respect, they are beneficiaries of the phenomenon that they attack. What is more, some of the people for whom the protesters purport to speak disagree fundamentally with their views. Their opposition to further trade liberalisation, for instance, finds little favour with developing nations, which see market opening by rich countries as the quickest escape from poverty. advertisement
On that topic, the pass was miserably sold by Bill Clinton at Seattle in December 1999, leading to a collapse in WTO negotiations. George W. Bush has taken a much more forthright line, accusing the demonstrators of condemning the developing world to poverty by their isolationist views. The expense of protecting summiteers from violence has called into question the value of G8 meetings. It is now up to the heads of state and government to prove that they constitute more than an unwieldy talking-shop. American stimulation of the world economy, revival of the WTO at talks in Doha this November and greater help to Africa in combating Aids are three areas where they have an opportunity to counter the claims of those on the far side of Genoa's ring of steel.
2. Gay marriage supporters take to California streets
3. I think it is very interesting issue to look at because the same protest streched out the other cities and they do it in the same way. There are some protest groups who are against the outlaw of the same-sex marriage, and once one group start to protest, other groups become join it. I think this situation is related to some social movement theories but I can't match it with them exactly (I think I have to study more). But at least I regard it as a part of social movement that probably has some important meaning and that's why I chose this article.
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Protests continued Friday in several California cities, including San Francisco, Palm Springs and Long Beach, over the passage of Proposition 8, which outlaws same-sex marriage.
The passage of California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages, has led to a number of protests.
The ballot initiative, which passed 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent Tuesday, overturns a May ruling by the California Supreme Court that struck down a 2000 ban on same-sex unions.
In San Francisco, an estimated 2,000 protesters marched down Market Street toward Dolores Park. The march stretched out for at least three city blocks, and the protesters completely blocked Market Street's westbound lanes and the eastbound lanes in places.
"I believe that politics and religion should be completely separate," protester Eric Rogers told CNN affiliate KGO-TV. "This has been, actually, one of those lines that has been blurred by that."
"It really feels personal. It feels like why would someone not want us to live in love and respect," said protester Jayne Dean-McGilpin.
A demonstration in Long Beach stretched out for five or six blocks. "Hate is not hot," read a banner at the front of the marchers.
About 2,000 demonstrators marched in a peaceful protest in Long Beach, and a few hundred remained in the streets around 10 p.m. (1 a.m. ET), said Sgt. David Marander of the Long Beach Police Department.
Catholics, Mormons support same-sex marriage ban Marander said Long Beach officers arrested three people after they tried to persuade others to leave the protest route that was described in a permit that organizers obtained for the march.
At one point, demonstrators stopped at a street corner for a few moments to allow traffic to cross.
Later, demonstrators congregated for about 20 minutes at the intersection of Broadway and Alameda Street, blocking traffic in all directions. The demonstrators then moved on before stopping at the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard and First Street, where many of them sat down in the street.
After a few minutes, the demonstrators were on the move again. Police kept a watchful eye on the protesters but did not intervene.
In Palm Springs, a crowd of several hundred gathered in front of the city hall, chanting "Civil rights" and "Tax the Church." One sign read: "We will not give up." iReport.com: Your thoughts on gay marriage?
Several protesters surrounded an elderly looking woman, an apparent Proposition 8 supporter, and shouted at her. No arrests were reported at any of the demonstrations.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, about 2,000 demonstrators gathered at Temple Square to protest against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Mormon church strongly supported Proposition 8, which amends California's constitution to define marriage as legal only between one man and one woman.
Proposition 8 opponents say the Salt Lake City-based church donated a majority of the money raised in support of the measure.
The LDS Church believes it should not be singled out when other groups also supported the proposition.
"It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election," the church said in a statement Friday.
On Thursday, Roman Catholic and Mormon leaders said their efforts did not target any specific group.
The coalition of religious communities and citizens who supported Proposition 8 wanted to preserve "the bedrock institution of marriage" between a man and a woman, said Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles.
"Proposition 8 is not against any group in our society," Mahoney said in a written statement.
About 2,000 protesters picketed Thursday afternoon outside the Los Angeles temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Several groups have petitioned the California Supreme Court to prevent the constitutional revision from taking effect.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have filed a lawsuit contending the ballot initiative was "improperly used."
According to the three groups, "such radical changes" as outlawing gay marriage cannot be made by ballot initiative, but must, "at a minimum, go through the state legislature first." The groups also argue the measure takes away a "fundamental right" from lesbian and gay Californians.
The three organizations filed the legal challenges on behalf of Equality California and six same-sex couples who did not marry before Tuesday's election, but would like to be able to wed now.
The three groups contend that California must honor the marriages of the 18,000 lesbian and gay couples who have already married.
Sunny Hostin, a CNN legal analyst, said Thursday it is unclear whether same-sex weddings that took place before Tuesday are still valid. Referring to those couples, she said, "I think they really are in a legal limbo, a legal black hole."
Voters in Arizona and Florida also banned same-sex marriages in ballot initiatives Tuesday.
3. I wanted to find and interesting article that concerned the election this Tuesday, because to me it seems that what Obama is trying to do is gathering people by appealing to the feelings of the American people. I think his winning speech really reflects that, and therefore I was looking forward to read about some of the reactions in the days after the election. This article reflects the young people’s opinions, who very much have contributed to the elections outcome as this article highlights. What strikes me in this article is that even young McCain supporters said “they felt a responsibility to 'try to help him out' and how we live in a democracy that isn't about 'government governing the people, but people taking responsibility”. Wow, were my thoughts when I read this, because it seems that Obama has found a way to make people join this society “movement” toward a new future as many sees it. In the end, maybe people have no intention of contributing actively, but this could be a way of preventing a “countermovement” toward his political actions in the coming four years. Obama does not say in this speech how the change he has been talking about can be done, but just give people a feeling of being part of history and being patriots if they just believe in him and try to contribute to this change. He has found a new way of appealing the American values among the majority of the American population, but in a way that it appeals to most of the world as well. To me, this change he is talking about is therefore a way of framing his politics in a way that really works in the American culture.
(The speech: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710079.stm )
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Young voters have some clout, and they used it By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer Martha Irvine, Ap National Writer – Sun Nov 9, 8:13 am ET CHICAGO – They missed classes, skipped sleep and parties. Thousands spent countless hours instead knocking on doors to make a case for Barack Obama, the man who would be elected the next president of the United States. And many more young Obama supporters stood in line for hours to vote, some for the first time. Tobin Van Ostern, a senior at George Washington University, knew it was all worth it as he and hundreds of other students raced down to the White House, cheering and chanting after their candidate's win Tuesday night. "It was one of the most incredible feelings I have ever felt," said Van Ostern, the national co-director of Students for Barack Obama. "People were all so hopeful for the future." The night was a huge moment for Obama, of course. But some say it also was a defining moment for a generation of youth who played a key role in electing him. Exit polls show that 18- to 29-year-olds voted for Obama by a more than 2-1 margin, boosted by particularly strong support from young African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans. In his speech at Chicago's Grant Park on Election Night, the president-elect called it a rejection of "the myth of their generation's apathy." Eric Greenberg, who studies this group, known as Echo Boomers, Generation Y or Millennials, goes as far as calling it a "changing of the guard, a new political epoch, a youth movement." "They believe the solution starts with themselves, and we just saw it play out in Technicolor on Election Night," says Greenberg, author of "Generation We: How Millennial Youth Are Taking Over America and Changing Our World Forever." That attitude, he and others say, was an ideal match for a candidate whose catch phrase is "Yes We Can." Exit polls indicate only a slight increase in turnout among younger voters. People under 30 comprised 18 percent of those who voted in Tuesday's election, up just 1 percent from both 2000 and 2004. But with a 66-31 advantage over John McCain among young voters, Obama scored a higher percentage than John Kerry's 54 percent in 2004 and Al Gore's 48 percent in 2000. As a racially and ethnically diverse generation, young people had an appreciation for a candidate of mixed race that their elders sometimes did not. And they came of age amid the horrible events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the aftermath. So — with the economy tanking this year, an ongoing war in Iraq, and global warming looming — they were more than ready for Obama's "call to action," says Smita Reddy, a 28-year-old New Yorker whose parents grew up in India and now live in Pennsylvania. Reddy voted for Kerry for president in 2004, when 18- to 29-year-old voters were the only age group with a majority supporting the Massachusetts senator. This time, exit polls shows that voters older than 60 — generally thought of as a voting bloc that sets the tone in an election — were the only age bracket with a majority of votes for McCain. Suddenly, it was young voters who were leading their elders, not following, as they have tended to do. "This election felt much more different. It was taking matters into our own hands to have a say," says Reddy, who also helped persuade her father to change his vote to from McCain to Obama days before the election. Their strong showing for Obama doesn't mean young people were always united on a candidate. In Arkansas, Oklahoma and West Virginia, for instance, exit polls show that young voters favored McCain by a fairly wide margin. But Molly Andolina, a political science professor at DePaul University, says there are early signs that Obama may bring young people together, something her students talked about in classes after the election. "Even students who did not vote for Obama said they felt a responsibility to 'try to help him out' and how we live in a democracy that isn't about 'government governing the people, but people taking responsibility,'" says Andolina, who researches the habits of young voters. "It is amazing to hear them talk in these terms." In many ways, they are echoing a sentiment of another young American president, John F. Kennedy — asking what they can do for their country. Alexandra Thomas, a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Texas, says it's true that her generation wants to do more. She was inspired to travel to Louisiana to volunteer after Hurricane Katrina after she read Obama's first book, "Dreams from My Father." "That's probably the biggest thing I've ever done, and (Obama) wasn't even a future president at that point," says Thomas, who is studying documentary film making. The question now that Obama has won, says Greenberg, is: "How do they take this momentum and make something of it and make sure it's not lost?" Reddy, the 28-year-old in New York, says it's something she and her friends are already talking about. With the high of Election Night past, they've been already been joking that they're suffering from P.E.D. — "post-election depression." "It's a long road ahead, which is interesting because we've gotten a lot of things faster and easier than a lot of generations," Reddy says. "So there's excitement, but there's also worry." Part of the worry comes from the tough issues Obama will face as he takes office. But for all this generation's confidence, some also stems from a collective self-doubt. "There are some people my age doing some really great things. But sometimes we're so busy being students that we end up talking a lot, but not doing a lot," says Thomas, the graduate student in Texas. Others are still trying to fathom that young voters, known for their fickleness, actually came through for Obama. "Maybe this will cause me to take my generation a little more seriously," says Shari Davis, a 21-year-old student at Harold Washington College in Chicago who wants to get a job helping juvenile offenders. Keeping young people engaged will depend on Obama's performance as president, says Peter Levine, director of Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. But he also believes Obama could use his network of tens of thousands of young election volunteers to advocate for legislation on issues important to them, from the environment and the economy to health care and the cost of a college education. Van Ostern, who is one of those volunteers, is confident young people will stay engaged — and that some will run for office themselves. "Obama," he says, "has forged a path that countless young Americans will follow."
1.Chenyang Wu 2.China and Taiwan Draw Closer, Amid Protests 3.If China will get its unification finally, it is on the right track. Setting dissension aside and forging coalition from the mutual benefits are moderate but effective ways to achieving the unification goal little by little. "China's goverment believe time is on their side, they don't need to rush unification." In contrast, the protests seem to be radical and irrational. Their effort got no attention from both side actually, and was weakened to some extent by Chen's gracious demeanor. I think if they really want to block Kuomintang from showing kindness to mainland China, they should put their emotion in the right place, not just hitting the streets near the meeting. (Actually I finished this comment last Saturday, week 9(8th), but the original post hadn't come out then. So I failed to post it last week.) --------------------------------------- The highest-ranking Chinese envoy to visit Taiwan in 60 years landed in Taipei this week, ringing in a new era of cross-strait relations with unprecedented trade and transport agreements. It is the first time that a top Chinese official has come to Taiwan, the island off mainland China that claims autonomy, and China claims as its own. Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, who met with the high-ranking Beijing diplomat, has advocated closer economic ties with China and a more pragmatic approach to its sovereignty dispute.
Chen Yunlin, the chairman of the Chinese organization in charge of Taiwan affairs, met with Ma at the Taipei Guest House on Thursday, where they exchanged gifts. Chen unfurled an elaborate scroll painting of a horse — the meaning of "Ma" in Chinese — and Ma gave Chen a ceramic vase with painted Taiwanese orchids. In the coming months, they'll also exchange furry ambassadors: two Chinese pandas for a Formosan serow and sika deer.
Ma and Chen avoided controversy in the quick meeting by not using titles — China refers to Ma as "Taiwan's leader" and Taiwan says he's president. They affirmed the Nov. 4 trade pacts will take effect in 40 days, including an expansion of direct cross-strait flights, direct shipping and postal links, and increased cooperation on food safety in the wake of the recent melamine contaminations. Roughly five million Taiwanese travel to China each year, and the agreements are expected to reduce travel time and costs. Ma and Chen also agreed to meet once every six months and find ways for their financial markets to cooperate.
Meanwhile, outside thousands of protesters had hit the streets near the meeting, shouting "Step down, Ma Ying-jeou!", throwing plastic bottles and rocks, and wearing yellow head and neck bands that read "Taiwan is My Country." The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, wary of any moves to draw closer to China, has staged protests throughout Chen's visit. Some 7000 police have been deployed to maintain order, and a couple of protestors have been injured in the chaos. On Wednesday, hundreds surrounded the hotel where Chen was dining and refused to disperse until 2AM, when Chen could finally leave. "The protests were to be expected," says political scientist Yang Tai-shuenn at Taiwan's Chinese Culture University. "The Democratic Progressive Party has always had a deep mistrust of the Kuomintang [Ma's party], and the opposition uses mass movements to mobilize the party."
Amid the ongoing protests, Ma has assured the public that Taiwan remains a sovereign country and that the pacts were made on equal footing. Chinese envoy Chen also acknowledged the dissent, saying that "has heard and seen [the opposition voices]," but believed "the pacts are for the convenience and benefit of the people on both sides." Chen's demeanor has been gracious throughout the trip, despite the hostility, and for good reason, say analysts. "Any overreaction from Beijing would result in Taiwan drifting away," says Professor Lin Chong-pin of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Tamkang University. Lin believes China has learned that animosity from Beijing only fuels Taiwan's opposition movement. "The leaders in Beijing believe that time is on their side, so they don't need to rush unification."
The new era of diplomacy will be put to the test soon enough, as Taiwan continues to push for participation in international organizations, such as at the next World Health Organization meeting next May. Taiwan has sought participation in WHO and the United Nations in the past, but has routinely been blocked by Beijing. If China wants this chumminess to go its way, it would be wise, says Lin, to reconsider that stance, too. With a growing opposition movement in Taiwan, he says, "If Beijing does not make any flexible adjustment, it's bad news for Ma, and for cross-strait relations." --------------- http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1857093,00.html
A very down to earth* kind of guy. I'm an environmental sociologist interested in establishing material and organizational sustainability worldwide. I'm always looking for interesting materials/technologies, inspiring ideas, or institutional examples of sustainability to inspire others to recognize their choices now. To be fatalistic about an unsustainable world is a sign of a captive mind, given all our options.
*(If "earth" is defined in a planetary sense, concerning comparative historical knowledge and interest in the past 10,000 years or so anywhere...) See both blogs.
7 comments:
1. Mark Whitaker
2. Ongoing Cycles of Protest in Italy: State/Movement Interaction, Movement/Countermovement Interaction; Mutual Strategic Changes; Links for Pictures
3. It's interesting and convenient to watch the Italian student protest movements as a case example of much of what we discussed in class, particularly the co-evolving of state repsonse and movement strategy. The same thing happened this summer in Korea with meeting between different SMO's strategizing how to continue the candlelight vigils movement against the importation of American beef, though they moved to change protest repertoires of actions in public. Plus, the crackdown of the Lee government in arresting activists who were organizing the vigils raised the costs of participation, though that could be seen as part of the cycles of protest as well.
[I put some of my comments below in brackets.]
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This friday everybody skipped school again and took to the streets instead. [School as recruitment, mobilization zone, existing institutions and organizational behavior facilitating it.]
Even though minister Gelmini had tried to confuse things by promising extra money for universities and students with �adequate merit [attempting to encourage quiescence and divisions in the solidarity of protestors], the student mobilisation went on and its message was clear: �No cuts to education, no privatization, we ain't gonna pay for their crisis.
A week ago in Rome there was a demonstration which was really exceptional, with students and researchers from outside of Rome also.
At the same time there were significant protests in cities all over the country.
This time the demonstration in Rome was strictly local, and I didn't see any posters or flyers about it.
Still it was quite huge.
The newspaper La Repubblica says �gat least 25.000��, Global Project says �g30.000��.
There were three or more parades, which early in the morning started from different places and then joined together at Piazza della Repubblica around 11-12. The route the joint parade took was basically P. Repubblica - P. Venezia - Trastevere - Piramide - Sapienza.
The most dramatic moment took place towards the end of the demonstration at the Station of Ostiense. The students tried to occupy the station. When people ran towards the gates, the cops and guards charged immediately [state changing its strategy] and started beating people with batons.
They closed the gates and even after this, they charged one more time using their batons.
Quite a few people got hit in their head.
[Though the media seems to have covered it up, and the media pronouncements matter for how much of the 'injustice frame' about the event gets shared. Think of the power of the media for both sides in the Venezuelan coup film, and how it encouraged or disencouraged mobilizations.]
In the newspaper La Repubblica the police are quoted saying there was no charge, instead they threw bottles on us�. [sic?]
This is the Italian police:
1) using violence without a warning,
2) lying that it never happened.
There were lots of high school students. One of the parades in the morning was lead by them. This parade came from Piazza Barberini, and in the front they had a banner saying Against Gelmini, fascists and privatization.
Secondary school students in mobilization. I was told they had driven away a group of right-wingers of Azione Universitaria who tried to place themselves in the demo.
Besides high school students, this parade included also the faculties of Sapienza which are located outside the main campus: art students, architecture students, sociology students.
It was a long day, I think we spent something like seven hours in the street, from 10.00 until 17.00.
After the demo, there were still some assemblies at Sapienza, one of them at Political Sciences, about how to continue with the mobilisation until the next big day, 14 November 2008.
Lots of pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7264331@N04/sets/72157608760919909/
English language site about Student Rebellions:
http://anomalia.blogsome.com/
Round-up of November 7th protests and occupations and police actions:
(In Italian but you can figure the basics out plus lots of pics and videos)
http://www.globalproject.info/art-17716.html
---
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/11/382146.shtml
1. Hojin Yoo
2. Cycles of potest: Newspaper Ad boycott campaign against conservative Newspapers
3. I actually tried to find an article that shows a mobilization which clearly shows 'collective identity' of which we were discussing in class this week. However it was not easy for me. Instead, I found a recent article about a protest againt major conservative newspapers Chosun,Donga,Joongang) as part of the candlelit protest against the Lee administration. Since the 3 news companies tend to support the ruling party, some people conducted a anti-chosun protest by calling companies which advertise
in major newspapers and pressuring them to cut ads. This kind of a boycott strategy trying to block the flow of funds is a indirect way of protesting against the government.
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The prosecution is seeking arrest warrants for six Internet users who pressurized companies to stop running advertisements in conservative newspapers. This is the first time that netizens face arrest for such a campaign and all eyes are on whether the court will issue the warrants over what some call ``civic activities.''
Seoul Central Public Prosecutors' Office filed for warrants against six netizens including Lee Tae-bong, the head of the online Anti Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Donga Ilbo Newspapers Community.
The office said these people uploaded a list of corporations placing ads in the three papers that were critical of candlelit protests against American beef imports.
The three papers claimed they recorded 10.2 billion won in losses from dropped advertisements over two months. They said that the action was damaging their fair profit-making activity and would take legal countermeasures.
In early July, some ad boycott campaigners were banned from going abroad due to the investigation. Some critics said the boycott was not a grave crime warranting overseas travel restrictions.
The major opposition Democratic Party denounced the prosecution's move. Ahn Hee-jung, a party official, said prosecutors were taking the side of political power. Since the party has secured the chair of the legislative-judiciary committee, he said the DP will focus on guaranteeing the ``independence'' of the legal system from the administration. ``The administration is trying to suppress the media, public gatherings and even printing. I hope the prosecution will not become a slave to power,'' he said.
Netizens protested the decision, too. They said in the United States, large Web sites such as foxattacks.com or democrats.com hold such campaigns but their leaders are not prosecuted.
Also, they claimed the six people would not flee the country as they all cooperated with questioning, which makes the prosecution's action inappropriate.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
----------------------------------
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/08/113_29682.html
1.Kyung-Hee, Kang
2.Anti-Prop. 8 protests spring up in California
3.Along with the U.S presidency election, Proposition 8, the gay marrage ban in California. Rally against it sprang up on streets and is escalating. Collective identity and networks of gay community can organize protests quickly. With respect to gay marrage issue much of religion and emotions are attached. So is ethnic issue for large portion of black and hispanic voters were for the measure.
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Over 20,000 gather in Los Angeles, San Diego and elsewhere to oppose the gay-marriage ban. Proponents of the measure 'are mixing religion with politics,' one says. 'Everyone should have equal rights.'
By Ari B. Bloomekatz, Joanna Lin and Raja Abdulrahim
November 9, 2008
More than 20,000 protesters spilled into the streets of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and even Modesto on Saturday in mostly peaceful demonstrations over passage of Proposition 8, the statewide ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage.
The unfolding street scenes underscored the racial and religious tensions that have surfaced since Tuesday's vote threw into question the legality of 18,000 marriages of gay and lesbian couples and foreclosed the option for any more.
Election leaves gay couple feeling... Prop. 8 protesters target Mormon...Gays, blacks divided on Proposition 8
Prop. 8 and Prop. 4: Narrow votes, different outcomes
Gay marriage ban: A tale of two votes
Police estimated that 12,500 boisterous marchers converged about 6 p.m. at Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards in Silver Lake near the site of the former Black Cat bar, which the city recently designated a historic-cultural monument for its '60s role as home of the local gay rights movement.
Police guided the demonstrators through the streets for more than three hours without major confrontations. No arrests were reported.
Other demonstrations, including one that attracted up to 10,000 people in San Diego, popped up across the state. At each rally, participants vented frustration and anger over the ballot item that amends the state Constitution to declare that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized" in California.
Steve Ramos, 46, of Los Angeles carried a banner through the streets of Silver Lake with the spray-painted words "Teach tolerance, not hate."
Supporters of the ballot proposition, he said, mixed "religion with politics" and missed the main point. "Everyone should have equal rights."
Others carried candles and posters of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his famous quotations. Henry Thach, a 26-year-old information technology worker from West Covina, held a placard that read, "I have a dream too."
The gay community, he said, has clearly failed to persuade blacks, who voted heavily in favor of Proposition 8, that theirs is also a struggle for civil rights.
The Silver Lake rally began with fiery speeches from the bed of a pickup.
Among the speakers was Robin Tyler, half of the lesbian couple who were denied a marriage license in 2004 and challenged that rejection all the way to the California Supreme Court.
The pair married after the court cleared the way for gay weddings, but the legal status of such marriages is now uncertain.
Tyler expressed frustration over the leadership of the unsuccessful campaign to defeat the ballot measure and lashed out at those who supported it.
"The No on 8 people didn't want us to use the word 'bigots.' But that's what they are, bigots, bigots, bigots," Tyler said, bringing a round of cheers from the growing crowd. "We will never be made invisible again. Never again will we let them define who we are."
The march's organizers, the L.A. Coalition for Equal Marriage Rights and the Answer Coalition, did not apply for a permit, police said. The protest closed Sunset between Fountain and Sanborn avenues for about two hours as marchers moved west on Santa Monica, north on Vermont Avenue, then east on Hollywood Boulevard back to Silver Lake. Later a smaller group headed toward Hollywood.
Steering the crowds, several hundred officers were on scene, riding horses, motorcycles and bicycles. Others on foot were sprinkled through the crowd. Mario Mariscal, 20, and his mother, Delia Perez, a 45-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, stood on the Sunset Boulevard sidewalk. Mariscal came out to his mother as gay when he was 16. She held a sign saying, "Give my son his rights."
Mariscal feels the No on 8 campaign spent little energy and money in the Latino community, which tilted for the ballot item. He said he was "very fearful for my future. When will they start treating me like an equal human being?"
A handful of counter-protesters were also on the scene, separated from the marching crowds by police on horseback. One man held up a large sign: "God does not love you just the way you are."
A smaller demonstration in the late afternoon near Pierce College in Woodland Hills attracted a crowd of about 300, police said. Some of them hopped aboard buses to join the Silver Lake rally.
The demonstrations across the state "are all pretty spontaneous," said Jason Howe, a former spokesman for the No on 8 campaign. "This is all pretty grass-roots stuff. They're just going out on Facebook and MySpace and Craigslist. . . . People are angry and frustrated."
Nicole Vizcarra, 21, a senior at San Diego State, said she and a friend helped organize an early morning rally Saturday in the Morley Field area adjacent to Balboa Park. Police estimated the crowd at 8,000 to 10,000 with no reported arrests.
Protests have been building all week, with thousands marching in San Francisco on Friday night and 2,000 rallying in Long Beach, leading to 15 arrests.
Additional demonstrations are planned for today for downtown Los Angeles, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, La Jolla, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose and Visalia. Organizers of many of these plan to have protesters congregate at or march to Catholic churches and Mormon sites.
Catholic organizations spoke in favor of Proposition 8, and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints marshaled millions of dollars from church members to help finance the campaign for the measure.
Bloomekatz, Lin and Abdulrahim are Times staff writers. Staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II, Sam Quinones, James Wagner and Kenneth R. Weiss contributed.
ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com
joanna.lin@latimes.com
raja.abdulrahim@latimes.com
---
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-protests9-2008nov09,0,7790800.story
1. Graciela Nooitgedagt
2. Paying for Protests with your life.
3. This article is about the anti-globalisation movement. The shocking thing about this article is of course that a protester got shot after attacking a van
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Going global in Genoa
FROM Seattle to Prague, Gothenburg and Genoa, the anti-globalisation movement has gathered pace, and with it the violence attendant on multinational summits. Yesterday, a protester was shot dead after attacking a Carabinieri van. The movement's targets have been, successively, the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the European Union and the G8 group of developed countries. Protesters argue that these bodies are unaccountable, responsible for environmental degradation and favourable to the rich at the expense of the poor. Their frustration stems from a feeling of being disfranchised, an inability to control the activities of multinational institutions and companies whose activities they dislike; near at home, an obvious target is the protectionist racket run by the EU under the guise of the Common Agricultural Policy. With advances in information technology accelerating, that sense of alienation and impotence can only increase, and with it the appeal of the anti-globalisation movement.
It is, perhaps, appropriate that the latest confrontation between demonstrators and summiteers should be in the natal city of Christopher Columbus, whose four voyages to the New World from 1492 onwards marked a huge stride towards a global economy; by the second half of the 16th century, for example, imports of American silver were greatly aggravating inflation in Spain. Such historical antecedents show how long the effects of globalisation have been with us. At the time of the Renaissance, they were symbolised by the wealth of new products flowing across the Atlantic and, as a result of the Portuguese voyages, round the Cape of Good Hope. Today, their equivalents are space satellites, computers and fibre optic cables.
Those who resent the power that modern technology lends to the multinational institutions and corporations make use of that technology for their own purposes: co-ordination of the activities of the anarchists, environmentalists, Marxists, pacifists, debt-relief campaigners, gay-rights groups and opponents of privatisation who make up the anti-globalisation movement are greatly enhanced by access to the internet. In that respect, they are beneficiaries of the phenomenon that they attack. What is more, some of the people for whom the protesters purport to speak disagree fundamentally with their views. Their opposition to further trade liberalisation, for instance, finds little favour with developing nations, which see market opening by rich countries as the quickest escape from poverty.
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On that topic, the pass was miserably sold by Bill Clinton at Seattle in December 1999, leading to a collapse in WTO negotiations. George W. Bush has taken a much more forthright line, accusing the demonstrators of condemning the developing world to poverty by their isolationist views. The expense of protecting summiteers from violence has called into question the value of G8 meetings. It is now up to the heads of state and government to prove that they constitute more than an unwieldy talking-shop. American stimulation of the world economy, revival of the WTO at talks in Doha this November and greater help to Africa in combating Aids are three areas where they have an opportunity to counter the claims of those on the far side of Genoa's ring of steel.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2001/07/21/dl01.xml
1. So youn Kim
2. Gay marriage supporters take to California streets
3. I think it is very interesting issue to look at because the same protest streched out the other cities and they do it in the same way. There are some protest groups who are against the outlaw of the same-sex marriage, and once one group start to protest, other groups become join it. I think this situation is related to some social movement theories but I can't match it with them exactly (I think I have to study more). But at least I regard it as a part of social movement that probably has some important meaning and that's why I chose this article.
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Protests continued Friday in several California cities, including San Francisco, Palm Springs and Long Beach, over the passage of Proposition 8, which outlaws same-sex marriage.
The passage of California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages, has led to a number of protests.
The ballot initiative, which passed 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent Tuesday, overturns a May ruling by the California Supreme Court that struck down a 2000 ban on same-sex unions.
In San Francisco, an estimated 2,000 protesters marched down Market Street toward Dolores Park. The march stretched out for at least three city blocks, and the protesters completely blocked Market Street's westbound lanes and the eastbound lanes in places.
"I believe that politics and religion should be completely separate," protester Eric Rogers told CNN affiliate KGO-TV. "This has been, actually, one of those lines that has been blurred by that."
"It really feels personal. It feels like why would someone not want us to live in love and respect," said protester Jayne Dean-McGilpin.
A demonstration in Long Beach stretched out for five or six blocks. "Hate is not hot," read a banner at the front of the marchers.
About 2,000 demonstrators marched in a peaceful protest in Long Beach, and a few hundred remained in the streets around 10 p.m. (1 a.m. ET), said Sgt. David Marander of the Long Beach Police Department.
Catholics, Mormons support same-sex marriage ban
Marander said Long Beach officers arrested three people after they tried to persuade others to leave the protest route that was described in a permit that organizers obtained for the march.
At one point, demonstrators stopped at a street corner for a few moments to allow traffic to cross.
Later, demonstrators congregated for about 20 minutes at the intersection of Broadway and Alameda Street, blocking traffic in all directions. The demonstrators then moved on before stopping at the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard and First Street, where many of them sat down in the street.
After a few minutes, the demonstrators were on the move again. Police kept a watchful eye on the protesters but did not intervene.
In Palm Springs, a crowd of several hundred gathered in front of the city hall, chanting "Civil rights" and "Tax the Church." One sign read: "We will not give up." iReport.com: Your thoughts on gay marriage?
Several protesters surrounded an elderly looking woman, an apparent Proposition 8 supporter, and shouted at her. No arrests were reported at any of the demonstrations.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, about 2,000 demonstrators gathered at Temple Square to protest against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Mormon church strongly supported Proposition 8, which amends California's constitution to define marriage as legal only between one man and one woman.
Proposition 8 opponents say the Salt Lake City-based church donated a majority of the money raised in support of the measure.
The LDS Church believes it should not be singled out when other groups also supported the proposition.
"It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election," the church said in a statement Friday.
On Thursday, Roman Catholic and Mormon leaders said their efforts did not target any specific group.
The coalition of religious communities and citizens who supported Proposition 8 wanted to preserve "the bedrock institution of marriage" between a man and a woman, said Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles.
"Proposition 8 is not against any group in our society," Mahoney said in a written statement.
About 2,000 protesters picketed Thursday afternoon outside the Los Angeles temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Several groups have petitioned the California Supreme Court to prevent the constitutional revision from taking effect.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have filed a lawsuit contending the ballot initiative was "improperly used."
According to the three groups, "such radical changes" as outlawing gay marriage cannot be made by ballot initiative, but must, "at a minimum, go through the state legislature first." The groups also argue the measure takes away a "fundamental right" from lesbian and gay Californians.
The three organizations filed the legal challenges on behalf of Equality California and six same-sex couples who did not marry before Tuesday's election, but would like to be able to wed now.
The three groups contend that California must honor the marriages of the 18,000 lesbian and gay couples who have already married.
Sunny Hostin, a CNN legal analyst, said Thursday it is unclear whether same-sex weddings that took place before Tuesday are still valid. Referring to those couples, she said, "I think they really are in a legal limbo, a legal black hole."
Voters in Arizona and Florida also banned same-sex marriages in ballot initiatives Tuesday.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/11/08/same.sex.protests/index.html
1. Martine Ibsen
2. Young voters have some clout, and they used it
3. I wanted to find and interesting article that concerned the election this Tuesday, because to me it seems that what Obama is trying to do is gathering people by appealing to the feelings of the American people. I think his winning speech really reflects that, and therefore I was looking forward to read about some of the reactions in the days after the election.
This article reflects the young people’s opinions, who very much have contributed to the elections outcome as this article highlights. What strikes me in this article is that even young McCain supporters said “they felt a responsibility to 'try to help him out' and how we live in a democracy that isn't about 'government governing the people, but people taking responsibility”. Wow, were my thoughts when I read this, because it seems that Obama has found a way to make people join this society “movement” toward a new future as many sees it. In the end, maybe people have no intention of contributing actively, but this could be a way of preventing a “countermovement” toward his political actions in the coming four years.
Obama does not say in this speech how the change he has been talking about can be done, but just give people a feeling of being part of history and being patriots if they just believe in him and try to contribute to this change. He has found a new way of appealing the American values among the majority of the American population, but in a way that it appeals to most of the world as well. To me, this change he is talking about is therefore a way of framing his politics in a way that really works in the American culture.
(The speech: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710079.stm )
-----------------------------------
Young voters have some clout, and they used it
By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer Martha Irvine, Ap National Writer – Sun Nov 9, 8:13 am ET
CHICAGO – They missed classes, skipped sleep and parties. Thousands spent countless hours instead knocking on doors to make a case for Barack Obama, the man who would be elected the next president of the United States. And many more young Obama supporters stood in line for hours to vote, some for the first time.
Tobin Van Ostern, a senior at George Washington University, knew it was all worth it as he and hundreds of other students raced down to the White House, cheering and chanting after their candidate's win Tuesday night.
"It was one of the most incredible feelings I have ever felt," said Van Ostern, the national co-director of Students for Barack Obama. "People were all so hopeful for the future."
The night was a huge moment for Obama, of course. But some say it also was a defining moment for a generation of youth who played a key role in electing him. Exit polls show that 18- to 29-year-olds voted for Obama by a more than 2-1 margin, boosted by particularly strong support from young African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans.
In his speech at Chicago's Grant Park on Election Night, the president-elect called it a rejection of "the myth of their generation's apathy."
Eric Greenberg, who studies this group, known as Echo Boomers, Generation Y or Millennials, goes as far as calling it a "changing of the guard, a new political epoch, a youth movement."
"They believe the solution starts with themselves, and we just saw it play out in Technicolor on Election Night," says Greenberg, author of "Generation We: How Millennial Youth Are Taking Over America and Changing Our World Forever."
That attitude, he and others say, was an ideal match for a candidate whose catch phrase is "Yes We Can."
Exit polls indicate only a slight increase in turnout among younger voters. People under 30 comprised 18 percent of those who voted in Tuesday's election, up just 1 percent from both 2000 and 2004. But with a 66-31 advantage over John McCain among young voters, Obama scored a higher percentage than John Kerry's 54 percent in 2004 and Al Gore's 48 percent in 2000.
As a racially and ethnically diverse generation, young people had an appreciation for a candidate of mixed race that their elders sometimes did not. And they came of age amid the horrible events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the aftermath.
So — with the economy tanking this year, an ongoing war in Iraq, and global warming looming — they were more than ready for Obama's "call to action," says Smita Reddy, a 28-year-old New Yorker whose parents grew up in India and now live in Pennsylvania.
Reddy voted for Kerry for president in 2004, when 18- to 29-year-old voters were the only age group with a majority supporting the Massachusetts senator.
This time, exit polls shows that voters older than 60 — generally thought of as a voting bloc that sets the tone in an election — were the only age bracket with a majority of votes for McCain.
Suddenly, it was young voters who were leading their elders, not following, as they have tended to do.
"This election felt much more different. It was taking matters into our own hands to have a say," says Reddy, who also helped persuade her father to change his vote to from McCain to Obama days before the election.
Their strong showing for Obama doesn't mean young people were always united on a candidate.
In Arkansas, Oklahoma and West Virginia, for instance, exit polls show that young voters favored McCain by a fairly wide margin.
But Molly Andolina, a political science professor at DePaul University, says there are early signs that Obama may bring young people together, something her students talked about in classes after the election.
"Even students who did not vote for Obama said they felt a responsibility to 'try to help him out' and how we live in a democracy that isn't about 'government governing the people, but people taking responsibility,'" says Andolina, who researches the habits of young voters. "It is amazing to hear them talk in these terms."
In many ways, they are echoing a sentiment of another young American president, John F. Kennedy — asking what they can do for their country.
Alexandra Thomas, a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Texas, says it's true that her generation wants to do more.
She was inspired to travel to Louisiana to volunteer after Hurricane Katrina after she read Obama's first book, "Dreams from My Father."
"That's probably the biggest thing I've ever done, and (Obama) wasn't even a future president at that point," says Thomas, who is studying documentary film making.
The question now that Obama has won, says Greenberg, is: "How do they take this momentum and make something of it and make sure it's not lost?"
Reddy, the 28-year-old in New York, says it's something she and her friends are already talking about. With the high of Election Night past, they've been already been joking that they're suffering from P.E.D. — "post-election depression."
"It's a long road ahead, which is interesting because we've gotten a lot of things faster and easier than a lot of generations," Reddy says. "So there's excitement, but there's also worry."
Part of the worry comes from the tough issues Obama will face as he takes office. But for all this generation's confidence, some also stems from a collective self-doubt.
"There are some people my age doing some really great things. But sometimes we're so busy being students that we end up talking a lot, but not doing a lot," says Thomas, the graduate student in Texas.
Others are still trying to fathom that young voters, known for their fickleness, actually came through for Obama.
"Maybe this will cause me to take my generation a little more seriously," says Shari Davis, a 21-year-old student at Harold Washington College in Chicago who wants to get a job helping juvenile offenders.
Keeping young people engaged will depend on Obama's performance as president, says Peter Levine, director of Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
But he also believes Obama could use his network of tens of thousands of young election volunteers to advocate for legislation on issues important to them, from the environment and the economy to health care and the cost of a college education.
Van Ostern, who is one of those volunteers, is confident young people will stay engaged — and that some will run for office themselves.
"Obama," he says, "has forged a path that countless young Americans will follow."
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081109/ap_on_el_pr/youth_clout;_ylt=Ai6CYNEn.59Teg4CYegWxxKyFz4D
1.Chenyang Wu
2.China and Taiwan Draw Closer, Amid Protests
3.If China will get its unification finally, it is on the right track. Setting dissension aside and forging coalition from the mutual benefits are moderate but effective ways to achieving the unification goal little by little. "China's goverment believe time is on their side, they don't need to rush unification." In contrast, the protests seem to be radical and irrational. Their effort got no attention from both side actually, and was weakened to some extent by Chen's gracious demeanor. I think if they really want to block Kuomintang from showing kindness to mainland China, they should put their emotion in the right place, not just hitting the streets near the meeting.
(Actually I finished this comment last Saturday, week 9(8th), but the original post hadn't come out then. So I failed to post it last week.)
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The highest-ranking Chinese envoy to visit Taiwan in 60 years landed in Taipei this week, ringing in a new era of cross-strait relations with unprecedented trade and transport agreements. It is the first time that a top Chinese official has come to Taiwan, the island off mainland China that claims autonomy, and China claims as its own. Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, who met with the high-ranking Beijing diplomat, has advocated closer economic ties with China and a more pragmatic approach to its sovereignty dispute.
Chen Yunlin, the chairman of the Chinese organization in charge of Taiwan affairs, met with Ma at the Taipei Guest House on Thursday, where they exchanged gifts. Chen unfurled an elaborate scroll painting of a horse — the meaning of "Ma" in Chinese — and Ma gave Chen a ceramic vase with painted Taiwanese orchids. In the coming months, they'll also exchange furry ambassadors: two Chinese pandas for a Formosan serow and sika deer.
Ma and Chen avoided controversy in the quick meeting by not using titles — China refers to Ma as "Taiwan's leader" and Taiwan says he's president. They affirmed the Nov. 4 trade pacts will take effect in 40 days, including an expansion of direct cross-strait flights, direct shipping and postal links, and increased cooperation on food safety in the wake of the recent melamine contaminations. Roughly five million Taiwanese travel to China each year, and the agreements are expected to reduce travel time and costs. Ma and Chen also agreed to meet once every six months and find ways for their financial markets to cooperate.
Meanwhile, outside thousands of protesters had hit the streets near the meeting, shouting "Step down, Ma Ying-jeou!", throwing plastic bottles and rocks, and wearing yellow head and neck bands that read "Taiwan is My Country." The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, wary of any moves to draw closer to China, has staged protests throughout Chen's visit. Some 7000 police have been deployed to maintain order, and a couple of protestors have been injured in the chaos. On Wednesday, hundreds surrounded the hotel where Chen was dining and refused to disperse until 2AM, when Chen could finally leave. "The protests were to be expected," says political scientist Yang Tai-shuenn at Taiwan's Chinese Culture University. "The Democratic Progressive Party has always had a deep mistrust of the Kuomintang [Ma's party], and the opposition uses mass movements to mobilize the party."
Amid the ongoing protests, Ma has assured the public that Taiwan remains a sovereign country and that the pacts were made on equal footing. Chinese envoy Chen also acknowledged the dissent, saying that "has heard and seen [the opposition voices]," but believed "the pacts are for the convenience and benefit of the people on both sides." Chen's demeanor has been gracious throughout the trip, despite the hostility, and for good reason, say analysts. "Any overreaction from Beijing would result in Taiwan drifting away," says Professor Lin Chong-pin of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Tamkang University. Lin believes China has learned that animosity from Beijing only fuels Taiwan's opposition movement. "The leaders in Beijing believe that time is on their side, so they don't need to rush unification."
The new era of diplomacy will be put to the test soon enough, as Taiwan continues to push for participation in international organizations, such as at the next World Health Organization meeting next May. Taiwan has sought participation in WHO and the United Nations in the past, but has routinely been blocked by Beijing. If China wants this chumminess to go its way, it would be wise, says Lin, to reconsider that stance, too. With a growing opposition movement in Taiwan, he says, "If Beijing does not make any flexible adjustment, it's bad news for Ma, and for cross-strait relations."
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http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1857093,00.html
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