Mar 1, 2014-2014
Taiwan
Sunflower Student Movement
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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP
Black Island National Youth Front
TARGET
China & Legislative and Executive Yuan of Taiwan
WIDELY HELD BELIEF
Citizens have right to protest the government and its policies.
CASE NARRATIVE
Issue and Opponent: President Ma Ying-jeou and the Kuomintang (KMT) ruling party of Taiwan aimed for closer economic ties with China through a free trade agreement called the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) that would liberalize trade with Beijing.
Dilemma Action: Students from universities including National Taiwan University and National ChengChi University were opposed to the CSSTA. These students formed the Black Island National Youth Front. This organization, along with other students, gathered outside the Legislative Yuan to protest the trade agreement. 400 of these students illegally entered the building, leading to a long fight between them and the police trying to remove them. More people continued to gather outside the building and more police were called to ensure no one else entered the building.
Outcomes: This action gained a lot of attention overseas, and supporters around the world launched their own smaller protests. After the occupation of the Legislative Yuan, Ma remained in power and still planned to pass the CSSTA. However, the Black Island National Youth Front continued to work and grew to include civic organizations and NGOs.
PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL
NONVIOLENT TACTICS USED
DA TACTICS USED
Assemblies of protest or support
CASE NARRATIVE WRITER
SUCCESS METRICS
9 / 12
(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements
(MC) Media Coverage
(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists
(OR) Opponent response
(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public
(PUN) Punishment favored the activists
(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent
(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists
(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public
PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN
3 / 3
Activist group continued working together after the action
Encouraged more participants to join the movement
Internally replicated by the same movement
RESOURCES
Project documentation
Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook
Case study documentation
Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset
SOURCES
Ho, Ming-Sho. 2018. “Taiwan’s Anti-Nuclear Movement: The Making of a Militant Citizen Movement.” Journal of contemporary Asia. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00472336.2017.1421251).
Ho, Ming-sho. 2014. “The Fukushima Effect: Explaining the Resurgence of the Anti-Nuclear Movement in Taiwan.” Environmental politics. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271993608_The_Fukushima_effect_explaining_the_resurgence_of_the_anti-nuclear_movement_in_Taiwan).
Yang, Chia-Ling. 2016. “The Political Is the Personal: Women’s Participation in Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement.” Social movement studies. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14742837.2017.1344542).
Rowen, Ian. 2015. “Inside Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement: Twenty-Four Days in a Student-Occupied Parliament, and the Future of the Region,” The Journal of Asian studies. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/inside-taiwans-sunflower-movement-twentyfour-days-in-a-studentoccupied-parliament-and-the-future-of-the-region/DB4A7B57538A6F06DC6C8CF0058C8040).
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