Ep 316 | The Great Recall Movement in Taiwan: A Historic Unprecedented Boots on the Ground Exercise in Democracy

Have you heard about the great recall movement that’s happening in Taiwan? What’s it all about?

Related Links: 

https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-great-recall-movement-effort-in-taiwan-boots-on-the-ground-ep-316/

24 lawmakers, or legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang KMT party are being put up for a recall vote.

I don’t think the world has ever seen anything like this happen on a national level in a democracy- 24 lawmakers being recalled from office, and that number is likely to be even higher at the time that this episode gets released. It’s truly unprecedented!

This recall vote certainly didn’t happen overnight. It was through dedicated grassroots efforts, of the everyday people of Taiwan. Questions have been raised as to whether the recall efforts are a partisan politically motivated effort on the part of the Democratic Progressive Party to oust KMT legislators.

That’s what I wanted to get to the bottom of in this episode as I talked to some of the volunteers who have been boots on the ground in Taiwan’s recall effort.

As you’ll hear in this episode, what’s happening in Taiwan is a historic demonstration of the will of the people to exercise their rights in a democracy.

The island-wide effort in Taiwan to recall lawmakers has been going on since last year and I sat down to speak to three volunteers Carol, Acho and Eric about how this mass movement has successfully gone through two stages, first signatures from1% of eligible voters in a legislator’s district must be collected to initiate a recall. Then in the second stage signatures from 10% of eligible voters in a legislator’s district must collect to in order for a recall vote to proceed. The hard part is that the signatures on the 1% and 10% petitions cannot be the same.

On July 26 Taiwan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) will hold recall votes for now possibly even more than 24 KMT lawmakers.

Special thanks to Julien Oeuillet the Founding Editor of IPON (the Indo-Pacific Open News) for his help in making this interview possible.

 

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• What the recall movement that’s happening in Taiwan is about

• Why and how Acho, Carol and Eric volunteer their time and energy in the effort to recall legislators

• How the recall efforts are targeting pro-CCP Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang KMT legislators

• How the recall is necessary so that Taiwan’s parliament/legislature can function normally

• How the first volunteers for the recall met through a LINE group

• How what happened after the Bluebird Movement protests motivated people to attempt to recall KMT legislators

• How the Sunflower Movement compares to the recall movement

• How they vetted volunteers from outside of Taiwan who wanted to help with the recall effort in Taiwan

• How they dealt with people trying to infiltrate the recall volunteer groups

• How the recall effort got started with 10 volunteers and has grown to 500 volunteers globally

• How A-Mei one of the lead recall movement volunteers was targeted by the KMT who accused her and revealed her personal information and identity

• How the Taiwanese people feel they are at risk of losing their country to pro-CCP KMT legislators

• How the KMT has smeared and sued recall movement volunteers including Carol

• How the KMT has broken up recall movement volunteer groups

• How Carol has put her job on hold to be dedicated to being a leader of her recall movement volunteer group full-time

• What Carol does as leader of her recall movement group

• How Acho volunteers for the recall effort by editing and creating videos

• How Eric volunteers for the recall effort by dealing with the media

• The types of videos they produce to promote and create awareness of the recall effort

• How the majority of recall volunteers are women (60% women, 40% men)

• How over 100 recall volunteers are dedicated full-time to the effort

• How the women recall volunteers have been confronted by people who don’t support the recall

• The standard for collecting signatures for the recall

• Why the KMT’s efforts to recall DPP have failed due to forgery or signatures of the deceased on their recall petitions

• How the KMT is trying to paint the picture that the DPP are orchestrating the recall of KMT legislators

• How the recall effort is a grassroots effort not about conflict between the DPP and KMT political parties

• How there could be more than 24 KMT legislators put up for a recall vote

• The demographics of the districts that Carol, Eric and Acho are volunteers in for the recall

• How Acho and Eric balance volunteering for the recall effort with their day jobs

• How KMT legislators have not offered any explanation of what was discussed in a closed door meeting in 2024 with Chinese officials

•  How public reaction to volunteers of the recall effort has changed over time

• How the recall volunteers now need to focus on encouraging the public to vote on July 26

• How Carol encouraged creativity and idea of the recall volunteers that she manages

• How the sentiment of the recall volunteers is that we are all in this together

• How if eight to 10 KMT legislators are recalled there will be a better balance in the legislative yuan

• How Carol, Eric and Acho feel they are working selflessly for a common goal and that they are taking care of each other

• How this experience with the recall effort has helped Acho to see how the people of Taiwan can be so united

• How Carol has seen many recall volunteers evolving

• How what is happening in Taiwan is important for Asia and other democracies in the world

 

Related Links:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-great-recall-movement-effort-in-taiwan-boots-on-the-ground-ep-316/