기사 제목을 보고 다시 또 봄. 8만명?
근데 사진은 참가 인원 규모를 확인하는 그런 증명 사진은 어디도 없다. 8만명이라.....
제목에도 나와있지만, 막상 얼마나 많이 모였는가, 그 너머로 나아가는 게 중요한 국면이라는
링크된 다른 보도에도 '얼마나 많이'는 그다지 중요하게 여기지 않는다. 이런 태도는 좀 흥미롭다.
한국이나 일본에서는 '얼마나 많이'로 항상 정부와 주관 기관이 싸우고
지난 국회앞 시위에서는 일본에서 '얼마나 많이'를 두고 흥미진진한 '과학적 입증'까지
나왔더랬다.
그런 점에서 이런 여러 맥락에서(이전 시위 비평도 치우치신이 계속 해왔다.)
얼마나 많이와, 국면의 복잡성과 개입해야할 문제를 연동해서 비평하고, 사진 설정도
거기 준해서 제시한 게 돋보인다.
http://newbloommag.net/2016/10/29/taiwan-lgbt-pride-2016/
차우치신 글은 항상 재미있다. 여러모로. 타이완 청년 담론장을 만든다는 강한 자의식을 지닌 그룹이
New Bloom인데. 처음 뉴블룸은 인터뷰 기사가 주를 이뤘고 인터뷰가 흥미로워서 보기 시작함.
<인터뷰>는 아프콤이 연구모임 a 때부터 취했던 결속의 방식, 즉 나아가서, 만나고, 말을 나누기, 주로 듣기.....
뉴블룸이 흥미로웠던 것은 이런 '듣기'에 매우 주력하고 있는 어떤 지점 때문이다.
한국의 sns에 그룹핑된 청년 세대 내러티브는 '자기 말하기'에 집중되어 있는데, 가시성을 높이기 위한 말하기야
당사자 정치에서 매우 중요한데, 과연 '듣기'는 자동으로 되는 걸까?
뉴블룸의 인터뷰들은 그게 자동으로 되지 않는다는 것, 몸의 움직임,
그것을 강제하는 물질적 장치에 의해 반복하여 그 무엇이it 된다는 점.
하여간, 오늘은 다들 광장에 나갔는데, 서울에 가기는 불가능하고 거제에 가려던 일정은 같이 갈 멤버가 없고,
무엇보다 체력은 바닥을 치고, 몇달간 지속된 마감 연속에
최근 이자혜, 성폭력 해시태그, 최순실로 이어지는 정국에
정보 리서치를 하느라, 너무 신경이 곤두서서, 죽을 것 같은데 잠을 계속 못자는 상태가 지속되고 있어서,
이러다가 어떻게 될 것 같다....계속 자료 찾고 너무 많은 시간 리서치에 몰두해서, 신경이 안정되지가 않는다.
브라이언의 이번 타이완 타이완 LGBTQ 행진 에스노그라피는 역시 그다운 차분함과 분석력이 돋보인다.
특히 그는 항상, 타이완에서 벌어지는 일을 주변 다른 아시아 국가의 사례와 비교하는
지평에서 보는 것에 주의를 기울인다.
*차이잉윈 총통이 선거 당시 동성 결혼을 지지해서 매우 큰 이슈가 되었고,
그 영향으로 타이완에서 LGBTQ 행진이 '이벤트'로서 이렇게 많은 인원들이 참가하는 분위기가 형성된 것은,
여타 아시아 지역과 차이점.
하지만 차이잉윈이 집권 이후 동성 결혼 합법화나 평등을 위한 정책을 거의 추진하지 않고 있어서,
차이잉윈이 'LGBTQ'이슈를 선거 전략으로 이용한 게 아니냐는 비판도 나오는 중이라고 한다.
이런 과정을 통해서 역설적으로 현재 타이완에서 'LGBTQ'이슈는 정치적으로 위험도가 낮은 이슈로 간주되면서,
이러저러 정치 공학에 '표심'을 모으는 전략으로 소모되는 측면이 강하다.
이번 퍼레이드에 8만명이 참가했다는 것은 타이완 사회에서 성소수자의 가시성을 높이는 의미를 지니는 것이지만,
한편으로는 현재 타이완 정치 상황에서 성소수자 이슈가 처한 딜레마를 해결해야 하는 것이 과제로 남겨졌다.
스캐닝 후 간단 정리.
by Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: Brian Hioe
DESPITE CHILLY weather and drizzling rain, 80,000 would march on the streets of Taipei for Taiwan LGBT Pride 2016 earlier today. The march began and ended at Ketagalan Boulevard, in front of the Presidential Office Building, marching past National Taiwan Normal University, the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, and other Taipei landmarks. This was the 14th time Taiwan LGBT Pride was held, the annual event being East Asia’s largest pride parade. Taiwan LGBT Pride is organized by Taiwan Rainbow Citizens Association, working together with other groups. This year was marked by higher participation by corporations as Uber, CitiBank, and others than in past years, however.
The theme of 2016’s parade was, “Let’s have fun together, to break through false friendliness, so we can be free together” (一起FUN出來——打破「假友善」，你我撐自在). This was a theme chosen to represent that there are many problems which continue to be faced by LGBTQ individuals in Taiwanese society, in spite of the perception that these problems have been largely resolved, or that Taiwan has it better than many other East Asian countries because of its relatively tolerant social attitudes towards LGBTQ individuals. Indeed, representatives of other Asian pride parades, such as from Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan, were present at the event.
PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN HIOE
At stake would also be that Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen has vowed to legalize gay marriage, but since being elected, has not pushed very hard on the issue and has generally refused to comment on the issue. This has led to backlash against the Tsai administration because of the perception that she made such campaign promises in order to lure in gay voters and their allies, but had no actual intention of legalizing gay marriage. This morning, Tsai would release a public statement on her Facebook stating that she believed that marriage equality would be realized soon, and calling on the public to continue to have faith. Rumors that Tsai would be making a surprise appearance at the pride parade itself, as she has in response to several past protests against her administration’s backsliding on campaign promises, proved to be false.
Indeed, it is to be questioned whether Tsai Ing-Wen genuinely intends to push for marriage equality, rather than for civil partnerships. In spite of widespread social support for gay marriage, which has only increased in recent years, Tsai may view the issue as too controversial to push for currently because of its risk to offend influential political figures. Even within her own party, elements of the DPP tied to the Presbyterian church have expressed homophobic sentiments many times in the past. For example, former vice president Annette Lu, who is fond of declaring herself the “founder of Taiwan’s feminist movement,” in the past has declared AIDS to be the “wrath of God” against gay people.
PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN HIOE
Certainly, the KMT’s record stands even worse on the issue, with many anti-gay marriage protests in recent years having been organized by church groups with ties to the KMT. Indeed, while a number of DPP legislators participated in the pride parade, including Su Chiao-Hui, Cheng Yun-Peng, and Kolas Yotaka, of the KMT, only one KMT legislator, Jason Hsu, was in attendance. On the other hand, third parties as the New Power Party, Social Democratic Party, Green Party, and Free Taiwan Party were openly supportive of gay marriage and were present in force at the pride rally, joined by civil society groups such as Taiwan March and the Appendectomy Project. This is not surprising, given the younger composition of these parties, and because the young tend to be much more supportive of gay marriage than older individuals.
That the Tsai administration could come out into the open with a public stance of supporting gay marriage reflects that support of gay marriage is increasingly a safe political position to take in Taiwan, particularly in making outreach to the youth vote. But if Tsai was not simply making false campaign promises about gay marriage she had no intention of keeping, it is possible that internal opposition within the DPP was what led her push for gay marriage to ground to a halt. It is also possible that Tsai may be seeking to put off the issue until her second term, seeing as she has a number of widespread reform measures on her plate including transitional justice legislation, addressing KMT party assets, labor reforms, and judicial reform, and she may see the issue as too much to push for during her first term. The DPP is increasingly embattled on these issues; during just the pride parade itself, at one point, DPP legislators were surrounded by protestors against planned cuts to public holidays and the labor policy of “yili yixiu” calling for workers to have one set day off per week and one “flexible rest day” rather than two set days off.
PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN HIOE
Or Tsai may be hoping to lure in gay voters again during her second term with promises of legalizing gay marriage. This, of course, leaves Tsai open to the accusation that she is politically manipulating supporters of marriage equality. In particular, outrage has recently been provoked by the apparent suicide of a French professor, Jacques Picoux, which is seen as having been caused by Picoux not being allowed to visit his partner on his deathbed or participate in any medical decisions regarding his partner due to his inability to marry his partner and obtain the rights that would have come from legal marriage status. Picoux’s death has led to renewed calls upon the Tsai administration to live up to its campaign promises and accusations that the Tsai administration has been moving too slowly on the matter.
Certainly, it may be that the tide is turning in Taiwan. The legalization of marriage equality in America has been a watermark for the LGBTQ movement worldwide, in large part because of the powerful global influence of the United States. This is particularly true of countries with strong political ties to the United States such as Taiwan. Taipei mayor Ko Wen-Je previously stated that he would consider supporting marriage equality once half of the states in the US had ratified marriage equality, but gay marriage was legalized overnight across the United States after the Obergefell v Hodges decision by the Supreme Court in June 2015. Ko would later officiate over a mass wedding of 123 couples, which included eight gay couples, and the Taipei city hall would display a rainbow colored flag today.
PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN HIOE
But it remains to be seen as to the future of marriage equality in Taiwan. Can the Tsai administration truly be counted on? Blind faith in the Tsai administration, whether on the issue of gay marriage or other social issues, is generally unwarranted. And, as was pointed out during the rally today, it is not as if the inability of gay people to marry is the only social ill facing LGBTQ individuals, given continued attitudes of discrimination in society and social inequalities disproportionately confronted by LGBTQ individuals. These problems, too, remain to be resolved and this is what perhaps should be taken away from Taiwan LGBT Pride 2016, as an event which seeks to raise the visibility of LGBTQ individuals in Taiwanese society.