Category: Student Politics

So, Where to Now? A Short Reflection on Democracy

Democracy is by far the dominant political regime in today’s world. Pew Research Center reports that in 2017, 96 out of the 167 countries with a population of at least 500,000 were democracies, while 46 had a hybrid system with aspects of both democracy and authoritarianism. Despite enjoying quantitative prosperity, the qualitative progress of democracy has been increasingly in question. Both scholars and non-scholars are asking if democracy is in crisis.

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One Year Since the Rioters’ University Rebelled

“Rioters’ University” is the derogatory name given by many pro-government media sources to the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). In response to their “riotous acts,” the students were reminded by the People’s Daily, China’s mouthpiece, of the school’s motto which is taken from the Confucian classic Analects, “through learning and temperance to virtue.” The students, however, humorously and proudly accepted this name and largely confirmed it with the confrontation between them and the police on campus a year ago.

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The Process

“Tanking” is quite possibly the most bizarre and counterintuitive concept in the strange world of professional sports. In North America, a franchise system is used rather than the promotion/relegation system commonly found in Europe, where, for example, the three worst performing teams are replaced by the three best performing teams by the league below every year. In North American leagues such as the NBA, there are a fixed number of franchises, and no matter how poorly managed and dysfunctional a team is, there is no danger of said team being forced out of the league. In fact, bad teams in North American leagues are often rewarded for their poor performance.

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Mon père, mon héros (ou pas)

L’année 2020 m’a offert un père. Enfant d’un divorce compliqué, nos relations ont toujours été sporadiques. Un mois par ci, deux par là, la récolte est maigre. Mais voilà que, depuis le confinement, je vis chez mon père, découvrant ainsi la figure paternelle absente de mon enfance. Continue reading “Mon père, mon héros (ou pas)”

What is to Be Observed from the Ceremony of the Double Tenth Day?

On October 10, 1911 in Wuchang, one of the three cities of the conurbation of Wuhan, revolutionaries started a revolt that later led to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, and China’s two thousand years of imperial rule with it. The Republic of China (ROC), the régime founded afterwards, set this date as the national day, popularly known as the Double Tenth Day. As most national days in the world, the Double Tenth Day became an important event employed by politicians to make political gestures in Taiwan, the island that formally embodies the régime of ROC. So, what is to be observed? Continue reading “What is to Be Observed from the Ceremony of the Double Tenth Day?”