TAIPEI
\nTaiwanese activist Aurora Chang is no stranger to online hate from abroad, but her support for the Palestinian cause amid Israel\u2019s war on Gaza has seen the 24-year-old face a new wave of abuse and threats from her compatriots.
\nBorn and living in Taiwan, Chang has been involved in various movements, from the International Tibet Network to Taiwan Stands With Ukraine, and most recently, For Peace Taiwan, a group that was created when Israel launched its onslaught in October last year.
\n\u201cDoing this work, actually, has been really emotionally taxing for me. I\u2019m used to getting hate from Western communists who are pro-China and pro-Russia. I\u2019m used to that,\u201d Chang told Arab News.
\n\u201cThis time, with the Palestinian stuff, that is coming from inside. It\u2019s coming from Taiwanese people. I\u2019ve gotten death threats and very unpleasant messages because of the things I\u2019ve been posting about Palestine.\u201d
\nThe Taiwanese government largely expresses support for Israel, which, since the beginning of its bombardment of Gaza, has organized public diplomacy campaigns to the country, capitalizing on China\u2019s opposition to the war and the existential threat Taipei sees in Beijing.
\nAbout one-third of the Taiwanese public have uncritically accepted the Israeli narrative about the war, according to a poll published by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation in late October, as Israel is backed by the US and Washington acts as Taiwan\u2019s key ally.
\nBut for Chang and her friends, the arrangement of alliances makes little sense. Based on her nation\u2019s experience, she would rather draw parallels and sympathy with Palestine, not Israel.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s no logical and moral consistency in supporting Taiwanese independence when (you are) not supporting Palestinian liberation and independence,\u201d she said.
\nAt the same time as Palestinians have been subjected to decades of Israeli occupation, the self-governing island of Taiwan has faced military threats from the People\u2019s Republic of China, which has laid claim to its territory for decades.
\nFor Peace Taiwan was established to amplify Palestinian voices and counter Israel\u2019s domination of mainstream public opinion in the country.
\nThe collective of about 20 young volunteers shares pro-Palestinian content on social media, translated into the Mandarin language, holds rallies and discussions, and liaises with Taiwanese media companies to encourage greater coverage of Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza.
\n\u201cWhat we really need is Palestinian perspectives, so that it\u2019s easier for people to empathize when there are personal stories and faces attached to larger political issues. Hopefully, little by little, we can make a difference,\u201d Chang said.
\nThough the TPOF survey revealed that fewer than 15 percent of Taiwanese people support Palestine, the poll also showed that about 34 percent had no opinion.
\nFor Peace Taiwan wants to tap into the undecided segment of the Taiwanese public. \u201cWhat we are trying to do is to reach the people who have no idea or no opinion over this issue, because this has been a catastrophe that has been going on for over 75 years,\u201d said Pin-Tsun Huang, another For Peace Taiwan volunteer.
\n\u201cHow can you care if you don\u2019t know? We want to make people aware of this issue and let them know how they can help; how they can use their voice.\u201d
\nLike Chang, Huang also sees the Palestinian struggle, to some extent, as mirroring Taiwan\u2019s own.
\n\u201cOne of the biggest things we have in common with Palestine is that we are a silenced nation. We don\u2019t have a voice on the international stage because Israel controls the voice of the Palestinian people, whereas China controls the voice of the Taiwanese people,\u201d Huang said.
\n\u201cYou can also argue that Taiwan is a lot more like Palestine in that we are facing oppression from an extremely strong militant nation next to us. And we are denied self-determination by them.\u201d
\nThe key reason to counter the mainstream narrative, however, is more than matter of identity for the group.
\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what our nationality is,\u201d Huang said. \u201cAll we have to be is human to recognize that there\u2019s a genocide \u2014 and that we should all demand a ceasefire and an end to oppression, and settler colonialism.\u201d
\nAnd that should not be difficult for Taiwanese society, but it requires a shift in media coverage, which, since the beginning of the conflict, has reflexively sided with Israel, according to Brian Hioe, founding editor of New Bloom, an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan.
\n\u201cNew Bloom sought to inform the public about Palestine, to hopefully lead to further consideration of places where Taiwan and Palestine share certain similarities or parallels,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt is a cause that we feel deserves more attention, and as part of where we stand in Taiwanese society, we hope to push for a shift in social views on the situation.
\n\u201cThis is no different than us standing in solidarity with Hong Kong, Ukraine or elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TAIPEI Taiwanese activist Aurora Chang is no stranger to online hate from abroad, but her support for the Palestinian cause amid Israel\u2019s war on Gaza has seen the 24-year-old face a new wave of abuse and threats from her compatriots. Born and living in Taiwan, Chang has been involved in various movements, from the International […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-385306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n