The languages of social movements

Abstract

By examining the language of social movements in Taiwan for the past two decades, this article argues that the language of social movements was not much more than another version of ‘end of history’. In their habitual consumption of the language, the language users lost in touch with history and reality while being intoxicated by a sense of political correctness. This article suggests a rethinking of the relationship between critical intellectuals and social movements. Social movements ought to be a quintessential part of the thought-searching efforts by regional intellectuals. In the meantime, the effort of thought-searching should also be on the agenda of any social movement which wishes to face the real problems peculiar to the region. ‘Autonomy’ in a genuine sense can only be achieved on the concrete but non-intuitional level of historical reality. It is beyond dispute that we need social movements in our contemporary world. And exactly for this reason, we need to rethink the language of social movements. And the most difficult challenge lying in front of us is the fact that no ready language is going to serve well in our pursuit, no matter how liberal, how left, or how postmodern/populist it might sound to us. Chen Yingzhen's pioneer thinking along this line was discussed via a new reading of his 1980 novel The Cloud.

Keywords:

• language of social movements
• social movements
• radical democracy
• intellectuals
• the third world
• Chen Yingzhen

Notes

¹Other forms of expression for ‘people against the state’ include ‘civil society against the state’ and ‘Taiwanese against the intruding regime’. Often the terms ‘people’, ‘civil society’, ‘Taiwanese’ and ‘social forces’ are interchangeable.