We review some of the stories from the past week: Stanford’s conference on Taiwan political polarization, Taiwan’s Gay Pride Parade, and Ukraine’s first national elections since former pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and civil conflict broke out.Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and its affiliated Taiwan Democracy Program held its annual conference of scholars this past weekend on October 17th and 18th, on polarized politics in Taiwan. While the scholars offered observations on Taiwan’s political scene after the Sunflower Movement, the attendees generally agreed that at this point there are more questions than answers for Taiwan’s future…(see here)

On Saturday, Taiwan held its 12th annual Gay Pride Parade in Taipei as around 80,000 from across the country and Asia participated in one of Asia’s biggest LGBT events. This year’s theme was “embrace sex/sexuality and recognize differences,” because the event organizers want members within the LGBT community to recognize and understand their differences with each other…(see here)

On Sunday, Ukrainians went to the polls to elect a new national parliament, the first time since former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych fled the country after protesters clashed with the police in February of this year…(see here)

(Feature photo of Taiwan’s 12th annual Gay Pride Parade, by William Yang)

 

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The Debrief