Ep 289 | Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo: The Kaohsiung Incident - The Watershed Moment That Led to Taiwan's Democratization Part 2

Jul 31, 2024

In a captivating discussion, Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo, also known as Ai Linda, a prominent activist and scholar, delves into the transformative Kaohsiung Incident of 1979 and its profound impact on Taiwan's democratization. She highlights the tense atmosphere leading up to the event and the bravery of protestors amidst governmental repression. The role of overseas support and legal advocacy emerges as a focal point, shedding light on the emotional struggles within the democracy movement. Arrigo also reflects on the incident’s aftermath and its pivotal place in contemporary Taiwanese aspirations.

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ANECDOTE

Intimidation Before Kaohsiung Incident

Government imported riot trucks and armed police to intimidate protestors before the Kaohsiung incident.
Machine guns were even trained on crowds meeting peacefully in Kaichung schools.

ANECDOTE

Linda's Deportation and Activism

Linda was deported on December 15th, 1979 after the Kaohsiung incident.
Before deportation, she actively informed reporters and supported prisoners' families with supplies.

ANECDOTE

Spreading Truth from Hong Kong

Linda escaped imprisonment and went to Hong Kong to expose the truth about the Kaohsiung incident.
She helped publish objective reports contradicting government propaganda internationally.

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This is the second part of our interview with Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo, Ai Linda (艾琳達). Earlier this year when we were in Taiwan in January for the presidential election, we sat down to interview Linda about the era and events that precipitated the Kaohsiung incident also known as the Formosa Incident, which is widely considered the watershed moment in history that led to Taiwan’s democratization. The Kaohsiung Incident happened in December of 1979.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the first part of this interview, you can go back to episode 287 and give it a listen. By the way, that episode of Talking Taiwan, episode 287 got us shortlisted in the top 15 podcasts selected in the category of "Moment of Visionary Leadership" for the 2024 International Women's Podcast Awards. This year the IWPA had 700 submissions from over 33 different countries. Results were announced in London on Wednesday, June 19th.

While we were not selected as the winning podcast in this category, we are deeply honored to have our work recognized. Any increased visibility for Talking Taiwan also means greater visibility for Taiwan. In case you didn’t know, Talking Taiwan is also on YouTube, and we did video record my interview with Linda, so we do plan on releasing it on our YouTube channel, but please be patient with us since we are only a two-person team. We do have some interesting content on YouTube that’s different from our podcast episodes, so if you haven’t already, we encourage you to look for Talking Taiwan on YouTube and to subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@talkingtaiwan Issues of Formosa Magazine

Photo Credit: Linda Gail Arrigo The Kaohsiung Eight (from left to right): Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏), Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信介), Chen Chu (陳菊), Yao Chia- wen (姚嘉文), Shih Ming-teh (施明德), Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Lin Hung-hsuan (林弘宣 ), and Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄)- not pictured

Photo Credit: Screenshot from Formosa Incident, Explained YouTube video from Taiwan Explained by TaiwanPlus: https://youtu.be/2eaxPhA9RN8?si=_YF0brrtyjOwlu6D International Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Taiwan (ICDHRT)- Lynn Miles’ organization

Photo Credit: Linda Gail Arrigo

Linda Gail Arrigo (艾琳達) wearing the three-colored sash, and the three-colored banners and signs of the dangwai (黨外) i.e. outside party or opposition.