Facing history,resolving disputes,working towards peace in East Asia: a statement by the Minjian East Asia Forum |
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| Abstract: | Preface ?Concerned with the escalation of territorial disputes in East Asia since July, we proposed setting up the Minjian East Asia Forum (the Forum hereafter) on October 6, 2012, serving as a platform for East Asian people to face regional disputes and exchange opinions together. Minjian is a Chinese term that has counterparts in Japanese, as minkan, and in Korean as mingan, based on the same Chinese characters. Although used differently with different meanings in each context, minjian, as used here, refers to the non-governmental, popular voices and organizations, initiated by the people. Although the Forum was started to respond to and engage in the recent territorial disputes, it was not created out of thin air, but on the foundation of East Asian solidarities built by many predecessors over the last 30 years.1 “In the last two decades, we have participated in the minjian, read here as people-based and hence non-governmental, solidarity movement of various kinds—including Asia Regional Network for Alternatives (ARENA, 1980s), the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies: Movements (2000–), the East Asia Critical Journals Conference (2006–), and West Heavens: India China Summit on Social Thought (2010–). We also established the Inter-Asia School (2011–) and organized the first Asian Circle of Thought in Shanghai (2012) as well as the Modern Asian Thought project (2012–). In doing this work, we follow the footsteps of Ashis Nandy, Muto Ichiyo, Chen Yingzhen, Paik Nak-Chung, and the late Mizoguchi Yuzo. In moving around Asia, we created a linkage between circles of critical intellectuals and movement, and by talking to friends in the circle of thought, we came to realize that within the entire expanse of Asia, East Asia is the region that experiences the greatest difficulty in stepping outside of the Cold War division and in reimagining the region as a collectivity. Especially when China and India are fast developing their economies, we must be more aware of the social contradictions and inequalities that are deepening in the region, as well as the role each state plays in the global inter-state system. In this complex and volatile context, we must try to find a better road to development—for public good, justice, equality, and world peace. Unfortunately, the party politics in each state has blocked the proactive interaction within the region for its own interest. Even when East Asian states are imagining an East Asian community, a common platform for civil societies to communicate and address issues that are of regional significance is achingly absent. In this sense, our imagination of ‘minjian East Asia’ is a people-based, non-governmental platform for regional dialogue that attempts to check and balance the exchange of interest based on party politics, and monitor the governments, preventing them from making arbitrary decisions that will escalate tension and threaten peace in the region” (Chen et al. 2013 Chen, Kuan-Hsing, Chih-Ming Wang and Qingya Hu. 2013. Minjian East Asia Forum: feelings and imaginations. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 14(2) ,, this issueTaylor & Francis Online] , Google Scholar]). We expect the Forum (with the secretariat to be based in Seoul) to become a people-to-people network that will continue to extend beyond borders and express people's voices, fostering the steady development of peace in Asia and the world through communication, conversation, and collaboration. |
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