From Indiscriminate Violence to Polycrisis: Rethinking Societal Resilience

Lessons Learned from Recent Attacks in Taiwan and Japan On the eve of Christmas and the New Year in 2025, the world experienced a shared psychological trauma. In mid-December, Taipei’s MRT system and surrounding shopping districts were shaken by an indiscriminate attack involving arson, smoke devices, and knives, the first incident of this kind in more than a decade. In the same month, Japan experienced chemical and knife attacks at industrial facilities, while shocking shooting incidents occurred at Brown University and MIT in the United States, Bondi Beach in Australia, and a bar in South Africa. How can the societies…