2024/06/15 New Bloom Newsletter
Tiananmen Square commemoration, KMT response after Bluebird Movement protests, Palestine solidarity march prep
Hi ya’ll, El and Yo-Ling here with our first Newsletter after the Bluebird Movement protests last month. Larger-scale Bluebird activity appears to have slowed down, with actions the past two weeks being small-scale and focused on local dialogue; however, the Taiwan Citizen Front has called on protestors to return to the Legislative Yuan later this month. But the Taiwan Economic Democracy Union, the main organizer of the Legislative Yuan protests last month, has not put out any such calls yet. In the meantime, we’ve been continuing our regular programming and trying to catch up on rest and work after this first phase of the Bluebird Movement last month. We will be sure to keep you all up to date in our next Newsletter if there are any flare ups in activity!
New Bloom News
The start of June saw a number of solidarity rallies in Taiwan. This included the annual commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre that takes place on June 4th annually, as well as a demonstration to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2019 Hong Kong protests on June 9th. Both events saw heavy participation by Hongkongers, as has increasingly been the case in Taiwan since 2019.
The series of events regarding the Bluebird Movement have temporarily abated, in that while the bill is set to be further discussed in the legislature, no plans for protests have yet materialized. That being said, it is possible that the KMT stokes outrage, with the KMT advancing a bill to raise benchmarks for recalls to a second reading by circumventing committee review yet again. After the last round of protests, there were calls on demonstrators to organize and to push for recall campaigns directed against local KMT politicians supportive of the expansion of legislative powers.
The KMT has sought to attack the government over the purported tracking of protesters during the demonstrations, but as protesters were critical of the expansion of state power under KMT auspices, this is not likely to have much resonance. Still, splits may be emerging in the KMT, with divided views of the infrastructure bills pushed for by legislative caucus convenor Fu Kun-chi.
DAYBREAK Events
(Please see our Facebook page for all upcoming and past events)
2024/06/01 Prop Workshop for Palestine Rally
We started off the month by hosting the Taiwan Rave & Punk Communities Front’s Slogan & Prop Workshop for Pro-Palestine Rally in preparation for the next Taiwan Palestine Solidarity March on 6/23. Taiwan Rave & Punk also hosted a fundraiser party for the march on June 7th that a lot of us went to.
If you’re in Taipei, join the Palestine Solidarity March on June 23rd! Learn more here.
2024/06/05 Tiananmen 35 Years On: Hear From Journalists Who Were There
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the violent suppression of pro-Democracy demonstrations in China on June 4th, 1989. For the journalists who were there, sharing the images and memories of what they witnessed that day in Beijing is a solemn responsibility. At DAYBREAK, Taipei Foreign Correspondents’ Club and Video Consortium Taipei hosted a screening of ‘ASSIGNMENT CHINA: TIANANMEN SQUARE’ which tells the behind-the-scenes story of the reporters who covered the dramatic events in Beijing that spring. The film was followed by a Q&A with former CNN Beijing Bureau Chief, Mike Chinoy, and veteran journalist Tu Yang (楊渡), one of the few Taiwanese reporters in Beijing at the time. The event is co-hosted by Video Consortium Taipei and the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
You can watch the full film “ASSIGNMENT CHINA: TIANANMEN SQUARE” on Youtube.
2024/06/06 The Historical and Social Context of Taiwanese Parents’ Mental Health Stigma
This talk draws from extensive dialogues conducted by a family therapist with first and second generation Taiwanese American immigrants. The talk dove into the social and historical context of parents who grew up in Taiwan during the 1950s and 1960s, exploring how intergenerational trauma shaped their parenting values and behaviors.
Key points of the talk included:
1. Examining the cultural and educational influences on identity, self-worth, and the stigma surrounding mental health.
2. Exploring the phenomenon of emotional dysregulation and its impact on communication within families.
3. Understanding the combined effects of trauma from one's family of origin and the stress of immigration.
At certain junctures, one comes to recognize the humanity of their parents. It is at these moments that breaking dysfunctional cycles becomes imperative, paving the way for healing to begin. Watch the full recording on Youtube.
2024/06/12 Community Connects: Conflict Clinic
The third edition of Community Connects gathered for a workshop titled "Conflict Clinic". The object of the workshop was to provide a space for participants to share examples of interpersonal conflict in their daily lives, and engage with the stories through exercises borrowed from improv theatre, Non-Violent Communication and Playback Theatre. We looked at some common conflict scenarios, and identified the corresponding needs and values. We also practiced listening to and enacting each other's stories through frozen sculptures and roleplay. It was a very dynamic evening!
2024/06/14 Happy Hour with NGO Partners
New Bloom partnered with 左轉有書 TouatBooks for the second edition of their bilingual Happy Hour with NGO Partners meet-and-greet event. The Happy Hour is an extension of a course "What You Need is an Opportunity to Practice - 16 Weeks for Advocates to Communicate Confidently with International NGO Partners" taken by NGO and civil society workers based in Taipei. Quite a few New Bloom members as well as community members showed up for an evening of English conversation. El had the opportunity to meet a volunteer from “TaiwanMilitia”, an organization dedicated to training everyday folks on civil defense tactics. They run practices once a week at Daan Park! Check their FB for more info.
Weekly Friday Nights with Trif Trans Bar!
New Bloom member Trif has continued their weekly Friday Night Trif Trans Bar pop-up at DAYBREAK — open call to all of our trans/non-binary community members and allies to come hangout Friday evenings at DAYBREAK!
That’s it for the first half of June!
Coming up
2024/06/20: “The Silence of Taiwanese American Fathers and Sons’ Struggles: A Talk” - Our next talk with Evon Chiu for the Taiwanese International Trauma Series!
2024/06/21: Olive It!: A Drag Cabaret in Support of Gazans - Come join us for a drag king performance celebrating queer liberation and resistance in support of Gaza! Donations from this event will be given to the family of Hazem Almassry, which you can read about here.
2024/06/23: Taiwan Palestine Solidarity March - Departing from Liberty Plaza at 1:30PM! Aurora and Yo-Ling will be MC-ing two speaker cars. Please help spread the word, as we are hoping to make this our biggest Palestine solidarity event to date.
2024/06/28: Indian elections panel - currently in the works!