2024/08/31 New Bloom Newsletter
SCANDALS, LGBTQ+ strategic litigation rulings, Southeast-Northeast Asian solidarity, US-Taiwan transpacific solidarities
Hi folks, Yo-Ling here w/ another New Bloom Newsletter! First, I wanted to thank everyone for sharing and donating to our call for donations for Lumaq 露瑪恪, an Indigenous activist cafe/space run by Bunun activist Savungaz Valincinan. We were able to raise a total of $18,504 NTD for Lumaq in just a few days! Along with the other donations that Savungaz received, Lumaq should be fine for the next few months.
Anyhow, there has been a lot happening in the second half of August, so without further ado:
New Bloom News
Mid-August proved eventful in Taiwanese politics, with the potential implosion of Ko Wen-je’s political career and that of the TPP as a whole. Ko now is under investigation over potential corruption in connection to the Core Pacific City Mall, as well as the Shilin Beitou Technology Park. Further raising eyebrows was that the TPP apparently declared no campaign expenditures in the 2024 presidential election cycle, with the implication being that Ko may have pocketed election subsidies in order to purchase expensive office space for himself near the legislature.
This is not the only set of scandals currently under scrutiny, with former Taoyuan DPP mayor Cheng Wen-tsan potentially facing up to 12 years in jail, legislators Sra Kacaw of the KMT and Lin I-chin of the DPP under investigation, and Pingtung county council speaker Chou Tien-lun of the KMT facing up to four years in jail over signature buying charges for FoxConn founder Terry Giu’s 2024 presidential bid. But it is clearly the case that has drawn the most attention in Taiwanese politics right now.
In the same timeframe, a number of significant rulings took place in mid-August. The third case of a legally recognized cross-strait gay marriage, between a Chinese-Taiwanese couple, won a partial legal victory. While the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled in defense of a soft medical model for legal gender change in the case of transgender YouTuber and Vogue dancer Vivi, after four long years of battling it out in the courts, Lisbeth Wu finally won her case to change her legal gender without providing proof of sexual organ removal surgery, a protracted court battle that lasted for over 45 months.
Since our last Newsletter, we also published two longer-form investigative pieces, the first of which being a deep dive into Foxconn subsidiary Shinfox Energy’s attempts to develop a dam, even as this threatens local Indigenous communities among the residents of the Tavila and Tausa/Tawsay. We also published an exposé of a recently published study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior titled “Gender Self-Identification: Opinions About Transgender Women from a National Online Survey in Taiwan,” critizing the ways in which this study has been cited by anti-gender movement actors in Taiwan and pointing out research misconduct issues with this article.
DAYBREAK Events
Please see our Facebook page for all upcoming and past events. If you would like to volunteer to write event summaries, please drop Yo-Ling a Facbook message!
2024/08/16 | Recognizing Change of Time and History: Social Movement in Fragile Context
Summary by: New Bloom community member Rey (he/him)
There was a level of excitement present in NewBloom as the speakers, just having experienced an eventful two days prior to the forum, prepared to share their experiences and thoughts on Southeast-Northeast Asian solidarity.
Moderator Rosalind Ratana of FORUM-ASIA introduced the four activists speaking that day: Alric Lee, who would talk about Hong Kong as an example, especially on human rights defenders in exile; Naw Sai, who would focus on Myanmar’s political situation, explore the prospects of an uprising, and systemic violence; Wang Si, who would share Taiwan’s perspective from casework done for refugees and focus on interregional solidarity; and lastly, Hung Sun-han, who would focus on Tibetan and Myanmar issues, the priorities of Taiwanese parliament, and what Taiwan can do.
Alric Lee, founder of Lady Liberty Hong Kong and executive director of Japan Hong Kong Democracy Alliance, lightheartedly opened by thanking everyone for attending despite it being a Friday night in Taipei. After the implementation of 2020 Hong Kong security law, events and the spaces that host them have been highly limited and monitored. Individual bookstore owners will be inspected daily, an hour or two at a time, affecting business. NGO workers have left the country, leaving people without organizational power. Personally, Alric has been working in Tokyo for a long time. He shared that festivals in Tokyo have HK specific spaces, which promoted engagement with locals. Due to Hong Kong’s increased penalty for “collusion,” HK people are hesitant to attend HK events in Taiwan, in fear of getting reported. He expresses the opportunity for solidarity from Taiwan’s police department, and from the Taiwanese government in general, such as communication with Japan on vocal support for HK, democracy, and advocating for visibility.
Naw Sai, from Athan Myanmar, expressed gratitude for all who attended, mentioning the interconnectedness of Southeast and Northeast Asia. He focused on three aspects: a brief introduction for the political situation in Myanmar, the prospect of an uprising against the Myanmar military, and the human rights violations happening in Myanmar. To control the flow of info, the military junta has imposed six nationwide internet shutdowns, cutting off operations of mutual aid. Not only youth and students, but also professors, are involved in resistance, namely against the forced conscription law, which has caused youth to flee to Thailand or neighboring countries. The Taiwanese government has been very encouraging for Burmese youth to come to Taiwan, and Naw Sai finds possibility in instilling a democratic mindset in these young Burmese who come to Taiwan.
Wang Si, from Taiwan Association of Human Rights, highlighted the major issues she focuses on: refugees, those with visa issues, and those seeking asylum help. Many are facing issues with status, with eligibility regulations in Taiwan highly tied to one’s university student status. These cases where lack of further consideration for refugees navigating visa guidelines has spurred aspirations of Taiwanese system reforms. Wang Si thanks legislator Hung Sun-han and other politicians that understand the stakes for those negatively affected by current legislation, such as those who do not fit in the criteria for student or working visas. It is still very easy for foreign people to fail on the legal side, such as having their visa barred due to an expired passport. Currently, work is progressing in legislation to make Taiwan a safe hub for those fleeing authoritarian regimes.
The final speaker, Hung Sun-han, a legislator from the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, shared that his current work in the past three years has often concerned human rights issues outside of Taiwan, at times surpassing issues within Taiwan. After some reflection, he drew connections to an interest in those marginalized. Due to Taiwan’s sociopolitical context, Taiwanese identity is often built on resistance instead of an intrinsic self; he observes that this insecurity has often culminated into rigid borders in identification and status, which has led to a disconnect between Taiwan’s proclamation of democracy and inclusivity when faced with migrant worker rights and laws surrounding refugees. As China’s influence reaches further into Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, aforementioned insecurities have pushed Taiwan towards self-preservation instead of solidarity and understanding. As a last remark, he lightheartedly says that Taiwan can focus on its democracy instead of, say, semiconductors.
Lastly, a Q&A was hosted where conversations on Taiwan’s soft power, HK refugee identity, and Burmese perspectives were discussed, highlighting the similarities, differences, and opportunities for solidarity between regions. While closing up, moderator Rosa looks forward to Taiwan stepping into confidence and being a beacon for democracy.
2024/08/22 | Feminist Labor Struggles: US and Taiwan Perspectives
Summary by: New Bloom community members Rey (he/him) and Micah (he/him)
On August 22nd, JM Wong recapped their organizational work, which included COVID-19 mutual aid, the George Floyd protests, the Massage Parlor Outreach Project (MPOP), and Palestine solidarity. A key theme was the power and importance of trans-Pacific solidarity on these issues.
The pandemic especially highlighted the need for international solidarity. JM brought up how before Covid hit the US, Chinese Americans in Seattle, where they were based, were paying attention to the pandemic in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
“Damn, this thing is really hitting our folks,” they mourned, “our people whom we love, across the ocean…”
While the pandemic and other international catastrophes brought about some mass movements like crowdfunding millions, JM highlighted the need to resist disaster capitalism. The movements our communities create must work with the failures and needs of structural issues in mind.
In terms of larger structural issues, JM spoke on mass incarceration as one example. They spoke on the need for abolition-focused organizing, and how issues like the pandemic affect people in detention and prison heavily.
The George Floyd protests and the Black Lives Matter movement brought to light larger structural failures around racism in the US, as well, and heavily exposed the anti-Blackness present in Asian communities on both sides of the ocean.
JM touched also on the Massage Parlor Outreach Project (MPOP) and Palestine solidarity requiring the thoughtful, intersectional solidarity that is necessary, hard work. JM emphasized the need to move away from isolated individual actions as tantamount activism. Rather, we must press towards intersectional organizing that can connect across communities and reach around the globe.
The event provided a unique opportunity for conversations around organizing and activist work in an Asian American context, as many of those who attended were Asian America organizers.
2024/08/24 | Using Computers to Make Music: Music Production Workshop
Summary by: New Bloom member PL Anceau (he/him)
On August 24th we held a music workshop in the basement at DayBreak Café. A total of 7 people attended. The goal of the workshop was to explain how you can use a computer to make music. Participants arrived with a trial version of ableton live on their machines. After a brief explanation they started making a simple beat using a kick, a snare and high hats.
When you use a software for the first time it’s easy to miss something obvious or make wrong assumptions so being in a classroom with someone to help is more congruent to creativity than following a step by step video tutorial. Although the goal of the lesson was to give the students some leads on what to google and once at home, synthesis, sampling, mixing.
At the end of the lesson we played what everyone made through the speaker for fun and to demonstrate how different it sounds on speaker compared to on earphones.
That’s it for August! We’ve got a pretty packed September coming up, so please check out our events below~
Coming up
Every Friday Trif Trans Bar每週五的跨性別酒吧 A popup transgender bar every Friday in Taipei
2024/09/06: Hong Kongers at the Intersection of Refugees and Taiwanese National Security - A talk by Annie Huang 黃尚卿
2024/09/07: Taiwanese Factory Story: A Book Talk - A discussion with author of Fei Geng (飛梗) on their new book, On Hold 停工待料：台廠人, which details the stories of factory workers in China and Vietnam in Taiwanese-owned factories
2024/09/14: Short Story Reading Club Vol. 10 台灣故事短篇小説讀書會 - We’ll be reading Pai Hsien-yung’s (白先勇) 〈永遠的尹雪豔〉"Eternal Snow Beauty" from Taipei People《台北人》
2024/09/28: Umbrella Revolution 10 Years On: The Evolution of Hong Kong Protest Art - Panel with Performance Artist and Director of NGO DEI 我地 Loretta Lau (劉慧婷), Visual Artist and Educator Kacey Wong (黃國才), and our very own Brian Hioe!