Social Movements

Lai Administration Carries Out Its First Execution, In Effort to Prove Capital Punishment Still on the Books

The first execution under the Lai administration took place yesterday. This was the first execution carried out by the Taiwanese government in five years. For the execution to have been carried out, the Minister of Justice and President would have to sign off. The last execution in Taiwan took place under the Tsai administration in April 2020...

Will the Ministry of Labor’s New Guidelines Improve Conditions Facing Female Migrant Workers?

The Ministry of Labor has released new guidelines on the rights of female migrant workers. Nevertheless, it is to be seen whether the guidelines rectify a longstanding problem in Taiwanese society. One issue of note facing female migrant workers is that many have their work terminated after becoming pregnant. 6,000 female migrant workers become pregnant in Taiwan each year, but 78% of migrant workers who receive maternity benefits end their contracts and return to their home countries...

Why Has the KMT Begun to Attack the Kuma Academy Over Funding?

The KMT has hit out at funding for the Kuma Academy, the best-known of Taiwan’s civil defense initiatives. In particular, the KMT has accused fundraising efforts for the Kuma Academy–which took place on a public welfare fundraising platform run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare–as being an effort to fund political activities. Laws forbid political activities from fundraising on public welfare platforms...

Arts/Culture

Philosophy Against Nuclear Power

The nuclear bomb certainly posed a serious problem for contemporary philosophy. From Heidegger to Arendt to Marcuse, philosophy in the mid-20th century struggled to deal with this all-annihilating artificial production. Unfortunately, most of these philosophers did not analyze the complex relationships between nuclear technology, capital, state, etc. They did not even attempt to analyze the history or the ABCs of this technology. Hence while they criticized the “atomization” of contemporary society, they did not even notice that the contemporary world is one in which the atom is no longer truly an “atom,” that is, something that cannot be split. What’s worse, philosophy seemed to be totally incapable of dealing with nuclear power. It’s simply beyond the limits of both reason and imagination...