In the wake of the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan, many online publications that aim to spread social issues in Taiwan to the international audience have sprung up. Yet while the attempt is with these publication made to spread news of Taiwan to the outside world, that is, putting the local in touch with the international, very rarely is the attempt made to do the opposite.

台灣太陽花運動過後,許多致力將台灣社會議題向全世界閱聽人發聲的網路刊物陸續開辦;但在這些刊物努力將台灣的消息向外界傳送,讓在地與國際接軌的同時,卻罕見有人反其道而行。

What is not attempted is to put the international in touch with the local. However, as we see it, the local problems of Taiwan, much less any other country in the Asia Pacific region, cannot be resolved except internationally. What often appear to be purely local issues often are actually rooted in international causes. Accordingly, what would be needed is to situate local issues in their broader, international context, and to deliberate transnational means of addressing them. It would be through bringing the international into contact with the local, then, that we can find resolution to the regional issues of the Asia Pacific.

讓國際接觸在地正是乏人努力的部分。但在我們看來,台灣在地的問題不從國際入手則無從解決,亞太地區任何其他國家的問題就更不在話下。看似純粹在地的議題往往紮根於國際事務之中,由此觀之,急需做到的是把在地議題放進更大的國際脈絡中,並深思跨越國界的解決方法。唯有引導國際社會與在地接觸,我們對亞太各國的地區性議題才能獲得解答。

About New Bloom / 關於破土

Welcome to New Bloom, an online magazine featuring radical perspectives on Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific. New Bloom was founded by a group of students and activists after the 2014 Sunflower Movement in Taiwan. We seek to provide a space that fosters political and intellectual transnational dialogues in the Left.

歡迎來到破土,一本呈現關於台灣及亞太基進觀點的線上雜誌。破土由一群學生及社會運動者在2014年太陽花運動後成立。在此,我們力圖提供一個空間,以促成左翼政治及智識的跨國對話。

Our focus / 破土焦點

We see there are three most pressing issues facing Taiwan and the Asia Pacific region broadly:

1) Economy: the development of neoliberal trades and free trade zones
2) Politics: international affairs, war/militarism, and electoral politics
3) Social Inequalities: workers’ rights, LGBTQ rights, gentrification, and environmental issues

我們認為台灣和整個亞太地區正面臨最迫切的三大問題:
1) 經濟上:新自由主義貿易及自由經濟區發展
2) 政治上:國際關係,戰爭與軍國主義,以及選舉政治
3) 社會不平等:勞工權利,LGBTQ權利,縉紳化及環境議題

We seek to cover these issues by through reporting on news events, conducting in-depth interviews with social movement leaders, as well as writing extended political analyses and commentaries.

我們藉由透過即時的報導、深入專訪社會運動領導人,及撰寫深入的政治評論分析來探討以上這些議題。

Who we are / 破土成員

We are a group of students and activists based in Taiwan and America who share a range of leftist politics ranging from Marxism, anarchism, and other radical perspectives. We see New Bloom not only as a site to spread international news but also a space to build a new leftist tendency from the Asia Pacific by engaging in political analyses of social issues and social movements that concern with the questions of global capitalism, US and Chinese imperialism, national sovereignty, human rights, and social inequalities. It is our belief that the issues currently facing Taiwan and the Asia Pacific cannot be resolved except at an international level. Therefore, we seek to provide a space that fosters political and intellectual transnational dialogues in the Left.

我們是一群定居於台灣與美國,認同馬克思主義、無政府主義及其他基進左翼政治觀點的學生及社會運動參與者。我們眼中的《破土》不只是報導國際新聞的網站,更是透過對一切涉及全球資本主義、美國及中國帝國主義、國家主權、人權和社會不平等的社會議題及社會運動進行政治分析,從亞太地區建立左翼新思潮的空間。我們相信,台灣和亞太地區目前所面臨的問題,不從國際層面入手將無從解決。因此,我們力圖提供一個空間,以促成左翼政治及智識的跨國對話。

About the Name / 關於「破土」這個名字

The name New Bloom comes from the social movements in Taiwan over the course past decades, many of which have been named after flowers, whether from the 1990 Wild Lily Movement to the 2008 Wild Strawberry Movement or the 2014 Sunflower Movement. With our activity, we hope to allow for the blooming of new social movements in the future.

台灣的社會運動史上有許多重要的運動都是以植物命名,像是1990年的野百合運動、2008的野草莓運動到2014的太陽花運動,我們希望藉由我們的努力,能讓更多新的社會運動破土而生。