English

Day To Night Demonstration Against Labor Law Changes Concludes With Clashes Against Police

Brian Hioe
Following a dramatic series of attempts to invade the Legislative Yuan, clashes with police, and a blockade of the intersection of Zhongshan South Road and Qingdao West Road, protest today against planned changes to the Labor Standards Act were not successful in preventing the act from passing. One can expect outrage from Taiwanese activists to lead to further protest...
December 2017EnglishLaborSocial Movements11 min read

Demonstrations Take Place Against Planned Labor Law Changes From Morning Into Night

Brian Hioe
Demonstrations against planned changes to the Labor Standards Act have taken place through the course of the past day outside the Legislative Yuan, beginning at 9 AM and lasting until nightfall. Three attempts to storm the Legislative Yuan have taken place in the course of this. Protests continue into the night, as the review of these planned changes also continues within the Legislative Yuan...
December 2017EnglishLaborSocial Movements8 min read

Satirical Buddhist-Themed Protest Against Changes To Labor Laws Held

Brian Hioe
A theatrical Buddhist-themed demonstration against planned changes to the Labor Standards Act by the Tsai administration was held today outside the Executive Yuan today. The demonstration, which was intended to be humorous in nature, went from 1:30 PM to 4 PM and largely took the form of chanting of satirical Buddhist scriptures regarding changes to labor laws...
December 2017EnglishLaborSocial Movements10 min read

Uncertainty Regarding Planned Changes To Labor Laws, An Increasingly Fractured DPP

Brian Hioe
Much uncertainty currently looms regarding planned changes to the Labor Standards Act by the Tsai administration. Namely, the Tsai administration has seen a large amount of public backlash following demonstrations on Thursday last week, and it has unexpectedly become unsure whether the DPP will be able to pass these changes. In the meantime, labor struggles across Taiwan are receiving increased attention and the DPP is looking increasingly fractured internally...
December 2017EnglishLaborSocial Movements13 min read

Growing Outrage Over China’s War On Its Poor

Brian Hioe
Outrage is growing in China over evictions of migrant workers from Beijing after a fire which killed nineteen, seeing as the Chinese government has used the fire as a pretext to enact planned population control measures. In particular, outrage has focused on the use of the term "low end populations" to refer to migrants as undesirables who are to be evicted from Beijing. This is not the only scandal that the Chinese government currently has on its plate which has led to mass outrage...
EnglishLaborNovember 2017Social Movements6 min read

Interview: At Road’s End (毀)

Brian Hioe
New Bloom editor Brian Hioe spoke with Gideon Welles and Pratik Suketu, the producer and director of At Road’s End, on November 29th, 2017. At Road’s End is an independent film set in Taiwan currently running a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGogo, the film touching on issues such as the RCA incident and the history of developmentalism in Taiwan...
EnglishInterviewsNovember 201722 min read

Responses To Beijing Fire Deaths Show Chinese State Prioritizing Public Image Over Victims

Brian Hioe
Outrage has ensued in China following the death of nineteen individuals in Daxing District in southern Beijing after a fire. 17 of these individuals were migrants from other parts of China and seven were children. But government responses have largely consisted of evicting migrant workers, a form of prioritizing public image over the welfare of migrant workers even after such a tragedy...
EnglishLaborNovember 2017Social Movements6 min read