Interviews

“National Security is Often Used as an Excuse”:
Amnesty’s E-Ling Chiu on Taiwan’s Stalled Human Rights Reforms

Antonio Prokscha
Taiwan is often celebrated as one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. Yet behind its progressive image, death penalty, stalled refugee protections, and labor exploitation tell a more complicated story — one where human rights remain negotiable when national security is invoked....
EnglishInterviewsOctober 2025Social MovementsYouth Movements7 min read

Why is Indonesia Protesting?: An Interview with Iftitah Sari of the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform

Brian Hioe
Starting in late August, protests have broken out in cities across Indonesia. The demonstrations initially broke out in anger against luxurious housing subsidies received by members of the legislature, to which Indonesian police responded with overwhelming force. But after a delivery driver, Affan Kurniawan, was killed by police, this led to a new wave of demonstrations. To shed light on the situation, New Bloom's Brian Hioe spoke to Iftitah Sari, researcher at the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform...
EnglishInterviewsPoliticsSeptember 2025Social MovementsYouth Movements10 min read

A Conversation with Diane Wilson Near Day 30 of a Water-Only Hunger Strike Against Formosa Plastics

Brian Hioe
New Bloom editor Brian Hioe interviewed American activist Diane Wilson, who is nearing day thirty of a water-only hunger strike against the actions of Taiwanese company, the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG). Pollution from a FPG subsidiary-owned steel mill in Vietnam led to fish die-offs in 2016 in what some have termed Vietnam's largest ecological disaster in history, affecting fishing villages along more than 200 kilometers of coast. Wilson is on hunger strike to call attention to Formosa's refusal to answer for the fish die-offs...
EnglishInterviewsNovember 20237 min read