Between 2021 and 2023, Taipei Animal Save held two vigils in front of a Wanhua slaughterhouse – euphemistically and formally known as the Taipei Poultry Wholesale Market. In an Animal Save vigil, activists bear witness to the plight of animals and try to comfort animals on their way to being killed for meat. Typically, Save activists try to negotiate with slaughterhouse owners for permission, or they would take the opportunity to spend time with animals briefly when a truck is parked or stopped at traffic lights. In Taipei, however, industrial-scale slaughterhouses are unlikely to grant permission for activists to visit, and there are no safe locations where activists can interact with animals. Because of this lack of access, activists stationed themselves outside the slaughterhouse, watching the chickens tightly packed in cages from the gate. The vigils started in the late afternoon, but activists did not stay for the slaughter, which typically starts around midnight...
Civil society groups held a press conference late last month, calling attention to Garmin’s illegal dismissal of pregnant migrant workers. Garmin is a multinational corporation that specializes in GPS technology...
Conflict between the Keelung local government and the central government about a proposed referendum on a LNG terminal is reflective of political tensions between the two major political camps in Taiwan. The LNG terminal would be Taiwan’s fourth...
The deterioration of what is left of electoral democracy continues in Hong Kong, with plans by the Hong Kong government to decrease the number of directly elected district councilor seats from over 90% to around 20%. Despite this, the Mainland Affairs Council may move forward with plans to increase the barriers for Hongkongers seeking to obtain permanent residency in Taiwan...
Organized labor groups rallied on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building today for International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day in other parts of the world. Though the rally was not as large as in past years, prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gradual accommodation to COVID-19 in Taiwanese society is what has allowed for International Workers’ Day demonstrations to again take place. Last year, for example, only saw a few hundred workers participate in International Workers’ Day commemorations that were significantly scaled down...
The brutal conditions facing migrant workers in Taiwan are visible from the deaths of ten Vietnamese nationals whose bodies were found after having washed ashore last month. Fourteen bodies of Taiwanese were also found dead after having washed ashore this month and last month...
Human rights groups called on President Tsai Ing-wen to pardon Chiou Ho-shun, Taiwan’s longest-serving death row inmate, earlier this month. As part of this call, groups including the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty and Amnesty International presented a petition with 42,700 signatures to the Presidential Office, on the occasion of Chiou’s 63rd birthday...
In early March, in the continuation of what has been a decade-long clash between Shezi Island (Shezidao) citizens and the Taipei City government, another round of protests on the peninsula was provoked by a visit from the administration of Chiang Wan-an, the new KMT mayor of Taipei...
