Social Movements

Quiet Day in Hong Kong Following Clashes, but Uncertainties Remain About What Is to Come

It was a quiet day in Hong Kong today after Sunday’s protests against the Beijing-backed extradition law ended with demonstrators being cleared from around the area by the Legislative Council. Much remains up in the air about what will take place in coming days regarding the extradition law, including that it remains ambiguous as to what form protest in the coming days against the bill will take, if this takes place at all ...

Hong Kong Sees Night of Clashes Between Demonstrators and Police

A night of clashes with police ended with the streets controlled by police and demonstrators driven out in Hong Kong, following large-scale protests against a Beijing-backed extradition law. However, with the law set to be voted on by Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Wednesday, it is hard to imagine that the coming days will not see further forms of action aimed at halting the bill...

Demonstration Against Chinese Annexation Efforts Takes Place Outside Legislative Yuan

An alliance of NGOs, civil society organizations, and student activist groups held a demonstration against Chinese efforts directed at annexing Taiwan outside the Qunxian Building of the Legislative Yuan earlier this evening. Significantly, this included many individuals who had been key figures in the Sunflower Movement and post-Sunflower Movement activists...

Mourning and Melancholia in Daguan

With the Daguan Community in Banqiao, New Taipei, it appears that after negotiating with the Veterans’ Affairs Council, they are still unable to avoid the fate of having their homes demolished. The Daguan Self-Help Association and Daguan residents have decided to hold an exhibition which includes poetry, graffiti, and protest memorabilia—to share their recollections of the protest struggle...

It’s Taiwan, Not China, Which Stands for the Human Rights of LGBT+ People

As of May 24th, same-sex couples can get married in Taiwan. Legislation passed last week fulfills the 2017 ruling by Constitutional Court which states that prohibiting same-sex marriage is against the constitution. The passage of this law also shows that Taiwan shares the values of democracy, freedom, and human rights with other developed countries internationally, and significantly, that Taiwan is a different country than China, which has enforced regulations undermining the rights of its LGBT+ residents...