Four Decades of Strife and Resistance: A Deep Dive Into What’s Happening in West Papua

Girard Mariano Lopez

Interview: Kawtorpai Church

Patrick Huang

Electricity Price Hikes Likely to Lead to Political Contestation

Brian Hioe

Civil Society Groups Mark Anniversary of Fukushima Disaster Earlier This Month

Brian Hioe

Freeway and High-Speed Rail Proposal by the KMT Stokes Controversy

Brian Hioe

Die-in Held in Liberty Plaza in Taipei for Palestine and Gaza

Brian Hioe

Social Movements

McKenzie Wark’s Take On Wang Hui And Leftist Orientalism

Brian Hioe
A recent essay by McKenzie Wark on Chinese New Left intellectual Wang Hui published on Verso Books’ blog proves an exercise in western academic leftists’ lack of knowledge of Asia and their inadvertent support of individuals with politics that they would likely find repulsive, if not for lack of sufficient knowledge about Asia and wishful desire to find analogues to themselves in non-western countries. It is instructive to examine this essay more closely in order to understand what we might term a form of leftist orientalism...
August 2017EnglishLaborSocial Movements24 min read

Joshua Wong And Other Umbrella Movement Activists Sentenced To Jail By Hong Kong Government

Brian Hioe
The Hong Kong Court of Appeal handed down jail sentences today to Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex Chow for participation in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests, sentencing Wong to six months in jail, Law to eight months in jail, and Alex Chow to seven months in jail. The three have been billed Hong Kong's first political prisoners. What now for Hong Kong?...
#19August 2017EnglishSelf-DeterminationSocial Movements12 min read

Red-Baiting Accusations Against “Striking” EVA Flight Attendants Provoke Anger

Brian Hioe
Anger has ensued from members of Taiwanese youth activists regarding public reactions to 500 EVA flight attendants taking the day off on Sunday in anticipation of a typhoon, something which led to the cancellation of 50 flights. This has been labelled a “strike” by many media outlets, although EVA flight attendants were not actually striking, per se, but using leaves of absences...
August 2017EnglishLaborSocial Movements7 min read

China’s Ban On Online LGBTQ Content Likely A Product Of Nationalism

Brian Hioe
China's recent ban on all online video and audio content regarding LGBTQ issues is perhaps unsurprising, seeing as this follows on the heels of a ban on depictions of homosexuality on television. But perhaps the ultimate reason for crackdowns on LGBTQ representation in Chinese media has to do with current attempts by the Chinese government to fan up nationalism within China...
EnglishGender/SexualityJuly 2017Social Movements5 min read

苦勞網的惡性親中與左統在政治上的破產

Brian Hioe
苦勞網最近刊登的一篇香港教育大學語言學及現代語言系講師鄧健苓的文章，讓苦勞網再也不能被視為報導台灣社會運動的左翼刊物，而是徹頭徹尾的中國民族主義左統刊物。苦勞網也因這篇醜態百出的親中文章而飽受抨擊。那麼，我們就來分析一下鄧健苓的文章，看看左統對香港、台灣和中國產生了多麼嚴重的幻想症狀，貫串這篇文章的邏輯，根本上是披著左翼外衣的中國民族主義。鄧文關注的是不久前香港主權移交二十周年。在鄧健苓看來，這在一切意義上都應當被歌頌，香港從西方帝國主義──她眼中一個如漫畫中邪惡魔頭般的存在──回歸「社會主義祖國」的懷抱，但這個高度理想化的玫瑰色中國，卻只存在於她和其他左統人士的想像之中。...
July 2017LaborSocial MovementsWilliam Tsai中文3 min read