November 2017

Growing Outrage Over China’s War On Its Poor

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...

Interview: At Road’s End (毀)

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...

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

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...

A Victory For Taiwanese Labor And A Defeat For The DPP?

Was today a victory for organized labor in Taiwan and a defeat for the DPP? In the end, following a grueling day of protest which began at 9 AM and saw no less than three attempts to storm the Legislative Yuan, the committee meeting in which planned changes to the Labor Standards Act were to be reviewed was cancelled. But what now for attempts to stop these changes from being passed into law?...

Intensive Protests Against Planned Changes To Labor Laws, More Protests Planned For Night

It has been a chaotic day of protest both inside and outside the Legislative Yuan. With the review of planned changes to the Labor Standards Act scheduled for today and the changes set to take effect in the next few months after passing this review, it was anticipated by many that today would be a day of intensive protests against the DPP attempting to force these changes into law. And indeed, protests today have been intensive, seeing multiple attempts to storm the Legislative Yuan, with more protests planned for night...