Hello dear readers! Because there are so many cool events in Taipei this weekend, we’re sending a mid-week missive in lieu of a Sunday newsletter. Plus, a cat update.
To sum it up:
Taiwan International Workers Association (TIWA) has organized a march for migrant workers’ rights this Sunday, Dec. 10th at 12:30 P.M.
Taiwan Innocence Project is holding a documentary film festival on wrongful conviction from this Thursday to Sunday. The films come from Ireland, Japan, India, Italy, Israel, United States, and Taiwan. We’ve transcribed the full schedule below but check out “To Meet to Forget,” a documentary film that we wrote about last week. It will play this Sunday at Spot-Huashan at 7:30 P.M., and you’ll also get to hear the director Yu-Lun Shih speak.
New Bloom is holding a conversation on Tibet Thursday, Dec. 7th at 7:30 P.M., with Aurora Chang moderating.
Indie Music meets Indie Bookstores festival (2023 獨書祭 —— 書市集.跨域論壇.音樂祭) is on Saturday, Dec. 9th and Sunday, Dec. 10th, from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M.
Michelle’s speaking at Lung Yingtai Foundation on Friday, Dec. 8th at 7:30 PM in conversation with Pei-Ru Ko. Register here.
Little Updates
Michelle here. Thank you so much to readers who came to my talk on Asian America and affirmative action. Bizarrely, in a case where the plaintiffs are Asian Americans, the Supreme Court barely mentioned who they (we) even are. Only Clarence Thomas—not exactly the ally you want!—bothered, but he pits one racial history against the other, never exploring how these histories are intertwined. A century of jurisprudence locked Asian Americans into a Black-white binary that we still can’t escape. And honestly, it’s uncomfortable. Look at this list of cases in which non-European immigrants try to get citizenship by arguing that they are white; at that time only descendants of slaves and white European immigrants could have citizenship:
Fast forward to a 1965 immigration bill that favors mostly educated immigrants; this would open the borders to Asian families at the same time efforts to integrate Black and white students would fail spectacularly. White flight, red-lining, resistance to integration. School districts receive money based on property taxes, causing hair-raising inequalities; a 1973 Supreme Court opinion refused to rule this unconstitutional.
When you lay out this whole story, you have a deeper understanding of the obstacles and possibilities for Black-Asian solidarity. Though I haven’t figured it all out—I give my talk a B—I was happy to be in conversation with Chaoju Chen, a fearless feminist legal scholar in Taiwan who supports affirmative action. I ended my talk by summing up this piece in the Los Angeles Times, which finds that Asian Americans are even more stressed after the end of affirmative action. I shared a bit about my shame of having been a part of this rat race. How do we root out these soul-killing, destructive assumptions of what success and merit mean? How can we make each day reflect our values? If you have answers, I want to hear them!
Last week, Cheng Hsing-tse (A-tse), the subject of the documentary “To Meet to Forget,” visited my class. He spent fourteen years on death row before being exonerated. He shared his life story, and we were humbled. After the talk, he met my four-year-old daughter, who had brought a set of crayons. She asked him to draw a unicorn. "A unicorn? What's that?" he said. A friend pulled up a picture, and he drew it, making it look easy.
A-tse told us about what he’s been doing since release: planting and harvesting rice. Apparently this is a tough business because everybody’s adopting a low-carb diet these days. If you're in Taiwan and would like to buy some—it's pesticide free!—let me know.
Should we adopt a cat? Readers respond.
Last week we asked you whether we should adopt a cat. We also mentioned it was our first time learning that orange tabbies are “famously dumb.”
Jacqui Shine replied:
YES YOU SHOULD GET A CAT, AND DUMB ONES ARE THE BEST
Daniel wrote:
we’re allergic too but we’ve never looked back babyyyyy
Kira replied:
May you find the orange himbo kitty of your dreams!!!!!
This prompted us to look up “himbo,” which we’d never heard of:
Last week, the owner of our favorite vegan spot saw Albert admiring her cat and asked, “Do you want one?” We decided this was a sign—we’re a sign-believing household!—and were promptly connected to a lovely woman who adopts stray cats in Yilan. We kind of fell in love instantly with a six-month-old orange kitty.
Upon hearing that we have a daughter, the lady designated the kitten Didi (Little Brother). Yay to Himbo Little Brothers! We haven’t yet brought him home but shall keep you posted.
Links: That Terrible Piece in Foreign Affairs, climate change, and more
An illuminating piece by Helen Davison and Chi Hui Lin describes how climate change has wiped out a way of life in Taiwan’s mountains and disrupted ancient agricultural traditions.
Michael Turton describes the xenophobia against Indians in Taiwan following a proposed plan to bring 100,000 guest workers from India.
There have been a few ferocious responses to an awful article in Foreign Affairs by Jessica Chen Weiss, Bonnie Glaser, and Tom Christensen. (We can’t even bear to link to it. So we won’t.) The line that most shocked us: “Tsai has allowed the teaching of Taiwan’s history separate from the history of China in high schools.”
A word: Tsai can’t “allow” or disallow the teaching of history, as she isn’t a dictator; the fight over how to teach the Taiwanese history textbooks began as soon as martial law was lifted. Read Michelle’s violently angry thread—Albert said, “You should be a polemicist!”—as well as Michael Fahey, James Lin, and Chieh-Ting Yeh.
As James Lin writes, “As a historian, I find this line deeply troubling. How a democratic, civic society like Taiwan chooses to teach history is not a matter of executive decision making. Taiwan’s national education is a consensus of academics who are professional historians.”
And this piece of fire from Michael Fahey: "The idea that Taiwan can assure China by teaching its students Taiwanese history as part of Chinese history is so ludicrous that it is beneath contempt.”
If you’re looking for a patient compilation and analysis of Taiwan-related news, we appreciate “The World’s Taiwan, The Taiwan World” and Maura Cunningham’s newsletter. (Maura also covers China.) TaiwanPlus also has had excellent coverage on the upcoming elections.
We adore the thoughtful missives from Graham Oliver, a “monthly dose of earnest communication, focused on slices of life in Taiwan.”
Wrongful Conviction Film Festival—Details!
The Taiwan Innocence Project 冤獄平反協會 has organized a film festival on wrongful conviction. Ten of the thirteen films have English subtitles or are in English. (We’ve marked below films that don't have English.)
December 7th, Thursday
7:10 PM CONVICTION (U.S.). Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent 16 years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him, is in Taiwan now and will be speaking after the film.
8:35 PM HAVEN’T STOPPED LAMENTING (Taiwan)
December 8th, Friday
10:30 AM SHADOW OF TRUTH (Israel)
postfilm Q&A: Michelle will be talking about forced confessions and is in conversation with a forensic science expert.
1:10 PM INDIA’S SONS (India)
5:40 PM FALLOUT (Ireland)
7:50 PM LOVELY JACKSON (U.S.)
December 9th, Saturday
10:30 AM CROSSING’S END (Taiwan)
Postfilm Q&A with the director.
1:30 PM JUSTICE ON TRIAL: REEXAMINING SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME (Japan)
Note: There are no English subtitles.
3:50 PM THE MAN IN THE PICTURE (Taiwan)
8:00 PM FORMOSA HOMICIDE CHRONICLE II: THE CASE OF LU CHENG (Taiwan)
(Mandarin subtitles only; no English subtitles.)
December 10th, Sunday
10:30 AM CONVICTION (U.S.). Jeffrey Deskovic will also be speaking after the film.
12:00 PM DEAD WEIGHT (Italy)
2:20 PM FALLOUT (Ireland)
4:20 PM MY ANNIVERSARY (Japan)
(Mandarin subtitles only; no English subtitles)
4:30 PM Michelle’s in conversation with the director of INDIA’S SONS. Note that the film plays on Friday at 1:10 P.M.
7:10 PM TO MEET TO FORGET (plus Q&A with director Yu-Lun Shih)
January Book Club: Homegoing
It was thrilling to talk about Buru Quartet with you all; what a treat to have college students from Myanmar and Indonesia share how much they connected with this book. For our next book club we’re reading Homegoing. It will take place on Friday, January 26th at 7 PM Eastern Time / Saturday, January 27th at 8 AM Taiwan time.