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| The "Cozy Bubble" that should burst for the marginalized silent majority of Taiwan. |
In
Taiwan, there is Hakka, Aboriginal, Christian, Buddhist, and Mandarin TV. Let's
have a native Ming-Nan TV channel promoting Taiwanese culture. Let's support
the oppressed 'silent majority' in Taiwan. Prejudices in Taiwan do not tend
to be personal, not systematic as some may believe, especially if one is a Filipino,
Vietnamese, or Malaysian contract laborer; there is no migrant worker/foreign
bride TV station, though there is a radio station in those language. Most
importantly, there is a glass ceiling against Taiwanese of Chinese descent.
Taiwan's President Tsai would not act differently
than President Chen. Promoting the silent majority would mostly be used to
distance Taiwan from China, not to empower Taiwanese working people as Chen did
initially. It would play in the hands of forces eager to kowtow to U.S. Asian
hegemony. Look how little she and her DPP fought recently to change labor laws.
Hegemony
is for commercial domination. A soft workforce unprotected in Taiwan helps
corporations control workers wages and increases their profits
U.S. policy
trumps localized interests and Taiwan is still the main conduit to Asian
sweatshops, as well as human trafficking. That's why China wants Taiwan in their arena and out of American hands; they believe they wouldn’t be exploitative
to people of their own cultural heritage
A dominant majority
throw-back, instead of being a jealous reaction to minority rights, would be
beneficial for workers speaking out after minorities speak out. In Taiwan, the majority
work force have not liberated themselves yet but with a seventeen year wage slump
and low-employment opportunities, it is justified in Taiwan, but President.
Tsai, having met with the U.S. before election to hash things out, with
pro-American agenda against promoting Chinese unification, will remain as oppressive
to workers as KMT President Ma Ying-Jeou’s benign neglect was. In the meantime,
Chinese working conditions in factories are eclipsing Taiwanese working
conditions.
To say President
Tsai's agenda can't be called "pro-American" since it doesn't help US
workers is a fallacy. U.S. international policy never did help U.S. workers. It
helps the U.S. ruling class control profit. One would have to be a union man to
understand
To smug ex-pats
into keeping the laissez—faire lid on business in Taiwan, being part of the
solution is being part of the problem; their interests depend on denying it
exists. To choose to troll pro-worker comments, such as mine, on local Facebook
pages, instead of offering to join forces with union defenders in Taiwan by
promoting union membership is self-serving.
Americans here could help organizers of low
wage-earners instead of justifying neo-liberalism here and denying U.S.
hegemony and complicity in promoting global sweatshops.
