My Opinion: Keeping the Silent Majority Down in Taiwan

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.