Rainbow Gathering Paints Taiwan Black In Bloom

          In Bloom, which calls itself “an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific,” posted an article in its June 2018 issue by its editor, Brian Hioe, entitled “After Huashan Murder, Attempts to Scapegoat Creatives on Pitt and in Taiwanese Media” pandering to what it calls “the wake of the Sunflower Movement.” Let’s get this straight: there was no Sunflower Movement to have a wake from; there was no tsunami from co-opted youth used to do the Democratic Progressive Party’s bidding before the 2015 Taiwan presidential election (see my blog article,  This Stinking Taiwan Kettle of Fish)

          That being said, the In Bloom article is not wrong in highlighting what is a major problem in Confucian societies in Asia: misogyny. The “top-down” philosophy that has been the crux of disempowerment to youth and the poor, and has marginalized women since the dawn of society, in feudal, communist, and capitalist ruling classes is not, as Hioe says, in opposition to “a group of artists and young people [who] applied for use of the space from the city government, forming something like a small artists’ commune.” This 'commune' is an unorganized hodge-podge lending itself to chaos and eventual top-down re-creation. Hioe, editor of In Bloom, does not himself obey collective decision making at his own on-line magazine, as he may be wont to admit. But this is not my point. My point is that a self-described ‘family’ of privileged drifters that call themselves “Rainbow Gathering” descended onto Taiwan in the spring and chose to share Hioe’s article on their Facebook page to defend themselves from such criticism; they throw their lot with In Bloom in pointing the blame for the murder at Taiwanese men, exonerating themselves. Of course, they don't mention the low wages of over-worked men or the financial demands put on them in love relationships. 
The "In Bloom" article Rainbow Gathering posted:

The tragedy of the murder and dismemberment a 30-year-old woman named Gao occurring in the 120 Grassroots Self-Autonomous Zone should be taken for what it is; a deranged young man, perhaps drunk with male entitlement, perhaps just drunk, and the reaction of horrified Taiwanese, not to place the blame on the small group of youth, as Hioe thinks, but on lun-chi-ba-zhao living in general; where there are no rules, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, in the public’s collective mind. There is no reason to get defensive or call youth scapegoats for a problem that is prevalent worldwide so long as a natural laissez-faire goes unguided, indeed rewarded, by society. But, again, this is not my point. Let me get back to the Taiwan Rainbow Gathering Facebook page administrator’s posting Hioe’s article while questioning my submission to the page, a submission that didn’t jive with his group’s self-image.
My article that Rainbow Gathering refused to post:

All through the spring I watched as privileged pilgrims, polluting the skies and earth, got lost finding the way to a chaotic gathering in Taiwan, for some reason, chosen by organizers. The jet-set pilgrims couldn't find the location up to the advertised start of the gathering because of the lack of 'consensus,' as they call the substitute for egalitarian democracy. Some guy named Jacobsen seemed to be running the show and was the man behind approving a half dozen poems I had written and shared with the site. Even after the Gathering disbanded, the site stayed up. A few days ago, I shared an article I wrote about my experiences with Taiwanese youth who were practicing English by learning how to improve the city, organize society, and become activists. Instead of winning approval, the content of the article was deemed “unrelated” to the Gathering by its new Facebook page administrator, some guy named Brian Alexander, whose main job is being an entrepreneur for some start-up English “radio” program called “Funshine.” Twice, he asked me to defend my posting the article, so I did, explaining that it was about how the youth in Taiwan could learn to deal with life in the city on their way to collective decision making and even communal living. Alexander had made up his mind, autonomously, not by consensus. My article wasn’t posted and I was removed from the Facebook group for defending my post!

I demand my poems of promise be removed from the Taiwan Rainbow Gathering Facebook page.

I have written a poem to celebrate the folk who deal with real life and shun the dreaming delusion of Rainbow Gatherings. Every English reader in Taiwan, and soon first-language speakers, will know how In Bloom and Rainbow Gathering blamed them for misogyny when the police removed a similar gathering after a person was murdered and dismembered there. That article was deemed relevant to Rainbow Gathering Facebook page; how vindictive and childish.

The public should note, "Funshine" English Radio, is run by such an outlook and will, by association, suffer lose in listener-ship from indignant Taiwanese who see the true color upheld by permitting a slur against Taiwanese in deference to communal living.

By blocking the dissemination of solutions for a true course for children to deal with city life, Taiwan Rainbow Gathering's administrator perpetuates the problem of top-down decision making.

 The poem:

the family gathers over the rainbow of Taiwan

high above the yellow horde proletariat of Hualien

black undertones of misogynist blame

privileged drifters' vengeful claim

permitting posting on their page for distaste

left on Taiwanese lips for the dismemberment waste

surely it was one of the sick Taiwanese men

and not one of the colorful among them...

democracy replaced by vague consensus

backpacking new-agers shouldering expenses

smoke screening cigarettes allowing pretenses

banned canine unleashing exclusions

for the primitive pleasure of field defecation

a tax and fee free squatting vacation

leaving jet fuel traces in the wake

leaving litter and bitterness in what they take

leaving the urban world for squalor

should visit a ghetto and leave a dollar

or better yet school young innocence

on how to survive without paying red cents

instead of banning this brother for suggesting

it is better to learn survival than to be guesting

off charity and a collective pot

that ties societies into a knot

my green lovers of natural flow

sans raw meat that the paleo know

shun me not with your rainbow pout

come back to reality and work it out

www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com

 Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

The Opium War, Taiwan, and the U.S.

I went back to reading The Opium War, excellently researched by Julia Lowell, while up the river yesterday. I was up to the second war Britain started (with France and the U.S. support) against China's protecting its borders against illicit drugs; the wars of western imperialism in 1859. The Ching were so unprepared for European militarism. If it weren't for the Taiping Rebellion in the south and Japanese intervention in the north to fill the power void, there might not have become a May 4th Movement, nationalism, and rise of Communism to safeguard China's borders; China could have become like the Americas with the whole nation colonized, its people enslaved or massacred as natives were there. In 1860, the British sacked the Summer Palace in Beijing, looted it and burned it down. 

If there is anyone in the U.S. still interested in mind expansion, opening the doors of perception, turning on, tuning in, and dropping out, I am in favor of widespread cannabis usage, but to dumb down a society too weak to fight, willing to give in and let bygones be, weed IS a problem. That being said, alcohol and opiates are more dangerous to the individual and society so, pass the dutchie on the left hand side.The Taiwanese do not understand and are not told why Americans are using opiads or cannibis so much; what it is really about or what is really being done to the American people.

In the corporate media in Taiwan, they did show President Trump's first lady's choice of jacket on a trip to visit children held at a detention center in Texas which said, "I really don't care. Do U?" scrawled on the back. 

There are many TV "all news"  channels here in Taiwan, none of which show international news for long. When they do, it is a voice-over from CNN. There is "good news" about China from stations with Chinese-leaning ownership, and one independence-supporting station, founded like Pacifica from members donations, that the cable network tries to dislodge from programming using economics as a reason. There is some Asia regional news in English on cable from their corporate media, but not much. 

There is little awareness in Taiwan of ICE separating undocumented immigrant families from their children but none on the dismantling of the social network or workers' protection; Taiwan government is anti-union; the U.S. never imported the notion when it exported "democracy" and "duel-party" politics to stop the communist dominoes. Designer brands are paraded as news and the  owner of Foxxcon, a sweatshop boss supreme,  is Taiwan's Bloomberg. The English Taipei Times newspaper and Facebook and website English news page  sources are dominated by the American government line. There is a large new Marine-guarded American Institute just christened which represents the U.S. govt. interests in lieu of an embassy; technically there is no recognition of Taiwan as a country.  It  was just celebrated by President Tsai Ying-Wen when a new representative was appointed  by the U.S. 

There is just a whisper of the amount of protest against the further erosion of American's standard of living, liberties, and rights, with most Taiwanese thinking, like many privileged people of color, that they are honorary "whites" better than poor minorities.

 As you may know from reading my blog, I could not get anything going forming a solidarity union with expats or natives for an IWW GMB here mainly because of spooks on Facebook that spread fear and lies about the right to unionize here. My posts were harassed and effectually banned by a few News in English Facebook groups. Indeed, there is corruption and mafia groups that will attack any grass root unionizing but support continued special treatment and bonuses for the children of Mainland Chinese that came with Chiang Kai-Shek. 

In a word, in Taiwan, Trump is seen as a dangerous clown by most, especially China supporters, and as royalty by the American leaning business community; I guess being a liar and ignorant is as much a privilege of the rich as sexual harassment of women is; there is plenty of that here. However, most people understand how the U.S. has divided people; they applauded the reapproachment of North and South Korea for regional stability, some out of jealousy that this reunification could happen between Taiwan and China, too. They sense how detrimental the U.S. is to its own people and to world peace. 

I can remember feeling bad stuff was happening during the Clinton presidency when I returned to the States in 1989 after living in Taiwan six years. With George Bush and Iraq, Pt. I, I knew a former CIA director was the commander in chief. Like others, I voted Democratic because I thought the Democratic Party was slower to boil the frogs; the labor movement had some time to organize before the hole in the wall was closed. I went to demonstrations in NYC against the WTO and joined the IWW following the Black Bloc around. I knew time was getting thin and we had to fight back hard, but then they blew up the WTC to stifle the anti-WTO and oil organization from getting any stronger. It worked. They had an excuse to institute a police state "for our homeland protection."  Bush II stole 3 trillion dollars to repay the banks in 2008 and "save our way of life" add another 3 billion Obama stole for the same reason. The military budget grew and the social programs stuttered. Obamacare was a sham. All that you said about the Supreme Court and the hanging chads; the fix was in, hard. The fascists running the USA since Washington weren't going to let the hungry tired poor immigrants get any further. Taiwanese college students don't know how terrible the U.S. government is to its own people and plenty of Taiwanese still dream of immigrating unaware that they will be unemployed and victims of prejudice, too. I choose too remain in Taiwan the rest of my life because I know there is more libery here, universal health care, and safety. 

While there is still time in my life, and before the end of the U.S. as we know it, I pray my children make it out alive as I did. I feel that way; that I made it out alive from America in a similar way that Jews and progressives made it out alive from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and Spain. I'm not suggesting that you get out, too, because that may be your karma and who am I to say, but it was a golden path for me to be where I am today.

I feel safer with China nearby to protect Taiwan from any more encroachment from U.S. hegemony; to remove the last piece of colonialism of their territory, not to mention, a blow to fascism and a return to socialism. Call me a dreamer but that's how I feel. I don't need a joint to get high, and there is no reality to run away from. 

www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com

 Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

"Newsies" for Taiwan Solidarity

"Newsies" for Taiwan Solidarity

Copied from Education-Emancipation-Organization (www.e-e-o.blogspot.com) 

   
     “To cooperate to the fullest extent with the labor movement and to work for a progressive labor philosophy to awaken in all members a labor consciousness and sense of solidarity with labor.” United Federation of Teachers  (NYC-UFT) Mission Statement 
     So, how does an EFL teacher draw the attention of students in Taiwan where workers' unions are as foreign as English itself? How can we help students in Taiwan achieve their dreams in a harsh and changing workplace?      On April 19, 2018, I rode to Shengang Middle School where I conduct conversation enrichment. With the 8th graders, we've been discussing child abuse and oppressive child labor. The week before, an introduction to Kid Blink and the Newsies was  distributed and then we saw the first part of the Disney musical film, "Newsies."    The Disney Company is not famous for labor agitation; indeed, they have been at the heart of anti-labor clampdown since Walter himself testified in the McCarthy witch hunts against communists in Hollywood in the '50's; communist being a code word for unionism. But profit is profit and they couldn't let the market that made the anti-child abuse musicals "Oliver," "Annie," and "American Tail" slip through their hands. 
     The film is an entry-level introduction to activism for Taiwanese middle-school students with intermediate EFL skills. Children of families in Taiwan that suffer from underpay and overwork in a union-less work force with a declining standard of living, so much that the birth rate has dropped significantly, need to know this. Foreign teachers must take the lead in helping Taiwanese students  establish a culture of unionism. 

     On March 15, 2018, 107 years after the tragic workplace fire, the 8th grade class wrote and presented summaries about oppressive child labor from an excerpt of Fire at the Triangle Factory. We then read “Joseph Miliauskas: Breaker Boy” from We Were There, Too; Young People in U.S. History. Earlier, they had done a multiple choice on oppressive child labor discussing scenarios through reported speech question and answers. I told the children we would see a movie about such exploited children. They were thrilled to hear that; children love movies. I had tweaked their interest. 
      I handed my assistant the DVD so I could show the trailer and get the kinks out but  I was not going to show the film until every child showed their homework; a short introduction about Fire at the Triangle Factoryor “Kid Blink and the Newsies: Bringing Down Goliaths”. After sharing aloud, we begin to watch the Disney musical, Part 1. The children were asked to note actions of the main character, English or Chinese was okay. 

The class then caucused in groups of 4-5 to  write two actions each (present tense) about the film segment. They begin  sentences with a list of time phrases I put on the board (First, Next, Finally) and in cooperative learning,  order the actions, choosing five to write on their team space on the board. I took photos of each board and combined the groups findings (see brainstorm list below) then handed out the list the following week for them to put in order removing redundant and  irrelevant sentences. Once that was done, I continued showing the film and the group work process. 

    I played Part 2 for them yesterday after they began to organize the 37 details they had amassed from part one. Each group brainstormed two more details for the continuing lesson to conclude two weeks from now. At the end of class, the students made compound sentences with "after" and "before" as I showed them how to eliminate the excess pronoun after initial proper noun. They wrote two examples on the board. The silence came when I showed how, with commas, they could go on forever adding to time order details without repeating the subject pronoun. It must have been a revelation to them. I never heard them so quietly listening. 

Newsies: Part One Brainstorm

Order and delete redundant and irrelevant details

___An old man calls all the boys to get up.

___They sing, dress, and go to the sidewalk.

___The Newsies feel the extra profit their bosses take is not good for them.

___The Newsies decide to strike.

___The boys buy newspapers and sell them.

___Newsies have to buy newspapers.

___Newsies sell newspapers to people.

___Jack has stolen food.

___The police chase Jack.

___Jack, Dave, and Les run into a theater.

___They watch a singer in the theater.

___The newspaper bosses want to make more money from the Newsies.

___They wake up early.

___They live in the same place.

___They take some newspapers and sell them.

___The police chase them.

___They sit on the steps.

___Newsies discuss how their newspaper sale profit is getting lower.

___They decide to stop working.

___Newsies buy newspapers to sell.

___The police chase them.

___They run into a theater to see a friend of Jack’s father.

___They go to Jack’s house to meet his family.

___The Newsies go on strike.

___Cowboy teaches Les how to sell newspapers well.

___The police chase Cowboy.

___Cowboy steals food.

___The company increases the price of newspapers.

___Newsies want to get all the Newsies in New York City together.

___There are many boys that sell newspapers in New York City.

___Jack meets two boys, David and his brother, Les, on the street.

___Jack sees a detective so he runs into a theater.

___David and his family celebrate his dad’s birthday.

___The Newsies go on strike.

___The Newsies sell newspapers to make a living.

___Suddenly, the newspaper’s price gets higher.

___Cowboy wants a family.

     For labor solidarity, "Newsies" is the most important film Disney ever released. The film is a pathway into the notion of what a union is; great to show to middle and high school students in Taiwan, most useful because it sneaks up on them and has them on the side of the newspaper boy strikers before they realize they have aligned themselves correctly with class interests designed to raise their social “workers” consciousness while welcoming them to the world of the  English.
      Even at a low-intermediate level of proficiency, this can be done with the use of kinetic activities (contests, cooperative learning, arts and crafts, etc.) and through the media of song and film: a musical named "Newsies." 
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
 Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

The Untold Story of the Mississippi Delta Chinese

https://www.facebook.com/UntoldAmericaShow/videos/1911643398859136/

The New People's Army in the Philippines

The New People's Army is marking its 50th year of waging war against the U.S. sponsored Armed Forces of the Philippines.


https://youtu.be/-mtusYyzvmo

Which Side are You and I On?

Embedded in the modern history of these two nations, China and Russia, is an origin in revolutionary thought; the equality of women and men, the daring of workers' spirit. To fend off the tantalizing materialism of Capitalism, both nations had to retreat from their socialist tendencies or risk being overrun by infantile immediate gratification easily swayed by shiny objects. Furthermore, the arms race, always led by the United States, made these great peoples veer from their revolutionary goals; they just couldn't keep up with the military industrial complex (a phenomena we see now in the U.S. itself that continues to expand militarily while decimating social programs selling out the now defunct middle class).

The only way was to slow down and, as Marx predicted, go through a deeper period of bourgeois development before socialism can become the norm, socialism that would be health care, education, utilities, and all basic human needs provided by collective goals, even if a state has to go through a dictatorship of the proletariat to safeguard their advances from being co-opted by selfish interests, their selfish interests of protecting their borders from predators comes first.

Now that Capitalism is dying in the world as nations in South America, Africa, and Asia wake up to the exploitation they endured and the regime change caused by CIA that has a goal to protect the ruling class, we must realize that once the fox is no longer at the hen house, the chickens can relax and resume their socialist lives with vigor.

Trump is good to alert the world to America's true mindset. The world now knows that the American dream is a sham. You should not hold on to the privilege you have in name only. As Jews, we, and Israel are next on the agenda of Christian Millennial rulers.

In closing, what is at the foundation of deferred states like Russia and China is socialism. What is at the foundation of capitalist states like the US is feudalism.

Compare Chinese and Taiwanese development: While workers in Taiwan struggle without independent unions or a living wage, wages stuck at the same level as 20 years ago, Chinese workers are organized, constantly have strikes to improve their living standards (see China Labour Bulletin) and, in many areas, have surpassed living standards in Taiwan. Women in China have balls and really feel equal to men in many aspects while in Taiwan women still suffer from Confucian oppression; boys inherit the property, women who are older or married cannot find jobs, everyone works overtime without pay and are even afraid to use the holidays and sick days they have because their boss will not look kindly on it.

I strongly believe what my Pop, an anarchist who escaped from the Bolsheviks in Belarus in 1909 said, that the fish stinks from the head. Nothing that starts wrong (take Washington, the richest man in the fledgling USA) can ever come to anything. On the other hand, the spirit of revolutionary socialism, though retarded by capitalist incursion, colonialism and oppression, still has revolutionary socialism at its root. Mao Tse-Tung is still venerated in China; Lenin is still a hero in Russia. The faster capitalism can eat itself, the socialist states can flourish.

Taiwan Politicians that Give Lip Service to Workers’ Rights

      I hesitate to write an article about the Taiwanese politicians that give lip service to raising the standard of workers’ rights. The party on hunger strike in the rain want to exploit the goodwill of Sunflower movement remnants. They are staging an event outside the presidential office building. It looks good for them to be sitting under a makeshift tent in the rain, but it is all showmanship.

     Since the party in power used the youth movement to take control of the legislature in the last national elections, they only need lip service passing laws that mask the real issue - raising the minimum wage to a living wage. Promote laws already on the books safeguarding workers organizing unions protecting them from revenge by bosses. The labor laws here and in the U.S. are similar except that in Taiwan only a workplace with over 30 employees can unionize.

      Instead of sitting out in the rain complaining about laws they ignored passing last year, this political party could be going around Taiwan promoting and explaining the labor laws on the books long before the party they criticize took over the legislature. They could be helping interested workers organize clandestine grass root unions, to build a base for eventual government recognized unions. Since they are not, let them starve, die of pneumonia, or  ignore them better still for all their useless shams while helpless workers suffer slave conditions in Taiwan.
      Well, the police chased them away today; two former professors, a shoe-tosser, and a death metal musician, all turned politicians. They were saved from pneumonia and starvation so they should be thankful, but they won't be. Even President Tsai Ying-Wen, like a good mama, asked them to leave. So they slinked away, will tell their constituents they had victory, put it on their resume, and go on pretending they give a shit about working people in Taiwan. Where is Taiwan's Preacher Casy? Not in this bunch. 
             I woke up after an hour or so of sleep and went into the tea room to complete CD 16 and 17 of The Grapes of Wrath. It’s such a powerful condemnation of American capitalism and unbridled greed. We are part of one big soul, not individual souls, says Tom Joad to Ma before he has to leave the family after he killed the man who killed Preacher Casy. After seeing those egotistical clowns from the New Power Party on TV “apologize” publically for not being able to do anything to help workers after being removed from their three-day hunger strike, I told my wife how I felt personally insulted as I had directly communicated with two that ignored my pleas to unionize. It may not be my fight since I’d been marginalized long before I retired, but I can’t help but shake my head in disgust about the obstructionists that do the bidding for the ruling class with their individual “souls.”