David on Formosa

More than 1,000 people marched through the East District of Taipei today to mark the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising. The date of 14 March also commemorates the protests in Tibet in 2008 that were met with bloody repression. Members of the Tibetan community in Taiwan and various human rights groups participated in the [...]

The High Court yesterday passed down a not guilty verdict to three men from the Atayal village of Smangus. The verdict follows the Supreme Court decision in December last year that sent the case back to the High Court for another hearing.
The case concerned the use of wood from a tree that fell over on [...]

Taiwan has maintained its status as free in Freedom House’s 2010 report released yesterday. Taiwan received the same score as last year but its score for civil liberties decreased from 1 to 2 while its score for political rights increased from 2 to 1. Taiwan’s score put it equal with Japan and South Korea in [...]

I sent a letter about climate change to the Taipei Times on 7 January, but as of today it hasn’t been published (Update: published on 17 January). The Taipei Times published this letter on climate change today (which contains some ridiculous claims) and also Johnny Neihu took an amusing look at the qualities of Shezi [...]

The Supreme Court last month ruled on the Smangus Beech Tree case sending the case back to the High Court for a reexamination. The news seems to have been almost ignored by Taiwan’s media, but Taiwan Indigenous Television provided some good reporting. In addition to embedding a video of the English news report from TITV [...]

More than a thousand workers from Southeast Asia marched through the streets of Taipei today. The march had the slogan “Still no day off” (還沒休假), calling on the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to ensure that workers have one day off per week. Taiwan has more than 300,000 migrant workers from Southeast Asia.

A march around Taiwan calling for a referendum on any Taiwan-China agreement and amendments to the Referendum Law began in Taipei this morning. Several hundred people wearing “doli” (bamboo hats) set out from Longshan Temple to begin a seven week long walk around Taiwan.
The walk has the slogan “The people are the masters” (人民做主) emphasizing [...]

The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (台灣民主基金會) announced yesterday that the 2009 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award will be awarded to Mr. Kim Seong-Min, founder and director of Free North Korea Radio. The award recognizes his courageous defiance of the North Korean regime and will support his ongoing work in providing an independent source of [...]