Where are this group of people come from?
Some people would ask where we are come from.
But in fact, where we are from is not important at all.
What really matters is that until today, Taiwan, our beautiful nation surrounded by the ocean, is still having tragedies coming up from every corner of the society.
The roads that were used to be the ridges of farmland are now being covered with cement and ran over by countless SUVs and RVs. Countless fancy “farmhouses” are built and erected in the middle of the farmland.
The roads that were used to be the ridges of farmland are now being covered with cement and ran over by countless SUVs and RVs. Countless fancy “farmhouses” are built and erected in the middle of the farmland.
The rivers that used to be blue and clean are now forced to swallow all those industrial dumps from nowhere and further banish them into the beautiful Pacific.
When the truck from the Science Park rush through the quiet country road, the watermelon farmers look up from the watermelon field, with their facial expression showing the bewilderment of not knowing where does the government want them to go.
The pregnant worker who is covered with dust-free suit from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) received severance notification just before her expected date.
Workers in touching mobile phone panel factories are mostly the single fathers/mothers who only graduated from junior high school. They have to work 12 hours a day and only have two days off per month. They can hardly support their family with the 29,000 NTD per month.
Why do you do this?
We all know that Taiwan is the important OEM of 3C products around the world, and we are definitely proud of it. Our government pours in elite graduates and undergraduates to the filed and huge amount of money to support the industry.
However, when the people pour their attentions and praises to the high-tech industries in Taiwan, we are looking back on our homeland with broken heart. Proud and glory are attributed to those industries, and people are left with pollutive industrial areas at their hometown and the broken farmlands.
On TV, we saw workers from the high-tech industry factories yell, scream and cry when they are protesting, fighting for their rights. Those faces and the desperation shown on their faces are the things we can’t forget.
We saw the development projects enforce improper imposition on old farmers and fishermen, which force them to leave their hometown and cut off the connection between what they rely on. At the same time, companies are violating Constitution and law, but no one points out and let them do anything they want. We love Taiwan, and we love our homeland. But we couldn’t help but begin to wonder, “What kind of country, what kind of culture will let the same tragedy take place again and again?”
Why " High-Tech Cold-Blooded"? Are you against high-techs?
If you have ever saw those bloody things happen in front of you, how can you ignore your conscience and pretend it never happens? Even we youngs were once enthusiastic about high-tech, we are disappointed.
We become anxious and uncomfortable when we think of the cheapness of HTC cell phones comes from the overtime payment of the workers. Suddenly, we hesitate whether we should love our domestic products or not because we don’t want to be one of the supporters of the sweatshop cell phone.
When we think of the elderly who were supposed to live the rest of their life on their hometown, the farmland and homeland inherited from generations, and they are removed because of the important investment policy of the country, we are depressed. When our high school friends excitingly announce that they are going to join the AU Optronics Corportaion, we are confused and struggling whether we should tell them what their companies have done to our lovely Taiwan and those elderly.
And finally we understand that the so-called economy miracle of Taiwan, the science and technology proud of Taiwan, is just quickly, rationally, efficiently wipe off feelings, dignities, and people’s lives through the production line. Such technology, such cold-blooded.
Even the most advanced technology will eventually be replaced by the updated technology. But the pollution from the factories will influence our land, our water, our environment and people’s health year after year. And those low-paid workers, they can hardly survive in the situation with their hands, not to mention their next generations if they want to get rid of the difficulties.
Final
We are just a group of ordinary people. Some of us are students, some of us are just the beginners of our careers, some of us have been involved in the environmental movements, some of us care about labor rights and how to build up a civil society in Taiwan. We are gathered together because of the recently outbreak news about the victims of high-tech industries, such as the ignorance of EIA process, and the long working hours with low payment issues. These all caught our attentions and we started to consider the suppression and exploitation behind the beautiful corporation image of high-tech industries.
We are not opposing to technology, we are opposing to bloody technology and cruel technology. We are opposing the cruelty of our science and technology. What we are against are the cold-blooded corporations who sacrifice the most vulnerable, the poorest group of people, to create the huge amount of money as profit.
As the youth of the Formosa, we hope we can do something to help saving the land, river, mountains and the workers who dedicated themselves to this nation. We would also like to pay tribute to all the organizations and people who continuously fight for our land and our people. The people united will never be defeated!
