NELLY CARRILLO WRITES — Earlier this year, the Borgen Project, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating poverty and hunger, published an article on the harmful effects of fast fashion. What is fast fashion and why is it a harmful way of thinking about garment manufacturing? Fast Fashion is defined as “an…
Full Article BANGLADESH: LET’S SLOW DOWN ON FAST FASHION
AUDIE LAYARDA WRITES — In December 2020, word of forced labor, among other atrocities, in Xinjiang, China, surfaced. While forced labor in China isn’t new, the fact that the Xinjiang region supplies 20% of the world’s cotton pressured powerful figures to make statements. Amid allegations of torture and rape, the…
Full Article CHINA: NO REST FOR FORCED LABOR IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY
*For the protection of all parties involved (as well as a request from the interviewee herself), all names and identifiable information have been redacted. The interview was conducted virtually via FaceTime to comply with CDC and CDPH Health Guidelines for COVID-19. **Trigger Warning: This article recounts the interviewee’s experiences of…
Full Article INTERVIEW: MADAM VIOLET, A STORY OF SURVIVAL AND TRIUMPH OVER SOUTH KOREA’S SEX TRAFFICKING EPIDEMIC
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — Many are already aware of how the Uyghur people are interned at “reeducation” camps in Xinjiang, the Western province of China. Few realize, however, that ethnic Kazakhs have also been subjected to the same mass extermination and forced labor. Mainstream media propagates that both ethnic Uyghurs…
Full Article KAZAKHSTAN: ETHNIC KAZAKHS IN XINJIANG
LULU ALKHALIDI WRITES – In polls conducted by Pulse Asian between September 14 and September 20, the rating for Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s performance was 91%. The poll was of course conducted during the coronavirus pandemic, with 5% of the population giving a negative response while 4% were undecided. In…
Full Article PHILIPPINES: PRESIDENT DUTERTE SCORES HIGH MARKS FROM FILIPINO FANS DESPITE LOW REGARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
LIAM ROGERS WRITES — On December 15, 1997, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced their ASEAN VISION 2020, which outlined different goals for the countries of ASEAN (Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace, Kingdom of Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Republic of the…
Full Article ASEAN VISION 2020: TIMES UP, WHY DON’T WE SEE CHANGE?
ASSOCIATE EDITOR CAMILLE BRYAN WRITES — Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so why are we surprised that after thousands of years of colonialism, those failed by the system are rising up? How could a nation expect to keep such tight control over marginalized communities and expect them…
Full Article FROM TIANANMEN TO MINNEAPOLIS AND BEYOND: HOPEFUL FOR POSITIVE CHANGE
JOSEPH LITTAUA WRITES — “Yellow Peril.” When I first found out about the phrase, it was on my own, doing research for a social studies class in middle school. I don’t quite remember the reason for the research, but the phrase stuck with me. Why would anyone be okay with…
Full Article ‘YELLOW PERIL SUPPORTS BLACK POWER’: RECLAIMING THE WORD ‘YELLOW’
ASSOCIATE EDITOR ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES — Just weeks into the protest of “Black Lives Matter,” a movement among young Chinese people is starting to grow as they shout out their support for the cause. “Chinese For Black Lives,” founded by feminist activist Xiaowen Liang, has been seen organizing…
Full Article US PROTESTS: CHINESE FOR BLACK LIVES
(ORIGINALLY POSTED ON SCMP) COLUMNIST TOM PLATE WRITES — For no self-respecting ‘superpower’ is failure an option. But history’s guarantees for nations are few: For big as well as small, survival can prove a struggle. And so, while humility might not be ranked as the first virtue of prudent superpower-ing,…
Full Article US PROTESTS: TRUMP AND US SHOULD FOCUS ON GEORGE FLOYD RATHER THAN HK AND TIANANMEN
MANAGING EDITOR SENAY EMMANUEL WRITES — From Minneapolis to Miami, Boston to Berlin, and even as far as Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the world is expressing its dismay and revulsion at the seemingly lawless and brutal nature of American police. The senseless murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by Minneapolis…
Full Article FROM HK TO THE US: SOLIDARITY AMONG PROTESTERS
SARA ALTUWAIJIRI WRITES — The sad saga of the Uyghur controversy proceeds apace. The Chinese government has one million Uyghurs detained in re-education camps, some of whom have been utilized for organ harvesting to treat patients who have the coronavirus. Uyghurs have been sent to industrial factories in Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangzi…
Full Article UYGHUR CRY: SERIOUSLY INHUMANE
AMHERST COLLEGE PRESIDENT BIDDY MARTIN TO HER FACULTY, STUDENTS, STAFF, ALUMNI, AND FAMILIES — “I am writing to provide you with some reflections at the end of our second week of remote learning.… We are living through an extraordinarily difficult and frightening time. In addition to the ravages of the…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS CRISIS CAUTION: GUARDING AGAINST AN EPIDEMIC OF BIAS
KATHERINE DOUGLAS WRITES — Earlier this month, following a report on an investigation, the EU threatened to pull trade preferences for Cambodia because it was “concerned about the human rights situation there [Cambodia]”. The government has yet to officially respond, despite the one-month time limit imposed in the report. Of note, the EU…
Full Article CAMBODIA: THE HUMAN RIGHTS QUESTIONS NEVER SEEM TO END
MICHELLE DOR WRITES– For as much as $50,000, Vietnamese migrants can get the “VIP package” to Britain– a flight, fake passport and even an attorney. Too good to be true? This deal, although unlawful, is regarded as the cheaper and safer alternative to land routes by smugglers, where migrants are…
Full Article OUT OF VIETNAM: FIRST-CLASS ‘VEXIT’, OR NO EXIT AT ALL?
IMMANUEL PORTUS WRITES — On May 2 the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival opened its first night with a film that took home the Grand Jury Prize soon after: “Yellow Rose,” helmed by director Diane Paragas and starring Tony winner Lea Salonga and Tony nominee Eva Noblezada— all prominent…
Full Article MOVIE REVIEW: ‘YELLOW ROSE’ BLOSSOMS BEYOND THE PHILIPPINES