Air Raid Drills and Indigenous Rights

Yesterday, from 2 - 2:30pm, there was a Taiwan Air Raid Drill. Like a fire drill, but different. No one was allowed outside, the lights were all turned off, and the air raid sirens wailed. Our teacher says there's a drill every year, and for her, it didn't seem strange. For Fu, she said the drill was her favorite part of school every year when she was little, she would get to sit under her desk with her friends with the lights off and talk for half an hour, yay, no school! But for all us in-Chinese-class foreigners, the idea of police swarming on forbidden streets was tantalizing, but we were firmly instructed to remain in our classroom instead of going to look at the street below where I can only pretend to know what was happening.. the teacher said that the police would probably be out, but I imagine they can't cover all the streets in Taiwan.

Evidently we were practicing hiding from potential Chinese bombs and planes and other war-related material. Interesting... a yearly reminder that threatening China is just across the strait, prompting Taiwan's urges towards independence to be made nervously by most who just want the status quo (not really a country? no problem... just let there be peace...) And anyway, if the Chinese did fly over with bombs, I think I might like to find a concrete basement somewhere, not just sit in my classroom on the 9th floor with the lights off...

In other news, Fish tells me that Taiwanese is finally being taught in schools in Taiwan... Taiwanese people had to speak Japanese under Japanese rule (folks my grandparents age still speak Japanese here), then only Mandarin in schools when Chiang Kai-Shek and his group came over from the mainland, so the majority spoken language of Taiwanese should probably get some recognition... however...

I went to an Amnesty International meeting (with 3 Catholic priests! two from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and one from Belgium...) last night on Indigenous Rights in Taiwan. AI was already in Taipei when I got here, but a friend of mine from school here started an English speaking section a few months ago. An indigenous man came to speak to the group about rights here, and it all sounds very confusing, but very interesting. There are lots of indigenous groups in Taiwan... well, no one's really sure how long ago they got here, or where they're from... some folks say they're from Indonesia, and some say they're from somewhere around the Philippines... but they were here at least when a wave of folks from the mainland came over about 400-500 years ago. Only Chinese men came over, but yet babies were produced, so most old family Taiwanese people are mixed Chinese and indigenous Taiwanese.

According to tonight's speaker, the indigenous people here are/were very diverse, with lots of different languages and areas. Most of them used to live near the coasts, where the flat land is, but gradually moved higher up into the mountains as the Chinese moved here (Taiwan has some small flat coastal areas, but most of it is mountains, running lengthwise all down the middle of the island). When the Japanese came, the people began to get classified, lumping different groups together, and of course, had to learn Japanese. Then they learned Mandarin (traditional characters) with the arrival of Chiang Kai-Shek, and have been removed from more of their land... the younger generations are losing interest in the culture and many move to the cities for work.. including a disproportionate number in child/adolescent prostitution... sometimes the mountains are left with grandparents and babies while the working ages are in the cities (sounds like rural China...).

For tonight's guest, the most important issue was land. Some of the national parks are placed on what used to be indigenous land. Some of the mountain areas are now being sold off to ethnic Chinese folks. Seems like the general stereotype here of ethnic minorities is of happy, singing, dancing, simple people.. nice, but not exactly true. And I'm just beginning to learn...

This bit of historical inequity and the forces working to bring about some form of equality couldn't have come at a perfect time for me. Coming back to Taipei from my re-acquaintance with American hippie culture in Tainan, I started looking on the internet for something human rights-ish to help out with here, partly as a retreat from the increasingly over-bearing culture of consumerism I see here in Taipei. At the AI meeting last night I said that I used to work as an HIV/AIDS Prevention Educator, and another woman at the meeting told me she currently works with an HIV/AIDS organization in Taiwan... and even with my limited Chinese, I can help out, woo-hoo! Can't wait to start.

Another woman at the meeting also is working on a theater project to teach human rights in schools in Taipei... and, because human rights isn't an acceptable subject in schools, they want to run the classes in English (teaching English is encouraged...). There's a workshop early in May and I'm excited to get involved... Amazing what's out there if you fall into the right meeting at the right time...