Diasperse

In Episode 4 we interview Pulitzer prize winning Burmese-American journalist Aye Min Thant about that ongoing military coup in Myanmar. We discuss the protest movement opposing the coup, the violent police crackdown in the country, and the role of technology in both upholding and resisting authoritarian rule. In the time since this episode was recorded the police crackdown has intensified with journalists being targeted, escalating internet shutdowns, and reports that over 500 protestors have been killed by the military. 

The island nation of Taiwan, located in the Western Pacific just 100 miles off the coast of China, has long been caught between competing economic and military powers. Subjected to various colonial empires since the 1600s, the Chinese nationalist invasion in 1949, and today treated as a political bargaining chip in the U.S.-China trade war, Taiwan is rarely discussed by the Taiwanese on their own terms.

This episode brings in Brian Hioe, a participant of the Sunflower Movement and one of the founders of New Bloom Magazine, an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific. Brian brings in a crucial voice for Taiwan in a time of geopolitical uncertainty around the world with the rise of China and Joe Biden's recent victory in the U.S. presidential election in November.

Interview with Jackie Fielder about her campaign for California's 11th district representing San Francisco & Northern San Mateo County. Fielder is a queer Indigenous and Latina organizer challenging democratic incumbent Scott Wiener in one of many races across the US where progressives are taking on the political establishment. We discuss her renter-based approach to addressing California’s housing crisis, plan for an Indigenous Wildfire Task Force, and the influence of community organizing on her campaign.

Hosts Desun Oka and Rebecca Pierce introduce themselves and discuss their work documenting the Comfort Women Redress Movement which seeks justice for women sexually trafficked by Imperial Japan during WWII. Desun breaks down the role of Comfort Women memorials in San Francisco, Okinawa, and Seoul in addressing sexual violence, militarism, and war crime denialism.

Content Note: this episode contains discussions of sexual trafficking and military violence.