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Taiwan Black Lives Matter protest gets indigenous twist

adminJune 13, 20201 Mins read92 Views

TAIPEI: Hundreds packed into a park in central Taipei on Saturday (Jun 13) for a Black Lives Matter protest, with a group of indigenous Taiwanese given prominent billing to draw attention to discrimination against the island's original inhabitants.

The rally, attended by more than 500 people, mostly foreigners, was peaceful with only a very light police presence.

While its main focus was to show solidarity with anti-racism protests triggered around the world by the death in police custody last month of American George Floyd, organisers also wanted to draw attention to some of Taiwan's own problems.

READ: Thousands march for racial justice in Australia

Savungaz Valincinan, an ethnic Bunun from central Taiwan, took to the stage to detail the difficult past of indigenous Taiwanese, who make up less than 3 per cent of the island's population, and call for broad opposition to any form of discrimination.

While indigenous Taiwanese "might not face as direct threats to our lives or fear like black Americans face in the United States", many in Taiwanese society discriminate against them, for example by refusing to rent accommodation to indigenous people, said Savungaz, from the group Indigenous Youth Front.

"We don't want any special treatment. What we want are the most basic rights that we deserve as human beings," she said to loud applause.

"We are coming out today to support this movement not because of sympathy – it is bRead More – Source

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