2016

To Win, You Must Fight (Miaoli Bus Drivers' Protest)

On 1 July 1988, the government announced a nationwide increase for intercity bus fares to fully implement the Labour Standards Act. In protest of their employer, who tried to pocket the extra profit, members of the Miaoli Transportation Union began a 23-day drivers’ strike in August. The Union’s demands were eventually accepted. It was the first legal strike in Taiwanese labour history.

No Congressional Re-Election, No Hope for Taiwan

Since the relocation of the KMT regime to Taiwan in 1949, the existing 1,300 KMT officials who fled China continued to hold office in Taiwan. Only 180 new seats were created. Taiwan’s ‘Non Re-elected Congress’ was an international political anomaly. The will of the people converged into a powerful force that began rapidly driving the country towards total congressional re-election.

Labour's Battle Song (Laid-off Shinkong Textile Workers' Protest)

Following the expansion of urban development, land prices in Taipei’s Shilin District soared exponentially. The Shinkong Textile plant in Shilin became the first to close down. Soon, its laid-off workers gathered for a street protest, singing popular songs with altered lyrics. As the battle wore on, they began a long-term protest in front of the Shinkong headquarters lasting for 76 days.

To Die for Taiwan (Cheng Nan-jung's Funeral Procession and Chan I-hua's Self-Immolation)

In order to advocate Taiwan’s independence and to defend the freedom of speech, CHENG Nan-jung chose to express his disappointment towards the ruling authorities by self-immolation. Thousands joined his funeral procession on 19 May. When they arrived at the presidential office, a disciplinary patrol, CHAN I-hua, lit himself on fire, taking concrete action to follow CHENG’s footsteps.

Far Eastern Textile Workers' Strike

On 14 May 1989, the Far Eastern Textile Industrial Union passed a resolution in favour of strike action. However, the Hsinchu County government and police authorities actively helped the employers in breaking the strike action. This film documents the 17-day desperate protest lasting until the employers announced a full return to work, finally concluding the battle.

R.O.C. Government, Return Our Land!

Since the seventeenth century, Taiwan’s indigenous peoples have endured waves of colonisation until they were finally left with almost no land of their own. The 1984 formation of the Association for Taiwanese Indigenous Rights launched the struggle to regain their rights and initiated the ‘Return Our Land’ movement. This film documents the march on 27 September 1989.

Why Aren’t You Angry (Wild Lily Movement)

As social activism grew in the 1980s, student groups began to form. Prior to the presidential election in March 1990, seven hundred National Assembly delegates passed a resolution to extend their terms to nine years and increase their pay. With various sectors all denouncing the decision, student activist groups launched a large-scale demonstration in front of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

Breaking News of 29th March

On 29 March 1988, legislator JU Gau-jeng took several buses of protesters to visit the residential area of old National Assembly delegates in Neihu. The police blocked all roads near the area and rushed to beat and arrest protesters as soon as they arrived. Serious bloodshed thus broke out. Green Team sent out rough cuts of breaking news reports to break through media blackout.

The New Wave of Opposition Movements

This film is a montage of the best footage Green Team collected from major social movements, including environmental, political, human rights, indigenous, student, farmer and labour movements, displaying the uproar in the period prior to and after the lifting of martial law. However, right after its completion, the 20th May Incident occurred, preventing it from ever reaching the public.

Indigenous Peoples

This film is a collection of indigenous movements taking place between 1987 and 1988, including the Rainbow Movement to rescue underage prostitutes, the protest against excavating indigenous gravesites at Dongpu, the unmasking of the fabricated myth about WU Feng, the Parade of Evil Spirits of Lanyu residents demanding the removal of nuclear waste, and the first ‘Return Our Land’ rally.

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