What is this all about?!

Saving Siraya is a blog dedicated to the protection of a Taiwanese indigenous tribe that is not officially recognized by the government and therefore denied of basic human rights.

Due to the demands of Zhong Xing University and the Taiwanese national government, starting JUNE 29th, 2011 Siraya homes will be demolished and families already suffering from poverty will become homeless. After demolition the university intends to use the land for its agricultural department.

Approximately 20 Siraya families will be affected, some of which have lived on this ancestral land for up to 150 years.

See "Saving Siraya" for a detailed post on the Siraya's situation.

** UPDATE: A recent meeting between Zhong Xin University representatives, the Tainan City mayor, city councillors, and Siraya representatives has resulted in an agreement. The city government has been granted three months to prepare documents proving that Siraya settlements predate 1920. These documents will be signed by the mayor and will thereby protect ancestral land from further disruption. The university agrees to cooperate once these documents have been approved by the Tainan City mayor! Court hearings and demolitions have been postponed three months accordingly.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Thanks Jen Teeter!

Visit Jen's blog on the Siraya! We appreciate her concern all the way from Japan! We are going global guys!!!

http://tenthousandthingsfromkyoto.blogspot.com/2011/06/university-to-destroy-indigenous.html

2 comments:

  1. Aww shucks! No need to thank me. Everyone needs to know!! What is good for the Siraya people is good for everyone. I wish the university could see that this could be a win-win situation only if they changed their way of thinking.

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  2. I agree! A collaboration would actually make the university look really good and be beneficial for the tribe. I wonder if the students know about this issue... college students are all about making waves and activism, at least at my school....maybe someone should look into that. How would I go about contacting the student body? Yet, I don't want to become the target of the university, as a foreigner I could get in trouble.

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