On July 6th, according to a report by Jordyn Haime in the South China Morning Post, Taiwan’s official representative to Israel, Abby Ya-Ping Lee, pledged to support a medical center in a settlement community in the occupied West Bank. After the report became public, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told United Daily News that the matter was still under discussion … Continue reading "P. Kerim Friedman, Yes, “Taiwan Can Help,” but not if it continues to ignore Palestinian vo...| positions politics
As China’s influence grows on the world stage, the specter of China looms ever larger in the political machinations of the US and its allies, while the promise of China as an humane alternative continues to bloom in the political imaginaries of leftists around the world. Understanding China is crucial if we are … Continue reading "Critical China Scholars, Understanding China and Resisting Sinophobia in 2025: An Introductory Syllabus" The post Critical China Scholars, Understanding China a...| positions politics
Known as the March First Independence Movement, an unprecedented wave of mass protests with people shouting dongrip manse 독립만세 (long live independence) swept across Korea on March 1, 1919. On this day, religious leaders and students stood against Japanese colonial rule and declared Korean independence, sparking uprisings far and wide. The movement lasted for three months, with … Continue reading "BDS Korea, Manse to Intifada: A Report on March 1, 2025 from Palestine Peace Solidar...| positions politics
I first met Gao Xiaoxian in 1992 at a conference at Peking University, but even before that I had heard about her extraordinary work with the Women’s Federation and her deep knowledge of life in the Shaanxi countryside. In our first conversations, we talked about our shared interest in the history and changing social landscape … Continue reading "Gail Hershatter, Gao Xiaoxian: A Short Remembrance" The post Gail Hershatter, Gao Xiaoxian: A Short Remembrance appeared first on positions poli...| positions politics
Covert colonialism: Governance, surveillance and political culture in British Hong Kong, c. 1966-97. Florence Mok. Manchester University Press, 2023. ISBN: 9781526158192. Price: £85.00 | Reviewed by Chris Chien Florence Mok’s monograph Covert Colonialism: Governance, surveillance and political culture in British Hong Kong, c. 1966–97 is an important study of how the British colonial regime aimed to foster … Continue reading "Chris Chien reviews Florence Mok, Covert colonialism: Go...| positions politics
As someone who grew up in Shenzhen in the 1980s-1990s and has lived in the US since 2000, I’ve come to see returning to the Special Economic Zone today as a journey “back to the future.” During my last trip there, I walked down the “memory lane” of Huaqiangbei (Huaqiang North Road, or HQB), the … Continue reading "Fan Yang, Back to the Future: A Walk through Huaqiangbei in 2025" The post Fan Yang, Back to the Future: A Walk through Huaqiangbei in 2025 appeared first on positions p...| positions politics
On the morning of July 18, 2024, our phones were suddenly flooded with images of injured students – our campus was under attack. Students protesting the nationwide escalation of police brutality against the quota-reform movement were being met with tear gas and bullets. Soon, locals and students from other private universities rushed to their … Continue reading "Seuty Sabur, This is not my Revolution: Aspiration, Erasure, and the Political Field in the Post-July Uprising Bangladesh" The p...| positions politics
On January 12, 2025, just days before the short video platform TikTok was pressured to shut down in the U.S., a sensational “migration” began. Millions of American internet users flocked to the Chinese-language social media app RedNote (Xiaohongshu 小红书) in protest against their own government and existing American tech hegemons such as X and Meta.[1] Half-jokingly, they … Continue reading "Lilian Kong and Shiqi Lin, “Hello My Chinese Spy, Take My Data”: Welcome to the Play...| positions politics
“On this terrible morning, everything is relentless—” ~ Fatimah Busu, “The Lovers of Muharram” An Ordinary Tale About Women and Other Stories, recently published by Penguin Random House SEA, gathers my translations of ten of Fatimah Busu’s most searing short stories. These narratives, steeped in the rhythms and struggles of rural Malay life, … Continue reading "Pauline Fan, Beyond Redemption: Fatimah Busu and the Reckoning of Malay Literature"| positions politics
On a recent trip to the Philippines, facilitated by old friends yet shadowed by crises stretching from Gaza to the US to Sudan and everywhere in between and beyond, I gave some talks at various venues. I had no idea what to expect from my audiences so I designed interventions that would perhaps appeal to … Continue reading "Rebecca Karl, On Mao in the Philippines: Notes on a trip (January 2025)"| positions politics