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242. Migrant Worker Rights in Singapore: Advocacy, Legal Frameworks and Prospects for Change
- Author:
- Debbie Fordyce and Laavanya Kathiravelu
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Debbie Fordyce, President of Transient Workers Council Too, and Laavanya Kathiravelu, Associate professor at Nanyang Technological University, will discuss their advocacy and research on migrant worker issues in Singapore. COVID-19 highlighted some of the structural problems faced by the large population of migrant workers in Singapore. Systemic problems include high recruitment costs, restricted job mobility, employer’s right to terminate the worker at will, and weak wage protection. Our speakers will address these issues and what might be done to protect the rights and needs of migrant workers in Singapore.
- Topic:
- Advocacy, COVID-19, Migrant Workers, and Migrants
- Political Geography:
- Singapore and Southeast Asia
243. Organized Shinto’s Efforts to Restore the Imperial Rescript on Education in Postwar Japan
- Author:
- Hirokazu Yoshie and Paul Kreitman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- In the 1960s, the Association for Shinto Shrines—comprising 98% of the shrines nationwide—began running a decade-old campaign to reinstate a prewar symbol of emperor-centered nationalism, i.e., the Imperial Rescript on Education (kyōiku chokugo). Member priests petitioned prime ministers and other LDP politicians, published manuals for adults and picture books for children, and held summer camps for young students. These efforts were based on a modern translation into which the organization had rendered from the originally archaic rescript. Puzzlingly, this modern paraphrase completely concealed the authorship and centrality of the Meiji emperor, leaving only generic words of patriotism, which apparently defeats the purpose of the restorationism. His presentation makes sense of the campaign by analyzing organized Shinto’s discourse with it and considering its broader historical context. The narrative starts from the US occupation era (1945-1952), when the official invalidation of the rescript by Americans left conservative Japanese aggrieved. After failed attempts to revise the new constitution (1952-1964), the restoration movement gathered momentum amid left-leaning campus activism in around 1970. Convinced that it was a result of America’s ideological colonization, the Shinto organization argued that the restoration would serve to overcome that negative influence. But they tried to do so without disrupting popular sovereignty of postwar Japan, which required dilution of the text’s politically incorrect elements. The talk ends by suggesting the significance of looking at prewar legacies in our understanding of the role of the monarchy in postwar Japan.
- Topic:
- Education, Religion, History, and Shintoism
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
244. The Urbanization of People- The Politics of Development in the Chinese City
- Author:
- Eli Friedman and Yao Lu
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The Urbanization of People (May 2022, Columbia University Press) reveals how cities in China have granted public goods to the privileged while condemning poor and working-class migrants to insecurity, constant mobility, and degraded educational opportunities. Using the school as a lens on urban life, Eli Friedman investigates how the state manages flows of people into the city. He demonstrates that urban governments are providing quality public education to those who need it least: school admissions for nonlocals heavily favor families with high levels of economic and cultural capital. Those deemed not useful are left to enroll their children in precarious resource-starved private schools that sometimes are subjected to forced demolition. Over time, these populations are shunted away to smaller locales with inferior public services. Based on extensive ethnographic research and hundreds of in-depth interviews, this interdisciplinary book details the policy framework that produces unequal outcomes as well as providing a fine-grained account of the life experiences of people drawn into the cities as workers but excluded as full citizens.
- Topic:
- Development, Politics, Urbanization, and Cities
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
245. On Dangerous Ground: America’s Century in the South China Sea
- Author:
- Gregory Poling, Anne Marie Murphy, Andrew J. Nathan, and Thomas J. Christensen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- A robust yet accessible history of US involvement in the world's most dangerous waterway, and a guide for what to do about it. Lamentations that the United States is "losing" the South China Sea to China are now common. China has rapidly militarized islands and reefs, projects power across the disputed waterway, and freely harasses US allies and partners. The US has been unable to halt these processes or convince Beijing to respect the rights of smaller neighbors. But what exactly would "losing" mean? In On Dangerous Ground, Gregory B. Poling evaluates US interests in the world's most complex and dangerous maritime disputes by examining more than a century of American involvement in the South China Sea. He focuses on how the disputes there intersected and eventually intertwined with the longstanding US commitment to freedom of the seas and its evolving alliance network in Asia. He shows that these abiding national interests—defense of maritime rights and commitment to allies, particularly the Philippines—have repeatedly pulled US attention to the South China Sea. Understanding how and why is critical if the US and its allies hope to chart a course through the increasingly fraught disputes, while facing a more assertive, more capable, and far less compromising China. With an emphasis on decisions made not just in Washington and Beijing, but also in Manila and other Southeast Asian capitals, On Dangerous Ground seeks to correct the record and balance the China-centric narrative that has come to dominate the issue. It not only provides the most comprehensive account yet of America's history in the South China Sea, but it also demonstrates how that history should inform US national security policy in one of the most important waterways in the world.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, National Security, Territorial Disputes, and Maritime
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, United States of America, and South China Sea
246. Assessing the Chinese Communist Party 20th Party Congress
- Author:
- Thomas J. Christensen, Shang-Jin Wei, Junyang Jiang, Xiaobo Lü, Sun Zhe, and Andrew J. Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Assessing the political and foreign policy implications of whatever happens at the 20th Party Congress, presumably including Xi Jinping’s election to a third term as party General Secretary.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Politics, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
247. Religion and Politics in Japan after the Abe Assassination
- Author:
- Levi McLaughlin and Benjamin E. Goldsmith
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Turmoil following the shocking murder of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō on July 8, 2022 by a gunman who bore a grudge against the Unification Church (UC) has reinforced the fact that we must attend to religion in order to understand politics in Japan. In this talk, Levi McLaughlin (North Carolina State University) will contextualize revelations about the UC and its political connections as he surveys how religions and religion-adjacent activists in Japan exert a decisive impact on vote-gathering, policymaking, and party politics. McLaughlin will draw on his ethnographic and historical research to provide an overview of Shinto-affiliated nationalists (including the lobby organization Nippon Kaigi and its signatories), Buddhists (including Soka Gakkai and its affiliated party Komeito), and other actors to reconcile the incommensurate image of Japan as non-religious with the persistence of Japan's religiously-inspired political engagements, and he will discuss precedents for the moral panic that has surged in the wake of Abe's assassination to interpret ways Japan's religion/politics nexus is now developing.
- Topic:
- Politics, Religion, Assassination, and Shinzo Abe
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
248. Thailand: The New Monarchy Under King Vajiralongkorn?
- Author:
- Pavin Chachavalpongpun and Ann Marie Murphy
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- King Vajiralongkorn was crowned on 1 December 2016, although the official ceremony was not until 4 May 2019 (note that the official coronation was a three-day celebration from 4-6 May 2019). During this interval, Vajiralongkorn made known of his political ambition. For example, he intervened in the constitutional drafting process, requesting provisions related to the monarchy be amended. He restructured the Privy Council, removing some old councillors and filled the positions with military men. He also reformed the Crown Property Bureau. Assets previously registered to the CPB, from June 2018, would be held “in the name of His Majesty”. In other words, Vajiralongkorn took sole control of the CPB, erasing any ambiguity about the owner of this superrich organisation. A scholar argues, “The monarchy now holds more formal power than any king since 1932. The king and the military have an accommodation built around the military’s capacity for repression”. Under Bhumibol, political stability was key to the flourishing reign. Politics was predictable. Benefits were shared among major stakeholders. Underpinning Bhumibol’s strength was his unsurpassed ability to accumulate moral authority through the invigoration of the neo-royalist ideology. Under Vajiralongkorn, the palace has striven for a new management style. This talk discusses the beginning of the new reign under King Vajiralongkorn. In particular, it seeks to discuss his relationship with other key institutions, including the democratic forces.
- Topic:
- Domestic Politics, Institutions, Monarchy, and Military
- Political Geography:
- Thailand and Southeast Asia
249. Starr Forum: #ViralPotentials: How South Asian Women Use TikTok
- Publication Date:
- 06-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Working class women are using TikTok to express themselves. The app is also an avenue for fun or financial gain. Women across the region are using TikTok for activism, teaching, and learning. On this panel, academics, journalists, and activists from South Asia discuss how women have expanded their possibilities using TikTok, as well as the limitations the app poses.
- Topic:
- Mass Media, Social Media, TikTok, and Activism
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and Asia
250. Starr Forum: Speaking Truth to a New Power: Perspectives on Free Press and Democracy in South Africa
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- What is the state of democracy and the free press in South Africa?
- Topic:
- Mass Media, Democracy, Media, and Freedom of Press
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Africa