Although Bruno Latour had limited interaction with East Asia, translations of his work contribute... more Although Bruno Latour had limited interaction with East Asia, translations of his work contributed to the development of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in that part of the world. More recently, Latour's curation of the Taipei Biennial with STS participation offered a stimulating path for what he framed as Gaia-politics: a reset of modern geopolitics and territories centered around the climate emergency and ecological/terrestrial attachments. The exhibition's locus in Taiwan was an important element in this, through its position as a hot spot of the Critical Zone-that thin layer of the Earth most sensitive to climate change. Latour's approach to political ecology has, however, been criticized for a lack of attention to the role of capitalism in what led to the current climate upheaval. While we partly agree with this criticism, we are more concerned that the current version of Gaia-politics neglects the importance of nation-states and traditional sovereignties in handling the climate emergency. We argue that an upgrade of Gaia-politics is required to also address the resurgence of aggressive authoritarian regimes, as well as the double threat of climate "wars" and traditional warfare.
Handbook of Post-Western Sociology: From East Asia to Europe, 2023
This chapter presents some salient points of the debate on the Anthropocene, and why it matters f... more This chapter presents some salient points of the debate on the Anthropocene, and why it matters for post-Western social sciences. I also advocate for an under- standing of the Anthropocene that goes beyond its current Western focus.
In April 2016, a severe case of marine pollution hit the central coast of Vietnam, seriously affe... more In April 2016, a severe case of marine pollution hit the central coast of Vietnam, seriously affecting the livelihoods of local residents. The Vietnamese government’s investigation pointed to the Formosa Steel Corporation in Ha Tinh Province, a joint venture controlled mainly by the Taiwanese firm Formosa Plastics . Although the company was compelled by the Vietnamese government to acknowledge its responsibility and promise to pay US$500 million in damages, the majority of the victims of the disaster never received any compensation, or only very little. At first glance, this marine disaster can be seen as a typical result of a corporation from the North exporting a polluting facility to a country of the Global South, except that in this very rare case, the government of the host country has been able to impose its rules on the polluter. But to the protests of the population unhappy with the government’s solution, the Vietnamese government responded with crackdowns and prison sentences. The case is politically sensitive due to geopolitical factors and the role of the Catholic Church in the mobilization, as we analyze in this chapter. The final part presents how the struggle of the fishermen and local priests from central Vietnam has evolved into an international advocacy movement, based in Taiwan and including the participation of migrant workers from Vietnam.
Rethinking Post-Disaster Recovery: Socio-Anthropological Perspectives on Repairing Environments, 2022
Following on my journal article “Our 'good neighbor' Formosa Plastics: petrochemical damage(s) an... more Following on my journal article “Our 'good neighbor' Formosa Plastics: petrochemical damage(s) and the meanings of money” (Environmental Sociology 2021), but using the original theoretical framework of repairing environment, this book chapter provides in-depth ethnographic observation of a five-year research with the fenceline communities of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker petrochemical complex in Yunlin County, with a particularly important additional analysis on the role of petrochemical workers as sentinels of petrochemical disasters. This chapter focuses on the ambiguous role of money in disputes over the recognition of the damage to the environment and the public health. Does money repair or impair environment? By “money”, I mean the funds either requested or effectively paid in compensation or punitive damages. What I call an “economy of compensation” covers a large range of meanings and various forms of payment. While “reparation” is supposed to fix an injustice within a legal context, in the plural form, “reparations” denotes compensation for torts such as war damage. In toxic torts and other civil actions, “damages” is another word for compensation, as if such payment might offset the actual damage incurred.
Comme les nombreuses catastrophes industrielles qui ont marqué l’histoire du Japon moderne et con... more Comme les nombreuses catastrophes industrielles qui ont marqué l’histoire du Japon moderne et contemporain, la catastrophe nucléaire de mars 2011 a donné lieu à de nombreux procès. Les procès de Fukushima réunissent plusieurs milliers de plaignants à travers tout le Japon. Outre un procès pénal contre trois anciens dirigeants de Tepco, on relève une trentaine de plaintes collectives au civil contre Tepco et l’État. Ces procès posent des questions fondamentales sur l’origine de cette catastrophe et, compte tenu du problème des radiations, son devenir. Et bien que les montants d’indemnisation retenus par les juges jusqu’à présent restent faibles, ces décisions de justice revêtent pour les plaignants une importance morale et symbolique (voire des effets cathartiques), ainsi que pour le Japon contemporain, et à l’avenir pour d’autres pays qui pourraient être touchés par une catastrophe nucléaire.
Like many industrial calamities that have marked the history of modern and contemporary Japan, the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has given rise to many lawsuits; currently, these involve several thousand plaintiffs from all over Japan. On top of a criminal case against three Tepco executives, there are more than 30 class actions pending against Tepco and the state. These lawsuits raise fundamental questions about the origin of the disaster as well as its future fallouts due to radiation exposure. While the compensation awarded by the judges so far remains low, the court decisions carry a moral and symbolic—even cathartic—importance for the plaintiffs, as well as for contemporary Japan as a whole and for other countries vulnerable to a nuclear disaster. I further argue that these mobilisations are drawn from a legacy of collective lawsuits that have marked Japan over the past 50 years.
From November 2020 to March 2021, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) hosted the Taipei Biennial, ... more From November 2020 to March 2021, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) hosted the Taipei Biennial, curated by renowned French sociologist of science Bruno Latour, along with two young and talented curators, Martin Guinard and Eva Lin, with the theme “You and I Don’t Live on the Same Planet”. Along with Chun-Mei Chuang and other colleagues in Taiwan, I was honored to lend a hand as a consultant in preparing this biennial and to take an active part in the organization of some of its side events. The opening symposium entitled “New Diplomatic Encounters” focused on the art of diplomacy in the age of a climate emergency and a dramatic extinction of species. Drawing on the concepts of “climate war(s)” and “climate diplomacy” as defined by Latour, I seized this opportunity to ask him to clarify an issue that had puzzled me and that I had been hesitant to discuss with him until then: in a nutshell, are the thoughts of Carl Schmitt—the infamous legal scholar who supported the Nazi regime—really essential for addressing the climate war? Below is a revised version of my remarks as well as the answer from Bruno Latour.
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal , 2021
In toxic torts, if the defendants’ negligence is confirmed, the court’s ruling is a punishment tr... more In toxic torts, if the defendants’ negligence is confirmed, the court’s ruling is a punishment translated into monetary amounts, which the plaintiffs are compelled to accept. However, past exposure to toxic substances might continue to cause damage after the judgment, not only among the plaintiffs, but also among their descendants, making an exact measurement of the total damage inflicted almost impossible. A ruling or out-of-court settlement is therefore necessarily a compromise between the obligation to end the dispute and deliver some kind of justice for the victims and the radical uncertainty inherent to toxic torts. In the case of the electronics industry, due to the numerous chemicals to which workers are exposed, the uncertainty of health hazards is particularly high. This article proposes a framework for the valuation of exposure to toxicants, to address both the necessity and the limits of monetary compensation. It is based on a ten-year participating observation of the collective lawsuit launched by more than a thousand former employees of RCA plants in Taiwan, as well as thirty-five in-depth interviews of the plaintiffs following the High Court and Supreme Court decisions.
Legacies of Fukushima in Context: 3.11 in Context (Penn Press), 2021
In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists t... more In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists to prevent occupational hazards and to make them more socially visible when they occur. Although their struggle started long before, it has gained momentum since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The second part highlights the conflicting interpretations of low- dose radiation and the importance of nuclear labor in that dispute. This chapter follows a study that I began in 2002 on Japanese nuclear contract workers. Further observations and interviews have been conducted since 2011 among cleanup workers, government experts, activists, and epidemiologists in Japan and Europe.
Even before the abrupt end of a relatively liberal regime in Hong Kong, Chinese President Xi Jinp... more Even before the abrupt end of a relatively liberal regime in Hong Kong, Chinese President Xi Jinping made no secret of his ambition to fix the "Taiwan problem". Despite the rise of the Chinese military, Taiwan is nevertheless able to resist it, under certain conditions. In the event of aggression from China, the majority of Taiwanese are ready to fight. The capacity they need to cope with it depends on several variables, starting with the attitude of the United States. Given its central position on the Indo-Pacific axis, Taiwan can count on the support of the Americans and their allies, including Japan. This support is all the more strong as the Taiwanese semiconductor industry has made itself an hegemon on the world stage. Moreover, as the island has shown with the Covid-19 pandemic, Taiwan knows how to anticipate bad blows coming from the continent. This capacity to anticipate what comes from China has enabled the country to amplify the good performance of its economy, which in turn gives the island the financial means to strengthen its military capabilities to, if necessary, wage an asymmetric war against China.
甚至在香港相對自由的政權斷然結束之前,中國國家主席習近平就毫不掩飾解決「台灣問題」的野心。儘管中國軍隊崛起,但在某些條件下,台灣還是有能力抵禦中國軍隊。在中國侵略的情況下,大多數的台灣人都準備好迎接戰鬥。台灣人需要應對的能力取決於幾個變項,首先是美國的態度。鑑於台灣在印度-太平洋軸線上的中心位置,可待指望得到美國及其盟友的支持,包括日本在內。再者,由於台灣的半導體產業已經成為世界舞台上的一個不可被取代的要角,得以加強國際支持的力道。此外,正如該島在Covid-19大流行中,防疫成績相當亮眼,台灣知道如何預測來自大陸的打壓與軍事威脅。這種預測能力使該國能更有餘裕擴大經濟上的良好表現,這反過來又使台灣有財力加強其軍事能力,在必要時對中國發動不對稱的作戰。
Après la fin brutale de la parenthèse libérale à Hong Kong, le président chinois Xi Jinping ne fait pas mystère de son ambition d'en finir avec le « problème taïwanais ». Quelle que soit la teneur de cette menace et malgré la montée en gamme de l'armée chinoise, Taïwan est en mesure d'y résister, à certaines conditions. La majorité des Taïwanais sont, en effet, prêts à se battre en cas d'agression de la Chine. Quant aux capacités dont ils ont besoin pour y faire face, elles dépendent de plusieurs variables, à commencer par l'attitude des États-Unis. Compte tenu de sa position centrale sur l'axe indo-pacifique, Taïwan peut compter sur le soutien des Américains et de ses alliés, dont le Japon. Ce soutien est d'autant plus fort que l'industrie taïwanaise des semi-conducteurs s'est rendue incontournable sur la scène mondiale. Enfin, comme elle l'a montré depuis le début de la pandémie de Covid-19, Taïwan sait anticiper les mauvais coups venant du continent, ce qui lui a permis d'amplifier la bonne performance de son économie et lui donne les moyens financiers de renforcer ses capacités militaires pour, le cas échéant, livrer une guerre asymétrique à la Chine.
Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene (ed. by Paul Jobin, Ming-sho Ho and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Singapore: ISEAS), 2021
Despite the tremendous geopolitical pressure—or perhaps owing to it—Taiwanese civil society has c... more Despite the tremendous geopolitical pressure—or perhaps owing to it—Taiwanese civil society has consolidated the country’s democracy over the last two decades, resulting in the excellent scores on various democracy indexes. I argue in this chapter that environmental movements have played a significant role in this process, through what I call civic eco-nationalism, or a civic form of ecological nationalism. After introducing this argument, its theoretical framework, and the conditions that gave rise to it, this chapter reviews the main characteristics of Taiwan’s environmental movements during the last two decades, through the existing literature—which is abundant both in Chinese and English—and my own observation since 2008. A good deal of fieldwork was conducted as a participating observer, which enables an ethnographic immersion over the long run.
This paper draws on my oral presentation at the opening symposium of the Taipei 2020 Biennial (he... more This paper draws on my oral presentation at the opening symposium of the Taipei 2020 Biennial (held on November 22 and entitled “Diplomatic Collisions”), followed by Bruno Latour's response. In his recent works, Latour has made extensive reference to Nazi Legal scholar Carl Schmitt to address “the climate war”. As I confessed my reluctance to follow on Schmitt, even for a country like Taiwan, which is placed under heavy pressure from China, including risk of a traditional war, Latour had a challenging response: “You can choose your enemy, but you cannot choose not to fight, and you cannot choose not to participate in any war at all”.
Legacies of Fukushima: 3.11 in Context (Penn Press), 2021
In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists t... more In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists to prevent occupational hazards and to make them more socially visible when they occur. Although their struggle started long before, it has gained momentum since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The second part highlights the conflicting interpretations of low- dose radiation and the importance of nuclear labor in that dispute. This chapter follows a study that I began in 2002 on Japanese nuclear contract workers. Further observations and interviews have been conducted since 2011 among cleanup workers, government experts, activists, and epidemiologists in Japan and Europe.
In Le Japon après la guerre (Michael Lucken, Anne Bayard-Sakai, Emmanuel Lozerand dir., Arles: Pi... more In Le Japon après la guerre (Michael Lucken, Anne Bayard-Sakai, Emmanuel Lozerand dir., Arles: Picquier, 2007). Résumé : A travers des cas contrastés, à Kawasaki et Minamata, ce chapitre analyse la façon dont la mémoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale s'est inscrite dans le syndicalisme et les mouvements de lutte contre la pollution industrielle. En contraste avec la relative amnésie de certains acteurs, à Minamata, il y a eu une plongée délibérée dans les pages les plus noires de cette mémoire collective. Et ce processus a contribué à approfondir le sens de la lutte contre les maladies industrielles. Mots clés : Japon, syndicalisme, pollution industrielle, mémoire collective, réparations de guerre. 論文題名:労働組合と反公害運動にとって、戦後は何だったのか
要旨:この論文は、川崎と水俣の事例を通じて、第二次世界大戦の歴史が戦後の労働災害や産業公害の争議にとどのように影響したかを分析する。戦争の忘却は一般的だが、1970代、水俣病闘争ではチッソ第一組合は戦前自分たちの植民地の経験や戦争責任など、日本の最も暗い歴史と向き合ったこともあった。そして、ベトナム戦争の反戦運動に参加した労働者は、1990代に入って、様々な差別と労災職業病で悩んで居る外国人労働者と出会いながら、韓国人等から請求してきた戦後補償の要求にも積極的に支援した。
キーワード:戦後日本、戦争責任、労働組合、公害、戦争補償、公的記憶
Recruitment of a Postdoctoral Researcher on Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Em... more Recruitment of a Postdoctoral Researcher on Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Emergency. At the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
【Research project】Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Emergency (part of a collective larger project on “Taiwan 2050 zero carbons emissions,” Academia Sinica’s 2021 Sustainability Science Research Program)
【Time and schedule】3 years (2021-2023); full time position starting in January 2021
【Research goal】Cement, steel, plastics and transports account for more than 40% of total carbon emissions, making these four industries the main obstacles to tackle toward a low-carbon society. This cross-disciplinary collective research project focusing on the case of Taiwan (which ranks among the largest carbon emitters globally) aims to produce scientific breakthroughs and practical solutions for the drastic mitigation of carbon emissions. It is composed of three different sub-projects focusing on innovative politics (team 1), a reduction model (team 2), and a case study on the petrochemical industry (team 3). The mission for this postdoctoral position will be to work with the third team on the specific case of the petrochemical industry and in particular on the production and consumption of oil-based plastics.
【Salary】Approximately 60,000 New Taiwan Dollars (including labor & health insurance, retirement pension)
【Job location】Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan) Send your CV, list of publications, motivation letter and two recommendation letters (all documents on PDF, please don’t use Word files) to: Paul Jobin (Associate Research Fellow, PI for the subproject 3): jobin@sinica.edu.tw
Through its chronic pollution and recurrent explosions, the petrochemical industry is the source ... more Through its chronic pollution and recurrent explosions, the petrochemical industry is the source of constant damage for fenceline communities. Measures that might prevent or correct this damage are postponed with a local ow of money, a situation viewed through the prism of the di erent levels of damage, from chronic pollution to cancers and explosions. This article analyzes how a collective lawsuit launched against a petrochemical complex in Taiwan is challenging this economy. Formosa Plastics, the owner of the petrochemical complex, is one of the world's largest chemical companies. Its 'good neighbor' policy includes a mix of political corruption, patronage care services and regular cash payments. Based on a four-year observation and in-depth interviews with the plainti s and other local sources, this article draws on the sociology of money to examine the ambiguous role of compensation in disputes over environmental and public health damage. I show that the search for justice and compensation nourishes a range of expectations. This includes, in proportion to the scope of the damage, a moral condemnation of the polluters and the prevention of further harm, in addition to economic assistance.
In "Critical Zones: The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth" (edited by Bruno Latour & Peter Weibel, MIT Press), 2020
At the entrance of the Taroko Valley, in Taiwan, where geologists have launched their observatori... more At the entrance of the Taroko Valley, in Taiwan, where geologists have launched their observatories of the Critical Zone, is located the mine of Asia Cement that threatens to collapse on aboriginal villages. This situation shows two dimensions of the critical zone: one is eroded by capitalism, the other by global warming related typhoons and landslides.
In addition to a citizen initiative to launch a criminal lawsuit against Tepco and Japanese state... more In addition to a citizen initiative to launch a criminal lawsuit against Tepco and Japanese state executives over their responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear disaster, more than thirty collective civil actions have been launched across the country. Thus far, thirteen verdicts have been handed down, with a large majority of courts ruling against Tepco and the state. Despite disappointingly small amounts of compensation, these verdicts carry important sociological significance as they challenge the government's efforts to restart nuclear power plants. This article provides an overview and typology of the lawsuits, showing that these civil actions build on a legacy of social movements organized by networks of lawyers and activists.
Empruntant la notion de zone critique aux géologues, Bruno Latour invite à dépasser la géopo-liti... more Empruntant la notion de zone critique aux géologues, Bruno Latour invite à dépasser la géopo-litique du régime westphalien, un cadre jugé obsolète pour affronter la crise de l'anthropocène. A travers deux terrains d'observation et des enquêtes quantitatives, je considère ici Taiwan comme une zone particulièrement critique de la crise écologique mondiale. Cependant, dans le contexte taiwanais, compte tenu de la menace chinoise, le risque géopolitique de type classique ne peut être traité à la légère. Jusqu'à présent, les désastres dus au réchauffement climatique tels que typhons et glissements de terrain sont envisagés séparément des risques géostratégiques comme le blocus économique ou une invasion armée. Dans une première partie, nous suivons en compagnie de Bruno Latour lui-même une équipe internationale de géologues dans les gorges de Taroko tandis qu'une mine de la firme Asia Cement menace un village aborigène. Nous nous rendons ensuite sur l'atoll de Dongsha en Mer de Chine, où les militaires taiwanais aident des chercheurs spécialistes de biologie marine à ramasser les déchets en matière plastique venus de toute l'Asie, tandis que les bateaux chinois rôdent. Enfin, une dernière partie présente des enquêtes d'opinion qui traitent d'une part du risque écologique et d'autre part de la menace d'une invasion armée chinoise. En conclusion, je propose une géopolitique qui tienne compte et de la crise écologique et de la menace géostratégique.
In March 2019, on the 8th anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster, there will be the last court... more In March 2019, on the 8th anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster, there will be the last court hearing of an unprecedented criminal law class action; TEPCO executives might eventually face a possible 5 years prison sentence for their responsibility. In addition to this criminal lawsuit and nearly four hundred individual cases, some thirty civil collective actions have been filed nationwide; altogether the number of plaintiffs is over twelve thousand, and so far, seven courts have already delivered verdicts. This article presents an overview of these lawsuits and focuses on the court struggle by a former cleanup worker at Fukushima Daiichi. Given the battles that remain ahead for the cleanup of Fukushima Daiichi and its surroundings, this lawsuit holds special meaning among the thirty or so litigations related to the nuclear disaster.
Although Bruno Latour had limited interaction with East Asia, translations of his work contribute... more Although Bruno Latour had limited interaction with East Asia, translations of his work contributed to the development of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in that part of the world. More recently, Latour's curation of the Taipei Biennial with STS participation offered a stimulating path for what he framed as Gaia-politics: a reset of modern geopolitics and territories centered around the climate emergency and ecological/terrestrial attachments. The exhibition's locus in Taiwan was an important element in this, through its position as a hot spot of the Critical Zone-that thin layer of the Earth most sensitive to climate change. Latour's approach to political ecology has, however, been criticized for a lack of attention to the role of capitalism in what led to the current climate upheaval. While we partly agree with this criticism, we are more concerned that the current version of Gaia-politics neglects the importance of nation-states and traditional sovereignties in handling the climate emergency. We argue that an upgrade of Gaia-politics is required to also address the resurgence of aggressive authoritarian regimes, as well as the double threat of climate "wars" and traditional warfare.
Handbook of Post-Western Sociology: From East Asia to Europe, 2023
This chapter presents some salient points of the debate on the Anthropocene, and why it matters f... more This chapter presents some salient points of the debate on the Anthropocene, and why it matters for post-Western social sciences. I also advocate for an under- standing of the Anthropocene that goes beyond its current Western focus.
In April 2016, a severe case of marine pollution hit the central coast of Vietnam, seriously affe... more In April 2016, a severe case of marine pollution hit the central coast of Vietnam, seriously affecting the livelihoods of local residents. The Vietnamese government’s investigation pointed to the Formosa Steel Corporation in Ha Tinh Province, a joint venture controlled mainly by the Taiwanese firm Formosa Plastics . Although the company was compelled by the Vietnamese government to acknowledge its responsibility and promise to pay US$500 million in damages, the majority of the victims of the disaster never received any compensation, or only very little. At first glance, this marine disaster can be seen as a typical result of a corporation from the North exporting a polluting facility to a country of the Global South, except that in this very rare case, the government of the host country has been able to impose its rules on the polluter. But to the protests of the population unhappy with the government’s solution, the Vietnamese government responded with crackdowns and prison sentences. The case is politically sensitive due to geopolitical factors and the role of the Catholic Church in the mobilization, as we analyze in this chapter. The final part presents how the struggle of the fishermen and local priests from central Vietnam has evolved into an international advocacy movement, based in Taiwan and including the participation of migrant workers from Vietnam.
Rethinking Post-Disaster Recovery: Socio-Anthropological Perspectives on Repairing Environments, 2022
Following on my journal article “Our 'good neighbor' Formosa Plastics: petrochemical damage(s) an... more Following on my journal article “Our 'good neighbor' Formosa Plastics: petrochemical damage(s) and the meanings of money” (Environmental Sociology 2021), but using the original theoretical framework of repairing environment, this book chapter provides in-depth ethnographic observation of a five-year research with the fenceline communities of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker petrochemical complex in Yunlin County, with a particularly important additional analysis on the role of petrochemical workers as sentinels of petrochemical disasters. This chapter focuses on the ambiguous role of money in disputes over the recognition of the damage to the environment and the public health. Does money repair or impair environment? By “money”, I mean the funds either requested or effectively paid in compensation or punitive damages. What I call an “economy of compensation” covers a large range of meanings and various forms of payment. While “reparation” is supposed to fix an injustice within a legal context, in the plural form, “reparations” denotes compensation for torts such as war damage. In toxic torts and other civil actions, “damages” is another word for compensation, as if such payment might offset the actual damage incurred.
Comme les nombreuses catastrophes industrielles qui ont marqué l’histoire du Japon moderne et con... more Comme les nombreuses catastrophes industrielles qui ont marqué l’histoire du Japon moderne et contemporain, la catastrophe nucléaire de mars 2011 a donné lieu à de nombreux procès. Les procès de Fukushima réunissent plusieurs milliers de plaignants à travers tout le Japon. Outre un procès pénal contre trois anciens dirigeants de Tepco, on relève une trentaine de plaintes collectives au civil contre Tepco et l’État. Ces procès posent des questions fondamentales sur l’origine de cette catastrophe et, compte tenu du problème des radiations, son devenir. Et bien que les montants d’indemnisation retenus par les juges jusqu’à présent restent faibles, ces décisions de justice revêtent pour les plaignants une importance morale et symbolique (voire des effets cathartiques), ainsi que pour le Japon contemporain, et à l’avenir pour d’autres pays qui pourraient être touchés par une catastrophe nucléaire.
Like many industrial calamities that have marked the history of modern and contemporary Japan, the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has given rise to many lawsuits; currently, these involve several thousand plaintiffs from all over Japan. On top of a criminal case against three Tepco executives, there are more than 30 class actions pending against Tepco and the state. These lawsuits raise fundamental questions about the origin of the disaster as well as its future fallouts due to radiation exposure. While the compensation awarded by the judges so far remains low, the court decisions carry a moral and symbolic—even cathartic—importance for the plaintiffs, as well as for contemporary Japan as a whole and for other countries vulnerable to a nuclear disaster. I further argue that these mobilisations are drawn from a legacy of collective lawsuits that have marked Japan over the past 50 years.
From November 2020 to March 2021, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) hosted the Taipei Biennial, ... more From November 2020 to March 2021, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) hosted the Taipei Biennial, curated by renowned French sociologist of science Bruno Latour, along with two young and talented curators, Martin Guinard and Eva Lin, with the theme “You and I Don’t Live on the Same Planet”. Along with Chun-Mei Chuang and other colleagues in Taiwan, I was honored to lend a hand as a consultant in preparing this biennial and to take an active part in the organization of some of its side events. The opening symposium entitled “New Diplomatic Encounters” focused on the art of diplomacy in the age of a climate emergency and a dramatic extinction of species. Drawing on the concepts of “climate war(s)” and “climate diplomacy” as defined by Latour, I seized this opportunity to ask him to clarify an issue that had puzzled me and that I had been hesitant to discuss with him until then: in a nutshell, are the thoughts of Carl Schmitt—the infamous legal scholar who supported the Nazi regime—really essential for addressing the climate war? Below is a revised version of my remarks as well as the answer from Bruno Latour.
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal , 2021
In toxic torts, if the defendants’ negligence is confirmed, the court’s ruling is a punishment tr... more In toxic torts, if the defendants’ negligence is confirmed, the court’s ruling is a punishment translated into monetary amounts, which the plaintiffs are compelled to accept. However, past exposure to toxic substances might continue to cause damage after the judgment, not only among the plaintiffs, but also among their descendants, making an exact measurement of the total damage inflicted almost impossible. A ruling or out-of-court settlement is therefore necessarily a compromise between the obligation to end the dispute and deliver some kind of justice for the victims and the radical uncertainty inherent to toxic torts. In the case of the electronics industry, due to the numerous chemicals to which workers are exposed, the uncertainty of health hazards is particularly high. This article proposes a framework for the valuation of exposure to toxicants, to address both the necessity and the limits of monetary compensation. It is based on a ten-year participating observation of the collective lawsuit launched by more than a thousand former employees of RCA plants in Taiwan, as well as thirty-five in-depth interviews of the plaintiffs following the High Court and Supreme Court decisions.
Legacies of Fukushima in Context: 3.11 in Context (Penn Press), 2021
In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists t... more In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists to prevent occupational hazards and to make them more socially visible when they occur. Although their struggle started long before, it has gained momentum since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The second part highlights the conflicting interpretations of low- dose radiation and the importance of nuclear labor in that dispute. This chapter follows a study that I began in 2002 on Japanese nuclear contract workers. Further observations and interviews have been conducted since 2011 among cleanup workers, government experts, activists, and epidemiologists in Japan and Europe.
Even before the abrupt end of a relatively liberal regime in Hong Kong, Chinese President Xi Jinp... more Even before the abrupt end of a relatively liberal regime in Hong Kong, Chinese President Xi Jinping made no secret of his ambition to fix the "Taiwan problem". Despite the rise of the Chinese military, Taiwan is nevertheless able to resist it, under certain conditions. In the event of aggression from China, the majority of Taiwanese are ready to fight. The capacity they need to cope with it depends on several variables, starting with the attitude of the United States. Given its central position on the Indo-Pacific axis, Taiwan can count on the support of the Americans and their allies, including Japan. This support is all the more strong as the Taiwanese semiconductor industry has made itself an hegemon on the world stage. Moreover, as the island has shown with the Covid-19 pandemic, Taiwan knows how to anticipate bad blows coming from the continent. This capacity to anticipate what comes from China has enabled the country to amplify the good performance of its economy, which in turn gives the island the financial means to strengthen its military capabilities to, if necessary, wage an asymmetric war against China.
甚至在香港相對自由的政權斷然結束之前,中國國家主席習近平就毫不掩飾解決「台灣問題」的野心。儘管中國軍隊崛起,但在某些條件下,台灣還是有能力抵禦中國軍隊。在中國侵略的情況下,大多數的台灣人都準備好迎接戰鬥。台灣人需要應對的能力取決於幾個變項,首先是美國的態度。鑑於台灣在印度-太平洋軸線上的中心位置,可待指望得到美國及其盟友的支持,包括日本在內。再者,由於台灣的半導體產業已經成為世界舞台上的一個不可被取代的要角,得以加強國際支持的力道。此外,正如該島在Covid-19大流行中,防疫成績相當亮眼,台灣知道如何預測來自大陸的打壓與軍事威脅。這種預測能力使該國能更有餘裕擴大經濟上的良好表現,這反過來又使台灣有財力加強其軍事能力,在必要時對中國發動不對稱的作戰。
Après la fin brutale de la parenthèse libérale à Hong Kong, le président chinois Xi Jinping ne fait pas mystère de son ambition d'en finir avec le « problème taïwanais ». Quelle que soit la teneur de cette menace et malgré la montée en gamme de l'armée chinoise, Taïwan est en mesure d'y résister, à certaines conditions. La majorité des Taïwanais sont, en effet, prêts à se battre en cas d'agression de la Chine. Quant aux capacités dont ils ont besoin pour y faire face, elles dépendent de plusieurs variables, à commencer par l'attitude des États-Unis. Compte tenu de sa position centrale sur l'axe indo-pacifique, Taïwan peut compter sur le soutien des Américains et de ses alliés, dont le Japon. Ce soutien est d'autant plus fort que l'industrie taïwanaise des semi-conducteurs s'est rendue incontournable sur la scène mondiale. Enfin, comme elle l'a montré depuis le début de la pandémie de Covid-19, Taïwan sait anticiper les mauvais coups venant du continent, ce qui lui a permis d'amplifier la bonne performance de son économie et lui donne les moyens financiers de renforcer ses capacités militaires pour, le cas échéant, livrer une guerre asymétrique à la Chine.
Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene (ed. by Paul Jobin, Ming-sho Ho and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Singapore: ISEAS), 2021
Despite the tremendous geopolitical pressure—or perhaps owing to it—Taiwanese civil society has c... more Despite the tremendous geopolitical pressure—or perhaps owing to it—Taiwanese civil society has consolidated the country’s democracy over the last two decades, resulting in the excellent scores on various democracy indexes. I argue in this chapter that environmental movements have played a significant role in this process, through what I call civic eco-nationalism, or a civic form of ecological nationalism. After introducing this argument, its theoretical framework, and the conditions that gave rise to it, this chapter reviews the main characteristics of Taiwan’s environmental movements during the last two decades, through the existing literature—which is abundant both in Chinese and English—and my own observation since 2008. A good deal of fieldwork was conducted as a participating observer, which enables an ethnographic immersion over the long run.
This paper draws on my oral presentation at the opening symposium of the Taipei 2020 Biennial (he... more This paper draws on my oral presentation at the opening symposium of the Taipei 2020 Biennial (held on November 22 and entitled “Diplomatic Collisions”), followed by Bruno Latour's response. In his recent works, Latour has made extensive reference to Nazi Legal scholar Carl Schmitt to address “the climate war”. As I confessed my reluctance to follow on Schmitt, even for a country like Taiwan, which is placed under heavy pressure from China, including risk of a traditional war, Latour had a challenging response: “You can choose your enemy, but you cannot choose not to fight, and you cannot choose not to participate in any war at all”.
Legacies of Fukushima: 3.11 in Context (Penn Press), 2021
In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists t... more In the first part of this chapter, I show the effort spent by Japanese NGOs and labor activists to prevent occupational hazards and to make them more socially visible when they occur. Although their struggle started long before, it has gained momentum since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The second part highlights the conflicting interpretations of low- dose radiation and the importance of nuclear labor in that dispute. This chapter follows a study that I began in 2002 on Japanese nuclear contract workers. Further observations and interviews have been conducted since 2011 among cleanup workers, government experts, activists, and epidemiologists in Japan and Europe.
In Le Japon après la guerre (Michael Lucken, Anne Bayard-Sakai, Emmanuel Lozerand dir., Arles: Pi... more In Le Japon après la guerre (Michael Lucken, Anne Bayard-Sakai, Emmanuel Lozerand dir., Arles: Picquier, 2007). Résumé : A travers des cas contrastés, à Kawasaki et Minamata, ce chapitre analyse la façon dont la mémoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale s'est inscrite dans le syndicalisme et les mouvements de lutte contre la pollution industrielle. En contraste avec la relative amnésie de certains acteurs, à Minamata, il y a eu une plongée délibérée dans les pages les plus noires de cette mémoire collective. Et ce processus a contribué à approfondir le sens de la lutte contre les maladies industrielles. Mots clés : Japon, syndicalisme, pollution industrielle, mémoire collective, réparations de guerre. 論文題名:労働組合と反公害運動にとって、戦後は何だったのか
要旨:この論文は、川崎と水俣の事例を通じて、第二次世界大戦の歴史が戦後の労働災害や産業公害の争議にとどのように影響したかを分析する。戦争の忘却は一般的だが、1970代、水俣病闘争ではチッソ第一組合は戦前自分たちの植民地の経験や戦争責任など、日本の最も暗い歴史と向き合ったこともあった。そして、ベトナム戦争の反戦運動に参加した労働者は、1990代に入って、様々な差別と労災職業病で悩んで居る外国人労働者と出会いながら、韓国人等から請求してきた戦後補償の要求にも積極的に支援した。
キーワード:戦後日本、戦争責任、労働組合、公害、戦争補償、公的記憶
Recruitment of a Postdoctoral Researcher on Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Em... more Recruitment of a Postdoctoral Researcher on Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Emergency. At the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
【Research project】Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Emergency (part of a collective larger project on “Taiwan 2050 zero carbons emissions,” Academia Sinica’s 2021 Sustainability Science Research Program)
【Time and schedule】3 years (2021-2023); full time position starting in January 2021
【Research goal】Cement, steel, plastics and transports account for more than 40% of total carbon emissions, making these four industries the main obstacles to tackle toward a low-carbon society. This cross-disciplinary collective research project focusing on the case of Taiwan (which ranks among the largest carbon emitters globally) aims to produce scientific breakthroughs and practical solutions for the drastic mitigation of carbon emissions. It is composed of three different sub-projects focusing on innovative politics (team 1), a reduction model (team 2), and a case study on the petrochemical industry (team 3). The mission for this postdoctoral position will be to work with the third team on the specific case of the petrochemical industry and in particular on the production and consumption of oil-based plastics.
【Salary】Approximately 60,000 New Taiwan Dollars (including labor & health insurance, retirement pension)
【Job location】Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan) Send your CV, list of publications, motivation letter and two recommendation letters (all documents on PDF, please don’t use Word files) to: Paul Jobin (Associate Research Fellow, PI for the subproject 3): jobin@sinica.edu.tw
Through its chronic pollution and recurrent explosions, the petrochemical industry is the source ... more Through its chronic pollution and recurrent explosions, the petrochemical industry is the source of constant damage for fenceline communities. Measures that might prevent or correct this damage are postponed with a local ow of money, a situation viewed through the prism of the di erent levels of damage, from chronic pollution to cancers and explosions. This article analyzes how a collective lawsuit launched against a petrochemical complex in Taiwan is challenging this economy. Formosa Plastics, the owner of the petrochemical complex, is one of the world's largest chemical companies. Its 'good neighbor' policy includes a mix of political corruption, patronage care services and regular cash payments. Based on a four-year observation and in-depth interviews with the plainti s and other local sources, this article draws on the sociology of money to examine the ambiguous role of compensation in disputes over environmental and public health damage. I show that the search for justice and compensation nourishes a range of expectations. This includes, in proportion to the scope of the damage, a moral condemnation of the polluters and the prevention of further harm, in addition to economic assistance.
In "Critical Zones: The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth" (edited by Bruno Latour & Peter Weibel, MIT Press), 2020
At the entrance of the Taroko Valley, in Taiwan, where geologists have launched their observatori... more At the entrance of the Taroko Valley, in Taiwan, where geologists have launched their observatories of the Critical Zone, is located the mine of Asia Cement that threatens to collapse on aboriginal villages. This situation shows two dimensions of the critical zone: one is eroded by capitalism, the other by global warming related typhoons and landslides.
In addition to a citizen initiative to launch a criminal lawsuit against Tepco and Japanese state... more In addition to a citizen initiative to launch a criminal lawsuit against Tepco and Japanese state executives over their responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear disaster, more than thirty collective civil actions have been launched across the country. Thus far, thirteen verdicts have been handed down, with a large majority of courts ruling against Tepco and the state. Despite disappointingly small amounts of compensation, these verdicts carry important sociological significance as they challenge the government's efforts to restart nuclear power plants. This article provides an overview and typology of the lawsuits, showing that these civil actions build on a legacy of social movements organized by networks of lawyers and activists.
Empruntant la notion de zone critique aux géologues, Bruno Latour invite à dépasser la géopo-liti... more Empruntant la notion de zone critique aux géologues, Bruno Latour invite à dépasser la géopo-litique du régime westphalien, un cadre jugé obsolète pour affronter la crise de l'anthropocène. A travers deux terrains d'observation et des enquêtes quantitatives, je considère ici Taiwan comme une zone particulièrement critique de la crise écologique mondiale. Cependant, dans le contexte taiwanais, compte tenu de la menace chinoise, le risque géopolitique de type classique ne peut être traité à la légère. Jusqu'à présent, les désastres dus au réchauffement climatique tels que typhons et glissements de terrain sont envisagés séparément des risques géostratégiques comme le blocus économique ou une invasion armée. Dans une première partie, nous suivons en compagnie de Bruno Latour lui-même une équipe internationale de géologues dans les gorges de Taroko tandis qu'une mine de la firme Asia Cement menace un village aborigène. Nous nous rendons ensuite sur l'atoll de Dongsha en Mer de Chine, où les militaires taiwanais aident des chercheurs spécialistes de biologie marine à ramasser les déchets en matière plastique venus de toute l'Asie, tandis que les bateaux chinois rôdent. Enfin, une dernière partie présente des enquêtes d'opinion qui traitent d'une part du risque écologique et d'autre part de la menace d'une invasion armée chinoise. En conclusion, je propose une géopolitique qui tienne compte et de la crise écologique et de la menace géostratégique.
In March 2019, on the 8th anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster, there will be the last court... more In March 2019, on the 8th anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster, there will be the last court hearing of an unprecedented criminal law class action; TEPCO executives might eventually face a possible 5 years prison sentence for their responsibility. In addition to this criminal lawsuit and nearly four hundred individual cases, some thirty civil collective actions have been filed nationwide; altogether the number of plaintiffs is over twelve thousand, and so far, seven courts have already delivered verdicts. This article presents an overview of these lawsuits and focuses on the court struggle by a former cleanup worker at Fukushima Daiichi. Given the battles that remain ahead for the cleanup of Fukushima Daiichi and its surroundings, this lawsuit holds special meaning among the thirty or so litigations related to the nuclear disaster.
Review by Paul H. Mason in Social History (Vol. 40, Issue 4, 2015): Viewing disease and crime fro... more Review by Paul H. Mason in Social History (Vol. 40, Issue 4, 2015): Viewing disease and crime from a different angle, Paul Jobin investigates asbestos lawsuits in Japan. He describes the evidence used in a court case in the city of Sennan and the use of epidemiology to substantiate claims of industrial disease. Surprising accounts of how victims interpret their disease are juxtaposed with how they are obliged to prove their sickness is real. The court may be a public space where experts, lay citizens and policy-makers come together, but it is an asymmetrical space where victims have impoverished access to the technologies of law – namely long-term and expensive epidemiological research in the case of Sennan – that reveal or conceal disease and crime.
Recension pour la revue Travail et Emploi (Janvier-mars 2017 – No 149), de "La machine est ton se... more Recension pour la revue Travail et Emploi (Janvier-mars 2017 – No 149), de "La machine est ton seigneur et ton maître. Analyses, enquêtes et témoignages sur la vie des ouvriers des usines chinoises de Foxconn" de Jenny Chan et al.
Environmental Governance in Taiwan: A New Generation of Activists and
Stakeholders, by Simona A. ... more Environmental Governance in Taiwan: A New Generation of Activists and Stakeholders, by Simona A. Grano. London: Routledge, 2015.
Recensions de Maladies industrielles et renouveau syndical au Japon (EHESS 2006) in Sociologie du... more Recensions de Maladies industrielles et renouveau syndical au Japon (EHESS 2006) in Sociologie du travail, Annales, Le Monde, Le mouvement social, Ebisu. 書評法文原文及中文翻譯
Journal of International and Global Studies (A publication of Lindenwood University Press)
htt... more Journal of International and Global Studies (A publication of Lindenwood University Press)
Brett L. Walker, Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan, University of Washi... more Brett L. Walker, Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan, University of Washington Press, 2010.
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (2014) 8:499–502
The World Health Organization has clearly pronounced the absolute toxicity of asbestos. Yet, as o... more The World Health Organization has clearly pronounced the absolute toxicity of asbestos. Yet, as of 2016, many countries continue to use asbestos in large quantities, with Asia accounting for more than half of the world's production, led by China with more than one million tons per year, of which less than a half is locally produced. After Japan, Taiwan is now intending to launch a compensation scheme for the victims of asbestos. With this purpose in mind, this chapter considers what can be learned from the French's compensation scheme FIVA and Italy's major criminal lawsuit against Eternit Corporation. This draft is for a collective book in Chinese: 彭保羅(劉曦宸翻譯),「石綿公害的補償與法律責任:法國與義大利經驗」,鄭雅文編『致命粉塵:工業社會規模最大的石綿職業病』,職安連線出版,第八章,2017年
Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene, 2021
“This collection provides a powerful and sophisticated analysis of how environmental movements in... more “This collection provides a powerful and sophisticated analysis of how environmental movements influence politics in Asia, and how politics influences movements.” (John Dryzek, University of Canberra)
“This important book reflects the challenges and questions currently foremost in scholars’, activists’ and policy- makers’ minds—the Anthropocene, environmental justice, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and post-politics—all addressed through the lens of environmental movements in Asia.” (Jonathan Rigg, University of Bristol)
“This book shows convincingly that the concept of Anthropocene is as relevant in Asia as anywhere.” (Philip Hirsch, University of Sydney)
“How have authoritarianism, democratization and political change affected environmentalism in East and Southeast Asia? How have environmental mobilization and demands for environmental justice at the grassroots influenced politics there? These are among the vital questions answered by this insightful and well-crafted volume.” (Paul Harris, Education University of Hong Kong)
“Despite its claims to universality, the Anthropocene concept remains largely a Western phenomenon. Yet the importance of Asia for the Anthropocene can hardly be overstated. This book is crucial in correcting this view by putting environmental movements in Asia center stage.” (Eva Horn, University of Vienna)
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2011年3月の原発事故は、近現代の日本における多くの産業災害と同様に、数多くの訴訟を引き起こした。今日、フクシマ訴訟のために、日本全国で数千人の原告が結集している。東京電力の旧経営陣3人に対する刑事訴訟に加えて、東京電力及び国に対する民事集団訴訟は約30件に上る。これらの裁判は、この災害の原因、そして放射能という問題を考慮して、その将来的な影響についても本質的な問いを投げかけている。現在まで裁判官によって言い渡された賠償金額が僅かであったとしても、これらの判決は、原告及び現代日本、そして将来的に原子力災害で被害を受ける可能性のある諸外国にとっても、倫理的そして象徴的に重要である。
Like many industrial calamities that have marked the history of modern and contemporary Japan, the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has given rise to many lawsuits; currently, these involve several thousand plaintiffs from all over Japan. On top of a criminal case against three Tepco executives, there are more than 30 class actions pending against Tepco and the state. These lawsuits raise fundamental questions about the origin of the disaster as well as its future fallouts due to radiation exposure. While the compensation awarded by the judges so far remains low, the court decisions carry a moral and symbolic—even cathartic—importance for the plaintiffs, as well as for contemporary Japan as a whole and for other countries vulnerable to a nuclear disaster. I further argue that these mobilisations are drawn from a legacy of collective lawsuits that have marked Japan over the past 50 years.
摘要: 在職業病與公害的侵權訴訟中, 如果法官判定被告有過失, 會命令被告給付原告一定數額的賠償金, 而原告必須接受。然而, 在判決確定後, 原告過去所暴露的有毒物質, 依然可能會繼續對其造成損害。損害所及不僅對原告本人, 可能還包括其後代。從而, 究竟損害的總量有多少, 幾乎無法精確衡量。此外, 經歷親人過世與胎兒流產, 罹患癌症等重大疾病, 乃至面對化學暴露在人體內所留下的不定時炸彈所帶來的心理壓力, 這種經歷都難以換算為金額。因此, 一份判決或和解, 無可避免地, 會是某種妥協: 一邊是為受害者提供某種正義來結束糾紛的責任, 另一邊是毒物侵權糾紛案內在的高度不確定性。而在電子工業的案件中, 由於工人接觸的化學物質眾多, 健康危害的不確定性又更高。本文試圖提供一個衡量毒物暴露的金錢價值的分析框架, 以探討金錢賠償的必要性及其侷限性。本文的經驗材料來自十年來作者對台灣RCA工廠一千多名前員工所發起之團體訴訟的參與觀察, 以及在高等法院和最高法院作出判決後, 對原告進行的三十五個深入採訪。
甚至在香港相對自由的政權斷然結束之前,中國國家主席習近平就毫不掩飾解決「台灣問題」的野心。儘管中國軍隊崛起,但在某些條件下,台灣還是有能力抵禦中國軍隊。在中國侵略的情況下,大多數的台灣人都準備好迎接戰鬥。台灣人需要應對的能力取決於幾個變項,首先是美國的態度。鑑於台灣在印度-太平洋軸線上的中心位置,可待指望得到美國及其盟友的支持,包括日本在內。再者,由於台灣的半導體產業已經成為世界舞台上的一個不可被取代的要角,得以加強國際支持的力道。此外,正如該島在Covid-19大流行中,防疫成績相當亮眼,台灣知道如何預測來自大陸的打壓與軍事威脅。這種預測能力使該國能更有餘裕擴大經濟上的良好表現,這反過來又使台灣有財力加強其軍事能力,在必要時對中國發動不對稱的作戰。
Après la fin brutale de la parenthèse libérale à Hong Kong, le président chinois Xi Jinping ne fait pas mystère de son ambition d'en finir avec le « problème taïwanais ». Quelle que soit la teneur de cette menace et malgré la montée en gamme de l'armée chinoise, Taïwan est en mesure d'y résister, à certaines conditions. La majorité des Taïwanais sont, en effet, prêts à se battre en cas d'agression de la Chine. Quant aux capacités dont ils ont besoin pour y faire face, elles dépendent de plusieurs variables, à commencer par l'attitude des États-Unis. Compte tenu de sa position centrale sur l'axe indo-pacifique, Taïwan peut compter sur le soutien des Américains et de ses alliés, dont le Japon. Ce soutien est d'autant plus fort que l'industrie taïwanaise des semi-conducteurs s'est rendue incontournable sur la scène mondiale. Enfin, comme elle l'a montré depuis le début de la pandémie de Covid-19, Taïwan sait anticiper les mauvais coups venant du continent, ce qui lui a permis d'amplifier la bonne performance de son économie et lui donne les moyens financiers de renforcer ses capacités militaires pour, le cas échéant, livrer une guerre asymétrique à la Chine.
要旨:この論文は、川崎と水俣の事例を通じて、第二次世界大戦の歴史が戦後の労働災害や産業公害の争議にとどのように影響したかを分析する。戦争の忘却は一般的だが、1970代、水俣病闘争ではチッソ第一組合は戦前自分たちの植民地の経験や戦争責任など、日本の最も暗い歴史と向き合ったこともあった。そして、ベトナム戦争の反戦運動に参加した労働者は、1990代に入って、様々な差別と労災職業病で悩んで居る外国人労働者と出会いながら、韓国人等から請求してきた戦後補償の要求にも積極的に支援した。
キーワード:戦後日本、戦争責任、労働組合、公害、戦争補償、公的記憶
【Research project】Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Emergency (part of a collective larger project on “Taiwan 2050 zero carbons emissions,” Academia Sinica’s 2021 Sustainability Science Research Program)
【Time and schedule】3 years (2021-2023); full time position starting in January 2021
【Research goal】Cement, steel, plastics and transports account for more than 40% of total carbon emissions, making these four industries the main obstacles to tackle toward a low-carbon society. This cross-disciplinary collective research project focusing on the case of Taiwan (which ranks among the largest carbon emitters globally) aims to produce scientific breakthroughs and practical solutions for the drastic mitigation of carbon emissions. It is composed of three different sub-projects focusing on innovative politics (team 1), a reduction model (team 2), and a case study on the petrochemical industry (team 3). The mission for this postdoctoral position will be to work with the third team on the specific case of the petrochemical industry and in particular on the production and consumption of oil-based plastics.
【Research method】Data analysis, participant observation, interviews
【Salary】Approximately 60,000 New Taiwan Dollars (including labor & health insurance, retirement pension)
【Job location】Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan)
Send your CV, list of publications, motivation letter and two recommendation letters (all documents on PDF, please don’t use Word files) to:
Paul Jobin (Associate Research Fellow, PI for the subproject 3): jobin@sinica.edu.tw
【Mail title】Postdoc Application
【Deadline for application】2020.11.30
2011年3月の原発事故は、近現代の日本における多くの産業災害と同様に、数多くの訴訟を引き起こした。今日、フクシマ訴訟のために、日本全国で数千人の原告が結集している。東京電力の旧経営陣3人に対する刑事訴訟に加えて、東京電力及び国に対する民事集団訴訟は約30件に上る。これらの裁判は、この災害の原因、そして放射能という問題を考慮して、その将来的な影響についても本質的な問いを投げかけている。現在まで裁判官によって言い渡された賠償金額が僅かであったとしても、これらの判決は、原告及び現代日本、そして将来的に原子力災害で被害を受ける可能性のある諸外国にとっても、倫理的そして象徴的に重要である。
Like many industrial calamities that have marked the history of modern and contemporary Japan, the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has given rise to many lawsuits; currently, these involve several thousand plaintiffs from all over Japan. On top of a criminal case against three Tepco executives, there are more than 30 class actions pending against Tepco and the state. These lawsuits raise fundamental questions about the origin of the disaster as well as its future fallouts due to radiation exposure. While the compensation awarded by the judges so far remains low, the court decisions carry a moral and symbolic—even cathartic—importance for the plaintiffs, as well as for contemporary Japan as a whole and for other countries vulnerable to a nuclear disaster. I further argue that these mobilisations are drawn from a legacy of collective lawsuits that have marked Japan over the past 50 years.
摘要: 在職業病與公害的侵權訴訟中, 如果法官判定被告有過失, 會命令被告給付原告一定數額的賠償金, 而原告必須接受。然而, 在判決確定後, 原告過去所暴露的有毒物質, 依然可能會繼續對其造成損害。損害所及不僅對原告本人, 可能還包括其後代。從而, 究竟損害的總量有多少, 幾乎無法精確衡量。此外, 經歷親人過世與胎兒流產, 罹患癌症等重大疾病, 乃至面對化學暴露在人體內所留下的不定時炸彈所帶來的心理壓力, 這種經歷都難以換算為金額。因此, 一份判決或和解, 無可避免地, 會是某種妥協: 一邊是為受害者提供某種正義來結束糾紛的責任, 另一邊是毒物侵權糾紛案內在的高度不確定性。而在電子工業的案件中, 由於工人接觸的化學物質眾多, 健康危害的不確定性又更高。本文試圖提供一個衡量毒物暴露的金錢價值的分析框架, 以探討金錢賠償的必要性及其侷限性。本文的經驗材料來自十年來作者對台灣RCA工廠一千多名前員工所發起之團體訴訟的參與觀察, 以及在高等法院和最高法院作出判決後, 對原告進行的三十五個深入採訪。
甚至在香港相對自由的政權斷然結束之前,中國國家主席習近平就毫不掩飾解決「台灣問題」的野心。儘管中國軍隊崛起,但在某些條件下,台灣還是有能力抵禦中國軍隊。在中國侵略的情況下,大多數的台灣人都準備好迎接戰鬥。台灣人需要應對的能力取決於幾個變項,首先是美國的態度。鑑於台灣在印度-太平洋軸線上的中心位置,可待指望得到美國及其盟友的支持,包括日本在內。再者,由於台灣的半導體產業已經成為世界舞台上的一個不可被取代的要角,得以加強國際支持的力道。此外,正如該島在Covid-19大流行中,防疫成績相當亮眼,台灣知道如何預測來自大陸的打壓與軍事威脅。這種預測能力使該國能更有餘裕擴大經濟上的良好表現,這反過來又使台灣有財力加強其軍事能力,在必要時對中國發動不對稱的作戰。
Après la fin brutale de la parenthèse libérale à Hong Kong, le président chinois Xi Jinping ne fait pas mystère de son ambition d'en finir avec le « problème taïwanais ». Quelle que soit la teneur de cette menace et malgré la montée en gamme de l'armée chinoise, Taïwan est en mesure d'y résister, à certaines conditions. La majorité des Taïwanais sont, en effet, prêts à se battre en cas d'agression de la Chine. Quant aux capacités dont ils ont besoin pour y faire face, elles dépendent de plusieurs variables, à commencer par l'attitude des États-Unis. Compte tenu de sa position centrale sur l'axe indo-pacifique, Taïwan peut compter sur le soutien des Américains et de ses alliés, dont le Japon. Ce soutien est d'autant plus fort que l'industrie taïwanaise des semi-conducteurs s'est rendue incontournable sur la scène mondiale. Enfin, comme elle l'a montré depuis le début de la pandémie de Covid-19, Taïwan sait anticiper les mauvais coups venant du continent, ce qui lui a permis d'amplifier la bonne performance de son économie et lui donne les moyens financiers de renforcer ses capacités militaires pour, le cas échéant, livrer une guerre asymétrique à la Chine.
要旨:この論文は、川崎と水俣の事例を通じて、第二次世界大戦の歴史が戦後の労働災害や産業公害の争議にとどのように影響したかを分析する。戦争の忘却は一般的だが、1970代、水俣病闘争ではチッソ第一組合は戦前自分たちの植民地の経験や戦争責任など、日本の最も暗い歴史と向き合ったこともあった。そして、ベトナム戦争の反戦運動に参加した労働者は、1990代に入って、様々な差別と労災職業病で悩んで居る外国人労働者と出会いながら、韓国人等から請求してきた戦後補償の要求にも積極的に支援した。
キーワード:戦後日本、戦争責任、労働組合、公害、戦争補償、公的記憶
【Research project】Plastics and Petrochemical Politics in the Climate Emergency (part of a collective larger project on “Taiwan 2050 zero carbons emissions,” Academia Sinica’s 2021 Sustainability Science Research Program)
【Time and schedule】3 years (2021-2023); full time position starting in January 2021
【Research goal】Cement, steel, plastics and transports account for more than 40% of total carbon emissions, making these four industries the main obstacles to tackle toward a low-carbon society. This cross-disciplinary collective research project focusing on the case of Taiwan (which ranks among the largest carbon emitters globally) aims to produce scientific breakthroughs and practical solutions for the drastic mitigation of carbon emissions. It is composed of three different sub-projects focusing on innovative politics (team 1), a reduction model (team 2), and a case study on the petrochemical industry (team 3). The mission for this postdoctoral position will be to work with the third team on the specific case of the petrochemical industry and in particular on the production and consumption of oil-based plastics.
【Research method】Data analysis, participant observation, interviews
【Salary】Approximately 60,000 New Taiwan Dollars (including labor & health insurance, retirement pension)
【Job location】Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan)
Send your CV, list of publications, motivation letter and two recommendation letters (all documents on PDF, please don’t use Word files) to:
Paul Jobin (Associate Research Fellow, PI for the subproject 3): jobin@sinica.edu.tw
【Mail title】Postdoc Application
【Deadline for application】2020.11.30
Stakeholders, by Simona A. Grano. London: Routledge, 2015.
http://www.lindenwood.edu/jigs/docs/volume6Issue1/bookReviews/126-129.pdf
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (2014) 8:499–502
“This important book reflects the challenges and questions currently foremost in scholars’, activists’ and policy- makers’ minds—the Anthropocene, environmental justice, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and post-politics—all addressed through the lens of environmental movements in Asia.” (Jonathan Rigg, University of Bristol)
“This book shows convincingly that the concept of Anthropocene is as relevant in Asia as anywhere.” (Philip Hirsch, University of Sydney)
“How have authoritarianism, democratization and political change affected environmentalism in East and Southeast Asia? How have environmental mobilization and demands for environmental justice at the grassroots influenced politics there? These are among the vital questions answered by this insightful and well-crafted volume.” (Paul Harris, Education University of Hong Kong)
“Despite its claims to universality, the Anthropocene concept remains largely a Western phenomenon. Yet the importance of Asia for the Anthropocene can hardly be overstated. This book is crucial in correcting this view by putting environmental movements in Asia center stage.” (Eva Horn, University of Vienna)