The recent Dutch elections of the second chamber have left many across Europe astounded. In an unexpected victory, a far-right party won the legislative elections of The Netherlands’ lower legislative house. Led by Geert Wilders, the Partij Voor Vrede (PVV), or Party for Freedom is the right-wing party that won the plurality of seats in the recent November election. Unfortunately, the results of this election reflect a growing rise in far-right sentiments winning in national elections across Europe. I went through the PVV’s election manifesto and picked out their most disturbing policy goals to spotlight the dangerous precedents that the PVV wants to set. Their most outlandish goals can be separated into two categories: those regarding immigration and those regarding climate change.
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By Daniela Ivančáková
Šibi Riby, whipping and ice-cold water. If you are not Slavic nor Christian, ‘Easter Monday’ probably doesn’t mean much, in fact, you might not even know a holiday like that exists. That is not the case for the women of Slovakia, a tiny country in the heart of Europe, who are haunted by the terrors of this day in their nightmares months in advance. by Justine Benais
In a world where technology substitutes genuine connections and the quest for love has become a simple game of sliding your finger on a screen, dating apps such as Tinder or Hinge have transformed the way individuals establish romantic connections. Behind this simplicity however, hides many complex mechanisms built to keep the users engaged and active. After all, what business would succeed in having their users no longer need them. Failure is their business model, and the apps that promise to cure loneliness cause you to be lonelier than ever. By Theofanie Feeling restless, despairing, tired, or stressed but still need to complete all your assignments and attend lectures? To cope with this situation faced by the majority of students, several universities including National Taiwan University have recently implemented a new policy focused on student mental health. Under this policy, students dealing with psychological distress or poor mental health can request a mental health leave without the need for prior notice or supporting documentation. Upon requesting mental health leave, the Student Counseling Center and Center for Student Well-being will promptly reach out to the student. They will arrange a consultation with an advisor to address the student’s psychological condition, aiming to provide support and enhance their mental well-being. Concerned that this mental health policy may potentially be exploited and misused by students to skip classes, National Taiwan University has set a limit of three days per semester for students to apply for mental health leave.
By Ryan
Even if you are not an avid listener of Lo-Fi Hip-Hop, you are likely to have come across an instance of it, or have at least heard of the name. Lo-Fi Hip-Hop surged in popularity around the late 2010s and has transcended its status as a mere genre and today constitutes a rich subculture. Despite its ubiquity, many listeners are likely unaware of the depth of Lo-Fi Hip-Hop culture beyond an intuitive understanding of its music being something relaxing that one can have in the background while studying, working or attending to mundane tasks. There are many things to go into regarding this prominent subculture, but in this article I would like to focus on an artist that is widely regarded as one of its founding fathers – Nujabes. Opinion piece by Ana Susin
For most of my life, my social circle consisted of white people. People from the West, people whose countries are known as “developed.” People, who often only had one type of contribution to conversations about politics and social justice: why should I care? That usually ends conversations very quickly, because alas, you cannot make people care about things they don’t care about. So, for most of my life, I actually didn’t have an answer for it. But maybe now I do. By Jonathan Flynn
Below is an image of Amaya, a captive orca at SeaWorld Florida. Other than the artificial surrounding Amaya is imprisoned by, do you notice anything unusual? Amaya’s Dorsal fin, her primary appendage for stabilization and sharp turning, has collapsed. Marine biologists believe this phenomenon is a result of the unhealthy conditions which captive orca are subjected to. Lack of space, poor diet and nutrition, stress and health issues, chemically treated water, gravity from spending too much time on the surface all contribute to dorsal collapse. Occurring in 90% of captive orcas and only 1% of orcas in the wild, dorsal fin collapse serves as a perfect visual metaphor for the larger ethical issue of subjecting such an intelligent creature to unnatural conditions and the profoundly negative impact of life in confinement. By Bernardo Z Rech
Argentina has recently elected a new president: Javier Milei. As the country has been undergoing a deep economic crisis caused by the Central Bank’s mismanagement, Milei came in as an outsider to take his country by the horns to put it back on an upward trajectory. However, Milei’s reason for winning seems to be part of a right-wing libertarian trend we have seen in many other countries such as Brazil, the US, and the UK, all of which have elected outsider candidates in an attempt to induce libertarian reforms to fix their deeply troubled economic systems. Argentina is no different. The country now has the fourth highest inflation rate in the world, and Milei portrays himself as the superhero (quite literally) ready to do away with all corruption and “leftist economic policy.” But who is Javier Milei, and what has made him so attractive to the Argentinian population? by Peng-Yu Chen
Many visitors to Taiwan encounter two challenges when going to the toilet. The first is that there are two kinds of toilets, squatting and sitting. Second, people in Taiwan normally do not flush toilet paper, and there are even signs to tell you not to do so. By Serena Bazzana
The quest for Palestinian freedom and autonomy is a story of ongoing oppression and repression. Despite facing brutal suppression, censorship, and bans, the Palestinian people consistently employed symbols of “hidden transcripts,” as defined by James Scott, to sustain their fight for freedom. This article explores some of such hidden transcripts, namely the watermelon, the key, the spoon, the Keffiyeh, and the olive trees. The list, however, is way longer and still expanding, including the Handala, the traditional cuisine, such as maqluba, falafel, and baba ganoush, the traditional music and dances, the Palestinian Poppy, lemons and oranges, the Dome of the Rock, the cactus, and so on. |
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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