The Left in China: A Conversation with Ralf Ruckus

[English] – On August 16, 2023, Made in China Journal published this conversation between Chris Connery and Ralf Ruckus on the latter's book The Left in China. A Political Cartography. The two talk about the strikes in the 1950s, social confrontations during the Cultural Revolution, the New Left and other leftwing groups and debates in China since, the necessity to define what is leftwing, and the problems of using the term "revolutionary". See "The Left in China: A Conversation with Ralf Ruckus" as a blog-text or as a PDF.

“We still have a long way to go”: Interview on Taiwan’s Migration Regime

[English] – On March 4. 2024, the Asian Labour Review published an interview that Samia Dinkelaker and Ralf Ruckus conducted with Chen Su-hsiang and Wu Jing-ru, both members of TIWA (Taiwan International Workers’ Association). Su-hsiang and Jing-ru trace how Taiwan’s labor migration policies have changed over the years and which role migrant workers’ demands as well as the support activities of TIWA and others have played in this development: “We still have a long way to go”: On Taiwan’s Migration Regime since the 1990s.

Der neue Präsident Taiwans will nichts ändern

[Deutsch] – Am 18. Januar 2024 erschien in der WOZ ein Artikel von Ralf Ruckus zu Hintergründen und Ergebnissen der Präsidentschafts- und Parlamentswahlen in Taiwan. Nach den Wahlen sind vom neuen Präsidenten Lai Ching-te kaum Veränderungen zu erwarten, weder in der Politik gegenüber der Volksrepublik China noch in der Sozialpolitik, welche für die Ausbeutung, den Rassismus und die prekäre soziale Situation vieler Menschen in Taiwan mitverantwortlich ist.

The Class Composition of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Taiwan

[English] – On November 30, 2023, Asian Labour Review published the article Sweatshops and Assembly Halls. The Class Composition of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Taiwan’s Manufacturing Industry by Samia Dinkelaker and Ralf Ruckus. The article sketches out the concept of class composition and applies it to Taiwan's migration regime and the everyday struggles of Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwanese factories and their forms of organizing outside their workplaces.

Southern Riot

[English] – On August 16, 2023, New Bloom Magazine published an article written by Ralf Ruckus on the punk band Southern Riot, the members' daily experiences as migrant workers, their music and their lyrics in which they attack the "system of slavery" migrant workers from Southeast Asia are subjected to by Taiwans racist migration regime: Southern Riot: Indonesian Migrant Workers Use Punk Music to Claim Improvements in Taiwan.