"will farmers be better off 30 years later?" 520 the 30th anniversary of the agricultural movement, whether the justice of agricultural transformation has been realized?

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With the long-term policy of raising farmers and workers in Taiwan, coupled with the pressure of opening up imports, farmers took to the streets on May 20, 1988, known as the "520 Peasant Movement." it was the largest peasant petition in Taiwan after the war, resulting in fierce bloody clashes between farmers and the police. The Taiwan Agricultural Rights Association and the Meinong Rural Field Society held a "Symposium on the 30th Anniversary of the 520 Peasants' Movement" on the 18th, which not only restored the false accusations of "pre-hiding stones and premeditated violence" at that time, but also looked forward to Taiwan's future agricultural development.

Looking back on the photos of farmers taking to the streets in those years, the forum said, "the police were very violent to the peasants, and their batons beat their hearts, necks and heads. This is how we farmers used to be treated." Song Chi-hsiung, convener of the Taiwan Agricultural Rights Association, said that at that time, nearly 100 people were prosecuted and divided into beating drums, throwing stones, and setting cars on fire. "even those who played drums were almost all sentenced to a year in prison," hoping to let history pass and start all over again. "Scholars, farmers and businessmen can be equal, peaceful and happy."

In the spring of 1988, the Lee Teng-hui government decided to expand the number and types of foreign agricultural products imported into Taiwan, causing farmers to question and panic, causing resentment for many years, and the largest-scale peasant struggle in Taiwan broke out on 20 May.

Former participants of the 520 Movement and Vice Chairman of the Council of Agriculture Chen Jizhong, legislator Cai Peihui and others participated in today's discussion (Photography / Liu Yixin)

Investigation report on May 2nd ○ incident written by Xu Muzhu and Huang Meiying

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