Agricultural Transition Justice: Reflections on Farmers' Lives 30 Years After the 520 Farmers' Movement
Under Taiwan's long-standing policy of "agriculture nurturing industry," combined with the pressure of opening to imports, farmers took to the streets in protest on May 20, 1988, in what became known as the "520 Farmers' Movement" - the largest farmers' petition action in post-war Taiwan, resulting in violent bloody clashes between farmers and police. The Taiwan Farmers' Rights Association and the Meinong Rural Field Society held a "520 Farmers' Movement 30th Anniversary Commemorative Forum" on the 18th, not only restoring the truth behind the false accusations of "pre-hidden stones, premeditated violence" at the time, but also looking ahead to Taiwan's future agricultural development.
The forum reviewed photos from when farmers took to the streets in protest. "The police were extremely violent toward farmers, swinging batons directly at their hearts, necks, and heads - this is how they treated us farmers back then." Song Jixiong, convenor of the Taiwan Farmers' Rights Association, stated that nearly one hundred people were prosecuted at the time, categorized into drum-beating, stone-throwing, and vehicle-burning, "even those who just beat drums were almost all sentenced to one year in prison." He expressed hope that history could be left behind and a fresh start made, "so that scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants can stand on equal footing and live in peace and prosperity."
In the spring of 1988, the Lee Teng-hui government decided to expand the quantity and variety of foreign agricultural products opened for import into Taiwan, triggering farmers' doubts and panic, igniting years of accumulated grievances, and on May 20 erupting into the largest farmers' protest in post-war Taiwan.
