5.12 (Sat) Balizhangjia Protect Our Homeland Action, light the lamps to illuminate the road home

General News Jan 1, 1970By Emily Carter 0 views

Experience country life at the Bali Zhang family home and spend Mother's Day with Mother Zhang

5.12 (Saturday) 3-9 pm

[Activities]

3-5 pm Kiln baking (roasted sweet potatoes), making torches
4-7 pm Barbecue, enjoy the rural scenery (+ see the broken remains of the surrounding homes)
6-7 pm Light the lamps to illuminate the road home
7-9 pm Campfire party, stargazing, listening to insects

[Notes] You can join the activities at any time; if it rains, it will be moved indoors for hot pot

[The Zhang family's current situation]

The community streetlights have been removed, and coming home at night is pitch black. Clearly the government's determination to drive people out is firm, and it does not look like it will sit down and talk with the Zhang family. As soon as everyone lets their guard down, the Zhang family will probably be demolished very soon…… Please keep supporting the Bali Zhang family, support housing and land justice, and free people from fear in their daily lives.

[We ask for your help]

1. Starting now, we need people to take turns staying at the Zhang family home to watch the situation at all times. Please help out~
2. The Zhang family may have its power cut off at any time. We are collecting flashlights that people no longer use. Thank you~

[Location] No. 118-6, Lane 356, Section 2, Zhongshan Road, Bali District, New Taipei City
Enter from the road next to the Bali District Office on Zhongshan Road. At the first fork, take the right-hand branch; at the second fork, take the left-hand branch. There is a small path into the bamboo grove on the right-hand side; go all the way to the end. There are markers on the ground along the way…..

[Bus] From Luzhou MRT Station, take 704 and get off at Bali District Office
From Guandu MRT Station, take Red 22 and Red 13 and get off at Bali District Office

[Contact phone] Zhang Xiaomao 0960-188208 (the Zhang family's daughter), 02-26102311

Bali Zhang family statement + quick guide

[Background of the incident]

To support the development and construction of "Taipei Port," the New Taipei City Government planned the "Taipei Port Special District Plan," carrying out urban renewal on about 1138 hectares of land in the Bali and Linkou areas beside the port, and expropriating more than 100 hectares of private land. In May 2011, Zhang Wanyi and Wang Ju in Bali, like more than 1200 other households, all received notices for a land expropriation briefing session, but the farming Zhang and Wang families insisted that they did not want to be expropriated, hoping to keep their original houses on the original land in order to protect their right to survive. Thus, on April 30, 2012, the New Taipei City Government issued a "forced demolition" document to the Zhang family, stating: "illegal structure…… demolition to be carried out starting May 7"; and because Wang Ju's family had just lost their centenarian mother, the city government extended the demolition deadline to May 24.

[Controversial points in the Zhang house case]

1. The New Taipei City Government gave the Zhang family only 6 days between the notification time for demolition (the document posted at the back door on May 1) and the demolition time (demolition starting May 7). Even if they wanted to move, there was not even enough time to find a place!

2. Since the construction license was already issued in year 88 of the Republic of China, and everything was applied for in accordance with the regulations, why was a use license never obtainable from year 90 onward? The government created endless obstacles and harassed the people, ultimately turning a legally applied-for building into an "illegal structure." Whose fault is that?

3. Now the government, using "forced demolition of an illegal structure" as its reason, has not only caused the Zhang family enormous property losses, but also, because the demolition time is uncertain, subjected the Zhang family to endless mental torment. Is this what a dignified nation should do? And where is the "freedom of the people from fear" guaranteed by the Constitution?

4. For the Zhang family's land as well as other land expropriated in the Taipei Port Special District, not only is the expropriation price too low, causing the people property losses, but the "public interest" reason held by the government is insufficient. To develop a "mosquito port and empty city" in order to benefit passing speculators, where is the public interest in that?

5. Even if Taipei Port could be developed and the special district town-building plan also came true, why can the rights and interests of the Bali people who have lived here for several hundred years be sacrificed? Where is the people's right to survival guaranteed by the Constitution? Is the meaning of the state to the people actually a duty of care, or exploitation in reality?

[The Zhang family's demands]

1. Withdraw the forced demolition notice, issue the building use license, and make the Zhang house a legal building.
2. Keep the original house on the original land to protect the Zhang family's right to survival.

The Bali Zhang and Wang families' action to guard their homes against forced relocation (Facebook fan page)

The Bali Zhang family home-guarding action; please keep paying attention! (Facebook event)

100.9.28 "Taipei Port Special District" landowners' petition to the New Taipei City Government (keep the original house on the original land + continue farming)

Bali Zhang family faces possible forced demolition; do not let the Wang family incident happen again (seeingimage 05.04)

The last night of the Bali Zhang family (seeingimage 05.06)

Taipei Port expropriation: anti-expropriation households accuse city government of planning forced demolition (PTS News 05.06)

Taipei Port demolition: two elderly people protect ancestral property (Lihpao 05.06)

Wang Ju's longan tree (PTS PNN 05.07)

The death of a fly (We Have Even Lost the Dusk 05.07)

Taipei Port expropriation case highlights the violence of urban planning (Too Lonely a Din 05.07)

The great dream of Taipei Port (seeingimage 05.04)

A floating life record of Bali (seeingimage 04.24)