Editorial: the other, less well-known side of the Seine

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

      3058 Edition

      October 4~10, 2010

      Editorial

       

      Editorial: the other, less well-known side of the Seine



      Translated by Lydia Ma

       

      At the height of the Enlightenment during the 18th century, the 
left side of the Seine River was 

      often crowded with people who'd come to settle down lazily with 
their coffees and cigars. The 

      chatter of people reciting or writing poems could be heard 
along the shore. 



      Contrast this picture with the other side – the right side – of 
the Seine River and you’ll find a 

      place bustling with life and activity as Parisian laborers 
worked with all their might to make a 

      living and prop up the nation’s economy.



      History will remember the artists on the left shore of the 
Seine and forget those on the right 

      shore of the Seine. How unfortunate!



      In recent years, we’ve witnessed a lot of new infrastructure 
and new buildings appear in 

      across Taiwan’s landscape and our politicians have not been 
modest in claiming these as 

      their accomplishments during election campaigns.



      But just like those people on the right side of the Seine 
River, the foreign laborers who come 

      to Taiwan – the very people who built these high-rises with 
their own hands – are 

      underappreciated for their efforts.



      Not only do foreign laborers have to pay an exorbitant amount 
of money to their agents, which 

      can amount to 2 or 3 years worth of salaries, if they were to 
lose their jobs, they’d instantly run 

      into debt and become “fugitive foreign laborers”.



      The accidental death of 7 laborers on Highway 6 recently made 
headlines because 6 of these 

      workers were illegal Indonesian “fugitive laborers”. Though 
Premier Wu Den-yih ordered an 

      investigation because he felt it was a matter of public safety, 
it seemed at the end of the day 

      the blame was laid on the laborers themselves.



      And just like those people holding their coffees and cigars on 
the left shore of the Seine, we, 

      the Taiwanese audience who watched this incident unfold in 
front of our TV screens, forget all 

      about this tragedy as soon as the TV is turned off and the 
newspaper is thrown into the 

      recycling bin – as though what happened to these foreign 
laborers has nothing to do with us.



      Foreign laborers often pick up jobs that ordinary Taiwanese 
people find too dirty, dangerous, 

      and physically demanding because that’s their only means to 
make a living. Add together their 

      desperation and their willingness, and it’s not hard to see why 
they wind up as the most 

      powerless and abused people in our society.



      Ordinary Taiwanese laborers wouldn’t put up with such jobs and 
would be free to change jobs 

      if they deemed their current jobs as too dirty, dangerous, and 
demanding. But foreign laborers 

      just don’t have this luxury when their agents are counting 
every penny they must repay.



      So, to place the blame on foreign laborers for accepting jobs 
that are illegal or too dangerous 

      is not only unfair and demeaning, it’s also cruel and 
ungrateful of us. We must shed light on 

      whether there were things that were already inherently wrong at 
the construction site, such as 

      malpractice on the part of contractors, and how much our 
longstanding discrimination of 

      foreign laborers contributed to this tragedy.



      When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, God 
commanded them to observe 

      the Sabbath and explicitly added that Sabbath observance had to 
be extended to all 

      foreigners and slaves living amongst them. In Deuteronomy 
23:15-16, God also forbade the 

      Israelites from returning slaves who’d fled from their masters 
and warned them against 

      abusing their own slaves.



      As God’s representatives on this earth, Christians not only 
need to reach out to marginalized 

      people and relieve their plight, we must also step out of our 
stained-glass churches and stand 

      in the gap. Let us cross to the other side of the Seine River 
and share with these foreign 

      laborers God’s blessings in our lives.



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