Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Social Network Site Groups form to Defend Taiwan's Sovereignty

If you support Taiwan, it is a good first step to publicly speak out and not remain silent. One way many have done so is to join online groups on social network sites such as Facebook that let others know they support the truth about Taiwan's sovereignty and independence from China and from any other country in the world.

After that first step, take a few more if you really want to have an effect. You can use your groups to network and inform each other of important events, issues, votes, etc. And then the member need to actually act. That can range from writing letters to the editors of newspapers, writing letters to public officials, speaking out, and also speaking on the local level -- in schools, among colleagues at work, to neighbors. Groups could periodically post short informative flyers on important issues that each member could commit to printing 10, 50, or 100 of them and distributing the flyers in the mailboxes of their neighbors -- especially if the group members live in Taiwan. This would be a way to counteract the stranglehold on the media that the KMT government has.

Following is a sampling of some of the groups. Just think: with these thousands, just imagine what an impact they could have if they actually regularly took the next step of getting publicly involved with their voices, and their actions.

As people unite, not just with common cause but also with action by every single person, what may seem like small things could really become a powerful force for the good of Taiwan.


台灣建國解放軍 Taiwan is My Country only has 20 members so far.


Taiwan Go has 322 members. It is a student group to promote Taiwan joining the UN. "台灣要向前走 ~
走向聯合國 ~ 走向世界 ~ 雖然聯合國不是最正義的世界組織 ~ 但是加入聯合國是推向世界的第一步 ... Taiwan has to move forward, towards the United Nations, towards the rest of the world, even though the UN isn't everything, at least it is the first step..."


#@#%% IT!! My Nationality is NOT 中國(台灣)!!! has 52 members.





Face it Chinese people, Taiwan has been independent forever has 718 members. "In response to the creation of Face it Taiwan is part of China, Here comes the historical truth. Like it or not, Taiwan has been on its own forever. Ever since the aboriginal Taiwanese appeared on the island, its culture has evolved in its own fashion. Though most people in Taiwan have Chinese origins, that is very false to say Taiwanese= Chinese. Let me put it this way, are Germans = Austrians? and also if you look it like that, Swiss are Germans, Italians, and French... "


Taiwan Independence has 324 members. They state: "This group is for those who support the declaration and recognition of Taiwanese independence. Taiwan is already a de facto independent state with a free and consolidated democracy. This group calls for its formal declaration of independence."


Face It -- Taiwan is NOT part of China had 13,187 members as of 2009/1/1


Support the Independence of Taiwan (R.O.C.) has 2041 members. "Discussion is welcomed, communism is not."


Taiwan Guts United has 164 members. Their five principles:
五大行動綱領 Our Five Principles

青年公共參與
青年不是只會唱歌跳舞、不是搖旗吶喊的形象樣板,我們要展現青年的主體性,主動關心公共事務提出新時代的議題與價值,用豐富的想像力與積極的行動力解放政治,不斷提出改革方案,不斷創新未來的政治想像。

台灣主體意識
沒有了認同、記憶的重量,台灣將永遠是一葉浩海孤舟。經過千百年來台灣各族群祖先們篳路藍縷地經營,台灣終於成為一個繁榮民主自由的國家,這是我們必須共同守護的價值,是我們祖先的靈魂。我們反對任何矮化台灣的作為,我們要逆轉「愛台灣」被醜化的社會氣氛。我們堅持,只有台灣人民才能決定台灣國家的未來。

社會公平正義
環保、人權、轉型正義、勞工、弱勢等議題在近幾年被拼經濟的呼聲擠壓成邊緣價值。我們必須重新正視社會發展的目的不是盲目追求數字成長,而是整體社會生活品質的改善與素質的提升,唯有以人為本的發展才是真正的進步。

媒體公民改造
媒體亂象已經被大眾「不得已」的接受了,大家天天罵,卻又天天看。他們顛倒是非不問黑白,他們傲慢蠻橫,披著「言論自由」的外衣,卻給大眾「沒有自由」的言論。我們相信,只要人民團結就能介入改造跋扈的媒體!

文化紮根普及
文化生活的普及與紮根,才是所有文化產業發展的根,我們反對產業化的文化政策,在兼顧發展精緻文化藝術與素民文化生活的前提下,人民有權享有文化生活與表現文化的權利。

我們要以簡樸草根的運動,實踐「逆轉」台灣的精神。面對越惡質的力量,我們逆轉的力量就越堅強!

最後,我們要與所有的逆轉青年們再次用阿爸的話互相勉勵:

做人尚要緊就是GUTS,輸到脫褲、捏著心肝,嘛愛保護咱的信念!



Other groups:

Swedish Taiwan Independence Group has 87 members. "We want independence for Taiwan. We support Taiwans efforts to apply to the UN with the name Taiwan instead of the R.O.C. We agree with Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang's quote, 'model democracy of multi-party politics that needs more support from the international community'."

Dave's Independence of Taiwan has 41 members. "FOR THE SAKE OF DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM...INDEPENDENCE IS THE ONLY PATH!"

Another Taiwan Independence group but with only 7 members so far: "For those that are for Taiwan's self determination and know that Taiwan is an independent nation. China claims Taiwan but doesn't even have a single building on Taiwan and hypocritically says Taiwan has yet to "reunify". Taiwan is a modernized, westernized, democratic, and free nation. The future of Taiwan, belongs to no one but the Taiwanese!"

UN for Taiwan has 1702 members.

Recognize Taiwan has 1382 members. This group celebrates all the creativity and industry Taiwan has offered to the world and recognizes that a free and democratic Taiwan was essential for its development.

United Taiwanese Against Oppression has 77 members: "As a human beings, we demand no less than what has been afforded to six billion others -- that is to be treated equally and with respect both to ourselves and our country."

Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Picture Worth 1000 Words




What does this image mean to you?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Amnesty International Statement on upcoming December 7 student protests

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL • PUBLIC STATEMENT

AI Index No: ASA 38/001/2008
3 December 2008

Taiwan: Police should avoid using excessive force at upcoming protests

Amnesty International has urged Taiwan's police force to comply with international guidelines on the use of force and crowd control at the planned student protests on Sunday 7 December.

The organization also joins calls for the Control Yuan, the body mandated by the Taiwan Constitution with supervisory power over the Executive branch, to conduct an independent inquiry into alleged excessive police force during November's protests.

The Wild Strawberry Student Movement has staged sit-ins since 6 November to protest against what they consider the use of excessive force during the Taiwan visit of Chen Yunlin, chairman of the China-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait. Civil society groups in Taiwan are investigating multiple claims that individuals suffered head injuries and broken fingers at the hands of police during the protests.


According to police reports on 8 November, approximately 10,000 police officers had been deployed during Chen's visit; 149 police officers and 200-300 individuals were injured; 18 were arrested.

Taiwanese civil society groups claim that police have applied the Assembly and Parade Law arbitrarily to silence dissent. According to the students' spokesperson, they will not seek police approval, as required by the law, but will only "report" their plans to law enforcement authorities, in line with amendments advocated by the Movement.

The Movement is organizing the protest on Sunday 7 December to criticize the government's failure to amend the Assembly and Parade Law.

Amnesty International said Taiwan's Control Yuan should address the serious concerns raised by civil society in Taiwan and the government should cease the practice of using the Assembly and Parade Law to deny freedom of assembly and allow individuals to protest peacefully. Amnesty International also called on Taiwanese police and judicial authorities to ensure that they investigate any protesters accused of engaging in violence in a fair, transparent, and timely manner in compliance with international standards.

Background
On 3-7 November 2008, Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, led a 60-member delegation from the People's Republic of China to visit Taiwan and meet with President Ma Ying-jeou.


The police barred protesters displaying Taiwanese and Tibetan flags and anti-China slogans along the routes taken by the envoy and confiscated or damaged some of these items. The police also closed a shop near the hotel where Chen Yunlin had dinner with Kuomintang honorary chairman Lien Chan when the shop loudly broadcast music from an album titled 'Songs of Taiwan'.

There were additional reports of arbitrary detention and police brutality, some of which, according to the police, were in response to the violence of protesters.

Following the visit, hundreds of students have staged sit-ins across Taiwan protesting the police's handling of the protests and demanding amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law, which has been misused to prevent protests.

On 6 November the students started their sit-ins outside the offices of the Executive Yuan or (Executive branch), where they were eventually removed by police on the grounds of illegal assembly. They continued the sit-ins at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall and organized a daily demonstration calling for immediate amendments to the Assembly and Parade Law, apologies from the president and head of government and the resignations of the heads of the police and national security.

On 18 November Taipei police announced a list of 66 "troublemakers", who had allegedly thrown gas bombs and stones at the police and spat at the Taichung mayor. There were also reports that the police had pressured journalists and their supervisors to hand over video tapes to identify suspects who allegedly took part in the violence.

END/ Public Document

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK
www.amnesty.org

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Learning from the History of Other Nations -- Ireland

Ireland and Taiwan do indeed have many historical parallels.
See the article below. (Used with Permission) - DEMO!

===============================
[St. Patrick's Day and Taiwan
- by Joel H. Linton


St. Patrick's Day celebrates a modern nation that almost did not come to existence one hundred years ago. You see, Ireland had been absorbed by the British Empire for a long time. An alien language, English, had been forced on the inhabitants, and the Irish speakers had been ostracized as "country bumpkins" and penalized when they spoke their native mother tongue. In the British Empire's attempt to solidify its grip on the island nation of Ireland, they tried to remove any respect for the cultural and linguistic elements that made the Irish distinct from the English. Many will see the similarity to what the Japanese and KMT regimes tried to do in Taiwan beginning in 1895 through 1987.

By the late 1800's there was a question whether Ireland would forever be absorbed by the British empire and her native tongue would be silenced forever. It had already lost the majority of its population to emmigration. The economic depression that was partly due to the Empire's policies toward Ireland and partly due to the Irish potato famine caused huge numbers to flee to the United States and make a new life there.

What would bring Ireland back from the brink of oblivion?

"The most important move towards revitalizing nationalism [in Ireland] came, ironically, not through the groups formed for strictly political reasons. One evening in 1893, seven men met in a small room in Dublin. They were all [Irish] Gaelic scholars with mutual concern to preserve the language. To this end they decided to form a cultural society which was to be called the Gaelic League. The two leading lights of the society, Eoin MacNeill and Douglas Hyde, could not have forseen the enormous implications of the movement which, as well as preserving Ireland's cultural heritage, was destined to become the most important source of inspiration in the Irish fight for independence." (p. 124)

They had their own paper, the GAELIC JOURNAL, which carried stories in both English and modern Irish. One of its sections gave lessons in basic Irish. That might not seem to be much. But it steadily became popular to be able to speak Irish. The Gaelic League had branches also among the emmigrant populations in other countries, including the U.S. People began to unite around being "Irish".

"The Gaelic League was giving the country an identity, a difference which justified her becoming independent." (p. 124)

There was another group that had been established close to the same time. In 1884, some men founded the Gaelic Athletic Association, to protect and promote traditional Irish games which were in danger of being lost due to the introduction and promotion of English sports.

"So, by the end of the nineteenth century, there were two powerful groups, one intellectual, the other athletic, with a highly developed awareness of being Irish. Meanwhile, in the Parliament [of the British Empire] they were pursuing a policy of "Killing Home Rule by Kindness," by introducing liberal reforms in Ireland." (p. 126)

(Now does this not sound familiar to any of you who look at the later years of the KMT military dictatorship under Chiang Ching-Guo or the current attitude some of the time coming out of communist China?)

This included a land reform act in 1903 that caused tenant farmers to be able to purchase land on easy terms.

Although finally in around 1914, when Britain was getting into World War I, there was a "Home Rule Bill" going through Parliament, the Irish nationalists began to recruit and train an army secretly. They took over the General Post Office in Dublin and put up a banner proclaiming The Irish Republic with a new flag.

The push for independence did not result in a full-scale war for independence, but the presence of their own army committed to the Irish cause undoubtedly gave them the courage to declare independence.

Military strength may not lead to war, but to a prevention of war. The foreign army will decide not to invade. And the new nation will have the confidence of the people to break free, and take responsibility for itself and finally declare formal independence.

It is no surprise that those wanting to force unification with China would seek to and continually block the ability for Taiwan to build up its military strength.

Three things to put in place: Linguistic Respect. Cultural Respect. and Respect of the Ability of Self Defense. In this sad day and age, military strength is a necessary part of deterrence of aggressive neighbors. You must be ready for war to prevent war from even starting.

If Taiwan had these three, they would feel free to declare once and for all formal independence, and not fear that China would try to invade. Although Taiwan is independent now and has its own military, that military strength is steadily eroding.

Taiwan has the money. They could upgrade their military. But Taiwan does not yet have the will. That will comes from a cultural transformation to respect for being Taiwanese, whether descendents of the first inhabitants Austronesian peoples, Hoklo, Hakka, or a recent immigrant Mandarin speakers.

Let St. Patrick's Day be a reminder to all of us to get working. Any suggestions? Did any of you catch a vision?

Funny how the color of Ireland is the color of Taiwan independence.

Please forward this letter to anyone whom you think would benefit from it. Also, maybe next St. Patrick's Day, we can convince either the government of Taiwan or high profile organizations, or academic institutions like NTU, NTNU, and Academia Sinica to invite high profile scholars from Ireland to come speak on this historic time in Irish History, --- the topic "How Ireland was able to become Free and Independent from the British Empire" That's one idea we could implement. Do you have any others?

(written Saint Patrick's Day 2006)

..........................................................
NOTE: the quotes above are from Your Irish Ancestors by J. Anderson Black, © 1974 Paddington Press Ltd. New York
For further reading on language's impact on nations, see: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler
An interview, a review, the publisher]


=======================================


There are two movies that help explore the agony and disagreements that accompanied the fight for freedom in Ireland. Some wanted to be more conciliatory and gradual; some wanted a definite, clear and complete break.

Michael Collins (1996) 邁克爾Collins


The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) 震動大麥的風


=======================================

Links:

taiwanchurch.org/taibun
Siá Tâi-Oân ê Oē
Taiwanese Identity

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Learning from the Losses of Other Nations - Scotland

Joel Linton writes ....


[Scotland's famous poet Robert Burns penned a lament for the loss of nationhood of his native Scotland, "Farewell to All Our Scottish Fame." Notice verse 2: "What force or guile could not subdue - Thro' many warlike ages, Is wrought now by a coward few, For hireling traitor's wages. The English steel we could disdain, Secure in valour's station; But English gold has been our bane - Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!" Burns analysis: Military force did not cause Scotland's downfall, but rather some of Scotland own people did. Too many did not value their freedom and independence but only focused on increasing their individual wealth. The allure of economic ties and integration proved a potent bait.

Take heed Taiwan! Missiles and threats from China will never conquer you. But selfish interests of a few traitors in power and the people who vote them in and cannot see beyond individual greed might mean the loss of your nation. Your freedom is at stake. Money is never worth the loss. What could China give you that you would barter away your freedom? When once the deed is done, China would take your freedom and your money and leave you a lap dog whining for your meal.

Perhaps Taiwan's film directors, music artists, composers, writers and poets can pen preemptive works that will instill in the Taiwanese a cultural grass-roots understanding of looking beyond short-term greed to the enduring value of the freedom of conscience, of expression, of assembly, of movement, of life decision that is integrally tied to a free and independent nation of Taiwan.

Where are Taiwan's high school teachers and university professors who will give assignments to Taiwanese students to explores these values? May it never be that a poet will have occasion to pen that Taiwan is "bought and sold for Chinese gold!"]



Fareweel To A'Our Scottish Fame
by Robert Burns (1791)

(1)
Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory;
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name,
Sae famed in martial story!
Now Sark rins over Solway sands,
And Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England's province stands -
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

(2)
What force or guile could not subdue
Thro' many warlike ages,
Is wrought now by a coward few,
For hireling traitor's wages.
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane -
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

(3)
O, would or I had seen the day
That treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay
Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour,
I'll mak this declaration:
We're bought and sold for English gold -
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

Friday, November 21, 2008

The KMT Ma administration's new vote-buying scheme

In the nation of Taiwan, instead of giving a simple tax cut, the currently extremely unpopular Ma Ying-jeou administration is trying what in essence amounts to buying votes for the KMT for the next election. The KMT will hand out money to people in the form of "consumer coupons" -- citizens just have to go to the polling stations to pick them up. At the polling stations!

Herein you can see an example of social conditioning to make Taiwanese think: voting for Ma Ying-jeou's KMT party means you can get money later on from the polling place where you cast the ballot for them. Every high school student studies Pavlov's experiment: ring the bell while you give the dog food. The dog eventually associates food with the sound of the bell. Finally, when the bell rings the dog will salivate whether there is food there or not. Ma has applied Pavlov's experiment on a grand scale to a grand new way of generalized vote buying. It will also make people more susceptible to accepting fully-fledged candidate-targeted vote buying come election time.

The Ma government and KMT legislators ran campaigns in the past election cycle on how much the DPP had bungled the economy and how much supposedly the KMT had masterfully run it during its dictatorship era and also in the 1990s. However this latest vote-buying scheme in all but name shows that the Ma government has no clue how to manage or improve the economy. But they are slick at propaganda and so have figured out how to turn a weak spot into political benefit. The only skill the KMT seems to exhibit is how to grab power and try to hold onto it (oh yes, and also take money from Taiwanese citizens via government and somehow transfer the assets into KMT party coffers or even individual KMT party leaders pockets, but avoid any corruption charges in the process.)

Taiwanese need to realize that the money they might get is not the KMT's money but instead their own money -- it is money taken from the very Taiwanese people who now are receiving it in the form of "consumer coupons." It is like the magic trickster who asked for a NT$1000 bill, waves it around, folds it up, and pulls it out of the volunteer's ear and ends up giving it back to the volunteer who produced it for the magic demonstration in the first place. If the volunteer leaves the place dazzled and feeling that he has walked away with a prize of NT$1000, he has been truly bewitched. People who love Taiwan will need to put extra effort in convincing coworkers, neighbors, family and friends of the true nature of this "handout" and exposing these kinds of KMT lies. Otherwise democracy will further be eroded as the KMT uses their propaganda tricks to keep a hold on power -- and on your money.

For more reading on this type of manipulation, please see the Taiwan Democracy Movement article on Throwing Off the Slave Mentality

Friday, November 14, 2008

Presbyterian Church in Taiwan speak out about the gravity of the situation

Please get the word out internationally -- events are reminiscent of the Formosa Magazine Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 and following... during the authoritarian era...
--------------------------------------------------

台 灣 基 督長 老 教 會 總 會
台 灣 10647 台 北 市 羅 斯 福 路 三 段 269 巷 3 號
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN TAIWAN
3, Lane 269, Roosevelt Road Sec. 3, Taipei 10647 TAIWAN
General Secretary: Rev. Andrew T. C. Chang

11 November 2008


AN APPEAL BY PCT TO THE GLOBAL CHURCH FAMILY FOR PRAYERS CONCERNING THE ABUSE OF JUSTICE AND VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN TAIWAN

On behalf of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) and out of unyielding concern for the dignity and selfhood of the 23 million people of our nation, as well as for peace in the Asia region, we sincerely appeal to you our sisters and brothers in Christ to join us in expressing concern and offering prayers for Taiwan.

Ever since the Legislative Elections of January 2008 when the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang KMT) garnered the overwhelming majority of seats and later the KMT candidate, Ma Ying-Jeou, won the Presidential Election on 20 May 2008, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), along with many others in our land, have held deep concerns and reservations for the future of democracy and human rights in our country Taiwan.

Sadly, the performance of President Ma and his KMT administration the past six months has time and again underscored our fears. We in particular express our grave concern for recent events:

1) the detentions of both present and former government officials of the opposition party, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused of corruption. We understand one or two detainees have been charged but several accused are still held without being charged and incommunicado, this is a basic violation of due process of justice and rule of law. Furthermore, we are concerned the prosecutor’s office is seemingly leaking information to the press while the accused are unable to defend themselves. This “trial by press” also violates justice and the norm that any accused should be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Since only members of the DPP opposition party are targeted this action implies the KMT is “using” the justice system to retaliate the former government under Chen’s administration.

2) the visit to Taiwan (3-7 Nov 2008) of Mr. Chen Yun-Lin, Chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) from China; and the signing of the four cross-strait accords between the ARATS chairman Chen and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) represented by its Chairman, Chiang Pin-Kung. This action to develop direct aviation, shipping, market trade and economic relations with China accelerated fears that the methods used by the Ma Administration are costly in terms of the legal process, Taiwan’s dignity and sovereignty as well as being a real threat to democracy in Taiwan.

3) the violation of human rights, freedom of speech and expression, undergirded by the government’s action to deploy more than 10,000 police including riot police officers, to Taipei city to “guard” the visiting dignitary Chen and the sixty people who accompanied him. These measures to “guard and protect” the visiting envoy from China were excessive and disturbingly reminiscent of the dark years under Martial Law.

With this letter we add a brief overview of some of the events of last week that hopefully will help you further understand the reason for our concerns.

On behalf of the PCT and Taiwan, thank you for your support and we ask that you kindly share this prayer request with your church members.

Sincerely yours, in grace and peace



Rev. Chang Te-Chien (Andrew)
General Secretary


=================================
Taiwan 3-7 Nov 2008 during the visit of Mr. Chen Yun-Lin, Chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) from China and the signing of the four cross-strait accords between the ARATS chairman Chen and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) represented by its Chairman, Chiang Pin-Kung.

We cannot highlight fully the details here but draw your attention to some pointers that will hopefully, help clarify to you our deep concerns. Contrary to the claims of President Ma that he represents the views and interests of all the 23 million people of this country thousands of protestors gathered in Taipei daily to express their deep concern and opposition to the visit of ARATS, the legal process of signing the so called four cross-strait accords and the deployment of thousands of police.

Police prohibited protestors from waving or displaying the national flag and one CD shop was closed for playing Taiwanese music too loud in the vicinity of a hotel where Chen was dined. On the other hand, ironically those wielding the flag of communist China were not approached.

In a blatant attempt to avoid a scheduled protest by the DPP on Thursday 6 Nov. originally arranged to coincide with an afternoon meeting between President Ma and chairman Chen, the government at short notice brought the meeting forward to the morning and what was announced as 40 minutes audience was drastically reduced to 7 minutes before Chen and his entourage were whisked away to their next appointment. Such action did nothing but add fuel to fire.

The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) also released a statement accusing the government of violating press freedom as they sought to cover the visit of ARATS Chen and there were incidents of news reporters beaten by the police during angry clashes with protestors. Members of the public also believed there were undercover persons mingling among the protestors instigating disruptive behavior.

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) Church and Society Committee to protest the violation of human rights, to express our deep rooted concern for the safeguarding of Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy as well as upholding peace in our society, arranged a separate demonstration on Thursday (6 Nov) walking from Chinan Presybterian Church towards the Grand Hotel where Chen and the ARATS personnel were accommodated though they were not in. As was the practice all that week, inevitably, riot police barricading the road denied us access even to the vicinity of the hotel. PCT protestors simply sat down to sing and after a prayer for the police etc. we dispersed.

At this current time of writing, students in various locations in Taiwan are staging a sit in protest and have issued a written petition demanding (1) the President and Premier apologize for the use of excessive force by police, (2) that two senior police and security personnel step down and (3) that the government scrap the Parade and Assembly Law.

Prepared by The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Incremental Steps towards swamping Taiwan

As part of a Ma Ying-jeou administration implicit policy of incremental moves towards forcing Taiwan to be unified with China, the administration has begun to open up Taiwan's university system to students from China. Unfortunately, there is no way to control quality, to truly verify qualifications or degrees, to check for spies or other communist fifth column subversive PRC government agents, or any of many potential red flag issues.

Newcastle University in the UK recently had to expel 49 Chinese students who were discovered to have forged credentials and certificates.

Rather than rush to swamp Taiwan with Chinese ideologues, Taiwan's government should be careful to assess the societal and sovereignty impacts of these kinds of policies.

The Wild Strawberry Student Movement


An amazing nationwide movement of students in Taiwan began after the KMT government of President Ma Ying-jeou called in several thousand police to suppress freedom of speech, assembly and the press during the visit from China's envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林). Ma's government tried to suppress protests or even any patriotic flag display or playing Taiwan-centric music during the visit of the envoy from the Communist nation of China. In reaction to this grave threat to freedom, democracy and Taiwan's sovereignty students mobilized to form the Wild Strawberry Student Movement. Their blog is action1106.blogspot.com . Their English-language blog is taiwanstudentmovement2008.blogspot.com . Students are holding protests in the large cities of Taiwan including Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.



They are demanding:
1. That President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) offer a public apology
2. That National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞) and National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Tsao-ming (蔡朝明) step down for excessive force by police last week
3. That the government amend the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) to lift the requirement forcing rally organizers to seek government approval before staging a demonstration.


As we find more information, we'll add it to this post.

Taipei Times 2008/11/12
http://vimeo.com/2205674



Other Blogs, Articles, and News Sources:

* David on Formosa
* Far-Eastern Sweet Potato

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Taiwan's KMT government taking away democratic freedoms in kowtow to Beijing

On the international wire, you only hear of the "historic" trade agreements signed.

That is just a show being put on by the KMT and the CCP.

The real story:

In a move not seen since the authoritarian dictatorship era in Taiwan, the KMT party which currently has the legislature and executive branches of government has blocked freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of the press -- during the visit of China's envoy and head of ARATS, Chen Yunlin.

Several thousand policemen, people's flags were confiscated, press were barred from the hotel meetings, private stores off of public streets were forcibly closed (e.g. Sunrise Record Store was targeted by police for playing a Taiwanese song 戀戀北迴線)


Jerome Keating wrote an excellent analysis and insider look at the goings-on at the Grand Hotel where Chen Yunlin stayed.

...

Meanwhile, the KMT has been stepping up its arrest and detention of opposition leaders -- see the following article

...

林奐均 Lin Huan-chun's open letter to supporters of the then presidential candidate Ma in March before the election of Ma Ying-jeou now seems quite prescient: pointing to evidence over the past eight years, it warned about how the KMT had not really changed from its authoritarian past. The evidence gets clearer with each succeeding month of Ma's administration.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Standing Up for Taiwan's Sovereignty & Calling China to Account

There is an excellent blog by an Eric from Tainan called the Taiwan Dream Foundation. Eric wrote a piece on the China melamine-in-milk scandal and the KMT's response. DEMO! heard that Eric was one of the ones to confront the ARATS deputy from China 張銘清 this week [video]. Zhang has in the past made many disparaging and inflamatory remarks towards Taiwan. To give one of many examples, the Taipei Times reported that Zhang stated in 2004, “We will smash the separatist schemes of the Taiwanese independence movement at all costs.” Despite commonly exhibiting this kind of rhetoric, Zhang was invited here for a visit by the Ma administration.

Zhang's carefully scripted visit did not go as the Leninist KMT of Taiwan and the Leninist CCP of China had planned. Taiwanese came to confront Zhang at the Confucian Temple in order to call China to account for its international oppression of its peaceful neighbor. Taiwanese were unwilling to let this particular Chinese government official's insults go uncontested, nor were they willing to see Ma's stealth annexation agenda succeed. So during Zhang's truncated three-day visit, Taiwanese introduce him to real freedom of speech in the real, democratic nation of Taiwan. Zhang shortened his trip claiming health reasons, but perhaps he did not like losing face; maybe in his authoritarian country, he is unaccustomed to the freedoms that Taiwan's citizens enjoy; maybe he is used to crowds being "controlled" like his PRC government did in Tiannanmen Square in 1989 and at the Olympics this year.

At the Confucian Temple in Tainan City, Tainan City Councilor Wang Ding-yu (王定宇), Kaohsiung City Councilor Hsiao Yung-ta (蕭永達), and others confronted him. They made clear statements in front of the Taiwan news media and also this Chinese government official who had come to visit Taiwan that Taiwan is a sovereign nation and that Taiwan and China are different countries. We need to support these courageous citizens of the nation of Taiwan.

Tainan's Confucian Temple, incidentally, is a place every foreigner should visit. One could wish this foreigner, Mr. Zhang from China, had looked at the historical artifacts there more closely and clearmindedly instead of with the eyes of China's propaganda. You can see clearly on the three-hundred-year-old stone tablets that though many of Taiwan's people immigrated from China, Taiwan was never part of China. West Taiwan was part of the non-Chinese Manchu Empire from the late 1600's to 1895.

That the Manchu Empire was not Chinese is evident on the tablets that are engraved in two languages: Manchu (with an entirely different script), and Chinese characters for the Han subjects to read. Some tablets were only engraved in the Manchu language (in Taiwan!). Chinese regimes cannot bear the thought of having been conquered so when in history they were conquered and annexed by large foreign empires such as the Mongols or the Manchus, China will, in a propaganda process worthy of the greatest Taoist alchemists, magically turn these foreign empires into "Chinese" dynasties -- in this case the "Yuan" and the "Qing" -- so as not to lose face.

To maintain the fiction for the sake of their ethnic nationalistic pride, Chinese regimes then try to claim any territory once governed by those foreign empires as part of the "Chinese" motherland. Mongolia, Tibet, and Central Asia countries fall into its "borders" to be reclaimed. Taiwan is another such location. No matter what the history is, or the fact that the Manchu empire ceded Taiwan in perpetuity to Japan in 1895 by international treaty, China will still claim it as an "inseparable part of the motherland that has been part of China since ancient times."

Repeat lies long enough and with enough backing and money and people may even begin to believe them. But you cannot so easily erase what is literally carved in stone at the Confucian Temple and also at the Taiwanese pirate king Koxinga's old Anping Castle in Tainan City. This castle, incidentally, was originally a Dutch fort, because the Dutch were in Taiwan in the 1600's and they were the ones who originally encouraged Chinese immigrants to cross the Strait and begin rice-farming in the Dutch colonial lands of west Taiwan. This is because the Austronesian culture and economy of Taiwan's inhabitants at the time were not as amenable to taxation. Before the Dutch came, Taiwan had been for thousands of years the homeland of the Austronesian peoples, the land Maori in New Zealand to the far south and Hawaiins to the north called "Hawaiiki". [ref: Science Daily, Taipei Times]

Please join with blogs like the Taiwan Democracy Movement and the Taiwan Dream Foundation in ensuring that the truth will never be buried.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Chinese Successor Government Owes Debt from its Predecessor

China cannot have it both ways. It stakes a claim on Taiwan based on the PRC being a successor government to former Chinese regimes. Whether or not that claim to being a successor government actually gives legitimacy to its claim on Taiwan is a separate question. But although the PRC claims to be a successor government of China, it refuses to pay back the international debt the former regime incurred. Here is a recent report about this issue.

The actual truth of history is that no Chinese regime has ever governed Taiwan. The last Chinese regime was the Ming Empire. It was conquered by a non-Chinese Manchu Empire that like the Mongols before ruled a vast territory encompassing many cultures including China. The Manchu Empire were the ones to establish a marginal rule over the west coast of Taiwan. But they gave up all right and claim to Taiwan in perpetuity to Japan in 1895 by an international treaty. Japan was the nation to finally conquer and unify the entire island. Japan then gave up its claim to Taiwan in the Treaty of San Francisco after World War II. But it did not designate a successor. By all international laws and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese people and is a free and independent nation.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

No privacy or freedom of speech in China

China is tracking, blocking, and recording text messages of its citizens: is this what you want to happen to Taiwan? The Ma administration and the KMT Legislative majority must be opposed by Taiwanese if they wish to keep their freedom. Whatever their intent, the KMT in effect is rushing, pushing Taiwan headlong into annexation by China.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Neo-imperialism: China, Russia, and their imitators

In the 20th Century, European countries gave up their imperialism and colonialism around the world. They set colonized peoples free and welcomed them as equal nations. To many of these former colonial powers, their past actions have become unthinkable in the present world. But countries like China and Russia seem to be embracing a neo-imperialism in the 21st Century. They do not think like free democratic nations. Their priorities are different: annexation or dominance and exploitation. Free nations around the world must realize this in dealing with these neo-imperialist countries and not operate under the assumptions that they will have the same standards of civilization and behavior.

Here is more evidence of the neo-imperialism of China: in Africa. Every African nation that gives up its ties to Taiwan in order to embrace China may get more than they bargained for. It would be interesting to see how fast Malawi goes down this same road since it derecognized Taiwan in order to get "benefits" from China in January of 2008.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

More Money does not Change Dictatorships

Here is an article by Thaddeus McCotter and John J. Tkacik called The China Delusion. It helpfully exposes the fact that as the authoritarian regime in China has grown in economic power from freeing up state control over commerce, it has cracked down even more on any other type of freedom. Their assessment: "By every objective standard, China’s freedoms of expression, press, assembly, religion, labor organization, were greater in April 1989 and have declined precipitously since." But so many leaders in politics and industry around the world keep trying to say that with economic growth will certainly come human rights and freedom. This same fallacy served to sooth the consciences of IOC members awarding the Olympics to Beijing. But the Olympics have only served to give the regime legitimacy and spur the regime to further restrictions of freedom.

------------------
Following is a letter Joel Linton wrote to the National Review with a similar analysis.
------------------

(RE: Illiberal Education - August 8, 2008)

Dear NR,

Many people speak hopefully that the Chinese government is no longer "narrowly ideological" based on its observable turn away from communism to capitalism. They think they see fundamental change, but the Chinese government has barely changed at all.

One must look back beyond 20th Century communism: China may be "Communist in name only" but it is imperialist in all but name. The party regime has simply taken the position of the single emperor; the basic structure and expectation of rule from over 2000 years of Chinese history remains below the surface. One merely need look at some of the movies coming out of modern "capitalist" China to feel its pulse. In the movie, "Hero," the hero (played by Jet Li) lets himself be killed rather than kill the emperor because he comes to realize the emperor's right to rule "all under heaven."

From this mad "center of the world" kingdom (中國) perspective, it is only right and fitting that China take the world stage as the great empire which must either annex other surrounding barbarian nations, or at least exact tribute from them. Chinese imperialism that faced crises of the Opium Wars and European Colonialism adapted to the modern world via a syncretistic embrace of Leninism, thereby looking after its own survival and national greatness. Only to the world's peril do foreign nations wistfully project their own way of reasoning onto the Chinese actions. Look how many treated Hitler during his "peaceful rise." The world must take care lest Beijing 2008 be but a reprise of Berlin 1936.

- Joel Linton
Taipei, Taiwan

Monday, July 14, 2008

What it might look like for China to annex Taiwan

Here is a good article by Li Thian-Hok 李天福 about what very likely will happen to Taiwan if it is annexed by China. Forewarned is forearmed.  It is time to act now before it is too late. We must work to prevent Taiwan from having to face such a terrible and unjust situation.

One key point made in the article worth repeating is that once China has annexed Taiwan, it will no longer feel the need to treat Macao and Hong Kong with any kind of leeway.  Even their freedoms that they still have will be taken away. To think about corrupt government officials of China's dictatorship getting their hands on what used to be classified as private property in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan really puts a perspective on the freedom that is at stake.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Brainwashed by Dictatorships

Here's an article about how even advanced degree students coming out of China and into the free world are still slaves of the system that brainwashed them.  So many cannot think rationally or analytically about their own country's atrocities.  This article also helps us understand why so many people in Taiwan would continue to support the KMT party despite all their past abuse of power.  

When the United States helped Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain came down, they spent a lot of time helping them transform their thinking.  But because of their cozy relationship in the past with Chiang Kai-shek, and the propaganda that even penetrated American thinking, the U.S. did not treat the Taiwanese the same way, as people under a former authoritarian regime. They did not diligently lead in programs to help change the authoritarian culture into a democratic one.  Taiwan's democracy activists were left on their own with little resources or moral support from abroad.  And so many, if not the majority of Taiwanese did not make the transition to free thinking people taking responsibility for their own lives.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Connection between Dictatorship, Corruption, and Humanitarian Disasters

Here is an article about how the corruption in China led to an increased death toll in the recent earthquake in Sichuan Province.

It seems an axiom of human experience: Whenever there is dictatorship and lack of freedom, there will be corruption. Whenever there is corruption, there will be an intensifying of human suffering.

Taiwan needs to hold on to its independence and democracy as much as the people of China need to be freed from the oppressive rule of the Communist Party regime.

Throwing off the slave mentality

The Chinese Communist Party's basic argument to the people of the nation of China is -- give us power and we will make sure you can regain face in the international community.  We are guardians of the Chinese people's national feelings!

The Chinese Nationalist Party's basic argument to the people of the nation of Taiwan is -- give us power and we will make sure to take care of you.  The past eight years of the other Democratic Progressive Party have been too insecure.

Both of these fundamentally are the same perspective of an emperor with his slave subjects.  Only, in its modern form, the position of emperor is held by party elites instead of a single man.  You will notice the party elites acting like dynasties.  They assume to themselves privilege and pomp.  They get fawning media to portray their glories.  And the children run for office as if being the son of a rich elite party member somehow qualifies you.  Witness the prominence in the campaign of Lien Sheng-wen, the son of former KMT chairman and presidential candidate Lien Chan.  He joins scions including the current mayor of Taipei, Hau Long-bing, son of a prominent KMT general from the dictatorship era.

Taiwanese -- whether Hoklo, Hakka, Austronesian or recent immigrant Chinese -- should not embrace this kind of slavery. (Neither should Chinese in China).  

In truth, freedom with more insecurity is better than slavery where you know exactly how much food someone else will give you each day.  

The Israelites at one time in their history were slaves to the Egyptian empire as much as Africans had been enslaved in the Americas.  When God's prophet Moses led them to freedom out of Egypt, they wandered many years in the deserts of Arabia before finally finding a homeland and place to settle in Canaan.  During those years of uncertainty, many of the Israelites expressed a longing to go back into slavery in Egypt.  "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost --  also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic." (Numbers 11:5) They forgot the horror of the oppression where they were made to work for no pay for long hours, arbitrary beatings and imprisonments and executions.  They forgot they were subject to forced infanticide (not unlike the one-child policy and forced abortion in China). 

This longing to cast off the responsibility of a freed man and run back to the master is the slave mentality of a people that have been under oppression for hundreds of years.

While Taiwanese have been freed, have their own sovereignty and are now under full democracy, many Taiwanese still are not freed in their hearts and minds from the slave mentality.  In their thinking they are still enslaved by their past, having been under the absolute rule of the Japanese empire and then the usurped rule of the Chinese Nationalist Party dictatorship for a total of almost 100 years. This came after being (periodically) under the thumb of the absolute rule of the Manchu empire for 200 years.  

In the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, many prisoners had somehow become so used to the bars and the ruthless regimen of a prison that when they were release finally after years, they could not face the seeming insecurity of freedom.  They committed suicide but a few days after leaving the prison walls.  They had forgotten the evil of being subject to abuse of power by the warden and the guards of Shawshank prison, and they forgot the evil perpetrated by their fellow inmates of rape and forced sodomy.  The main character in the movie was the only one who throughout kept his mind and heart free on the inside and so one day embraced a chance to escape to freedom.  Many years later, when his friend in the prison was let go, that friend almost committed suicide, but instead because of the main character's example, he embraced the responsibility of freedom and chose to live as a free man.

The Taiwanese people need to work through this issue in their hearts.  They are still being subject to the slave-mentality brainwashing of the education system's curriculum that portrays a prestige culture of imperial China.  Feeling like second-class citizens, many try to become more Chinese than the Chinese and teach not a word of their own cultures to their children.  They are still being subject to an alien prestige language of Mandarin, while their own languages of Hakka and Taiwanese and the Austronesian languages are far more ancient and culturally rich that the modern simplified muddied language of the Mandarin of Beijing.

Their souls need to be strengthened by the voices of freedom and truth such as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who wrote about the struggle for freedom of blacks in the 20th Century, "I don't think it is a good idea to make poor blacks, or anyone else, more dependent on government.  That would amount to a new kind of enslavement, one which ultimately relied on the generosity -- and the ever-changing self-interests -- of politicians and activists.  It seemed to me that the dependency fostered might ultimately prove as diabolical as segregation, permanently condemning poor people to the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder by cannibalizing the values without which they had no long-term hope in improving their lot." (My Grandfather's Son - pp. 56-57)

Is that dependency not what the Chinese Communist Party in China and the Chinese Nationalist Party in Taiwan are trying to create with citizens of the respective nations of China and Taiwan?

Saturday, March 22, 2008

What to do when you feel injustice is winning.

Read Psalm 73.

The world is no stranger to the experience of injustice.

We keep working and doing what is right, but leave vengeance to the Ultimate Judge.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

給支持馬英九的朋友們﹍



給支持馬英九的朋友們﹍

28年前的世界人權日當天,台灣發生了震驚全世界的「美麗島事件」,我家也因此24小時都在警方的監視之下。在228那天,國民黨派了位兇手,奪走了我親愛的阿嬤和兩位雙胞胎妹妹的生命。這麼多年來,我還是多麼的想念她們。

看到無數的人,都用跑的去近靠有錢有力的國民黨。我實在是不清楚,為什麼有這麼多人會支持這麼邪惡的國民黨。難道他們真的不知道國民黨是如何造成無數台灣人民的悲劇嗎?

今天的國民黨跟28年前的國民黨有不一樣嗎?

今日的國民黨利用媒體和廣告,說服台灣人民要自願放棄公投的權利,自願放棄台灣的國際地位。更奇怪的是,台灣人民不只放棄自己應有的權利,還學媒體批評公投和加入聯合國的作為,說這都是「無聊,跟我的日常生活沒關」而繼續的批評經濟。這世界歷史上不知有多少人犧牲了自己的生命為同胞爭取公投的權利。台灣的人口雖然有瑞士的三倍,可是在國際上沒有聲音,其實這都會影響我們的日常生活,這都會影響經濟的。其他的國家都把這幾項權利當作寶,而只有國民黨沒有。

國民黨並不愛台灣人。國民黨並不疼惜這塊土地。

還記得「真善美」這電影嗎?。它是一部關於崔普(Von Trapp)家庭真實故事的電影。崔普(Von Trapp)艦長是一位非常有權勢,非常有錢的海軍將領。只要他願意變節投靠納粹,他將可以繼續保有他的財富與權勢。但是他卻堅持自由和正義的理念,拋棄了既有的權勢與財富,離開他的故鄉Austria,逃亡到美國去。他寧肯失去他所有的地位和財富,就是不肯變成邪惡納粹的一份子。而因此,崔普(Von Trapp)艦長成為了一位真正的英雄。

真期盼台灣有多多的人能成為這樣子的英雄。

以下是我表哥寫給我雙胞胎妹妹的信。我表哥的回憶,讓我流淚不停。我表哥的回憶,也大大的安慰我,讓我知道,還有剩下一些人,沒有忘記親愛的阿嬤,亮均、亭均。

林奐均

[English translation with a few additional comments:]

Dear Ma Supporters,

28 years ago, when Taiwan was still under martial law, my father Lin I-Hsiung was arrested for alleged involvement in the Kaohsiung Incident. With my father's arrest, my house was placed under 24 hours police surveillance. It was under such police watch, on the significant date of February 28, that the Chinese Nationalist Party KuoMingTang (KMT) sent an assassin to my home. In an attempt to annihilate my father's family, my paternal grandmother and my two sisters who were twins were cruelly murdered. I was sent to the hospital with six stab wounds. And by the grace of God, I survived.

Though it has already been 28 years, I still deeply miss my grandmother and sisters.

Everywhere I look, countless Taiwanese are trying to associate themselves with the KMT. It is baffling to me why so many still support the KMT though they are responsible for so many lost lives and tragedies in Taiwan.

The main question is this:

Is the KMT of today any different from the KMT of 28 years ago who murdered my family members?

1. I was the sole surviving eyewitness of the murders that took place in my home. I alone saw the assassin. Yet in an effort to divert attention away from the KMT, the KMT controlled media of that time began to circulate a description of a 'man with a bushy beard.' Though I never once mentioned the assassin as having any beard, every media reporting repeated over and over again this image of a heavily bearded man. Eventually, a bearded foreigner was exiled from Taiwan. The assassin in my home did not have a beard and was not a foreigner.

Fast forward to the year 2003. Just four years ago, 24 years since the murders of my family members, I accepted an interview with TVBS Magazine. I appeared on the cover of the magazine and was their main story for that issue. In large captions, the headline of the article stated: Judy Lin says, " I have forgiven the bearded murderer." Though I never once used the word 'bearded', 24 years later, some one from the KMT still wants to make sure that the murderer is not associated with the KMT.

Several months after that interview, the reporter who penned the article saw me on the street and came running up to me. She wished to ask for my forgiveness. She said it was the decision of her superiors to put words in my mouth, but she still felt responsible. All I could do was smile, expressed my forgiveness, and pray to God for ultimate justice.

2. In the last 28 years, the KMT could no longer resort to such scare tactics as reigned under the era of White Terror. They have had to resort to other means. Instead of oppressing human rights, the KMT has used their unlimited wealth to buy media and advertisements to persuade the common Taiwanese to give up their rights. Just a few months ago, the KMT used media and countless ads to confuse and encourage the people of Taiwan to NOT vote in the referendum. Amazingly, they told the people that referendums were a ploy of the DPP to create chaos in the election process. The pan-KMT media told the people that the referendums have nothing to do with our daily lives and we should regard them as useless trash. And many people believed the KMT propaganda and gave up their right to referendum.

If the KMT loved the Taiwanese people, they would encourage the people to hold on to their democratic rights of referendum, and not urge them to give them up.

3. In the last 28 years, Taiwan has had no voice on the international stage. Instead of striving to preserve the Taiwanese identity and striving to win Taiwan's seat in the UN, the KMT has continued to tell the Taiwanese that joining the UN is a worthless aspiration. Even in light of the Tibetan crisis, the KMT still refuses to protect Taiwan, yet continually invites closer relations with China. Although China continually lays claim to Taiwan and continues to threaten violence on Taiwan, the KMT still leads Taiwan closer to the menace of China.

If the KMT loved Taiwan, they would protect Taiwan from the sure and constant oppression of China.

I do not personally hold any hatred towards the KMT. And if the KMT had indeed changed to be loyal towards the people of Taiwan, then there are many of us who would be willing to let bygones be bygones. However, we have seen over and over that the KMT has not changed in the last 28 years. They continue to lie to the people of Taiwan to give up their human rights, to give up their international status. Over and over again, we see that the KMT's loyalty lies with oppressive China, and not with Taiwan.

All the money in the world cannot buy freedom or justice.

When I think of how wealthy and powerful the KMT still is, I think of Captain Von Trapp whose real life story the movie "The Sound of Music" is based on. Being a navy officer, Captain Von Trapp had status and wealth. Yet instead of changing allegiance to the Nazis, he forfeited all his wealth and status and fled penniless to America, all because he would not associate himself with the evil Nazis. Captain Von Trapp is a real hero in my eyes.

Wishing for more heroes in Taiwan,

Judy Lin Linton

(Lin Huan-Chun)


__________________
給離開台灣 28年的 228 雙胞胎姊妹
(林奐均的表哥所寫的信)

亮均、亭均:

時間過得真快!轉眼之間已經過了 28 年了,這28年來你們雙胞胎姊妹在天上的國度是否安好?

讓時間回溯到 1980年的2月27日,還記得這一天晚上,你們雙胞胎姊妹到我們家玩,已經記不得是誰的提議了,居然玩起了扮演「醫生與病人」的遊戲。依稀還記得姊姊亮均扮演護士的角色,妹妹亭均扮演被壞人追殺的病人,我扮演醫生。當亭均被壞人追殺之後,送到醫院來急救,「護士」亮均還很疼惜的說:「乖不痛,貼一下 OK 繃就好了」… 。真不知道這是「巧合」還是「預兆」,想不到這一場「生死遊戲」居然在現實的生活當中實際上演了。

那一年國中二年級的我,在隔天學校上完課之後,一如往常的匆匆的吃完晚餐就趕著去補習了,當下並未察覺家中有任何不尋常的氣氛。當我拖著一身的疲憊回到家中的時候,突然獲知這突如其來的噩耗,真的把我嚇壞了!「這…,怎麼可能?」,明明昨天還到家裡來一起玩遊戲的,怎麼 ….,該不會是作夢吧!但是此時看到所有的電視新聞都在報導這一則震驚當時整個台灣社會的「滅門血案」,我不得不面對現實,這一夜我真的是徹夜難眠 …。原本你們的大舅媽要留你們姊妹兩在家裡過夜的,但是因為隔天還必須到幼稚園上課,所以最後還是由阿媽親自來將你們姊妹兩帶回,但是卻是萬萬想不到這是最後一次見到阿媽以及你們姊妹兩個最後的身影了….。如果當時有把你們姊妹兩留下來過夜或許就可以逃過一劫了…,但是再多的如果卻也挽回不了你們的生命。

隔天一到學校,所有的人都在談論這一個震驚整個當時台灣社會的事件,這其中有很多以訛傳訛或是惡意謾罵批評的言論,雖然我心裡明白,但是卻也不方便辯白或是澄清些什麼,只能靜靜的聽,心理默默的流淚。

接下來的幾天,整個台灣籠罩在「陰謀論」的不安與恐懼當中,每一天聽到不同的市集耳語與跨大不實的媒體報導,心裡實在很難過。在這個「白色恐怖」時代,人人對於美麗島事件的「惡徒」避之唯恐不及了,一個國中生那有能力替自己的親人做辯白呢?

還記得小時候,每一回到你們家去作客時,慈祥親切的阿媽都會煮他拿手的瓜子肉湯(外面一圈黃瓜,裡面包碎肉)給我們吃。你們家三姊妹還會一起彈琴、唱歌、跳舞 …,如今這一些都只能成為兒時的記憶了 …。每一年的 228 這一天,我都會去參加在義光教會的追思禮拜,望著教會內那架泛黃的鋼琴,聽著你們小時候最愛唱的「我的邦妮」,兒時的記憶一幕又一幕的呈現在眼前,此時往往會不由自主的潸然淚下。

28 年過去了,算算日子今年也應該有35歲了吧!哇!35歲?對於我們大家來說也只能停留在你們孩童時候的印象。如果你們也可以平安順利長大的話,現在應該也會跟你們姊姊奐均一樣的成熟嫵媚,或許也早就為人母了吧!不知道你們在天國上面是否還是一樣的彼此相親相愛呢?還記得小時候你們雙胞胎姊妹,只要其中一個被人欺負,另外一個絕對會挺身而出維護彼此的權益,令我印象非常深刻。

雖然,來不及看到你們長大的模樣,希望你們還是能夠保有孩童時代的天真無邪!無憂無慮的在天國生活,我們會永遠的祝福你們!

泊汾哥 於 2008/02/28

Saturday, March 8, 2008

碧玉Bjork的「宣布獨立Declare independence」歌詞如下:

Taiwan: you need to be proud of your country.

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碧玉Bjork的「宣布獨立Declare independence」歌詞如下:

Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!
Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!
(Justice)(正義)

Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!
Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!
(Justice)(正義)

Start your own currency!開始自己的貨幣!
Make your own stamp 做出自己的郵票
Protect your language 保護你的語言

Declare independence 宣布獨立
Don't let them do that to you! 不要讓他們這樣對待你!
Declare independence 宣布獨立
Don't let them do that to you! 不要讓他們這樣對待你!
Make your own flag! 製作你自己的旗子!
Raise your flag! 升起你的旗幟! (Higher, higher!)(高一點…!!)

Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!
Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!

Damn colonists 可惡的殖民主義者
Ignore their patronizing 不甩他們略施小惠
Tear off their blindfolds 撕下他們的眼罩
Open their eyes 打開他們的眼睛

Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!
Declare independence!宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you!不要讓他們這樣對待你!

With a flag and a trumpet 帶著旗幟和號角
Go to the top of your highest mountain!登上最高的山峰!
And raise your flag! 升起您的旗子! (Higher, higher!)(高點…,!!)

Declare independence! 宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you! 不要讓他們這樣對待你!
Declare independence! 宣布獨立!
Don't let them do that to you! 不要讓他們這樣對待你!

Raise the flag!升旗!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Putting the Internet to Use for a Social Transformation Movement

The Internet is one key tool for expanding a social transformation movement among the youth of this generation.

Here is an article by the designer of Fred Thompson's website, used during the 2008 campaign. Fred eventually withdrew from the race, but his website was a success and functioned well.

It was used to "build a robust community that would become an integral part of the ground game," and "enabling volunteer action online". It "developed the community that could interact, inspire, and spur each other into action."

Basically it really empowers individuals to create their local grassroots support of the movement.

Taiwan's democracy movement needs to put to use all the tools it can because of the anti-democratic nature of the Chinese Nationalist Party which currently has billions of dollars in assets as well as control over most of the major television, newspaper and magazine media, which also has resulted in its strangle-hold on the legislature. Add one more factor -- the fifty years of propaganda in the still-unreformed education system that perpetuates the problems.

The only way to tranform such an in entrenched group is to create a movement to bring the values of democracy to individuals, including those who currently support and uphold the KMT. The KMT's national figureheads have not shown the ability or stomach to reform their own party.