Taipei, Taiwan - A defiant, peaceful march by 5,000 protesters to the grounds of the Presidential Palace yesterday marked the first month's anniversary of a renewed and re-invigorated national pro-democracy student movement.
The protesters, some wearing mocking costumes of former emperors and current mainland Chinese Communist officials, demanded that the current Taiwanese government of President Ma Ying-jeou abolish a law that requires protesters to see and obtain prior permission for all public protests. They made their point by merely notifying local officials of the march but not waiting for approval.
Along the route they were briefly warned and stopped by Taiwanese security officials but without incident. The march was punctuated with a mock funeral for human rights, just two days before celebration of International Human Rights Day.
The new Taiwanese student movement, known as Wild Strawberries, which has been making headlines, quickly mushroomed after a November 6 visit to Taiwan by a high-ranking envoy of the mainland People's Republic of China. When protesters came out to greet the Communist official, they were met with fierce police repression. Since then the capital of Taipei has been the scene of several low-level but mounting student actions, often supported by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
The student protesters worry that President Ma's administration is moving too close to the Beijing government and compromising what is Taiwan's de facto independence. The conflict was further stirred this week when President Ma told an interviewer that this was not the right time for the Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit Taiwan. The Beijing regime has been openly pressuring foreign governments, including France, to shun the Tibetan leader.
President Ma is facing increasing criticism of his human rights record. Only four months into office his popularity had plummeted from 58 percent to a record low of 25 percent. Ma represents the National Party (KMT) which ruled Taiwan through martial law from the arrival of Chiang-Kai-Sheik on the island in the mid 1940's and for another three decades. After a slow, gradual democratization process, the KMT ceded power to the opposition DPP in free elections. But corruptions charges deflated opposition rule, and the KMT was democratically re-elected to power earlier this year.
President Ma's administration has moved to amend the controversial and restrictive anti-protest law. But student leaders have denounced the move as cosmetic and vow more protests.
The student organizers have made very clear that this is a society-wide, non-partisan endeavor. Taiwanese from all walks of life who care about democracy can support their goals. The protesters do not belong to the pan-blue/KMT camp or the pan-green/DPP camp and have attempted to keep away from partisan politics.
This student movement is not about China policy, though that may certainly animate some of the protesters. It's about making sure that people have the right to free speech and assembly. The ROC government under Ma Ying-jeou may not resort to undemocratic means to pursue its goals, such as arresting protesters and pushing politically-motivated prosecutions. An amendment to the "Parade and Assembly Law", a vestige of the autocratic past, is thus one of their key goals.
Democracy and human rights were achieved through great struggle in Taiwan, and these students are declaring that hard-won freedoms must be maintained. Thus, police brutality and political arrests are unacceptable.
That's the message. Please don't conflate this with China policy.
Regardless of your views on China, you can still support democratic rights.
that "this student movement is not about China policy." This is like saying that the ocean tides are not of the "Moon." Everything in Taiwanese politics seems to be in some way related to China. Good luck. Gong Xi Fa Tsai.
1) Apologize for heavy handed police action and disproportionate use of force against innocent protesters
2) Revamp the Parade and Assembly Law, under which protesters must seek/obtain permission to hold demonstrations
3) Seek the resignation of certain police officials responsible for these incidents
So Wild Strawberries isn't directly about China policy. It's about citizens' rights.
Sure, the protesters when Chen Yunlin visited were demonstrating against China's unfriendly pressure on Taiwan (e.g. thousands of missiles pointed at the island), and/or against Ma's China policy (e.g. too fast, too soon, without enough gained for Taiwan). And I suppose you could say the whole movement was sparked off when police slammed down those protests.
But the point is that whatever your stance on the China policy, you cannot be happy about police brutality and the smashing of perfectly legitimate and peaceful expressions of public opinion. (er .... if you're committed to democracy, that is.)
Democracy is not yet fully consolidated in Taiwan, and it's kind of inspiring to see that even in this age, university students still care enough to take action. This is one group of strawberries that can take a bruising, and won't be quashed.
While at the same time suppressing democracy, social justice, banning unions and refusing to its children the basics of Taiwanese laws. Lest the kids gets wrong ideas about the meaning of freedom... Things have improved somewhat. But the legacy of Chiang Kai-shek dictatorship hangs heavily over the country.