[China Post] Students to expand sit-in protest today

Updated Saturday, November 15, 2008 10:20 am TWN, CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The organizers of a recently established student movement pushing for reform of Taiwan’s assembly law announced yesterday their plan to expand their ongoing sit-in protest.

According to Lin Yu-hsuan, spokesman for the Taiwan Wild Strawberries Movement, the sit-in, which has been held at Taipei’s Liberty Square since last Friday, will be expanded on Saturday and is expected to draw approximately 1,000 participants, including student representatives from Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

The sit-in once saw around 500 students participate, but the number has dropped to below 100 over the past few days as many returned to school to sit for midterm exams.

Lin said the group does not rule out the possibility that politicians sympathizing with their cause may be invited to take part. They have previously banned non students from participating.

Lin said the group will continue their peaceful demonstration until their appeals are answered, with disregard for possible dispersal by the police.

Over the past week, the group of students has been staging the sit-in to protest against what they called the use of excessive force by police to disperse pro-independence demonstrators who protested against the recent visit to Taiwan by a Chinese envoy.

The envoy, Chen Yunlin, president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, is China’s top negotiator with Taiwan. He was in the country from Nov. 3-7 to sign four non-political pacts with his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation.

Some protesters, who feared the visit and agreements would jeopardize Taiwan’s independence and sovereignty, threw bottles and rocks at police and pushed down police barricades. Police responded by spraying water at the protesters, scuffling with some of them, and arresting others.

In addition to demanding an open apology from President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, the student group is also asking for the replacement of National Security Bureau Director General Tsai Chao-ming and National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun.

Furthermore, the students want the Parade and Assembly Law be amended to relax its restrictions on people’s right to demonstrate. Protesters had complained their application to protest in many areas were rejected. Ma said in a radio interview Wednesday that Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi has on many occasions apologized over the alleged misconduct by law-enforcement officers and promised to review the methods adopted by the police in performing their duties.

Ma admitted there was room for improvement in the performance of Tsai and Wang in handling the demonstrations, but said “this was not to an extent where they should be removed from their posts.”

The president said the legislative caucus of the ruling Kuomintang will hold a public hearing to discuss a possible amendment to the Parade and Assembly law, with representatives of the protesting students to be invited to express their opinions at the hearing.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2008/11/15/183266/Students-to.htm

[Taipei Times] Strawberries returning to sit-in protest

GROWING: A spokesman for the student movement said that the sit-in protest was expected to draw about 1,000 participants from around the nation today

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Nov 15, 2008, Page 4

The organizers of a recently established student movement pushing for reform of the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) announced yesterday a plan to expand the sit-in protest.

Lin Yu-hsuan (林邑軒), spokesman for the Taiwan Wild Strawberries Movement, said the week-long sit-in at Taipei’s Liberty Square would be expanded today and was expected to draw approximately 1,000 participants, including student representatives from Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

The sit-in earlier saw around 500 students participate, but the number has dropped to below 100 over the past few days as many returned to school for mid-term exams.

Lin said the group did not rule out the possibility that politicians sympathizing with their cause may be invited to take part. They had previously banned non-students from participating.

Lin said the group would continue their peaceful demonstration until their appeals were answered, disregarding possible dispersal by the police.

Over the past week, the group of students has been staging the sit-in to protest what they called the use of excessive force by police to disperse pro-independence demonstrators during a recent visit to Taiwan by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).

In addition to demanding an apology from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), the student group is also asking for the resignations of National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) and National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞).

The students also want the assembly law to be amended to relax its restrictions on people’s right to demonstrate. Protesters had complained that their applications to protest were rejected in many areas.

In a radio interview on Wednesday, Ma said there was room for improvement in Tsai and Wang’s performance in handling the demonstrations, but added: “This was not to the extent that they should be removed from their posts.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/15/2003428655

[Rationale] Why President Ma and Premier Liu Should Issue an Apology

The first appeal made by the Wild Strawberries Movement is for President Ma and Premier Liu to take responsibility and apologize for the blatant civil rights infringement during the ARATS Chairman (Chen Yun Lin) visit. What is the basis for such demand?

While we whole-heartedly agree that the government must provide adequate protective detail to ensure Mr. Chen's safety, especially given the alleged attack of ARATS Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing during his visit. However, we also firmly believe that law enforcement tactics extended beyond protective details. Not only have these extreme security measures threatened Taiwanese citizens' civil rights, upset the balance of law and order, but more importantly, endangered our democratic nation. Simply put, a government must answer to the highest law of our land, the Constitution.

Let us evaluate the so called "security measures" over the past few days: (1) clearing and monitoring all major highways; (2) banning any public displays of our national flag; (3) censoring citizens who proclaim "Taiwan is not a part of China"; (4) confiscating private properties including flags and display signs, and (5) the continued inability of Secretary Minister Hsueh Hsiang-Chuan to explain the reasoning behind forcibly shutting down a privately owned business, Sunrise Record Store. The aforementioned activities clearly demonstrate the oppression of freedom of speech in an effort to welcome Mr. Chen, posing a severe threat to our constitution and our hard-earned freedom and democracy. While we recognize the importance of ensuring the safety of any foreign dignitaries visiting Taiwan, we challenge the notion that everyday citizens with digital video camcorders filming Mr. Chen's motorcade would endanger his safety. Moreover, we question the danger of waving our national flag in public areas. The heightened and over-reactive security measures throughout Mr. Chen's visit illustrated a government, designed to protect and guarantee its citizens' fundamental human rights, became an oppressive entity which deprived its citizens of life, liberty and property and disregarded the right to assemble. By sacrificing the diversity and freedom of speech in our multidimensional society, we have paid the hefty price of undermining Taiwan's democratic constitutional government.

Even prior to Mr. Chen's visit, there were signs that Taiwanese people was not unanimous in welcoming such a visit, not to mention lingering doubts regarding an earlier meeting between SEF Chairman Chiang and Mr. Chen. We question the government's reluctance to allow dissenting voices practice their freedom of speech and more importantly, the censorship of such dissenting voices. If the Taiwanese government had allowed its diverse citizens to freely express their opinions through legal and already established means, we believe violent clashes and civil rights violations would not have occurred.

If the President decides to view the aforementioned examples of power abuse as separate and unrelated incidents, he would be ignoring a systemic and prevalent issue that exists within our system. Inevitably, this would lead to a gradual dissipation of freedom and democracy in Taiwan, and an end to the established law and order. As such, we believe that the President and Premier, who are tasked with protecting our constitutional rights, should be held responsible.

Since its inception over a week ago, the Wild Strawberries Movement has not received any direct reply from the government. During an interview with a television network, President Ma indicated that police brutality was an isolated incident and does not plan to issue a formal apology to the people of Taiwan. Moreover, Premier Liu stated in another interview that “the Wild Strawberries Movement does not represent majority opinion in Taiwan."

However, we believe the fact that the restriction of freedom and excessive law enforcement tactics were systematic, clearly organized, and concentrated in certain areas illustrate these measurements of control were not accidental and certainly should not be viewed as isolated incidents. Moreover, the statement that The Wild Strawberries Movement is not representative of majority opinion fails to address the legality of the government’s recent actions. We deeply regret Premier Liu’s refusal to address the civil rights violations and the power abuse considering that a government’s legitimacy should not be solely based on “majority opinion” and that dissenting voices, however debatedly minority voices, must also be heard. Once again, Premier Liu’s response has shown the government’s blatant disregard for freedom of speech.

We sincerely hope that the government can properly evaluate the constitutionality of its actions during Mr. Chen's visit and respond to our appeals directly. Our memories of President Ma (as a President-Elect in April of this year) promising to the now deceased human rights activist Po Yang that he will be dedicated to the preservation and protection of human rights remains fresh. "Human Rights as a Cornerstone of Nation-Building" should not be a mere slogan, and we are optimistic that President Ma and Premier Liu will have the courage and wisdom to respond directly to the appeals of the sit-in students.

Strawberries on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Strawberry_student_movement
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/野草莓運動

NTDTV from New York about the protests and protest statements

http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=151&a=5914

Wer schweigt macht sich mitschuldig!

'The quiet is guilty too' , in a roughly translation of a German quote, reflecting the experience of two dictatorships in the 20th Century in Germany.
The one who is not speaking against the criminal is participating in the criminal himself.

Why don’t we hear the voice of the people who participated in the wild lily movement?
Why don’t we see them speaking in the parliaments, writing in the newspapers?
Don’t they care or are they afraid?
Is Taiwan a country were people have to be afraid to speak free?

What about the ones that participated in the Protests in 1989 in Beijing, escaped to Taiwan and survived the Tian’Anmeng massacre? Have thy forgotten their past? Did they sell their soul?

What about the ones that roughly know that there is a protest? The ones that do not care, the ones that do not read the newspapers, the people who go to university or work everyday as if nothing happened.
Shouldn’t we tell them that democracy needs responsibility, requires that people care?
Shouldn’t the protest be brought into the universities and into the offices and even into the shopping malls?

Things, would be different in the motherland of revolution were many ideas about modern democracy of freedom and human rights started (as in the US of course):

If Taiwan would be France, the Universities would be closed and all the students and professors would protest together as long as it is necessary and the statements would be sprayed on the University buildings!

If Taiwan would be France, the protest would be in the centre of the cities, between shopping malls and restaurants, so that everybody could see and hear.

If Taiwan would be France, the traffic would break down and no train would leave and no highway would be unblocked.

If Taiwan would be France, no student would protest silent, and feared being pushed around or ignored by a Government.

It is time to storm the Bastille! Vive la revolution!


And to block typical argument of Taiwanese politicians against any kind of protest: How important the economic development and the peace in the society is and that people should work together and be modest, … (to cut a long story short: Shut up and work or study harder!)

France is a much richer and more free country than Taiwan. As all western democracies are!
So forget about these stupid arguments!

[Mobilization] Nov 15th Come to join in series of movements on Liberty Square

The movement will gather students from six spots of the sit-in movement on 15th November at Liberty Square, Taipei.
To those who support the movement, we wish you to come and also invite your friends to come as well.
Since the initiation of this sit-in movement, it have been more than a week. This Saturday, please come to Liberty Square being with the students and show your support!


TIME Content
--------------------------------------------------
0900 ~ 1200 Student representatives from six spots gather together sit-in
--------------------------------------------------
1200 ~ 1300 Lunch Break
--------------------------------------------------
1300 ~ 1400 NGOs gather to support students' demands
1400 ~ 1500 Action drama by Professors
1500 ~ 1530 Press Conference and the opening ceremony of the gathering movement
1530 ~ 1600 Action drama for Wild StrawBerries and human rigths
1600 ~ 1700 Sit-in
1700 ~ 1900 Talks and prospect of the movement
--------------------------------------------------
1900 ~ 1930 Dinner Break
--------------------------------------------------
1930 ~ 2100 Forum on human rights
2100 ~ 2200 Voice of Strawberries: The reflection of sit-in students

See you there!

[Rationale] Why the National Security Bureau Director and National Police Agency Director-General Must Take Responsibility - A Tribute to the Police

Since the 6th of November 2008, students and professors across the nation joined an unplanned sit-in demonstration. The catalyst for this unplanned sit-in was the blatant excessive law enforcement tactics during the Chinese envoy visit which clearly threatened the basic rights of Taiwanese citizens. Later that evening, we were saddened by the news that the Democratic Progressive Party’s “Siege” protest activities resulted in violent clashes. Regardless of acts committed by law enforcement or the protesters, we do not believe that violence is the answer. Since the inception of the Wild Strawberries Movement, we have always maintained a peaceful, rational, and non-violent manner. On the 7th of November 2008, law enforcement officers surrounded us and dragged every single student and professor at this peaceful sit-in onto a police transport. Many students observed the reluctance (and at times tearful) displayed by police officers. As we relocated to Liberty Square with the intention to stage a long-term sit-in, we are grateful for these officers for allowing and assisting us to continue this sit-in peacefully. That said, it remains our duty to condemn and reject any illegal acts of violence, whether it be committed by the police or citizens.

Some have questioned us since "Police is only doing their job, why the continuing condemnation?", thus the Wild Strawberries participants would like to take this opportunity to pay tributes and a heart felt thanks to our hardworking front line police. If it weren't for them, it would be quite impossible to have a stable, peaceful life. However with acknowledging the above, we still demonstrated, we insisted to protest in the Liberty Square. Why is that so?

Because we are confused. Confused about during Chen's visit, police have hurt the ones they should be protecting. We're confused by police's action when Chen Yu-Ching(陳育青) was recording the Chinese envoy with his own personal video recorder; He was questioned upon by the police, and even brought back to the police station against his will, his personal freedom was restrained until the arrival of a local representative. We're confused when a record store playing a piece of music would induce the police to ban it from playing, even led to involuntarily closure of the shop. We're confused because when a guest have arrived, people having different expectations and reactions are only natural to a democratic society; however what would force the police to confiscate the national flag or even Tibetan flag and hording members of the public, restricting their speech and freewill? What kind of policies were involved, to disrupt the harmony which existed between police and ordinary citizen by carrying out orders which clearly violated human rights, subsequently the public were left feeling defeated, jaded with a sense of angst. We are confused, what kind of policy, led to such grotesque outcome?

Wild Strawberries are deeply grateful for our police, they've endured unimaginable pressure for up keeping the order of our society. At the same time to continue and strengthen our foundation as a democratic country, we insists the responsibility of violating human rights due to abusive police power under active investigation. During Chen's visit, undeniably government is to protect the guest's safety with a thorough and sound security measure in place, however a benevolent and capable government should not disregard "basic rights" of it's citizens when carrying out policies. Therefore, we will hold the decision makers of the highest level responsible, at the same time acknowledging the amount of hard-work our police endured while carrying out their duty. The Chief of National Police Agency in charge of organising police, while Director General of National Security Bureau manages guests' safety. Together they planned and managed the police, policies in handling situations and limits of law enforcement. Due to the fact that during the period of Chen's visit, there were numerous accounts of violation of human rights, therefore we do not see ways to treat these events as matter of contingency and thus shifting the responsibilities onto the front line police. Our postulation being that the violation occurred due to government's overall inappropriate planning, and was poorly executed. Hence Wild Strawberries insists the head of both National Security Bureau and National Police Agency to take the responsibility of the violations and step down to revive public trust in police.

Wild Strawberries believe that we should pay our tribute to our police forces, for their untiring service to the nation, from everyday upkeep to enforcement of order during special occasions. At the same time, we strongly protest the police's obvious abuse of their power, since no policy formulation should involve violating human rights. The human rights violations which happened during Chen's visit should not be treated as a random accidental event. We would like to point out the violations which happened were due to absurd planning of the overall security measures. In a mature democratic society, any unreasonable violence should be condemned, at the same time government forces who hold the power given by the people would be wise to consider policies discreetly to avoid restraining citizens' basic rights. The Taiwanese democracy did not fell from the sky, thus we insist the heads of National Police Agency and National Security bureau must resign and apologise for their inaptness.

[Wanted] Observation/ News/ Feedback/ Support (in English)

It have been a week since the sit-in movement was launched. And the English blog is built with all your contribution, on spreading, reading, and writing. In every case, we need more articles in English here!!
What we are looking for:
1. I noticed that there are some articles in the individual blog which is written in English regards to this movement. I would like to gather some here.
2. You may want to translate any news from the world media, like German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean... into English.
3. Your observation and feedback on any news, phenomena during this movement.
4. Illustration on Human Rights in the recent World (i.e., cases from other countries) and in the history

To communicate and spread the idea, we need your participation. If you wish to support this blog, please send articles in English to taiwanstudentmovement2008@gmail.com .

The formant:
1. The summary (Brief and Concise)
2. The link to the original article (on blog, news...)
3. Your identity (and in which name you would like to be posted, or anonymous.)

Thanks for your attribution towards the blog, the movement, the development of democracy and the protection of human rights in Taiwan!

Ma: Two Officials Must Reflect, Not Step Down

By Wang Yu Chung, Peng Hsien Jun, Huang Duen Yien

Published: 11/13/2008 The Liberty Times

President Ma Ying-jeou responded officially for the first time yesterday to the Wild Strawberry Movement's demand that the National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun and National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming step down. Ma said that their actions warrant an evaluation, but "do not warrant dismissals."

As for the students’ demand that President Ma and Premier Liu apologize for excessive law enforcement tactics used during the Chinese envoy’s visit, Ma pointed out that one must look at the larger picture. The agreements signed between the two sides and the atmosphere created laid the foundation for improved cross-straight relations and will be beneficial to Taiwan's international standing.

Ma indicated that police enforcement may have caused some unintentional injuries, citing a TV reporter’s case as an example. Minister of Interior Liao Liou-yi has apologized on several occasions and will assess law enforcement tactics. That said, recent police activities in maintaining public safety should be considered as a success.

The National Police Agency mentioned that accusations made by the Wild Strawberries Movement were turned over to the Taipei City Police Department Bureau for further investigation.

With regard to the student’s appeal to amend the Parade and Assembly Law from its current approval and permission requirement to allowing citizens to simply inform authorities of assembly plans is consistent with his position. He appreciates the students’ assistance in helping him realize his campaign promises.

However, Ma pointed out that recent polls indicated that there are varying opinions on amending the legislation as a result of the violence and bloody scenes from the November 6^th rally. Changing the system does not imply that individuals may simply call the police immediately before staging demonstrations. For instance, Germany allows its citizens to inform authorities of demonstration plans ahead of time, but law enforcement reserves the right to reject such plans. Ma emphasized that a permit system may not necessarily be restrictive, while system of informing authorities may not be lax. The key issue is not about whether to inform authorities, but about violent activities.

Kuomintang’s Central Standing Committee also discussed revising the legislation. Party Chairman Wu Po-hsiung specifically called on the Democratic Progressive Party to dissociate itself with corruption and violence.

Furthermore, some KMT Central Standing Committee members proposed a visit to Liu Po-yen, a self-professed old KMT member who committed self-immolation two days ago. The KMT stated that Liu did not register in 2000 and is no longer a party member. He has switched political alignment [from pro-Blue to pro-Green] and has been consuming more DPP-friendly media content, making an official visit from the KMT unnecessary.

Translated from http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/nov/13/today-p2.htm

[SCMP] Ties that blind--Improved cross-strait relations appear to have come at a cost to some civil liberties in Taiwan

Jerome Cohen (Former Supervisor of President Ma)
Updated on Nov 13, 2008

Last week's historic visit to Taiwan by Beijing's cross-strait chief, Chen Yunlin , which culminated in four useful agreements, focused attention on issues of human rights as well as politics. Some issues concerned the proper government response to public protests in a free society. Others involved fair investigation of former and present government leaders suspected of corruption.

Chinese have recognised the importance of protecting foreign envoys for almost 3,000 years. The feudal states that contended for power before establishment of the Qin dynasty reciprocally assured the personal safety of their emissaries. Such protection has continued to be indispensable to inter-state co-operation.

After police in Tainan failed to prevent an assault on Mr Chen's deputy, president Ma Ying-jeou's government was obligated to do better during Mr Chen's visit. Although police could not prevent Mr Chen from being trapped in a hotel for eight hours by a huge mob of protesters, they did defend him against bodily harm throughout a stressful week.

In doing so, they went beyond the limits of a free society, forbidding peaceful protesters from displaying Taiwanese and Tibetan flags, confiscating flags from demonstrators, closing a store that played Taiwanese songs and seeking to minimise the visitors' awareness of the protests. There were also incidents of police brutality, albeit sometimes in response to violent provocations by demonstrators.

The police misconduct even outraged many local supporters of Mr Chen's visit. Mr Ma, in addition to implementing his campaign pledge to sponsor revision of the Assembly and Parade Law to eliminate protesters' need for advance official permission, should recommend amendments prohibiting the kind of undemocratic police practices that recently occurred and order training designed to enhance police compliance with the law. It is encouraging to note that Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, who led the massive opposition demonstration, has subsequently called not only for a government review of police misconduct but also for a re-examination by her own party of its failures to maintain order among its demonstrators. The DPP, if it is to fulfil its essential role as democratic opposition, must not degenerate into an army of street fighters.

Some Taiwanese and foreign critics took the occasion of Mr Chen's visit to call attention to another crucial feature of democratic government - the fair prosecution of current and former officials suspected of corruption. The critics voiced three serious complaints about recent arrests and incommunicado detentions of prominent DPP figures who have served as government officials. They imply that the DPP is being singled out for prosecutions while corruption among Kuomintang leaders is being ignored. They also claim that: most DPP suspects have been held incommunicado without a court examination of the justification for their detentions; and that prosecutors' offices have been leaking detrimental information about the suspects to the media while denying them knowledge of the leaks and a chance to refute the "trial by press".

These practices, it is said, bring into question the political neutrality of the judiciary, and the presumption of innocence and other elements of due process required for the fair and open trials essential to democracy, raising the spectre of the unjust procedures of "the dark days of martial law" (1947-1987). It is not clear whether critics' claims of "selective prosecution" are well founded. Recent arrests may simply reflect massive corruption by the DPP, which dominated executive government for the past eight years - corruption that allegedly reached as high as former president Chen Shui-bian and his family.

Oddly, although during the Chen administration some prosecutions were brought against both DPP and KMT figures, some obvious KMT targets were overlooked despite reportedly thick dossiers compiled by Control Yuan investigators. Mr Ma should appoint a commission of impartial experts to review such prosecutions.

It does not appear that any of the recently detained DPP figures were denied a court hearing or their right to counsel. Moreover, there is a legislative basis for the courts' decisions to detain them incommunicado for up to four months of investigation if there is a reasonable basis for believing that the suspects might otherwise falsify evidence. Yet, in view of the harshness of this pre-indictment sanction and the obstacles it creates to mounting an adequate defence, it ought to be invoked rarely.

Certainly, the Legislative Yuan, or the commission suggested here, should re-examine legislation to strike a new balance between the threat of corruption to a democratic government and the threat of incommunicado detention to civil liberty.

The charge of biased prosecution leaks to the press seems to be the most straightforward of the critics' complaints. Such leaks, which occur in many countries, do appear to have taken place and cannot be allowed in a democratic system.

Jerome A. Cohen is co-director of NYU's US-Asia Law Institute and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2c913216495213d5df646910cba0a0a0/?vgnextoid=4f2a6ac45d09d110VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=teaser&ss=China&s=News

US, Dutch officials to take closer look at Taiwan’s judiciary

... the foreign affairs spokesmen of the ruling and opposition parties in the Netherlands on Tuesday expressed concern to Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen during a session of the Dutch parliament about the spate of detentions in Taiwan. ...

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/11/13/2003428552

Attention!

I could not find any proof for the statements in this article. The questions are not included in the list of questions on the Dutch parliaments (Tweede Kammer der Staaten – General) homepage.

So always pay attention and try to check facts on your own.

Update!

People here are a bit slow, but now it is officially published:

2008Z06661 / 2080905020

Vragen van de leden Van Baalen (VVD) en Haverkamp (CDA) aan de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken over de arrestatie van oud-president Chen Shui-bian van Taiwan. (Ingezonden 13 november 2008)

1
Heeft u kennisgenomen van de berichten dat oud-president Chen Shui-bian en een aantal politici van de Democratische Progressieve Partij (DPP) op verdenking van ambtsmisbruik in Taipei zijn gearresteerd? 1)

2
Heeft u kennisgenomen van de open brief van een aantal Taiwanese en internationale rechtsgeleerden en burgerrechtenactivisten in de Taipei Times van 6 november 2008, waarin protest wordt aangetekend tegen politiek gemotiveerde arrestaties?

3
Bent u bereid de Kamer per brief nader te informeren over de kwestie Chen c.s.?

4
Bent u bereid, bij de huidige regering in Taiwan, aan te dringen op het toepassen van de beginselen van de democratische rechtsstaat bij het vervolgen van diegenen die worden verdacht van het plegen van ambtsmisdrijven?


1) Website De Telegraaf, 11 november 2008

Translation

Questions of the members of parliament van Baalen (Liberals) and Haverkamp (Christian Democrats) to the minister of foreign affairs about the detention of former president of Tawian Chen Shui-bian:

1. Are you aware of the detention of former president and a number of politicians of DPP under the suspicion of abuse of power in office?

2. Are you aware of an open letter by a number of Taiwanese and international legal experts and civil right activists published in the Taipei Times of 6. of November 2008 that is protesting against political motivated detentions?

3. Are you prepared to inform the chamber about further developments in the case Chen in written form?

4. Are you prepared to make pressure on the actual Government of Taiwan so that they follow the laws of a democratic constitutional state during their investigations against the persons that are under suspicion of abuse of power in office?



Taiwan is now on the watchlist. It might be that the European Parliament takes action too.

Mr. Ma: Big brother is watching you!

The Voice of Wild Berries--Theme music for the students with Lyrics in Mandarin and English

野草莓運動ㄧ野莓之聲 from freshfoliage on Vimeo.

Translation for the subtitles in the video: http://vimeo.com/2205674 (slide number)

(1) The Wild Strawberries Movement;

a group of students with different political views

joined together without prior planning

fighting for a common cause…

(2) we hope to serve as a reminding voice

that the current administration should protect

the invaluable yet often fragile peace and human rights

(3) The Voice of the Wild Strawberries

music & lyrics/ nelleven video/freshfoliage

photos/Andytn/sun_line/freshfoliage/wwaahhaa/hankblue/Nienyi Ho/kaizan/mutolisp

(4) on November 5^th, we saw reluctant overworked police during the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel and Sunrise Records incidents

(5) but we also witnessed inappropriate and excessive law enforcement tactics…

(6) on November 6^th, we sat peacefully outside of the Executive Yuan building

hoping to show bipartisanship

(7) by wearing all black

we simply hoped for peace

(8) we recognize the difficulty in maintaining public safety but also deeply care for the welfare of our fellow citizens

so we hope to challenge the constitutionality of some of our laws

(9) and appeal to the President and related officials to take responsibility

(10) we hope to use our strength

(11) and let our voices be heard

(12) I was not wrapped in cotton wool

(13) so please save the insincere compassion

(14) I could never understand your hypocrisy

(15) and will always remain true to myself

(16) we have dreams and ideals

(17) we have a few things to say

(18) after you have betrayed yourselves

(19) please do not also sell us out

(20) we have dreams and ideals

(21) we have a few things to say

(22) as you broke all your promises

(23) we chose to rise and join this sit-in

(24) silence does not represent acquiescence

(25) nor does peace indicate acceptance

(26) your arrogance has once again burned us

(27) and this time we will no longer remain silent

(28) we have dreams and ideals

(29) we have a few things to say

(30) after you have betrayed yourselves

(31) please do not also sell us out

(32) we have dreams and ideals

(33) we have a few things to say

(34) as you broke all your promises

(35) we chose to rise and join this sit-in

(36) (protest against police brutality, protect our liberty and human rights)

(37) we are not leaving Liberty Square

with the modest hope that our voices will be heard

(38) please visit our website and check out our statement

(39) if you agree with us

please come and sit with us peacefully

(40) The Wild Strawberries Movement

(41)

http://action1106.blogspot.com

http://taiwanstudentmovement2008.blogspot.com/

歌詞

我已經睜開眼了　撐過甦醒的疼痛
我伸開雙手迎接四方的風　抖落刺骨的操縱
我不是溫室花朵　你也不用假裝溫柔
我學不會你們虛偽的臉孔　只會真實面對自我

*我們有屬於我們的夢　我們有我們的話想說
在你背叛了自己以後　不要連我們一起出售
我們有屬於我們的夢　我們有我們的話想說
在你背棄了信念以後　灰燼裡我們選擇出走*

安靜不代表認同　和平不代表承受
你的傲慢再一次燙傷了我
這一次我不會沉默

Lyrics:

I have opened my eyes

and have withstood the aches of awakening

I opened up my arms to feel the breeze coming from all directions

and shook off the stinging pains of your control

I was not wrapped in cotton wool

so please save the insincere compassion

I could never understand your hypocrisy

and will always remain true to myself

(refrain)

* we have dreams and ideals

we have a few things to say

after you have betrayed yourselves

please do not also sell us out

we have dreams and ideals

we have a few things to say

as you broke all your promises

we chose to rise and join this sit-in*

silence does not represent acquiescence

nor does peace indicate acceptance

your arrogance has once again burned us

and this time we will no longer remain silent

Updated movement statement Nov. 12

During the time when the negotiator from China, Chen Yunlin visited Taiwan, there was quite a diversity of viewpoints on the visit, and strong emotions on all sides. Actually this is a normal situation in a mature democratic society. But it happened that a great number of Taiwanese people felt that freedom of speech had been infringed by government officials and the police force. Of course, it is necessary when the state guests visit Taiwan that the government should provide the needed protection for their safety. But the size of the police force exceeded all reasonable bounds. For example, on Nov. 3 afternoon, below the mountain on which the Grand Hotel sits, a person was waving the Tibetan Snow Lion Flag, and the policeman forcibly seized this man’s flag and expelled him from the area. On Nov. 4, in front of Grand Hotel, a gentleman named Chen Yunqing was interrogated against his will and then taken back to the police station, which was against his will and infringed his individual rights as a Taiwan citizen. On that same day of Nov. 4, at a music shop located on Chungshan N Rd, the policemen entered the shop and compelled the shop owner to turned off the Taiwanese songs being played and then forced the owner to close the shop. Further, from many other places in and near Taipei many people have delivered the message that their personal rights and freedom of speech were infringed by policemen on different occasions during the Chen Yunlin visit.

During this series of events, we noted the strange situation that when people who were peacefully engaged in the aforementioned activities and were forced by policemen to stop, questioned the policemen about which laws and which regulations prevented them from carrying out peaceful protests, policemen were completely unable to answer. Instead, they could only make very ambiguous statements in reply.

Thus, during the Chen Yunlin visit to Taiwan, draconian enforcement of the law caused the people to become opposed to the government and the police, and became a serious concern of the people of Taiwan. Thus, on Nov. 5, a group of college students and teachers, who are very much concerned that human rights and freedom of speech in Taiwan are being infringed by the government and the police, held a peaceful sit-down protest in many locations across Taiwan, covering the northern, central, and southern parts of the island to make public their concerns about the government’s indifference to Taiwan as an independent and sovereign country and to the human rights of the people of Taiwan. On Nov. 6, through the broadcast on the internet of this sit-in campaign, hundreds of students and teachers from different colleges in Taiwan came to join the sit-down protest in front of the Executive Yuan to let the Administration know their worries and concerns about the situation as it is currently unfolding in Taiwan. We all believe that personal rights and values should be beyond infringement by the government, beyond politics, and no matter which political party we support, we should all care about the situation in which the current Taiwan government infringes on individual rights. We further believe that we should make our concerns known to the current government to request their attention to these matters, so it can take the proper actions in responding to the concern and needs of the people of Taiwan. Our this sit-down protest continued for one day, until November 7 at 4:00PM, when the police used their authority to expel us from our location in front of the Executive Yuan.

Based on an earlier group decision, we gathered again at the Taiwan Democracy Memorial, formerly known as Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, to begin the second state of the sit-ins. We decided not to apply for permission to hold a sit-in from the police, and we decided that this sit-down protest will continue for a long period, until the government makes the proper response to our requests, namely, that individual rights and freedoms should be protected by the government instead of being infringed by it. The reason why we decided not to ask for a permit to hold the protest was because we wanted to highlight the ridiculous situation under which individuals must apply to the government for permission to exercise their individual right to assemble freely and to speak freely. On November 9, again after a decision of the group, we decide to name these protests the “Wild Strawberry Sit-In”「野草莓學運」.

The Wild Strawberry Sit-In Protests have three 3 major demands: First, President Ma and Premier Liu should apologize for the violent actions of the police during protests against the visit of China negotiator Chen Yunlin to Taiwan. Second, the director of National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior Mr. Wang and Director General of National Security Bureau, Mr. Tsai should take responsibility for the improper actions of the police and resign from their positions. Finally, we demand that the government change the Assembly and Parade Law, a relic of the martial law era often used to curb public protest in Taiwan, to enable the people assemble at any time and place, requiring only notification to the police, not their permission.

The Wild Strawberry Sit-In Protests believe that the government should not use the excuse of a visit by an official of another nation to abuse the power given to them by the people to infringe on individual rights. Further, President Ma and Premier Liu should apologize to the people of Taiwan for the violence committed by policemen during Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taiwan, because as the leaders of the nation, their highest goal is to protect the people of Taiwan, not to infringe their individual rights and physical safety.

Wild Strawberry Sit-Down Protest considers that it is Director of General of National Security and Director of General of National Police Agency, who are planning the whole maintenance of peace this time. So they both should be responsible for the policemen infringe Taiwan people personal right and resign from their public employment.

Wild Strawberry Sit-Down Protest considers that the only way to solve this problem is that government should modify the current parade law from that the people need to do the registration and get approval from the police in advance, if the people want to do such a parade to let people do the parade at anytime and any place, when the people considers it to be necessary.

The Wild Strawberry Sit-In Protest:

1. Based on our three major demands, we insist on continuing this protest until we receive a positive response from the government.

2. We insist that the leader of the nation and the heads of the agencies listen to the voice of the people of Taiwan in humility and sincerity, to ensure that all the people of Taiwan can live together in peace and happiness.

3. Public employees who abuse their power and cause harm to the people of Taiwan should be punished according to the laws and regulations.

4. We hope that the government will listen to our voice and that the people of Taiwan will continue to support our protest.

Statement from the Musicians

(The appeals are different from the movement, but the ultimate goal is similar!)

On the 4th of November, Sunrise Records store played music as usual to attract customers. However, that was the day when Chen Yun-lin visited. The policemen entered the record store forbade them playing the music merely because it was a song in Minnan-dialect (a.k.a. Taiwanese). The directed policeman, Lee Han-Qin lied to the public that the store closed on their own without any force.

The era of song-forbidden comes back, the expansion of policing power is a prelude of dictator politics that we have come to feared!

We are a group of Taiwanese musicians who treasures freedom and peace. In the past twenty years, citizens have had the right to read poetry written in any languages, to listen to all kinds of music, to compose and to play in different languages including Mandarin Chinese, Formosan languages, Taiwanese, Hakka, and all foreign languages such as English, Japanese, Italian and so on.
We welcome all Chinese visitors who would show respect to the law and people in our country, but we refuse the oppression and hostility from the People's Republic of China's authoritarian regime.We oppose strongly to President Ma Ying-Jeou's submissive attitude to the Chinese communist regime, regarding the events at Sunrise Records store and the crumbling of democratic values due to arrival of Chen Yu-Lin's arrival we solemnly protests. We demand:


1. President Ma must apologize
2. Replace General Chief of National Police Agency Wang
3. Seek responsibilities of Lee Han-chin (李漢卿), deputy director of the Chungcheng First Precinct of the Taipei Municipal Police Bureau

Signatories：（In chronological order）

What those children have taught me? (In Mandarin)

This article moves me so much that I link it here (sorry that it is in Mandarin). It is about how passionate young people learn and grow which can be seen during the movement. And the author addresses tenderly to the public and wish people can start to care about us ("those kids" as the author said), no matter if you are approval or disapproval of the movement or not, at least to pay some attention.
There are some pictures too. Still worth visiting!! http://action1106.blogspot.com/2008/11/by_12.html

Nov 11 Noon Movement Press

Tuesday November 11th 2008
Press Report Wild-strawberry Movement

Dialogue between Student leaders and Minister Breaks Down

NGO today launched walk in silence; supported by tens of thousands by LIVE transmission the student movement is not lonely at the scene

Last night Cheng Jei-cheng visited the scene and stated, the students’ demands should be resolved through the proper channel in order to achieve the objectives more effectively. But as to the demands for apologies from the President and Premier, also the stepping down of the Senior officers from the National Security Council, Cheng said it was not within his authorities. Spokesperson XU Ren-suk believed Minister Cheng’s reply was very conservative, nevertheless still hope Cheng would assist to convey the student’s demands to the government, and have a face-to-face talk with President Ma and Premier Liu.

Around Mid-night last night, three unknown students came to negotiate with the Wide-Strawberry, claiming they were from the Ministry of Education Discipline Committee under the Promotion of Civic Education Advisory Committee, both sides negotiated for around half an hour. The three Committee members expressed the intent to offer a resolution channel through the Ministry of Education. During the discussion, Changi-ho, a Political Science student from the National Taiwan University Political said that the demands of the students has nothing to do with the Ministry of Education, however if it is because the identities of the students, thus assuming the matter falls into the jurisdiction of the Department of Education, would the same as assuming that any one that has an identity of a farmer, the concern would automatically be addressed by the Ministry of Agriculture, and labors’ grieves addressed by the Council of Labor Affairs. Changi-ho thus contented, “today’s demand is about the respect for fundamental human rights and dignity, even though it is coming from students. If the Ministry of Education was sincere in resolving the matter, then the Ministry should pass on the demands to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office. Moreover, we were told since we were little, that we should always pursue fairness and justice, Minister Cheng should be more actively supporting the students’ movement” Chang said.

With only Political Calculation in Minds, the meaning of Justice diminishes

According to reports, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan believes the demands for apologies would cease in two days time, and the spokesperson Xu Ren-suk said this is demonstrative of the arrogance of power, and shows that the government has consistently avoiding students demands face on, full of political trickery and calculation. If they are really concern about us, then should make an effect and reply our demand.

Xu Ren-suk further commented, during Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taiwan, the enforcement of law was excessive, and to such an extent that it constituted violations. Since the President and the Premier are given the highest power by the Constitution, then they should issue a public apology since it was committed under their authorities, and the relevant high-level police and the National Security also should be punished.

You Jia Rao, one of the sit-in students, also stressed, that the Ma Government has been continuously releasing ambiguous messages, sending people to mediate informally, without wanting to resolve this matter formally. The Ma Government has paid little attention to the students’ demands, as there is no sense of justice in their minds.

Moreover, as the government has expressed the intent to hold a public hearing on amendment to the Assembly and Parade Law, spokesperson Xu Ren-suk said the students welcome the goodwill, but at the same time, Xu stressed, the students’ demands are not limited to the amendment to the Assembly and Parade Law, since during this period, the government has not been forthcoming about the excessive law enforcement, and even found excuses for the excessive use of force. Hence, the government has not opened a dialogue to engage the students in any talks ay all.

Wang Zhuojun, the Head of National Police Administration when questioned yesterday at the Legislative Yuan, still maintained the policy enforcement was not excessive, and refused to apologize. Lee Li-Wei, a media student believes that, when Shan-yuan Record shop was forced to turn off music, close the shop, and the military policies can force their ways into senators’ private rooms amongst others incidents, shall be deemed as human rights violations, even unconstitutional. But, the government, including the Ma administration, the Administration Yuan, the National Policy Administration, the National Security Bureau, even Taipei City government still defending the excessive law enforcement. It makes one wonder, what mentalities and mind frames can make them so confident? Lee continues to said, it is so hard for a head of a government to apologize for his action?

Translated from http://action1106.blogspot.com/2008/11/1111_11.html

Liou must apologize for his comment and the recent events!!

During an interview, Liou replied legislators asked him to apologise personally in Legislative Yuan "But I didn't, these things only take all of two days to blow over", accidentally let his mind slipped out. Surprisingly, as the highest official of the administrative branch, Liou faced with public outcry on demanding freedom and basic human rights as if a minister under the martial law in the late 80s. We demand Liou to show humility to his public given power and to the people who bestowed it upon him! We demand his apology immediately for his comments! We demand his apology for recent events of police suppressing human rights!

[Reuters] Taiwan man sets himself on fire near protest site

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A 79-year-old Taiwan man set himself on fire Tuesday near a week-old anti-government protest but the reason for his action and his condition were not immediately known, the capital's fire department said. (more)

The Daily of the University of Washington reports about sit-in

http://dailyuw.com/2008/11/12/campus-watch-statistics-support-youth-vote-turnout/

Support from Israel

The blog of an Israeli PhD student who spent some time in Taiwan:

http://www.filination.com/blog/2008/11/10/taiwans-wild-berries-movement-ncku-taiwanese-students-protest/

[News] Apologise? Liou: Takes all of two days to blow over.

(Liberty Times 11/11/2008)

Wild Strawberries sit-in protest students demanded Ma, Liou to apologise and Wang Cho-Chiun(王卓鈞) to step down. When interevewed by ETToday Liou states that according to the polls 60% of population believe the responsibility lie with the opposition, and the students' demands are "misaligned with mainstream opinion". During intervals between interview, host Lu Hsiu-fang (盧秀芳) asked about legislators wanting government to apologise for the abuse of police power, Liou replied stating legislators had wanted him to apologise personally in Legislative Yuan "But I didn't, these things only take all of two days to blow over", accidentally let his mind slipped out.

Students demands for amending the Parade and Assembly law, Liou states that he acknowledge this, thus will push towards this direction, and will organise public hearings to seek concensus in the community; also the weather's getting cooler and exam period's quickly approaching, further sit-ins are unhealthy and he cares for the students.

Minister of Education arrived at the Freedom Square yesterday, did not respond to students request

In other news, Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城) after a meeting with Liou, arrived at Freedom Square around 6pm to visit the protesters. Cheng stated that he will pass the requests along from the students, however he did not respond to the issue of police abusing of their powers, as he openly admit he have no power to make any announcements with "other demands". Cheng was questioned by the students "Why does the minister's visit felt like a gift?", also there was tens of onlookers protests against "Admitting Chinese college degrees" and "Ministry of Education should be more considerate to Taiwanese graduates". Since Cheng arrived without notice, students at first did not recognise him, subsequently had asked who he was.

Cheng said he would like to give his regards on behalf of Liou and Ministry of Education, he hope the students would take care of themselves, and don't catch a cold, and asked whether students had eaten yet. Some students yelled "Thanks for your consideration." As for students' demand, Cheng would like to advise the students the direction legislative yuan's going is quite similar, and he would pass the demands along for the students. He also calls for respecting the current law, as any amendment must go through proper procedures.

A letter to the Financial Times

by Dr. Hung-En Sung, The City University of New York

with remarks on the violation violations of freedoms of speech at the protests during the visit of the Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9bd8cba0-af90-11dd-a4bf-000077b07658.html

Ma responds to student protestors

Radio Taiwan International about the student movement:

English

Deutsch

Francés ???

Castellano ???

500 academics sign support for 'wild strawberry movement'

More than 500 university professors and liberal scholars signed a statement Monday supporting a student-led drive, dubbed the "wild strawberry movement, " aimed at amending the existing Parade and Assembly Law. ...

Sie möchten Teil einer Jugendbewegung sein

Die jungen Taiwaner werden spöttisch Strawberry Generation genannt.

Weil die nach ca. 1980 Geborenen Taiwans Militärdiktatur nicht mehr bewusst erlebt haben, weil viele von Ihnen Freiheit und Wohlstand als selbstverständlich hinnehmen, und weil sie als so empfindliche Sensibelchen gelten wie… nun ja, Erdbeeren nun mal. ...

What can we learn from Obama: Yes we can!

President Obama has already started to govern his country. Actually it is an E – Government.
On www.change.gov he is proposing his ideas for a new America.

Why is there no change.tw? Someone should start a new webpage where people can publish their ideas about how they would like to see Taiwan in 10 years.

By the way: President Obamas advisers for east asia want to come in the end of November to Taiwan to talk with Mr. Ma (respecting his felt acceptable not to be called president).

It is a good chance to show Obama and the world: Taiwan, yes we can!

[Live] 21:50 Nov. 11

21:50
In the Taipei spot, students are discussing for a clearer and more specific declaration on our appeals. That is, more details and agreement should come out and spare some time to discuss with students in other cities too. Hopefully, tomorrow at noon, there could be a latest statement.
22:02
In which way we could reach our goal, not to amend the law superficially, but deeply enhance the human rights and civil rights in Taiwan is the question students are discussing about.

[Taichung] Officiers from Taichung City Hall heckled the students (NOV 10)

Mr. Wang, the head of Division of Construction in Taichung City Hall went to the Taichung spot of the movement. Instead of applied the Parade and Assembly Law which students are appealing to amend, Mr. Wang claimed that students movement is illegal because of the violation of the Park and Greenland Law and relevant law.

[Supporting Action] Vigil in Solidarity Support the "Wild Strawberries" Student Movement Safeguard Our Beloved Taiwan

2008.11.11

We thought that authoritarian regime is long gone.
We thought that freedom of speech had become part of our life.
But we are wrong....

Freedom and democracy--hard to attain, easy to be crushed. Over the past half a century, many have sacrificed their freedom, their youth, even their dear lives for the attainment of these rights. However, in this past week, we have witnessed the return of authoritarian regime, with its relentless and unnecessary suppression of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. In order to "welcome" Chen Yun-lin (陳雲林), the special envoy from China, those peaceful protestors who were waving national flags, banners, singing protest songs or calling out loud their appeals, were brutally "served" by the police force with fists, kicks and sticks.

The whole society was shocked by such regression of democracy and freedom of speech. Civic groups began to organize themselves. University students began to take actions to defend freedom of speech.

Sit-in protest by the students started in front of the Executive Yuan on the evening of November 6. Three days later, on November 9, students formed the "Wild Strawberries" Student Movement. Their main appeal was that our democracy is in peril and the critical issues at stake are: the Parade and Assembly Law violates the Constitutional; and human rights have been infringed upon. They have demanded that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-hsuan (劉兆玄) should apologize; that the Director of the National Security Bureau Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) and the National Police Agency­Director-­General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) should step down and that the Parade and Assembly Law be amended.

In support of the cause pursued by the "Wild Strawberries" Student Movement, civic groups decided to initiate a vigil walk around the Liberty Square every evening from six to seven pm starting from November 11. The organizer(s) would like to call for people from all circles of society to participate in this civic movement to Support the "Wild Strawberries" and Safeguard Our Beloved Taiwan. As Jiang Wei-Shui (蔣渭水), a pioneer in Taiwan's democratic movement, said, "Our strength has its roots in our solidarity." To preserve our hard-won achievements in democracy in Taiwan, we must demonstrate the will and strength of civil society, condemn the use of state violence and defend the freedom of speech.

We look forward to your participation in Vigil in Solidarity, and we request your attention to the following information:


Vigil in Solidarity
Time: 6.00-7.00pm everyday
Gathering Point: in front of the "Wild Strawberry" camp in Liberty Square
Cause of the Vigil Walk: Support the "Wild Strawberries" Student Movement, Safeguard Our Beloved Taiwan
Do's and Don'ts: The vigil walk should proceed in single file in silence. No food, no calling of slogans and no banners; only signs prepared by the vigil walk's organizer are allowed.

The vigil walk is initiated by the following civic groups:

Evil Assembly and Parade Act Modification Association (集遊惡法修法聯盟), Taiwan Association for Human Right (台灣人權促進會), Judicial Reform Foundation (民間司法改革基金會), Humanistic Education Foundation (人本教育基金會), Taiwan Labor Front (台灣勞工陣線), Taiwan Environmental Action Network (台灣環境行動網協會), Amnesty International Taiwan Section (國際特赦組織台灣總會), Taiwan Law Society (台灣法學會), Green Party (綠黨), Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (台灣環境保護聯盟), Awakening Foundation (婦女新知基金會), Campaign for Media Reform (媒體改造學社), Aborigine Rights Association (原住民權益策進會), Green Formosa Front (綠色陣線協會), Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (廢除死刑推動聯盟).

The original article with Mandarin and English is in http://action1106.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_11.html

Protestiert Gegen Polizeibrutalitaet!! Verteidigt Freiheit und Menschenrecht. (Statment in German)

Angefangen am 3. November, mit dem Besuch von Chen Yunlin, hat die Polizei zahlreiche Aktionen gegen Demonstranten durchgeführt, darunter die Beschlagnahmung und Zerstoerung von Eigentum, physische Gewalt, und sogar Verhaftungen. Die große Mehrheit der betroffenen Demonstranten befand sich nicht einmal in der Nähe von Chen Yunlin.

Durch Berichte in den Medien haben wir den Ernst der Situation erkannt. Es geht nicht nur um Details bei der Strafverfolgung, noch handelt es sich einfach um einen Konflikt zwischen Anhaengern verschiedener politischer Parteien. Es geht vielmehr um Polizeigewalt, die vom Staat gefördert wird und die die Zivilgesellschaft beschaedigt.

Alle diese Aktionen, die Menschenrechte und demokratische Werte ignorieren, erinnern an das Kriegsrecht. Aber der Premier Liu weicht seiner Verantwortung mit unklaren Entschuldigungen aus. Diese Reaktionen der Regierung empören und beschaemen uns.

Wir fragen uns: Muss Taiwan seine Standards bei Freiheit und Demokratie bis auf das Niveau von China senken, um mit China wirtschaftlich kooperieren zu können?

Innerhalb weniger Tage sind Freiheit und Demokratie, für die die Taiwanesen so hart gekaempft haben, durch die Polizeiaktionen ernsthaft beschaedigt worden. Unsere Regierung ignoriert dies und veranstaltet stattdessen Empfaenge und Bankette für den Gast aus China.

Wir sind eine Gruppe von Universitaetsprofessoren, Studenten, und Bürgern, die sich Sorgen um die zukünftige Entwicklung Taiwans machen. Unser Protest ist überparteilich und unabhaengig von anderen politischen Organisationen.

Wir werden weiter friedlich demonstrieren, bis unsere Forderungen erfüllt werden. Unsere Forderungen sind:
*

Präident Ma Ying-Jeou und Premierminister Liu Chao-Shiuan müssen sich öffentlich bei allen Bürgern für die Vorkommnisse entschuldigen.
*

Der Generaldirektor der nationalen Polizei, Wang Cho-Chiun, und der Direktor der Staatssicherheitsbehörde, Tsai Chao-Ming, müssen zurücktreten.
*

Das Parlament muss das Versammlungsgesetz, das die Versammlungsfreiheit der Menschen einschränkt, revidieren.


翻譯. chiaokovsky

[Support]The Declaration of Taiwan Friends of Tibet for Supporting the Wild Berries Movement

November, 10th, 2008

With regard to the statement of “Wild Berries” action （野草莓運動） and the continuing sit-in protest which current college students originated, Taiwan Friends of Tibet (台灣圖博之友會) expresses our honor and support. We believe that the civic literacy showed by these young college students has already established a new representative of their generation after the Martial Law era.

When Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yun-lin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan on November 3rd to 7th, 2008, the Taiwan government led by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) blocked the expression of different opinions by the Taiwanese people and dispersed Taiwanese people out of public zones near the visiting ARATS delegation via forceful police power and violent illegal actions. Those actions seriously destroyed the civil rights protected by the Taiwan Constitution (the Constitution of the Republic of China). In addition, during this event, the Tibetans in Taiwan and the Taiwanese people who supported Tibet Independence were improperly suppressed. Particularly, part of the media emphasized transmitting “warm” scenes of Taiwan government officials visiting injured Taiwan police officers. Unavoidably, this one-sided conveyance evoked images of how the media, controlled or manipulated by the China government, reported the Tibet event of March, 14th, 2008.

At the end of November, the Congress of the government of Tibet in exile (圖博流亡國會) will convene an enlarged conference and enable Tibetans to publicly determine future policies of Tibet. We worry that when Tibetans are still able to establish democracy in exile, Taiwanese people in thriving Taiwan confront the regression of Taiwan’s democracy. Therefore, we advocate that people of all walks of life intently focus not on how the event concerning the oppression of civil rights will only be interpreted by the dichotomy of KMT(blue party,國民黨) and DPP(green party,民進黨), but whether this event will make Taiwan return to authoritarian regime. If the Taiwanese people give the Taiwan government authority to limit the rights to freedom of speech to only specific issues or persons, the democracy in Taiwan will be placed in jeopardy. In particular, this important issue concerning the civil rights involves the fate of the whole of Taiwan. Hence, the Taiwanese people should have sufficient space for expressing their concerns. Moreover, at this very moment, to protest against and restrain the Taiwan government’s unconstitutional act is the Taiwanese people’s right and even, duty.

As regards the three appeals in the “Wild Berries” action statement on November 8th, 2008, Taiwan Friends of Tibet completely support them. It has been obviously illegal for the Taiwan government to excessively restrict the civil right of freedom of speech and the government should not shift its responsibility onto others with any excuse. As a result, Taiwan Friends of Tibet considers that two of these appeals as follow are the minimum of claims: (1) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) must publicly apologize to all citizens, and (2) National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) and National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) must step down. Furthermore, our association even more strongly supports the third appeal, amending the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) in Taiwan. We believe that to assemble and parade is Taiwanese people’s fundamental right and a significant mechanism of democracy. However, current Assembly and Parade Law may give administrative organizations too much power to determine and control, so Taiwan Friends of Tibet stands for amending it as soon as possible.

Ultimately, Taiwan Friends of Tibet strongly requests that the Control Yuan (監察院) and other justice units in Taiwan, according to their authorities and the trust and anticipation of the Taiwanese people, actively investigate cases relevant to illegal actions of administrative organizations and the political responsibilities and liabilities of related government officials.

Translated by Shuo-I Hsu from the original statement posted in http://action1106.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_10.html

BREAKING NEWS !!! A guy burning himself in Liberty Square Now

Students protesting in Freedom Square witness a horrible scene that a guy lights up a huge fire to burn himself.

Happening now as of 1105 PM, 11/10, 2008:

http://live.yahoo.com/wenli

I was stunned too, 'cos I was watching it happening far away from USA through the online live cam set up by the protesting students.

Ambulances arrived right away. Don't know the condition yet. The guy is 80 year old long time KMT member. Flyers were distributed before he burnt himself. He was very disappointed on how Ma Ying-jeou trashed the Republic of China flag, the symbol of something he was taught by KMT to loyal to in his entire life, in order to please the Communist China, the enemy he was taught by KMT to fight against in his whole life.

Trickery politician, ironic history, distorted belief, resulting in a tragic life.

This tragedy interrupted the protest procedure. Students call for peaceful resolve for any opinion expression.

UPDATE.1:

1. The suicide note distributed by Bo-Yian Liu (劉伯煙) before he burnt himself:
   
   
   My translation:
   
   

   My name is Bo-Yian Liu(劉伯煙), 80 years old. I joined KMT in 1950, and has been cheated and insulted by KMT for 30 years, until I couldn't stand it any more and retired. I am not sure how President (Ma Ying-jeou) thinks about what happened lately. I saw people walking on the street with small national flag were arrested by the police, and the flagpole was broken by the police. I saw many policemen beat up people without being punished. I heard that the police arrested 16 civilians and is gonna indict them. Are more than a thousand policemen who beat up civilians with rods gonna be given outstanding awards ?
   
   When Chen Yunlin met up the President (Ma Ying-jeou), he pointed his finger at President and said, "You, you, you...", and I saw President was so happy and responded with a smile on his face. Is the name of our President "You-you-you?" Being a KMT member, I am so shame of myself -- does that mean if Mainland sent an even higher ranking official, our President will knee down to him?
   
   I saw that President is so unfair. It would be better if President issues an amnesty to dismiss all things, that would make it peaceful, and will show how kind and general a President has.
   

   
   
   
2. A member in the medical team of protesting students accompanied Mr. Liu to the hospital. He returned to the scene about one and half hr later. Mr. Liu suffers 3rd burn on 80~90 % of his body, but is stabilized now.
   
   
3. Students describe that Mr.Liu was in the scene this morning. He looked very upset. Students invited him to sit and tried to calm him down. He did. Then later, he seemed to get upset again and walked out of the tent. The unfortunate tragedy then happened.
   
   A student described that their guy on duty in the morning took away two gas bottles from Mr.Liu. But this doesn't seem to be confirmed by a later description.
   

UPDATE.2:

[Support] Should Ma apologise? My two cents by Chan Mao-Guei

Author：Chan Mao-Guei (張茂桂) 台大社會系
Time: 2008/11/9 12pm

The students involved in the sit-in protest demanded for Ma Ying-Jeou(馬英九) and Liou Chao-Shuau(劉兆玄)'s apology due to the law enforcement's blatant violation of human rights during Chen Yu-Lin(陳雲林)'s visit in Taiwan, students also demanded for the Chief of Police and head of National Security Bureau to step down, also amend parts of the Parade and Assembly law(集會遊行法) which restricted citizen's right to voice their opinion freely.

Should Ma and Liou apologise? why is it need to be done? Is it absolutely necessary?

Students' sit-in when compared with DPP's recent protest departs in both action and demand; students' demand and sit-in protest's legality is sound, via civil disobedience method to try and establish a discussion and protest against human rights issues. Their action showed us modern Taiwanese society's basic values and what a democratic society means to us. Where as protests held by DPP were held with prolonged periods of time, however the voices and participants comes from a wider spectrum, even with a uniform chant it was not easy to have a cohesive, concise singular voice. Sometimes due to some individuals unable to differentiate violent protest and personal heroism their action were lead to misinterpretation, more often than not leads to society's condemn.

On the other hand, police is a nation's monopolistic physical force, it is to serve and protect it's citizen's lawful rights, also forms the final force for the government to govern and to utilise to control opposition forces. Thus, when the police is carrying out it's duty in any manner, whether it's using body armor in public, carrying batons, using containments, changing formation or monitoring, no matter legally or philosophically speaking, the police forces should only be used to aggressively protect citizen's lawful rights, and to safeguard society's benefit. At the same time, those opposing citizens should still be protected by constitution and the human rights clauses set out by it. It is sometimes possible for a nation's to utilise this power and avoid responsibilities, for example during times of national crisis or emergency or if attacked by foreign power. However it will easily stir up controversy if this force is used to prevent or safeguard before any emergency or crisis emerges. This is due to the fact declaring martial law is one sided arbitrary power dictated by the government, where abuse of power and violation of human rights most likely to occur. For example, a nation is able to pretentiously announce that it is in a special emergency state, and very quickly citizen's rights diminishes and opposition forces faces elimination. Taiwan had been under martial law for 40 years, we should strive to understand and fear the consequences of the possible implications of the recent issues.

The events which happened today mostly belonged to the "prevention" camp. When Chen's convoy arrived, in great many places questions were asked "When a nation's exercising it's forces on it's citizen, is it appropriate to display such overt amount of forces?" Is the government abusing it's power by "preventing a pressing eventuality"? Many I feel may be confused by what had happened or even angry. The community formed Judicial Reform Foundation's human rights lawyer agreed too, and have pressed charges. Even Liou Chou-Shuan(劉兆玄) and Liao Liou-Yi(廖了以) were pressed to say there was "room for improvement". However, if it's only the law-enforcing technicality that were examined, then it's mostly unnecessary, for that's not where the fundamental issue lies, even giving the police a basic lesson on human rights would be more meaningful. What's most important is the collateral politic responsibilities. Who gave the police the authority, with what judgment to allow for such overt operation? Simply speaking, if we are still a democratic country, then for the government to violate opposition's rights in both physical and speech is most detrimental to the values of a democracy. Thus the question today, would be examine political responsibility of those involved. If we can not see the seriousness of the issue today, inflicted damage will reach far beyond damages caused to the image of our nation or to cross strait relationship and it will be our society's justice, human rights and equality that bore the wound. One of the out comes, would be after 30 years of democratic rule in Taiwan, will once again go back to binary conflict between foreign ruling power and people, a real step back to democracy.

Unfortunately, due to DPP's bloodshed protest, some members of the public refrained to examine the issue at hand, as they do not understand or unable to face the political responsibilities and with knee-jerk reaction initiated series of unintelligent comments. So what if the students were encouraged or used by opposition party(which we know are not true)? So what if they were influenced by Wild Lily movement(野百合學運)'s participant? So what if students did not condemn DPP's violent protesters? So what if the teachers involved have obvious political preference? So what if students interrupted Hsueh Hsiang-chuan(薛香川)? So what if students did not comply with the Parade and Assembly law and applied for an protest 7 days before the event? So what?

We're not saying these are invalid questions, the result of discussion may even influence our opinions on the appropriateness of this sit-in protest. However, when compared with Ma and Liou's willingness to be a "good host" to Chen Yu-Lin's visit to Taiwan which led to inappropriately abuse of police force, the damage this action caused to the value of democracy is easily greater. Obviously we should not be misled by political commentator's opinion and questions to avoid examining the responsibility of this political conflict's abuse of power. When Hsueh appeared to "get to know" the students, he infamously said "Politics is short-lived" such irony! Because the issue at hand today, is the maintenance of a basic pillar of democracy, human rights issue under constitution, this is of a grave matter spanning across all parties, presidents, crass strait meetings, even across racial class issues. As long as constitution and nation which depends upon it exists, all it's citizens must obey and follow it, that is modern Taiwan's core value.

Lastly, we go back to the question whether Ma should apologise. Last time when Ma apologised it was quite an memorable event. Along with Wu Po-Hsiung(吳伯雄) and several KMT's high level officials, all of them bowed 90 degrees several times, at least 7 or 8 times, he even fired those involved. Such humility made everyone believed his sincerity. The event was later referred to as "4 little pigs" Legislators who during high-strung tension election hours went to the opposition camps' building alone to provoke reaction. Compared with "4 little pigs" wouldn't the issue with current political responsibility linking with the given event be even more appropriate to apologise? We would like to remind President Ma during his 20th of May inauguration vowed to obey and defend Constitution of Republic of China, and in his speed swore to be president of every Taiwanese. Now, if the police under the government's layers of guidance, using the interest of nation and preventing eventualities as excuses to violate basic human rights which are protected by constitution, thus broken president Ma's own inauguration speech and his political promise, should he apologise? And being the Republic of China's highest chief of Administration should he apologise as well? Should the Intelligence and Police force's head step down as well? Isn't the answer clear enough with pages taken from Civil Society class 101?

Learning Democracy Lessons

An interesting article about the police violence and what politicians think about it: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/11/2003428280

Some funny statements:

Liao and Wang denied police had deliberately confiscated Republic of China (ROC) flags.
“It had nothing to do with the flag — it had more to do with whether the people were standing in a restricted area or what they were trying to do,” Wang said.

Mhm, that means that all the international observers and all the media around the world were lying to us. Thanks Mr. Wang for finally telling the world the truth!

“The Police Duties Enforcement Law [警察職權行使法] stipulates that when executing an order, police officers should take the measure that causes the least damage to people’s legal rights,” Chiu said.

They way I thought it should be is that the police should NOT CAUSE ANY DAMAGE to people’s legal rights, but instead DEFEND peoples rights.



People blame now the president, the directors of police, or security bureau to be responsible, but is this really true? Are they really the root of all evil?

Someone might ask why did all this police officers follow the commands, if it seems to be clear that actions were against the laws or even against the constitution?
It should be the responsibility of any police officer in a democracy to check if a command is legal and appropriate to the situation! If not, he has to deny the command and get all possible support by superior commanders for this decision.
But: Do they know what democracy is? Do they know about the constitution? Do they know about freedom of speech?
Do they learn how to defend the constitution and the human rights or do they learn how to follow commands?

It is not enough to call for a new assembly and parade law. Nothing will really change. The way people in the government and the police think has to change. And this can only be done by changing the way policeman are educated and trained.

Maybe even the education in school has to be changed. How many hours are spent in a Taiwanese high school per semester on learning about democracy, human rights, the constitution in Taiwan in comparison to other countries constitutions, the political systems in different countries in the world, the political parties in Taiwan and their history, organization and election campaigns, … ???
I am talking about learning and discussing things, not about remembering facts for some examination to be graded. This issue will be examined and graded in life.

If you read the article, you know this people got good grades in school but did not learn their lesson.