The Lighter Side: Chen Voodoo Dolls

The foreign press may not be able to get anything serious right, as Jason points out below, but they are competent at human interest stories. From DPA in Germany comes this tale of a voodoo doll of Chen Shui-bian:

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DPA (German Press Agency), via DailyIndia.com, Germany
Sep. 10, 2006

www.dailyindia.com

Taipei, Sep 10 (DPA) Opponents of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian have found a new weapon to try to bring about his downfall - voodoo dolls.

Since opposition parties launched the campaign to oust Chen over alleged corruption scandals four months ago, they have tried all manner of gambits to pressure and shame him into resigning.

The opposition had tried articles, slogans, rhymes, jokes, anti-Chen T-shirts, balloons, rallies and sit-ins but Chen refused to step down.

Now, a couple named Lin has created Chen Shui-bian voodoo dolls, which are selling like hot cakes, the United Daily News said Sunday.

'We hit upon the idea because we found all the anti-Chen commodities were not cute, so we began to make Chen Shui-bian voodoo doll with hemp thread,' Lin said.

On Saturday, the first day of offering the dolls for sale, the couple took 7,000 Chen Shui-bian voodoo dolls to an anti-Chen mass rally and sold them within a few hours.

Each doll sells for 180 Taiwan dollars ($6 US).

Voodoo dolls originated in Africa and the Caribbean, growing out of the practise of traditional religions. Believers with a grudge against someone will write the name of their enemy on a voodoo doll, poke it with needles and place a curse on the doll.

[Taiwan] [Chen Shui-bian]