A bad business practice by Taiwan’s biggest bookstore chain

Have you ever seen souvenir items based on images from Adolf Hitler’s life being sold anywhere in the world to commemorate his legacy? I doubt it, because it is simply not right to promote the legacy of the mastermind behind the Holocaust.

But in Taiwan, souvenir items based on images from the lives of dead dictator Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo are being sold across Taiwan at the nation’s biggest bookstore chain (see the video at that link), Eslite Bookstore (誠品書店).

To my dismay, the legacy of Taiwan’s dead dictator, the mastermind behind Taiwan’s 228 massacre in 1947, is being revived!

The great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), Demos Chiang’s design company, the DEM INC., designed some disgusting souvenirs featuring images from the life of dead dictator Chiang and his son, the head of the secret police during Taiwan's White Terror period. The souvenir items include pens, T-shirts, notebooks, post cards, and more.

If Demos Chiang were a businessman who cared about Taiwan’s worsening human rights situation and noticed the recent erosion of justice, these products commemorating dictator Chiang’s life would not have been designed in the first place, not to mention being mass produced for sale in Taiwan’s biggest bookstore chain.

Have you seen Demos Chiang’s blog updated with any words of support for a better Taiwan like what the Wild Strawberries Student Movement has been fighting for? No! And how could he, since he was probably preoccupied by this souvenir design project?!

Identifying himself as a Taiwanese (my note: which I really doubt now), Demos Chiang, previously admitted that his family members had persecuted the Taiwanese people in the past, but it is now quite evident that such remarks were merely a tactic to promote his company and obtain contracts.

Many of Taiwan’s younger businessmen will tell you that they love Taiwan, but deep down they don’t. They love money more than anything else. All they care about is making lots of profits despite unethical business practices and despite the risk of becoming Chinese slaves in the near future. They represent a lost generation who were born to a more democratic Taiwanese society that was already there for them because of the blood shed by their predecessors.

How pathetic!

Reference sources:
From page 8 of the Tuesday, May 29, 2007 Taipei Times, read the editorial Young Chiang shows KMT the way.

For Chinese text of Demos Chiang's admission that his relatives persecuted the Taiwanese, read 蔣友柏:我家人曾迫害台灣人.

See the video which brought attention to Eslite's sales of CKS and CCK souvenirs.

In Taiwan is it justifiable to be charged based on a law that is unconstitutional and being protested upon?

Let's take a closer look at the Assembly and Parade Act (APA 集會遊行法) that Prof. Lee was indicted for "violating"

The APA gives wide powers to police to disperse demonstrations and designate restricted areas, while making it compulsory for organizers to apply for permits. Human rights defenders, including students, academics and activists have strongly criticized the unconstitutionality of this law, deemed to have violated Taiwan's Constitution under Article 14, which states clearly that "The people have freedom of assembly and association".

Neither Mr. Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁) nor Lin Chia-fan (林佳範) should have to bear the personal burdens of an entire nation's concern, unless you welcome this unconstitutional law to become harsher.

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) have jointly called on Taiwan to respect and protect freedom of expression and freedom of assembly by dropping the charges against these two prominent human rights defenders and amending the Parade and Assembly Law in accordance to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ratified at the Legislative Yuan in March 2009.

Read Taiwan should drop charges against HRDs and amend parade and assembly law, Wed, 01/07/2009 - 12:00, FORUM-ASIA.

The indictment issued on May 15 by the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, stated that Lee "is well aware that assembly and parades are prohibited without submitting an application in advance," but did not do so when he led hundreds of students and civic group members to the sit-in.

Meanwhile, the members of the Wild Strawberry Student Movement slammed the indictment of National Taiwan University sociology professor Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁) for allegedly violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) during a sit-in last November.

Read the entire news story, Wild Strawberries slam indictment of NTU professor, by Flora Wang and Shelley Huang, in the Taipei Times, Friday, June 12, 2009, Page 1.

More sneaky amendments to the APA underway
The latest version of the law makes sure that protesters do not only have to ask for approval beforehand but also gives the local police authority the power to alter approved parade routes, protest sizes, or finishing times wherever and whenever they see fit. This is going to be stricter than the law that existed during the Martial Law era. Read Upcoming protests against the latest KMT amendment of Parade & Assembly Law in Taiwan, April 26, 2009 from In Claudia Jean's Eyes.

Double standards by the Taipei police authority
Did the redshirt army movement in the fall of 2006 have permission to protest? At one point, when police denied permission for their protests, then-Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou overrode their decision and told police to approve the protests. In fact, Ma himself donned the redshirts' uniform and joined the protestors on more than one occasion.

Note what's behind the second link above:

Earlier yesterday morning, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) showed up briefly at the sit-in area and helped distribute 1,200 loaves of bread and bottles of soy milk to protesters. Wearing a red shirt, Ma led the crowd in shouting "A-bian Step Down!" in Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka.

Ma said he had taken the opportunity to express the KMT's support for the protesters.

UPDATE: Compare that with Ma's current statements regarding "non-interference":

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has rejected a plea by his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), to lift a court order that bars Chen's daughter from leaving the country.

[...]

"However, having been a president, Chen Shui-bian should understand that although being head of the Republic of China comes with much authority, [a president] still cannot intervene in the judiciary," Ma said on Thursday. "The decision [to lift the travel ban on Chen Hsing-yu] should be decided by the prosecutors or the court, not by me."

[/update]

We don't need an APA in Taiwan
What Taiwan really needs is simply a process to register demonstrations with local police authorities rather than to apply for permission from the police, so that the local police authority will be informed of the gathering but will not have to make a decision on who or where or when to grant permission.

Currently, the police authorities often grant permission to pan-blue organized demonstrations while denying permission when the applications come from the pan-green camp.

Important references:
Read Taiwanese Students Protest 'Parade and Assembly Law', from the China Digital Times.

Read Latest Parade & Assembly Law developments, from That's Impossible! Politics from Taiwan.

Read A breakthrough in human rights, by Peter Huang (黃文雄) in the Taipei Times, Wednesday, Apr 08, 2009, Page 8.

(Tim Maddog contributed to this post.)

Disguised student caught on Wild Strawberry protest site

A guy disguised as a student infiltrated to the Wild Strawberry Movement (WSM) camp and stole a laptop that students use to operate their movement:

At about 9 am on 13 December, a student surnamed Lai found their notebook computer was missing. Workers of the Wild Strawberry Movement, after obtaining the agreement of everyone present, began to check through the personal belongings at the site. They then found the student Lai's computer under the jacket of a man claiming to be a student from Fu Jen University's Chinese Department.

Because of the principle of presumption of innocence, students of the Wild Strawberry Movement first asked the man to explain why he had student Lai's computer. However, his words stuttered and he was unable to give a reasonable explanation. Therefore at approximately 9:30 am on the same day, the students of the Wild Strawberry Movement sought the assistance of a police officer at the site. They reported the incident to the police. When the police checked the man's ID it was discovered that the information he had given to the Wild Strawberry Movement was false. Furthermore, he was not a student in Fu Jen University's Chinese Department.

(see http://taiwanstudentmovement2008.blogspot.com/2008/12/1213.html)

This reminds me of another report.

The WSM insists 3 appeals: 1. President Ma and Premier Liu apologize; 2. Chiefs of National Police Agency and of National Security Bureau, Wang and Tsai, step down; 3. Amend The Parade and Assembly Law.

On Nov. 15th, 9 days into WSM's month long protest, Ma government tried to make students scale down their protest by dropping the first two appeals.

Besides asking teachers of those students to participate in the persuasion, the Ma's party, KMT, also did this:

國民黨青年團也「派員」參與學運，希望「鎖定議題」，只談「修法」，並對外釋出「下台和道歉」較難達到，只談修法的訊息。

KMT's Youth League also "sent member(s)" to participate the WSM. Hoping to "scale down the focus" to only the 3rd appeal, they spread words that it's much harder to achieve the goals of "apology" and "resign", so it's better to focus on the "law amending".

Will the world be watching?

Let's see what Mr. Ma is made of


At 12 noon on Sunday, December 7, 2008, starting from Taipei, Taiwan's Liberty Square (自由廣場), the student movement known as the Wild StrawBerries are planning a peaceful march to reiterate the following most-reasonable demands [edited for formatting, clarity, spelling, and completeness]:

1. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) must publicly apologize to all citizens [for creating the situation which allowed the police to treat protesters the way they did during Chen Yunlin's (陳雲林) visit to Taiwan].

2. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) and National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) must step down [to take responsibility for the police brutality that occurred as a result of the massive police presence].

3. The Legislative Yuan (行政院) must revise the Parade and Assembly Law (集會遊行法), which currently restricts the rights of the people [and which are set to become even more repressive early in 2009]. [This is basically a simple demand for ""Freedom of Assembly."]

Anyone who agrees to wear black, to refrain from displaying any partisan slogans, and to refrain being violent is welcome to attend this protest. Since permission to hold this protest was denied the group hasn't even applied for permission (but have instead voluntarily reported the activity to police, in line with how they want the Parade and Assembly Law [集會遊行法] to be modified), it will therefore be an act of civil disobedience.

Even if you don't attend, please sign the Wild StrawBerries' online petition if you want democracy in Taiwan to remain within reach. It has already slipped way too far backward since the Ma administration took office on May 20, 2008.

Who else has got their backs?
The Ma government has come under heavy criticism from many international human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, and others. Protests will also be taking place in Tokyo and Paris on Sunday in support of the Wild StrawBerries. Please support them any way you can.



RELATED LINKS:
* Watch the Wild StrawBerries practicing peaceful resistance (live on Justin.tv)

* The Wild StrawBerries' English blog

* The Wild StrawBerries' (野草莓運動) Mandarin blog

* A post by David Reid with images, links, and more details

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Ingredients: Taiwan, 台灣, Wild StrawBerries Movement, 野草莓學運, protest, 抗議, human rights, 人權

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!