[News] Wild Strawberries interviewed by KPFT Human Right Show

The Wild Strawberry were interviewed by Houston's FM 90.1, KPFT, the Pacific Network, during the Human Rights Show sponsored by the Amnesty International. Please go to the following web site to listen to the interview:
http://archive.kpft.org/mp3/090116_190000hr.MP3

http://archive.kpft.org/
In the row "The Human Rights Show" for "Friday January 16, 2009 7:00 pm

[BerrySeed] Journal Forum Group of WS

We would like to share some good news with everyone that Taipei Wild Strawberries has officially launched a Journal Forum Group which will be responsible for publishing e-news and composing editorials to the print media.

A1 Yoshi will serve as our founding Editor-in-Chief, responsible for day-to-day operations and in charge of eleven staff members. Littlegrass and Rousseau, both senior editors, will each lead a team to regularly compose letters to print media and monitor news media.

Some of you may have noticed that two op-ed articles by BerrySeed in the 1231 and 0103 issues were also published in Section A15 of The Liberty Times, marking a milestone for our group. We expect to contribute at least one such article each week to print media. (Please note that BerrySeed is the official pen name of the Taipei Wild Strawberries Journal Forum Group.)

With regard to the monthly e-news publication, the tentative launch date is set for the beginning of February. Considering the primary target audience is current and past movement participants as well as supporters, the content will include (but not limited to) editorials, behind-the-scenes tidbits, Strawberries activity reports, upcoming event calendars, and readers' corner, etc.

The core message of our first issue is tentatively "Reflection of the Past, Contemplation of the Future." Going forward, the Journal Forum Group will work in close collaboration with other groups to provide PR and editorial assistance. Moreover, the group plans to build a website with archived issues when appropriate. The Wild Strawberries Movement sincerely hopes to continue the battle for human rights with a pen as its mighty weapon and knowledge as power.

Please do not hesitate to direct any questions to BerrySeed or reply to this article. We will also be seeking freelance writers and will provide details at a later date.


BerrySeed

[Rationale] Regarding the theft incident on 13 December at Liberty Square

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.

In regard to this matter that arose, we habitually used a "rational, peaceful and nonviolent" action in accordance the movement's demands and central principle. Furthermore we refuse to make any wild accusations of guilt without proper examination. However, this matter has been reported in some sections of the media using a "Wild Strawberries violence, attempt to conceal quarrel"
form of description. In addition no students at the site or people who were present during the incident have been interviewed by the media. Therefore this one sided and incorrect information has made the students who were present feel disturbed and upset. We feel regret about this and feel very dissatisfied about the media reporting the Wild Strawberries' upholding the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" as a cover up.

Presently this matter is being investigated by the judicial system. Those present during the incident will make no further comment on this matter.

[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.

[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.

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