wfn.org | Taiwan Church News Editorial: Churches should support Wild Strawberry Student Movement

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>Taiwan Church News

>2959 Edition

>November 10~16, 2008

Editorial: Churches Should Support Wild Strawberry Student Movement

After twenty years of social movements and struggle for human rights,  Taiwan’s social movements subsided and morphed into a dialogue  between political parties. However, the recent visit by Association for  Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin and  events surrounding the visit sparked mass student movements reminiscent  to the Wild Lily Student Movement of the early 1990s.

The Wild Strawberry Student Movement reveals how wrong-headed the  Taiwanese government has been at exercising the law. The people of  Taiwan have the right to oppose or support the four treaties signed by  President Ma as well as voice their displeasure about China. However,  what we have seen from the government in recent days is police officers  confiscating personal belongings (such as flags and balloons carried by  protesters), bringing protesters in for questioning, arresting and  driving away protesters. On one occasion, Taiwanese saw from news  reports a bunch of police officers barging into a record store and  ordering the storeowner to stop playing out loud Taiwanese songs. On  another occasion, police officers tore down Taiwan’s national flag.  These incidents are examples of law enforcement trampling civil rights.

Students should be praised for turning their fury and displeasure into  constructive action by staging peaceful sit-in protests demanding reform  of the Assembly and Parade Law. What these students are asking is  consistent with civil rights as outlined in the constitution. They want  to change assembly laws so that protesters only need to  “notify” law enforcement when staging protests instead of  applying for “permission” to protest. The rationale behind  this is that a government can easily ban protests it does not like if  given power to allow or disallow them. In light of this, the sit-in  protest becomes very reasonable for it is a civil right. The only place  where freedom of assembly is not allowed is in authoritarian regimes.  Furthermore, many democratic reforms and progresses began outside of the  government machine in the form of rallies and protests.

>Hence, I invite churches to do the following:

1-     Make your voices heard. Offer your support for human rights. The  church should not limit its involvement to elections and political  issues. It should support movements seeking to enhance civil rights.  This is particularly true of the Wild Strawberry Student Movement. Its  basis is basic human rights, non-controversial, and in line with our  religious convictions.

2-     Encourage the college students at your church to participate.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to teach on human rights and  faith. For a long time, our youths have only been active within  churches. This is a good opportunity for them to go out and experience  how far society has come and where it is headed so that they will not  become narrow-minded or out of touch with reality. A faithful young  Christian will not only have a burden for lost souls, but also have  passion for justice and concern for the marginalized in society.

3-     Pray fervently for students. According to ethicist Reinhold  Niehbur, sacrificial love will awaken mutual love in humans. This kind  of love will affect society and propel it to seek a just system. The  church should pray for students who have sacrificed their time and sleep  to fight for a better society in a peaceful manner.

If such a rally does not have enough manpower to sustain it and is not  able to garner support from the majority of the population, it will die  out in due time. However, its demise would also indicate that society is  not ready to hear progressive, prophetic voices. On the other hand, if  many people can concur with the spirit of the rally and participate in  it, this means that the rally can bring people together for the  betterment and progress of society.

In the past, politics has always been divided between the pan-blue and  the pan-green camps and the church has also chosen sides without sound  judgment. However, this student movement should be supported by churches  nationwide because it stands for human rights, justice, and the  marginalized people in society.

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