TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Over 100 people attended a rally in Taipei on Sunday (Dec. 4) to show their support for the "A4- revolution" (白紙革命), a protest against censorship and restrictive government policies in China.
Dozens of people from many civic groups and educational institutions gathered in Liberty Square and held up blank sheets of paper to show their support for the A4 Revolution. Among the groups and schools represented were the New School for Democracy, International Socialist Forward, Uyghur Human Rights Project, and National Taiwan University.
Taiwanese pro-democracy activist Lee Ming-che(李明哲) was also in attendance and delivered remarks. During his speech, he said during his five years in prison in China he came to understand the relationship between the Chinese government and the people.
Lee said that he witnessed disregard for the law, arbitrary management, and excessive forced labor in prison, reported Liberty Times. He recalled that he often protested to prison authorities and later learned that in China, those with power have the right to interpret them as they see fit and laws are for the will of those in power, not to protect the people.
In terms of epidemic prevention, Lee said that there are many "one size fits all" closed practices in China, "because the people are not considered."
Lee pointed out that human rights are universal values, and as human beings, adding the White Paper Movement was not limited to an exclusive group of people. He said that although the Chinese government seems to have relaxed its epidemic prevention policies in recent days, it continues to arrest protesters by tracking down the locations of their mobile phones.
Lee emphasized that the Chinese government has no regard for the law and tries to undermine world order. By supporting the Chinese people, Lee said he hopes that more Taiwanese will understand the truth about China and the nature of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) rule.
He asserted that the "blood and tears" shed in Tibet and Hong Kong show how China treats its own people under the "one country, two systems" scheme. "Can't the Taiwanese people understand? Let's say it loudly, we refuse to be ruled by such a government!" declared Lee.
Wang Dan (王丹), a 1989 Tiananmen Square student protest leader, pointed out in a written statement that the greatest significance of this movement is that it made China's "contradiction between the state and society public, and the previous false support for the government went bankrupt overnight." Wang wrote that during Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping's (習近平) tenure, the economy and international relations have deteriorated, and he has lost the hearts and minds of the people, "so what else does the CCP have left?"
Wang asserted that the answer is very clear, "The CCP is over and the era of resistance has begun. The era of comprehensive disobedience has begun."
Tashken Davlet, an outreach specialist with the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, was cited by the newspaper as saying that the deadly apartment fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang ignited the A4 Revolution. Beyond calling attention to the devastating fire, he urged the outside world to also pay attention to the genocide being committed in Urumqi, "We are all teammates on the same front in the pursuit of freedom and the fight against the threat of totalitarianism."
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Lee (center) speaks to crowd. (CNA photo)
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