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letter from taiwan
No True Peace without True Justice
—A Letter to the American People
Dear American people:
We, activists of social movements in Taiwan, have been devoted to the realization of a democratic, equal, and peaceful society. Here we would like to express our sincerest sympathy and solicitude for all the victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11.
We, just like you, are strongly opposed to such attacks that would inflict heavy casualties on the civilians. Terrorist atrocity will never be of any help to realize justice and peace, but do tremendous harm to people’s mutual understanding and solidarity all over the world and even justify and intensify the rulers’ oppression and domination.
We, nevertheless, are different from those ruling elites like Bush, Powell, Rumsfeld, and Clinton. As a member of the Third World, we are clearly aware that what the successive U.S. governments have done account for the tragedy.
When there are scenes of Palestinian youth on TV celebrating the attack on the US, we feel heartily sorry. But we also know that their family and friends are jailed in Israel as a result of fighting for freedom, or are maimed by the Israeli army. We can wholly understand the bitterness and resentment of the Palestinian people—many of them still live in the refugee camps—when the Israeli government does not cease to hinder the reconciliation between Palestine and Israel, denies the Palestinian right to self-determination, colonizes the Palestinian areas, and assails the Palestinian civilians. The US government, however, has constantly backed these atrocities carried out by Israel. On Sep. 3, several days before the attack, the US government withdrew from the World Conference against Racism, refusing to denounce the torments brought about by Israel.
When the US government decides to take revenge by air force, we cannot help but think of the Serbian people who lost their lives because of the savage bombing made by NATO chiefly composed of the US army throughout 78 days. The US troops used a huge amount of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition, which according to the research may do harm to human bodies. In 1991, 290 tons of DU were utilized in the Gulf War, and it was reported that 500 thousand people died chronically and numberless Iraqi children suffered from incurable diseases or deformities; thousands of the US soldiers caught the “Gulf War Syndrome.” Moreover, the chemical outflows from bombing Yugoslavia have given rise to the ecological catastrophe in Europe, e.g., made the blue Danube a dead one.
That the US government starts to deploy ground forces also reminds us of the American youth who died in the Vietnam War, and those who were massacred by B52 and ground troops in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. We know that in Indo-China there are still hundreds of thousands of deformed children as a result of the use of “Agent Orange” by the US air force. We can’t forget that on May 4, 1970, four American students were shot dead by the government for their opposing the Vietnam War. We remember that the US army had occupied Cuba for a long time since 1899, invaded Nicaragua in 1909 and 1925, Haiti in 1915, the Dominican Republic in 1916 and 1965, Lebanon in 1958 and 1982, Cuba in 1961, Grenada in 1983, Panama in 1989, and so on.
If the US government insists that Osama bin Laden be responsible for the attack, we have to point out that he wouldn’t have had such power to launch a large-scale attack without the US government’s generous financial aid and training. He is the corollary of the CIA. When the US government fanned up Islamic fundamentalism and made use of Bin Laden as a weapon against the Soviet Union, it did not hesitate about upholding such large-scale terrorist means. In order to confront Iran, Reagan and Bush administrations had incessantly backed Saddam Hussein regardless of his suppressing the Kurd and developing NBC weapons. If Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are viewed as terrorists, then the US government is the arch-criminal that shields and supports terrorism!
When the US government condemns out of a sense of justice those “rogue states” that shelter “terrorists,” we know it has supported world-wide corrupt dictatorships that crack down on the people, quell democracy, and suppress social movements over a long period of time: the racist regime in South Africa, the military regime in El Salvador and Argentina, Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua, Pinochet in Chile, the Duvalier dynasty in Haiti, Mohammed Pahlavi in Iran, Rhee Syngman, Park Chunghee, and Chun Doowhan in South Korea, Ferdinand Marcos in Philippines, Suharto in Indonesia, etc. In Taiwan, our homeland, the US government had made the long-term KMT dictatorial regime possible, permitting it to implement the white terror policy, which remains fresh in our memory. With exporting its capital to Taiwan, the US government also forces us to build hazardous nuclear power plants which has brought disaster to our environment and workers.
When the US politicians ask for more power of intelligence agencies, we believe that the chimerical ideas in the film, Enemy of the State, will be embodied in the daily life. The large expenditure of money on intelligence should have prevented the tragedy on Sep. 11, but it only served as the weapon against democracy and social reform. While suppressing civil rights about domestic issues, the CIA also engaged in overseas terrorist activities such as overthrowing progressive elected governments (e.g. Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 and Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973) and eradicating all social movements. The large number of bones of labor movement participants unearthed at the former CIA base in Honduras this year were just the tip of an iceberg. George H. W. Bush, the former president of the US and father of the current president, was the former CIA director, that is, a partner in crime.
Dear American people, we believe you are aware that the Bush Administration lacks for legitimacy, and as you probably know, this results partly from the systematic deprivation of minority groups’ civil rights. His winning the presidency also depended on two things: a 5-4 Supreme Court vote and an officially certified victory of 537 votes in Florida. In nationwide, the total votes of Bush were even 550 thousands less than Gore. We, and the rest of the world, were impressed with the President’s inauguration that accompanied so vigorous protests. While it’s pressing to let everyone forget his failure in dealing with the economic recession, and his breaking the agreement on environmental protection and arms control, the Bush Administration must wage war to overcome this eco-political crisis.
Military retaliation will not protect the American civilians, but stir up more intense hatred; it will not lead to durable peace, but agitate international tension.
At this moment, dear American people, we have to appeal to each of you:
1. All of us must be opposed to all the harassment, attack, insult, discrimination, accusation, ransack, and arrest aimed at Arabian people, Moslem, and other minority groups. They are not responsible for what’s done by only a few people, not to mention that no direct evidence is afforded to target at any specific country or group. From now on, we must stop the right wing from resorting to violent means that will cause tragedies over and over again.
2. All of us must be opposed to all the US government’s retaliatory measures and its taking advantage of the present occasion to expand power. Neither military retaliation nor economic sanction will bring forth peace, but strengthen state power, justify the suppression of minority groups, women, and social reform, corrode the institution of democracy, and deprive people of elementary freedoms. The only way to ensure the American people’s safety and freedom is work together to reject the government’s foreign policy: military intervention, political domination and economic appropriation of other countries by the US. ruling elites; suppression and slaughter of the Third World people in the name of justice and American interests. We will also oppose the Taiwan government’s policy that’s erroneously partial to the US, because it does not take into consideration the harm done by the US to people all over the world, and possibly make Taiwan a target of revenge.
Dear American people, in spite of our strong objection to the US government’s unjust policy, we have deep affection for you, the American people. We know that America maintains a tradition of tolerance and liberty, for the Declaration of Independence has impassioned all who long for democracy and liberty. In the history of America there are unsurpassed social movement leaders such as Hellen Keller, Engene Debs, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. The women’s movement, civil rights movement, student movement and the resistance of Indians in America during the 1960s have encouraged all who quest for justice. From the Vietnam War to the Gulf War, countless Americans bravely struggled against the government’s aggressive policy, and some of them even lost their lives. We believe, this time the tragedy will all the more unite us: let our grief be soothed and racial hatred be terminated; let us stand hand in hand to fight against the US government and all the unjust regimes and for a society free from fear and oppression!
