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Business linked to anti-Chen drive

Although former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) effort to depose President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) draws from a wide range of political interests, the fact that the campaign has taken in more than NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) in public donations shows that business interests have also gotten involved.

Since a supposedly creative advertising agent put himself on the anti-Chen campaign's front line, it has changed appearance almost daily, raising the question of whether this constitutes political creativity or commercial meddling.

Seats for the sit-in demonstration launched by Shih must be booked as if reserving theater or train tickets, the only difference being that seats are not numbered.

The values of courtesy, righteousness, integrity and shame were proposed as the basis for the trial run for the sit-in. These values made up the "spiritual fortress" of the late presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and son Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime for more than 70 years.

The organizers of the the trial sit-in soon decided that these values were hackneyed and stale, so they came up with the idea of using a formation based on Peru's Nazca lines that is aimed at uniting "heaven and earth for strength."

The Nazca lines and the Chiang family's values indeed bring together Chinese and foreign values, but where in these lines and values can we find the justice so highly praised by Shih, someone who claims to be both pro-green and pro-localization?

It must be asked: what is the relevance of the Nazca lines to Taiwan? The answer is nothing: it is only a way to play tricks and blur facts.

If Shih's campaign is trying to transform serious political issues into a carnival aimed at dissolving several years of accumulated political conflict between the pan-green and pan-blue camps that could otherwise explode on Ketagalan Boulevard, it is doing an immeasurably good thing.

Sadly, this is not the case. The "creative" advertising agent proposed red campaign advertisements symbolizing a "fire of wrath" moving toward the Presidential Office. Shih's interpretation of the advertisements was that they symbolized heroic bloodshed or the bloodbath during the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) revolution.

It is no wonder that Ho De-fen (賀德芬), the campaign's original strategist and a professor emeritus at National Taiwan University, said that the wrathful signs run counter to the spirit of a peaceful and non-violent demonstration.

It now appears that commercial symbols will be plastered on Taiwan's historic monuments and be used to bring 300,000 people dressed in red onto the streets.

The trial sit-in was held as a test balloon to gauge public response since those in charge were not confident about the public's response. The anti-Chen campaign has been strongly supported by certain media outlets, but the result has still not been as good as expected. After all, donating NT$100 and participating in a demonstration that may end in violence are two different things.

In addition, the much-hyped goal of getting 1 million people to pay NT$100 each is probably being achieved by some people donating thousands and others donating NT$100 several times. Of course, this will never be admitted to.

Whether the anti-Chen campaign is a success or failure, the use of its commercialized campaign strategy has made Shih, the advertising agent and other connected people popular, or "red" as the saying goes in Chinese.

If Taiwan is covered in red, then Shih and his ilk can expect to be put to good use by China and the commercialization of the campaign will truly have been a successful business marketing strategy. The only worry is that these alleged anti-corruption crusaders will become corrupt themselves and disappoint those who participate in the campaign with pure motives.

Sept. 9 marked the 30th anniversary of Mao Zedong's (毛澤東) death. Mao was unable to put an end to the Cultural Revolution, which he started and directed. Do the Taiwanese politicians and media professionals now trying to follow in his footsteps by starting a cultural revolution want to bring disaster to Taiwan?

Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of this campaign, I believe that the nation's people will treasure its hard-earned democracy and make the right choice.

Paul Lin is a political commentator based in Taipei.

Translated by Lin Ya-ti
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