Another objective would be to paralyze the government and compel Ma’s resignation. This could be achieved by surrounding the Presidential office and/or the legislature on a continuous, round-the-clock basis with a smaller contingent of 5,000 to 10,000 protesters. These volunteers could come from all around Taiwan on a rotating basis. Such a sustained effort would, of course, require planning, discipline and organization. It would also demand the unity and cooperation of all Taiwanese organizations that support Taiwan’s survival as an independent, democratic state.
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson proclaimed in the US Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government ... ”
What was true in the US in 1776 is just as true in Taiwan today.
Li Thian-hok is a freelance commentator based in Pennsylvania.
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