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Anti-nuclear activists begin march

Former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung, right, and about 100 other activists set out from Taipei's Lungshan Temple yesterday on the first of 50 weekend anti-nuclear marches across Taiwan. Participants are demanding a referendum on construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

More than a hundred anti-nuclear activists began a 50-week series of weekend marches yesterday to demand a referendum on whether construction should continue on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

The activists hope to see a referendum no later than, and possibly in conjunction with, the presidential election in 2004.

"Major public policies being decided by the public is a basic right for citizens. A mature democratic society should allow the public to express opinions and participate in the process of policy decision-making," said protest organizer Cheng Hsien-yu (鄭先祐) prior to the start of the march.

Estimates had more than 100 activists gathering in western Taipei City to begin their 1,000km march yesterday. Marchers plan to trek 20km each week to demonstrate their conviction.

The DPP government, giving in to opposition demands, reversed in January last year its controversial decision of October 2000 to halt construction on the nuclear plant.

Activists began their march after issuing a statement yesterday morning at Lungshan Temple in the Wanhua district and walked along streets in the west of Taipei. Marchers arrived at the administration building of the Department of Rapid Transit Systems in the afternoon, finishing their first leg of 12.7km.

Protest march * Marchers plan to walk 20km each week for 50 weeks to demand a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. * Demonstrators completed 12.7km yesterday and plan to complete another 10.75km tomorrow. * It is the third such march to protest against the power plant since 1994.

Marchers will continue their walk this afternoon in Taipei City with the goal of completing another 10.75km.

The march, led by the Association for Promoting Public Voting on Nuclear Plant Four (核四公投促進會), was the group's third such walk since September 1994 when former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) led a two-month, 1,005km trek to push for a referendum. Lin also participated in yesterday's march.

The long-distance march as a form of protest has its roots in the Buddhist tradition and is intended to show participants' determination and bravery despite great hardship.

In the group's statement, Cheng said that the nuclear power plant poses a huge potential threat to people's lives, property and security, and its budget is astronomical. The association advocates that the legislature freeze its budget immediately and let the public decide its future based on a vote.

Cheng stressed that the awakening of citizens' consciousness is the basis of a democratic society, adding that relying too much on the representative system to allow a small number of politicians to speak for the public "could result in unsavory relations between politicians and big business."

"The appeal, however, should be carried out by non-violent means," Cheng said.

Cheng said advocates agreed to maintain friendly relations with the government and opposition and that they would use neither virulent language nor violence, even should violence be used against them.

"Non-violent action as a model of establishing a non-oppressive and just society should be advocated," he said.

Groups such as the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, Taiwan Agenda 21, the Homemakers' Union and Foundation and the Taiwan Peace Foundation have long advocated decommissioning the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. They also hope to close the other three nuclear plants to establish a nuclear-free country.

In addition to Cheng and Lin, yesterday's march participants included National Taiwan University professors Shih Shin-min (施信民), Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎) and Yang Chao-yueh (楊肇岳); Taiwan Peace Foundation Chief Executive Iap Phok-bun (葉博文), as well as Taiwan Agenda 21 Secretary-General Hsu Chu-feng (許主峰).
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