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Activist burns passport in protest

US citizen Lynn Miles burns his passport in front of the American Institute in Taiwan yesterday. PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

A US national burnt his passport in front of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday to protest against the US-led war in Iraq, while Muslims gathered in a local mosque to pray for a swift end to the conflict.

Beating a drum, Lynn Miles frowned and closed his eyes while standing in front of AIT around noon yesterday, surrounded by a handful of reporters and passers-by.

He then uttered a few words explaining why he decided to take what he termed the symbolic move of burning his US passport to sever ties with his country.

"It's a very bad regime [referring to the current George W. Bush administration], acting in the name of the US people to fight an unknown enemy," Miles said in Mandarin.

"I am the citizen of the planet before I am the citizen of any country. So Iraq is part of our family," he added.

Miles, a longstanding activist for Taiwan's democratization over the past few decades, was blacklisted from 1971 to 1996 by the KMT government.

Working for the office of the vice president on a project basis, Miles said some of his "friends" working within the government had tried to persuade him not to burn his passport.

The AIT declined to comment on Miles' action, while saying to burn one's US passport does not lead to the automatic renouncement of one's US citizenship.

Miles said he would not reapply for his US passport until the Iraq war comes to an end.

As Miles bent to burn his US passport with a lighter, his American friend Reuben BenYuhmin, who teaches English at National Central University, recited his anti-war poem entitled In The Name of The Whore.

"Amen and Amen/Well what can one say/On this twentieth day/The whore he does say/Listen up world/We'll attack and prevail/This a just war/For peace and the poor/Such the lies of the whore," BenYuhmin read out aloud.

While the small-scale anti-war demonstration unfolded at the de facto US embassy, Muslims gathered at the Taipei Grand Mosque located a few blocks away at the same time for their regular Friday prayer.

Aside from the jumah, referring to Muslims' regular Friday praying ceremony, imam of the mosque Ishag Ma (馬孝棋) also led a prayer for peace in the wake of the US-led strikes against Iraq.

"We pray for a speedy end to the war and that civilian casualties will be minimized," said Ting Nai-hsin (丁迺忻), chairman of the mosque and a manager at the Industrial Bank of Taiwan.

Despite widespread discontent over the war, Ma said he would like to urge followers to act with reason to eradicate the common stereotype of Muslims as "terrorists."

Both Ma and Ting also questioned the legality of the strike against Iraq without the endorsement of the UN Security Council.
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