Three days of activities to commemorate late democracy advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕) are set to begin on Sunday next week in Kaohsiung, with the city designating April 7 as Freedom of Expression Day in honor of Deng.
Aged 43, Deng killed himself by self-immolation on April 7, 1989, in defense of “100 percent freedom of expression.”
At a press conference yesterday in which Deng’s widow, Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), was present, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) delivered an emotional speech, saying she had tried to stop Deng from committing suicide just prior to his death.
The freedom of speech that Taiwanese enjoy is the legacy of pioneering democracy fighters, Chen said.
The Kaohsiung Incident — an anti-government demonstration organized by Formosa Magazine on Dec. 10, 1979, that resulted in the mass arrest and imprisonment of opposition leaders by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — was a milestone of Taiwanese democracy, according to Chen, who was herself imprisoned for six-and-a-half years for her involvement in the incident.
Deng, the founder and then editor-in-chief of Freedom Era Weekly (自由時代週刊), publicly argued for Taiwanese independence on numerous occasions during the 1980s — a time when vocal supporters of independence were often charged with sedition.
His death sent shock waves through the nation and gave rise to a democratic awakening, Chen said.
Freedom of speech is the foundation of democracy and a universal human right, Chen added.
“From the Wild Lily student movement in 1990 to the Wild Strawberries movement in 2008 and the Sunflower movement last year, the nation has seen different generations of activists striving for democracy and freedom, which has prompted the Taiwanese to value the importance of the freedom of speech,” Chen said.
This year’s activities are set to be themed on the Sunflower movement and Hong Kong’s Umbrella movement, the Kaohsiung City Government said, adding that leaders of the Hong Kong protests, including activist Yvonne Leung (梁麗幗), director Chan Tze-woon (陳梓桓) and Nate Chan (陳芊憓), would attend and share their views on various social issues.
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