When Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan earlier this month, people were astonished to see our government using authoritarian methods to obstruct members of the public who only sought to voice their opinions. Putting “honored guest” Chen in first place, the government dispatched 7,000 police to protect him. Treating the Taiwanese public as troublemakers and rioters, police officers grabbed national flags, broke flagpoles and forcibly dispersed and arrested people in the streets just for trying to raise their voices in protest.
We musicians usually spend our time playing, composing and listening to the music of all nations. Among us there are those who specialize in Western, Chinese or popular music. During Chen’s visit, the police forced a music shop called Sunrise Records to stop playing music and close down for the day. The shop was just playing music, so why, we ask, did the police handle the matter in such a repressive way?
This is the first time our government has received such “honored guests” from China. If the police were to make a critical evaluation of these events and explain to the public that they used excessive means to enforce the law because they lacked experience and if suitable penalties were imposed on the officers who ordered such actions and apologies were made, we think everyone could forgive them.
What we see in reality, though, is National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) sticking to his lies about the events, asserting arrogantly that there was nothing inappropriate about the police’s actions, while Beitou precinct police chief Lee Han-ching (李漢卿), who was in charge at the Sunrise Records incident, insists that if the same situation happened again he would handle it in the same way.
Musicians seek truth, kindness and beauty in life, not such ugliness as this.
This is why more than 1,000 musicians have signed a protest letter in just 10 days. It isn’t just about Sunrise Records, or the Songs of Taiwan (台灣之歌) CD that the shop was playing. They could have been playing Hakka or Cantonese songs, or English, or Tibetan, or Vietnamese. Whatever the music, we would still want to stand up for musical freedom.
The “Wild Strawberries” are young people who have grown up in an environment of freedom and democracy. They have sacrificed time and energy to hold a sit-in vigil at Liberty Square. In doing so, they have come under a lot of criticism. Determined to protect our hard-won freedom and democratic rights, they reject interference from either political camp. Because of their lack of resources, government officials have not found it necessary to pay much attention to them. Instead, many bureaucrats have openly or implicitly ridiculed the protesting students, and the few who initially expressed support were gone after a day or two.
That is why, after signing the open letter, we have decided to go one step further by holding an open-air concert at the scene of the vigil in Liberty Square from 3pm to 6pm today. Taking part in the concert will be composers and playwrights, traditional Chinese music performers, outstanding classical musicians, wind instrument players and others. There will be performances of traditional Taiwanese music, including Taiwanese opera, the folk song Joyful Spring (百家春), folk song improvisation and much more.
We want to show everyone that music knows no borders. Chinese people who respect Taiwan are our friends. Chinese culture is an important part of our heritage, and equally dear to us are the universal values of freedom and democracy.
Yen Lu-fen is a professor in the Department of Music and Graduate School of Musicology at the Taipei National University of the Arts.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
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