Several anti-nuclear activists yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, demanding an apology for the linking of their names to a pro-nuclear Web site in August last year.
Holding up a poster that read: “Nuclear Power = safe and cheap? It’s all fake,” the activists said the ministry has not yet apologized for the use of their names, which was clearly against their ideals. The protesters demanded an apology on the ministry’s Web site within 14 days.
“The Chinese character chosen by the public to represent last year was fake (假), which was the theme of all levels of our government, including in discussions about nuclear issues,” Nuclear-Free Homeland Alliance executive director Lee Cho-han (李卓翰) said. “We are filing a lawsuit for state compensation as the ministry has invaded the rights to our name.”
Photo: CNA
Asking for a symbolic NT$1 as compensation, he said the main reason for demanding state compensation is to stress that nuclear and energy resource issues are important public concerns, “so the government should not play this kind of dirty trick to progress nuclear power.”
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said it would be the same logic as a cigarette company linking the name of Sun Yue (孫越) — a celebrity and anti-smoking activists — to its Web site, or if a porn Web site linked super model Lin Chi-ling (林志玲) to its Web site.
Such an act is illegal and the ministry should not use taxpayers’ money to do the same thing, the protesters said.
“The government is the embodiment of fakeness in this nation,” Citizen of the Earth Taiwan president and National Taipei University professor Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全) said.
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