Weeks after commencing a high-profile, round-the-clock demonstration calling on President Chen-Shui-bian (陳水扁) to step down, the anti-Chen campaign appears to be wracked by internal disputes and has come under heavy criticism following its unlawful "siege" last Tuesday.
While some critics had condemned the unlawful demonstration last Tuesday for disturbing public order, the harshest rebukes come from some of the campaign's own supporters, with some questioning "where the campaign leaders were" when the supporters were being dispersed by riot police in the early hours last Wednesday.
The campaign started on a high note. It received public donations totaling NT$111 million (US$3 million) when former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The campaign reached its peak with hundreds of thousands of people flooding the streets and joining its mock "siege" of the Presidential Office on Sept. 15.
However, the campaign seems to have lost its momentum since then, with subsequent demonstrations attracting a lower number of participants.
Clashes between the campaign's organizers have also upset supporters who have questioned the apparently indecisive leadership.
While arguing that it may be too early to tell whether the campaign has lost public support, Yang Tai-shun (
"People joined the campaign with different purposes, and the bad influence of having too many people involved in the decision-making process, especially politicians, is that the purity of the campaign would be discounted," he told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview.
Shih, noting that members of the campaign's decision-making team came from different political party affiliations and background, had called it "a disorderly band of rebels."
As members came and went, rumors of internal clashes have spread since the beginning of the campaign.
Former campaign spokeswoman Ho De-fen (
Last Friday also witnessed the departure of deputy coordinator Chuang Yen (
"I still deeply believe in Shih's leadership, but many decision-making members are too self-centered and refuse to listen to other opinions," Chuang said in a press conference on Friday.
Chuan condemned the campaign for allowing politicians to take control of the demonstrations and consume the energy of the campaign. He also urged Shih not to make any concessions in cooperation with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The campaign's abrupt decision last Tuesday to retreat from a planned overnight sit-in on Zhong-xiao W Rd drew criticism from some supporters, who claimed that the change was designed to make things easier for Ma.
Shih yesterday denied cooperating with Ma, while lashing out at Vice President Annette Lu (
"Annette Lu is [the president's] biggest accomplice [and the main reason] why Chen Shui-bian hasn't stepped down yet," Shih was quoted as saying in an interview published by the Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) yesterday.
Shih also criticized Ma for refusing to grant permit to the protest.
"Ma talks about the Constitution at one point and discusses the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) at another point, and changes his position all the time," Shih said.
However, even before last Tuesday's unlawful protest, the campaign's decision-making process had been beset with problems.
From decisions on rehearsing sit-ins to when nationwide protests should be launched or how street demonstrations should proceed, the decisions were often capricious and changed at the last minute.
Wang Yeh-li (王業立), a political science professor at Tunghai University, said the police department's decision to revoke the campaign's permit for the sit-in on Ketagalan Boulevard was a sign of the campaign's disintegration.
"As the campaign loses its major protest stage and people have different views on how the protest should continue, it is difficult to maintain the movement's energy, especially as the protests have been going on for a month," he said.
The department yesterday further denied the campaign's application to hold sit-ins on Ketagalan Boulevard from Oct. 29 to Nov. 9.
Agreeing that the campaign has entered a difficult stage, Chang Mau-kuei (張茂桂), a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica, said the campaign should expand its agenda if it hopes to continue the movement.
Shih dismissed concerns that the campaign was losing momentum, and insisted that the shrinking of the scale of its movement was meant to preserve energy for its long-term battle.
Yang, however, said that if the campaign failed to expand its narrow agenda of ousting Chen and join forces with more groups, such as the labor union and student bodies, to turn the campaign into a real civic movement, the campaign would never regain its strength.
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