Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A161-W74

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A161-W74

Release Date: October 29, 2005

发布日：2005年10月29日

Topic: The Protective Talisman of the People, The Thorn in the Sides of Power-Holders -- by Wei Jingsheng

标题：百姓的护身符，权势的眼中钉 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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The Protective Talisman of the People, The Thorn in the Sides of Power-Holders

by Wei Jingsheng

Recently Taiwan's Legislative Yuan has again become embroiled in bloody clashes. The horseplay that occurs there is unceasing. Yet this time the politicians' antics have harmed people, have disturbed public opinion at all levels of society, and have brought about widespread international media attention. Yet these antics indeed have deeper reasons behind them. Presumably our friends in Mainland China can see these scenes on China's state-run television stations and see that not only are people wielding fists to fight with others but are also using cudgels and borrowing security officers' riot shields to attack others. The party in power is clearly preparing to use its power to suppress the law and is gradually expanding its use of law-violating means to resolve political clashes. This is a sign of a move and trend towards autocracy.

The reason for this conflict is that Taiwan's Legislative Yuan is discussing establishing a committee that would supersede the administration's news bureau, which manages the media. This is an important step for media freedom in Taiwanese politics to move towards the rule of law, and an important condition to prevent democracy from once again regressing into autocracy. Because of this, the democratic party in power is now going against democracy, which it fought for when it was the opposition party, and is in an all-out fight for autocratic power. Just as many critics have said, the fact that the democratic faction has so rapidly and thoroughly regressed and degenerated is indeed shocking. Yet this phenomenon is not unique. The regime of Korea's former president, Kim Dae Jung, also rapidly degenerated into autocracy. Europe's new democracies have also had similar situations, indicating that this is not an isolated phenomenon.

Any person in power wishes to maintain power forever. Especially when regimes in power reap increasing benefits from their power, this desire continues to grow. Things are like this in autocracies and remain the same with democracies. Avarice is human nature. Even those who claim to be men of virtue and faith groups can't avoid this aspect of human nature. The invention of democratic governance was for the purpose of restraining the evil and ugly parts of human nature, for making politics cleaner and more honest, and for protecting the rights and interests of the common people. As soon as a person's interests are infringed upon, he or she has the opportunity and rights to fight to get them back; this is the justice and political rehabilitation that civilians talk about.

Democratic governance relies on being able to restrict rulers' power, keeping power from staying in one group's hands, and preventing power-holders from illegally interfering with social justice as tools to safeguard the rights and interests of the powerless commoners. To be frank, commoners are not experts in politics and don't understand those tortuous political machinations. If people want to protect their rights and interests, merely having the right to vote and to recall is not enough; people must also have the right to knowledge. If you don't even know what's going on, how can you know what to vote for and what to recall? So the right to knowledge, or in other words, freedom of speech and the press, is the prerequisite to all democratic rights. This is the protective talisman of the people, as well as the thorn in the side of power-holders. The first thing that rulers of autocracies try to eliminate and suppress is freedom of speech and of the press; rulers in democratic systems also have these needs and inclinations. As soon as they successfully gain control of the media, they will, in a concealed way, give free reign to all manner of repulsive behaviors. The people won't see anything and will continue to sing the rulers' praises. They will confusedly give up all of their rights and will even help others to count the money gained by trading their own rights. Our fellow people in Mainland China experienced that. Now that they want to wake up, others won't let them.

The intense fight in Taiwan over freedom of speech affects whether or not Taiwan's democracy will degenerate and whether or not it will become like Mainland China, a fa?ade of a democracy that is autocratic at heart. The rapid degeneration of the democratic party precisely proves that the basic guiding principles of democracy are correct. People can't put their trust in any individual, only in the democratic system. Under the law, everyone is equal, even one's relatives and friends would not get preferred treatment. Good and evil co-exist because human nature itself is imperfect. An environment can change a person, especially in situations such as when absolute political power can bring out the evilness in human nature. Therefore people invented political cultures and use political systems to replace unreliable feelings and to judge and restrict the evilness in human nature, as well as to judge and make the most of the goodness in human nature.

Not only do we see these phenomena in Taiwanese politics; the struggle between good and evil can be seen in Korea, Eastern Europe, and even in traditionally democratic Western nations. We have seen the importance of safeguarding systems and not putting faith in individuals. From this perspective, our Chinese people's many attempts at democracy over the last one hundred-plus years have all failed. One reason is that we have put too much faith in a few individuals, thus giving them too much power, including the power to cover our eyes and plug up our ears. The responsibility for the failure of democracy does not only fall on the shoulders of Yuan Shikai, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping. Every one of us that allowed them to cover our eyes also bears responsibility.

(Written on October 12, 2005. Partially broadcasted by Radio Free Asia. The Wei Jingsheng Foundation is responsible for the accuracy of this version of the English translation.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A161-W74

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A161-W74

Release Date: October 29, 2005

发布日：2005年10月29日

Topic: The Protective Talisman of the People, The Thorn in the Sides of Power-Holders -- by Wei Jingsheng

标题：百姓的护身符，权势的眼中钉 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2005/report2005-10/WeiJS051029TaiwanA161-W74.htm

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百姓的护身符，权势的眼中钉

-- 魏京生

秦爱的听众朋友们，你们好！最近台湾的国会里又在闹流血冲突了。打打闹闹在台湾的国会里一直不断。但这一次闹到伤人，闹到社会上下舆论沸腾，闹到国际媒体广泛关注，确实也另有更深层次的原因。想必大陆的朋友们可以从官方电视台看到那些镜头，不仅挥舞拳头，而且挥舞棍棒，连警卫用的防暴盾牌都可以借来武斗。执政党显然是准备以权压法，逐步扩大使用违法手段来解决政治冲突。这是走向专制的信号，是一种趋势。

这次冲突的原因，是因为国会立法院正在讨论建立一个委员会，取代行政单位新闻局对媒体的管理，这是台湾政治中新闻自由走向法制化的一个重要步骤，是防止民主再度倒退回专制的重要条件。因此执政的民主党一反在野时争民主的面貌，现在大打出手争的是走向专制的权力。正如某些评论家指出的那样，民主派退化变质如此迅速而彻底，的确让人吃惊。但也并非绝无仅有。韩国的金大中集团迅速腐化专制，以及欧洲新民主国家内发生的类似事情，都说明这不是唯一的现象。

任何执政的人都希望永远执政。特别是当执政的集团从执政的权力中获得的利益越来越大的时候，这种欲望就会越来越强。专制政治是如此，民主政治之下也仍然如此。这种贪欲是人的本性。甚至号称圣贤的人和信仰团体，也没有置身于人性之外。民主政治被发明出来，正是为了抑制人性这些恶的丑的方面，使政治可以清明廉洁一些，使百姓的权利和利益少受侵犯。一旦受了侵犯，有机会有权利去争回，也就是老百姓说的申冤平反等等。

民主政治之所以能保障无权无势的平民百姓的权利和利益，是靠着他能限制执政者的权势，不使权势被一部份人永远把持，也不使权势者违法地干预社会公平和正义。直白一些说，平民百姓们不是政治专家，不懂那些曲里拐弯的政治操作。要想保护自己的权利和利益，仅仅拥有选举权和罢免权是不够的，还必须拥有知情权。你连怎么回事都不知道，你怎么会知道选什么罢什么呀？所以知情权，也就是言论自由和媒体自由，这是一切民主权利的前提。是老百姓的护身符，但也是权势者们的眼中钉。专制的统治者首先要消灭和压制的是言论和出版自由；民主政治下的执政者也同样会有这种需要和倾向。一旦他们成功地管制了媒体，一切丑恶的行为就会在掩盖下大肆猖狂。百姓们什么也看不见，仍然跟着唱赞歌，糊里糊涂地丢掉了所有的权利，还帮人家数钱。这种愚民我们大陆的老百姓已经当了一次了，现在想醒过来，人家已经不让了。

台湾这场激烈的言论自由之争，关系到台湾的民主是否会蜕化变质，是否会像大陆那样，变成民主形式只是个空架子，实质是专制制度。民主党人的迅速蜕化变质，恰好证明了民主的基本原则是正确的。不能相信任何个人，只能相信制度。在法律面前不但人人平等，而且六亲不认。因为人性本身是不完美的，善恶兼而有之。环境可以改变人，特别是掌握生杀争夺的政治权力，可以诱发人性的恶的出现。所以人们发明了政治文化，用制度代替不可靠的感觉，来判断和抑制人性恶；来判断和发扬人性的善。

我们不但从台湾政治中看到了这些想象，从韩国、东欧的、甚至西方老牌民主国家都看到了同样的善恶之争。看到了保卫制度的重要性，看到了不能相信个人的重要性。从这个角度看，我们中国人一百多年来的多次民主尝试都失败了，其中的一个原因，就是我们过分相信了一些个人，给了他们太大的权力，包括给了他们蒙住我们的双眼堵住我们耳朵的权力。民主的失败，不光是袁世凯、毛泽东、邓小平的责任。我们每一个允许他们蒙住我们眼睛的人，都有责任。

（写于2005年10月12日）

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