Liang Wen-Chieh’s (梁文傑) April 2 opinion piece "Anonymity no cloak for free speech" reminds readers of the importance of free speech and of the dastardliness of "superior mainlander" Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英), but it is over-confident and over-simplified.
The relationship between free speech and anonymity is not straightforward, since under repressive regimes, anonymity is clearly a prerequisite of free speech.
This debate will run and run. Nevertheless, the coincidence of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the life of Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕, HP: Zheng Nan-rong) this weekend (Taiwan remembers democracy pioneer), make an even starker contrast.
Deng, who set himself on fire in 1989, is also remembered for publicly stating “My name is Deng Nan-jung, I support independence for Taiwan.” (我是鄭南榕 我主張台灣獨立). This might not sound like much today, but in 1987 just before the end of the “Two Chiang’s” 38-year period of Martial Law, such a call was sure to get Deng into trouble.
Whatever the true relation between free speech and anonymity, Kuo does not live during a period of repression (certainly not of his class and ethnicity) and he should be humbled by the memory of Deng.
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