市民外交 Citizen Diplomacy

作者 Rocky Tsao

上個禮拜六，一群種族主義者以「捍衛言論自由」為由在 Boston 的 Public Garden 集會。由於更早一個星期，左右兩翼在 Charlottesville 嚴重衝突，導致傷亡，基於安全考量，事先官方建議大家不要前往。

姑息必然養奸，怎能置身事外？ 到了現場發現出來反制這群種族主義者的群眾，絶大部分都是中、老年的白人，擠滿了公園和街道，除了大大出乎意料之外，更是感動萬分。根據警方估算，參與「捍衛言論自由」的集會者只有一千，而反制者則高達四萬！

勢單力薄，集會被迫提前結束。結束後不久，在公園的一角，有五、六個集會的參與者被一群反制者包圍質問，其中一位看到我，大喊一聲：”Are you Japanese?”  我以更大的音量回答： “No. I am Taiwanese!”  他接著問：”Are you for freedom of speech.”  我的回答當然是：”Of course, I am.”

這位仁兄馬上跑過來要和我擁抱，顯然是拿我這個黃種人當道具，想去說服反制者他只是捍衛言論自由，並非種族主義者。我決定將計就計，反過來把他當道具，給予回抱，然後向在場的所有的人介紹台灣：

Taiwanese do have freedom of speech now.  We fought for free speech for years and finally won it.  Indeed, we did not have free speech when Chiang Kai-Shek and his son were in power.  Taiwan at that time was like North Korea today.  Still, free speech in Taiwan is currently under threat.  China, where there is no free speech, claims without any basis that Taiwan is part of China and is aiming about 2000 missiles at Taiwan.  Taiwanese, like Americans, also deserve free speech.  Indeed, all peoples do.  Let’s fight together to uphold freedom of speech for all human beings.

想不到，一講完我的道具又跑來擁抱我！

I rushed home immediately to take a shower.  Well, there is always a price to pay for citizen diplomacy.

 

Posted in 08/2017