Taiwan Docs

On September 21 1991, the '100 Action Alliance' was founded, and held their inaugural meeting at the premises of the National Taiwan University Alumni Association. Their aim was to abolish article 100 and to revise article 101 of the Criminal Code. Their chairman was a member of the Academia Sinca, the late ZhenYuan Lee. His vice-chairman was a professor of Economics at the National Taiwan University, ShiMeng Chen. The members of this alliance came from various fields of public life such as academia, medicine, religion and law. They were there to protect freedom of speech.

In this film, 'Love and Non-violence', the members expressed their ideas and their thoughts about this campaign. They hoped to establish an organized opposition through love and non-violence. They took Martin Luther King, the African-American civil rights leader, as their model and practiced textbook anti-violence campaign.

The film charts the Love and Non-violence campaign of the 100 Action Alliance. It begins on September 24, 1991, when they went on strike for the first time. It then documents the training and rehearsal of the theme of Love and Non-violence right through to the groups sit-down protest in the National Taiwan Medical School on Oct 9 and 10 highlighting their mantra, "No Military Review, No Evil Laws". After the campaign, the filmmakers interviewed scholars, professors and doctors to examine both the positive and negative outcomes of their action.

The  Legislative Yuan passed a revised bill of article 100 of the Criminal Code as a direct result of this ground-breaking campaign.

Source: Taiwan International Documentary Festival