I thought a translation of this old article would make an appropriate post for the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq: singer-songwriter Lo Ta-yu, a naturalised U.S. citizen, renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2004 to protest a Congressional resolution calling on Taiwan to deploy troops in support of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. In contrast to the tiresome mainstream media portrayal of renunciants as “wealthy businesspeople fleeing the country”, Lo is a far more typical example of the type of person who gives up citizenship: someone who emigrated from U.S. to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and only many years later decided that he needed to take a clear stand to protest the U.S. government’s arrogant interference in the country where he chose to live.
羅大佑放棄美國國籍 將以創作批判台灣時政 |
Lo Ta-yu gives up U.S. citizenship; will soon release song criticising Taiwan’s recent politics |
| http://www.nownews.com/2004/05/28/91-1636365.htm | |
| 2004年5月28日 12:36 | 28 May 2004, 12:36 |
| 林怡君、黃介亭／台北報導 | By Lin Yi-chun, Huang Jie-ting/Taipei |
| 創作歌手羅大佑28日前往美國在台協會，註銷他的美國護照，並且放棄美國國籍，羅大佑說，他無法忍受美國竟然要台灣出兵攻打伊拉克，加上他發現320槍擊案根本就是假暗殺，這些事情讓他感到失望，才會有這樣的大動作。 | Singer-songwriter Lo Ta-yu proceeded to the American Institute in Taiwan on the 28th, cancelled his United States passport, and renounced his United States citizenship. Lo said, he could not accept the U.S.’ desire for Taiwan to send troops to Iraq, and furthermore he had discovered that the 20 March shootings was a faked assassination. He took this big step due to his disappointment over these matters. |
| 在演唱會上剪護照，一個星期後，羅大佑跑到美國在台協會，註銷他的美國護照放棄美國國籍。羅大佑說這是個人行為，會這麼做，因為他不能欺騙自己的良知。身為一個創作歌手，羅大佑對社會批判很直接，對於選後的台灣局勢，他很不滿。 | A week after cutting up his passport during a concert, Lo Ta-yu rushed to the American Institute in Taiwan to cancel his U.S. passport and give up his U.S. citizenship. Lo said this was an individual act which he did in order to satisfy his conscience. As a singer-songwriter, Lo is very direct in his social criticisms, and is dissatisfied with post-electoral trends in Taiwan. |
| 羅大佑還表示，他不敢相信他所持有護照的這兩個國家，竟然私下達成出兵攻打伊拉克的協議。為了不欺騙自己良知，所以決定放棄美國國籍，不過羅大佑說他不會放棄創作，將要創作一首歌，紀錄台灣大選的現象。 | Lo stated, he could not dare believe that the two countries whose passports he held had come to such an agreement for troops to attack Iraq. He made the decision to give up U.S. citizenship to satisfy his conscience, but he said he would never give up his creative work, and would soon release a song about the Taiwanese presidential election. |
Lo’s name appears in the Q4 2004 list of persons losing U.S. citizenship. This fits the trend we observed previously: the “name-and-shame list” has a near 100% coverage rate for public figures who renounced before 2006, no matter how obscure they are to Americans — but after 2006, dozens of people reported to have renounced U.S. citizenship who are well-known in their own countries but not in the U.S. fail to appear in those Federal Register lists.
It’s also clear from Lo’s experience that renunciations were processed far more quickly in 2004 than today: it took him barely more than a week to get his first appointment with the para-consular American Institute in Taiwan, and then he showed up in the Federal Register eight months later.
@Eric…
I see we are both thinking and reflecting on the Iraqi war. Thanks for posting this.
Here’s one more Iraq war letter:
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_last_letter_20130318/
What else can be said?
Knowing what I know now, I’m forever grateful for seeing through the lies and for changing my mind, instead of signing up for that bullshit war.
There’s been too many people that fought and died in vain for such an act of American hubris.
One year I joined a silent march to protest the Iraq war. It felt so good to be amongst like-minded people even though it felt so bad that there was a need to be there. The next year I was alone in that square but I left a placard and a candle for the victims. Let us never forget this war and all the suffering which continues to this day because of it. Let us never forget that this war is one among others which must not be forgotten either. Thanks to Just Me, Eric and others for remembering too. I read that Veteran’s letter yesterday at another site, calgary411 — overwhelming.
Thanks for posting that. The news coverage of the anniversary of the occupation of Iraq has been pretty blunt about the failure and travesty of it. http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/03/iraq-war-richard-perle-npr
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ten-lessons-america-learned-from-the-2003-iraq-war-a-890066.html
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/15/174415049/to-mark-10th-anniversary-of-iraq-invasion-researchers-assess-the-cost
I want to put this someplace. A footnote: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/tomas-young-veteran_n_3038346.html?utm_hp_ref=politics