Tainan City Government announced Tuesday a series of human rights activities to be held in the southern city to commemorate the 228 Incident, a day ahead of a national commemorative ceremony also being held in Tainan that will be attended by President Tsai Ing-wen (???) and Premier Chen Chien-jen (???).
The activities include a book launched on Feb. 4 that features historic sites that tell the story of Tainan's human rights history, Tainan City Government's Cultural Affairs Bureau said in a statement Monday.
The bureau plans to promote the book and human rights education through media platform podcast and seminars.
On Feb. 25 the two authors were invited to attend a seminar at Ong Iok-tek Memorial Museum, sharing what they saw and heard during their field visits to the sites and stories that were not included in the book.
Meanwhile, a documentary featuring a witness to the 228 Incident will also be released Tuesday.
The 228 Incident refers to Feb. 28, 1947, when the arrest of a cigarette vendor in Taipei led to large-scale protests by the local Taiwanese against the repression of the then Kuomintang-led government across the island of Taiwan.
In addition, it is expected that in April, based on past research, "Road to Justice and Courage" signs will be installed at six human rights historical sites across Tainan, and various activities promoting human rights education will be held, according to the statement.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (???) said in the statement that the city has always been committed to the promotion of transformational justice and human rights.
In 2013, Tainan launched an oral history project for victims of political persecution and their families. In 2018, Ong Iok-tek Memorial Museum was opened in the city's Wuyuan District, and in 2019, the Presbyterian Church in Linchinee became one of the first human rights sites in Taiwan.
Huang added that in 2020, Taiwan's first book on human rights historical sites was completed and the first human rights podcast program launched. In addition, a picture book commemorating Tang Te-chang (???), a lawyer of Japanese and Taiwanese descent and a victim of the 228 Incident, was published, and a human rights illustration art exhibition held.
In 2021, a picture book featuring the life story of Ong Iok-tek (???), a Taiwanese scholar and early leader of the Taiwan independence movement, hit the market.
In 2022, Taiwan's first mixed media human rights monument was unveiled, Tainan 228 Memorial Hall was inaugurated and an online game highlighting the theme of human rights was released aimed at attracting young people, Huang added.
Observing that the 228 Incident was not an isolated event, Huang said that the subsequent White Terror campaign during the martial law period from 1949-1987 and shadow of authoritarian rule resulted in countless unknown victims of political persecution.
Only by understanding how each victim was persecuted and discriminated against, can fairness and justice be truly implemented, Huang said, adding that this is also the long-term goal of Tainan.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel