Saturday, 3pm. Trucks decorated with banners proclaiming "Taiwan independence" and "Taiwanese nationalism" depart from the headquarters of the Association for Taiwan Independence (ATI) on Hoping E Road.
To the rhythm of a lively drumbeat, activists atop the slow moving trucks preach their radical vision of Taiwan's independence.
Every Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine, for the last seven years, the ATI has demonstrated in this fashion.
Somewhat quixotically, the legendary Su Beng (史明), the association's director and a figure every bit as controversial as the goal for which he has fought for a lifetime, says he hopes "the torch can be passed on to future generations, if I can't see the day [when Taiwan achieves independence]."
Su, 83, after spending years out of the public eye, has been in the spotlight recently with the establishment of the Su Beng Educational Foundation and the National Association of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui (
Changing attitudes
Reviewing a long and often lonely battle for Taiwan's independence, he says he has seen significant changes in attitudes since his return to the country in 1993 after spending 41 years in Japan.
"In the past, people would cover their ears or withdraw into buildings in order to avoid the sight and noise of our trucks," he says.
"As times change, however, people applaud us and fight to grab our flyers or pamphlets.
"The seed of Taiwan's independence has been planted in people's minds and, though it is germinating slowly, it is significant."
Su's pursuit of his ideals has not been without opposition. The same radicalism that saw him take up arms for Chinese communism allowed the KMT to paint him as a traitor conspiring to topple Taiwan's government. That radicalism also kept him at a distance from most independence activists.
However, some historians and politicians think otherwise.
"He is a role model who deserves the public's veneration for his unbending spirit in fighting for Taiwan's sovereignty," writes Lee Yung-chih (李永熾), professor of history at National Taiwan University, in his book Su Beng -- a lonely light in a barren field (史明 -- 荒野孤燈).
Former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (
Su was born in 1918 in Taipei during an era of conflict when most Taiwanese families were restrained by 19th century conventions, although a process of modernization was getting underway.
So it was in an atmosphere of conflicting values that Su went to study at Waseda University in Tokyo -- a school known for its liberal academic training -- in pursuit of inspiration.
It was at Waseda, he says, that his powerful sense of nationalism and his admiration of socialism emerged.
To experience socialism in practice and to protest against imperialism, he went to China in 1942 and joined in the anti-Japanese war effort. But he ultimately returned to Taiwan, disillusioned by Marxism after seven years.
"What I saw and what I had learned at school were two completely different things," Su said.
He said that through its economic system and its revolutionary methods, Marxism aimed to eradicate the weaknesses of capitalism and restore the good qualities of human beings but, "All the Chinese communists did was destroy, re-sorting to the most atrocious means to torture people."
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