Preserving infamous former prisons and turning them into museums may help to teach future generations important human rights lessons, speakers at a panel on prison museums said yesterday.
The panel — part of the Green Island Human Rights Arts Festival — was held yesterday by the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) at the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial in Jingmei (景美), Taipei.
The Jingmei human rights memorial park is home to the courtrooms where political prisoners were tried during the 1960s to the 1980s period of the Martial Law era, and the facilities where they were imprisoned.
PHOTO: CNA
Political prisoners from the former Jingmei martial law prison stayed in very small cells with toilets located inside the cells.
They were often tortured, abused and forced to work as cheap labor, former political prisoners said in a video shown prior to the beginning of the panel.
“It’s important to preserve these buildings so that people can be reminded of what once happened here — if we don’t know our history, it may repeat itself,” CCA vice-chairman Wu Chin-fa (吳錦發) told the audience.
“If we’re unaware of it, human rights abuses could continue to happen in any corner of society — maybe in different forms — even in a democracy,” he said.
Guest speaker, Rich Weideman, public affairs chief for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California, agreed that former prisons have important educational value.
He has worked as a tour guide at Alcatraz Island prison since 1980 and participated in the design of education curriculums about the prison.
Alcatraz was first used as a military base to protect San Francisco from attacks in the 1850s. It was turned into a military prison in 1909, and then a federal prison in 1934.
The prison was closed in 1963, and it was officially inaugurated as a tourist attraction in 1972.
“People have many misconceptions about prisons, because Hollywood movies and the media glamorized life in Alcatraz,” he said. “Therefore I think a tour of the prison presents a very good educational opportunity.”
To show what life on Alcatraz was really like, visitors follow in the steps of prisoners from the moment they arrived on the island. The tours are accompanied by voice recordings of former prisoners, guards and their families, telling their stories, Weideman said.
“It’s very important [for tourists] to get into the mindset of these prisoners — and some actually leave the place in tears,” he said.
“If what we do keeps even one kid out of prison, it’s worth the effort,” he said.
Park Goo-yong, a philosophy professor at South Korea’s Chonnam National University, and one of the planners of the May 18 Liberty Park in Gwanju, South Korea, shared similar views.
The May 18 incident happened in 1980 when tens of thousands of South Koreas demonstrated against military dictator Chun Doo-hwan — who had just taken control of the government following a coup — but were faced with a violent crackdown.
In order to commemorate the event, the May 18 Liberty Park was created in 1998 to preserve the martial-law courtroom and the military prisons.
“For many Koreans, the May 18 incident belongs to the past, and people only think about it every May,” Park said. “With the park and preservation of the historic space, we intend to educate our children about the history, so that they can learn about the core values of the uprising.”
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern