A group of former political prisoners from the White Terror era is calling on the public for donations so that they can host a banquet for Taipei’s homeless on Monday next week.
Organizers of the “Human Rights Feast” want to invite up to 200 homeless people to dine at 20 tables, which are to be set up on the intersection of Qingdao E Road and Zhenjiang Street.
However, as of Wednesday, the group still needed NT$70,000 more for its budget, event organizer and chef Chin Him-san (陳欽生) said.
Chen said that he hopes the banquet can promote human rights dialogue between former political prisoners and the homeless, and that he had been both a victim of the White Terror era and a homeless person.
The White Terror era refers to a repressive period in Taiwanese history that began in 1947, when the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government carried out a military crackdown on a popular revolt, and declared martial law that was not lifted until 1987, resulting in thousands of deaths and the suppression of dissidence and civil liberties.
Chin, a Malaysian of Hakka descent, said that he was arrested in 1971 because the then-Taiwan Garrison Command wrongfully accused him of being involved in the bombing of the US Information Service.
At that time, the Taiwan Garrison Command was in control of the nation’s secret police and intelligence service.
Chen said that although he had nothing to do with the attack, the Garrison Command imprisoned him for 12 years on Green Island (綠島) and consistently accused him of being the mastermind behind the bombing because it did not want to admit that it was wrong.
The National Human Rights Museum lists Chin as a victim of the White Terror era and characterized the case against him as “fabricated.”
Chin said that because he was discharged from the prison without money, legal status or employment, he was stranded on Green Island after serving his sentence and became a vagrant.
A cook took pity on him and prepared a meal for him to eat every day, an act Chin credited with saving his human dignity and inspiring him to organize and cook for the charity banquet years later.
Chin said that many exonerated political victims of the White Terror era became homeless because their criminal record had made it difficult for them to find stable, long-term employment.
He said he planned to have former political prisoners from the 1950s to the 1970s to eat and talk with the 200 homeless guests, so that the former prisoners might share their experiences with the homeless and inspire them.
The banquet’s outdoor location was chosen because it is close to the Legislative Yuan and the site of the former “Eastern Facility,” a detention center for political prisoners which was replaced by the Sheraton Grand Hotel Taipei, Chen said, adding that he hopes the banquet will also remind lawmakers of White Terror history and their duty to take care of the disadvantaged in society.
Chen said that fund-raising activities for the banquet had so far raised NT$130,000, and that if people wanted to donate money, they can do so through the crowdfunding platform “flyingV.”
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