`Hoping for Hoping' might seem a hopeless name for an organization until you learn that the second "hoping" (和平) is actually the Romanization of "peace" in Chinese and that the group is one of the founding members of Taiwan's nascent peace movement.
Their hope is that tomorrow, all peaceable-minded people will turn out for a gathering in Taichung complete with food, drinks and music from 15 local bands. Admission is NT$300 and all proceeds go to local charities.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HOPING FOR HOPING
Jindowin, .22, Dakanow, Milk, Dahai, Anglers, Mandala, Schlumpy, The Deported, Chicken Rice, Boosie Chillin, Rocket Girl!, Robin Dale, Wise Maneouvers, and Blacksummerdaycamp will all take the stage of the Night Sky Outdoor BBQ starting at 2pm with an after party featuring DJs from Chi Funk and the rhymes of Elementality.
"Peace," says organizer Dave Nichols. Hoping for Hoping was founded last year by a group consisting mostly of foreign residents of Taiwan opposed to the US' invasion of Iraq. They met with several like-minded locals and drew some 300 people to a protest rally on the steps of the American Institute in Taiwan last February.
Hsia Chu-joe (夏鑄九), a professor at National Taiwan University and long-time political activist, was among them. He offered a history lesson on Taiwan's peace movement.
"After the lifting of martial law, besides the movement for democracy, there were others, such as the labor movement, the farmers' movement, student movement, womens' movement, gay and lesbian movement and the environmental movement, including people opposed to nuclear power," Hsia said. "We were called the pian di kai hua (
Following that rally, Hoping for Hoping held their first peace rally in Taoyuan County, with many of the same musical acts that will be performing at this year's event.
Night Sky BBQ is located at 199, Chung Gang Road, Taichung (
Last week Elbridge Colby, US President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for policy, a key advisory position, said in his Senate confirmation hearing that Taiwan defense spending should be 10 percent of GDP “at least something in that ballpark, really focused on their defense.” He added: “So we need to properly incentivize them.” Much commentary focused on the 10 percent figure, and rightly so. Colby is not wrong in one respect — Taiwan does need to spend more. But the steady escalation in the proportion of GDP from 3 percent to 5 percent to 10 percent that advocates
A series of dramatic news items dropped last month that shed light on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attitudes towards three candidates for last year’s presidential election: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It also revealed deep blue support for Ko and Gou from inside the KMT, how they interacted with the CCP and alleged election interference involving NT$100 million (US$3.05 million) or more raised by the
A white horse stark against a black beach. A family pushes a car through floodwaters in Chiayi County. People play on a beach in Pingtung County, as a nuclear power plant looms in the background. These are just some of the powerful images on display as part of Shen Chao-liang’s (沈昭良) Drifting (Overture) exhibition, currently on display at AKI Gallery in Taipei. For the first time in Shen’s decorated career, his photography seeks to speak to broader, multi-layered issues within the fabric of Taiwanese society. The photographs look towards history, national identity, ecological changes and more to create a collection of images
While riding a scooter along the northeast coast in Yilan County a few years ago, I was alarmed to see a building in the distance that appeared to have fallen over, as if toppled by an earthquake. As I got closer, I realized this was intentional. The architects had made this building appear to be jutting out of the Earth, much like a mountain that was forced upward by tectonic activity. This was the Lanyang Museum (蘭陽博物館), which tells the story of Yilan, both its natural environment and cultural heritage. The museum is worth a visit, if only just to get a
RSS