A small crowd gathered on the patio outside Cafe Philo (慕哲咖啡館) on a recent Friday evening. Some of the participants were college students, while others were social activists like Robin Winkler. They reasoned, argued, questioned and interrupted each other for two hours, and many stayed longer to continue the conversation.
The forum takes place Friday evenings at 7:30pm at the coffee shop, which is located on Taishun Street (泰順街) in Taipei. Its inspiration comes from French philosopher Gabriel Marcel’s famous Friday evening talks in the 1930s and the cafe philosophique movement, which began in 1992 when French professor Marc Sautet regularly joined friends to talk about philosophy at the Cafe des Phares in Paris. As a form of organized debate, cafe philo has since spread to the rest of the world.
“When transplanting the idea of cafe philo to Taiwan, we tend to focus on various local issues of the day. When people take a stand and talk about things, they are guided by sets of values, consciously or unconsciously. Here we discuss those values as well,” said Shen Ching-kai (沈清楷), who plans and hosts the event, which is titled Cafe Philo a Taiwan (哲學星期五).
Photo Courtesy of Youth Synergy Taiwan Foundation
Subjects range from suicide, the death penalty and the Jasmine Revolution to computer games and philanthropy. Every Tuesday, Shen chooses a topic and posts it on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cafephilotw). This week’s edition is titled Social Justice and Workers’ Rights.
Cafe Philo a Taiwan is one of many events held by the Youth Synergy Taiwan Foundation (青平台). Founded in May last year by Taiwan Thinktank executive director Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君), the non-governmental organization’s motto is to “find the strength to change,” according to its Web site. In practice, Youth Synergy offers participants first-hand experience with local problems and issues through field trips and stays in Aboriginal hamlets, farming villages and Changhua’s Fangyuan Township (芳苑), the proposed home for the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化) naphtha cracker complex.
Social activists, NGO workers and alternative media staffers hold workshops, and the foundation also recruits people interested in working at small NGOs and social groups and deploys them to different organizations after training — with full pay.
A series of lectures titled Tower of Babel (夜之巴別塔) takes place every Tuesday evening at Cafe Philo, and is free and open to all. Experts give speeches followed by question-and-answer sessions. Among the topics proposed for the coming weeks are art as a form of social activism, human rights in Tibet, and loneliness and solitude in literature.
“We want to build a cultural habit. It is here every Tuesday and it’s free. You can always drop by when you don’t want to watch television or go shopping,” Youth Synergy project manager Vivi Ho (何旻燁) said. “Democracy would be too limiting if it only happened at the legislature. Public issues can be discussed over a cup of coffee. It’s a part of life.”
To date, all the talks have been in Mandarin.
Cafe Philo is located at 11, Ln 60, Taishun St, Taipei City (台北市泰順街60巷11號). For more information about the foundation and the events it offers, visit www.ystaiwan.org.tw.
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the US. The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This
In the tourism desert that is most of Changhua County, at least one place stands out as a remarkable exception: one of Taiwan’s earliest Han Chinese settlements, Lukang. Packed with temples and restored buildings showcasing different eras in Taiwan’s settlement history, the downtown area is best explored on foot. As you make your way through winding narrow alleys where even Taiwanese scooters seldom pass, you are sure to come across surprise after surprise. The old Taisugar railway station is a good jumping-off point for a walking tour of downtown Lukang. Though the interior is not open to the public, the exterior
RSS