A series of lectures, film screenings and discussions are to be held in Taipei through April 25 to mark Freedom of Speech Day, which was yesterday.
The events, which began yesterday, are being organized by the Ministry of the Interior, the Memorial Foundation of 228 and the Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation.
The series, with the theme of “On the Road to Freedom of Speech,” comprises the “Human Library” lecture series, as well as the Human Rights and Freedom Film Festival and post-screening discussions, the organizers said.
Photo: CNA
From 2pm to 4pm on Saturday, Institute of Watch Internet Network chief executive officer Huang Yi-feng (黃益豐) is to give a lecture on the difference between freedom of speech on the Internet and cyberbullying, as well as regulation and self-discipline within the context of free speech online, they said.
From 3pm to 5pm on Saturday next week, Taiwan FactCheck Center editor-in-chief Summer Chen (陳慧敏) is to give a lecture exploring the purpose of the dissemination of false news, and how to identify such reports, the organizers said.
From 2pm to 4pm on April 24, Ou Su-ying (歐素瑛), a history professor at National Taiwan University, is to give a lecture discussing freedom of speech on school campuses, they said.
Screenings of South Korean director Kim Ui-seok’s debut feature After My Death, Oscar-nominated The Post by director Steven Spielberg, and the 2018 thriller Searching by director Aneesh Chaganty are to begin at 2pm on Sunday, on April 18 and on April 25 respectively, the organizers said.
The screenings are to be followed by discussions led by counseling psychologist Lin Chen-yi (林甄儀), Plain Law Movement senior editor Wang Ting-yu (王鼎棫) and UN Office of Information and Communications Technology consultant Jack Huang (黃一展) respectively, they added.
The events are to be held at the National 228 Memorial Museum in Zhongzheng District (中正), the organizers said.
April 7 was declared Freedom of Speech Day by the Executive Yuan in December 2016 to commemorate the death of democracy activist Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕, also known as Nylon Cheng).
Deng, who founded the magazine Freedom Era Weekly in 1984 to fight for “100 percent freedom of speech,” died by self-immolation on April 7, 1989, as police broke into his office after he had been barricaded inside for 71 days to avoid arrest after he was charged with sedition for having printed a draft “Republic of Taiwan constitution” in 1988.
Taiwan’s path to achieving freedom of speech has been a “bumpy” one, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said yesterday at the series’ opening ceremony at the museum, adding that it took hard work to reach the level of freedom the nation enjoys today.
The nation’s hard-won freedom of speech was made possible due to the sacrifice of individuals like Deng, Hsu said, urging people to defend it with “all our strength.”
More information about the events can be found at www.228.org.tw or www.moi.gov.tw.
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