A recent TV interview was very good for the China Support Network.
'Digging to China' hosted by Dong Xiang at NTDTV is a regular talk show in the style of Meet the Press. Just after Obama's election, I visited Washington to appear on the latest episode of his half-hour show.
The show is in two segments, and I'm the second guest. It can be taken in here:http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=164&a=6082
Very likely, I'll chop it in half to make a YouTube video for CSN out of my excerpt. I hope you like it.
My best wishes,
/s./ John P. Kusumi
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 08, 2008
President Obama, Stop These Deadly Imports!
President Obama,
Stop These Deadly Imports!
The China Support Network calls to stop cases of Americans being killed by Chinese exports - deliberately contaminated for profit as Chinese producers cut corners, harm public health and safety.
- 500,000 people protested China's deadly milk on October 25 in Taiwan -
Dear President-elect Obama,
Americans are dead in "solved" cases of product poisoning. The Made-In-China products were exported from Communist China / the P.R.C., and imported by the United States of America. Americans are dead. Is this acceptable?
You may remember that in 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton "negotiated" no-strings-attached, unconditional PNTR for Communist China. This meant tariff breaks for Communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs; and in 2000 the U.S. Congress passed the deal. This served to:
- reward bad behavior on the part of the Chinese Communist regime;
- increase the U.S. trade deficit (which weakens the U.S. dollar and increases inflation);
- remove manufacturing jobs from America;
- endanger the health and safety of U.S. consumers
This letter is about the latter concern -- health and safety of U.S. consumers. It is salient to have a situation review in two parts:
1. The story so far
- 2006: 138 citizens in Panama died after taking cough syrup, contaminated with diethylene glycol from the P.R.C.. As many as 260,000 bottles of cough syrup were contaminated, and diethylene glycol was also found in toothpaste.
- 2007: The United States experienced the arrival of toothpaste with diethylene glycol. This included counterfeit knock-offs of Colgate and Sensodyne toothpastes. Also affected: Australia, Costa Rica, England, and Spain.
- 2007: The United States experienced the pet food recall as American cats and dogs dropped dead in the thousands. The melamine contamination originated in China. Contamination was also found in animal feed for pigs, chicken, and fish in the United States and hence, in the human food chain as well as the supply of pet food. Additional contaminated foodstuffs included wheat gluten, corn gluten, rice gluten and protein concentrate.
- 2007: Chinese textiles in Australia were quarantined after formaldehyde was found at 10X the level of safety standards.
- 2007: The United States experienced the recall of 450,000 Made-In-China tires that were found faulty by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- 2007: It was almost "the year without a Christmas." The United States experienced recalls of 19.5 million Made-In-China toys, due to lead paint and faulty magnets. Normal American families began to change their shopping habits to avoid Made-In-China toys.
- 2008: Frozen Chinese dumplings, contaminated with pesticide, sickened 10 people in Japan and perhaps more.
- 2008: The United States experienced the recall of Baxter blood thinners, made with counterfeit heparin from the P.R.C.. 81 Americans died as acknowledged by the U.S. FDA. As recently as November 6, two days after your election, the FDA seized 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories Inc. of Cincinatti, Ohio. Also affected: Australia, Canada, EU, Japan, since those were destinations for Celsus products. The contaminant: over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS).
The above situation includes 81 American fatalities, and at least one other U.S. fatality made the news from this wave of poison products. Further, fatalities can be vastly under-reported. We saw this in the pet food recall of 2007. The FDA received reports of 8,500 animal deaths and confirmed 14 cases, so the news reported 14. (An independent web site separately collected 3,600 reports of dead pets in the US.) The disparity suggests that Americans watch "fairy tale" news, sanitized for the comfort of Communists and their business partners. We must ask this question: How many more Americans are dead, beyond the public reporting?
The China Support Network, the sponsor of this letter, will never forget another example of U.S. news under-reporting fatalities. --Upon Tiananmen Square's massacre in 1989, there were 3,000 people dead, and the reporting said so. Shortly thereafter, the media began its absurd, insulting, and highly offensive "climb down" to reporting 300 dead. So, first they disappeared 2,700 souls; then about ten years later, they disappeared the Chinese dissidents, the Falun Gong, and the China Support Network. Human rights concerns with respect to China only began to resurface this year, due to the Tibetan uprising / crackdown, and your commendable support for the Tibetan cause! In the case of the Falun Gong, U.S. China policy is as good as leaving the Jews in the gas chambers.
2. The new crisis
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was covering this up during the Olympics. Melamine has appeared again, but this time it's in the human food chain, not just pet food. China's children have been sent to the hospital. They are the most vulnerable to melamine; 99% of sickness due to melamine has occurred in victims less than 3 years old. Reuters puts the total number of illnesses at 94,000, but thankfully(?) only four children have been reported dead. China's top three brands of milk were found to have melamine, among 23 suppliers thus far implicated. China's dairy industry now resembles the U.S. banking industry, with sudden collapses of longstanding silos. Sanlu was the first large Chinese brand implicated. Before the crisis, this was a $19.5 billion industry; now, it is a $6.5 billion industry. On September 17, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange halted trading of shares in Mengniu, another top brand implicated.
The contamination is deliberate. Melamine, with its high nitrogen content, "fakes out" tests that are conducted on foodstuffs. Without nutritional value, it boosts test scores to make the protein content appear higher. The use of melamine is a cost-cutting measure and a way of cutting corners at the expense of consumer safety. Watered down milk, spiked with melamine, can test and appear to stand in for undiluted milk. The 2007 pet food recall already introduced the United States to melamine, which interacts with cyanuric acid to produce kidney stones and renal failure.
Contaminated chicken feed has now led to contaminated eggs. Egg powder and milk powder are contaminated. The situation may be referred to as the baby milk scandal, but that is a misnomer because the crisis goes beyond babies and milk. Xinhua reports that the scandal was exposed on July 16, when 16 babies were found to have kidney stones. New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra, the owner of a 43% stake in Sanlu, says that it learned about the contamination on August 2. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the public only learned of contamination on September 11, after the Olympics. That is when the recalls started. The delay from mid-July to mid-September is an example of CCP leadership, playing politics with public health (to avoid tarnishing the Olympics).
The WHO has labelled this "one of the largest food safety events" that it has had to deal with in recent years. WHO and UNICEF also jointly decried the "particularly deplorable...deliberate contamination of foods intended for...vulnerable infants and young children." On September 26, the WHO warned health officials around the world to be alert for dairy products of Chinese origin that could be tainted. On September 21, the government admitted that it was facing 53,000 cases; 10,000 more were reported by September 26; and by October 8, Reuters was reporting a total near 94,000 cases. The European Commission's Joint Research Center set up a web site about detecting melamine (http://irmm.jrc.ec.europa.eu/melamine). French authorities ordered all Chinese dairy products off shelves. At least 25 countries have done likewise. On September 25 the EU stopped imports of baby food containing Chinese milk.
In Connecticut, authorities warned about White Rabbit candy that was found and taken off of store shelves there. Another brand recalled in the United States is Lotte Koala cookies. In non-U.S. markets, there have been consequences for brands of Unilever, Cadbury, and Heinz - and Starbucks' operation in China was supplied with milk from Mengniu. In China, there have been lawsuits and arrests and state promises of free medical care.
China also has a collapsing economy; and a collapsing Communist Party. Another consequence is that melamine extended the legacy of Premier Wen Jiabao. He has now become China's Apologizer-In-Chief. In recent memory, he has apologized to the public for:
- the deaths of coal miners
- polluted drinking water
- train passengers stranded by snowstorms; and now,
- poisoned milk products
Needless to say, Premier Wen Jiabao is very sorry. China faces a profound and humiliating loss of face. In this quarter, it is felt that threats and hazards to public safety deserve a response strategy that goes beyond an apology. If it cannot do better than apologize, then the Communist Party is showing its own limitations and shortcomings.
At the level of the U.S. White House, even one American death should be unacceptable. "Faulty products" is a malarkey basis for a rising American death toll. The foregoing list of faulty products has led to more than one American death. At the China Support Network, we are fans of the idea of a grand tyranny tariff that stops all Chinese imports. (Our organization joined the Boycott Made In China coalition years ago.) A sweeping approach would side step the necessity to parse which products are deadly and which ones aren't (yet?). You may or may not take it upon yourself to do that parsing, but to borrow a phrase there is a "fierce urgency of now." We urge you to "go large" in backing freedom, democracy, and human rights for China. The "free China" community sees and agrees that there is a clear and present danger - an imminent threat - to the American people AND the Chinese people.
Whichever way you do it, President Obama: Save the lives of your fellow Americans and STOP THESE DEADLY IMPORTS!
Sincerely,
/s./ John P. Kusumi
Founder and Director Emeritus
The China Support Network
Cheshire, CT
USA
# # #
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Press invited to Friday 9/12 event
PRESS ADVISORY
Human Rights in Post-Olympics China and Asia
DATE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008
TIME: 2:00PM ~ 4:00PM
PLACE: Gold Room (room no. 2168), Rayburn House Office Building
Contact:
Dr. Binh Nguyen at 240-731-3630 or binhnguyenmd@gmail.com
Ms. Ciping Huang at 202-543-1538 or HCP@weijingsheng.org
Ms. Iris Ho at 202-280-0166 or irisho@fapa.org
China was awarded the hosting of the Olympics by the International Olympics Committee at the beginning of this century with the expectation that China would improve its human rights. Events and reports proved that China's human rights record did not improve but rather rapidly worsened prior to and during the Games.
Now the Games are over, more than a dozen Asian human rights organizations are jointly urging the international community to keep pressure on China and other authoritarian regimes in Asia to embrace democracy.
Please join us this Friday at one of the largest gatherings by leaders of Asian human rights organizations to happen in the US capital.
Sponsored by:
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Congressman Frank Wolf, Co-Chair of Human Rights Caucus
Host organization:
Asia Democracy Alliance
Speakers include:
- Rebiya Kadeer (East Turkestan)
- Wei Jingsheng (China)
- Dr. Binh Nguyen (Vietnam)
- Dr. Wen-yen Chen (Taiwan)
- Dr. Bo Hla Tint (Burma)
- Harry Wu
- Dr. Richard Saisomorn (Laos)
- Dr. Erping Zhang (Falun Gong)
- Tenzin Jamchin (Tibet)
- A representative from Human Rights Watch, and Members of Congress (invited).
Co-sponsors:
- Wei Jingsheng Foundation
- Formosan Association for Public Affairs
- International Committee to Support the Non-Violent Movement for Human
- Rights in Vietnam
- Tibetan Association in Capitol Area
- Dokham Chushi Gangdruk -- New England Chapter
- Uyghur American Association
- Inner Mongolian People's Party
- Falun Gong
- National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
- Vietnamese American Community Association in Washington DC, MD and VA
- Free China Movement Foundation
- Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars
- Washington Forum
- Global Service Center for Quitting Chinese Communist Party
- Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation
- United Montagnard Christian Church in America
- The Montagnard Human Rights Organization
- The Laotian New Government for Democracy
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Event notice: Protest on Aug. 7 '08
Media advisory: Press Notice and Press Release for a "Freedom First - No Olympics Medal for China" Rally on August 7, 2008, in Front of Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, Sponsored by Multiple Organizations and Joined by Hundreds Tibetans and Freedom Loving People
PRESS NOTICE
No Olympics Medal for China: Protesting China's Abysmal Human Rights Record
DATE: August 7, 2008
TIME: 2PM to 5PM
PLACE: Chinese Embassy (2300 Connecticut Ave. NW., Washington, DC, USA)
Contact: Ms. Doma Norbu 646-812-5228 or Ms. Ciping Huang 202-543-1538
Speakers include but not limited to Ms. Rebiya Kadeer and Mr. Wei Jingsheng, both of whom met with President Bush in the White House on July 29 regarding their efforts in promoting democracy and human rights in China; as well as leaders of Asia Democracy Alliance, and representatives from the international human rights organizations including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International.
There will be hundreds of Tibetans traveling from New York to attend this demonstration, led by Doma Norbu, President of Chushi Gangdruk.
Sponsoring Organizations:
Asia Democracy Alliance
Chushi Gangdruk
Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA)
Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition
World Uyghur Congress
Inner Mongolian People's Party
Reporters Without Borders
China Support Network
Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars
Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition
Press Release "FREEDOM FIRST" - " NO OLYMPICS MEDAL FOR CHINA"
August 7, 2008
The Olympics is intended to be a celebration of the human spirit, but the spirit of the Tibetan, Uyghur, Inner Mongolian and Chinese people are being crushed under the weight of an oppressive regime. As the opening ceremony of the Olympics are underway, harsh measures are currently being implemented in Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and China to intimidate the people and prevent any further signs of dissent.
Thousands of people are still missing or in detention, and a climate of fear prevails. While Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are in theory open to foreign visitors and journalists, in practice, only a government-approved few are permitted.
When Beijing won the rights to host the 2008 Olympics in 2001, the Chinese government made a promise to the International Olympic Committee and the international community to concretely improve human rights. But those promises have for the most part been empty.
Amnesty International in its 8th July 2008 report states "In fact, the crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified because Beijing is hosting the Olympics. The authorities have stepped up repression of dissident voices in their efforts to present an image of "stability" and "harmony" to the outside world. This has resulted in the detention and imprisonment of those who wish to draw attention to the other side of the picture, which includes human rights violations perpetrated in preparation for the Games.
We are counting on President Bush and other world leaders to make clear while in Beijing that token gestures from the Chinese government are not enough to silence international concern for these oppressed people. "The Chinese government's policies in these areas will continue to impact China's image abroad, for good or ill, long after the Olympics spotlight dims.
In light of this grim situation, we request that:
1. The Chinese government stops its crackdown on innocent people in the guise of Olympic security.
2. The Chinese authorities should account for those who remain in detention and that they will be accorded due process in accordance with international legal standards.
3. Journalists, Representatives from the United Nations and Aid agencies should be provided with free access throughout Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
4. President Bush and all world leaders attending the Olympics should request permission to travel to Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. Such a visit would demonstrate their genuine concern in resolving the issue through a meaningful and lasting process.
PRESS NOTICE
No Olympics Medal for China: Protesting China's Abysmal Human Rights Record
DATE: August 7, 2008
TIME: 2PM to 5PM
PLACE: Chinese Embassy (2300 Connecticut Ave. NW., Washington, DC, USA)
Contact: Ms. Doma Norbu 646-812-5228 or Ms. Ciping Huang 202-543-1538
Speakers include but not limited to Ms. Rebiya Kadeer and Mr. Wei Jingsheng, both of whom met with President Bush in the White House on July 29 regarding their efforts in promoting democracy and human rights in China; as well as leaders of Asia Democracy Alliance, and representatives from the international human rights organizations including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International.
There will be hundreds of Tibetans traveling from New York to attend this demonstration, led by Doma Norbu, President of Chushi Gangdruk.
Sponsoring Organizations:
Asia Democracy Alliance
Chushi Gangdruk
Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA)
Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition
World Uyghur Congress
Inner Mongolian People's Party
Reporters Without Borders
China Support Network
Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars
Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition
Press Release "FREEDOM FIRST" - " NO OLYMPICS MEDAL FOR CHINA"
August 7, 2008
The Olympics is intended to be a celebration of the human spirit, but the spirit of the Tibetan, Uyghur, Inner Mongolian and Chinese people are being crushed under the weight of an oppressive regime. As the opening ceremony of the Olympics are underway, harsh measures are currently being implemented in Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and China to intimidate the people and prevent any further signs of dissent.
Thousands of people are still missing or in detention, and a climate of fear prevails. While Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are in theory open to foreign visitors and journalists, in practice, only a government-approved few are permitted.
When Beijing won the rights to host the 2008 Olympics in 2001, the Chinese government made a promise to the International Olympic Committee and the international community to concretely improve human rights. But those promises have for the most part been empty.
Amnesty International in its 8th July 2008 report states "In fact, the crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified because Beijing is hosting the Olympics. The authorities have stepped up repression of dissident voices in their efforts to present an image of "stability" and "harmony" to the outside world. This has resulted in the detention and imprisonment of those who wish to draw attention to the other side of the picture, which includes human rights violations perpetrated in preparation for the Games.
We are counting on President Bush and other world leaders to make clear while in Beijing that token gestures from the Chinese government are not enough to silence international concern for these oppressed people. "The Chinese government's policies in these areas will continue to impact China's image abroad, for good or ill, long after the Olympics spotlight dims.
In light of this grim situation, we request that:
1. The Chinese government stops its crackdown on innocent people in the guise of Olympic security.
2. The Chinese authorities should account for those who remain in detention and that they will be accorded due process in accordance with international legal standards.
3. Journalists, Representatives from the United Nations and Aid agencies should be provided with free access throughout Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
4. President Bush and all world leaders attending the Olympics should request permission to travel to Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. Such a visit would demonstrate their genuine concern in resolving the issue through a meaningful and lasting process.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
NED-China-awards to highlight human rights abuse, honor Tom Lantos
NED-China-awards
Life and work of Tom Lantos will be honored with Democracy Service Medal
According to their press release, on Tuesday June 17, the National Endowment for Democracy will honor the heroic efforts of Chinese workers, lawyers, and writers working to advance democratic values and fundamental rights within China with the presentation of its annual Democracy Award. Chen Guangchen, Zhang Jianhong, Yao Fuxin and Hu Sigen, who are all serving sentences in Chinese prisons, are four of the recipients. Other honorees cannot be named publicly until the award ceremony. The award presentation and a roundtable discussion will take place on Capitol Hill in the Caucus Room (345) of the Cannon House Office Building at 3:30 - 5:00 PM.
Commenting on the selection of this year's awardees, NED Chairman Vin Weber said, "As China prepares to host the Olympic Games, with the attention of the world focused on that country's many achievements and its rich culture, the world must not forget those who labor in the background to secure the most basic rights and protections for the people of China - the right to associate, to write and speak freely, to worship, to organize for better working conditions, for the rule of law, and for and the protection of basic human dignity."
The award presentation will be preceded by a roundtable discussion, Law, Rights and Democracy in China: Perspectives of Leading Advocates. The honorees will be joined in the discussion by other notable activists and advocates for basic rights in China, including Han Dongfang, - executive director of China Labour Bulletin, Bob Fu - founder of the China Aid Association and a student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement, Sharon Hom - executive director of Human Rights in China, Xiao Qiang - founder and publisher of China Digital Times, Wang Tiancheng - a founder of the Liberal Democratic Party of China and the Free Labor Union of China, and Yang Jianli - a Chinese democracy activist recently released from prison, who now is president of Initiatives for China.
The Democracy Awards, which this year focus on work in the areas of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Religious Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Worker Rights, will be presented by three members of the US Congress, Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Frank Wolf (R-VA), as well as the vice chairman of NED's Board of Directors Richard Gephardt, who is the former House Minority Leader. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) will also make remarks at the program.
NED will also honor the life-long contributions of one of the US Congress' most stalwart supporters of human rights in China and every other part of the world, the late Tom Lantos (D-CA) with the presentation of its Democracy Service Medal.
The National Endowment for Democracy is a private, nonprofit, bipartisan grant-making organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. It is active in more than 90 countries, supporting grassroots, democratic initiatives. It now houses the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), which is devoted to strengthening the field of media assistance. More information about NED and the Democracy Award (http://www.ned.org/events/democracyaward.html) can be found at www.ned.org.
(SOURCE: National Endowment for Democracy)
Life and work of Tom Lantos will be honored with Democracy Service Medal
According to their press release, on Tuesday June 17, the National Endowment for Democracy will honor the heroic efforts of Chinese workers, lawyers, and writers working to advance democratic values and fundamental rights within China with the presentation of its annual Democracy Award. Chen Guangchen, Zhang Jianhong, Yao Fuxin and Hu Sigen, who are all serving sentences in Chinese prisons, are four of the recipients. Other honorees cannot be named publicly until the award ceremony. The award presentation and a roundtable discussion will take place on Capitol Hill in the Caucus Room (345) of the Cannon House Office Building at 3:30 - 5:00 PM.
Commenting on the selection of this year's awardees, NED Chairman Vin Weber said, "As China prepares to host the Olympic Games, with the attention of the world focused on that country's many achievements and its rich culture, the world must not forget those who labor in the background to secure the most basic rights and protections for the people of China - the right to associate, to write and speak freely, to worship, to organize for better working conditions, for the rule of law, and for and the protection of basic human dignity."
The award presentation will be preceded by a roundtable discussion, Law, Rights and Democracy in China: Perspectives of Leading Advocates. The honorees will be joined in the discussion by other notable activists and advocates for basic rights in China, including Han Dongfang, - executive director of China Labour Bulletin, Bob Fu - founder of the China Aid Association and a student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement, Sharon Hom - executive director of Human Rights in China, Xiao Qiang - founder and publisher of China Digital Times, Wang Tiancheng - a founder of the Liberal Democratic Party of China and the Free Labor Union of China, and Yang Jianli - a Chinese democracy activist recently released from prison, who now is president of Initiatives for China.
The Democracy Awards, which this year focus on work in the areas of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Religious Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Worker Rights, will be presented by three members of the US Congress, Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Frank Wolf (R-VA), as well as the vice chairman of NED's Board of Directors Richard Gephardt, who is the former House Minority Leader. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) will also make remarks at the program.
NED will also honor the life-long contributions of one of the US Congress' most stalwart supporters of human rights in China and every other part of the world, the late Tom Lantos (D-CA) with the presentation of its Democracy Service Medal.
The National Endowment for Democracy is a private, nonprofit, bipartisan grant-making organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. It is active in more than 90 countries, supporting grassroots, democratic initiatives. It now houses the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), which is devoted to strengthening the field of media assistance. More information about NED and the Democracy Award (http://www.ned.org/events/democracyaward.html) can be found at www.ned.org.
(SOURCE: National Endowment for Democracy)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Nancy Pelosi's Remarks of June 4, 2008
Thank you all very much for your wonderful welcome.
Nineteen years ago, Chinese students, workers and citizens marched in peace in Tiananmen Square. They raised the Goddess of Democracy in the image of our own Statue of Liberty. They quoted America's Founding Fathers. We remember with sadness and outrage how the Chinese government unleashed an army on its own people.
One of the most enduring images of the twentieth century will forever be seared into our conscience. The picture of the lone man standing in the street and bringing a line of tanks to a grinding halt -- that image has been seared into our conscience. That massacre of the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square challenged our conscience and the conscience of the world.
Thank you, Carl Gershman, for your leadership as President of the National Endowment for Democracy. You referenced that privilege that you gave to me -- to bestow your award of the National Endowment for Democracy on two of the heroes of the Democracy in China movement. It was a great privilege for me. That that award is a smaller version of the Goddess of Democracy is an overwhelming image. I have that same statue in the Speaker's office. Any visitor to the Speaker's office will see among the very few artifacts I have in my office the importance of that great symbol of democracy there.
I am proud to be here today with so many heroes and advocates of human rights in China and Tibet. I thank the Reverend Gordon Schultz for his reference to our visit to China in the early 1990s where we spoke out in association with those that have spoken out for Democracy in China. We're also joined today by Dr. Yang Jianli, a Tiananmen Square activist of 1989 who spent five years in prison because of his criticism of the Chinese government. We're also joined by Rebiya Kadeer, a champion of human rights of the Uyghur people who had to endure five years of notoriously harsh prison conditions for her activism. Thank you for your tireless efforts and unquantifiable sacrifices for the cause of freedom and human rights in China.
As we pay tribute to the brave souls of Tiananmen Square, we also offer our deepest condolences to the thousands of victims and their families of the earthquake struck in China last month. I hope that it's a comfort to those affected by this terrible tragedy that so many people throughout the world are thinking of them and praying for them at this sad time. And in remembrance of all those that lost their lives, let us observe a moment of silence.
In the spirit of standing with the Chinese people in this moment of grief, it is in that spirit that we stand here today and pay tribute to the martyrs of Tiananmen Square. Today we remember the heroes of Tiananmen and call for the release of all political prisoners in China -- all political prisoners in China.
I'd like to read the names of some of the other prisoners: Hu Jia, who was recently sentenced recently for speaking out on the link between human rights and the Olympics; Shi Tao, sentenced to ten years in prison for reporting on the 15-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre; Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer and advocate who exposed the truth about human rights violations; the 11th Panchen Lama, who was kidnapped as a young boy; Alim and Ablikim Abdureyim, the sons of Rebiya Kadeer who have been imprisoned, harassed and intimidated by Chinese authorities.
People who have been imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs say that the greatest and most terrible torment to them is that their captors tell them that nobody remembers them -- that they are forgotten by the outside world, so why don't they just confess and get it over with. We don't want that excruciating form of torture to ever take hold among political prisoners anywhere. To the extent that we know the names in China, we will continue to recite them in public, whether in places such as this, or on the floor of the Congress of the United States. While we may not be able to read all of the names all of the time, they are all in our thoughts, our prayers, and our hopes so that one day they may be free.
The spirit of Tiananmen Square endures and inspires in China and in the rest of the world something special. But for many of you that I have worked with over the years and some more recently, can you imagine that 19 years have gone by? Remember when they told us at the time that engagement was going to lead to democratic freedoms and plurality in China? That we shouldn't be worried about trade, because trade would lead to peaceful evolution, which is in fact considered an evil in China. At the time that we were going to use the leverage of trade in order to release the prisoners of Tiananmen Square -- that was a modest goal.
At that time, we had about a $3 billion trade deficit with China. As we continued the debate over the next couple of years, that grew to a $5 billion a year trade deficit with China. We were told that this commercial relationship was not only going to lead to better commercial relationships with the United States, but it was going to lead to political mobilization in China. Nineteen years later, the trade deficit is not $5 billion a year, but $5 billion a week. China took the opportunity to continue to bar market access for U.S. products into China, to continue its piracy of our intellectual property, and the list goes on.
'Oh, that's OK,' people said, 'When they join the WTO everything will be better.'
It simply hasn't happened. But if we want to make that commercial decision for our country, we certainly did not make it for American workers, and we certainly did not make it for Chinese workers. Who will benefit? We were told that if we engaged, China would modify its behavior in supporting rogue regimes around the world. And now look who has a better friend in the UN than Iran, who has China as its friend. Who has a better friend in the UN for Sudan than China?
This has not improved the security of the world, the freedom of expression in China, nor has it improved the commercial relationship between the U.S. and China.
But what we're here to talk about here today is human rights in China. I want to thank all of you for keeping the flame of that torch alive all these many years. Let us hope that if we continue to do this and in the following years after the Olympics and whatever openness that brings to China, that we continue to observe the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. We will have made some progress; we will see something different happening in China -- for the people there, the people in Tibet, and the security of the world.
I said when I was in Dharamsala to see the Dalai Lama, he said, 'Tashi delek [hello].' Let America continue to speak out for human rights in China and in Tibet. Unless we do that we will have lost all moral authority to speak out for human rights anyplace in the world.
I appreciate the kind words of appreciation for the leadership that some of us have provided on this. I'm pleased to hear that Congressman Chris Smith was here earlier -- this is bipartisan, we work in a bipartisan way -- Democrats and Republicans together. [Applause.]
I appreciate that and I thank you for that, but I am here to say thank you to all of you, many of you that have risked your lives, many of you whose families risked their lives, all of you who care deeply for human rights in China and Tibet and therefore the entire world.
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to spend time with you today.
Nineteen years ago, Chinese students, workers and citizens marched in peace in Tiananmen Square. They raised the Goddess of Democracy in the image of our own Statue of Liberty. They quoted America's Founding Fathers. We remember with sadness and outrage how the Chinese government unleashed an army on its own people.
One of the most enduring images of the twentieth century will forever be seared into our conscience. The picture of the lone man standing in the street and bringing a line of tanks to a grinding halt -- that image has been seared into our conscience. That massacre of the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square challenged our conscience and the conscience of the world.
Thank you, Carl Gershman, for your leadership as President of the National Endowment for Democracy. You referenced that privilege that you gave to me -- to bestow your award of the National Endowment for Democracy on two of the heroes of the Democracy in China movement. It was a great privilege for me. That that award is a smaller version of the Goddess of Democracy is an overwhelming image. I have that same statue in the Speaker's office. Any visitor to the Speaker's office will see among the very few artifacts I have in my office the importance of that great symbol of democracy there.
I am proud to be here today with so many heroes and advocates of human rights in China and Tibet. I thank the Reverend Gordon Schultz for his reference to our visit to China in the early 1990s where we spoke out in association with those that have spoken out for Democracy in China. We're also joined today by Dr. Yang Jianli, a Tiananmen Square activist of 1989 who spent five years in prison because of his criticism of the Chinese government. We're also joined by Rebiya Kadeer, a champion of human rights of the Uyghur people who had to endure five years of notoriously harsh prison conditions for her activism. Thank you for your tireless efforts and unquantifiable sacrifices for the cause of freedom and human rights in China.
As we pay tribute to the brave souls of Tiananmen Square, we also offer our deepest condolences to the thousands of victims and their families of the earthquake struck in China last month. I hope that it's a comfort to those affected by this terrible tragedy that so many people throughout the world are thinking of them and praying for them at this sad time. And in remembrance of all those that lost their lives, let us observe a moment of silence.
In the spirit of standing with the Chinese people in this moment of grief, it is in that spirit that we stand here today and pay tribute to the martyrs of Tiananmen Square. Today we remember the heroes of Tiananmen and call for the release of all political prisoners in China -- all political prisoners in China.
I'd like to read the names of some of the other prisoners: Hu Jia, who was recently sentenced recently for speaking out on the link between human rights and the Olympics; Shi Tao, sentenced to ten years in prison for reporting on the 15-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre; Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer and advocate who exposed the truth about human rights violations; the 11th Panchen Lama, who was kidnapped as a young boy; Alim and Ablikim Abdureyim, the sons of Rebiya Kadeer who have been imprisoned, harassed and intimidated by Chinese authorities.
People who have been imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs say that the greatest and most terrible torment to them is that their captors tell them that nobody remembers them -- that they are forgotten by the outside world, so why don't they just confess and get it over with. We don't want that excruciating form of torture to ever take hold among political prisoners anywhere. To the extent that we know the names in China, we will continue to recite them in public, whether in places such as this, or on the floor of the Congress of the United States. While we may not be able to read all of the names all of the time, they are all in our thoughts, our prayers, and our hopes so that one day they may be free.
The spirit of Tiananmen Square endures and inspires in China and in the rest of the world something special. But for many of you that I have worked with over the years and some more recently, can you imagine that 19 years have gone by? Remember when they told us at the time that engagement was going to lead to democratic freedoms and plurality in China? That we shouldn't be worried about trade, because trade would lead to peaceful evolution, which is in fact considered an evil in China. At the time that we were going to use the leverage of trade in order to release the prisoners of Tiananmen Square -- that was a modest goal.
At that time, we had about a $3 billion trade deficit with China. As we continued the debate over the next couple of years, that grew to a $5 billion a year trade deficit with China. We were told that this commercial relationship was not only going to lead to better commercial relationships with the United States, but it was going to lead to political mobilization in China. Nineteen years later, the trade deficit is not $5 billion a year, but $5 billion a week. China took the opportunity to continue to bar market access for U.S. products into China, to continue its piracy of our intellectual property, and the list goes on.
'Oh, that's OK,' people said, 'When they join the WTO everything will be better.'
It simply hasn't happened. But if we want to make that commercial decision for our country, we certainly did not make it for American workers, and we certainly did not make it for Chinese workers. Who will benefit? We were told that if we engaged, China would modify its behavior in supporting rogue regimes around the world. And now look who has a better friend in the UN than Iran, who has China as its friend. Who has a better friend in the UN for Sudan than China?
This has not improved the security of the world, the freedom of expression in China, nor has it improved the commercial relationship between the U.S. and China.
But what we're here to talk about here today is human rights in China. I want to thank all of you for keeping the flame of that torch alive all these many years. Let us hope that if we continue to do this and in the following years after the Olympics and whatever openness that brings to China, that we continue to observe the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. We will have made some progress; we will see something different happening in China -- for the people there, the people in Tibet, and the security of the world.
I said when I was in Dharamsala to see the Dalai Lama, he said, 'Tashi delek [hello].' Let America continue to speak out for human rights in China and in Tibet. Unless we do that we will have lost all moral authority to speak out for human rights anyplace in the world.
I appreciate the kind words of appreciation for the leadership that some of us have provided on this. I'm pleased to hear that Congressman Chris Smith was here earlier -- this is bipartisan, we work in a bipartisan way -- Democrats and Republicans together. [Applause.]
I appreciate that and I thank you for that, but I am here to say thank you to all of you, many of you that have risked your lives, many of you whose families risked their lives, all of you who care deeply for human rights in China and Tibet and therefore the entire world.
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to spend time with you today.
Wednesday Event in San Francisco
San Francisco Event To Remember Tiananmen Square
We are pleased to add to our listings of events, commemoration of the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in the Chinatown of San Francisco.
In San Francisco's Chinatown -- just one block west of the Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper -- there is Portsmouth Square, a park with a large underground garage that many people use as the parking lot for Chinatown. (733 Kearny Street)
In the square, there is a replica of the Goddess of Democracy -- a statue first erected in Tiananmen Square by students in the uprising prior to June 4, 1989.
On June 4 2008 (Wednesday) people will lay flowers at that statue to remember the fallen martyrs of the Chinese democracy movement. This activity will be on Wednesday afternoon prior to 6:30pm.
At 7:00pm, a seminar, panel discussion, or forum will be open to the public at the "San Francisco Chinatown Chinese People's Rights and Interests Promotion Agency." The address for the panel is 17 Walter U. Lum Place, and it is adjacent to Portsmouth Square.
The panelists will include Feng Congde, a famous student leader of the 1989 uprising.
We are pleased to add to our listings of events, commemoration of the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in the Chinatown of San Francisco.
In San Francisco's Chinatown -- just one block west of the Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper -- there is Portsmouth Square, a park with a large underground garage that many people use as the parking lot for Chinatown. (733 Kearny Street)
In the square, there is a replica of the Goddess of Democracy -- a statue first erected in Tiananmen Square by students in the uprising prior to June 4, 1989.
On June 4 2008 (Wednesday) people will lay flowers at that statue to remember the fallen martyrs of the Chinese democracy movement. This activity will be on Wednesday afternoon prior to 6:30pm.
At 7:00pm, a seminar, panel discussion, or forum will be open to the public at the "San Francisco Chinatown Chinese People's Rights and Interests Promotion Agency." The address for the panel is 17 Walter U. Lum Place, and it is adjacent to Portsmouth Square.
The panelists will include Feng Congde, a famous student leader of the 1989 uprising.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sunday Event in Seattle
Date: Sunday, June 1st, 2-4 pm
Place: Westlake Park 401 Pine St. Seattle, WA
Against Violence in Tiananmen, Tibet and Elsewhere
As the Beijing Olympic comes closer, in 2008, the world is spotting human rights issues in China more than ever before. People in Beijing, in Tibet, in Xinjiang and elsewhere deserve non-violence and human rights!
The Government of China has long tried to erase the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. We are going to preserve it, and against violence and military crackdown in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere.
During the spring of 1989, the people of China gathered at the Tiananmen Square to appeal democracy in a peaceful movement. The government responded with Tanks, assault rifles, and bayonets in the streets of Beijing, taking the lives of the civilians stunned with the sudden riot. The hopes of the people of China for freedom and justice were devastated.
Sponsors and Co-sponsors
Amnesty International Puget Sound
Federation for a Democratic China, Seattle Chapter
Global Alliance for Democracy and PeaceAlliance for a Democratic China, Seattle Chapter
Release Dr. Wang Bing Zhang Foundation
China Social Democratic Party, Seattle Chapter
Alliance of Forcibly Evicted Property-Owners in Mainland China
China Democratic Party (Overseas), Seattle Chapter
King County Human Rights Commission
Society of Peaceful Transform for Democratic China
Support Dr. Yang JianLi Citizen Walk WA Group
Contact: (206) 829-8972 email: seattlefdc@comcast.net
Federation for a Democratic China http://www.fdc64.de/
Tiananmen Massacre Record (pictures and videos) http://64memo.org/
China Social Democratic Party http://csdp.com/
Amnesty Democratic China (Oversease headquarter) http://cdp1998.org/
http://bjzc.org/en
Amnesty International http://www.scn.org/amnesty
Place: Westlake Park 401 Pine St. Seattle, WA
Against Violence in Tiananmen, Tibet and Elsewhere
As the Beijing Olympic comes closer, in 2008, the world is spotting human rights issues in China more than ever before. People in Beijing, in Tibet, in Xinjiang and elsewhere deserve non-violence and human rights!
The Government of China has long tried to erase the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. We are going to preserve it, and against violence and military crackdown in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere.
During the spring of 1989, the people of China gathered at the Tiananmen Square to appeal democracy in a peaceful movement. The government responded with Tanks, assault rifles, and bayonets in the streets of Beijing, taking the lives of the civilians stunned with the sudden riot. The hopes of the people of China for freedom and justice were devastated.
Sponsors and Co-sponsors
Amnesty International Puget Sound
Federation for a Democratic China, Seattle Chapter
Global Alliance for Democracy and PeaceAlliance for a Democratic China, Seattle Chapter
Release Dr. Wang Bing Zhang Foundation
China Social Democratic Party, Seattle Chapter
Alliance of Forcibly Evicted Property-Owners in Mainland China
China Democratic Party (Overseas), Seattle Chapter
King County Human Rights Commission
Society of Peaceful Transform for Democratic China
Support Dr. Yang JianLi Citizen Walk WA Group
Contact: (206) 829-8972 email: seattlefdc@comcast.net
Federation for a Democratic China http://www.fdc64.de/
Tiananmen Massacre Record (pictures and videos) http://64memo.org/
China Social Democratic Party http://csdp.com/
Amnesty Democratic China (Oversease headquarter) http://cdp1998.org/
Amnesty International http://www.scn.org/amnesty
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Appeal for the Color Orange
In line with our recent story about the Color Orange movement, what follows is the text of an email appeal. The project's originators would like all concerned to copy and paste this into an email, then send it to everyone on your list or in your address book:
Hello friend
*******Can China forbid the Color Orange?****
Help us making a global manifestation about the human rights in China, and support our appeal. If this is going to succeed it will take many people using their own mailing list and networks to send this letter further, only in that way can we create a wave in the global communication and bring thecolororange.net project out in all corners of the world.
*Translations of the appeal on: www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page21
*Support the idea on: www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page35
See this appeal with better layout at this page: http://www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page63
*******Can China ban The Color Orange?*******
*Take part in checkmating the Chinese regime andmaking a global manifestation for human rights
*We hereby encourage you to join the initiative TheColorOrange.net with the aim of showing China - during the Olympics in August 2008 - that we are many people who are keeping an eye on China's human rights violations.
*The idea is both sophisticated and simple. By using something with the color orange during the Olympics - both inside and outside of China - you are sending a signal to the world that something is wrong in China. It can be anything, like an orange hat, camera bag, tie, pen, paper, dress, suit, bag etc. Even pealing an orange will be considered a pronounced statement.
*No political or religious movement can claim to have a monopoly of the initiative. By
participating in the project you show that you support the fight for human rights in China.
*The Chinese Government wants to present the Olympics as perfect and streamlined to billions of television viewers around the globe with the aim of promoting China as a modern and efficient society. They will do anything it takes to avoid getting criticized on television. However, by using the Color Orange we are exactly capable of breaking with the harsh censorship and embitter the joy of the regime. At the same time, millions of oppressed Chinese people will have a voice during the Olympics 2008.
*The Olympic Charter stipulates as fundamental Olympic principles: "the respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" and the promotion of "?a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity". Nobody can fairly claim that the Chinese regime is living up to these standards. On the contrary, the usage of the orange color will be an ethical and non-political statement that is indeed in deep harmony with the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement.
*The initiative can only succeed if a lot of people are aware of the significance of the Color Orange. This would normally require a publicity budget of million of dollars. This, however, we don't have. But in stead we (might) have you :-) If you, and millions of others, help pass on this idea together we can create a butterfly effect blowing an orange wind over China.
-Pass on this e-mail to everybody on your mailing list. Go to the website http://www.thecolororange.net/ and sign up to the mailing list in order for you to get continuous updates about the initiative. Report to the website with those activities or ideas in which you have used the Color Orange so that we can spread out the happy message as an inspiration to others.
- Make creative use of the Color Orange in relation to Olympic events. If you practice any kind of sport or are a member of an association that supports human rights you can encourage them to use orange in their material and to publicly support the campaign.
- The Dutch national Olympic team is because of their orange colors natural born members of the initiative. What about your country's Olympic heroes? Are the only heroes when it comes to sport? Imagine if the first gold winner in China wipes off the sweat with an orange handkerchief...
*The Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot is the one behind the manifestation 'the Color Orange'. The artist is independent from political and religious interests and has often made global art events in favor of humanism, among others in collaboration with the democratic movement in China.
*The Color Orange is inspired by what the painter Kandinsky said when he stated that the color orange is in fact red that has been made more human by the color yellow. The Chinese color is exactly red so maybe we can support the humanistic forces in the country by introducing the Color Orange. The selection of the Color Orange is however also inspired by the color of the prison uniforms in Guantanamo, the monks in Tibet and Burma and so on.
*We hope that many individuals and organizations will support this initiative and use the Color Orange.
*Jens Galschiot, sculptor, Banevaenget 22, DK-5270 Odense NTel.: +45 6618 4058, Fax: +45 6618 4158, E-mail: contact@TheColorOrange.net
*www.TheColorOrange.net
Hello friend
*******Can China forbid the Color Orange?****
Help us making a global manifestation about the human rights in China, and support our appeal. If this is going to succeed it will take many people using their own mailing list and networks to send this letter further, only in that way can we create a wave in the global communication and bring thecolororange.net project out in all corners of the world.
*Translations of the appeal on: www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page21
*Support the idea on: www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page35
See this appeal with better layout at this page: http://www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page63
*******Can China ban The Color Orange?*******
*Take part in checkmating the Chinese regime andmaking a global manifestation for human rights
*We hereby encourage you to join the initiative TheColorOrange.net with the aim of showing China - during the Olympics in August 2008 - that we are many people who are keeping an eye on China's human rights violations.
*The idea is both sophisticated and simple. By using something with the color orange during the Olympics - both inside and outside of China - you are sending a signal to the world that something is wrong in China. It can be anything, like an orange hat, camera bag, tie, pen, paper, dress, suit, bag etc. Even pealing an orange will be considered a pronounced statement.
*No political or religious movement can claim to have a monopoly of the initiative. By
participating in the project you show that you support the fight for human rights in China.
*The Chinese Government wants to present the Olympics as perfect and streamlined to billions of television viewers around the globe with the aim of promoting China as a modern and efficient society. They will do anything it takes to avoid getting criticized on television. However, by using the Color Orange we are exactly capable of breaking with the harsh censorship and embitter the joy of the regime. At the same time, millions of oppressed Chinese people will have a voice during the Olympics 2008.
*The Olympic Charter stipulates as fundamental Olympic principles: "the respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" and the promotion of "?a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity". Nobody can fairly claim that the Chinese regime is living up to these standards. On the contrary, the usage of the orange color will be an ethical and non-political statement that is indeed in deep harmony with the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement.
*The initiative can only succeed if a lot of people are aware of the significance of the Color Orange. This would normally require a publicity budget of million of dollars. This, however, we don't have. But in stead we (might) have you :-) If you, and millions of others, help pass on this idea together we can create a butterfly effect blowing an orange wind over China.
-Pass on this e-mail to everybody on your mailing list. Go to the website http://www.thecolororange.net/ and sign up to the mailing list in order for you to get continuous updates about the initiative. Report to the website with those activities or ideas in which you have used the Color Orange so that we can spread out the happy message as an inspiration to others.
- Make creative use of the Color Orange in relation to Olympic events. If you practice any kind of sport or are a member of an association that supports human rights you can encourage them to use orange in their material and to publicly support the campaign.
- The Dutch national Olympic team is because of their orange colors natural born members of the initiative. What about your country's Olympic heroes? Are the only heroes when it comes to sport? Imagine if the first gold winner in China wipes off the sweat with an orange handkerchief...
*The Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot is the one behind the manifestation 'the Color Orange'. The artist is independent from political and religious interests and has often made global art events in favor of humanism, among others in collaboration with the democratic movement in China.
*The Color Orange is inspired by what the painter Kandinsky said when he stated that the color orange is in fact red that has been made more human by the color yellow. The Chinese color is exactly red so maybe we can support the humanistic forces in the country by introducing the Color Orange. The selection of the Color Orange is however also inspired by the color of the prison uniforms in Guantanamo, the monks in Tibet and Burma and so on.
*We hope that many individuals and organizations will support this initiative and use the Color Orange.
*Jens Galschiot, sculptor, Banevaenget 22, DK-5270 Odense NTel.: +45 6618 4058, Fax: +45 6618 4158, E-mail: contact@TheColorOrange.net
*www.TheColorOrange.net
Monday, April 28, 2008
John Kusumi blogs about April, 2008
It can be said that my month of April really began on March 30. On that day, the Human Rights Torch Relay got underway in the United States, and I spoke at length to its kickoff rally in Boston, Massachusetts.
That was two weeks after a renewed uprising in Tibet turned deadly -- the Chinese government began its crackdown on March 14. World attention had swung to these new human rights abuses by Communist China.
It was six days after the Olympic flame was ignited in Olympia, Greece (March 24), and on the same day, Greek officials were handing over the torch to Beijing Games organizers. The Olympic torch relay would get underway the next day (March 31).
In this, my first speech since Tibetan bloodshed was renewed, I underscored that Chinese leaders had three steps as "the least they could do" to defuse the crisis: "Stop the killing, release the prisoners, and talk to the Dalai Lama!"
Also, I had slated plans to speak in Providence, Portsmouth, Portland, and New Haven during April. At the Boston event, organizers and I decided to also have me speak in Washington DC, New York City, and Princeton, NJ.
So, seven appearances were slated for the Human Rights Torch Relay, and an eighth appearance would be in Fairfax, VA -- an event for the China Support Network in its own right, not under auspices of the Human Rights Torch Relay.
The following are my notes, largely to have a diary or journal.
April 5 - I was speaking in Providence, RI. The speech was extemporaneous. When I was in the largest cities (Boston, Washington, New York), I had and kept to prepared remarks, but in smaller cities I was willing to "wing it" and speak off the cuff.
April 6 - I was speaking in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the Olympic torch was encountering trouble in London. And, an article in the Providence Journal noted that I was a speaker on the program the previous day.
April 7 - The Olympic torch was encountering trouble in Paris. Also this day, the Epoch Times published an article, quoting from my Washington speech.
April 8 - I gave an interview to American Family Radio News (AFRN). I then drove to Charlottesville, VA.
April 9 - AFRN broadcast their report, with my congratulations for the protestors who had intercepted the Olympic torch in Paris. This was the day that the Olympic torch was in San Francisco. Protestors and authorities played cat and mouse. The torch was run in a very truncated (shortened) and unannounced route.
Also this day, the Epoch Times published coverage stemming from the Human Rights Torch April 5 stop in Providence.
Also this day, CNN's Jack Cafferty made comments that (naturally) offended the Foreign Ministry of Communist China. There began a backlash against CNN in China, although it was very orchestrated through the official media.
Meanwhile, I spent the day in Charlottesville, VA like a tourist. I took a tour of Monticello, which was Thomas Jefferson's house. While protests were roiling in San Francisco, I took in the view from Jefferson's mountaintop, and visited the grave of liberty's author -- the American revolution's man of letters.
April 10 - I visited George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) at the invitation of the campus chapter of Amnesty International. They were having a Human Rights Fair which included the China Support Network. Also on this day, OpEdNews (OpEdNews.com) published the text of my Boston / Washington / New York speech, under the headline "China is the new Soviet Union." Two other web sites also published the speech.
April 11 - I put out a podcast for CSN. It included audio from the AFRN report, and from the speech I had given in Boston on March 30.
April 12 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Portsmouth, NH. Mine was one of many speeches, from various oppressed or concerned groups.
April 13 - It was the New York City stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay, and my own speaking tour. Again, many groups had speakers in the rally, and two leading Chinese dissidents (Tang Baiqiao and Yang Jianli) were scheduled to speak. At the last minute, Yang Jianli was unable to be there, so I was handed his speech to read in his absence. So really, at the New York stop, I gave two speeches, his and mine. I was the pinch hitter for Yang Jianli.
The New York event was covered by NTD TV and Sound of Hope (SOH) radio. In a post-speech discussion on SOH (translated into Mandarin), I emphasized that China invites tragedy if it does not talk to the Dalai Lama, who represents an historical opportunity to arrive at a negotiated, peaceful settlement over Tibet.
There are sidebar stories to my month of April. This was a month in which I got some pretty good press coverage, but I was kicking the news media at the same time. Actually, this month I opened Issue 6 of Compassion magazine, put out by Falun Gong, and I saw myself cited within an article, 'Out of the Media Spotlight':
"John Patrick Kusumi of the China Support Network, for instance, argues that Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings for years grounded the bias of not seriously discussing human rights in China on U.S. television."
April 14 - I published a "public diary" at OpEdNews. It was titled "Seething at United States network TV 'journalists'." This directed my ire at Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather again, but not CNN.
April 19 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Portland, ME. Amid many oppressed and concerned groups, I delivered my stock speech.
April 21 - Even though I don't owe any favors to CNN or to Jack Cafferty, I did them one. I published an article, "CNN's Cafferty should not be demonized." It was published at three web sites that commonly run my columns, OpEdNews.com, TheConservativeVoice.com, and NolanChart.com.
We should face it that CNN was under attack by the Chinese government -- even though they made it look like public sentiment in China, it was very orchestrated. The Foreign Ministry was demanding apologies from CNN, and creative people in China had already penned two new pop songs, both called 'Don't Be Too CNN.'
I think that Cafferty had made a poor choice of words, but that is a mere quibble where his overall point was right on. I have long decried China's "communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs" without the blowback that hit Cafferty --because my line is clearly talking about the leadership, while his line was ambiguous, and then misrepresented as talking about Chinese people in general.
"Thugs" is not a racial slur; it's an assessment of the Chinese government, and I know what Cafferty meant, so I defended him. Also on April 21, the Epoch Times published coverage of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay.
April 24 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Princeton, NJ. I had thought about defending Jack Cafferty some more, but I didn't. Instead, I ad libbed with my usual talking points. This is when I said--
"I think that Beijing's only way out of a predicament--or a pickle that it's in--is to talk to the Dalai Lama." This was once again a crowd pleasing applause line. Continuing to ad lib, I said--
"I would say also that the Western press and news media has been a funny beast, because there was a lot of coverage right after the Tiananmen massacre, and in fact the Chinese dissidents could be seen on the mainstream news conveying the stories of human rights abuse in China.
"The Western press really has been downplaying stories -- particularly about the Falun Gong persecution. And that's in a time period since -- y'know, 1999 is when Bill Clinton signed a free trade deal with Communist China and so the trade deal was starting at the same time as the Falun Gong persecution.
"And I think that some in the American news media made a choice to be silent about the persecution in order to preserve a path for the free trade deal. But that's shortsighted -- that suggests that they must be silent eternally.
"And especially in this year, with the Olympics upcoming, we've already now seen a new crackdown against Tibetans that has come to be front and center in the mainstream news media. And so that means that there's been coverage of the Tiananmen crackdown and there's been coverage of the Tibetan crackdown.
"--We still have not seen any justice done, even just as a matter of journalism, to the story of the Falun Gong. The Western news media has still got to convey fully to the people what is happening with the Falun Gong in China.
"And so, I encourage the media to do so. I've tried at many occasions -- I've offered criticism; I've written articles; I have a book manuscript that's in progress; and something was just published this morning on OpEdNews.com.
"--All of these are occasions where I am pressing, and I am pushing, and I am challenging the Western news media to open up a bit. To elucidate about the Falun Gong persecution. It's a very important piece of the puzzle and it has been the missing piece of the puzzle thus far. We need more in the way of attention paid and indeed respect for the work of David Matas."
(applause)
Alrighty then. I was able to point at David Matas, because he was another speaker on the program, sitting right there. He is the co-author of Bloody Harvest, the investigative report about organ harvesting as a tool of Chinese government cruelty against Falun Gong practitioners whom it holds incarcerated in China.
Also on April 24, I published another diary at OpEdNews.com, titled 'Bigots of the U.S. news media.' It reflected similar thoughts as my speech -- that the press has still got to do justice to the Falun Gong persecution as a story. After all of the above, I drove to New York City for the night.
April 25 - Beijing announced that it will meet with emissaries from the Dalai Lama.
This was somewhat good news. It meant that Beijing blinked under international pressure. But it also meant that I had to change my speech for the next day. I found myself pulling an all nighter to rewrite the speech, aware that Chinese dissident Tang Baiqiao would also be on the program with me in New Haven.
Also on April 25, I missed a call in radio program on WNPR in Connecticut. I had been invited to call in while they discussed China and the Olympics. Unfortunately, I was just driving back into Connecticut from New York City and was on the road at the appointed hour.
I would have joined Marcus Gale, spokesman for the Human Rights Torch Relay, and I would have added anti-CCP balance into that program. I regret missing it, and that episode of the show 'Where We Live' seemed to skew in a pro-CCP direction without me. Dang it!
April 26 - The Human Rights Torch and I arrived in New Haven, CT. This time, my speech was different and titled, 'White Flowers for June 4.' I had begun to look ahead to this year's June 4 (Tiananmen massacre) anniversary, and I called upon the Chinese people to take white flowers and go to Tiananmen Square with them. This is a way to honor the dead, and also it is a way to press China to meet the demands of the Tiananmen Mothers.
The Tiananmen Mothers have long demanded the right to mourn publicly for their dead children. I was backing them up, and I also adjusted my speech upon talking to Tang Baiqiao, a leading Chinese dissident, at the New Haven Green. My speeches are often "Reaganesque anti-Communist" against Communist China. The new one was similar, and the Yale Daily News reported that a Yalie had found it too "hawkish" and insufficiently "conciliatory" towards Communist China.
As far as I'm concerned, I direct at the China Support Network and the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition. That Yalie is likely too young to remember the Ronald Reagan presidency and Reagan's style with the Soviet Union. Reagan also had his critics, who would cringe at the verbal assaults upon the Soviet Union. (I used to be a Reagan critic - in fact, Reagan's youngest political opponent - so I understand that feeling.) The existence of critics didn't stop Reagan, nor did it stop yours truly on the New Haven Green.
Related coverage proceeded to appear:
WTNH TV:
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8232796
April 27 - New Haven Register:
http://www.nhregister.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/BigDaily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.content=/MAIN_REP/Article/2008/04/27/1960862
April 28 - WNPR Radio:
http://www.cpbn.org/competing-demonstrations-regarding-olympics-china
New Haven Independent:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/04/china_protest.php
Yale Daily News:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24724
NTD TV:
http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=258&a=2918
China Support Network via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5aK-HonGf8
April 29 - John Kusumi via OpEdNews.com:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_john_kus_080428_britt_3a_these_olympic.htm
April 30 - The Epoch Times:
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-4-30/69990.html
Anyway, looking back upon April, a lot happened for a lot of people. As for the inclusion of myself in press coverage, I think it was best by American Family Radio News and by WNPR. (Even though I had missed WNPR on April 25, they caught up with me on the New Haven Green the next day.) I know that this isn't the end of the story; in Chicago on May 10, Robert Gerald Lorge is going to be speaking for the China Support Network/FFOSC, and by the end of May, the Human Rights Torch Relay will conclude in the United States, but the CSN/FFOSC will move immediately to run their observances of the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
That was two weeks after a renewed uprising in Tibet turned deadly -- the Chinese government began its crackdown on March 14. World attention had swung to these new human rights abuses by Communist China.
It was six days after the Olympic flame was ignited in Olympia, Greece (March 24), and on the same day, Greek officials were handing over the torch to Beijing Games organizers. The Olympic torch relay would get underway the next day (March 31).
In this, my first speech since Tibetan bloodshed was renewed, I underscored that Chinese leaders had three steps as "the least they could do" to defuse the crisis: "Stop the killing, release the prisoners, and talk to the Dalai Lama!"
Also, I had slated plans to speak in Providence, Portsmouth, Portland, and New Haven during April. At the Boston event, organizers and I decided to also have me speak in Washington DC, New York City, and Princeton, NJ.
So, seven appearances were slated for the Human Rights Torch Relay, and an eighth appearance would be in Fairfax, VA -- an event for the China Support Network in its own right, not under auspices of the Human Rights Torch Relay.
The following are my notes, largely to have a diary or journal.
April 5 - I was speaking in Providence, RI. The speech was extemporaneous. When I was in the largest cities (Boston, Washington, New York), I had and kept to prepared remarks, but in smaller cities I was willing to "wing it" and speak off the cuff.
April 6 - I was speaking in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the Olympic torch was encountering trouble in London. And, an article in the Providence Journal noted that I was a speaker on the program the previous day.
April 7 - The Olympic torch was encountering trouble in Paris. Also this day, the Epoch Times published an article, quoting from my Washington speech.
April 8 - I gave an interview to American Family Radio News (AFRN). I then drove to Charlottesville, VA.
April 9 - AFRN broadcast their report, with my congratulations for the protestors who had intercepted the Olympic torch in Paris. This was the day that the Olympic torch was in San Francisco. Protestors and authorities played cat and mouse. The torch was run in a very truncated (shortened) and unannounced route.
Also this day, the Epoch Times published coverage stemming from the Human Rights Torch April 5 stop in Providence.
Also this day, CNN's Jack Cafferty made comments that (naturally) offended the Foreign Ministry of Communist China. There began a backlash against CNN in China, although it was very orchestrated through the official media.
Meanwhile, I spent the day in Charlottesville, VA like a tourist. I took a tour of Monticello, which was Thomas Jefferson's house. While protests were roiling in San Francisco, I took in the view from Jefferson's mountaintop, and visited the grave of liberty's author -- the American revolution's man of letters.
April 10 - I visited George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) at the invitation of the campus chapter of Amnesty International. They were having a Human Rights Fair which included the China Support Network. Also on this day, OpEdNews (OpEdNews.com) published the text of my Boston / Washington / New York speech, under the headline "China is the new Soviet Union." Two other web sites also published the speech.
April 11 - I put out a podcast for CSN. It included audio from the AFRN report, and from the speech I had given in Boston on March 30.
April 12 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Portsmouth, NH. Mine was one of many speeches, from various oppressed or concerned groups.
April 13 - It was the New York City stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay, and my own speaking tour. Again, many groups had speakers in the rally, and two leading Chinese dissidents (Tang Baiqiao and Yang Jianli) were scheduled to speak. At the last minute, Yang Jianli was unable to be there, so I was handed his speech to read in his absence. So really, at the New York stop, I gave two speeches, his and mine. I was the pinch hitter for Yang Jianli.
The New York event was covered by NTD TV and Sound of Hope (SOH) radio. In a post-speech discussion on SOH (translated into Mandarin), I emphasized that China invites tragedy if it does not talk to the Dalai Lama, who represents an historical opportunity to arrive at a negotiated, peaceful settlement over Tibet.
There are sidebar stories to my month of April. This was a month in which I got some pretty good press coverage, but I was kicking the news media at the same time. Actually, this month I opened Issue 6 of Compassion magazine, put out by Falun Gong, and I saw myself cited within an article, 'Out of the Media Spotlight':
"John Patrick Kusumi of the China Support Network, for instance, argues that Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings for years grounded the bias of not seriously discussing human rights in China on U.S. television."
April 14 - I published a "public diary" at OpEdNews. It was titled "Seething at United States network TV 'journalists'." This directed my ire at Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather again, but not CNN.
April 19 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Portland, ME. Amid many oppressed and concerned groups, I delivered my stock speech.
April 21 - Even though I don't owe any favors to CNN or to Jack Cafferty, I did them one. I published an article, "CNN's Cafferty should not be demonized." It was published at three web sites that commonly run my columns, OpEdNews.com, TheConservativeVoice.com, and NolanChart.com.
We should face it that CNN was under attack by the Chinese government -- even though they made it look like public sentiment in China, it was very orchestrated. The Foreign Ministry was demanding apologies from CNN, and creative people in China had already penned two new pop songs, both called 'Don't Be Too CNN.'
I think that Cafferty had made a poor choice of words, but that is a mere quibble where his overall point was right on. I have long decried China's "communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs" without the blowback that hit Cafferty --because my line is clearly talking about the leadership, while his line was ambiguous, and then misrepresented as talking about Chinese people in general.
"Thugs" is not a racial slur; it's an assessment of the Chinese government, and I know what Cafferty meant, so I defended him. Also on April 21, the Epoch Times published coverage of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay.
April 24 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Princeton, NJ. I had thought about defending Jack Cafferty some more, but I didn't. Instead, I ad libbed with my usual talking points. This is when I said--
"I think that Beijing's only way out of a predicament--or a pickle that it's in--is to talk to the Dalai Lama." This was once again a crowd pleasing applause line. Continuing to ad lib, I said--
"I would say also that the Western press and news media has been a funny beast, because there was a lot of coverage right after the Tiananmen massacre, and in fact the Chinese dissidents could be seen on the mainstream news conveying the stories of human rights abuse in China.
"The Western press really has been downplaying stories -- particularly about the Falun Gong persecution. And that's in a time period since -- y'know, 1999 is when Bill Clinton signed a free trade deal with Communist China and so the trade deal was starting at the same time as the Falun Gong persecution.
"And I think that some in the American news media made a choice to be silent about the persecution in order to preserve a path for the free trade deal. But that's shortsighted -- that suggests that they must be silent eternally.
"And especially in this year, with the Olympics upcoming, we've already now seen a new crackdown against Tibetans that has come to be front and center in the mainstream news media. And so that means that there's been coverage of the Tiananmen crackdown and there's been coverage of the Tibetan crackdown.
"--We still have not seen any justice done, even just as a matter of journalism, to the story of the Falun Gong. The Western news media has still got to convey fully to the people what is happening with the Falun Gong in China.
"And so, I encourage the media to do so. I've tried at many occasions -- I've offered criticism; I've written articles; I have a book manuscript that's in progress; and something was just published this morning on OpEdNews.com.
"--All of these are occasions where I am pressing, and I am pushing, and I am challenging the Western news media to open up a bit. To elucidate about the Falun Gong persecution. It's a very important piece of the puzzle and it has been the missing piece of the puzzle thus far. We need more in the way of attention paid and indeed respect for the work of David Matas."
(applause)
Alrighty then. I was able to point at David Matas, because he was another speaker on the program, sitting right there. He is the co-author of Bloody Harvest, the investigative report about organ harvesting as a tool of Chinese government cruelty against Falun Gong practitioners whom it holds incarcerated in China.
Also on April 24, I published another diary at OpEdNews.com, titled 'Bigots of the U.S. news media.' It reflected similar thoughts as my speech -- that the press has still got to do justice to the Falun Gong persecution as a story. After all of the above, I drove to New York City for the night.
April 25 - Beijing announced that it will meet with emissaries from the Dalai Lama.
This was somewhat good news. It meant that Beijing blinked under international pressure. But it also meant that I had to change my speech for the next day. I found myself pulling an all nighter to rewrite the speech, aware that Chinese dissident Tang Baiqiao would also be on the program with me in New Haven.
Also on April 25, I missed a call in radio program on WNPR in Connecticut. I had been invited to call in while they discussed China and the Olympics. Unfortunately, I was just driving back into Connecticut from New York City and was on the road at the appointed hour.
I would have joined Marcus Gale, spokesman for the Human Rights Torch Relay, and I would have added anti-CCP balance into that program. I regret missing it, and that episode of the show 'Where We Live' seemed to skew in a pro-CCP direction without me. Dang it!
April 26 - The Human Rights Torch and I arrived in New Haven, CT. This time, my speech was different and titled, 'White Flowers for June 4.' I had begun to look ahead to this year's June 4 (Tiananmen massacre) anniversary, and I called upon the Chinese people to take white flowers and go to Tiananmen Square with them. This is a way to honor the dead, and also it is a way to press China to meet the demands of the Tiananmen Mothers.
The Tiananmen Mothers have long demanded the right to mourn publicly for their dead children. I was backing them up, and I also adjusted my speech upon talking to Tang Baiqiao, a leading Chinese dissident, at the New Haven Green. My speeches are often "Reaganesque anti-Communist" against Communist China. The new one was similar, and the Yale Daily News reported that a Yalie had found it too "hawkish" and insufficiently "conciliatory" towards Communist China.
As far as I'm concerned, I direct at the China Support Network and the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition. That Yalie is likely too young to remember the Ronald Reagan presidency and Reagan's style with the Soviet Union. Reagan also had his critics, who would cringe at the verbal assaults upon the Soviet Union. (I used to be a Reagan critic - in fact, Reagan's youngest political opponent - so I understand that feeling.) The existence of critics didn't stop Reagan, nor did it stop yours truly on the New Haven Green.
Related coverage proceeded to appear:
WTNH TV:
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8232796
April 27 - New Haven Register:
http://www.nhregister.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/BigDaily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.content=/MAIN_REP/Article/2008/04/27/1960862
April 28 - WNPR Radio:
http://www.cpbn.org/competing-demonstrations-regarding-olympics-china
New Haven Independent:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/04/china_protest.php
Yale Daily News:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24724
NTD TV:
http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=258&a=2918
China Support Network via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5aK-HonGf8
April 29 - John Kusumi via OpEdNews.com:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_john_kus_080428_britt_3a_these_olympic.htm
April 30 - The Epoch Times:
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-4-30/69990.html
Anyway, looking back upon April, a lot happened for a lot of people. As for the inclusion of myself in press coverage, I think it was best by American Family Radio News and by WNPR. (Even though I had missed WNPR on April 25, they caught up with me on the New Haven Green the next day.) I know that this isn't the end of the story; in Chicago on May 10, Robert Gerald Lorge is going to be speaking for the China Support Network/FFOSC, and by the end of May, the Human Rights Torch Relay will conclude in the United States, but the CSN/FFOSC will move immediately to run their observances of the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
For Tibet's monks, death by starvation?
According to the blog over at SFT (Students for a Free Tibet),
As the Chinese government continues its inhumane siege of major monasteries in and around Lhasa, a new danger is emerging for Tibetan monks: death by starvation.
Chinese military forces have surrounded the monasteries, cut off water and electricity, and are refusing to let Tibetans bring food and medicine to the increasingly starving (and potentially injured) monks.
This tactic is particularly inhumane, and yet historically appropriate for the Chinese Communist Party, which has a long history of massive collective punishment as a way of maintaining its control.
The major monasteries of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden are cut off, and sources in Lhasa report near-starvation among the monks. Tibet.net, the website of the Tibetan government in exile, is reporting that at least one monk has starved to death at the smaller Ramoche Monastery in central Lhasa.
The Chinese government is currently bringing some hand-picked foreign reporters on a carefully-scripted 3-day tour of Lhasa. These journalists should insist on being allowed to visit the monasteries to see the situation for themselves. China’s inhumane collective punishment against Tibet’s monks cannot be allowed to stand.
Does this sound like proper conduct for an Olympic host? Does this sound like proper conduct for any civilized country? Or does this sound like something out of the Middle Ages? Unfortunately, this is Tibet under Chinese occupation.
As the Chinese government continues its inhumane siege of major monasteries in and around Lhasa, a new danger is emerging for Tibetan monks: death by starvation.
Chinese military forces have surrounded the monasteries, cut off water and electricity, and are refusing to let Tibetans bring food and medicine to the increasingly starving (and potentially injured) monks.
This tactic is particularly inhumane, and yet historically appropriate for the Chinese Communist Party, which has a long history of massive collective punishment as a way of maintaining its control.
The major monasteries of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden are cut off, and sources in Lhasa report near-starvation among the monks. Tibet.net, the website of the Tibetan government in exile, is reporting that at least one monk has starved to death at the smaller Ramoche Monastery in central Lhasa.
The Chinese government is currently bringing some hand-picked foreign reporters on a carefully-scripted 3-day tour of Lhasa. These journalists should insist on being allowed to visit the monasteries to see the situation for themselves. China’s inhumane collective punishment against Tibet’s monks cannot be allowed to stand.
Does this sound like proper conduct for an Olympic host? Does this sound like proper conduct for any civilized country? Or does this sound like something out of the Middle Ages? Unfortunately, this is Tibet under Chinese occupation.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Wei Jingsheng speaks at Tibet protest opposite U.S. White House
On the afternoon of March 22, 2008, the Tibetans in the Washington DC metro area held a rally in the park just north of the Whitehouse. They protested the Chinese Communist government's killing of Tibetan people and monks. They also protested President Bush's insistence on attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
The Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, Wei Jingsheng, was invited to attend and deliver a speech. The following was his message:
At the end of the speech, Wei Jingsheng encouraged the Tibetan friends to continue their struggles until the Chinese Communists are willing to sit down for negotiation.
During the speech, Tibetan friends applauded enthusiastically several times. After the speech, they all came to shake hands with Mr. Wei to express their gratitude to the Han brothers, as well as wishing more Han Chinese friends would stand out to speak up for them, like what Mr. Wei had done recently in many news media in the USA, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, etc.
The Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, Wei Jingsheng, was invited to attend and deliver a speech. The following was his message:
- The whole world was shocked to learn that the peaceful protests of the Tibetans were suppressed with bloodshed by the Chinese Communist government. People of every country, including many Han Chinese, are sympathetic and are supporting your anti-suppression struggle.
- The Europeans are pushing their leaders to refuse attendance at the Olympics Games. At this time, President Bush openly insists on attending the opening ceremony. This insistence is equivalent to encouraging the Chinese Communists' bloody suppression. It is very inadequate. It is against the conscience of the human race. It is also against the stand of the majority of Americans.
- But it is only the current stand of President Bush. As the situation develops, if the Chinese Communists continue to suppress with force and refuse to negotiate, President Bush could change his decision any time. We trust that he will care about the lives and safety of the Tibetan people and their struggle for justice.
- Many Han Chinese, including some Han Chinese within the ruling class of the Chinese Communists, are sympathetic to the Tibetans. They do not support the bloody suppression policy of the Chinese Government. Thus, the main strategy of the Chinese Communist Party is to sow discord of ethnic conflict between the Han Chinese and the Tibetans, in an effort to divert the people's attention and divert the conflict for the Chinese Communist Party.
- I hope that you, Tibetan friends, will not be tricked by the Chinese Communist Party. You should stay together with the majority Han Chinese to fight against the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party. Only when people of all nationalities are united together, can we finish the autocracy of the Chinese Communist Party, and gain freedom and happiness for everyone.
At the end of the speech, Wei Jingsheng encouraged the Tibetan friends to continue their struggles until the Chinese Communists are willing to sit down for negotiation.
During the speech, Tibetan friends applauded enthusiastically several times. After the speech, they all came to shake hands with Mr. Wei to express their gratitude to the Han brothers, as well as wishing more Han Chinese friends would stand out to speak up for them, like what Mr. Wei had done recently in many news media in the USA, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, etc.
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