It is the 21st anniversary of a crime against humanity -- the Tiananmen Square massacre.
I believe that Tiananmen is the issue which separates the humans from the neo-humans; and unfortunately, the neo-humans held the upper hand for the past 21 years.
China's pro-democracy movement is a bright light for humanity; it represents hope for a better future, and light at the end of a tunnel.
In China, the tunnel has been the tenure in power of the Chinese Communist Party -- a time of brutal totalitarianism, assaulting the Chinese people with calamity, devastation, arbitrary campaigns of capricious fiat, mass murder, displacement through land seizures, and environmental destruction. In the Chinese Communist Party, justice is nowhere and corruption is everywhere. As a nation, China will need to heal from wounds which are still being inflicted upon it today.
Those wounds do not represent humanity. Those wounds represent the very most inhuman cruelty, and the perversion of humanity; of government; and of law and justice.
True justice will lead to the prosecution of those responsible for these hideous atrocities, including the Tiananmen Square massacre of 21 years ago.
These 21 years have become a very dark chapter in the history of the free world. There is a cancer in the free world, and it is called neo-politics. 21 years ago, presidential leadership gave way to neo-presidential neo-leadership; and American journalism gave way to neo-American neo-journalism.
This may confuse onlookers. A good old, red blooded American could ask, "Where did all of this 'Neo' stuff come from? What's up with that?" Well, there is a way to make sense of it, once you know the reality in this matter: "Neo" is a word modifier. In contemporary politics, it means "bought off" or "sold out." America is suffering from neo-government, which connotes government of, by, and for the private sector, which is really not public spirited.
There used to be a public sector in this country, but it has atrophied into a fading memory. As a result, the United States has been provisioning Communist China to its own detriment. Indeed, this is detrimental to the entire free world. The U.S. has become its own worst enemy, and the free world has been led towards compromise--rather than expansion--of liberties. For 21 years, we have suffered the policies of neo-American neo-Presidents.
I like the idea of expanding liberties. I would like a new one: Freedom from cruel and unusual journalism. I would like journalists to be public-spirited honest reporters, intending to expand or illuminate the public discourse, rather than to manipulate and steer it. I would like them to inform, rather than deceive, the public.
They might explain that in China, President Hu Jintao is trying to preserve or save face amid the train wreck of Chinese government.
This is the first June 4 in the third decade after Tiananmen Square. What we have in this new decade is a Chinese democracy movement that is maturing; and hence, it will be far more capable of influencing events and effecting change in China.
Many people expect that China will be the rising power of the new century; but the Chinese democracy movement will be the rising power of the new decade, now at hand.
Justice cannot be denied forever. Nor can the train wreck of Chinese government. It is already the time now that China's people must pick up the pieces and create China anew.
In this new decade, your nation has massive challenges, as does mine. I have suggested that the Tiananmen issue separates the humans from the neo-humans. We need human politics, not CCP politics, nor Western neo-politics. We need human journalism, not CCP journalism, nor Western neo-journalism.
The neo-humans belong outside of government, or at least neutralized by a discredited ideology within a government that enables competition among ideologies. In the pro-Chinese democracy movement, our cause is just; our numbers are growing; and our technology is improving. We assert that China must have peace, prosperity, and justice, under a system of freedom, democracy, and full respect for human rights and the rule of law. China needs those improvements as mentioned by Liu Xiaobo in Charter 08.
For that matter, we need Liu Xiaobo! So long as the Communist Party remains in place in mainland China, we continue to demand the immediate release and freedom of Liu Xiaobo; and of Wang Bingzhang; and of Zhou Yongjun; and of Gao Zhisheng. All other prisoners of conscience must likewise be freed, and we demand the support of Charter 08, and the end of persecution and retribution for the signatories of Charter 08.
This movement – for Chinese freedom and justice – should be the highest priority of the United States in its relations with China. It would already be Priority #1, but for the fact that neo-humans run the U.S. State Department. They are champions of bought off, sold out, private sector priorities. Shame on them, but hooray for you, here at New York City’s June 4 memorial of 2010! Thank you for taking in my speech, and God bless China!
Friday, June 04, 2010
Thursday, June 03, 2010
June 4 Event In Toronto
Toronto events for the 21st Anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Massacre will be held on Friday June 4th 2010
Friday June 4th 2010
The March
Gather in front of the Chinese Consulate, 240 ST.GEORGE STREET, TORONTO , ON , N5R 2N5
then march to the June 4th Memorial site @ U of T.
Time: 6:30 pm
Candlelight vigil
Venue: June 4th memorial site, Hart House Circle, University of Toronto.
Time: 7:30pm
Friday June 4th 2010
The March
Gather in front of the Chinese Consulate, 240 ST.GEORGE STREET, TORONTO , ON , N5R 2N5
then march to the June 4th Memorial site @ U of T.
Time: 6:30 pm
Candlelight vigil
Venue: June 4th memorial site, Hart House Circle, University of Toronto.
Time: 7:30pm
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Berlin Lit. Festival to honor Liao Yiwu on June 4
Via email, the China Support Network has received this information from Germany:
Appeal for a worldwide reading on June 4th 2010 for Liao Yiwu, and in
commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre
The international literature festival Berlin (ilb) calls for cultural
institutions, schools, radio stations and interested people to participate
in a worldwide reading of prose and poems by the Chinese author Liao Yiwu on
June 4th 2010. This day is the anniversary of the Tinananmen massacre in
Beijing in 1989, during which, according to the Red Cross, roughly 2,600
people died. The event itself, from which a democratic movement arose, is
not covered in the official Chinese media, and censorship was further
increased on the 20th anniversary of the massacre, extending deep into the
Web 2.0 internet platforms. The enforced silence in China - which also
covers the period of the Cultural Revolution – and the extremely high number
of executions in the country, as well as the treatment of Tibet, must be
even more clearly communicated by the civic institutions in democratic
societies.
For this reason, the following works by Liao Yiwu will be read on June 4th:
»My Teacher, my Enemy«; »The Public Toilet Manager«; »The Peasant Emperor«;
»Nineteen Days«; »Memories of My Flute Teacher« and, by Wen Huang (the
author's American translator), »Liao Yiwu – Lunatic Outcast«.
Liao Yiwu is one of the authors whose works are not published in China
despite their international success, as the powers-that-be claim that they
promote »the dissemination of counter-revolutionary propaganda with foreign
help«. Even his name may not be mentioned. From 1990 to 1994 he was
imprisoned for his literary and socio-political activities, and was only
released early from jail due to international pressure. His interviews with
underdogs (»Interviews with People from the Bottom Rung of Society«) and his
poetry (including »Massacre« and the anthology »The Fall of the Holy
Temple«) have been published abroad in recent years by renowned publishing
houses and journals like Lettre International (German edition) and the New
York journal The Paris Review.
Despite owning a travel permit, Liao Yiwu was not allowed by the Chinese
authorities to attend either the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair or the
lit.cologne. The ilb and the Harbourfront Festival in Hamburg have invited
him to both festivals in September 2010. We can only hope that the Chinese
authorities grant him the fundamental right to travel abroad, and to return
to China.
The goal of the worldwide reading is to share Liao Yiwu's works with a
broader readership, to commemorate the massacre of Tiananmen Square, and to
urgently admonish China's human rights record.
On the occasion of the third anniversary of the beginning of the war in
Iraq, the international literature festival Berlin and the
Peter-Weiss-Stiftung für Kultur und Politik for the first time called for a
worldwide reading on March 20th 2006 – this initial »Anniversary of the
Political Lie«, with a reading of Eliot Weinberger's »What I Heard About
Iraq«, was followed by other worldwide readings after the murder of Anna
Politkovskaya, during the run-up to the Olympic Games in China, against the
leadership of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, in memory of Mahmoud Darwish, and
in support of the democratic opposition in Iran. As many as 100
institutions, including radio and television stations, either participated
in or reported on the worldwide readings across all continents.
The texts intended to be read on this worldwide reading are available in
English and German. Institutions and persons who would like to participate
in the reading on June 4th are asked to inform us of their wish to be
involved. The email address is: worldwidereading@literaturfestival.com
Appeal for a worldwide reading on June 4th 2010 for Liao Yiwu, and in
commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre
The international literature festival Berlin (ilb) calls for cultural
institutions, schools, radio stations and interested people to participate
in a worldwide reading of prose and poems by the Chinese author Liao Yiwu on
June 4th 2010. This day is the anniversary of the Tinananmen massacre in
Beijing in 1989, during which, according to the Red Cross, roughly 2,600
people died. The event itself, from which a democratic movement arose, is
not covered in the official Chinese media, and censorship was further
increased on the 20th anniversary of the massacre, extending deep into the
Web 2.0 internet platforms. The enforced silence in China - which also
covers the period of the Cultural Revolution – and the extremely high number
of executions in the country, as well as the treatment of Tibet, must be
even more clearly communicated by the civic institutions in democratic
societies.
For this reason, the following works by Liao Yiwu will be read on June 4th:
»My Teacher, my Enemy«; »The Public Toilet Manager«; »The Peasant Emperor«;
»Nineteen Days«; »Memories of My Flute Teacher« and, by Wen Huang (the
author's American translator), »Liao Yiwu – Lunatic Outcast«.
Liao Yiwu is one of the authors whose works are not published in China
despite their international success, as the powers-that-be claim that they
promote »the dissemination of counter-revolutionary propaganda with foreign
help«. Even his name may not be mentioned. From 1990 to 1994 he was
imprisoned for his literary and socio-political activities, and was only
released early from jail due to international pressure. His interviews with
underdogs (»Interviews with People from the Bottom Rung of Society«) and his
poetry (including »Massacre« and the anthology »The Fall of the Holy
Temple«) have been published abroad in recent years by renowned publishing
houses and journals like Lettre International (German edition) and the New
York journal The Paris Review.
Despite owning a travel permit, Liao Yiwu was not allowed by the Chinese
authorities to attend either the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair or the
lit.cologne. The ilb and the Harbourfront Festival in Hamburg have invited
him to both festivals in September 2010. We can only hope that the Chinese
authorities grant him the fundamental right to travel abroad, and to return
to China.
The goal of the worldwide reading is to share Liao Yiwu's works with a
broader readership, to commemorate the massacre of Tiananmen Square, and to
urgently admonish China's human rights record.
On the occasion of the third anniversary of the beginning of the war in
Iraq, the international literature festival Berlin and the
Peter-Weiss-Stiftung für Kultur und Politik for the first time called for a
worldwide reading on March 20th 2006 – this initial »Anniversary of the
Political Lie«, with a reading of Eliot Weinberger's »What I Heard About
Iraq«, was followed by other worldwide readings after the murder of Anna
Politkovskaya, during the run-up to the Olympic Games in China, against the
leadership of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, in memory of Mahmoud Darwish, and
in support of the democratic opposition in Iran. As many as 100
institutions, including radio and television stations, either participated
in or reported on the worldwide readings across all continents.
The texts intended to be read on this worldwide reading are available in
English and German. Institutions and persons who would like to participate
in the reading on June 4th are asked to inform us of their wish to be
involved. The email address is: worldwidereading@literaturfestival.com
Hooray for Associated Newspapers!
UK newspaper, the Daily Mail, deserves praise and encouragement from the China Support Network.
On June 2, 2010, their reporting referred to "the June 4 demonstrations, in which 3,000 protesters were killed."
On June 2, 2010, their reporting referred to "the June 4 demonstrations, in which 3,000 protesters were killed."
U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi Statement
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has issued the following public statement for the occasion of this week's 21st anniversary of mainland China's bloody Tiananmen Square massacre:
"Twenty one years ago this week, thousands of Chinese students, workers, and citizens assembled in Tiananmen Square to bravely speak out. They called for the elimination of corruption. They called for an acceleration of democratic reform, freedom of speech and assembly. They called for a dialogue with China's leaders on how to make progress.
"We remember with sadness and outrage how China's military was unleashed on its own people. One of the most enduring images of the 20th Century will forever be seared into our conscience – the picture of the lone man standing in the street, bringing the line of tanks to a grinding halt. Today, the spirit of Tiananmen lives on in the hearts and minds of those continuing the struggle both in China and abroad. These heroes have the courage to speak out for freedom.
"Liu Xiaobo is one of those individuals. In the 1990s, Liu has spent five years in prison and in re-education-through-labor camps for supporting the Tiananmen students and questioning the one-party system. In 2008, Liu was arrested again for being one of the organizers of Charter 08, an online public petition for democracy and the rule of law that has over 8,000 signatures of Chinese citizens. In 2009, Liu was sentenced 11 years imprisonment for 'inciting subversion of state power.' The harshness of his sentence is further proof of the power of his message among Chinese citizens.
"While the Chinese government prohibits its people from publicly discussing the events of June 4th, the people of Hong Kong exercise their civil liberties on each anniversary by holding a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims. This year for the first time, police arrested activists and confiscated the Goddess of Democracy replica statue that is the symbol of the Tiananmen movement. This crackdown on freedom of expression will only succeed in shining a spotlight on the courage of Hong Kong's democratic movement. The United States must stand solidly with the people of Hong Kong in their desire for democracy and freedom of speech and assembly.
"The spirit of Tiananmen continues to inspire and endure. Today we say to the people of China and freedom-loving people everywhere: 'Your cause is our cause. We will never forget.'"
Monday, February 22, 2010
CCP Shenanigans On CNN Poll
On Thursday (2/18/2009) CNN reported the results of a poll they conducted with Opinion Research Corp. It ran between Feb. 12 and 15 (basically Valentine's Day weekend) and contacted 1,023 Americans by telephone.
They then reported, "Nearly three-quarters of all Americans think Tibet should be an independent country, according to a new national poll."
Hooray. Yes indeed, "Free Tibet" has become a favored cause, slogan, and bumper sticker in America.
On Monday night, CNN's Larry King interviewed the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and previously the head of state of the Tibetan theocracy (before invasion from China, which occupied Tibet increasingly from 1950-1959).
The Dalai Lama himself was quick to correct Larry King, saying that he does not seek independence. Instead, he seeks the Middle Way which would give Tibet genuine autonomy within China. (China would be externally federal but internally confederate, keeping the tasks of defense and foreign relations.)
Nuances aside, CNN placed a box poll on the Larry King web page. It's question: Should Tibet be independent? Because of only two choices, Yes and No, the question was coarse-grained, with no room allowed for nuanced replies.
Then the trouble began.
I visited that poll on Sunday night, Feb. 21. At that time, I seem to remember that results were something like 83 - 85% yes.
These box polls on the web are not scientific -- they reflect opinions of visitors to that particular web site and the subset of those who choose to reply. So, there is a sampling error built into any web poll. Respondents will have the demographics of that site's web surfers, not the public at large.
More trouble becomes possible if the web site does not require a log in, and allows people to vote more than once. Then, any anonymous prankster can move the results one way or the other, simply by flooding the poll with bogus votes.
So, the Free Tibet community was able to tweet and urge supporters to go there and vote for Tibetan independence. AND, the Chinese Communist Party was able to tweet and urge nationalist Chinese to go there and vote against Tibetan independence.
On Monday, in advance of the Dalai Lama / Larry King show, came this tweet (from a leader of Students for a Free Tibet):
Please vote on CNN's Larry King show page: Should Tibet be independent? 53% say yes. http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/
Try to remember, I saw it when it was 83% yes. (And remember, the more scientific poll of CNN/Opinion Research said 75% yes.) This new tweet reflects 53% yes -- a wide swing over night.
On Facebook came the replies to that tweet:
(...) is the Chinese Gov't hacking - again? Google, CNN...
(...) so weird. this morning it was about 80% yes.
(...) It was 83% yes when I voted yesterday, but now it's 44% - you'd think someone was trying to rig the vote, hmmm...
(...) its 44% yes and 56% no now...never knew that CNN is this popular in china. FREE TIBET!
(...) Ha Ha Ha China got a long hand in CNN too.
(...) Wow this suck, all yesterday and this morning at 88% yes, Well not surprised who did this. You can vote as many times as you want, vote a lot!
(...) Within 24 hrs, there were only 800 votes with 88% Yes and 12% No. Now its more than 4000. I am seeing 2000 votes in two hours!! Regular chinese citizens are sleeping now, the votes we are seeing is the propaganda work by chinese govt.
--All of the above was before Larry King Live put the Dalai Lama on the air. I became worried that King might "report the results" of this poll, with its faulty results.
I saw the broadcast, and thankfully the poll did not get mentioned.
After the broadcast, right now I'm looking at the poll. From 33,476 votes, the poll is REVERSED completely from when I first saw it. It says Yes - 15%, No - 85%. There are 28,600 "No" votes -- and I believe, most of those are over votes from the Communist Party.
As we will remember, when there was a more scientific poll, with controlled sampling and demographics, CNN/Opinion Research found Americans to be 75% Yes on Tibetan independence.
So, the Larry King poll reflects nothing scientific, and even in its own results box, the web page says: This is not a scientific poll.
They then reported, "Nearly three-quarters of all Americans think Tibet should be an independent country, according to a new national poll."
Hooray. Yes indeed, "Free Tibet" has become a favored cause, slogan, and bumper sticker in America.
On Monday night, CNN's Larry King interviewed the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and previously the head of state of the Tibetan theocracy (before invasion from China, which occupied Tibet increasingly from 1950-1959).
The Dalai Lama himself was quick to correct Larry King, saying that he does not seek independence. Instead, he seeks the Middle Way which would give Tibet genuine autonomy within China. (China would be externally federal but internally confederate, keeping the tasks of defense and foreign relations.)
Nuances aside, CNN placed a box poll on the Larry King web page. It's question: Should Tibet be independent? Because of only two choices, Yes and No, the question was coarse-grained, with no room allowed for nuanced replies.
Then the trouble began.
I visited that poll on Sunday night, Feb. 21. At that time, I seem to remember that results were something like 83 - 85% yes.
These box polls on the web are not scientific -- they reflect opinions of visitors to that particular web site and the subset of those who choose to reply. So, there is a sampling error built into any web poll. Respondents will have the demographics of that site's web surfers, not the public at large.
More trouble becomes possible if the web site does not require a log in, and allows people to vote more than once. Then, any anonymous prankster can move the results one way or the other, simply by flooding the poll with bogus votes.
So, the Free Tibet community was able to tweet and urge supporters to go there and vote for Tibetan independence. AND, the Chinese Communist Party was able to tweet and urge nationalist Chinese to go there and vote against Tibetan independence.
On Monday, in advance of the Dalai Lama / Larry King show, came this tweet (from a leader of Students for a Free Tibet):
Please vote on CNN's Larry King show page: Should Tibet be independent? 53% say yes. http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/
Try to remember, I saw it when it was 83% yes. (And remember, the more scientific poll of CNN/Opinion Research said 75% yes.) This new tweet reflects 53% yes -- a wide swing over night.
On Facebook came the replies to that tweet:
(...) is the Chinese Gov't hacking - again? Google, CNN...
(...) so weird. this morning it was about 80% yes.
(...) It was 83% yes when I voted yesterday, but now it's 44% - you'd think someone was trying to rig the vote, hmmm...
(...) its 44% yes and 56% no now...never knew that CNN is this popular in china. FREE TIBET!
(...) Ha Ha Ha China got a long hand in CNN too.
(...) Wow this suck, all yesterday and this morning at 88% yes, Well not surprised who did this. You can vote as many times as you want, vote a lot!
(...) Within 24 hrs, there were only 800 votes with 88% Yes and 12% No. Now its more than 4000. I am seeing 2000 votes in two hours!! Regular chinese citizens are sleeping now, the votes we are seeing is the propaganda work by chinese govt.
--All of the above was before Larry King Live put the Dalai Lama on the air. I became worried that King might "report the results" of this poll, with its faulty results.
I saw the broadcast, and thankfully the poll did not get mentioned.
After the broadcast, right now I'm looking at the poll. From 33,476 votes, the poll is REVERSED completely from when I first saw it. It says Yes - 15%, No - 85%. There are 28,600 "No" votes -- and I believe, most of those are over votes from the Communist Party.
As we will remember, when there was a more scientific poll, with controlled sampling and demographics, CNN/Opinion Research found Americans to be 75% Yes on Tibetan independence.
So, the Larry King poll reflects nothing scientific, and even in its own results box, the web page says: This is not a scientific poll.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Word gets around
Few people could look at the current state of US-China relations and not see America getting tough. In the past month, Google took a stand against Internet censorship, the U.S. increased arms sales to Taiwan, and President Obama forged ahead with plans to meet with the Dalai Lama--all of which drew angry reactions from Beijing.
--Jake Simpson, in an article posted to TheAtlanticWire, Feb. 3, 2010
--Jake Simpson, in an article posted to TheAtlanticWire, Feb. 3, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Melamine tainted food products resurface in China
During the Beijing Olympics of 2008, China was covering up the “baby-milk” scandal which surfaced right after the Olympics.
That was 2008. Now, in 2010, the problem is back. The following tweet caught my eye:
“Three Chinese companies have been found selling food products laced with melamine, the chemical blamed for the deaths of six babies in a huge dairy scandal in 2008, state media said Monday.”
And, upon research, there is indeed such an article now on the AFP (Agence-France Presse) newswire, excerpted here:
In the latest reported case, authorities in the southwestern province of Guizhou found that the products, said to include “popsicles,” contained levels of the industrial chemical above allowable limits, the China Daily said.
One official quoted in the newspaper said the products may have contained tainted milk that was recalled after the scandal but had found its way back on to the market.
The paper said the food companies involved had blamed the problem on milk powder bought from suppliers.
In the 2008 scandal, melamine was found to have been added to milk in China to give the appearance of a higher protein content.
It found its way into a range of products including baby formula, leading to the death of six infants and making almost 300,000 ill, according to official figures.
The scandal triggered an uproar in China and abroad, and many products containing Chinese dairy were taken off shelves around the world.
A total of 21 people have been reportedly convicted. Two have been executed and others were given jail sentences ranging from two years to life. Another three executives face possible trial in February….
The products were made in March and April last year 2009, months after the government declared the melamine scare over.
The three firms were Zibo Lusaier Dairy Company in eastern China’s Shandong province, Tieling Wuzhou Food Company in northeastern Liaoning province, and the Laoting Kaida Refrigeration Plant in northern Hebei province, it said.
=== /excerpt ===T
he full article can be read at: http://tinyurl.com/y8btqrr
That was 2008. Now, in 2010, the problem is back. The following tweet caught my eye:
“Three Chinese companies have been found selling food products laced with melamine, the chemical blamed for the deaths of six babies in a huge dairy scandal in 2008, state media said Monday.”
And, upon research, there is indeed such an article now on the AFP (Agence-France Presse) newswire, excerpted here:
In the latest reported case, authorities in the southwestern province of Guizhou found that the products, said to include “popsicles,” contained levels of the industrial chemical above allowable limits, the China Daily said.
One official quoted in the newspaper said the products may have contained tainted milk that was recalled after the scandal but had found its way back on to the market.
The paper said the food companies involved had blamed the problem on milk powder bought from suppliers.
In the 2008 scandal, melamine was found to have been added to milk in China to give the appearance of a higher protein content.
It found its way into a range of products including baby formula, leading to the death of six infants and making almost 300,000 ill, according to official figures.
The scandal triggered an uproar in China and abroad, and many products containing Chinese dairy were taken off shelves around the world.
A total of 21 people have been reportedly convicted. Two have been executed and others were given jail sentences ranging from two years to life. Another three executives face possible trial in February….
The products were made in March and April last year 2009, months after the government declared the melamine scare over.
The three firms were Zibo Lusaier Dairy Company in eastern China’s Shandong province, Tieling Wuzhou Food Company in northeastern Liaoning province, and the Laoting Kaida Refrigeration Plant in northern Hebei province, it said.
=== /excerpt ===T
he full article can be read at: http://tinyurl.com/y8btqrr
Sunday, December 27, 2009
My Memories of the Decade
Now that everyone is regurgitating the decade of 2000 - 2009, I thought that I might take the challenge. Writing off the cuff, what do I recall from top of mind awareness?
2000 I began the year fully persuaded that I was opening the doors on my new software company. During 2000, those doors slammed shut, and a product offering became abortive. I pulled software off of the market, not because of any intrinsic technical problem, but simply because an unexpected financial blow found me then to be losing my roof. I couldn't keep my business open, because I couldn't keep my lights on, literally. The unexpected financial blow happened with exquisite timing -- I had just spent 2 and a half years doing the research, development, and programming so that I had a product.
At this time, the China Support Network (CSN) was 100% my responsibility, because I had kept it in my back pocket after its founding in 1989. The financial blow managed to stop the forward progress of this author, and hence it closed off an avenue to resources for CSN. Translation: Expected resources were subtracted out of the picture, just at the time when CSN needed resources the most!
Communist China had recently begun the Falun Gong crackdown. Bill Clinton was offering a setback to Chinese dissidents in the form of a free trade deal with Communist China -- something that would reward China's communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs for bad behavior.
In 2000, my software entrepreneuring was rudely interrupted; the Congress passed the PNTR free trade deal for China; and I moved from Arizona back to the east coast, where I was to be better situated for pro-Chinese democracy activism.
And in 2000, George W. Bush was selected to be the next U.S. President, in a foul arrangement where justices of the Supreme Court violated the principle of one man, one vote -- because those nine justices voted a second time for President. The nation got to live with the outcome of their second vote.
2001 I was cut off from software entrepreneuring. But never mind that; I was re-establishing the China Support Network. In 2001, I was able to publish an Op-Ed suggesting that Bush should reconsider China's trade deal, and I gave a speech at the observance for the anniversary of Tiananmen Square's massacre, outside the Chinese embassy in Washington DC. Radio Free Asia broadcast me into China. The International Olympic Committee selected Beijing to be the host city of the 2008 Olympics. That was an affront to Chinese dissidents and gave us something more to protest; and, the Bush administration freed Zhang Hongbao, a dissident who had been detained in Guam as he tried to reach the United States for political asylum.
There was a summer of outrage -- a summer of protests against globalization and the WTO. However, the networks made it the summer of Gary Condit (the Congressman) and Chandra Levy (the missing intern). The networks went "wall to wall" with that coverage to the point where they clearly had changed their format from news. To focus on Condit and Levy was a smooth way to avoid showing the American people the summer of protest against the WTO.
Meanwhile, news organizations had formed a consortium to complete the recount of ballots in Florida. As I understand it, they determined that Gore had won the state of Florida. They were just about to announce the results of their recount, but another matter intervened.
That's when September 11 happened. Yes, I remember well watching the carnage on television from Cheshire, Connecticut. The crime of the century had clearly occurred, but (a) where were the interceptors of NORAD? Why was there no response from America's air defenses? (b) Who gets to hit the Pentagon, of all places? Of all places to be undefended, where were Pentagon defenses? (c) How did those buildings fall so quickly? Why was the scene "too Hollywood," such an exactly fatal blow on such a pristine clear day? (d) Why did the anchormen know that it was Osama bin Laden by lunchtime? (e) Why did the FBI have mug shots of these dead hijackers already on file, like a prepared slide? (f) Why did a third skyscraper, Building 7, that was not hit by an airplane fall? (g) Why were passenger lists not released? (h) Why were the black boxes not recovered, or not released? (i) Why was there no investigation by the NTSB? (j) Why did families have to push for a year before there was any investigation of any sort? (k) Why did no one lose their job?
Three more things happened in 2001: The PATRIOT Act was rushed through Congress; the U.S. invaded Afghanistan; and, there were attacks with military-grade, weaponized anthrax.
2002 George W. Bush decided that he was less interested to get bin Laden, and more interested to get Saddam Hussein. He began to prepare America for another war. And, it's easy to gin up a war when your anchormen are Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. The drum beat for war proceeded, with no questions seriously asked. Phil Donahue became "a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war."
Also in 2002, after a second term as a political prisoner in China, Yongjun "Majer" Zhou made his way back to the United States where he had permanent residency and a young son. Zhou and I both appeared and spoke at a human rights rally on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Also, we travelled to Crawford, Texas. We beat Cindy Sheehan to the punch, protesting at the ranch of U.S. President George Bush, as he hosted Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
At the end of 2002, Chinese dissident Xu Wenli was freed and exiled to the United States. In 2002 and 2003, the China Support Network was the premier source for English language news and information about the Chinese democracy movement. CSN had a then-new website, and while the U.S. media wasn't covering us, Taiwan's Central News Agency was. Meanwhile, the Falun Gong crackdown was growing worse and worse.
2003 The U.S. invaded Iraq. Meanwhile, with spokesman David Chu, the China Support Network did a series of talk radio interviews, promoting a boycott of goods 'Made In China.' I met former Soviet dissident Lev Navrozov, who had become a columnist (and still ran the Center for the Survival of Western Democracies). He wrote a glowing column, speaking highly about the China Support Network and myself. Navrozov's assistant Isak Baldwin became a friend to both myself and to Majer Zhou, a Chinese dissident mentioned earlier.
2003 included the development of a nasty rift in the Chinese democracy movement. In California, Zhang Hongbao (the guru of Zhong Gong, another qi gong movement) was arrested for allegedly beating his maid. Other dissidents were adamant that this was not the first time for Zhang Hongbao to beat women. The dissident Majer Zhou chose to move to California and to work with, or for, Zhang Hongbao -- at basically the same time that criminal charges came down. The Free China Movement, based in Washington under dissident Lian Shengde, was split by this maneuver. Lian "fired" Zhou from his position as the North America director for the Free China Movement. There began to be a lot of civil lawsuits and litigation between California dissidents and those based around Washington DC.
2004 George W. Bush was "re-elected," although results in the state of Ohio were statistically implausible. The Democrat's nominee, John Kerry, did not challenge the election results, but the Green Party nominee, David Cobb, did. Once again, America's news anchors asked no questions, and hence smoothed over what was likely a stolen election. Thankfully, this election was the last hurrah for the triumverate of Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather.
In 2004, I visited the dissidents in California, where Zhang Hongbao was open with me as he frankly told me that he wanted to be President of China. I visited his gated mansion in Pasadena, where he was preparing something called the China Shadow Government.
Also in 2004, there appeared an English language edition of the Epoch Times, a newspaper created by Falun Gong sympathizers. Late in 2004, they published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, and the stage was set for a movement, in which disgusted Chinese citizens would sever their ties and quit their membership in the Communist Party and related organizations.
2005 In 2005, a coalition of Chinese dissident groups was lined up with the China Shadow Government, and the China Support Network joined in to protest as the European Union proposed to lift its arms embargo on China. The arms embargo was a post-Tiananmen Square sanction, and where China had made no progress politically or in human rights, there was no change of circumstances to justify lifting the ban on military arms sales. This coalition of pro-Chinese democracy groups pushed against the "Jacques Chirac" plan. The U.S. White House came around and similarly objected to any lifting of the arms ban. Under U.S. pressure, the EU abandoned the idea.
However, in 2005 the coalition of Zhong Gong and the China Shadow Government (both under the thumb of Zhang Hongbao) was eclipsed by a coalition of Falun Gong and myriad other groups. CSN joined in the Global Coalition to Quit the [Communist] Party, otherwise known as the "tuidang" coalition. At a web site connected with the Epoch Times, the tuidang campaign was registering statements of resignation as Chinese people proceeded to quit from the CCP and two related organizations, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers.
In book form, the Nine Commentaries was smuggled around in China, where it was having a "distribution build." In tandem with that distribution build, increasing numbers of Chinese citizens quit from the party through the tuidang campaign. By April, 2005, they had recorded one million Chinese resigning from the Party. I spoke at a rally to mark the occasion, but CNN refused to cover the event. By June, 2005, the campaign reached two million people quitting. (If you've never heard of this campaign, perhaps it's because CNN won't tell you about it.)
Early in 2005, I had obtained a demo CD with four rock songs recorded by NoManZero. One song, 'Global Warning,' had politically-charged lyrics, and I thought that this band might like to lend its talents to the Chinese democracy movement. I booked them to appear at the annual commemoration of the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. With only a couple of weeks time before the event, they wrote and recorded a new song, 'Remember Tiananmen Square.' I vetted the lyrics as the band's political advisor. Suddenly, CSN's cause was being remembered in American rock music, and the China Support Network got its theme song! :)
NoManZero was a hit with Falun Gong practitioners who were at the anniversary. I had urged them to play the old standby song, 'Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye' for the Communist Party. That song from 1969 became an anthem familiar to generations of American high school students -- it is commonly played at football games. Here in 2005, NoManZero did play that song, but a well placed woman named Jianmei Yu told them, "I wish you had a Quit CCP song."
By the end of the summer, NoManZero recorded the *new* tune, Bye Bye CCP, and delivered it to New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) -- the television outfit of Falun Gong practitioners -- and NTDTV added a video montage to thereby yield a music video. NTDTV also made a video montage for the Remember Tiananmen Square song, although it did not premier until the next anniversary of Tiananmen in 2006.
By the end of 2005, seven million people had quit from the Communist Party. 2005 was also a time when YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook were beginning to make their presence felt in the world scene.
2006 By 2006, Author D.J. McGuire (author of Dragon In The Dark, a book warning about China) had become the President of the China Support Network.
McGuire's political views were largely neoconservative, but this aspect fit in with the times, as America had a neoconservative administration. Yet, the American people had begun to sour on the Iraq war, as evidenced by Ned Lamont's successful primary challenge to Senator Joe Lieberman.
In the November elections of 2006, McGuire endorsed Republicans, and the American people turned control of Congress over to Democrats. Perhaps feeling repudiated, McGuire abruptly quit from the CSN presidency the next day.
2006 had an occasion when Zhang Hongbao pleaded "no contest" to reduced charges in the criminal case against him. This seemed to be the end of the China Shadow Government. Then, in July 2006, Zhang was killed in a highway crash in northern Arizona. Hence, 2006 was the end of Zhang Hongbao all together.
2006 also had a visit by China's President Hu Jintao to the U.S. White House. On the South Lawn of the White House, while Presidents Bush and Hu were exchanging remarks, Falun Gong practitioner Wenyi Wang unfurled a banner and began to shout "stop the killing!" and "Falun dafa hao!" (Falun Gong is good). She instantly became the Rosa Parks of the cause for Chinese civil rights. CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed her on The Situation Room, but did not breathe a word about what Wang was upset about: the killing, and in fact the forcible removal of organs from Falun Gong practitioners for profitable transplant surgery. 2006 will be remembered as the year that Organ Harvesting came to light. Wenyi Wang was working for the Epoch Times newspaper, which broke the story. Wenyi Wang related the story that, when she was in an elevator at CNN, Blitzer's producer instructed her: "Don't talk about organs." The wider world learned that CNN is just as given to news suppression as delivery.
Also during 2006, a further 10 million people quit the Communist Party, for a total of 17 million. And the rock group NoManZero recorded an album (including both Remember Tiananmen Square and Bye Bye CCP), but then had its singer quit during post-production.
2007 Apart and away from my role for the China Support Network -- simply as myself -- I published the article, 'Breaking My Silence on 9/11 Truth.' At this point, I had seen enough material from the 9/11 truth movement to be ready to stand with them in demanding that the U.S. re-open its investigation into the events of 9/11/2001.
Even though I was simply exercising my own right to political free speech, this was too much for some directors of CSN, who quit. I think of them as "fallen freedom fighters," because how can one advocate free speech in China while disapproving of the same for myself, a citizen in the United States? Through being so disapproving of my article, it means that these neoconservative directors had forgotten just what the fight is all about in relation to political freedom. And, the CSN got a board of directors that was now clean of neoconservatives. That's fine. I added a new director, named Robert Gerald Lorge, who had been the 2006 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in the state of Wisconsin. His recent election campaign had not succeeded to unseat Senator Herb Kohl (one of the richest men in the Senate), but Lorge was strongly anti-communist and I welcomed him as a new member of the CSN board of directors. --His recent political campaign would be one where he offered a health plan, and other political ideas. Is that okay? Does he have the freedom of speech to express his own politics? Well, yes. At CSN, directors do enjoy their political rights. And the dissenting directors are free to make use of the door if they'd rather not be there. In my view, an organization can be all about political freedom, or it can be all about political correctness, but not both at the same time. CSN continues to be about political freedom.
In fact, CSN started the Freedom First / Olympics Second coalition, to push against the upcoming Beijing Olympics of 2008. I found other groups that would line up with us politically, and did an interview on NTDTV to promote the coalition. The CSN coalition had mostly Chinese dissident groups. Tibetans had their own coalition, and Falun Gong was gearing up a coalition against the Olympics. Separately, the Save Darfur Coalition was also pressing hard for China to change its foreign policy with Sudan.
Now that Democrats had gained control of the U.S. Congress, what can we remember 2007 for? --I think it is best remembered for Nancy Pelosi's line: "Impeachment is off the table." (George McGovern correctly wrote that the crimes of the Bush administration were far worse than Watergate. Evidently not for Pelosi.) This was said as Barack Obama began his campaign for the U.S. White House. Also in 2007, the wheels began to come off of sub-prime lending and the U.S. housing market, and a recession began by the end of the year.
2008 The Olympics were coming. The rock group Light Club -- the new project of NoManZero's guitarist -- wrote and recorded the 'Freedom First / Olympics Second' theme song.
Meanwhile, in March '08, Tibet experienced a new crackdown and uprising against Chinese rule. The Freedom First song became the first rock song to mention the unrest in Tibet. It was debuted at the end of March, as several coalitions coalesced on the Boston Common to launch the Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR), an alternative to the Olympic Torch relay. I did a lot of travel and gave a lot of speeches for the HRTR and for the Freedom First / Olympics Second Coalition.
In fact, a recent documentary film about the unrest in Tibet features sound bites from speeches that were given in that time frame. One can go to this URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fxmlYqkH8Q
--And there, you will see speech excerpts from Dennis Kucinich, and myself, and several Tibetan speakers. In this short (9.5 minute) film, I am heard scolding the Chinese government: "Stop the killing, release the prisoners, and talk to the Dalai Lama!"
A humanitarian emergency in Tibet put a whole new light upon the 2008 Olympics. The IOC should have moved the games away from China, and failing that, the West should have boycotted the games. That is what should have happened, but instead the Olympics became a festival of depravity. I believe there should be an investigation to determine whether human rights abuse *always* coincides with the Olympics. If they are a quadrennial calamity for human kind, then the Olympics should be discontinued altogether.
During the Olympics, China was covering up its poison baby milk scandal. A large number of infants died from ingesting milk, after milk powder was contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Milk is not the first deadly product to be 'Made In China.' In 2007, the U.S. received toothpaste spiked with anti-freeze, and pet food was recalled after killing thousands of U.S. cats and dogs. Also the previous year, there were recalls for 450,000 'Made In China' tires, and 19.5 million Chinese made toys, contaminated with lead, nearly made it "the year without a Christmas."
2008 is also when I published my article, 'CNN Caught In Genocidal Correctness.' Immediately after the Olympics, further evidence corroborated the allegations of the deadly practice of organ harvesting in China. As we may remember from the discussion above, CNN knew about this story beginning in 2006. Upon arrival of the further evidence, with organ harvesting confirmed, I wrote my article excoriating CNN.
Also in 2008, the financial system seized up in anticipation of cascading cross-defaults on financial derivatives. Barack Obama supported telco immunity over FISA wiretapping, and he then supported a mugging of the U.S. taxpayers to cover the gambling debts of Wall Street. Just as with 9/11, there is a good question to be asked: Why did no one lose their job? --Then, Obama was elected President of the United States. During the financial crisis, the Chinese dissident Majer Zhou attempted to return to China to see his aging parents. He was arrested by Hong Kong authorities, who then made the secret rendition of turning Zhou over to Mainland Chinese authorities.
Just prior to International Human Rights Day -- December 10, 2008 -- a group of Chinese dissidents released "Charter 08," a petition and manifesto for the reform of China. The authorities of the Mainland arrested Liu Xiaobo, a leading intellectual and writer who had participated in both the Tiananmen Square uprising and the Charter 08 development.
2009 It was the disastrous first year of Barack Obama as the U.S. President. In my view, the Bill Clinton economic team belongs in prison, not in the President's cabinet. But, Obama packed his team with retreads from the Clinton administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an early trip to China, with the message: "Kiss kiss, please buy U.S. T-bonds." U.S. unemployment soared, and Obama blew off many opportunities to create more U.S. jobs. The development of his health reform bill reflected a leadership style that says, "Look Ma, no hands!" The memorable phrases of the year were "cash for clunkers" and "cash for caulkers." The memorable phrases of the year /*should*/ have been "justice for war criminals" and "justice for 9/11."
2009 included a scare about H1N1, or "swine flu." The U.S. government should be a laughingstock after one reviews the comedy of errors that ensued.
In July 2009, another crackdown happened, this time with the Chinese government versus the Uighurs of East Turkestan / Xinjiang. Just like Tibet, it is a colonized and restive region of western China. And just like Tibet in 2008, the Uighur crackdown of 2009 was deadly.
During 2009, along with much material about the Majer Zhou case, new recordings appeared at the China Support Network website. Light Club had recorded 'Chinese Democracy (defiled)' and their remake of the Beatles' 'Revolution.' The tuidang counter approached 66 million resignations from the Communist Party.
In November, 2009, Obama made a trip to China in which Communist Party members were planted in his audience to pretend to be college students. Obama did not bring back so much as a Panda or a ping pong ball, much less gain the release of any Chinese dissidents. Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng published a tract, 'Why Did Obama Fail So Much [in China]?'
In the latter part of the year, China placed Majer Zhou and Liu Xiaobo on trial, choosing International Human Rights Day to indict Liu and Christmas Day to announce that he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. An outcome for Majer Zhou is still pending.
Decade summary It was complete bullshit. On the day before 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that the Pentagon cannot account for $2.3 trillion of money that has gone missing. This decade was good for whoever got away with that money. And, it was good for defense contractors, especially those like Halliburton and KBR who were getting no-bid contracts from cronies inside the U.S. administration. And the decade was mostly good for Bernard Madoff, who was swindling investors out of $50 billion with a ponzi scheme that went undetected for most of the decade.
It's also a decade when the U.S. trade deficit with China swelled beyond a quarter of a trillion dollars annually. At the other end of the trade, the surplus has served to fuel and build up a nuclear-armed, communist superpower. And, it's the decade when the Chinese democracy movement "went dark" on U.S. TV networks. I should announce the China Support Network's award for "Most Corrupt Newscaster of the Decade," but there are so many good candidates, it's hard to choose one.
I am sorely tempted to give that award to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, whose producer famously told Wenyi Wang, "Don't talk about organs." However, another leading candidate is ABC News' Ted Koppel. And actually, I have called for Nuremberg-style trials for Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. So why pick on Ted Koppel?
Well, here is why Koppel can at least share the prize. --In 2000, as noted above, "Bill Clinton was offering a setback to Chinese dissidents in the form of a free trade deal with Communist China -- something that would reward China's communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs for bad behavior." Chinese dissidents were mobilized against the deal, called PNTR. But, did Ted Koppel check in with any Chinese dissidents? No! He didn't tell you that they were literally making a bus trip across the country to tell anyone who would listen that PNTR was a grievous mistake.
What did Ted Koppel do instead? He waited until the night before the vote in Congress, to have his first -- and only -- show looking into trade with China. His guests? --He chose three guests in favor, and zero guests against, PNTR. This was at a time when polls showed the American public 79% against the trade deal. He dutifully put lipstick on a pig, and then the House of Representatives dutifully passed the measure on the floor of Congress. This was a decade in which the establishment was singing "Bye Bye American Jobs," while ignoring those for freedom, democracy, and human rights, who sang "Bye Bye CCP." It should be safe to say that the sorry state of affairs, above, reflects a disconnect between the interests of newscasters and the interests of the American public.
For covering up genocide in China, I think that *all* managing editors and talk producers for network television should jointly share in the China Support Network's "Most Corrupt Newscaster of the Decade" award. And to Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather, I say good riddance. Ding dong, their evil has passed from the scene. (But their replacements walk in the same shoes. That's a shame, and a disservice to the news viewing public.)
I happen to think, enough is enough of this decade. Sheesh!
2000 I began the year fully persuaded that I was opening the doors on my new software company. During 2000, those doors slammed shut, and a product offering became abortive. I pulled software off of the market, not because of any intrinsic technical problem, but simply because an unexpected financial blow found me then to be losing my roof. I couldn't keep my business open, because I couldn't keep my lights on, literally. The unexpected financial blow happened with exquisite timing -- I had just spent 2 and a half years doing the research, development, and programming so that I had a product.
At this time, the China Support Network (CSN) was 100% my responsibility, because I had kept it in my back pocket after its founding in 1989. The financial blow managed to stop the forward progress of this author, and hence it closed off an avenue to resources for CSN. Translation: Expected resources were subtracted out of the picture, just at the time when CSN needed resources the most!
Communist China had recently begun the Falun Gong crackdown. Bill Clinton was offering a setback to Chinese dissidents in the form of a free trade deal with Communist China -- something that would reward China's communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs for bad behavior.
In 2000, my software entrepreneuring was rudely interrupted; the Congress passed the PNTR free trade deal for China; and I moved from Arizona back to the east coast, where I was to be better situated for pro-Chinese democracy activism.
And in 2000, George W. Bush was selected to be the next U.S. President, in a foul arrangement where justices of the Supreme Court violated the principle of one man, one vote -- because those nine justices voted a second time for President. The nation got to live with the outcome of their second vote.
2001 I was cut off from software entrepreneuring. But never mind that; I was re-establishing the China Support Network. In 2001, I was able to publish an Op-Ed suggesting that Bush should reconsider China's trade deal, and I gave a speech at the observance for the anniversary of Tiananmen Square's massacre, outside the Chinese embassy in Washington DC. Radio Free Asia broadcast me into China. The International Olympic Committee selected Beijing to be the host city of the 2008 Olympics. That was an affront to Chinese dissidents and gave us something more to protest; and, the Bush administration freed Zhang Hongbao, a dissident who had been detained in Guam as he tried to reach the United States for political asylum.
There was a summer of outrage -- a summer of protests against globalization and the WTO. However, the networks made it the summer of Gary Condit (the Congressman) and Chandra Levy (the missing intern). The networks went "wall to wall" with that coverage to the point where they clearly had changed their format from news. To focus on Condit and Levy was a smooth way to avoid showing the American people the summer of protest against the WTO.
Meanwhile, news organizations had formed a consortium to complete the recount of ballots in Florida. As I understand it, they determined that Gore had won the state of Florida. They were just about to announce the results of their recount, but another matter intervened.
That's when September 11 happened. Yes, I remember well watching the carnage on television from Cheshire, Connecticut. The crime of the century had clearly occurred, but (a) where were the interceptors of NORAD? Why was there no response from America's air defenses? (b) Who gets to hit the Pentagon, of all places? Of all places to be undefended, where were Pentagon defenses? (c) How did those buildings fall so quickly? Why was the scene "too Hollywood," such an exactly fatal blow on such a pristine clear day? (d) Why did the anchormen know that it was Osama bin Laden by lunchtime? (e) Why did the FBI have mug shots of these dead hijackers already on file, like a prepared slide? (f) Why did a third skyscraper, Building 7, that was not hit by an airplane fall? (g) Why were passenger lists not released? (h) Why were the black boxes not recovered, or not released? (i) Why was there no investigation by the NTSB? (j) Why did families have to push for a year before there was any investigation of any sort? (k) Why did no one lose their job?
Three more things happened in 2001: The PATRIOT Act was rushed through Congress; the U.S. invaded Afghanistan; and, there were attacks with military-grade, weaponized anthrax.
2002 George W. Bush decided that he was less interested to get bin Laden, and more interested to get Saddam Hussein. He began to prepare America for another war. And, it's easy to gin up a war when your anchormen are Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. The drum beat for war proceeded, with no questions seriously asked. Phil Donahue became "a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war."
Also in 2002, after a second term as a political prisoner in China, Yongjun "Majer" Zhou made his way back to the United States where he had permanent residency and a young son. Zhou and I both appeared and spoke at a human rights rally on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Also, we travelled to Crawford, Texas. We beat Cindy Sheehan to the punch, protesting at the ranch of U.S. President George Bush, as he hosted Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
At the end of 2002, Chinese dissident Xu Wenli was freed and exiled to the United States. In 2002 and 2003, the China Support Network was the premier source for English language news and information about the Chinese democracy movement. CSN had a then-new website, and while the U.S. media wasn't covering us, Taiwan's Central News Agency was. Meanwhile, the Falun Gong crackdown was growing worse and worse.
2003 The U.S. invaded Iraq. Meanwhile, with spokesman David Chu, the China Support Network did a series of talk radio interviews, promoting a boycott of goods 'Made In China.' I met former Soviet dissident Lev Navrozov, who had become a columnist (and still ran the Center for the Survival of Western Democracies). He wrote a glowing column, speaking highly about the China Support Network and myself. Navrozov's assistant Isak Baldwin became a friend to both myself and to Majer Zhou, a Chinese dissident mentioned earlier.
2003 included the development of a nasty rift in the Chinese democracy movement. In California, Zhang Hongbao (the guru of Zhong Gong, another qi gong movement) was arrested for allegedly beating his maid. Other dissidents were adamant that this was not the first time for Zhang Hongbao to beat women. The dissident Majer Zhou chose to move to California and to work with, or for, Zhang Hongbao -- at basically the same time that criminal charges came down. The Free China Movement, based in Washington under dissident Lian Shengde, was split by this maneuver. Lian "fired" Zhou from his position as the North America director for the Free China Movement. There began to be a lot of civil lawsuits and litigation between California dissidents and those based around Washington DC.
2004 George W. Bush was "re-elected," although results in the state of Ohio were statistically implausible. The Democrat's nominee, John Kerry, did not challenge the election results, but the Green Party nominee, David Cobb, did. Once again, America's news anchors asked no questions, and hence smoothed over what was likely a stolen election. Thankfully, this election was the last hurrah for the triumverate of Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather.
In 2004, I visited the dissidents in California, where Zhang Hongbao was open with me as he frankly told me that he wanted to be President of China. I visited his gated mansion in Pasadena, where he was preparing something called the China Shadow Government.
Also in 2004, there appeared an English language edition of the Epoch Times, a newspaper created by Falun Gong sympathizers. Late in 2004, they published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, and the stage was set for a movement, in which disgusted Chinese citizens would sever their ties and quit their membership in the Communist Party and related organizations.
2005 In 2005, a coalition of Chinese dissident groups was lined up with the China Shadow Government, and the China Support Network joined in to protest as the European Union proposed to lift its arms embargo on China. The arms embargo was a post-Tiananmen Square sanction, and where China had made no progress politically or in human rights, there was no change of circumstances to justify lifting the ban on military arms sales. This coalition of pro-Chinese democracy groups pushed against the "Jacques Chirac" plan. The U.S. White House came around and similarly objected to any lifting of the arms ban. Under U.S. pressure, the EU abandoned the idea.
However, in 2005 the coalition of Zhong Gong and the China Shadow Government (both under the thumb of Zhang Hongbao) was eclipsed by a coalition of Falun Gong and myriad other groups. CSN joined in the Global Coalition to Quit the [Communist] Party, otherwise known as the "tuidang" coalition. At a web site connected with the Epoch Times, the tuidang campaign was registering statements of resignation as Chinese people proceeded to quit from the CCP and two related organizations, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers.
In book form, the Nine Commentaries was smuggled around in China, where it was having a "distribution build." In tandem with that distribution build, increasing numbers of Chinese citizens quit from the party through the tuidang campaign. By April, 2005, they had recorded one million Chinese resigning from the Party. I spoke at a rally to mark the occasion, but CNN refused to cover the event. By June, 2005, the campaign reached two million people quitting. (If you've never heard of this campaign, perhaps it's because CNN won't tell you about it.)
Early in 2005, I had obtained a demo CD with four rock songs recorded by NoManZero. One song, 'Global Warning,' had politically-charged lyrics, and I thought that this band might like to lend its talents to the Chinese democracy movement. I booked them to appear at the annual commemoration of the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. With only a couple of weeks time before the event, they wrote and recorded a new song, 'Remember Tiananmen Square.' I vetted the lyrics as the band's political advisor. Suddenly, CSN's cause was being remembered in American rock music, and the China Support Network got its theme song! :)
NoManZero was a hit with Falun Gong practitioners who were at the anniversary. I had urged them to play the old standby song, 'Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye' for the Communist Party. That song from 1969 became an anthem familiar to generations of American high school students -- it is commonly played at football games. Here in 2005, NoManZero did play that song, but a well placed woman named Jianmei Yu told them, "I wish you had a Quit CCP song."
By the end of the summer, NoManZero recorded the *new* tune, Bye Bye CCP, and delivered it to New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) -- the television outfit of Falun Gong practitioners -- and NTDTV added a video montage to thereby yield a music video. NTDTV also made a video montage for the Remember Tiananmen Square song, although it did not premier until the next anniversary of Tiananmen in 2006.
By the end of 2005, seven million people had quit from the Communist Party. 2005 was also a time when YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook were beginning to make their presence felt in the world scene.
2006 By 2006, Author D.J. McGuire (author of Dragon In The Dark, a book warning about China) had become the President of the China Support Network.
McGuire's political views were largely neoconservative, but this aspect fit in with the times, as America had a neoconservative administration. Yet, the American people had begun to sour on the Iraq war, as evidenced by Ned Lamont's successful primary challenge to Senator Joe Lieberman.
In the November elections of 2006, McGuire endorsed Republicans, and the American people turned control of Congress over to Democrats. Perhaps feeling repudiated, McGuire abruptly quit from the CSN presidency the next day.
2006 had an occasion when Zhang Hongbao pleaded "no contest" to reduced charges in the criminal case against him. This seemed to be the end of the China Shadow Government. Then, in July 2006, Zhang was killed in a highway crash in northern Arizona. Hence, 2006 was the end of Zhang Hongbao all together.
2006 also had a visit by China's President Hu Jintao to the U.S. White House. On the South Lawn of the White House, while Presidents Bush and Hu were exchanging remarks, Falun Gong practitioner Wenyi Wang unfurled a banner and began to shout "stop the killing!" and "Falun dafa hao!" (Falun Gong is good). She instantly became the Rosa Parks of the cause for Chinese civil rights. CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed her on The Situation Room, but did not breathe a word about what Wang was upset about: the killing, and in fact the forcible removal of organs from Falun Gong practitioners for profitable transplant surgery. 2006 will be remembered as the year that Organ Harvesting came to light. Wenyi Wang was working for the Epoch Times newspaper, which broke the story. Wenyi Wang related the story that, when she was in an elevator at CNN, Blitzer's producer instructed her: "Don't talk about organs." The wider world learned that CNN is just as given to news suppression as delivery.
Also during 2006, a further 10 million people quit the Communist Party, for a total of 17 million. And the rock group NoManZero recorded an album (including both Remember Tiananmen Square and Bye Bye CCP), but then had its singer quit during post-production.
2007 Apart and away from my role for the China Support Network -- simply as myself -- I published the article, 'Breaking My Silence on 9/11 Truth.' At this point, I had seen enough material from the 9/11 truth movement to be ready to stand with them in demanding that the U.S. re-open its investigation into the events of 9/11/2001.
Even though I was simply exercising my own right to political free speech, this was too much for some directors of CSN, who quit. I think of them as "fallen freedom fighters," because how can one advocate free speech in China while disapproving of the same for myself, a citizen in the United States? Through being so disapproving of my article, it means that these neoconservative directors had forgotten just what the fight is all about in relation to political freedom. And, the CSN got a board of directors that was now clean of neoconservatives. That's fine. I added a new director, named Robert Gerald Lorge, who had been the 2006 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in the state of Wisconsin. His recent election campaign had not succeeded to unseat Senator Herb Kohl (one of the richest men in the Senate), but Lorge was strongly anti-communist and I welcomed him as a new member of the CSN board of directors. --His recent political campaign would be one where he offered a health plan, and other political ideas. Is that okay? Does he have the freedom of speech to express his own politics? Well, yes. At CSN, directors do enjoy their political rights. And the dissenting directors are free to make use of the door if they'd rather not be there. In my view, an organization can be all about political freedom, or it can be all about political correctness, but not both at the same time. CSN continues to be about political freedom.
In fact, CSN started the Freedom First / Olympics Second coalition, to push against the upcoming Beijing Olympics of 2008. I found other groups that would line up with us politically, and did an interview on NTDTV to promote the coalition. The CSN coalition had mostly Chinese dissident groups. Tibetans had their own coalition, and Falun Gong was gearing up a coalition against the Olympics. Separately, the Save Darfur Coalition was also pressing hard for China to change its foreign policy with Sudan.
Now that Democrats had gained control of the U.S. Congress, what can we remember 2007 for? --I think it is best remembered for Nancy Pelosi's line: "Impeachment is off the table." (George McGovern correctly wrote that the crimes of the Bush administration were far worse than Watergate. Evidently not for Pelosi.) This was said as Barack Obama began his campaign for the U.S. White House. Also in 2007, the wheels began to come off of sub-prime lending and the U.S. housing market, and a recession began by the end of the year.
2008 The Olympics were coming. The rock group Light Club -- the new project of NoManZero's guitarist -- wrote and recorded the 'Freedom First / Olympics Second' theme song.
Meanwhile, in March '08, Tibet experienced a new crackdown and uprising against Chinese rule. The Freedom First song became the first rock song to mention the unrest in Tibet. It was debuted at the end of March, as several coalitions coalesced on the Boston Common to launch the Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR), an alternative to the Olympic Torch relay. I did a lot of travel and gave a lot of speeches for the HRTR and for the Freedom First / Olympics Second Coalition.
In fact, a recent documentary film about the unrest in Tibet features sound bites from speeches that were given in that time frame. One can go to this URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fxmlYqkH8Q
--And there, you will see speech excerpts from Dennis Kucinich, and myself, and several Tibetan speakers. In this short (9.5 minute) film, I am heard scolding the Chinese government: "Stop the killing, release the prisoners, and talk to the Dalai Lama!"
A humanitarian emergency in Tibet put a whole new light upon the 2008 Olympics. The IOC should have moved the games away from China, and failing that, the West should have boycotted the games. That is what should have happened, but instead the Olympics became a festival of depravity. I believe there should be an investigation to determine whether human rights abuse *always* coincides with the Olympics. If they are a quadrennial calamity for human kind, then the Olympics should be discontinued altogether.
During the Olympics, China was covering up its poison baby milk scandal. A large number of infants died from ingesting milk, after milk powder was contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Milk is not the first deadly product to be 'Made In China.' In 2007, the U.S. received toothpaste spiked with anti-freeze, and pet food was recalled after killing thousands of U.S. cats and dogs. Also the previous year, there were recalls for 450,000 'Made In China' tires, and 19.5 million Chinese made toys, contaminated with lead, nearly made it "the year without a Christmas."
2008 is also when I published my article, 'CNN Caught In Genocidal Correctness.' Immediately after the Olympics, further evidence corroborated the allegations of the deadly practice of organ harvesting in China. As we may remember from the discussion above, CNN knew about this story beginning in 2006. Upon arrival of the further evidence, with organ harvesting confirmed, I wrote my article excoriating CNN.
Also in 2008, the financial system seized up in anticipation of cascading cross-defaults on financial derivatives. Barack Obama supported telco immunity over FISA wiretapping, and he then supported a mugging of the U.S. taxpayers to cover the gambling debts of Wall Street. Just as with 9/11, there is a good question to be asked: Why did no one lose their job? --Then, Obama was elected President of the United States. During the financial crisis, the Chinese dissident Majer Zhou attempted to return to China to see his aging parents. He was arrested by Hong Kong authorities, who then made the secret rendition of turning Zhou over to Mainland Chinese authorities.
Just prior to International Human Rights Day -- December 10, 2008 -- a group of Chinese dissidents released "Charter 08," a petition and manifesto for the reform of China. The authorities of the Mainland arrested Liu Xiaobo, a leading intellectual and writer who had participated in both the Tiananmen Square uprising and the Charter 08 development.
2009 It was the disastrous first year of Barack Obama as the U.S. President. In my view, the Bill Clinton economic team belongs in prison, not in the President's cabinet. But, Obama packed his team with retreads from the Clinton administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an early trip to China, with the message: "Kiss kiss, please buy U.S. T-bonds." U.S. unemployment soared, and Obama blew off many opportunities to create more U.S. jobs. The development of his health reform bill reflected a leadership style that says, "Look Ma, no hands!" The memorable phrases of the year were "cash for clunkers" and "cash for caulkers." The memorable phrases of the year /*should*/ have been "justice for war criminals" and "justice for 9/11."
2009 included a scare about H1N1, or "swine flu." The U.S. government should be a laughingstock after one reviews the comedy of errors that ensued.
In July 2009, another crackdown happened, this time with the Chinese government versus the Uighurs of East Turkestan / Xinjiang. Just like Tibet, it is a colonized and restive region of western China. And just like Tibet in 2008, the Uighur crackdown of 2009 was deadly.
During 2009, along with much material about the Majer Zhou case, new recordings appeared at the China Support Network website. Light Club had recorded 'Chinese Democracy (defiled)' and their remake of the Beatles' 'Revolution.' The tuidang counter approached 66 million resignations from the Communist Party.
In November, 2009, Obama made a trip to China in which Communist Party members were planted in his audience to pretend to be college students. Obama did not bring back so much as a Panda or a ping pong ball, much less gain the release of any Chinese dissidents. Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng published a tract, 'Why Did Obama Fail So Much [in China]?'
In the latter part of the year, China placed Majer Zhou and Liu Xiaobo on trial, choosing International Human Rights Day to indict Liu and Christmas Day to announce that he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. An outcome for Majer Zhou is still pending.
Decade summary It was complete bullshit. On the day before 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that the Pentagon cannot account for $2.3 trillion of money that has gone missing. This decade was good for whoever got away with that money. And, it was good for defense contractors, especially those like Halliburton and KBR who were getting no-bid contracts from cronies inside the U.S. administration. And the decade was mostly good for Bernard Madoff, who was swindling investors out of $50 billion with a ponzi scheme that went undetected for most of the decade.
It's also a decade when the U.S. trade deficit with China swelled beyond a quarter of a trillion dollars annually. At the other end of the trade, the surplus has served to fuel and build up a nuclear-armed, communist superpower. And, it's the decade when the Chinese democracy movement "went dark" on U.S. TV networks. I should announce the China Support Network's award for "Most Corrupt Newscaster of the Decade," but there are so many good candidates, it's hard to choose one.
I am sorely tempted to give that award to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, whose producer famously told Wenyi Wang, "Don't talk about organs." However, another leading candidate is ABC News' Ted Koppel. And actually, I have called for Nuremberg-style trials for Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. So why pick on Ted Koppel?
Well, here is why Koppel can at least share the prize. --In 2000, as noted above, "Bill Clinton was offering a setback to Chinese dissidents in the form of a free trade deal with Communist China -- something that would reward China's communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs for bad behavior." Chinese dissidents were mobilized against the deal, called PNTR. But, did Ted Koppel check in with any Chinese dissidents? No! He didn't tell you that they were literally making a bus trip across the country to tell anyone who would listen that PNTR was a grievous mistake.
What did Ted Koppel do instead? He waited until the night before the vote in Congress, to have his first -- and only -- show looking into trade with China. His guests? --He chose three guests in favor, and zero guests against, PNTR. This was at a time when polls showed the American public 79% against the trade deal. He dutifully put lipstick on a pig, and then the House of Representatives dutifully passed the measure on the floor of Congress. This was a decade in which the establishment was singing "Bye Bye American Jobs," while ignoring those for freedom, democracy, and human rights, who sang "Bye Bye CCP." It should be safe to say that the sorry state of affairs, above, reflects a disconnect between the interests of newscasters and the interests of the American public.
For covering up genocide in China, I think that *all* managing editors and talk producers for network television should jointly share in the China Support Network's "Most Corrupt Newscaster of the Decade" award. And to Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather, I say good riddance. Ding dong, their evil has passed from the scene. (But their replacements walk in the same shoes. That's a shame, and a disservice to the news viewing public.)
I happen to think, enough is enough of this decade. Sheesh!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
U.S. Network TV Dodges Chinese Democracy Story
In the past 48 hours, U.S. TV "news media" have once again "made my point for me." They have reinforced my disdain, by showing once again why I am boycotting ABC, CBS, and NBC "news."
They have once again downplayed and diminished (suppressed) news that is likely to be a turning point for the Chinese pro-democracy movement. The YouTube video above tells the story -- in more ways than one. It is a montage of television reports that stem from the sentencing of Liu Xiaobo, a top Chinese dissident, to 11 years in prison.
First is a report by AP television. Second is a report by World News Australia. It shows representatives of the U.S. and French governments calling for the release of Liu Xiaobo. Third is a report by France 24. Fourth is a video by PEN American center. That is a branch of International PEN, an organization for writers. Liu Xiaobo was the President of Independent Chinese PEN, another branch of the same organization.
The video montage is notable for more than what it shows -- who is absent from the montage? (Here's a hint: I was already boycotting ABC, CBS, and NBC.) Close analysis of the video reveals that there is no report from ABC, CBS, or NBC.
It's a big story, internationally. Type "Liu Xiaobo" into News.Google.Com, and it indicates 4,793 recent stories on Liu Xiaobo. (His trial was December 23 and his sentence was announced December 25.) 15 different countries had diplomats who went to the trial (and were refused entrance). Headlines at this time include "France berates China over sentencing of dissident," "US Reiterates Call for Release of Chinese Dissident," "Taiwan leaders must push for Liu Xiaobo's freedom," "Switzerland joins protests against China," and "Jailing of writer in China causes concern at UN."
So what's happening at ABC, CBS, and NBC, where the story is dark? Apparently, to shed light on the Chinese democracy cause, they need a permission slip from their Chamber of Commerce minders. Let's face it. The news divisions at ABC, CBS, and NBC are each "mouthpiece" organizations. They are fastidious to be pro-corrupt status quo, which includes sanitizing the public image of Communist China and being agnostic about China's ugly open secrets like genocide, organ harvesting, and slave labor, not to mention the abuse of Chinese dissidents.
At the networks, they are obedient sock puppets, reading from teleprompters. CNN is just an itty bit better, because they sometimes remember that China in fact has a democracy movement -- something that ABC, CBS, and NBC have not let on since about 2002.
The story is a turning point because it shows that "moderate" Chinese dissent is met with a dead end. The severe sentence for Liu Xiaobo gives new initiative to the "hardline" Chinese dissidents who expect no results from any entreaties to the unreformed Chinese government. Is "further turmoil" ahead? Here is a statement from Wei Jingsheng, previously known as China's most famous dissident:
Statement by Wei Jingsheng
Mr. Liu Xiaobo is an important representative of the moderate faction of the intellectuals inside China. The "08 Charter" he co-drafted is a document meant to push for reform in the way of reconciliation and cooperation, which represents an opinion inside China for an effort to solve social crisis in a peaceful and reconciled approach. In the past many years, the voices and opinions of this faction demonstrated at least some survival space inside China. They illustrated the possibility that the good sensed people within the Chinese Communist government still had the opportunity to present their opinions, thus leaving the option to solve the crisis inside China peacefully.
However, today the severe sentence that Liu Xiaobo received by the Hu Jintao regime releases the message that the regime refuses to reform the political and economic system in a peaceful manner. The regime refuses to reconcile with the people and continues its stand of being the enemy of the people. This kind of policy of being against the historic currents for sure will obstruct the future of reform, and thus result in an even bigger turmoil in China. It will be neither good for the Chinese people, nor for the Communist Party's own existence. It is a policy of extreme stupidity.
We, the members of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, are against this policy by the Hu Jintao clique. We urge the people who still have some intellect inside the Chinese Communist Party to convince Hu Jintao to change this stupid policy. In particular, the Chinese government must reverse Mr. Liu Xiaobo's guilty ruling during the appeal period and release the person as innocent immediately. Only by leaving room for maneuvering for moderate reform can further turmoil be prevented.
Wei Jingsheng
Chair, Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
JPK in documentary
Tibetan filmmaker makes 9.5 min. documentary, and I'm in it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fxmlYqkH8Q
The last speech in the video is one that I delivered in April, 2008 at the New York stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay. The subject is the crackdown in Tibet which began in March, 2008.
Without mincing words, I told Chinese politicians to (1.) stop the killing; (2.) release the prisoners; and (3.) talk to the Dalai Lama.
The last speech in the video is one that I delivered in April, 2008 at the New York stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay. The subject is the crackdown in Tibet which began in March, 2008.
Without mincing words, I told Chinese politicians to (1.) stop the killing; (2.) release the prisoners; and (3.) talk to the Dalai Lama.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Obama's Asia itinerary
Here's a breakdown of the trip:
Nov. 12-13 -- Tokyo. Obama will meet with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. (Perhaps they'll commiserate over the recent loss of the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro; Chicago and Tokyo were both finalists.)
Nov. 13-15 -- Singapore, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
Nov. 15-18 -- China, with stops in Shanghai and Beijing. The president will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Nov. 18-19 -- Seoul. Obama will meet with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and visit U.S. troops who are stationed near nuclear-armed North Korea.
Nov. 12-13 -- Tokyo. Obama will meet with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. (Perhaps they'll commiserate over the recent loss of the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro; Chicago and Tokyo were both finalists.)
Nov. 13-15 -- Singapore, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
Nov. 15-18 -- China, with stops in Shanghai and Beijing. The president will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Nov. 18-19 -- Seoul. Obama will meet with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and visit U.S. troops who are stationed near nuclear-armed North Korea.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
From the Hong Kong government
Government statement on Mr Zhou Yongjun's case
**********************************************
In response to media enquiries on the case concerning Mr Zhou Yongjun, a government spokesman said today (October 12): "We do not comment on individual cases. The Immigration Department has the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control. The department handles all entry applications in accordance with the law and immigration policy, having due regard to individual circumstances. In general, a passenger whose travel document does not meet the entry requirements will be repatriated to his or her place of embarkation or origin."
Ends/Monday, October 12, 2009Issued at HKT 17:25
**********************************************
In response to media enquiries on the case concerning Mr Zhou Yongjun, a government spokesman said today (October 12): "We do not comment on individual cases. The Immigration Department has the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control. The department handles all entry applications in accordance with the law and immigration policy, having due regard to individual circumstances. In general, a passenger whose travel document does not meet the entry requirements will be repatriated to his or her place of embarkation or origin."
Ends/Monday, October 12, 2009Issued at HKT 17:25
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Donald Tsang tries to deny wrongdoing
In an October 14 press conference, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang defensive tried to both dodge and defuse the question about Tiananmen Square student leader, Zhou Yongjun.
Zhou travelled from the U.S. to Macao in September, 2008, and tried to enter Hong Kong. Stopped by HK authorities, he was somehow sent to Mainland China to face bogus and politically motivated trumped up charges, in proceedings that violate Zhou's human rights.
Here is the press conference exchange:
Reporter: Did the Hong Kong government return Zhou Yongjun, a student leader from Tiananmen, to the Chinese authorities rather than going back to Macau as his family alleged a few days ago?
Chief Executive: Let me say first of all, I'm not in a position, like every other government, to comment on individual immigration cases.One thing is clear, let me explain very clearly to you, our immigration colleagues operate entirely according to the law of Hong Kong and according to established procedures. Anyone who legally enters Hong Kong will be welcome to do so. Anyone who travels with a false document will be treated accordingly, he'll be sent back to wherever is appropriate, that is established policy.
Thank you very much.
Zhou travelled from the U.S. to Macao in September, 2008, and tried to enter Hong Kong. Stopped by HK authorities, he was somehow sent to Mainland China to face bogus and politically motivated trumped up charges, in proceedings that violate Zhou's human rights.
Here is the press conference exchange:
Reporter: Did the Hong Kong government return Zhou Yongjun, a student leader from Tiananmen, to the Chinese authorities rather than going back to Macau as his family alleged a few days ago?
Chief Executive: Let me say first of all, I'm not in a position, like every other government, to comment on individual immigration cases.One thing is clear, let me explain very clearly to you, our immigration colleagues operate entirely according to the law of Hong Kong and according to established procedures. Anyone who legally enters Hong Kong will be welcome to do so. Anyone who travels with a false document will be treated accordingly, he'll be sent back to wherever is appropriate, that is established policy.
Thank you very much.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Rep.Chris Smith (R-NJ) adds public statement re Oct. 1
Congressman Chris Smith Remembers the Victims of 60 Years of Communist Rule in China
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), a senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Ranking Member on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, today called on free people every where to reject China's self-aggrandizing "celebrations" of its 60 years of Communist rule and instead remember and honor the millions of people who have been killed and those who endure limited freedoms, harassment and torture at the hands of the Chinese Communist dictatorship.
"The Chinese Communist government will mark the 60th year of the People's Republic of China with massive but highly choreographed celebrations-coupled with a massive ramping-up of police control, and roundup of dissidents," said Smith who was recently nominated by President Obama to be Congressional Representative to the United Nations said. "Over 60 years, the PRC government has shown itself by far the most deadly enemy the Chinese people have ever faced. Scholars estimate that this government has been responsible for killing approximately 65 million people in China.
"Rather than bogus celebration, today should be a day of remembrance," Smith said. "The victims of this government may seem like numberless millions, but each one had a human face, loved ones and a contribution to make. I propose that we remember them today, and resolve to pray and work that what happened and is still happening to the Chinese people will one day be stopped-and the Chinese people can truly say, "never again."
Smith, who traveled to China during the Olympics last year on a human rights trip, said that the current Chinese government routinely and viciously persecutes Falun Gong practitioners, Muslim Uighurs, Tibetans, and Christians, as well as activists and journalists promoting human rights and democracy.
"Its most massive crimes were in the 1950s and 60s but even today it perpetrates grave human rights abuses, from widespread use of torture, massive censorship and surveillance of the Internet, jailing of dissidents, across-the-board religious persecution, and ethnic persecution that killed hundreds and jailed thousands of Tibetans in 2008, and Uighurs in 2009. We cannot forget the killing, in the past ten years, of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners.
"October 1 marks 60 years of human rights abuse in China on a scale we can hardly grasp," he said.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur newswire reports "rising pressure" in HK
Hong Kong - Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang was under increasing pressure Tuesday to investigate the case of a former Tiananmen Square dissident sent over the border into China to be arrested.
Zhou Yongjun, 42, a student leader in the 1989 pro-democracy movement who is now in the process of becoming a US citizen, has been held for a year in China after being picked up in Hong Kong.
He faces fraud charges in mainland China after being found allegedly using fraudulent identity documents in September 2008 to enter Hong Kong from neighbouring Macau.
At a press conference Monday, his lawyer said that Zhou, who was jailed after the 1989 demonstrations and then left China for the US, had been tortured and denied family visits since his arrest last year.
Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang was facing renewed pressure Tuesday to investigate the case, which a leading lawmaker said was effectively an illegal extradition.
Speaking on government-run radio station RTHK, Albert Ho, chairman of the Democratic Party, said the case 'constitutes a very serious infringement' of Zhou's rights.
Ho said that Zhou had been picked up by immigration officers, put into a van and driven across the border to mainland China against his will, even though there is no agreement for cross-border extraditions.
Ho appealed to Tsang to make available police records of the incident and to press for Zhou's release, warning that the case could open the door to politically motivated cross-border transfers.
Zhou came to Hong Kong in September 2008 with the intention of visiting his elderly parents in China, using a Malaysian national's passport. He has no Chinese visa since fleeing to the US.
Girlfriend Zhang Yuewei said that Zhou's family only learned of his arrest and detention in Sichuan seven months after he was placed in custody in mainland China.
Zhou, one of the most prominent of the 1989 student demonstrators, was pictured kneeling on the steps of the Great Hall of the People during the Tiananmen Square protests pleading for political reforms.
Asked about the case by reporters Monday evening, however, Beijing-appointed Tsang would only say that he could not comment on individual cases.
Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 under a 'one country, two systems' agreement, after 150 years of British colonial rule.
The city has a separate legal and political system and a mini- constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and political freedoms. There is no formal rendition agreement with China.
Zhou is said to be facing charges including defrauding the Hang Seng Bank, accusations believed to relate to his use of a bogus identity to attempt to enter China.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of students were killed by Chinese troops in June 1989 when the pro-democracy movement was brutally crushed in the streets around Tiananmen Square.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Speech by Michael Tsang
Ed. Note. The following speech was delivered by activist Michael Tsang, at the "10-4" (October 4) rally held at the Boston Common to mark the fact that 60 million Chinese people have quit from the Communist Party during the Tuidang campaign of 2005 to the present.
Michael Tsang has words of warning for both Americans and Chinese (and perhaps Australians and others). His speech follows--
The Chinese Communist regime has just celebrated its 60th anniversary. At the same time 60 million of its Chinese people have resigned their membership in the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations in a movement called "Quit the Chinese Communist Party," or "Quit the CCP." --That's the real thing deserving celebration, and a sign that the days of the CCP are numbered.
Why? There is no shortage of reasons why, let me just recount a few:
- Recently the news is that 70,000 Beijing taxis are now equipped with micro-monitors that can monitor conversations of passengers remotely controlled by the CCP. Coupled with a GPS system you are just so damn vulnerable in this Orwellian society.
- It's been a number of years now that the CCP employs fleets of death-mobiles – these are buses equipped to handle harvesting of organs from executed prisoners, or live Falun Gong practitioners. They travel from detention center to detention center; even homeless people today have been increasingly targeted. In the world of human organ trafficking, China is the only country known to operate it as a systemic practice and state-sanctioned though it is an underground operation.
- "United Front" is an operation by the United Front Work Department that sits below the CCP Central Committee. Its mission is to infiltrate Western society and its politicians, to have them curry favor and back Beijing policies at critical times. If a targeted politician could not be bribed by financial means, then entrapment or fabricated evidence are used to coerce them to submission. This works very well on Westerners, as they are terrified when they are set up – fearing for their future career.
- Recently, in a failed attempt to acquire a stake in an Australian mining giant--Rio Tinto--for $19 billion, the CCP arrested the company's executive on charges of stealing state secrets without providing details or evidence and waited 3 days to inform the Australian government. This is a slip up finally coming through on an international level. God knows how many innocent Chinese citizens have been treated this way arbitrarily, many are even tortured and incarcerated and not heard from again. What are State Secrets? They are basically things that cannot see the light of day and they are trying hard to cover up.
- This is just a sample of recent misconducts by this totalitarian regime. You all know about the hazardous products from China right? And the persecution of the Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong, underground Christians, pro-democracy dissidents, taking land from poor farmers. Recent news also pointed to the disbarment of all human rights lawyers in China that defended the oppressed. Here is another item: the rampant rape of women and young girls by Chinese officials is a sign of status and prestige. Not to mention, the regime caused 80 million unnatural deaths in the history of Communist China; the supply of WMD and related technology to rogue countries; the tortured and murdered in Chinese prisons; the list goes on.
If this was an individual or organized crime in the U.S., they would have been stopped, apprehended and imprisoned, with the keys thrown away. But this is a legitimate government of 1.3 or 1.4 billion people, and the world kowtows to them for business. Nothing has been able to put an end to their despicable violence and countless crimes.
Do people know why? Not many have the time, or sufficient interest, to stop and think about it in the Western world. Many are too busy making money, busy buying cheap consumer goods - guess from where? But do stop and think about it, because this is not just a matter of whether the U.S. is going to be displaced as the economic power of the world, or increasingly lose its military edge. My concern is whether America continues to lead the world in freedom and democracy. We are increasingly condoning all of this and in danger of losing our standards without our realizing it. Not cognizant of their tactics, we are conceding to them rapidly on every front.
For those who have suffered and those who know the evilness of this oppressive regime, a momentum is building to stand up and denounce this most despicable regime and move towards a better future. A future where humanity is embraced and evil eliminated.
For the Chinese people who are against this movement, like those who celebrated the Communist flag raising at Boston City Hall Plaza last Saturday, Let me tell you my brothers and sisters, you are continually being duped. The CCP uses lies and nationalism to keep your loyalty, you are loyal to them and protecting their corrupt ways so that they can stay in power to oppress--perhaps not you, as they always needed and keep someone like you to support them and legitimize them, but those less fortunate than you will become their victims and scapegoats. But deep down they don't care about anyone except their own power. Everyone is disposable. Perhaps the tables will turn on you some day and you will taste what everyone else has tasted; then it will be too late.
The CCP is not China and cannot represent China; it has obliterated the real China that had belonged to you and me and replaced it with a false one that has no dignity and no soul. We urge you to reexamine China, its history and heritage so that you can come to truly see and choose a good future.
Michael Tsang has words of warning for both Americans and Chinese (and perhaps Australians and others). His speech follows--
The Chinese Communist regime has just celebrated its 60th anniversary. At the same time 60 million of its Chinese people have resigned their membership in the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations in a movement called "Quit the Chinese Communist Party," or "Quit the CCP." --That's the real thing deserving celebration, and a sign that the days of the CCP are numbered.
Why? There is no shortage of reasons why, let me just recount a few:
- Recently the news is that 70,000 Beijing taxis are now equipped with micro-monitors that can monitor conversations of passengers remotely controlled by the CCP. Coupled with a GPS system you are just so damn vulnerable in this Orwellian society.
- It's been a number of years now that the CCP employs fleets of death-mobiles – these are buses equipped to handle harvesting of organs from executed prisoners, or live Falun Gong practitioners. They travel from detention center to detention center; even homeless people today have been increasingly targeted. In the world of human organ trafficking, China is the only country known to operate it as a systemic practice and state-sanctioned though it is an underground operation.
- "United Front" is an operation by the United Front Work Department that sits below the CCP Central Committee. Its mission is to infiltrate Western society and its politicians, to have them curry favor and back Beijing policies at critical times. If a targeted politician could not be bribed by financial means, then entrapment or fabricated evidence are used to coerce them to submission. This works very well on Westerners, as they are terrified when they are set up – fearing for their future career.
- Recently, in a failed attempt to acquire a stake in an Australian mining giant--Rio Tinto--for $19 billion, the CCP arrested the company's executive on charges of stealing state secrets without providing details or evidence and waited 3 days to inform the Australian government. This is a slip up finally coming through on an international level. God knows how many innocent Chinese citizens have been treated this way arbitrarily, many are even tortured and incarcerated and not heard from again. What are State Secrets? They are basically things that cannot see the light of day and they are trying hard to cover up.
- This is just a sample of recent misconducts by this totalitarian regime. You all know about the hazardous products from China right? And the persecution of the Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong, underground Christians, pro-democracy dissidents, taking land from poor farmers. Recent news also pointed to the disbarment of all human rights lawyers in China that defended the oppressed. Here is another item: the rampant rape of women and young girls by Chinese officials is a sign of status and prestige. Not to mention, the regime caused 80 million unnatural deaths in the history of Communist China; the supply of WMD and related technology to rogue countries; the tortured and murdered in Chinese prisons; the list goes on.
If this was an individual or organized crime in the U.S., they would have been stopped, apprehended and imprisoned, with the keys thrown away. But this is a legitimate government of 1.3 or 1.4 billion people, and the world kowtows to them for business. Nothing has been able to put an end to their despicable violence and countless crimes.
Do people know why? Not many have the time, or sufficient interest, to stop and think about it in the Western world. Many are too busy making money, busy buying cheap consumer goods - guess from where? But do stop and think about it, because this is not just a matter of whether the U.S. is going to be displaced as the economic power of the world, or increasingly lose its military edge. My concern is whether America continues to lead the world in freedom and democracy. We are increasingly condoning all of this and in danger of losing our standards without our realizing it. Not cognizant of their tactics, we are conceding to them rapidly on every front.
For those who have suffered and those who know the evilness of this oppressive regime, a momentum is building to stand up and denounce this most despicable regime and move towards a better future. A future where humanity is embraced and evil eliminated.
For the Chinese people who are against this movement, like those who celebrated the Communist flag raising at Boston City Hall Plaza last Saturday, Let me tell you my brothers and sisters, you are continually being duped. The CCP uses lies and nationalism to keep your loyalty, you are loyal to them and protecting their corrupt ways so that they can stay in power to oppress--perhaps not you, as they always needed and keep someone like you to support them and legitimize them, but those less fortunate than you will become their victims and scapegoats. But deep down they don't care about anyone except their own power. Everyone is disposable. Perhaps the tables will turn on you some day and you will taste what everyone else has tasted; then it will be too late.
The CCP is not China and cannot represent China; it has obliterated the real China that had belonged to you and me and replaced it with a false one that has no dignity and no soul. We urge you to reexamine China, its history and heritage so that you can come to truly see and choose a good future.
Delivered remarks of Oct. 4, 2009
Delivered remarks
for Tuidang rally at Boston Common, October 4, 2009
by John Kusumi, China Support Network Director emeritus
I want to thank the organizers for bringing me back to Boston, and of course for your own turnout - I know that soggy weather was forecast.
Well, regardless of rain or snow or sleet or hail, we are gathered here on the Boston Common and we know that China has just marked a grim milestone: It has been 60 years since Chairman Mao established the reign of thuggery that is today's Mainland Chinese government. That is why they gathered in Beijing this week, to have one of those military parades that seems just like North Korea. The military parade in Beijing makes it look like Communist Parties are all the same, and that they use large military parades to wow the gullible and distract the world from their deeper, systemic problems.
The deeper systemic problem is this: Nobody believes in communism anymore. In fact, why is there a Communist Party in charge of China? --All across Eastern Europe, and in the Soviet Union, the Communist Parties all collapsed between 1989 and 1991. I said that military parades make it look like Communist Parties are all the same. Hopefully, they ARE all the same. If so, then the collapse of China's Communist Party is inevitable.
It may be that when a system is completely rigged, and has no elections and no functioning justice system -- that this leads to social pressures, which cannot be reconciled because there is no recourse within the system. China has a building pressure of domestic discontent. The Communist Party has a debt of blood on its hands. Some Chinese people know the record of history, including how many of their countrymen have met with untimely and premature deaths at the hands of the CCP.
Today, we stand here with a solemn understanding that enormous suffering continues in China. That crackdowns are still in progress today. That families are split, and that loved ones are kept in the Laogai camps. The Western world is getting to know that word, Laogai: it represents an evil system known as "reform through labor." These are prison camps, where the prisoners are worked to produce manufactured goods. These are a dark and ugly secret behind the face of China's peaceful rise in the world economy. Incarceration and forced labor imply force; that is
the opposite of a peaceful rise. The peaceful rise is one big lie!
Any dictatorship is only maintained by hurting people. It is mistaken for the United States to make its peace with tyrants and to have an easy, breezy countenance for evil. And in the United States, while Barack Obama sounded like a promising candidate offering change -- well, I describe his administration as "Clinton Lite: Less peace, less prosperity, but the same Clintonian taste." Now, why would I say that at this time? --Well, Obama recently postponed a meeting with the Dalai Lama, so that he can visit Mainland China first. When Obama puts human rights in the back seat to business as usual with Communist China, well -- that *is* the Clintonian policy on human rights.
And yet today, we also stand here with more. We have more than suffering; we have more than lamenting. We have hope, and we have determination.
It's because we have another milestone that we mark here today. The bigwigs of the West -- such as Washington and its media -- don't really have this story. They don't know their Jiuping from their Tuidang. And yet, it is time for them to get this story, and to learn those vocabulary words. Due to a shamefully silent news media, the related news has gone unreported, so I'm sure that Washington is foggy over these matters. Here and now, let me work to dispel their fogginess.
In 2004, a book was produced, called the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. That book is an expose about the actual history of the Chinese Communist Party. For Chinese people, it has been an eye-opener. The evil of that Party is laid bare in the pages of the Nine Commentaries. This is where we get the word Jiuping (pronounce "Joe-ping"). Jiuping means "nine commentaries." Jiuping, the book, made its way around China, being smuggled in and passed hand-to-hand. It is classic underground literature, with every story that might inconvenience the Communist Party.
As the book began to get around China, there also came to be a wave of revulsion at the history revealed within. The impulse was there for people to quit the Communist Party -- to resign their membership. In 2005, my group the China Support Network joined the Global Coalition for Quitting the CCP: a coalition with many other Chinese dissident and human rights groups. This coalition put into place the Tuidang campaign. Tuidang means "quit the party." If everyone quit from the Communist Party, then imagine what's next -- they could have a meeting and no one would go. That is the general idea of this campaign; to isolate the evil-doers and constrain their ability to continue their evil ways.
Quitting the party happens in every conceivable way -- by letter, phone, and fax -- but most commonly, it happens on the Web, where the Tuidang campaign has accumulated an enormous database of resignations from the Party. Resignations tend to be accompanied by personal stories, where the ex-Communist might inform the world about evil they have witnessed, or injustices or persecution which befell their family.
That database has continued to accumulate resignations. In 2005, I spoke at the rally to salute the first one million people to quit the Communist Party. Pretty soon, we were having rallies for 2 million, 3 million, 5 million, and 10 million resignations. It is true also, that my group encouraged a rock group, NoManZero, to release the song 'Bye Bye CCP.' That song, and its music video, are now featured at the website of the China Support Network.
To make a long story short, we are here today because we have collected 60 million resignations in the Tuidang database! --That means 60 million ex-Communists; people who formerly joined the party and have now renounced it. The ranks of the Communist Party are growing thinner and thinner. It is like the air is going out of their tires. This campaign is taking a substantial bite out of the Chinese Communist Party, and we're not done yet!
It is time to salute the former Communists. They are people who have looked at the situation. They have seen the error of Communist ways. They want something better for their country and for their fellow Chinese. And, they have gathered up their courage and registered their displeasure with the status quo. Washington DC needs to get the memo: The Communist Party is headed for a fall, and is on its way to the ash heap of history. If a U.S. administration was wise, instead of reinforcing business as usual, it would instead help China to transition away from Communism by adding pressure for human rights.
China must end the Tiananmen crackdown. China must end the Falun Gong crackdown. China must end the Tibetan crackdown. And, China must end the Uighur crackdown. That means they must release the prisoners whom they've taken in the course of those crackdowns. Right now, my group focuses on four high-profile prisoner cases. Zhou Yongjun, Liu Xiaobo, Wang Bingzhang, and Gao Zhisheng must be released. But really, our focus on them should not be taken to exclude all of the other prisoners of conscience who are today laboring in China's Laogai camps. For another note about human rights, China must abolish the systems of Laogai and Laojiao. They are hideously evil tools of state repression.
In conclusion, I congratulate you, the campaigners. This is a grand and historic movement, celebrating the milestone of 60 million responses. Chinese people are answering the call and distancing themselves from the Communist Party. That is why, in addition to suffering and lamenting, we also stand here with courage, with determination, and with hope that China will soon experience a bright future with freedom, democracy, and human rights. To everybody here, thank you once again!
for Tuidang rally at Boston Common, October 4, 2009
by John Kusumi, China Support Network Director emeritus
I want to thank the organizers for bringing me back to Boston, and of course for your own turnout - I know that soggy weather was forecast.
Well, regardless of rain or snow or sleet or hail, we are gathered here on the Boston Common and we know that China has just marked a grim milestone: It has been 60 years since Chairman Mao established the reign of thuggery that is today's Mainland Chinese government. That is why they gathered in Beijing this week, to have one of those military parades that seems just like North Korea. The military parade in Beijing makes it look like Communist Parties are all the same, and that they use large military parades to wow the gullible and distract the world from their deeper, systemic problems.
The deeper systemic problem is this: Nobody believes in communism anymore. In fact, why is there a Communist Party in charge of China? --All across Eastern Europe, and in the Soviet Union, the Communist Parties all collapsed between 1989 and 1991. I said that military parades make it look like Communist Parties are all the same. Hopefully, they ARE all the same. If so, then the collapse of China's Communist Party is inevitable.
It may be that when a system is completely rigged, and has no elections and no functioning justice system -- that this leads to social pressures, which cannot be reconciled because there is no recourse within the system. China has a building pressure of domestic discontent. The Communist Party has a debt of blood on its hands. Some Chinese people know the record of history, including how many of their countrymen have met with untimely and premature deaths at the hands of the CCP.
Today, we stand here with a solemn understanding that enormous suffering continues in China. That crackdowns are still in progress today. That families are split, and that loved ones are kept in the Laogai camps. The Western world is getting to know that word, Laogai: it represents an evil system known as "reform through labor." These are prison camps, where the prisoners are worked to produce manufactured goods. These are a dark and ugly secret behind the face of China's peaceful rise in the world economy. Incarceration and forced labor imply force; that is
the opposite of a peaceful rise. The peaceful rise is one big lie!
Any dictatorship is only maintained by hurting people. It is mistaken for the United States to make its peace with tyrants and to have an easy, breezy countenance for evil. And in the United States, while Barack Obama sounded like a promising candidate offering change -- well, I describe his administration as "Clinton Lite: Less peace, less prosperity, but the same Clintonian taste." Now, why would I say that at this time? --Well, Obama recently postponed a meeting with the Dalai Lama, so that he can visit Mainland China first. When Obama puts human rights in the back seat to business as usual with Communist China, well -- that *is* the Clintonian policy on human rights.
And yet today, we also stand here with more. We have more than suffering; we have more than lamenting. We have hope, and we have determination.
It's because we have another milestone that we mark here today. The bigwigs of the West -- such as Washington and its media -- don't really have this story. They don't know their Jiuping from their Tuidang. And yet, it is time for them to get this story, and to learn those vocabulary words. Due to a shamefully silent news media, the related news has gone unreported, so I'm sure that Washington is foggy over these matters. Here and now, let me work to dispel their fogginess.
In 2004, a book was produced, called the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. That book is an expose about the actual history of the Chinese Communist Party. For Chinese people, it has been an eye-opener. The evil of that Party is laid bare in the pages of the Nine Commentaries. This is where we get the word Jiuping (pronounce "Joe-ping"). Jiuping means "nine commentaries." Jiuping, the book, made its way around China, being smuggled in and passed hand-to-hand. It is classic underground literature, with every story that might inconvenience the Communist Party.
As the book began to get around China, there also came to be a wave of revulsion at the history revealed within. The impulse was there for people to quit the Communist Party -- to resign their membership. In 2005, my group the China Support Network joined the Global Coalition for Quitting the CCP: a coalition with many other Chinese dissident and human rights groups. This coalition put into place the Tuidang campaign. Tuidang means "quit the party." If everyone quit from the Communist Party, then imagine what's next -- they could have a meeting and no one would go. That is the general idea of this campaign; to isolate the evil-doers and constrain their ability to continue their evil ways.
Quitting the party happens in every conceivable way -- by letter, phone, and fax -- but most commonly, it happens on the Web, where the Tuidang campaign has accumulated an enormous database of resignations from the Party. Resignations tend to be accompanied by personal stories, where the ex-Communist might inform the world about evil they have witnessed, or injustices or persecution which befell their family.
That database has continued to accumulate resignations. In 2005, I spoke at the rally to salute the first one million people to quit the Communist Party. Pretty soon, we were having rallies for 2 million, 3 million, 5 million, and 10 million resignations. It is true also, that my group encouraged a rock group, NoManZero, to release the song 'Bye Bye CCP.' That song, and its music video, are now featured at the website of the China Support Network.
To make a long story short, we are here today because we have collected 60 million resignations in the Tuidang database! --That means 60 million ex-Communists; people who formerly joined the party and have now renounced it. The ranks of the Communist Party are growing thinner and thinner. It is like the air is going out of their tires. This campaign is taking a substantial bite out of the Chinese Communist Party, and we're not done yet!
It is time to salute the former Communists. They are people who have looked at the situation. They have seen the error of Communist ways. They want something better for their country and for their fellow Chinese. And, they have gathered up their courage and registered their displeasure with the status quo. Washington DC needs to get the memo: The Communist Party is headed for a fall, and is on its way to the ash heap of history. If a U.S. administration was wise, instead of reinforcing business as usual, it would instead help China to transition away from Communism by adding pressure for human rights.
China must end the Tiananmen crackdown. China must end the Falun Gong crackdown. China must end the Tibetan crackdown. And, China must end the Uighur crackdown. That means they must release the prisoners whom they've taken in the course of those crackdowns. Right now, my group focuses on four high-profile prisoner cases. Zhou Yongjun, Liu Xiaobo, Wang Bingzhang, and Gao Zhisheng must be released. But really, our focus on them should not be taken to exclude all of the other prisoners of conscience who are today laboring in China's Laogai camps. For another note about human rights, China must abolish the systems of Laogai and Laojiao. They are hideously evil tools of state repression.
In conclusion, I congratulate you, the campaigners. This is a grand and historic movement, celebrating the milestone of 60 million responses. Chinese people are answering the call and distancing themselves from the Communist Party. That is why, in addition to suffering and lamenting, we also stand here with courage, with determination, and with hope that China will soon experience a bright future with freedom, democracy, and human rights. To everybody here, thank you once again!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Hong Kong Chief Executive Scolded in Open Letter
September 18, 2009
His Excellency Donald Tsang
The Chief Executive of the Government
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong
Re. Open Letter to Call for Awareness of the On-Going Forfeiture of Hong Kong’s Administrative and Judicial Independence to Beijing
In Re. Matter of Zhou Yongjun
Dear Mr. Tsang:
We, the undersigned, a group of Chinese and American Human Rights Campaigners, are here to express our deep concern over the fate of Mr. Zhou Yongjun, one of the most prominent student leaders of the 1989 Tian An Men Square prodemocracy Movement.
Mr. Zhou has been held in custody behind bars, virtually incommunicado, by the government of the People’s Republic, mostly because the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, under your administration, volunteered the service of extradition of Mr. Zhou, a prisoner of conscience, to the Central Government in Beijing, without even summary judicial proceedings. As the whole world watches, the Hong Kong government’s police action assists Beijing’s on-going, and accelerating human rights abuses targeting political dissidents in and out of China, and has set a bad precedent in forfeiture of Hong Kong’s judicial and administrative independence, having seriously compromised the fundamental freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.
In September, 2008, Mr. Zhou entered Hong Kong from Macao. He was intercepted, detained, and held incommunicado by your government. Shortly afterwards, the Government of Hong Kong, under your administration, secretly and promptly turned Mr. Zhou into the hands of Beijing government, knowing the latter is an internationally condemned murderer and persecutor of Tian An Men Square prodemocracy activists. This serious development occurred one year ago and has come to light only recently. Such a violation of all well recognized international protocols may have shocked all hearts of the international human rights community. We, the undersigned resolutely condemn such an outrageous offense and affront to freedom loving people all over the world. In the wake of such a disgraceful betrayal, we the undersigned call for the international community to launch an immediate investigation into this serious development.
We are here to call for awareness; for the international community to pay close attention such an indecent and disgraceful police cooperation between the government of the P.R.C. and the current Government of Hong Kong, the former British Colony, in their dirty trade of extradition of political prisoners demanded by Beijing in return for forfeiture of Hong Kong’s administrative and judicial independence.
We are here to call for the Hong Kong Government’s immediate self-restraint from continuing such ignominious deals with Beijing, and for it to take all necessary steps to remedy the grave consequences of such lapses in procedure. We are here to appeal to people, the voters of Hong Kong, to stand up and speak out, in urging the government of Hong Kong to preserve its administrative and judicial independence.
Respectfully signed by:
/s./ Ye Ning, attorney and human rights campaigner
/s./ Li Jinjin, attorney and chair of China's Judicial Watch
/s./ Zhang Yuewei, family member of Zhou Yongjun
/s./ John Kusumi, founder of China Support Network
His Excellency Donald Tsang
The Chief Executive of the Government
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong
Re. Open Letter to Call for Awareness of the On-Going Forfeiture of Hong Kong’s Administrative and Judicial Independence to Beijing
In Re. Matter of Zhou Yongjun
Dear Mr. Tsang:
We, the undersigned, a group of Chinese and American Human Rights Campaigners, are here to express our deep concern over the fate of Mr. Zhou Yongjun, one of the most prominent student leaders of the 1989 Tian An Men Square prodemocracy Movement.
Mr. Zhou has been held in custody behind bars, virtually incommunicado, by the government of the People’s Republic, mostly because the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, under your administration, volunteered the service of extradition of Mr. Zhou, a prisoner of conscience, to the Central Government in Beijing, without even summary judicial proceedings. As the whole world watches, the Hong Kong government’s police action assists Beijing’s on-going, and accelerating human rights abuses targeting political dissidents in and out of China, and has set a bad precedent in forfeiture of Hong Kong’s judicial and administrative independence, having seriously compromised the fundamental freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.
In September, 2008, Mr. Zhou entered Hong Kong from Macao. He was intercepted, detained, and held incommunicado by your government. Shortly afterwards, the Government of Hong Kong, under your administration, secretly and promptly turned Mr. Zhou into the hands of Beijing government, knowing the latter is an internationally condemned murderer and persecutor of Tian An Men Square prodemocracy activists. This serious development occurred one year ago and has come to light only recently. Such a violation of all well recognized international protocols may have shocked all hearts of the international human rights community. We, the undersigned resolutely condemn such an outrageous offense and affront to freedom loving people all over the world. In the wake of such a disgraceful betrayal, we the undersigned call for the international community to launch an immediate investigation into this serious development.
We are here to call for awareness; for the international community to pay close attention such an indecent and disgraceful police cooperation between the government of the P.R.C. and the current Government of Hong Kong, the former British Colony, in their dirty trade of extradition of political prisoners demanded by Beijing in return for forfeiture of Hong Kong’s administrative and judicial independence.
We are here to call for the Hong Kong Government’s immediate self-restraint from continuing such ignominious deals with Beijing, and for it to take all necessary steps to remedy the grave consequences of such lapses in procedure. We are here to appeal to people, the voters of Hong Kong, to stand up and speak out, in urging the government of Hong Kong to preserve its administrative and judicial independence.
Respectfully signed by:
/s./ Ye Ning, attorney and human rights campaigner
/s./ Li Jinjin, attorney and chair of China's Judicial Watch
/s./ Zhang Yuewei, family member of Zhou Yongjun
/s./ John Kusumi, founder of China Support Network
Zhou Yongjun's Family Impact Statement
We Haven't Seen Zhou Yongjun (Majer) for One Year Already; We're Quite Worrying about His Health
——from Yongjun's families, written by fiance Yuewei Zhang
Yongjun left Los Angeles for China Last year to visit his disabled father and his earthquake-hit hometown, on his 41st birthday, September 26, 2008. Then immediately, he went missing and we couldn't hear from him at all! About two months later in November, 2008, we were relieved to learn that he was arrested secretly in Hong Kong by the Chinese police and then was secretly transferred to Shenzhen and put in secret custody. However, the Chinese police denied that they held him. As we learned about Yongjun's situation on the inside from released inmates, we realized that he was experiencing a replay, quite similar to the last time in 1998, when he was secretly arrested and the Chinese government tried to block all the information about him, until they found a pretext to charge him with a crime. For example, in his 1998 arrest, he was charged with "Secretly Entering China." In May of 2009, he was charged with fraud, a crime that he never committed.
Based on Chinese government officials' harrassment, threats, and intimidation for our family (since the end of November, 2008), we knew that Yongjun was in custody again, but we had no way of knowing his condition (dead or alive?) inside the prison. So we began to write to the Chinese government repeatedly begging them to release Yongjun. Three months, four months, five months passed with no answer -- until seven months passed, there was no reply! Helplessly, we had to cry for help from God, from the media and human-rights-protecting groups and people, from the U.S. government. Ridiculously, we got Yongjun's Arrest Warrant from them--the Chinese government--on May 13, 2009. Then we retained Mr. Mo Shaoping, a well known human rights attorney. But soon thereafter, we received a lot of pressure to fire Mr. Mo.
Under the pressure, Yongjun had to dismiss Mo. In the time since Yongjun's whereabouts were disclosed, we haven't been allowed to visit him. We learned from the released cellmates that Yongjun suffered migraine, chest pain, and extremities pain in Suining Detention Center. Yongjun's sister is herself a government employee and had called international attention to Yongjun's case. She has received warnings and she has to keep silent about Yongjun's case.
It will be Yongjun's 42nd birthday soon, and we don't know how he will celebrate it in China on September 26. He loves his family and his motherland China, however, this motherland, an oriental big "DEMOCRACTIC AND LAWFUL" country has treated him with three imprisonments and cruel tortures within 20 years. Yongjun has been just a hot-blooded youth working hard to seek democracy. What's wrong with this? It's nothing wrong!
Since 1989, Yongjun suffered both mental tortures and physical injuries in the Chinese prisons and the serious consequences. We're quite worrying about his health. We really miss him now, however, we're not allowed to see him. His 80-year-old upright parents need him, and his children need him more. We've been looking forward to his return to the U.S.A.
I am, hereby, expecting everybody here present who loves and supports democracy, freedom, human rights and world peace to keep an eye on Yongjun's third imprisonment by the Chinese government.
Thank you very much,
Yuewei Zhang on behalf Yongjun's daughter, parents, sister and brother
9-14-2009
——from Yongjun's families, written by fiance Yuewei Zhang
Yongjun left Los Angeles for China Last year to visit his disabled father and his earthquake-hit hometown, on his 41st birthday, September 26, 2008. Then immediately, he went missing and we couldn't hear from him at all! About two months later in November, 2008, we were relieved to learn that he was arrested secretly in Hong Kong by the Chinese police and then was secretly transferred to Shenzhen and put in secret custody. However, the Chinese police denied that they held him. As we learned about Yongjun's situation on the inside from released inmates, we realized that he was experiencing a replay, quite similar to the last time in 1998, when he was secretly arrested and the Chinese government tried to block all the information about him, until they found a pretext to charge him with a crime. For example, in his 1998 arrest, he was charged with "Secretly Entering China." In May of 2009, he was charged with fraud, a crime that he never committed.
Based on Chinese government officials' harrassment, threats, and intimidation for our family (since the end of November, 2008), we knew that Yongjun was in custody again, but we had no way of knowing his condition (dead or alive?) inside the prison. So we began to write to the Chinese government repeatedly begging them to release Yongjun. Three months, four months, five months passed with no answer -- until seven months passed, there was no reply! Helplessly, we had to cry for help from God, from the media and human-rights-protecting groups and people, from the U.S. government. Ridiculously, we got Yongjun's Arrest Warrant from them--the Chinese government--on May 13, 2009. Then we retained Mr. Mo Shaoping, a well known human rights attorney. But soon thereafter, we received a lot of pressure to fire Mr. Mo.
Under the pressure, Yongjun had to dismiss Mo. In the time since Yongjun's whereabouts were disclosed, we haven't been allowed to visit him. We learned from the released cellmates that Yongjun suffered migraine, chest pain, and extremities pain in Suining Detention Center. Yongjun's sister is herself a government employee and had called international attention to Yongjun's case. She has received warnings and she has to keep silent about Yongjun's case.
It will be Yongjun's 42nd birthday soon, and we don't know how he will celebrate it in China on September 26. He loves his family and his motherland China, however, this motherland, an oriental big "DEMOCRACTIC AND LAWFUL" country has treated him with three imprisonments and cruel tortures within 20 years. Yongjun has been just a hot-blooded youth working hard to seek democracy. What's wrong with this? It's nothing wrong!
Since 1989, Yongjun suffered both mental tortures and physical injuries in the Chinese prisons and the serious consequences. We're quite worrying about his health. We really miss him now, however, we're not allowed to see him. His 80-year-old upright parents need him, and his children need him more. We've been looking forward to his return to the U.S.A.
I am, hereby, expecting everybody here present who loves and supports democracy, freedom, human rights and world peace to keep an eye on Yongjun's third imprisonment by the Chinese government.
Thank you very much,
Yuewei Zhang on behalf Yongjun's daughter, parents, sister and brother
9-14-2009
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