PRESS ADVISORY
For Immediate Release

Contact: Jim Geheran
Initiatives for China
202.290.1423
508.494.5682 (cell)
jgeheran@initiativesforchina.org

Initiatives for China President Condemns Violence Against
Uyghur Workers At Chinese Toy Factory

The following statement by Dr. Yang Jianli, Harvard Fellow and President, Initiatives for China, condemns the violence that resulted in deaths and injuries to innocent workers. Dr. Yang also condemns the ongoing campaign of hatred and mistrust conducted against the Uyghur people by the Chinese government that is behind this violence.

Washington, DC June 30, 2009.

I am both saddened and outraged by the reports of mob violence conducted by my fellow citizens against innocent Uyghur people at a factory in Guangdong Province on June 26. My sadness turns numb as I watched the videos of young men mindlessly and mercilessly beating young Uyghur women.

I apologize to my many Uyghur friends that these disgusting actions were perpetrated by my Han Chinese brothers and sisters. Ethnic violence can never be condoned and it must be vigorously condemned and prosecuted wherever and whenever it occurs.

My sadness turns to outrage as I realize that the government of China, rather than protecting its citizens, has instigated and encouraged this violence through its longstanding campaign of hatred and vilification against the Uyghur people. Even as this violence unfolded, credible reports reveal that local police took more than two hours to arrive at the scene of the attacks. Furthermore, reports of the violence initially posted on the local government website, have been removed.

I call on all peace loving peoples to vigorously and publicly condemn this violence and the divisive policies of the Chinese government that have demonized the Uyghur people and enabled this violence to occur.

Yang Jianli
Harvard Fellow
President, Initiatives for China

The arrest of Liu Xiaobo reveals how the Chinese government derives its power by replacing the rule of law with rule by fear.

Washington, DC. June 30, 2009

Liu Xiaobo’s arrest for inciting subversion is simply standard operating procedure for handling high profile dissenters. This very predictable process of detention, interrogation, intimidation, arrest, sentencing, and incarceration is not about any real or contrived transgressions by Mr. Liu, Hu Jia, or any number of Chinese patriots. Rather,  It is about how the Chinese Communist Party maintains it absolute power over a nation of one billion people despite its well documented record of abject corruption and disregard for the rights and dignity of its citizens.     

Most observers associate Mr. Liu’s arrest with his authorship of Charter 08, a manifesto calling for political reforms in China. This assumption is exactly what the CCP wants its citizens to make. The only problem for the Chinese government is that there is nothing in Charter 08 that violates any Chinese law. The truthfulness and the reasonableness of Charter 08 , endorsed by so many prominent Chinese citizens, has terrified the Chinese Government.  It will not dare use it to  build its case against Mr. Liu. Instead, the actual charge of “inciting subversion”, as reported by the state run Xinhua news agency, makes no mention of Charter 08, and is decidedly vague. The vagueness  of the charges serves two purposes: 1) It gives the CCP the liberty to put Mr. Liu in jail for a long time while hiding behind a sham of judicial process.  2) The vagueness of the charges and the lack of an independent judiciary, sends a chilling message to the Chinese people that they can be arrested and jailed at will if it crosses a deliberately ambiguous line.  This fear and unknowing creates a well cultivated self censorship among the Chinese people.  Over time this fear-induced self censorship precludes all but the bravest citizens from questioning the actions of the government.  This climate of fear also relieves the Chinese government of the PR stigma and logistical burden of maintaining an overt police state that characterized the tyrannies of Stalin and Hitler.  This strategy of control through self censorship is well articulated and documented by the scholar Perry Link in his article The Anachonda in the Chandilier. [Read more →]

June 4, 2009
At the Capitol Hill 20th Anniversary Commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Later this month, here on Capitol Hill, the NED will honor five brave Cuban activists, three of whom are in prison, by presenting them in absentia with a replica of the Goddess of Democracy, the statue that was dramatically unveiled in Tiananmen Square and stood for five days, before it was destroyed by a tank 20 years ago today. The statue embodied the democratic aspirations of the people who gathered in Tiananmen Square, many hundreds of whom were killed in the crackdown, and of countless other Chinese citizens who had risen in protest in over 370 cities across China, from Urumchi in the north-west to Canton in the deep-south. And it has since become a universal symbol of democracy, which is why we have given it as our Democracy Award since 1991 to brave people in all regions of the world who are fighting for democracy. [Read more →]

06/04/2009

 Washington, D.C.— Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Members and human rights activists participated in an event on the West Front of the Capitol this afternoon to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.  Below are the Speaker’s remarks:

“Good afternoon.  Thank you very much Yang Jianli and the Initiatives for China for bringing us together this morning and this afternoon.

“Words fail me to adequately tell you what an honor it is to be on the same stage and in the presence of so many of the heroes of June 4 — to have a message at the same time from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in solidarity for more openness in China and Tibet.

“We stand here in front of the Capitol of the United States, a beacon of freedom to the world, with a great history of free speech and open discussion.

“On this side of the Capitol, here on these grounds, we stand with people who took to heart and to mind, the words of our Founders. In our Declaration of Independence, in our Constitution, our words talked about every person being equal and ‘endowed by their creator.’  ‘Endowed by their creator,’ not by the state,  but ‘endowed by their creator’ of certain rights like liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  And it was for life and liberty — and some people paid that price in Tiananmen Square. They paid with their lives and their liberty to speak out for freedom. [Read more →]

West Lawn of Capitol Hill, Washington DC, USA
June 4, 2009

“You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.”

After the passage of twenty years, there are those who wish to cloud the legacy of Tiananmen by saying that democracy has many faces and Western style democracy is not for China. Some even say that the Chinese people do not want democracy. Some say that for the sake of stability China needs a strong single party government. Any logical analysis of this reasoning quickly reveals it as self serving rhetoric designed to rationalize the illegitimacy of absolute power. If one accepts this logic, then one must also accept the concept of slavery. The some people actually desire to be slaves. That one human being actually has the right to tell another human being how to think, how to pray, and how to associate. The absurdity of this logic is quite evident. [Read more →]

Please click here to view C-Span on the 20th Tiananmen Commemoration in Washington D.C. on June 4, 2009: 10:00am-2:00pm, organized by Initiatives for China and more than 30 other human rights groups.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Students’ Democracy Movement

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square students’ democracy movement, along with others who take an interest in Chinese affairs, I respectfully honor those who died expressing the popular demand for the government to be more accountable to its pepole.

The students involved in the Tiananmen Square movement were neither anti-communist or anti-socialist. Their speaking out in defence of the Chinese people’s constitutional rights, in favour of democracy, and taking a stand against corruption, truly conformed to the underlying beliefs of the Chinese Communist government. This was confidently stated by the then party chief Zhao Ziyang. Therefore, the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China presents a great opportunity to review the events of June 4, 1989.

Great changes have taken place in the People’s Republic of China since 1989. Today, it is a global economic power poised to becaome a superpower. It is my hope that the Chinese leaders have the courage and far-sightedness to embrace more truly egalitarian principles and pursue a policy of greater accommodation and tolerance of diverse views. A policy of openness and realism can lead to greater trust and harmony within China and enhence its international standing as a true great nation.

THE DALAI LAMA

June 4, 2009

Click here to read the original letter

Fight for Freedom – The Commemoration of 20th Anniversary of the 1989 Democracy Movement in China

Rebiya Kadeer, U.S. Capitol, June 4, 2009

I am very proud today to be in the company of a group of human rights activists and Members of Congress, organized by Dr. Yang Jian Li and Jim Gerehan, to express the voices of the people in China who are oppressed, who are silenced.

We gather together here today to remember the tragedy of the many innocent people who were killed or injured during the tragic events of June 4, 1989 in Beijing. We gather to commemorate the calls for freedom and justice that were made by so many in the spring of 1989, many of them young people, even high school and college students. Many of these young men and women lost their lives, and today their mothers and fathers still grieve their loss. Even today, many of those involved in the June 4 protests remain in prison, simply for expressing their political views. Even today, the Chinese government refuses to acknowledge the wrongs that it committed against its own citizens on June 4.

We gather together here today, Chinese, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians and many of our supporters, united in our struggle to bring about freedom and human rights for all people living in the People’s Republic of China. We must continue the struggle that the Tiananmen protestors engaged in until one day everyone in China is free -free to express their beliefs, practice their religions, and live without fear of persecution.

[Read more →]

Join distinguished leaders of government, faith, human rights groups and leaders of 1989Tiananmen Square student democracy movement. Stand by the people of China in their struggle for democracy, justice and the rule of law. Show the world America still cares.

20th Tiananmen Commemoration
Remembrance and Truth

June 4, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Capitol Hill, West Lawn
Washington, DC

Sponsored by Initiatives for China and more than 30 other human rights groups
Music by Colie Williams, Micheal Greene, Wilson High School Choir, and others

Contact: Jim Geheran
Director, DC office
Initiatives for China
202-290-1423
jgeheran@initiativesforchina.org