CSN to China:
"This is unacceptable"
"This is unacceptable"
Speech by John P. Kusumi
June 2, 3, and 4, 2007
Hello once again; it's good to see the faces of those who care deeply about freedom, democracy, and human rights -- and for Mainland China specifically. At this gathering, we remember the travesty and the atrocity of China's June 4 massacre at Tiananmen Square. This is our annual candlelight vigil, where we remember the fallen -- the innocent civilian victims, gunned down by China's army on that ugly night in 1989.
This is where we remember, and we know that justice remains to be served in this atrocity that is without closure. We believe firmly that China's best days are still ahead of it -- that the light of freedom will come to that land which has been darkened and victimized by 58 years under the iron-fisted, totalitarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party.
This is a dark time in our fallen world. But our faith tells us that freedom is the right side of history, and the light of freedom will not be extinguished. We gather here at dusk, but rather than curse the darkness, we light a candle. Literally. That is our event here today. We do not let Communist China off the hook; we do not countenance extreme and flagrant human rights abuse; we do not appease the tyrants -- far from it, we demand justice and we insist on accountability.
Ours is a special community of freedom fighters. We are here to hold Communists' feet to the fire; and when our work is done, China's communists, dictators, tyrants and thugs will be brought to justice. As we witnessed the Tiananmen massacre 18 years ago, what we saw was a crime in progress: a crime against humanity, perpetrated by the Chinese government under the CCP. Experts agree that politically, China's government is unchanged in the intervening years, having achieved no progress on the path to reform, democracy, and justice. What that means is that today's political condition of China is unchanged. A crime is still in progress: a crime against humanity, perpetrated by the Chinese government under the CCP. Persecution and crackdowns continue unabated. China has yet to improve its human rights practices; it is in fact easy to argue that China under the CCP has gotten worse.
Those who value the Olympic spirit will not want it mixed and mingling amid crackdowns, persecution, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Editorials in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have already dubbed these 'the Genocide Olympics.' They can say that again! In fact, they should say that again -- once for the killing in Darfur, Sudan, where the Chinese Communist government is the biggest financial enabler for the Sudan regime that is committing genocide -- and they can say that AGAIN for the killing of Falun Gong practitioners, including grisly medical theft of organs for transplant -- in the case of China, we must speak of genocides, holocausts, and crimes against humanity in the plural. China's regime is so far beyond the pale that no upright nation in the free world should countenance the carnage; nor aid; nor abet the genocidal practices of that regime. (Like with trade -- trade indeed finances the carnage, enriches the regime, and fuels a nuclear-armed, communist superpower.)
There are reasons why we hear the slogan, "Stop the killing" so often from the various groups opposed to China's CCP government. --Did we know that Communist China is in the Guiness Book of World Records for mass murder? The record holder is not Hitler, and not Stalin, but rather Communist China -- and that regime is still in place today! It's not carnage in the history books, it's carnage in downtown Beijing right now, today as we speak!
"Stop the killing" is one good point. And for the leader of the free world, the right thing to say -- the correct response to China's carnage that is ongoing even today -- is to say, "This is unacceptable." In 1990 George H. Bush and Margaret Thatcher looked at Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and they said -- "This is unacceptable. This will not stand." They drew a line in the sand with moral clarity. --But, that was not their response to Tiananmen Square. To simply be clear and say to China, "this is unacceptable" -- that much remains to be heard out of the Executive Branch in Washington DC! I believe earnestly that the White House owes us one.
In fact, in the Tiananmen Square cause, we owe the White House a receipt. As long as I'm here facing the Chinese embassy, I can do the honors -- addressing myself to China:
"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! Don't ask me to attend your Olympics, and don't ask me to buy any 'Made in China' products! The only Chinese item I might buy is Chinese food, unless it's got melamine. I will not be a tourist there, and I will not buy your goods. And furthermore, I have established America's China Support Network in order to support the students and the civilians of Tiananmen Square. We will keep alive the cause, and we will work with your dissidents until democracy comes to China. We insist that justice will be served."
In the face of such carnage and injustice on a massive scale, it boggles the mind that the United States Executive Branch has continued to run its bent, craven, and depraved U.S.-China policy. What does it say when, in the face of all of this, the White House cannot say, "This is unacceptable." America fought a 45 year Cold War to overcome Communism, where we know it's wrong; we know of its human rights abuse; we know of its disregard for human life, and its military threat to nearby free lands like Taiwan. What can explain U.S.-China policy? Why didn't George H. Bush say, "This is unacceptable?" Why didn't Bill Clinton say, "This is unacceptable?" Why hasn't George W. Bush said, "This is unacceptable?" What does it take for a U.S. President to space out, and to ignore this issue? Very clearly, if a U.S. President takes the carnage to be acceptable, that speaks of dereliction at the U.S. White House.
To miss the uptake and to fail to call it unacceptable -- to ignore all of this, it takes a wuss bunny of moral cowardice. And so we come to my opinion of three recent U.S. Presidents. On China, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush have all been "wuss bunnies of moral cowardice." They couldn't be here this evening because none of those men has ever come out to a Tiananmen Square anniversary memorial. This is the issue where their skills of duck, dodge, avoid, evade, and deny come into play.
While they have their heads in the sand, we at this event still have the light of freedom burning with us. Justice will come with the dawn of a new day. China will be free. And may God bless the victims of atrocity and the dissidents who give voice to their concerns.
Published June 3, 2007 by the China Support Network (CSN). Begun as the American response group in 1989, CSN represents Americans who are "on the side" of the students in Tiananmen Square -- standing for democratic reform, human rights, and freedom in China. For dissident news; to support a stronger China policy; or get more information, see http://www.chinasupport.net/.
No comments:
Post a Comment