Citizen Power for China, this year's Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom. In his acceptance speech, Dr.Yang said, "the fight for democracy and the end of communism is not just the right thing to do, but a necessary engagement required for our own survival and security...  China's peaceful transition to democracy is not only in the interests of the people of China but also in the interests of a peaceful and stable world."

Dr.Yang dedicated the medal to all the victims of Chinese Communist Party and all those who seek to defend them.

Scripts of speeches of Congresswoman Ros-Lehtine and Dr. Yang Jianli is posted below:

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks on Wednesday at the 6th Anniversary of the dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial when the Truman - Reagan Medal of Freedom was presented to Dr. Yang Jianli, a Chinese dissident who protested the Communist regime in Tienanmen Square in 1989.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fl, has represented South Florida in Congress since winning a special election in 1989. In 2011, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen received the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom award from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

(source: www.sunshinestatenews.com)

I'm honored to stand here and to be part of this important occasion among so many people devoted to freedom and democracy.

It was an honor to receive the Truman - Reagan Medal of Freedom in 2011 and I want to thank the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for its hard work and dedicated service to make this important event possible, and I want to congratulate Dr. Yang Jianli for receiving this hard-earned and prestigious award.

Just last week, we remembered the hundreds of brave Chinese students who were killed by the ruthless army on June 4th 1989 at Tienanmen Square so it is fitting that today we honor Dr. Jianli - a survivor of this brutal massacre.

I also want to thank my friends and colleagues Congressman Bridenstine and Mrs. Annette Lantos for taking time out of your busy schedules to be with us this morning.

As many of you know, the late Tom Lantos and I worked together for many years on fighting communism and his legacy reminds us all of the importance to strive for human rights and human dignity.

As a victim of communism myself, I understand the horrors that this misguided ideology has brought, and continues to bring, to billions of people around the world.

While some people demanding freedom were able to overcome communism in Germany and Poland, many regimes such as Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and China continue to oppress their people and violate human rights.

Just like so many other victims of communism, my family had to flee communist Cuba and start a new life.

Luckily for us, we came to the United States where freedom and democracy provides bottomless opportunities for people of all backgrounds to fulfill and achieve any dream.

Being the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the United States Congress is a testament to the opportunities this great nation has to offer.

The Cold War may be over but let us not forget that our fight against communism is far from over and much work still needs to be done.

Just look at the tremendous differences between countries led by communist regimes in former East Germany and current North Korea and countries of the same people living under freedom and democracy in former West Germany and current South Korea.
When comparing South Korea to North Korea, it takes less than a blink of an eye to see the stark difference between communism and freedom.
South Korea's freedom and democratic society grants its citizens limitless opportunities, but North Koreans are starving while their leaders live in luxury.
It wasn't too long ago when President Reagan said those famous words - "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" - as he stood in Berlin facing that horrid wall which separated families and loved ones between the worlds of freedom and authoritarianism.
Still, even with great efforts and much money invested into East German cities, there's still a clear difference in quality of life in East Germany, causing many young people to flock to former West German cities to seek better jobs and opportunities.
Having said that, I also want to talk about the ongoing human rights violations occurring in communist regimes such as Vietnam and China.
Just last week, I had the privilege to meet with leaders of the Vietnamese-American community on Capitol Hill.
As a Cuban-American, I can relate to their concerns and sorrow.
Just like in Cuba, regime dissidents and activists routinely face harassment, intimidation and imprisonment in Vietnam.
I have continued to call on the State Department to list Vietnam as a "country of Particular Concern" for its complete disregard for human rights, and I am a proud cosponsor of a bill in this Congress, H.Res 218, that calls for that designation.
Regarding China, I hope the President took the opportunity last week to bring up the gross human rights violations committed each day under the brutal communist regime when he met with the leader of China.
Along with the numerous reports showing religious intolerance, arbitrary and unjust court procedures, I'm greatly concerned with continued forced abortions.
These abusive policies cannot go unabated or overlooked.
And while we must continue to help those living under oppressive communist regimes throughout the globe, we must not forget about the people in our own hemisphere.
As a victim of the Castro regime, I am particularly concerned about the growing number of young people walking around in Castro and Che Guevara t-shirts throughout Europe and in many other parts in the world - including here in the United States.
It's shocking that college students will wear t-shirts with the faces and names of such mass murderers and brutal dictators simply because they think it's "cool."
Throughout the past couple of months, I have been able to meet with several pro-democracy advocates from Cuba.
They have come to Washington, with the same message: the Cuban people are striving against an oppressive regime for freedom and are no longer afraid.
These courageous individuals need our support and admiration.
We must stand in solidarity with these brave pro democracy activists in Cuba who are engaged in a daily struggle against tyranny and a brutal dictatorship that stops at nothing to hold on to power and squash any and all dissent for over half a century of dictatorship.
Not only is it our moral obligation to help all people attain freedom and democracy, so that all people can live in a free environment in which they can pursue their basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
But it is also in our national security interest to eradicate communism once and for all from the face of the earth,
As a strong supporter of human rights, individual liberties, freedoms and a fellow victim of communism, I pledge my utmost support as a Member of Congress to ensure that the freedoms and liberties granted to Americans can ultimately be spread everywhere, making all of us safer.

Acceptance Speech of Dr. YANG Jianli on 2013 Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom

Dr. Edwards, Distinguished Guests, and Dear Friends,

Thank you for giving me this Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom. I am honored even to be considered for an award that is named for the two great leaders of freedom, and humbled to be includedin the same company as such leaders and heroes as the past recipients of this medal.

Dr. Edwards, I stand in awe of your wisdom, your tenacity, and your passion which gave birth to the Victims of Communism Memorial. I salute you for your prophetic vision in the selection of the Goddess of Democracy as the icon for this memorial to more than 100 million victims of Communism, this insidious form of government that, in the words of Charter 08, strips " people of their rights, destroys their dignity, and corrupts normal human intercourse". Dr. Edwards, you are indeed a conscience that keeps us sane in a world which could easily be characterized as its opposite.

In this world of moral ambiguity, human rights are the casualty of pragmatic diplomacy. So it is with China. It is a popular thinking in this city that, with China's embrace of trade, democracy will follow in due course. This is very naive thinking. It is as naive as I was in 1989 in Tiananmen Square. Never did it enter my mind or the minds of my fellow students that any reasonable, legitimate government would turn on its citizens with such brutality.

As the legendary defender of freedom Congressman Tom Lantos said of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in his dedication speech exactly six years ago, "the 1956 Revolution was not crushed, its victory was only delayed", I stand here today, 24 years after Tiananmen, to tell you that democracy will and is coming to China. It will come through the continued struggle of the people of China.

But we must be reminded that it will be extremely difficult for democracy come to China without the moral support from the international community.

Yes, communism was defeated in Europe and democracy prevailed over tyranny through the persistent will of people to be free. But the defeat of communism in Europe was possible only through the equally persistent pressure from the Western democracies led by the United States. From the Truman doctrine to the Berlin Airlift to President Reagan's "tear down the wall", the brutality of communism in Europe had nowhere to hide in the eyes of the world.

But that is history. Today the Goddess of Democracy, that stood for one glorious moment in Tiananmen Square in early June, 1989 and stands here as the icon of the Victims of Communism memorial, tells the world that the scourge of Communism continues to plague a good part of this earth and a big portion of the world's population and is a major patron of tyranny around the globe. This statue reminds us every day of the terrible costs of the communists' rule in China. The CCP has conducted the cruelest theft of private property in the history of the world and has been responsible for the most bloody political turmoils, the most horrific starvation, and the greatest number of non-natural deaths including one million Tibetans and another one million Uyghurs. It has created the most numerous cases of injustice, and has perpetrated the most barbarous destruction of historic heritage, natural environment, and religious beliefs. The CCP has carried out the most notorious crackdown on a student movement, and it continues to produce the most widespread human rights violations and government corruption. The communist government that massacred its own citizens in the heart of its capital is the very same government who today continues to routinely imprison, torture, and exile its best citizens for no other reason than exercising the right to speak freely, who pursues cultural genocide on Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians and religious purge on Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, andwhose foreign policies and models of repression enable the morally bankrupt regimes of North Korea, Iran, and Syria to suck the freedoms and dignities from their people.  Its paranoia and insecurity drive it to extend its tyranny beyond its borders. Its disdain for human dignity now openly challenges the very foundation of civilization itself.

Let us learn from history. The fight for democracy and the end of communism is not just the right thing to do, but a necessary engagement required for our own survival and security. Let us not forget that the persistent pressure of the United States ultimately freed Europe from the scourge of communism and in so doing preserved our own democratic way of life. We must apply that same tenacity with China. For China's peaceful transition to democracy is not only in the interests of the people of China but also in the interests of a peaceful and stable world.

I will leave you with the words of the Norwegian Nobel Committee as it awarded Liu Xiaobo the 2010 Nobel Peace prize "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has long believed that there is a close connection between human rights and peace. Such rights are a prerequisite for the 'fraternity between nations' of which Alfred Nobel wrote in his will."

I thank you again for this honor and dedicate this medal to all the victims of Chinese Communist Party and all those who seek to defend them.

Thank You.

Vietnamese Freedom Fighting Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hạnh

A message to Xi Jinping, President of the Chinese government, and to all the other Chinese authorities.

With a long history of over a thousand years, Chinese invaders have failed to take over our country by force. Our hero and heroine Trung and Trieu fought bravely and turned them back. Thoat Hoan and Ma Vien, after being defeated by our army, had to hide themselves in a copper tube in order to return to China alive. For the past thousand years, China always dreamed of taking over our country by force, but that dream is hopeless. We have been strengthening our motherland for thousands of years. Our ancestors were able to turn back the Chinese invaders, we must do the same thing today and force them out of our country.

Today, China has had success in building up a Communist Party, who are reigning over our country and obeys China. The Vietnamese Communist Government may offer our motherland to China, but the inhabitants and citizens of our whole country can still fight, no matter the price.

"We must fight even if we have to sacrifice our own lives, we will have freedom even if we have to trade our own blood and flesh!"

Today, in Tibet, they only have one way for their idea of FREEDOM to be heard by the world, and that is by burning themselves. Our Vietnamese will never burn ourselves, however we will burn down the brutal reign over our citizens.

I am sending this message to Xi Jinping and to the Chinese Communist party, that you must return without any condition the land and islands that you stole from us or had been donated to you by the Vietnamese Communist Government.

The FREEDOM will come to China, Tibet, Shinjang, Muslim and Hmong. If there are any casualties, they will be the responsibility of Red China.

I am only a little Vietnamese woman , the next generation of the heroine Trung and Trieu . I would like to declare

the final fight with the invaders from the Vietnamese communist party , the unacceptable government who try to sell our Viet Nam beloved country to Red China .

"Whoever occurred the bloody fight Must pay back by his own blood."

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh

Kaohsiung Mai 29, 2013

” NEVER LOSE THE LIGHT “

by Serlha and Youlha

AUDIO CLIP VIDEO

NEVER LOSE THE LIGHT

Red stars waving high on the mountains of my land
Hear my people cry
Sadness in their mind

You feel like a God with the gun in your hand

Sorrow you have brought to my peaceful land

Brothers and sisters stand up for your right

Justice will always guide us
Never lose the light
Still we sing a song, a song of love and peace
Hatred we don’t long
No more silent tears

You may laugh at me and torture with devils skill

Never will you see how you break my will

Brothers and sisters stand up for your right

Justice will always guide us
Never lose the light

Brothers and sisters stand up for your right

stand up for your right

Justice will always guide us

TUỔI_TRẺ _CHỐNG_CỘNG

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Why You Turn Back A fire for Freedom. Pourquoi vous vous détournez d’un feu allumé pou r la liberté

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