Human rights activists demonstrated in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles demanding the release of jailed lawyer Gao Zhisheng and other prisoners of conscience in China on the day before the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Earlier that day, people gathered in Los Angeles Chinatown at the crowded Sun Yat-sen Plaza, holding English and Chinese banners with slogans like: “release political prisoners,” “we want human rights,” and “freedom of religion.”
Communist Party Fears Gao Zhisheng
Sun Yong, a member of the Chinese Human Rights Protection Group, carried around a portrait of jailed human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Sun says that Gao has suffered the most severe persecution compared to other well-known dissidents in China.
“Gao Zhisheng is not even allowed to have visitors,” Sun said. “No one knows where he is being kept. He is also said to often be abused. No one knows if he’s still alive.”
Sun added that Gao Zhisheng understands what the Communist Party is all about, and knows it is useless to try to negotiate.
“Gao understands the nature of the Communist Party, and thus suffers the most suppression,” Sun said.
Sun said that the publication “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,” published by The Epoch Times in late 2004, is immensely popular in China, and that many Chinese people, like Gao Zhisheng, are realizing the “evil and deceptive nature” of the communist regime.
“I believe the disintegration of the communist regime is a matter of time,” Sun said.
Fear of Persecution
Chinese Human Rights Protection Group organizer Fan Cheng said that Chinese people suffer from human rights deprivation not only in China, but also abroad.
When Fan asked members of the group to join the rally and protest against the communist regime, some hesitated in fear of the potential consequences for their relatives in China.
“The communist regime hangs a sword above everyone’s head, and people lack security,” Fan said.
“Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan did not dare say what he wanted for fear of trouble when returning to China. Every Chinese person shares that same fear. This fear will not go until the Communist Party disappears,” he said.
Widespread Corruption
Zhang Jun used to be a taxi driver in China. He said that corruption in communist China is very widespread.
Doctors, for example, lack medical ethics, he said. He once had to bribe medical staff when his mother was in hospital and needed an operation.
“I sent 5,000 yuan to the surgeon, and 3,000 yuan to the anesthetist,” Zhang said.
Zhang also said that life for ordinary Chinese has not improved much, and is still hard. Meanwhile officials and those with connections get rich.
Kuo-Ching Fung, who was detained in a Chinese labor camp for 20 years because he was labeled “a rightist,” came to the rally to express his support and concern.
When asked about the possible effect of the recent power change in China, he said that even though the new leader Xi Jinping and ousted Politburo member Bo Xilai are two different people, he has no hope for the Communist Party.
Tony Gabriele, a representative of Amnesty International in Los Angeles, said that Americans can help the Chinese people by acquainting themselves with the facts of political persecution in China today, and taking action against it.
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