Speech at the Free Speech Awards Ceremony

To the Free Speech Film Festival organizers, especially Ms. Margaret (Margo) Chew Barringer, and everyone involved, thank you so much for this great honor and for this opportunity; and thank you, Michael, Kean, and NTDTV for creating “Free China”.  I am truly humbled. My story is only one of millions of stories of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Many of them have suffered far worse. I am fortunate to have survived persecution to share my story so I can be a voice for so many others. 

Firstly, I would like to remind everyone that right now millions of Falun Gong practitioners and their families in China are still suffering what Charles' and my own family have suffered. We need to speak out for them. The persecution of Falun Gong is one of the largest scale human rights disasters in recent history; and the methods adopted are forms of evil "yet to be seen on this planet", as David Matas, the co-author of the book "Bloody Harvest" describes it when describing the discovery of live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. 

A while ago, the presenters spoke about what free speech means to them – thank you all for your sharing and insight.  For me, Free Speech means two things: whether one has a kind enough heart to discern the truth; and secondly, whether one has the wisdom and courage to search for the truth; or to simply accept it when it is presented. When one has a kind heart with the wisdom to know the truth, he or she will naturally have the courage to defend it through free speech.

So, many issues regarding China are now becoming "mainstream" in the US. From the cover of “Times” to the “New York Times”, more and more people in the West are closely watching the series of dramatic events unfolding in China since Wang Lijun, the former security head of Chongqing city, as well as the courageous blind activist Chen Guangcheng defected to the US Consulate.  The world’s media is now sifting out the lies from the truth behind the drama. 

The truth, as I see it, is that everything in China now is tightly linked to the persecution of Falun Gong. To maintain a persecution against tens of millions of people;  to silence the remainder of China’s population as well as governments around the world, including the US; and to suppress the reality of the persecution;  astronomical figures of money have been invested. The so-called "stability maintaining" expenditure in China has long since exceeded military spending.  This is why the Communist regime has been so desperate about maintaining a high GDP growth to attract more investments to keep the machine going.  

However, through the extraordinary efforts of Falun Gong practitioners around the world to expose the persecution, it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain the persecution as more people are awakening to the truth.  More lawsuits are being filed in international courts against the chief persecutors who have been responsible for initiating the persecution and the torture and deaths of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners; and they are really terrified of losing their power. They are afraid of being brought to justice and they are afraid that the huge amount of money they have embezzled will be confiscated. 

So, ladies and gentlemen, that is the truth behind the "power struggles".  While many Chinese experts and observers have been at a loss about what is going on, independent media such as NTDTV and the Epoch Times, which have been closely monitoring the persecution of Falun Gong over the years, have proven their credibility to "predict" future changes in the Chinese political landscape – particularly in recent months. 

What Falun Gong practitioners are doing is beyond politics, worldly power, and systems of government. I believe that they have a more profound significance. With their suffering and huge sacrifices since July 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have revealed to us the potential of the human spirit; and have created for us all the chance to make a choice between good and evil, humanity or inhumanity. This, I believe, is the most critical issue of our time. At the end of the day, it is not up to politicians or governments, but the choice of every single one of us that will shape and create our own future.

Thank you with all my heart for your support for a Free China.

May 16, 2012

 Jennifer at the Free Speech Awards Ceremony on May 16, 2012   Photo credit: Edward Dai/The Epoch Times