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Statements of AFAD
Proceedings:
Articles on the Proceedings on the AFAD Leadership Training
Jan. 27 - 31, 2003, Philippines
AFAD Second Congress Resolutions
August 2003
Remembering Munir
AFAD Second Congress
August 26-30, 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand
AFAD’s Mid-Year Report
Ding Zilin's
Message To
Hong Kong
Again, The KONTRAS – IKOHI Office Was Attacked
“ If they are dead, tell us”!
My sons, where are they?
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An Open Letter to the new Central Committee
of the 16th Chinese Communist Party Congress
---- By Ding Zilin and other victims’ families of the June Fourth
Massacre
Dear Central Committee of the 16th Chinese Communist Party Congress:
At the moment the 16th Party Congress meeting is lowering the curtain
and the new Central Committee has come into being, we as the victims’
families of the June Fourth tragic incident solemnly express our views
and hopes to the Party as follows:
1. Since the June Fourth tragic incident, it has been now 13 years, but
the grief and pain it brought to our people and our country has not
recovered. The gloom of the history is still there. From time to time in
these 13 years, China has encountered profound changes in social,
economic and cultural aspects. Yet all these changes do not help to
change the matter of fact that the massacre was an act of violence and
foolishness hampering the will of our people and the course of history.
The Chinese Communist Party as the ruling party could deny no
responsibility. Originally we were hoping the 16th Party Congress
meeting this time will try to confess and reveal the truth to the people
but the result was disappointing. Taking this chance that committee
members have just been newly appointed, we urge the new Central
Committee to bear in mind the interests of the nation and the future of
the people; to give up the old way of ruling and adopt a new one; to
think thoroughly about the undeniable truth and repent to the crime; to
reassess this incident and take responsibility for the incident.
2. During the past 13 years, as victims and families of victims, we
stand strongly on our principles - using peaceful and rational ways. We
urge the Party and the government to deal fairly with the June Fourth
Incident through procedures of democracy and the rule of law and through
dialogues and consultations. For this reason, since 1995, we have been
reiterating our three demands to establish a base for dialogues and
consultation. The demands are as follows:
a) Establish an independent investigatory committee formed by the
Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) to
investigate the June Fourth Incident independently and fairly as well as
publicize the findings of the investigation and a list of those killed
in the crackdown and their numbers.
b) The Standing Committee of the NPC should be responsible for working
with the authorities concerned to follow the legal procedures to explain
to every victim’s family cases of those victims. The Standing Committee
of the NPC should enact specific remedies law and deliver compensation
to the victims or families of victims.
c) The Standing Committee of NPC should be responsible for working with
the investigatory authorities concerned to investigate into the
crackdown and hold those accountable and bring them to justice.
It is regretful all that these years, our demand of establishing
dialogue has not been realized. We hope the new members of the Central
Committee would make policy as early as possible and realize the demand
to establish a dialogue with us.
3. The stability of the nation, good welfare and living happiness is a
share will of billions of the citizens. Yet, this could never be
realized through dictatorship and suppression. It could only be realized
through consultation and dialogue between government and citizens. Our
suggestion in dealing with the June Fourth Incident through dialogue is
out of consideration for the good of national stability. Your Party’s
decision makers should have known clearly that the deep wounds left to
the whole Chinese people could never be healed or pacified by
suppression over time. Authoritative and suppressive measures could only
be employed temporarily to make people silent for a while but could not
attain long-term stability for the nation. If your Party wants to
procrastinate indefinitely, the redress and justice for the crackdown,
you will only deepen people’s pain and hate and ultimately endanger
national stability. We hereby sincerely call on the new leadership of
the Central Committee to resolve the June Fourth Incident using this as
a turning point to pacify people’s hate, to resolve the crisis and
consequently for the conciliation between the government and the people
as well as preventing a large scale of social disturbance.
4. Over the past half century, our country and our people have suffered
from a ten-year turmoil of the Culture Revolution and uncountable
calamities with thousands of millions of boys and girls and innocent
people died inhumanely because of ill-treatment. We should not let
history go on like this and simply let human dignity ignored and human
lives placed no value. There has been a Chinese saying that “human lives
are most valuable.” Respect towards life is the base of civilization.
Therefore, to adopt good policy, take serious precaution against killing
the innocent and do the best to prevent human -made disaster is the
command rule for any politician in power. We call on the Party to learn
from the lesson of history and review the Party’s fundamental rules so
as to reach a consensus between the ruling class and the opposition and
rebuild “love and kindness” as national spirit so that everyone is
relieved from fear and their right of living is conscientiously
respected and protected.
5. Looking at the world today, freedom, democracy, human rights, rule of
law has been an irresistible trend. To realize modernization, China
could not attain success without this.
We noticed President Jiang Zemin stated publicly in October during his
visit to USA that democracy and human rights are the common pursuit of
human beings. If this statement is not a momentary diplomatic rhetoric,
Jiang should not only make this public and loud but also should take
immediate action to have it implemented.
Unfortunately, during the period of the Chinese Communist Party
Congress, we did not see your Party take any measure to accomplish these
universal values. Nowadays in China, the government does not lessen the
control on the public sector or public rights but on the other hand even
push, the control to an extreme. General public especially grass roots
people could not enjoy the protection of civil rights written in the
Constitution, but on the contrary, they are exploited by the paramount
power and money power to the extent that they could no longer protect
themselves in any way. We think this is the fundamental reason for the
deterioration of corruption and injustice, impoverishment and inequality
as well as why social conflicts become more extreme and why all
different kinds of crisis gather together so rapidly. All these indicate
clearly that there is an immediate need for our country to implement
democracy and human rights. If your Party not only recognizes democracy
and human rights as essential means to attain modernization but instead
have it implemented, we would, for this reason, expect new members of
the Central Committee to resolutely end the one-party political system
with boldness and courage for the long term interests of the nation and
people and start to embrace full-scale political, economic and social
reforms.
In 2000, Ding Zilin wrote, “Because our struggle for our own individual
rights has long been circumscribed to a very narrow space within China,
we hope to join our own campaign with the greater global trend. At the
same time, we wish to contribute to the regional and international cause
of freedom and justice.”
Although the Tiananmen Mothers have faced great difficulties, they have
never given up. Their appeals are an attempt to seek justice for the
dead and the disappeared and to fight for the human dignity of the
living. They have always used a peaceful, rational and restrained
approach in response to the suffering and injustices imposed on them.
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