Remarks by George W. BushAnd here in the company of men and women who resisted evil and helped bring down an empire, I proudly accept the Victims of Communism Memorial on behalf of the American people. (Applause.)
The 20th century will be remembered as the deadliest century in human history. And the record of this brutal era is commemorated in memorials across this city. Yet, until now, our Nation's Capital had no monument to the victims of imperial Communism, an ideology that took the lives of an estimated 100 million innocent men, women and children. So it's fitting that we gather to remember those who perished at Communism's hands, and dedicate this memorial that will enshrine their suffering and sacrifice in the conscience of the world.
Building this memorial took more than a decade of effort, and its presence in our capital is a testament to the passion and determination of two distinguished Americans: Lev Dobriansky, whose daughter Paula is here -- (applause) -- give your dad our best. And Dr. Lee Edwards. (Applause.) They faced setbacks and challenges along the way, yet they never gave up, because in their hearts, they heard the voices of the fallen crying out: "Remember us."
These voices cry out to all, and they're legion. The sheer numbers of those killed in Communism's name are staggering, so large that a precise count is impossible. According to the best scholarly estimate, Communism took the lives of tens of millions of people in China and the Soviet Union, and millions more in North Korea, Cambodia, Africa, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the globe.
Behind these numbers are human stories of individuals with families and dreams whose lives were cut short by men in pursuit of totalitarian power. Some of Communism's victims are well-known. They include a Swedish diplomat named Raoul Wallenberg, who saved 100,000 Jews from the Nazis, only to be arrested on Stalin's orders and sent to Moscow's Lubyanka Prison, where he disappeared without a trace. They include a Polish priest named Father Popieluszko, who made his Warsaw church a sanctuary for the Solidarity underground, and was kidnaped, and beaten, and drowned in the Vitsula by the secret police.
The sacrifices of these individuals haunt history -- and behind them are millions more who were killed in anonymity by Communism's brutal hand. They include innocent Ukrainians starved to death in Stalin's Great Famine; or Russians killed in Stalin's purges; Lithuanians and Latvians and Estonians loaded onto cattle cars and deported to Arctic death camps of Soviet Communism. They include Chinese killed in the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; Cambodians slain in Pol Pot's Killing Fields; East Germans shot attempting to scale the Berlin Wall in order to make it to freedom; Poles massacred in the Katyn Forest; and Ethiopians slaughtered in the "Red Terror"; Miskito Indians murdered by Nicaragua's Sandinista dictatorship; and Cuban balseros who drowned escaping tyranny. We'll never know the names of all who perished, but at this sacred place, Communism's unknown victims will be consecrated to history and remembered forever.
We dedicate this memorial because we have an obligation to those who died, to acknowledge their lives and honor their memory. The Czech writer Milan Kundera once described the struggle against Communism as "the struggle of memory against forgetting." Communist regimes did more than take their victims' lives; they sought to steal their humanity and erase their memory. With this memorial, we restore their humanity and we reclaim their memory. With this memorial, we say of Communism's innocent and anonymous victims, these men and women lived and they shall not be forgotten. (Applause.)
We dedicate this memorial because we have an obligation to future generations to record the crimes of the 20th century and ensure they're never repeated. In this hallowed place we recall the great lessons of the Cold War: that freedom is precious and cannot be taken for granted; that evil is real and must be confronted; and that given the chance, men commanded by harsh and hateful ideologies will commit unspeakable crimes and take the lives of millions.
It's important that we recall these lessons because the evil and hatred that inspired the death of tens of millions of people in the 20th century is still at work in the world. We saw its face on September the 11th, 2001. Like the Communists, the terrorists and radicals who attacked our nation are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims. Like the Communists, our new enemies believe the innocent can be murdered to serve a radical vision. Like the Communists, our new enemies are dismissive of free peoples, claiming that those of us who live in liberty are weak and lack the resolve to defend our free way of life. And like the Communists, the followers of violent Islamic radicalism are doomed to fail. (Applause.) By remaining steadfast in freedom's cause, we will ensure that a future American President does not have to stand in a place like this and dedicate a memorial to the millions killed by the radicals and extremists of the 21st century.
We can have confidence in the power of freedom because we've seen freedom overcome tyranny and terror before. Dr. Edwards said President Reagan went to Berlin. He was clear in his statement. He said, "tear down the wall," and two years later the wall fell. And millions across Central and Eastern Europe were liberated from unspeakable oppression. It's appropriate that on the anniversary of that speech, that we dedicate a monument that reflects our confidence in freedom's power.
The men and women who designed this memorial could have chosen an image of repression for this space, a replica of the wall that once divided Berlin, or the frozen barracks of the Gulag, or a killing field littered with skulls. Instead, they chose an image of hope -- a woman holding a lamp of liberty. She reminds us of the victims of Communism, and also of the power that overcame Communism.
Like our Statue of Liberty, she reminds us that the flame for freedom burns in every human heart, and that it is a light that cannot be extinguished by the brutality of terrorists or tyrants. And she reminds us that when an ideology kills tens of millions of people, and still ends up being vanquished, it is contending with a power greater than death. (Applause.) She reminds us that freedom is the gift of our Creator, freedom is the birthright of all humanity, and in the end, freedom will prevail. (Applause.)
I thank each of you who made this memorial possible for your service in freedom's cause. I thank you for your devotion to the memory of those who lost their lives to Communist terror. May the victims of Communism rest in peace. May those who continue to suffer under Communism find their freedom. And may the God who gave us liberty bless this great memorial and all who come to visit her.
God bless. (Applause.)
Published June 13, 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.chinasup port.net/.
Kept your mouth shut for 5 days!!! For my fellow debate comrades, they rather keep their stomach starve for 5 days and also don't want to let their throat inactivated for 5 hours. Great to tell you all, i made it, i did it, i din voice more than 10 sentences for 5 days. Was i mad? you thought i became introvert, self-detained in my room for 5 days time, didn't you? Haha, i'm not lying to you, this is truth, not voiced out anything for 5 days, from 2 june to yesterday, 6 june. Yup, i had taken a chan/zen meditation program 禅修 at Fo Guang Shan, Dongzen temple 佛光山东禅寺 last saturday. Honest to say, it's really a wonderful experience for me, i never believe that i could able to make it, no talk for 5 days, reduce your unwanted thinkings to least, and most horrible thing to normal people including myself, that is MEDITATION MORE THAN 8 HOURS everyday, i meant 5 days of the program. Well, i always fear most of meditation, as have to sitting there like a statue for plentiful of minutes, but the reason i took participation of this zen program was... not because i aim for enlightenment or other metaphysic goals or responsibilities, just merely because i got the wrong information about the program. Before i went there, i expected the program is something like learning some lessons concerning zen or copying notes and so on. Out of blue, it wasn't like that, it was an intensive meditation 'training' in multitude hours. Everyday, have to meditate (sitting there, think nothing and concentrating on breathing) more than 8 times, every time spent 35 to 50 minutes, entire life just like a monk's life, the only significant difference was my hair still stayed on my head. haha...
The 18th anniversary of the June 4 Massacre in Beijing is upon us. Along with other co-sponsoring organizations, the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the USA (IFCSS) and the China Support Network (CSN) will hold a candlelight vigil at the Chinese embassy in Washington DC.
The time is from 7pm to 8:45pm on Saturday, June 2, 2006. The place is in front of the Chinese embassy in the U.S., located at 2300 Connecticut Ave. NW, in Washington, DC. The candlelight vigil this year marks the 18th continuous year that this memorial event is held.
During the candlelight vigil, IFCSS will announce the winners of this year's Spirit of Freedom Award. The award recognizes Chinese who do not surrender themselves to dictatorship; who maintain independent thought and dignity; and who display human conscience and the spirit of freedom. Past awardees include Song ZhongQiu, who criticized Chinese Communism from his death bed, suffering terminal cancer; Hu ShiGen, organizer of the PFDC (Party for Freedom and Democracy in China) in 1991 in the wake of Tiananmen Square's Massacre; Jiang QiSheng, a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy uprising who has continued his fight to push for democracy in China; and last year's awardees, Yang TianShui and the three heroic workers who challenged Mao ZeDong during the 1989 uprising by splattering paint on the huge Mao portrait in Tiananmen Square.
Also during this year's vigil, CSN's President John Kusumi will (rhetorically) remove the gloves and take the fight to the U.S. President, with a speech very unforgiving of the faulty United States policy towards Communist China. Kusumi has a new appellation for the U.S. Presidents ever since Tiananmen Square's Massacre. In his formulation, they are "wuss bunnies of moral cowardice." It has taken 18 years of that cowardice to work up to the frothy state of frustration that drives Kusumi to also note that the U.S. President "lacks situational awareness." According to Kusumi, "This is just like the first days after Hurricane Katrina. There is carnage, and the U.S. President just doesn't display situational awareness ('doesn't get it'). On China, he has continued his predecessors' tradition of a blind eye for all of China's carnage. There is a reason why I am pointing the finger, and saying 'Here is a wuss bunny of moral cowardice.' Ditto for the AP (Associated Press) and the IOC (International Olympic Committee), who don't want to admit that carnage is taking place."
Members of IFCSS, CSN, and more co-sponsors will gather in Washington to attend this memorial activity. The CSN will also commemorate the massacre in New York on June 3 and in Providence on June 4.
The candlelight vigil this year marks the 18th continuous year that this movement has been commemorating Tiananmen Square's Massacre. We believe this annual event is not just a memorial to martyrs -- who sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy in that troubled land called China -- but moreover, is a continuation of the Chinese Democracy Movement. This event expresses the Movement's firm belief in, and effort to achieve, freedom and democracy in China. We hope all friends of freedom, who support the Chinese Democracy Movement, will not forget about June 4. We invite active involvement and participation in the Chinese Democracy Movement. And, if you cannot be at one of these commemorative events, please light a candle and put it in your window to remember the June 4 Massacre. As ever, we thank you for your support.
