On March 6, many people around the world participated in "A Grand Simultaneous Hunger Strike of Thousands around the Globe" in support of the hunger strike of the Attorney Gao Zhisheng and other rights activists in China. The event was intended as a special protest to the Chinese Communist regime during the 4th session of the 10th National People's Congress and the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference convened respectively on March 5 and March 3 in Beijing.
The event was initiated by a group of rights activists and Chinese dissidents outside Mainland China, including Hong Kong Legislative Council member Albert Ho, defected Chinese law specialist Yuan Hongbing, Professor of Economics at National Taiwan University Chang Ching-hsi, Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, and former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, who defected last year.
In a March 1 statement announcing the event, the co-signers demanded unconditional release of all dissidents in China. Among the 26 dissidents specifically named by the statement are the well-known artist Yan Zhengxue and the AIDS activist Hu Jia, both have disappeared after announcing their participation in the hunger strike initiated by Gao; the writer Shi Tao who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment last year for "leaking state secrets;" and the writer Zheng Yichun who was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment last September for "treason."
Gao Zhisheng, a self-taught lawyer named by the Chinese Communist regime in 2001 as one of the top ten in his field, has devoted himself primarily to defending the underdog in China, including migrant workers and people with private properties expropriated by the regime. In recent few years he has also taken up cases of the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and has written three open letters condemning the Chinese communist regime's abuses of the practitioners' basic rights.
On Feb. 4 Gao Zhisheng released an open statement co-signed by 16 other people, announcing the beginning of a hunger strike relay. The statement says, "Whereas the human rights situation has rapidly deteriorated; whereas the judicial system has become the most brutal force in barring citizens from protecting their basic rights; whereas the dark, fierce power in the country has become so rampant that it completely ignores the existence of law, while the individuals that are persecuted are totally helpless; we hereby set into motion and form the Hunger Strike Group to Support Human Rights." Gao's plan was to have a relay in which each person would be on hunger strike for 24 hours; and participants would sign up on the web.
Gao immediately won the support of human rights activists, lawyers, and ordinary citizens both in and outside China. In response, the Chinese Communist regime started arresting those who decided to take part in the hunger strike. Finally on Feb 18, Gao released an urgent statement announcing that he would be on hunger strike for 24 hours in support of those who had been arrested by the regime for taking part in the hunger strike.
Blue Ribbon
The initiators of the March 6 hunger strike have chosen the blue ribbon as a symbol. In a statement on Feb. 20 the law specialist Yuan Hongbing writes, "Blue is the color of the sky and the ocean. The grand oceans and the broad sky symbolize freedom. Therefore, blue is the color of freedom; it also symbolizes the Chinese people's yearning for freedom amidst suffering."
On March 6 in the city of Tianjin, there were blue ribbons tied to trees. The same day at the rallies and press conferences for the hunger strike, the hunger striker were also given blue ribbons.
The Grand Simultaneous Hunger Strike on March 6 was supported by people around the world, including Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United States, among others.
When asked about the significance of the hunger strike initiated by Gao Zhisheng, Szeto Wah, founder and president of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said, "This is something that the ordinary people in China can understand and take part in. It will also strengthen their political awareness of their own rights. Only when the ordinary people are all standing up will there be hope and this democratic movement will carry on to a larger scale."
Gao Zhisheng's criticism and actions against the Chinese Communist regime have earned him two assassination attempts so far. In addition, he and his family members have been monitored and followed by Chinese police for over 100 days.
Currently, besides hunger striking on every Saturday, Gao Zhisheng continues to post open letters and statements detailing his situation and what he learns about human rights abuses in China.
On March 4, Gao wrote, "These few days as the Chinese Communist regime has its meetings, innumerable people who have suffered injustice have been recklessly arrested… The number of those who have disappeared is in two digits… These few days, several thousand Chinese officials [from different provinces] have arrived in Beijing in order to keep back the petitioners... Last night alone, in one action the officials from Shanxi arrested as many as 400 hundred people."
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