PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—The North Church at Market Square is a well-know local spot to bring your message to the public—especially one that mainstream media is not covering in depth.
Marcus Gale from North Berwick, Maine, who was the master of ceremonies Saturday, April 12, for New Hampshire's welcoming of the global Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) announced at the beginning of the event in Market Square, "There's a big media blackout on the widespread injustices in China as it prepares for the Beijing Olympics."
Many are now aware of China's Olympic Torch that began its tour this March, but who has heard of the Human Rights Torch Relay? This international campaign aims to bring attention not only to the plight of Tibetans in China but also to the many other groups being persecuted in that country: Christians, Falun Gong, Uighur Muslims, pro-democracy advocates, AIDS victims—the list is lengthy.
Lit in Athens, Greece, in August 2007 under the banner "The Olympics and Crimes Against Humanity Cannot Coexist in China," this torch of a different meaning is a grassroots movement that has not yet caught the attention of major media. The organizers and speakers at the North Church aim to change that and for the estimated 200 attendees they might have succeeded.
Madelyn Good from Seabrook and the New Hampshire HRTR Coordinator puts it this way: "The China Torch is trying to represent the dignity of the Olympics, but it cannot succeed because of the human injustices that permeate China and all it touches.
"Everywhere the Human Rights Torch passes, it leaves a path of righteousness," she commented.
The HRTR has passed through cities on six continents and will travel to over 40 cities in the United States.
Tony Matarazzo, New Hampshire State Representative from Nashua, on seeing a sign in the crowd that read "Help Rescue Catholics from Chinese Prisons," said in his remarks at the rally: "Religion and faith are the most personal human need and right that there is. And to be persecuted for what you believe is just an atrocity, a crime."
With genocide happening in Darfur, Burma, and Tibet, Tom White with the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies in Keene, N.H., reminded listeners of Yehyda Bauer's words and warning: "Thou shall not be a perpetrator. Thou shall not be a victim. Thou shall never, ever be a by-stander."
Steve Gigliotti with the New England Falun Dafa Association lived and worked in China for three years. Standing next to a group of Chinese students who practice Falun Gong from the Minghui School in Boston, he recounted that many young children in China come home from school to find their parents missing. Because they practice Falun Gong they are imprisoned, sent to re-education camps, tortured, and even killed. Children are left homeless. Gigliotti calls the situation in China, "the largest underground persecution in the history of man."
Mark Harkins from Hollis, N.H., who attended the rally, reflected: "One of the great things about the Olympics is it brings different countries together. It is kind of sad to see the Olympics in a country where there is so much religious persecution and so much conflict."
"I just don't think the two should go together," said Pam Marchant from Stratham, N.H. "The Olympics should not be over there. For what the Olympics stand for, it should not be in China."
John, a Portsmouth gift shop owner who was born in China and has seen the atrocities of the Cultural Revolution first hand, commented that this HRTR event is very encouraging. People are coming out and speaking for human rights. He said, "It's a big mistake to have it [the Olympics] there. But I do not think it's a good idea to punish the athletes. But the government [the Chinese Communist Party] definitely needs to be punished."
Talks by Michelle Bos-Lun, Chairperson of the Monadnock Friends of Tibet; Thuc Cao, from the Vietnamese Community of New Hampshire; Elnigar Iltebir from the Uyghur American Assoc., and others brought to light in vivid detail the horrors inflected by the Chinese regime on their respective groups.
The overriding strength of the Human Rights Torch Relay is that it provides a forum for individuals and groups to come together and tell the world about the widespread injustices taking place under China's communist regime.
Mary Byrom, a Maine artist who has had several exhibits of her paintings in the area and who practices Falun Gong, said: "In 1999 when the Chinese government decided to start a hate campaign against Falun Gong it was declared illegal. We are now watching a current hate campaign against Tibet. When will we learn?"
Making a connection with how we spend our money and the ongoing persecution and human right abuses, Byrom continued: "When will we realize what the Chinese Communist Party really is? When will we stop buying goods from China? When will you all realize that your pocket book is a direct connection to persecution?"
A similar point was driven home by John Kusumi, president of the China Support Network, who said: "Chinese communism is killing people today … When free trade means a free lunch for communist dictators and thugs, that is a flawed and faulty policy." He stated, "The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is the world's leading abuser of human rights."
Byrom's description of the forcible organ harvesting happening to Falun Gong in China was made even more poignant when she said: "Organ harvesting of Falun Gong is a simple thing. They [the CCP] round them up, they put them in prison camps, they blood type them, and they hold them until someone places an order for an organ that they have."
Near the end of the rally, former N.H. state senator Burt Cohen, who is now a local radio host, was in the audience and came forward to speak.
"I am honored to be here today, he said, "among people who care about human rights…To ignore what China is doing to the human rights of people in Tibet, to its own people, and especially to the people in China who have been suffering under this dictatorship for so many years is wrong…It was wrong for the 1936 Olympics to be held in Germany and now it is wrong. It's wrong to ignore speaking out for human rights."
The HRTR will be in Portland, Maine, on April 19 and New Haven, Conn., on April 26. Details available at http://www.hrtrnewengland.com.
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