PHILADELPHIA—"I feel more than ever that freedom is a very important condition for humans today," said Wei Jingsheng, a leading figure of the Chinese democracy movement against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Wei lectured at a conference on "Living without Freedom" at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Saturday.
Currently in exile from China for his advocacy of ideas antithetical to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Wei read from a speech on his first-hand experiences of imprisonment and torture in China, the Great Cultural Revolution, the mentality of the CCP, and recent developments in the democracy and human rights movement in China.
Wei, whose university education in the 1960s was curtailed in order to serve in the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution, said Mao Zedong sought to use the Revolution to westernize China. In Wei's view, the CCP leadership saw traditional Chinese culture as an obstacle to their idea of a westernization movement and so destroyed China's more than 5,000-year cultural heritage as a first step toward that goal.
With the Chinese people completely severed from their traditional culture and moral values, Wei said that the CCP could then indoctrinate in the Chinese people with whatever ideology suited their aims. According to Wei, the Cultural Revolution has led to a "cultural deficit" throughout China today.
On the CCP's understanding of the prospect of international relations with democratic countries such as the United States, Wei said, "For the Chinese Communist Party [that wants] to maintain an autocratic system, of course it has to be hostile towards those democratic countries. ... The Chinese Communist Party believes that [U.S.] existence is a threat to its own existence. Because the freedom that democracy guarantees is too appealing, every day the existence of a democratic system testifies to the failure of the CCP."
China's Cry for Freedom
Wei has often been thought of as an eloquent speaker on the Chinese people's wish to free themselves from the oppression of the regime in China. He believes that it is unhappiness and lack of freedom that are compelling Chinese people to revolt against the CCP today.
Perhaps most conspicuous of the recent peaceful revolts against the CCP in China is the "Tuidang" ("Quitting the CCP") movement: To date more than 21.5 million people have officially renounced their membership in the Party and its affiliated organizations. This movement has been seen by many as heralding the end of the CCP and a brighter future for China and the Chinese people.
On the Tuidang movement, Wei said: "In China, a lot of people are actually forced to join the CCP. The Tuidang movement is actually an opportunity to get out of it and to gain peace for their consciences."
"It's also good for the society because when people withdraw from the Communist Party, there will be less people to help the Communist Party. So the society will evolve in that way." Wei went on to say that Tuidang is the beginning of the end of the CCP.
In 1978, Wei published perhaps his most famous essay, "The Fifth Modernization," which argued that China not only needed to stress economic reforms and development, but also needed to make significant improvements in democracy and human rights.
While Wei was in prison and since being released, he has received several prizes for his work—including the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Award, the National Endowment for Democracy Award, and the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The Saturday lecture—co-sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the National Constitution Center, and the National Liberty Museum—was the opening session of a weekend-long conference for high school teachers on "Living without Freedom."
Visit the Wei Jinsheng Foundation.