As I once stated in a human rights speech at Freedom Plaza, “compassion begins with passion.” You cannot show that you truly care about our shared universal human rights, if you cannot show your feelings and passion for your fellow human beings and their challenges. If you are passionate about human rights, then you cannot be “patient” as you watch your brothers and sisters in humanity being persecuted, oppressed, attacked, and murdered.
There is a time and a place for equanimity, patience, and a reserved manner, and there is also a time and a place for a passionate defense of the rights, dignity, and security for our fellow human beings. There is a time when we must provide leadership on the truths we hold self-evident for all.
Our real leaders understand this, because they understand what is at stake by those who deny and attack our shared universal human rights. Our real leaders are not necessarily institutional, political, government leaders or administrators in our nations. We must make certain the voices of real leaders of human rights, dignity, and security are heard, amidst the passive voices that will invariably shrug their shoulders at the challenges to our shared human rights.
Let us be clear – the enemies of our shared universal human rights are never inconsequential to the security of the world. The enemies of our shared universal human rights are always an insidious cancer to the human race whose growth must be aggressively blocked and whose threat must be removed.
Some also believe that our passion for human rights should only apply for selected identity groups that we care about. Universal human rights are universal. The most fundamental value in our shared universal human rights is Equality. This is the truly shared common cause around which we must rally.
So we must also be equally passionate in our human rights defiance to anti-human rights extremists, who believe they can threaten, bully, and commit violence against others in denial of their human rights, because they believe they have superior rights over others. The enemies of our shared universal human rights despise the word “equality.” It is their primary objection to our common cause of shared human rights.
Equality is truly the keystone of the human rights struggle, which holds all of the other causes together as one struggle. The importance of equality in our human rights is forgotten by the apathetic, when they believe we do not need to passionately challenge all of the enemies of human rights.
Equality.
In the United States of America, we have been blessed with a history that this is not merely just another word in our language.
Equality.
It is so much more than just another word. It is a desperate whisper. It is a cry against injustice. It is a prayer. It is call to action. It is a shout of defiance. But whatever it may mean to you, to people in America and around the world, Equality is not just another word. Equality is not something we could dispassionately care less about, because it applies to all of us – everywhere – just like our shared universal human rights.
To those who have seen brothers and sisters of every identity stand together in a common cause of our shared universal human rights, they know that without Equality, we cannot have Liberty. They know without Equality and Liberty, we cannot have shared universal human rights.
Of all of our shared universal human rights, Equality is what anti-human rights extremists want to steal away from humanity. As it is the keystone of our shared universal human rights, so it is also the common target of the extremist enemies of human rights. The enemies of human rights don’t simply dislike equality; they hate Equality. They seek to destroy Equality and subjugate people of various identity groups, based on their race, their religion, their nationality, or other identity, and force them to submit to a tyranny.
So when we passionately challenge the enemies of our shared human rights and Equality, we must be prepared to defy all such enemies. Most importantly, we must never allow our passion in defying such enemies of human rights to allow us to become tyrants ourselves. We must always remember our struggle for human rights is for shared human rights for all of humanity.
To those who do not view anti-human rights extremists as a threat to passionately oppose, often they decide that they can choose that only some anti-human rights extremists matter, and that other enemies of human rights do not. This is not a support for our shared universal human rights. We must passionately reject all enemies of human rights, as the common cause of the human race.
In addition, there are also those who believe that people around the world have no choice but to live under a tyranny of those who seek their total submission and denial of their universal human rights. They believe they should surrender to what they believe will not change, and that the best thing to do is simply make the best of the current circumstances. They also believe that it is not worth giving much attention to anti-human extremist groups, because they believe eventually such groups will fail of their own overreaching ambitions, without much reaction by free people.
The people of the world may wonder how some free people can be so dispassionately calculated and cold-hearted about enemies of human rights, especially American free people. America brings a history both of natural defiance against anti-human rights oppression, as well as a deep-seated desire by its immigrants to “start anew” somewhere else and get a “fresh start” at life, and release concerns about “the old world.” Especially between foreign wars, Americans often resort back to a policy of “isolationism” as a response to great sacrifices. Passion is exhausting.
But when we come back to the keystone of human rights — Equality, we then have a different message to those who would watch the oppression of and violence against our fellow human beings with detachment and equanimity.
America did not defeat the tyrants that oppressed them by a dispassionate hope that eventually someday things would change on their own. They stated: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” In America, the weary, the detached, and the dispassionate may find comfort in isolationism from the world and from our societal responsibilities, but we can never be Americans without a zealous commitment to the most important of the truths we hold self-evident — EQUALITY.
Equality is the great motivating force to remind the American people, who and what they are, and why in the great words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
In the exhaustion of the difficult efforts for human rights, it is easy to get discouraged and weary. It is easy to lose hope for change. But I have been blessed in my lifetime with the opportunity to see great things happen. I have been blessed to live in a time in the United States of America, where I have seen American change from a nation where public racial segregation and oppression was openly tolerated in some place to where we have come to an African-American president elected twice. This is what I have seen with my eyes and experienced in my own short lifetime. The struggle for our shared human rights, especially for our sisters in America, is still truly an ongoing battle which is far, far, far from being won. But I can tell you a fact, not an opinion. CHANGE IS POSSIBLE. We CAN positively change the world in support of our shared universal human rights. It is not just wishful thinking. It can be done.
We have seen such human rights CHANGE. I urge the world to remember this history and to act to find ways to promote such change in challenging the current enemies of human rights and equality.
But we did NOT achieve CHANGE by being passive and unconcerned about the actions of anti-human rights extremists. We did not achieve change through dispassionate equanimity to the anti-human rights extremists who sought to subjugate others. We did not change the thinking of a generation by quietly expecting the extremist enemies of human rights would just go away by themselves, and relinquish their stranglehold on the human rights, dignity, and security of the oppressed.
We did not achieve any victories of change by making excuses for and rationalizing away the actions and the ideology of the enemies of human rights.
In achieving the victories of change, we did not retreat to isolationism from human rights. We did not shrug our shoulders at the abuses of the extremists. To the victims of such extremists, we did not only extend our sympathies and prayers, but we also extended our protection as well as our passionate outrage and defiance against the extremist enemies of human rights.
To the enemies of human rights, we not only recognized and defended the rights of others, but also we challenged and rejected the wrongs that extremists applied to our fellow human beings. We did not defend those victimized by the enemies of our human rights through relativist surrender. We judged their actions based on a consistent application of our shared universal human rights for all. This judgment between right and wrong was passionately communicated in every aspect of our society: our leaders, media, schools, houses of worship, institutions, and public gatherings.
In the American national judgment on white supremacism, whether it was by the 100,000 American Union soldiers who died fighting to end it during the Civil War, or it was through the total war of ideas against white supremacism during what is known as the “Civil Rights era,” this judgment against extremists was not a racial attack on white Americans, but it was a total clarion call for change to reject the supremacist views of extremists. But we fearlessly judged what was right and wrong, based on our shared universal human rights for all. As the American people know all too well, that struggle never ends, and such passionate defiance against anti-human rights extremists must never be relaxed.
Most importantly, we were NOT patient, despite the endless pleas for “patience,” “understanding,” “culture,” and “incremental change,” which mostly apologists for white supremacists sought to spread as a countermessage in the “war of ideas” during the “Civil Rights era.” As Americans are all too painfully aware, when it comes to defying the extremist enemies of human rights, patience is not a virtue, but only allows anti-human rights persecution to find new ways and places to arise again and again.
This is the model that I have seen in my life which works to achieve CHANGE in human rights. It is a model that requires a passionate challenge to anti-human rights extremists that are given no excuse, no rationale, no justification, and no escape from the judgment of a society which stands for justice and equally shared universal human rights.
So too in today’s world, as the extremist enemies of human rights seek a total war on our equality, liberty, human rights, human dignity, and security, so we must call for a new clarion call of total defiance of the ideology and actions of today’s enemies of human rights. We must not allow the voices of relativism, defeatism, and cowardice to win the day. If we believe in our shared universal human rights, then we must take the stand that those that seek the destruction of such shared universal human rights bring a common cause to rally all of humanity.
To do so, we need to bring out the greatest agent of human rights to our common defense, the keystone of our shared human rights: EQUALITY. We must call for the EQUAL universal human rights for all people in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we must defy those enemies of human rights, from any extremist ideology which seeks the persecution and oppression of our brothers and sisters in humanity. Of all of the ideas in the world, the one that the enemies of human rights can least tolerate and accept is equality of human rights. Therefore, such equality of human rights must be the spearhead of our campaign to defy and challenge the extremist causes.
To the extremist calls of terrorism, violence, and subjugation of our fellow human beings, let them know the enemies of human rights know that we will reject, defy, and condemn their ideologies of hatred and violence. As we approach the anniversary this week of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, let us passionately and defiantly make a statement to all of the anti-human rights extremist groups — we will not submit, and we will defend our EQUAL universal human rights for all.
We will be passionately Responsible for Equality and Liberty.
While we have had many faces and voices against ISIS, the most important and compelling voices of those against extremism are Muslims who have, around the world, faced death from the ISIS terrorists who claim they are representing a twisted version of “Islam.” It is essential that we encourage those supporting human rights and rejecting extremist views.
Muslims, in America, France, Other Parts of the World, Are Taking a Public Stand Against ISIS
After the November 13, 2015 ISIS terrorist attacks, we saw Muslims in France, Italy, and other parts of Europe stand up in rejection and defiance of the ISIS hate and terrorism, including taking part in public protests against ISIS and in support of those attacked in Paris. Muslims across France and Europe marched against ISIS. Since the November 13 Paris attacks, a global campaign has extended on Twitter with Muslims taking a stand against ISIS promoting the campaign #NotInMyName.
After ISIS Paris Terrorist Attacks, Muslim Demonstrations Take Place in Europe – Thousands of Muslims in Toulouse, Rome, Stockholm Denounce AttacksAnti-ISIS Muslim Women Protest in Support of Paris
Washington DC – R.E.A.L. and Interfaith Group Stands at Freedom Center for Universal Human Rights
On the day of the December 2, 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Muslims came forward to reject and denounce violence. In the aftermath of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, we also see Muslims who have spoken out and rejected the terrorist violence against those victims.
Muslim woman Samar Natour – standing friends with the victims of San Bernardino terrorist attack – “We are here to show support and for there to be a Muslim presence and to show that the violence is not what our religion is about ” (Source: Newsweek)
On December 3, 2015, the American Muslim Institution, based in Washington DC, issued a statement that the “Loss of life in San Bernardino is unequivocally condemned by Muslims.” The statement included “Our hearts go out to the families of the victims and their loved ones, 14 people have lost their lives to senseless violence and another 17 are seriously injured. We pray with our hearts, souls and minds, asking God to guide us all to restore peace and sanity. American Muslims condemns this violent crime and urge the law enforcement agencies to track down all possible links to these violent acts, if any. It is time for the law enforcement officials to investigate the backgrounds of the suspected individuals to understand the sources and causes for their vigilant and criminal behavior, as it is a serious breach of security and to take corrective measures. As fellow Americans and fellow Muslims, it is our duty and collective responsibility to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting the peace in a society and it is the duty of all of us to track down the source of such hate and work on mitigating it.”
Washington DC: Anti-ISIS Rally by Muslims at Lincoln Memorial (Source: News and Views)
On November 20 2015, in Washington DC, Muslims gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to make a statement that they reject the violence, hatred, intolerance, and terrorism of violence. This was also organized by the American Muslim Institution. As reported by News and Views, the Muslim activists made statements condemning ISIS as “evil” and not representing Islam, reporting that “American Muslims gathered on the steps of Lincoln Memorial Friday to condemn the ISIS terror, and reinforce Islam’s message of peaceful coexistence.” “In their speeches and slogans, participants said the ISIS hateful ideology of violence does not represent Islam since it goes against Islam’s message of peaceful coexistence and respect for human life.” Mike Ghous, executive director of American Muslim Institution, stated “We are taking a small step to condemn them, to send a message to ISIS and terrorists that we do not approve them. We do not accept them because they are evil.”
In addition, also on November 20, 2015, about 100 people gathered in Lafayette Square in Washington DC, across the street from the White House, with candles, American flags and banners that read “Muslims Condemn Terrorism,” and “American Muslims Against ISIS.”
Anti-ISIS Rally by American Muslims Against ISIS – 100 at Lafayette Park – gathered outside the White House (Source: WTOP/Michelle Basch)
In addition, R.E.A.L.’s December 3, 2015 posting, we pointed to numerous Muslim women who rejected extremism in the Al Huda groups. There is a continuing, but rarely publicized, movement by Muslim women and men to challenge rigidity and extremist views.
R.E.A.L. urges continuing public statements and specific rejection of ISIS, its ideology, and its terrorist tactics by Muslim activists, as well as non-Muslim activists.
As many have said, we are all in this together.
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However, what many in the West are not as well aware of is how much the ISIS terrorist organization has targeted and attacked Muslims, Muslim activities, and Muslim mosques. As we have reported elsewhere, ISIS has waged a global war against Muslims.
As we have reported numerous times, Muslim around the world have condemned the attacks by the ISIS terrorist group which has frequently targeted Muslim groups globally. The frequency of such ISIS terrorist attacks against other Muslims is so common and so regular, we don’t begin to suggest we are covering them all, and frequently are forced to posting on Twitter of such regular attacks by ISIS on other Muslims.
But among those we have posted about, R.E.A.L. has reported of ISIS terrorist attacks against Muslims on:
ISIS Terrorist Bombing on Saudi Mosque in Abha – August 6, 2015Injured Victims of ISIS Terror Attack on Mosque – mir of Asir Prince Faisal Bin Khaled visits the injured at a hospital in Abha, Thursday (Source: SPA)
ISIS Terrorists in Afghanistan Murder Helpless Men
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Clearly, the ideology of ISIS terrorism is primarily as an enemy to the Muslim people. It makes sense that Muslims can and must continue to be the number one face of opposition to ISIS.
It is the primary responsibility of white Americans to fight and defy the hate and terrorist ideology of white supremacy (which over 100,000 U.S.A. soldiers died in fighting a war over), and we see white Americans in protests in our nation’s capital and around the nation to challenge white supremacists. Just as it would be wrong to judge all white Americans for the actions of white supremacists, including the vast majority which have fought and many given their lives to challenge white supremacist hate and terrorism, so we must respect those Muslims who reject, defy, and denounce the ISIS hate and terrorism.
We urge all, from all identity groups, and all religions, to be jointly Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is calling for activists to join one of a three night protest in the Washington DC suburb of Olney, Maryland. This is to continue R.E.A.L.’s protests against the Olney Theatre Center’s “Hitler Musical,” in rejection of the racist ideology of Nazism which has attacked the world, caused the deaths of over 6 million Jews, 2 million women, 1.5 million children, and millions of others (including 26 million from Russian and former-Soviet nations). Nazis have performed and continue to perform in terror attacks around the world and in Washington DC, including recent murders of African-Americans (see R.E.A.L.’s previous report). We cannot “normalize” Adolf Hitler and Nazi images as “acceptable.” We cannot make terrorist symbols of racism, torture, and mass-murder into “comic figures” or “Internet memes.”
If you find racism, white supremacy, and the symbols of such hate repulsive, and for white Americans – shameful, it is not enough to be repulsed and ashamed. We don’t have the luxury to simply do nothing. “Silence is unforgivable.” Your actions make our shared history. We need you to ACT.
In-Person Protests: R.E.A.L. is calling for activist protesters to join us on the sidewalk at 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD, in front of the Olney Theatre Center. This week, we will hold these protests on the sidewalk on Friday July 24 (7-8 PM) and Saturday July 25 (7-8 PM), and the afternoon of Sunday July 26 (1-2 PM).
Please join us one of these nights. It is just for one hour. If you can come, please email R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm at usa@realcourage.org, so R.E.A.L. can keep a tally of planned protesters to keep the local police updated. We will chant “No, No Nazi.” Protest signs will be available. (IMPORTANT NOTE: You CANNOT PARK at 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, but park across the street in the school parking lot for Our Lady of Good Counsel High School at 17301 Old Vic Blvd, Olney, MD 20832)
If you are in the Washington DC area, this is only 19 miles from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was attacked by the Nazi Von Brunn, where he murdered African-American security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns.
Email Protests: R.E.A.L. is calling for activist protesters around the world to send a message to the Olney Theatre Center that you find the racist hate image of Adolf Hitler and Nazi swastikas to be repugnant, and call for the immediate end of this attack on the dignity of our community. You can email the Olney Theatre Center by contacting: Public Relations Manager Heather Andrews (hlatiri@olneytheatre.org), Director of Production Dennis A. Blackledge(dblackledge@olneytheatre.org), Managing Director Deborah Ellinghaus (debbie@olneytheatre.org), Artistic Director Jason Loewith (jason@olneytheatre.org), and the Olney Theatre Center’s Board President Jennifer Kneeland (JKneeland@linowes-law.com), and actor Michael Kostroff (auditionpsych101@gmail.com).
Fax Protests: R.E.A.L is calling for activist protesters to also send fax messages to 1-301-924-2654.
Twitter Protests: R.E.A.L. is urging activist protesters to contact to share your views on Twitter to the Olney Theatre (@OlneyTheatre) at https://twitter.com/OlneyTheatre
R.E.A.L. also urges protests to ask those funding this theater, such as the Washington DC-based FTI Consulting, to withdraw their financial support as production sponsor for this “musical.” Please contact their public relations lead Nicole Madison (nicole.madison@fticonsulting.com, 212-850-5647).
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Why Protest Adolf Hitler and Nazi Imagery?
R.E.A.L. rejects the obscene and racist public imagery of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi swastikas as repulsive, and as an attack on our community’s dignity from the same symbol of white supremacist racist hate as the Confederate Flag. But it is more than a rejection of such a symbol of racist hate, it is also a rejection of an ideology of terrorism which continues to attack the United States and the world TODAY. It is not simply a “historical” enemy of humanity; Nazi terrorism remains a near and present danger to people today.
The Olney Theatre Center’s argument is that they are doing a musical, called The Producers, which they view as a comedy. The Washington Post calls it a “Hitler Musical caper,” and the Olney Theatre has mocked R.E.A.L.’s protests to the Washington Post saying that R.E.A.L. does not enjoy their “Hitler Musical,” as much as he did. Olney Theatre Center tries to justify this as “comedy,” but even 1940 comedianCharlie Chaplin wrote: “Had I known of the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made The Great Dictator, I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis.”
In the Olney Theatre’s “Hitler Musical,” its performers sing for Adolf Hitler, his racist “Master Race.” The musical calls for the public to “Come and join the Nazi Party!” They view their efforts as “satire.” R.E.A.L. views this performance as disrespect for the history and the continuing suffering of humanity against the Nazi terrorist ideology of racist hate.
During our previous protests, members of the theater have come out to harass and mock R.E.A.L’s protest, including false portrayal of their identity. We believe such dishonesty demonstrates the character of this production. One harassing member, questioned about the Holocaust, told R.E.A.L. that satire and humor should be used to address the Holocaust and that we should find the Holocaust humorous, at a time when racist Holocaust-deniers around the world mock the killing of 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.
Hitler and Nazis were also the murderers of 2 million women (including a death camp specifically for 50,000 non-Jewish women), 1.5 million children (including 5,000 disabled children), between 70,000 – 300,000 disabled adults, 2 million non-Jewish Ukrainians, another 9 million Russian soldiers killed, 11.7 non-Jewish Russian and Russian territory citizens, (a total estimated 26 million killed in former Soviet nations), and the Nazi killing of many others: non-Jewish women, other Europeans, gays, disabled, children, people of African descent, and numerous others. Within the United States of America, 400,000 soldiers died fighting Hitler and his Axis powers. Millions of soldiers in the Axis powers died fighting to stop Hitler and Nazi ideology.
The Nazi ideology was not just an enemy to Jewish people. The Nazi ideology was an enemy to the WORLD. The WORLD recognized such an enemy against ALL PEOPLE, with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created in 1948, stating its rejection of such atrocities because the “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” OUTRAGED THE CONSCIENCE OF MANKIND – not laughing at such “barbarous acts.”
But what R.E.A.L. has seen, and the public knows, is the repulsive, racist nature of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi ideology, which did NOT END with the war-time defeat of Adolf Hitler, with Nazi terrorism continuing against our nation and the world today. Adolf Hitler’s white supremacist Nazi ideology has attacked men, women, Jews, Muslims, gays, Christians, African-Americans, Asians, the disabled, and continues to be a terrorist threat in the United States of America and around the world. Our children, women, and minorities are murdered in this country by Nazi terrorists, while others think this is a joke.
Nazi terrorism in the United States and around the world has grown as “normalization” of such Nazi images of racist hate continue to grow and become “acceptable.” Unlike 1968, this is not a few Nazi extremists, but using the Internet, Nazi extremist gangs are becoming a growing global network of Nazi hatred and racist violence, including regular murder and torture. “The Producers” fails to recognize that while audiences laugh at the idea of past Nazis, present day Nazi commit regular acts of terrorism: synagogues are attacked, churches are attacked, African-Americans are killed, children are murdered, women are killed, and gay men are being kidnapped, raped, and killed by Nazi terrorists. These Nazi terrorists are enabled to recruit others in such ideologies of hate, aided in part by the “normalization” of such symbols of hatred.
The normalization of such racist hate symbols and figures continues to erode our shared stance on human rights and dignity, as the United States of America knows all too well with the racist Confederate flag and symbols. 150 years after the end of the Civil War, Americans continue to fight the struggle to defy public symbols of such racist hate, as the Confederate flag. Maryland actors in this “Hitler Musical” argue their view of satire disempowers such symbols, while they sing for Hitler and the Nazi Party, but as Americans have seen 150 years later, perceived satire on the white supremacy Confederate symbols of hate only normalized this, making it “acceptable” for television and films. The terrorism behind such racist hate symbols has continued unabated, and while white Americans shrugged (or God Forbid laughed), African-Americans continued to pay the price with their lives, their human rights, and their dignity. We must defy racist symbols of hate by rejecting their public display with our own free speech.
The racist hate ideology of Nazism did not die or end with the monster Adolf Hitler but has continued throughout Europe and United States, including attacks in Washington DC, murder of Maryland citizens, and attacks and killings of minority houses of worship and African-Americans and other minorities in recent years.
It may seem universal for people of conscience to reject and denounce the hate imagery of Adolf Hitler and Nazism, but inaction and silence is not taking a stand. All that symbols of hate need to become “normalized” in society are for good men and women to DO NOTHING. Just like it took Americans 150 years to start taking down the Confederate flag — the same Confederate racist flag which is used publicly in Europe in those areas where the Nazi swastika flag is illegal.
I am asking you to take a moment of your time to stand to defy a symbol of racist hate which should be repugnant to every person of conscience. For those in the DC area, surely isn’t one hour of your time worth standing against the obscenity of Adolf Hitler?
Hitler’s white supremacist ideology is not an attack on just one group of people. The Nazi white supremacist terrorist ideology is an enemy to most of the world. The Nazi terrorist and anti-human rights crimes against human beings across the world inspired the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, signed by the world’s nations. We cannot stand for universal human rights, and shrug our shoulders at this criminal white supremacist ideology.
At the funeral of Maryland’s Stephen Johns, murdered by a Nazi terorist at the Washington DC U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Dr. John McCoy said: “Silence is not a safe response in the face of racism, sexism, or any of the other isms in this world.” “Silence is unforgivable for those who call themselves children of God or even civilized.”
Silence is unforgivable.
We have seen what SILENCE has wrought.
Hitler’s Nazi Germany: Concentration Camps of Jewish People for Extermination
— Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Racist War against Jews – killing 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, before the Allied defeat of the terrorist Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, liberating the remaining last survivors of the Nazi concentration camp. The horrific crimes against humanity by the Nazis against Jewish people are breathtakingly horrific. Throughout Germany, Adolf Hitler promoted the apocryphal Anti-Semitic hate screed the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” to promote popular hatred and distrust of Jewish people. By 1938, this hate campaign led to an attack on Jewish synagogues and shops throughout Germany and Austria in the Kristallnacht campaign. In 1933, Hitler began establishing his concentration camps. Hitler began rounding up Jewish people and people for concentration camps. Jewish people were beaten, whipped, tortured, starved, and killed. The Nazis used medical experimentation on their bodies, and mutilated them. In 1939, Jewish people were marked with a yellow badge to indicate that they were Jewish. From 1939 to 1941, Hitler’s Holocaust of the Jewish people took on a broader focus with his invasion of Poland and other nations. By 1942, Hitler pursued a “Final Solution” for genocide against Jewish people by poison gas centers and concentration camps, with bodies burned in mass crematoriums. In response to Hitler’s crimes against humanity, the United Nations and the nations of the world banded together on December 10, 1948 to develop a UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (UDHR) – to agree around the world that all people, of all identity groups, all religions, would have a universal measure to be protected from genocide. In 2000, this was reaffirmed by world nations in the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum of the Holocaust, which states “the international community shares a solemn responsibility to fight those evils” of “genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, antisemitism and xenophobia.” Nazis continue to attack Jews around the world, defacing synagogues, killing Jewish people, and plotting terror attacks on them, such as the attack on the Washington DC U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 2014, the Kansas City Jewish Community Center was attacked by a Nazi terrorist. Nazi terrorism against Jewish people in the United Kingdom continues to increase, including attacks on synagogues and Jews on the street. In June 2014, Nazis attacked a crowd of Jewish people on the street, hurling rocks, flares at them, and stabbing one Jewish man. In March 2015, a Jewish synagogue in London was attacked by Nazis in the streets calling “we will kill you,” with 20 members in the synagogue desperately trying to defend themselves with chairs, books, anything to stop the Nazi attack on the synagogue. In May 2015, Nazis marched on Downing Street in London, calling for the end of Jewish people in London.
African-Americans Murdered by Nazis (USHMM Attack, Charleston Attack)
— Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Racist War on people of African descent and African-Americans. Hitler’s Nazi regime had a war on those African people living in Germany or the nations it occupied with its white supremacist terrorist forces. As the USHMM has reported, Hitler’s Nazis imprisoned, oppressed, and ostracized people of African descent. They lost their jobs, some were sterilized, some were sent to Nazi concentration camps, including African-Americans. At the concentration camps, they were subjected to extreme brutality and medical experimentation; many were worked to death. An African-American U.S. military unit participated in the liberation of one of the Nazi concentration camps. The Nazi war on people of African descent, similar to the Confederate and American slave masters, did not end with the defeat of Adolf Hitler. Nazis in Europe and America continue to target people of African descent for oppression, violence, and murder. In the United States, this has included Nazi terror attacks on African-American Christian churches, by terrorists such as Daniel Cowart, and more recently in South Carolina by Dylann Roof, a Confederate terrorist who was a participant on a Nazi website. Dylann Roof murdered nine African-American Christians during a prayer meeting. R.E.A.L. has previously reported that 180 houses of worship are targets of arson in America every year. We have also reported on the killing of Maryland’s Stephen Tyrone Johns, an African-American security guard, by Nazi James Von Brunn who attacked the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. On Nazi/Confederate hate sites such as Stormfront, African-Americans are the constant targets of hate and praise and support for terrorist attacks on them.
Christian and Boy Scout Reat Griffin Underwood Murdered in Nazi Terror Attack in United States in 2014
— Nazi War on Christians. There were many extremists in Nazi Germany among Christians, including extremists in clergy who were part of the Nazi’s Anti-Semitic campaign. But the history of Nazi oppression of Christians is often forgotten both in history and in current day reality, especially when viewed in the historical light that the Nazi goal was to destroy Christianity. Hitler’s Nazis persecuted Christians who defied them and who stood for Christian values in Germany. Aggressive anti-Church radicals like Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler led a take over of churches in Germany (the Kirchenkampf), forcing them to reject any Christian values that the Nazi party would not accept. This led to struggles among both Protestant and the Roman Catholic Churches which were occupied by the Nazi racial supremacists. Jesuits were attacked and Catholic properties were taken over by the Nazis. Clergymen were sent to concentration camps, and Nazi Himmler sought to end the “principle of Christian mercy” among the German people, which was part of a long-term goal to end Christianity in Nazi Germany. As part of war criminal trials, the United States Organization of Strategic Services (OSS) developed a document on “The Nazi Master Plan” to destroy Christianity in Germany. As Nazi Baldur von Shirach wrote “the destruction of Christianity was explicitly recognized as a purpose of the National Socialist movement.” Nearly 2000 Polish Christian clergy were sent to the Nazi concentration camps. The Jehovah Witness religious adherents were singled out for oppression and sent to concentration camps. The attack on Christians by the Nazis did not end with Adolf Hitler or WWII. The continuing Nazi racist ideology remains focused on rejection and terrorism of Christianity around the world. In April 2015, this included a Nazi terrorist bombing at Orthodox parish of Saint Vladimir in Marzahn-Hellensdorf, near Berlin. In the United States, this has included efforts by Nazi terrorists to attack African-American churches, such as Daniel Cowart’s attack in Tennessee and Dylann Roof’s attack in Charleston, where he murdered 9 African-Americans. In April 2014, a Nazi terrorist killed three Christians in Kansas City, who were preparing for a play, including a 14 year old boy, Reat Griffin Underwood (a Boy Scout), his grandfather, and another woman. As R.E.A.L. has investigated in the USA, Nazi terrorists view the end of Christianity to be a priority for the goals. Therefore, Nazi terror attacks on Christian churches fits within their ideology. Stormfront Nazis post that their racial identity is their only religion. Christians have a particular responsibility both as victims and the historical responsibility of those extremists with white supremacists to protest and reject Nazi and Hitler.
Nazi Arson Attack on Tennessee Muslim Mosque – Burning it to the Ground
— Nazi War on Muslims. As R.E.A.L. has repeatedly reported, Nazi individuals and groups targeted minority Muslims in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world. As reported recently in Arizona, mosque protesters included Nazis among armed protesters in the crowd. In Tennessee, Nazi terrorists who were members of the “Aryan Alliance” firebombed the Islamic Center of Columbia, south of Nashville, after they painted Nazi swastikas on it; Michael Corey Golden got 14 years in prison, and his fellow Nazi terrorists were convicted and imprisoned. Anti-Muslim extremists on Stormfront Nazi site regularly use racial supremacist ideology in their basis to call for ethnic cleansing of Muslims. In the United Kingdom, in March 2015, Nazi swastika flags were flown in the British streets of Newcastle as part of extremist anti-Muslim campaigns, and in Newcastle, Nazi swastikas were defacing mosques. In the United Kingdom, Nazi Ian Forman were jailed for 10 years in a twisted plot to blow up mosques across the Merseyside, UK area. Nazi Ian Forman spoke of his admiration of Adolf Hitler; the judge who convicted him stated that his activities “were a continuation of Nazi warfare.” In Europe, this has included recent Nazi attacks and swastika defacing on Muslim mosques in Dormagen, Germany, in Leipzig, Germany, in Vienna, in Tyrol, Austria, in Stockholm, Sweden, in Provins, France (outside Paris), at a mosque construction site in Meaux, France. We have reported on similar Nazi group activities against mosques in Denmark and throughout Europe. In Australia, Nazis have attack Muslim mosques in Perth, Australia; Nazi attacks on mosques have included the Nazi terror group C18 that fired gunshots into the dome roof of the Suleymaniye Mosque. After the attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Muslim leader Asma Hanif stated “Someone who will demonstrate hate like this will do it in any community.” “Whether it was the Holocaust or slavery, the only reason it prevailed is because it was tolerated. We have the right and the authority to end it.”
Nazi Oppression of Homosexuals in Concentration Camps – Wore the Rosa Winkel (Pink Triangle)
— Nazi War on Homosexuals. Adolf Hitler’s Nazis attacked homosexuals, using a special Gestapo branch to order police to develop “pink lists” on homosexuals all over Germany. The Nazis then arrested 100,000 homosexuals for imprisonment, and also sentenced gay men to Nazi concentration camps. The Nazi concentration camps identified prisoners wearing a pink triangular patch (rosa Winkel) on their uniforms. They were beaten, abused, tortured, killed, and their bodies were mutilated, including castration of hundreds. At the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp, Hitler’s Nazis performed medical experiments on homosexuals’ bodies as part of their monstrous torture on other human beings. Nazi terrorism against homosexuals did not end with their idol Adolf Hitler. Nazi terrorist groups continue to target and attack LGBT individuals and groups as part of the Nazi ideology. A Russian Nazi terrorist group used a popular social network to lure in gay teenagers, then kidnap them, bully, and torture them, making videos of their humiliation to share on the public Internet. Threats and targeting of homosexuals by Nazi terror groups within the United States and Europe remains a common theme within the goals of groups.
Greece: Nazi Terrorists Murdered Pakistani Shehzad Luqman
— Nazi War on Asians and Pakistanis. Adolf Hitler’s Nazis may have had allies in imperial Japan, but it is often forgotten that the Nazi and Axis war on Asians included attacks on Chinese and Philippines, including the torturing and raping of thousands of Philippine women. Adolf Hitler’s white supremacist racist views were that Chinese people were considered as “untermenschen,” or “sub-human.” The modern European and American Nazi adherents have used their white supremacist ideology to spread hatred against Pakistani and other Asian people, as part of their racist views. In the United Kingdom, this has included regular Nazi attacks on Pakistan immigrants, and crowds of Nazis in the streets of London screaming and taunting Pakistan people. In Greece, members of the Nazi party “Golden Dawn” stabbed a 27-year old Pakistani man Shehzad Luqman to death, with two Greek Nazis getting a life sentence for the murder of the Pakistan man. Over 70 of the Greek Nazis have been under investigation in connection for murder and belonging to a criminal group. Modern-day Nazi racist white supremacists view Asian and Pakistan people as “untermenschen” even today, and Pakistanis in Europe are regularly targeted for attack by Nazis.
Disabled Child – one of the Victims of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Mass Murder of Disabled
— Nazi War on Disabled. Adolf Hitler’s racial supremacy included the killing of disabled individuals as being inferior to his racial master race. This included the murdering of 5,000 disabled children and also the development of a program to murder 70,273 disabled adults. In 1939, Hitler’s Nazi team encouraged parents of children with disabilities to bring the children to specialty pediatric clinics. But what Hitler actually had the Nazi hospitals do was to murder the disabled children through lethal drugs or starvation. When the Nazi child-killing program began, it was initially designed to murder infants, but the Nazis then increased the murder program to kill children up to 17 years of age. The “T4” program for adults created six installation of gas chambers for disabled adults throughout Germany, killing over 70,000 such disabled adults. The Nazis also murdered disabled patients in hospitals in mass shootings, as well as “gas vans” to murder disabled people in their occupied territories. An Italian study has shown that the Nazis killed up to 300,000 disabled individuals.
Prisoners at Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany stand near barbed wire in 1945 (Source: Daily Mail/ Gamma-Keystone, Getty Images)
— Nazi War on Women. In addition to the Nazi war on Jewish women, Adolf Hitler built a separate Nazi concentration camp designed specifically for non-Jewish women at Ravensbrück, which was situated about 50 miles north of Berlin. Approximately 130,000 women were sent to this women’s concentration camp, 50,000 of which were murdered (gassed, shot, starved), including 2,500 women killed in Hitler’s gas chambers in one weekend. As reported by Sarah Helm, the Nazi attack on women included every walk of life: doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes, members of the resistance. Women were worked to death, and those who became too ill were selected for extermination by being shot or sent to the gas chambers. The Nazis conducted medical experiments, including testing new ways to kill women, freezing them to death in the snow, and letting dogs rip into the women. They sexually abused the women with rape and infected some women with bacteria to experiment on their bodies, including “syphilis being injected into the spinal cord.” After Adolf Hitler, the Nazi terrorist war on women has continued, with Nazi violence against women around the world and throughout the United States, including the well-publicized rape attacks by Nazis in Massachusetts, Nazi rapist in Arlington, Virginia, and child molesters among Nazi leaders. The amoral Nazi ideology to prey on those they view as vulnerable leads them to such hate of women. The Nazi war on women has included the murder of African-American women by Nazis in the United States, including the recent terror attack in Charleston, South Carolina where six African-American women were murdered by terrorist Dylann Roof (a poster with the Nazi Daily Stormer group).
— Nazi War on Children. Hitler and his white supremacist Nazi organization murdered over 1.5 million children. But this Nazi war against our vulnerable children was not the end of such crimes against humanity, which continues today. Is there any Evil darker in the human imagination than child genocide and moral corruption? If we stand in support of the rights of our vulnerable children around the world, then we must also stand in defiance of those who would abuse them, torture them, and murder them, even in the face of those who would “normalize” such criminal terrorist groups, ideologies, figures, and their symbols which have attacked our children, and have led the genocide against our fellow human beings. We must reject such Nazi terrorists, their leaders, and their symbols, involved in the worst crimes against humanity – attacking the most helpless among us – our children.
Children Awaiting Execution by Hitler’s Nazi Einsatzgruppen — Mobile Killing Units
During the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler and his Nazis murdered an estimated 1.5 million children, which included 1.2 million Jewish children, as well as 300,000 non-Jewish children. The Nazi war on children also included Hitler’s plans to exterminate disabled children under his “T4” program, where he sent 5,000 disabled children believed to be going to hospitals to be poisoned, starved, or gassed. Such killings of helpless children began in 1939 and continued through the war.
Hitler’s Nazis Murdered Over 5,000 Disabled Little Children
Hitler’s Nazi concentration camps murdered children from 1941 through 1944, when Allied troops started liberating camps in 1945. Jewish and Non-Jewish children from Germany and occupied territories were put on to “resettlement” trains for their extermination. Trainloads of children and their mothers, were rounded up, and sent to such Nazi death camps. Frequently, children were killed when they arrived at the death camps, particularly those who were too young to be used in slave labor. Children healthy enough to do labor were often worked to death. Some children died from disease in the appalling conditions of the concentration camps.
Jewish Children in Hitler’s Nazi Death CampPolish Children Sent to Hitler’s Nazi Death Camps in Germany – Never to Return
In the Auschwitz concentration camp, some children were medically experimented on, including experiments on child twins, by the Nazi monster Joseph Mengele.
Children Held in Auschwitz for Death and Medical Experimentation
Some children, such as Anne Frank, were hidden for a while or rescued. But teenager Anne Frank and her family was eventually arrested by the terrorist Nazis in 1944 and taken to Auschwitz and eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died from typhus.
In Anne Frank’s diary, the teenage child wrote from her hiding place before her capture: “In the evenings when it’s dark, I often see long lines of good, innocent people, accompanied by crying children, walking on and on, ordered about by a handful of men who bully and beat them until they nearly drop. No one is spared. The sick, the elderly, children, babies and pregnant women—all are marched to their death.”
Anne Frank Memorial at Remains of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
In popular culture, we prefer to hear of the stories of the few thousands that were rescued of these children, but our conscience cannot bare to look at the 1.5 million children who were murdered by Nazis. We make this mistake at the peril of allowing history to repeat.
Yet even this horror of murdering 1.5 million children was not enough for the Nazis, whose war on children continues today.
After the defeat of Adolf Hitler, the Nazi ideology has continued to live on among Nazi white supremacist groups throughout Europe, the United States of America, and around the world. These advocates of this absolute evil use the “normalization” by those who no longer remember such Nazi atrocities against children to deny that such crimes against humanity exist. They leverage the effort by those who portray their Nazi racist idols with “gentler” views as “humane” or “comic” views, not as the monsters that who murdered such helpless children.
This “normalization” process of Nazis as something other than immoral terrorists against humanity aids in the Nazi ongoing recruitment effort, helping them make Nazism more “acceptable” in twisting the minds of young people to accept their racist, white supremacist goals. Combined with the global ability of collaboration through the Internet’s World Wide Web, Nazi recruitment has resurfaced in the 21st century, especially in the past 10 years.
The deliberate failure of unquestioning moral condemnation to such immoral Evil being taught to new generations has led to more killings of our children, as well as Nazis teaching indoctrinated children to be killers.
Last year, in April 2014, one such Nazi in the United States of America shouted “Heil Hitler,” after he murdered a 14-year old little boy in Kansas City. The child victim of the Nazi terrorist attack was a Boy Scout named Reat Griffin Underwood. It would have been his birthday in May. He would have turned 15 years old. But an American Nazi murdered this child who trying out for a singing role in a play at the Kansas City Jewish Community Center and killed his grandfather, and another woman taking care of her elderly mother. By the way, this little boy was a Christian. But Nazi terrorists don’t really care when they murder our children. All of our children, of all faiths, of all races, are targets for these enemies of humanity.
Kansas City: Boy Scout Reat Griffin Underwood Murdered by Nazi Who Shouted “Heil Hitler”
This boy’s only goal was to sing, but an American Nazi terrorist silenced his voice forever. You can watch as this child sang the Star Spangled Banner of America, singing of the “Home of the Brave.” But will the American people be brave enough to DEFY Nazis and their terrorist symbols, which have murdered SO MANY CHILDREN?
In Gilbert, Arizona, another child was murdered by a Nazi from the “National Socialist Movement” group (which was part of Confederate Flag protests on July 18, 2015 in Charleston, SC). Nazi terrorist J.T. Ready murdered this 2 year old baby, Lilly Mederos, her mother, and another man. Do we not have the moral integrity to defy and reject those who murder babies and the symbols of their terrorist cause?
Arizona: 2-Year Old Girl Lilly Mederos Murdered by American Nazi Member of National Socialist Movement
In Skokie, Illinois, a 10 year old girl Kelley Byrdsong watched her African-American father get gunned down in the street by a Nazi white supremacist Nathaniel Smith, as part of a racist shooting spree across two states, killing Won Joon Yon, a Korean-American college student on the campus of Indiana University, and wounding six Orthodox Jewish men in nearby West Rogers Park, two African-American men in Springfield, a Taiwanese man in Urbana and another African-American man in Decatur, Illinois.
Illinois: 10-Year Old Kelly Brydsong with Her Father – She Saw Her Father Killed by Nazi White Supremacist in Street
In the most recent June 17, 2015 terrorist attack in Charleston, South Carolina, we remember the nine African-American victims of Nazi/Confederate Dylann Roof, but those victims left behind children who lost their fathers and mothers, including Reverend Clementa Pinckney, whose young daughters were hiding under the church bench in Emmanuel AME church, during the Nazi terrorist attack.
Charleston, South Carolina – Clementa Pinkney’s Family Mourns their Loss
The “tolerance” and “normalization” of the Nazi ideology and white supremacism has resulted in real victims with names and faces. It is not just some “theoretical” issue, but a human rights issues with tragic consequences that destroy our children’s lives. It is NOT “JUST HISTORY.” When we fail as a society to shame, reject, and denounce the symbols of Nazi terrorism, we see children and their parents DIE.
Nine African-Americans Murdered in Terrorist Attack on Charleston Church by Nazi/Confederate Dylann Roof
But if there was a fate worse than death, perhaps it is in our society’s silence in defying Nazism and its symbols, so that the the merchants of racist hate can corrupt the minds and the souls of our children.
In R.E.A.L.’s human rights campaign to challenge white supremacy and Nazism, we have seen numerous images of children posing for Nazi campaigns, which we will not share with the public. The images of such children posing to make Nazi salutes is something that should repulse all people of conscience, but due to the years of “normalization,” such Nazi indoctrination of children has continued for decades, idolizing Adolf Hitler. This has included recent reports in Europe of the Nazi Greek “Golden Dawn” society teaching young children to chant “Heil Hitler.”
The corrupted children who are led to believe that Nazism and its symbols are acceptable and good, go on to lead twisted lives that damage themselves and our society.
March 2015: Children and Young People in London Synagogue Under Attack from Nazis Outside the Building
In the United States, this also leads to the twisted amalgamation of Nazism and Confederate ideologies, which are used to teach children to hate and commit violence against African-Americans and others. This included those who taught young Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman their Nazi white supremacist ideology, and who then attacked African-American churches, before they were put in prison for a terrorist plot to kill 102 people in church.
American Nazi Terrorist Daniel Cowart Attacked African-American Churches, Plotted to Kill 102
We have also seen how such indoctrination taught Dylann Roof to become a terrorist, in his attack on the Charleston, South Carolina church killing 9.
Nazi / Confederate White Supremacist Dylann Roof Killed 9 in Charleston, SC
There are consequences in our society when we fail to speak out, defy, and reject Nazism and its ideology, and when we allow the “normalization” of Nazi figures like Adolf Hitler and its symbols to be viewed as something other than the Absolute Evil they are. Some think we can reduce the horrors of this by laughing at it, but then as now, those adults who failed to take such terrorist threat seriously let OUR CHILDREN PAY THE PRICE. We can and we MUST do more to protect our children from the Nazi ideology and reject the “normalization” of Nazi figures and symbols as “acceptable.”
Perhaps in a society which increasingly has contempt for human life, these horrors against our children may have limited impact on society. But for those who think we can afford NOT to judge the Nazi ideology of white supremacist hate and its architect Adolf Hitler, as anything less than immoral Evil which must be condemned in every case, I urge them to LOOK INTO THE EYES OF THESE CHILDREN.
Helpless Children Pay the Price for Unwillingness to Defy Nazism
Can they look into the eyes of these child victims and tell us how we should not be concerned about the racist hate images, ideology, and symbols of Nazism? Can they look into the eyes of these children and tell us that we can “laugh” at “satire” on the immoral monster Adolf Hitler?
Our eyes are the windows to our souls. Can your soul look at the eyes of children murdered by German Nazis and modern Nazis and accept that we must DEFY Nazi white supremacism and its symbols, without question and without exception?
It is not enough to support our shared universal human rights. We must also have the shared responsibility and activism to defy anti-human right campaigns, to challenge racist groups that reject these shared human rights, and to defy racist images of hate.
To people of conscience, to people with any human dignity and respect for your fellow human beings, whether you associate with any of these identity groups targeted by Nazis or not, we must stand to defy and reject the racist symbol of Nazism in Maryland.
It is an obscene insult to those who have suffered from such racist hate, to use this monster who led and who continues to inspire such worldwide terrorism, as a comic figure, while people in so many different identity groups, have died, suffered, and continue to face tragedies in the United States of American and around the world.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated: “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
As they have their free speech, we must also exercise our free speech, and condemn without qualification, this “Hitler Musical” in Olney, Maryland.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) and other human rights-supporting organizations are holding an International Women’s Day event on the afternoon of Sunday, March 8, from 1:30 to 4:30 PM, at a meeting room in the Bethesda Regional Library. This International Women’s Day event will be to share successes and challenges over the past year, as well as to discuss actions we can take to make a difference in challenges towards women’s equality and human rights.
We are inviting women from all backgrounds to join us at this event, where we will share the experiences of women around the world today, and ongoing struggle for equal rights, and in the United States of America, the struggle for Constitutional Equality. During the past year, we have seen the public response to high profile cases of battery, abuse, rape, murder, and persecution of women by misogynists. We demand that women’s equality and rights are considered an essential part of our shared human rights. #WomensEqualityMatters#MakeItHappen
We have invited leaders from United4Equality, Montgomery County Business & Professional Women (MC BPW), and supporters of the National Organization of Women (NOW). Please share this event with other women activists interesting in participating in this Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day event.
EVENT LOCATION:
Given the recent weather conditions, we are holding this as an indoor event at the following address:
EVENT TIME:
We are planning the total even from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM, but we anticipate most participants will be actively there from 2 PM to 4 PM.
CONTACT:
Jeffrey Imm, 301-613-8789, jeffrey.m.imm@gmail.com.
(Please contact us prior to the event to let us know that you will be coming.)
TRANSPORTATION:
Weekend parking is free at the Bethesda library.
The Bethesda Librarymeeting location is also within walking distance from the Bethesda Metro Station (Red Line) at 7450 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. We can also coordinate to pick up some people from the Bethesda Metro to the library meeting room, if necessary. Ride On Bus 36 also stops outside the Bethesda Library.
Walking Directions to Bethesda Library Meeting Room from Bethesda Metro Station:
— Bear left at the top of the station’s escalator.
— Walk through the bus terminal and then straight ahead 2 blocks on Edgemoor Lane to the library.
We have been contacted on the case of Kajal Bheel. Kajal is a 12 year old Hindu girl, who was abducted, forcefully married and religiously converted. We have been contacted by a human rights campaign working for her freedom. On October 24, Kajal Bheel, daughter of Mohan Laal Bheel was abducted from her home at Udero Laal town in the district of Halla in Sindh, Pakistan
The Global Human Rights Defence organization is a human rights organization based in The Hague, Netherlands. Their work mainly focuses on the rights of religious minorities and marginalized groups in South Asia.
The Global Human Rights Defence has eight lawyers working on the case in Pakistan. Her oppressors are now claiming she is an adult and that there is no case. Her next court hearing has been postponed until December 19th. On December 19th, the court will also bring up two similar cases on forced conversions of minor girls.
By then, the human rights group is hoping to have collected 5000 signatures in order to put pressure on the national government.
The Global Human Rights Defence report provides the following background:
“On October 21 Kajal Bheel, a 12-year old Hindu girl from Sindh, Pakistan, was abducted, forcefully converted and married to one of her abductors. With the police refusing to start an investigation, insisting that there is no case to solve, and the court neglecting the birth certificate as proof of age, Kajal was subjected to a humiliating medical examination to prove she is a child. Despite the medical results proving she is indeed a minor, 17 years old , the court has chosen to apply Sharia Law, according to which a girl becomes a women upon reaching puberty. Kajal’s family is now required to prove that Kajal is a minor according to Hindu Family Law during the next hearing on December 4th. For the time being, Kajal has not been allowed to stay with her family. She has been taken by her abductor, and consequently suffers constant psychological abuse. Kajal Bheel is a prisoner of the system, which is supposed to protect little girls like her, but is instead robbing her of her childhood. Help us save Kajal and bring her back to her parents!”
Global Human Rights Defence also has an Internet campaign on Twitter at: #SaveKajal – show your support.
The constitution and laws in Pakistan do not allow child marriage before the age of 18. We are advised that Anjali’s school leaving and birth certificates confirms that she was born in 2002 and therefore her marriage is illegal.
This sad case of Hindu child abduction and denial of human rights of freedom of conscience has been too common. In November, reports have been provided of similar child abductions of Hindu girls: Neelam Kohli (11 years old), Anjali Menghwar (12 years old), Kiran Kumari (14 years old), Parsa Kolhi, and Wali Kolhi.
2012 Human Rights Day – News Conference: “Universal Human Rights, Dignity, and Compassion for All,” including Film on China Human Rights
Human rights groups leaders will hold a joint news conference on December 10, 2012 from 12 to 3 PM ET at the National Press Club’s Zenger Room. The address is: National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC. The keynote theme will be: “Universal Human Rights, Dignity, and Compassion for All.”
The human rights groups will recognize Human Rights Day, and make a renewed call for universal human rights, and dignity, and compassion for all of our fellow human beings.
The event will also include a showing of the documentary: “Free China: The Courage to Believe,” regarding the widespread human rights violations in China and the oppression of the Falun Gong, a type of Taoist and Buddhist meditation practice.
Speakers’ focus will be on human rights issues in the United States, China, Sudan, Pakistan, Balochistan, and the Middle East, including women’s rights and children’s rights. These groups share the common goal of universal human rights for all people, remembering “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The event will be sponsored by the following groups, with speakers from their organizations:
(a) Responsible for Equality and Liberty (R.E.A.L.) – Jeffrey Imm on consistency in human rights and compassion for all and the future of our children
(g) The International Committee To Support The Non-Violent Movement For Human Rights in Vietnam – Acting Vice Chairman, Mrs. Nathalie Nguyen, who will address “Raising Awareness of Human Rights Violations in Vietnam & Territorial Expansion Policy By The Chinese Communist Party”.
The film the Chinese Communist Regime doesn’t want you to see…
From the award-winning director of “Tibet: Beyond Fear,” Free China: The Courage to Believe examines the widespread human rights violations in China through the remarkable and uplifting stories of Jennifer Zeng, a mother and former Communist Party member and Dr. Charles Lee, a Chinese American businessman, who along with hundreds of thousands of peaceful citizens are imprisoned and tortured for their spiritual beliefs.
In 1997, while living in different parts of the world, both Jennifer and Charles began to practice Falun Gong, a type of Taoist and Buddhist meditation practice that swept across China in the 1990s. When it was estimated that the number of Chinese practitioners exceeded Communist Party membership, more than 70 million strong the government initiated a brutal crackdown against the spiritual movement that continues to this day. Jennifer, Charles and hundreds of thousands of practitioners were arrested, tortured and forced into slave labor, making products such as Homer Simpson slippers for export to the West. The
As political scandals surface and tensions rise along with more than one hundred and fifty thousand protests occurring each year inside China, this timely documentary also highlights how Internet technologies are aiding human rights activists in China and around the world by allowing online collaboration and uncensored information into closed societies. In addition, the film sheds light on how are-emergence of traditional Chinese culture and spirituality are helping bring about a new China.
But the story doesn’t end here. It’s just the beginning…
Interviewees in the film include:
— Hon. David Kilgour, Former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific
— Rep. Chris Smith, US Congressman, Senior Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee (Chairman of its Africa, Global Health and Human Rights Subcommittee)
— Ethan Gutmann, Author of “Losing The New China” and Contributor for The Asian Wall Street Journal
— Dr. Charles Lee, Chinese American Businessman
— Jennifer Zeng, Former Chinese Communist Party Member, bestselling author of “Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman’s Fight for Freedom.” (Now an Australian citizen)
— This is not just a Film. But the start of a peaceful movement towards a Free China.
— For inquiries related to distribution/sponsorship/donations please contact: http://freechinamovie.com/
1. Exit station through 13TH ST NW & G ST NW entrance.
2. Walk approx. 1 block S on 13th St NW.
3. Turn right on F St NW.
4. Walk approx. 1 block W on F St NW.
5. Turn left on 14th St NW.
6. Walk approx. 1 block S on 14th St NW.
BY METRO
Take Metro to Metro Center.
Take the 13th Street Exit, take escalator to 13th Street; you should be at the corner of 13th and G Streets.
Walk one block south to F Street.
Turn right (West) and walk one block to 14th Street
Turn left and walk downhill to the National Press Building lobby.
Enter and take the elevators to the 13th Floor
FROM MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Take River Road south to Goldsboro Road and turn Right.
Turn Left onto Massachusetts Avenue.
Follow Massachusetts Avenue to 14th Street NW and turn right.
From 14th Street turn left onto G Street – the PMI Garage is halfway down the block on the left at 1325 G Street
Walk out of the garage and turn right. At 14th Street turn left. Walk 1 1/2 blocks to the entrance to the National Press Building.
Enter and take the elevators to the 13th Floor
FROM VIRGINIA
I-395 North
Follow signs to 14th Street Bridge; Exit to 14th St
Continue north on 14th St past Washington Monument past Freedom Plaza and Pennsylvania Ave
The National Press Building is in the next block, next door to the J.W. Marriott Hotel
Memorial Bridge
Cross Memorial Bridge to D.C.
Bear left at the Lincoln Memorial.
Right on Constitution Ave
Left on 15th St
Right on F St
The National Press Building is at the corner of 14th and F St next to the J.W. Marriott Hotel
I-66
Take I-66 east across the Roosevelt Bridge into D.C.
This becomes Constitution Ave.
Left on 15th St
Right on F
The National Press Building is at the corner of 14th and F St next to the J.W. Marriott Hotel
FROM BALTIMORE
Take the Baltimore-Washington Parkway south and exit at New York Ave (Route 50)
Follow New York Ave all the way to 14th St and turn left (south).
The National Press Building is at the corner of 14th and F St next to the J.W. Marriott Hotel.
PARKING
The PMI garage is located on the north side of G St between 13th and 14th Streets. Car Park is located at the corner of 15th and F Streets.
On Saturday, October 27, 2012, the Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) began a two day Darfur Women Action Symposium at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., with a goal to continue to empower women in Darfur and Sudan. The event was led by Niemat Ahmadi, who created the DWAG organization to work with Darfur women, advance human rights, and continue public education on the human rights issues on Darfur. The symposium had panelists on women’s rights and Darfur issues, as well as individuals testifying on their personal accounts. The symposium also included films shown on Darfur, activism training, and a women’s empowerment concert performed by “Midnight Child.” It concluded on Sunday, October 28 with a round table discussion to discuss strategies for change.
As stated in their vision, DWAG “works with victims and survivors of the Darfur genocide in the Diaspora and back home in Sudan, providing them with more access to the tools that will enable them to lead the effort to combat violence, address massive human rights abuses in their society and work with others to prevent future atrocities and promote global peace. The core priority for Darfur Women Action Group lies in advancing human rights and supporting Darfuri to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.”
DWAG maintains a website and a Facebook page which provides ongoing information about its programs and activities. DWAG founder and president Niemat Ahmadi has spoken on CNN, at numerousfunctions and rallies to educate the public on Darfur, and has also appeared in Human Rights Day events led by Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) to speak on Darfur issues, including comments in December 2010 and December 2011 (part 1, part 2) at the National Press Club.
Darfur Women Action Group
On Saturday morning, the symposium speakers included representatives from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), WE ADVANCE, Darfur Interfaith Network (DIN), Women Empowering Women, and other activists. Attendees included supporters and activists from George Washington University, American University, and activists from One Million Bones and other human rights organizations, including Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.). Some attendees traveled from Los Angeles, CA, Philadelphia, PA, and New York City, NY, including high school students who were working to promote awareness of Darfur women’s issues among their fellow students. Attendees included members of the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG), which posted their own summary on the Saturday morning portion of the symposium.
Emira Woods of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) served as the moderator for discussions. Ms. Woods stated that the public needed to continue to become aware of the oppression of women in Darfur, and the ongoing problem of and that she urged everyone work towards helping internally displaced people (IDP) who have been forced to flee Sudan. Ms. Woods spoke out against rape and violence against women, speaking about how women in society must continue to challenge such violence and hate. Emira Woods stated “you strike a woman, and you strike a rock.”
Emira Woods, Director of Foreign Policy in focus, Institute of Policy studies, speaks at DWAG conference: "Strike a woman, and you strike a rock."
Emira Woods introduced a DWAG film describing the problems of continuing rape and abuse of women in Darfur. The DWAG film urged the public to help the cause of Darfur women acting to rebuild their lives and to end the genocide and oppression against women. In the film, DWAG founder Niemat Ahmadi spoke about the oppression of women and the fears for her own safety, but that “for me to die is no different than those people who are dying.” Niemat Ahmadi remembered those oppressed and those “imprisoned in the IDP camps,” urging the public “let us promise ourselves and hold ourselves back that there is still something we can do to save others, to give hope and to give life to others.” The DWAG video recounted details of the millions killed, the 25 million displaced, the 4 thousand villages burned, the use of the Janjaweed militia to kill children and others, and the use of rape as a weapon of war.
DWAG Film: Founder Niemat Ahmadi urges the public to give hope and life to others
Darfur Women Action Group leader Niemat Ahmadi spoke at the symposium. Niemat Ahmadi expressed her thanks to the many people working to support Darfuri women and promote change for human rights and dignity in Darfur and Sudan. She praised the resilience and courage of the Darfuri women in their efforts to reclaim their position of respect in society. She pointed out that we must not allow people to tell us that the genocide is over in Darfur and Sudan. “It is not over,” Niemat Ahmadi stated, and she pointed out that there continues to be violence, killings, and oppression of Darfuri women and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).
Niemat Ahmadi explained how women were previously treated with more respect in the traditional Darfur and Sudanese society. She explained how rape was used as a weapon of war to attack Darfur society, where chastity was an important value among the predominantly Muslim women in Darfur, and was intended to divide families, villages, and society. Niemat Ahmadi had worked with women who were raped to provide counseling, support, and courage; she encouraged Darfuri women to take a stand against such violence against women. Niemat Ahmadi urged such Darfuri women to use their talents and their strengths, and reject being viewed as victims. In addition, she noted that the issues for Darfuri women were not unlike problems for women in Nuba region, South Kordofan, and Khartoum. She urged that women continue to be part of the peace process in Sudan and Darfur.
Her influence in organizing the Darfuri women was viewed as a threat by the Sudanese government. As a result, she explained how the Sudanese government sought to prevent meetings of groups of Darfuri women. Niemat Ahmadi then how she used the concept of “movable meetings,” with two women meeting at a time, to share information and to spread the word on ways to combat the violence and oppression that they faced. Niemat Ahmadi described her desire to stay and continue to help those women in the IDP camps, but she was urged to come to the United States to use her influence and voice here to help Darfuri women. She urged women to end the stigma and silence regarding the violence against Darfuri women, and urged people in the United States and the world to use their influence to help change the future for women and children of Darfur. She thanked the various individuals who came to the symposium from various parts of the country, and the groups represented there.
Niemat Ahmadi, Founder and President of Darfur Women Action Group
Human rights activist Maria Bello, and co-founder of WE ADVANCE, addressed the issues of women’s rights around the world, including the efforts to help the women of Haiti. She discussed her efforts in helping women in Haiti was focused on what local people needed. Based on understanding the people, the WE ADVANCE group focused their efforts on promoting women’s clinics, educational classes, and digital educational platforms. Maria Bello stated that WE ADVANCE developed an interactive university, promoted women’s centers, and supported the development of women’s radio stations to empower women. She stated that the women’s centers had a way to also alert women as to instances of rape, so that they could respond to such violence. She indicated that the digital educational platforms could be used in other countries as well. Maria Bello also described the importance of foreign aid goals to focus on deliverables that include stories of empowerment and strength. On a broader level, Maria Bello described what she called a “revelation revolution,” which seeks to end the idea of women as victims, but focuses instead on women empowering themselves around the world – economically, in human rights, and in their societies.
Mario Bello, Human Rights Activist for Haiti and co-founder of WE ADVANCE
Human rights student activist Charlotte Nguyen spoke of her family’s role as Cambodian refugees, whose family had been attacked by the Khmer Rouge, so she had personal experience in understanding the need to stop those committing genocide. When she was a 16 year old student, she attempted to create an anti-genocide petition, but it was rejected, and she held a sit-in, which resulted her being suspended and failing calculus (since her suspension prevented her from taking high school examinations). In promoting human rights, she became a part of a U.N. human rights organization traveling to Sudan, and she learned of the “profound disconnect” between activism here and on the need of the people in Sudan. She came away with the realization that the Darfuri people were not voiceless, but had their own voice and wanted to fight their own battles. But at the heart of the human rights efforts were strong Darfur women. She urged the public to move from charity to engagement, recommended that the public listen more rather than offer our own solutions, and since women are at the center of the war zone in Sudan, she stated that they must also be at the center of any peace and resolution in Sudan.
Charlotte Nguyen, Human Rights Activist and Cambodian-American
Hawa Mohamed came forward to testify on her personal account of violence against women in Darfur, and how she sought to speak for those left behind. She told of how over 20 people had been raped in her village. She stated that even young children were being raped. She urged the world to continue to hold Omar Al Bashir responsible for his actions. She stated that now that she is in the United States, she is learning English so that she can gain employment and hoped that the next time she spoke it would be in English. Niemat Ahmadi joined with Hawa Mohamed to provide a translation of her story into English.
Hawa Mohamed (L) and Niemat Ahmadi (R)
A leader of the Darfur Interfaith Network (DIN) spoke about the efforts of that group, and their continuing efforts working with the Sudanese diaspora, which meets once a month at the Washington Hebrew Congregation. The group is also affiliated with Act for Sudan. She stated that she was inspired by a discussion of the Darfur genocide in 2000 at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, recognizing that it is a “modern day Holocaust,” and feeling that she had to get involved in some way to work to end these crimes against humanity.
She explained how the Darfur Interfaith Network (DIN) had a public rally every third Sunday of the month at the Sudan Embassy in Washington, D.C., from 1:30 to 2:30 PM. She stated that the group’s activities were described at a Facebook page for “Hope for Darfur Justice in Sudan,” which was the basis for beginning such interfaith rallies. She urged the public to contact their government officials and their Congressional representative to call for change in Sudan. [NOTE: In addition to the monthly DIN rallies at the Sudan embassy, the next “Hope for Dafur – Justice in Sudan” rally is scheduled for Spring 2013, according to the group’s Facebook site.]
Darfur Interfaith Network 's sponsored - Hope for Darfur - Justice in Sudan March and Rally
Several individuals involved with DWAG spoke to tell about their involvement and support:
— One Darfuri woman spoke about her appreciation for the organization and its activities, who “are like my family,” and who provide an opportunity to “share my stories.”
DWAG Activist
— Another activist spoke about how the group taught “people how to grow”
DWAG Activist
— Human rights activist Carol Nezzo spoke about her joy in being involved in any effort to empower women, and she spoke about the importance of people learning about African cultures and people. She blew a whistle and said that she sought to “call foul” on those individuals who sought to oppress Darfuri women and any women around the world.
Carol Nezzo, DWAG Activist
Mr. Khalid Geasis spoke about his appreciation of efforts to restore Sudan’s culture, which traditionally had great respect and honor for women. He stated that traditionally women were the center of the culture, and Sudan was ruled by queens, prior to invasion by outside patriachal influences in the Sudanese culture, which have since sought to marginalize women and women’s rights.
Khalid Gerais
Human rights activist Carol Bluer-Bate spoke about the Women Empowering Women movement, and focused on issues of channeling activism for positive goals and human dignity. She spoke about her efforts to help survivors of torture, and her efforts to bring women together for discussion and support. She spoke about the need not to allow oppression to gain power over human beings, and she urged her fellow human beings to “love your enemies” as their brothers and sisters in humanity.
Carol Bluer-Bate, Women Empowering Women modelDarfuri Photos - shown at the symposiumPhoto of Darfuri People - displayed at symposium
Responsible for Equality and Liberty (R.E.A.L.) looks forward to the opportunity to host the Darfur Women Action Group to speak at our December 10 Human Rights Day event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. this year.
On July 13, 2012 in Washington D.C., practitioners of Falun Gong / Falun Dafa, China Democracy Party, human rights activists, and other supporters of freedom in China held a parade in the streets and led a rally at the Washington Monument. At the rally, individuals who had renounced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spoke out about the abuses of the CCP and called for freedom for Falun Gong / Falun Dafa practitioners and for all people in China. The historic Tuidang (“Quit the Party”) freedom movement of the Chinese people has now led to 120 million people leaving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)!
The July 13, 2012 rally was to praise the courage of those who have sought to support human rights, human dignity, and respect for the Falun Gong practitioners and all other people in China, and to call for an end to the human rights abuses against them by the CCP. The courageous Tuidang movement has continued to encourage people in China, every year to abandon the CCP and to reject the CCP’s tyranny.
Speakers told of their oppression for being practitioners of Falun Gong, and their subsequent harassment, imprisonment, and torture in prison camps by the CCP. The oppression of the Falun Gong continues daily, with families being divided, women beaten and tortured, and Falun Gong practitioners killed. Speakers also told of the inhuman practice of organ harvesting of Falun Gong prisoners in CCP prisons. The Falun Gong have been violently oppressed by the CCP since 1999 – for 13 years. The CCP persecution on the Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999.
July 13, 2012 - Rally to Quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) - Those Quitting CCP Speak OutJuly 13, 2012 - Washington Monument - in Washington DC where thousands gathered to protest July 13, 2012 - Thousands of Falun Gong Members Rally for Freedom and Human Rights - Seeking Freedom from the Chinese Communist Party
Speakers told of their personal suffering and abuse in CCP-managed prison camps in China, with efforts by the CCP to seek to force them to renounce their support of the Falun Gong practice.
Speakers included: Chairman of the Overseas Democracy Coalition, Wei Jingsheng, the China Democratic Party Chairman Wang Jun, president of Democracy University Tang Baiqia, Dr. Dayong Li – Director of the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party, Chung Ai Ting-pang (daughter of a Taiwainese Falun Gong practitioner arrested by the CCP), CCP prison camp survivor Chunmei Ma, and Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)’s Jeffrey Imm.
Dr. Dayong Li, the Director of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP Service Center, stated: “Falun Gong has not only a symbol of the persecution of Chinese people, became a symbol of a symbol of hope for the future, justice, dignity, the great strength of the symbol.” In our discussions with Dr. Dayong Li, he believes that China is on the verge of a historic sweeping change by people who will not tolerate the CCP’s continuing human rights abuses, attacks on human dignity, and denial of human freedom.
Chunmei Ma told her story of how, as a practitioner of the Falun Gong, she had been persecuted by the CCP. She stated she “had been arrested four times, sentenced to forced labor camps twice, and had been through so many mental and physical tortures. I was almost killed.” Chunmei Ma had gone to appeal to the Chinese government for constitutional rights for herself and the Falun Gong – and she was arrested in Tiananmen Square. In November 1999, she was taken to a forced labor camp. There she was beaten and tortured with electronic batons and other forms of cruelty. She described how the CCP used electronic batons as a form of “force tranformation” to get people to leave the Falun Gong, along with beatings, tied down to a “death bed,” forced drug administrations, and other cruel practices. She reported how some prisoners vanished after torture, and how she suspected that some were murdered. The CCP guards beat her mother who came to visit her in prison, and the CCP’s coercion and threats sought to divide her and her husband. After being released from the forced labor camp, Chunmei Ma was continually oppressed by local CCP agents. In October 2006, helped by the United Nations, she fled the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and became a refugee in the United States. Chunmei Ma has also spoken of the abuse of the Falun Gong at other events.
"Death Bed" or "Dead Person's Bed" used by CCP Labor Camps to Torture Prisoners Such as Refugee Chunmei Ma - Prisoners are stretched out, tied down, not allowed to move to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom
Our good friend, Lisa Tao, and others received statements by Montgomery County, Maryland government in recognition of their speaking on behalf of liberty and freedom for the Falun Gong and the people of China
July 13, 2012 - R.E.A.L.'s Jeffrey Imm Praises the Courage of Those Who Choose Freedom from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the Falun Gong and the Chinese People
R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm also spoke at the rally, praising the courage of those who have left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Tuidang movement, while reminding the world we must continue to end the human rights abuses against the Falun Gong and the Chinese people. He stated: “To the oppressed Falun Gong practitioners and to all of the oppressed people in China, my message to you is that you do not stand alone. Many people, ranging from human rights activists, U.S. Congressmen, international leaders, and people around the world stand with you today. We recognize and condemn the cruel practices against human rights and against human dignity that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has inflicted against the Falun Gong and the Chinese people. We have seen the endless human rights abuses of the CCP over the years. We have seen the rejection of freedom and human dignity by the CCP to the Falun Gong and the Chinese People. We know about the Laogai prison camps. We have seen the imprisonment of Falun Gong for refusing to renounce their spiritual practice. We have seen the arbitrary arrests, the persecution, the killing and torture of Chinese people by the CCP, with thousands of Falun Gong tortured to death. We have seen the many reports of criminal organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners who have been imprisoned by the CCP. We have seen Falun Gong practitioners abducted while trying to leave China. Most recently, we have seen the CCP’s “transformation” campaign to coerce Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their practice.”
He stated: “We cannot and we MUST not accept the dictatorship of Communism in China to oppress our brothers and sisters in China. When 20 percent of the world’s population is under Communist dictatorship, this is not just the Chinese people’s problem; this is the world’s problem. We must send a message of compassion that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom and human rights to the Chinese people. We must send a message to the world that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom of conscience, human dignity, and human rights for the practitioners of the Falun Gong! We must tell the world: Free China Now!” Free the Practitioners of the Falun Gong! (his complete remarks are at this PDF link, link to comments translated in Chinese, and at the end of this blog posting. Jeffrey Imm has alsospoken at previous Tuidang rallies. and Jeffrey Imm has led previousprotests at the Chinese embassy in support for freedom and human rights.)
The Falun Gong also held a rally at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, July 12, 2012, which included speakers representing Congress and other groups, including: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman Ted Poe, Congressman Sam Farr, Congressman Chris Smith, Ryan Sellinger – Legislative Correspondent for U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Rev. Clark Lobenstine – the Executive Director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, Kristopher Keating, Dan Fefferman – Coalition for Religious Freedom, Dr. Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn – Director of the International Religious Freedom and the Southeast Asia programs at Freedom House, Suzanne Scholte – the President of the Defense Forum Foundation, Delphine Halgand – Reporters Without Boarders, Annette Lantos – Chairman on the Board of Trustees for the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and Faith McDonnell – Institute on Religion.
Speaking for Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), Jeffrey Imm had the following statement: July 13, 2012 Falun Gong Event Remarks – Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
My name is Jeffrey Imm, and I am the founder of the human rights group, Responsible for Equality And Liberty. Our mission is to support the struggle for human rights and freedom for all people around the world. Thank you for inviting me to join this Falun Gong event to support freedom, human rights, and human dignity in China.
To the oppressed Falun Gong practitioners and to all of the oppressed people in China, my message to you is that you do not stand alone. Many people, ranging from human rights activists, U.S. Congressmen, international leaders, and people around the world stand with you today. We recognize and condemn the cruel practices against human rights and against human dignity that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has inflicted against the Falun Gong and the Chinese people.
We have seen the endless human rights abuses of the CCP over the years. We have seen the rejection of freedom and human dignity by the CCP to the Falun Gong and the Chinese People. We know about the Laogai prison camps. We have seen the imprisonment of Falun Gong for refusing to renounce their spiritual practice. We have seen the arbitrary arrests, the persecution, the killing and torture of Chinese people by the CCP, with thousands of Falun Gong tortured to death. We have seen the many reports of criminal organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners who have been imprisoned by the CCP. We have seen Falun Gong practitioners abducted while trying to leave China. Most recently, we have seen the CCP’s “transformation” campaign to coerce Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their practice.
But in the midst of all this oppression, the Falun Gong practitioners have held fast to their beliefs, their support in human freedom, and their support for human dignity, and their support for Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Their example has given courage to others who would reject the tyranny of the CCP, and who would seek freedom.
While we remember and condemn the tyranny of the CCP, we also must recognize the courage of those to publicly reject and renounce Communism and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We must thank the courageous men and women who work daily in the Tuidang movement to seek spread the word about the hope of freedom to others in China, and who give courage to people to Quit the Chinese Communist Party! They have had such great success and we thank them for their leadership. As of today, nearly 120 million Chinese people have left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)! This is a great achievement and a great day for the Chinese people and for the world!
For the past 23 years, one of my great concerns is freedom and human rights for the people of China. In 1989, when the CCP ordered the massacre of innocent Chinese people in Tiananmen Square, I want you to know how the people in Washington D.C. responded. People stopped everything. In the office buildings all around this city, people walked out of their office and started marching up Connecticut Avenue to protest at the old Chinese embassy. The protesters were diverse people: young and old, men and women, and people of every race and religion. They loved freedom and they wanted the Chinese people to be free.
In the continuing struggle against the tyranny of the CCP, I want you to know that the American people still deeply care about the freedom and human rights of the Falun Gong and all of the Chinese people. America has fought Communism around the world. My brother went to war to fight the Communist Party. I work with people across our nation to help educate people on how the Chinese people are rejecting Communism again today. Every day a Chinese citizen rejects the CCP is a great day for the Chinese people and the world.
Americans care for the Chinese people and all people oppressed by Communism. Americans care because we know how important it is to be free. It is great to have freedom. We want freedom for all of our brothers and sisters in humanity, especially the Chinese people. We are so proud of the 120 million Chinese people who have rejected the CCP and found the courage to seek their freedom and human rights!
A week ago, Americans across the country celebrated the national Independence Day, and celebrated our freedom. But what we really want now is to celebrate the Chinese people’s freedom, and celebrate the Chinese nation’s independence from the CCP! We want freedom and independence for the Falun Gong! In China, we want every day to be a new Independence Day for the Chinese people, as one person after another demonstrates their courage to reject the tyranny of the CCP.
Like you, I also speak to the Chinese people visiting here in the United States about the CCP. At American universities, I have met with other Chinese students who are studying in America. Some Chinese students have told me that they support Communism and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They have told me that I am wrong to criticize the CCP. I ask them questions to help them free their minds.
So I ask them if they support human rights, women’s equality, justice, human dignity, and courage. They tell me that they do. Then I tell them about CCP’s abuses in human rights. I tell them about how the CCP has demanded forced abortions and mistreatment of women. I tell them about the CCP’s Laogai prison camps. I tell them about the selling of body parts of prisoners. I tell them about the courage I have seen of Chinese students standing up against soldiers and tanks, when the CCP leaders told the soldiers to attack the Chinese people in Tiananmen Square. I tell them if they are true to their beliefs, then they cannot support the CCP. This makes them stop and think about the propaganda the CCP has told them.
We cannot and we MUST not accept the dictatorship of Communism in China to oppress our brothers and sisters in China. When 20 percent of the world’s population is under Communist dictatorship, this is not just the Chinese people’s problem; this is the world’s problem. We must send a message of compassion that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom and human rights to the Chinese people. We must send a message to the world that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom of conscience, human dignity, and human rights for the practitioners of the Falun Gong!
We must tell the world:
— FREE CHINA NOW!
— FREE THE PRACTITIONERS OF THE FALUN GONG!
Thank you for your time.
Every day is a good day to be Responsible for Equality and Liberty for all of our fellow human beings.
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Other images from the parade and event
Speaker Talks of Oppression of Falun Gong by the CCPThe Hope of the Future - as People Continue to Reject the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Pepsi-Cola Public Relations –
My name is Jeffrey Imm, I am a human rights activist. Pepsi is on the board of directors of the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council promoting business in Pakistan. Human rights activists have been expressing their concern about the growing human rights abuses against Hindus and Christians in Pakistan, including forced marriage and forced religious conversion of Hindu and Christian girls. This is against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Pakistan constitution. We are looking to see if your company is willing to make a positive statement in support of human rights for all people, including Hindu and Christian girls in Pakistan.
We are holding a public rally in support of univesal human rights for all on Saturday, April 14 in Washington DC. If you have such a statement, we would be glad to share this with the public.
Thank you.
Jeffrey Imm
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) human rights coalition
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PepsiCo responds:
“Dear Jeffrey,
Thank you for contacting us to share your concerns about human rights abuses.
As a global corporation, PepsiCo strongly supports fundamental human rights for all people, and we commend the efforts of all those who are working to protect those rights around the world. In our own businesses, we have a very clear global policy on human rights in the workplace (which is communicated annually to our associates in more than 20 languages), and we do not tolerate any infringement or abuse of human rights. In addition, we are a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, which also guarantees human rights in the workplace.
We agree that the protection of human rights around the world requires constant vigilance on the part of international organizations and human rights coalitions such as yours. Please know that we will continue to do our part to strengthen and promote that commitment.
On Saturday, April 14, a rally will be held in support of human rights and dignity for Hindus and Christians in Pakistan. The event will be from 1:30 to 3:30 PM at 1615 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20062 – in front of the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council and across the street from Lafayette Square Park. It is a short walking distance from either the Farragut West or Farragut North Metro subway stops. The part of H Street we will be on will be between 16th St NW and 17 St NW, however, the closest intersection will be H Street and Connecticut Ave/Jackson Place.
U.S.-Pakistan Business Council, 1615 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20062
The coalition supports our Universal Human Rights for all people, including freedom of conscience for all people in every part of the world.
Organizations represented will include: Pakistan Christian Congress, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), American Friends of Balochistan, and other activist groups and individual human rights activists. R.E.A.L. has submitted an Assembly Notification to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
The coalition objects to the efforts to deny universal human rights and dignity to religious minorities in Pakistan. As reported by human rights groups, there are hundreds of abductions and forced conversion cases of Hindus and Christian women every year in Pakistan which go unreported.
Recent news has reported on a Hindu family reporting the kidnapping of a 19 year old Hindu girl in Sindh, Rinkle Kumari, who was forced to convert from her religion. The Hindu American Foundation has reported on this as well and the Pakistan Hindu Post issued an online petition to U.S. Secretary of State Clinton, for those concerned about human rights to sign, calling for the U.S. Government to intervene on behalf of Hindu girls kidnapped and forced to deny their religious beliefs.
According to the BBC report, “Human rights activists say that other reported abductions of members of minority communities in Pakistan, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, have not been properly investigated by the authorities.” The Pakistan Tribune also reports on Hindu and Christian girls who have been forcibly converted to Islam.
The Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) coalition calls for the universal human rights of all people, including their freedom, their freedom of conscience, and their right to human dignity. We urge the Government, courts, and the people of Pakistan to act immediately to end abuse of religious minorities, to stop and punish the ongoing kidnappings, and to stop and punish those who would forcibly deny anyone their universal human right of religious freedom and freedom of conscience.
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Event Logistics
Date: Saturday, April 14
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 PM
Location: on the sidewalk area outside 1615 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20062 – in front of the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council and across the street from Lafayette Square Park. The part of H Street we will be on will be between 16th St NW and 17 St NW, however, the closest intersection will be H Street and Connecticut Ave/Jackson Place. There is a Starbucks coffee shop near H Street and 18th St NW at 801 18th Street.
Walking Directions from Farragut West Metro
FARRAGUT WEST METRO STATION to H ST NW:
Exit station through 18TH & I (EYE) ST NW entrance.
Walk approx. 2 blocks E on I St NW.
Turn right on Connecticut Ave NW.
Walk approx. 1 block S on Connecticut Ave NW.
Walking Directions from Farragut North Metro
FARRAGUT NORTH METRO STATION to H ST NW:
Exit station through CONNECTICUT AVE & K ST NW entrance.
Walk a short distance S on Connecticut Ave NW.
Bear left on Unnamed.
Walk approx. 1 block SE on Unnamed.
Turn left on I St NW.
Walk a short distance E on I St NW.
Turn right on Connecticut Ave NW.
Walk approx. 1 block S on Connecticut Ave NW.
The part of H Street we will be on will be between 16th St NW and 17 St NW, however, the closest intersection will be H Street and Connecticut Ave/Jackson Place.
Get off at the Farragut West Stop
Exit onto 17th Street
Walk towards the Park Place Gourmet (down I Street)
Take a right onto Connecticut Avenue one block to H Street, make a left
U.S. Chamber is on your left (Corner of Connecticut and H Streets)
Red Line
Get off at the Farragut North Stop
Exit onto K Street
Walk across K Street to Farragut Park
Walk south across the park toward the White House
At the Corner of Connecticut and I Streets walk 1 block south to H Street, make a left
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building will be on your left (Corner of Connecticut and H Streets)
From Virginia:
From 95
Take 95 North (stay in left lane) across the 14th Street Bridge
Stay on 14th Street until I Street
Left on I Street
Left on Connecticut Avenue
Left on H Street
U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be on your left (Parking on I Street)
From Fairfax/Falls Church Area
Take I-66 East to Constitution Avenue
Left on 17th Street
Right on H Street
U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be on your left
From Maryland:
From Silver Spring Area (495) Take 16th Street to DC
Right on I Street
Left on Connecticut Avenue
Left on H Street
U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be on your left on corner (Parking on I Street)
From Bethesda Area
Take Connecticut Avenue to DC
Connecticut turns into 17th Street
Left on H Street
U.S. Chamber will be on your left (Parking on H Street)
From Southern Maryland Area
Take South Capital Street
Left on Independence
Right on 3rd Street
Left on Pennsylvania Avenue
Right on 15th Street
Left on I Street
Left on Connecticut Avenue
Left on H Street
U.S. Chamber will be on the corner (Parking on I Street)
From Baltimore Washington Parkway
Take New York Avenue exit West (Route 50) toward DC
Left on 6th Street (Route 1)
Right on Pennsylvania Avenue
Right on 15th Street
Left on I Street
Left on Connecticut Avenue
Left on H Street
U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be on the corner (Parking on I Street)
Parking Research
For those driving, note that some garages are not open on Saturday.
I have found the following nearby Parking garages state they have Saturday hours:
— COLONIAL Parking. 1620 I St NW (bet. 16th St NW-17th St NW) – 202-295-8200 – I talked to them and confirmed this on the phone
— MID-TOWN Parking. 1750 K St NW (bet. 17th St NW-18th St NW) — NOTE: they close at 4 PM. 202-775-8819 – I talked to them and confirmed this on the phone
— CENTRAL Parking System. 1625 I St NW (bet. 16th St NW-17th St NW)
— I am also told there is another COLONIAL Parking lot at 1775 I St NW (bet. 17th St NW-18th St NW) – I spoke to a COLONIAL Parking attendant on the telephone that says it is open, but the Internet site for it says that it is not open
