"... I want to say in all seriousness that I believe your movement, the Falun Gong, is the movement which will define our time, at the beginning of the 21st century. I think that when people look back, they will say: "Oh yes, there was Gandhi, there was the American Civil Rights movement, there was Solidarity, and then there was Falun Gong. There was a movement that came out of China that defined its era, and ultimately it was successful..."

[On July 20, 2000, a press conference was held at Hilton Hotel, Washington DC. At the conference, Falun Gong practitioners reviewed the one-year process of their peaceful movement, either inside or outside of China. Mark Palmer, the Vice-chairman of Freedom House made the following speech.]

I'm Mark Palmer. I'm a former American Ambassador, and I'm also Vice-chairman of Freedom House, which is one of America's oldest human rights organizations. I think each era since the Second World War, each decade, has been defined, and is identified with a peaceful, nonviolent movement. The 40's and early 50's clearly were defined in a significant way by Gandhi's movement in India, and by the tactics of Gandhism which is very similar to what Falun Gong is doing, and which, of course, had ultimately, after a very long struggle, a wonderful outcome. And the world's largest democracy today - India - is the world's largest democracy because of Ghandhi's movement, the Salt March, and the technique of nonviolent resistance.

In this country in the late 50's and the 60's, the civil rights movement, the movement of Martin Luther King, also defined an era. Certainly for this country it defined our emergence, finally the beginning of real equality in this country. I was in that movement, I was a member of the student non-violent coordinating committee. I was a small soldier in the south. I was beaten and spit upon, and therefore I certainly feel very much what we've seen in this film, what I went through and what other members of the American Civil Rights movement went through was very minor, I think, in comparison to what Falun Gong is going through. But, as somebody who has been through that process myself, I want to say that I have immense admiration and respect for this process. And there again, there was success ultimately. The American Civil Rights movement, of course, worked. We still have problems, but at least in a sense it led to a breakthrough in this country.

The next movement of a somewhat similar nature is of course Solidarity in Eastern Europe, specifically in Poland, another non-violent movement which emerged in the 70's and 80's, defined that era, and ultimately led to freedom for very many countries. I was in that period, in 1986 to 1990, as the American ambassador in Hungary, and I witnessed the process of young Hungarians, East Germans, young Poles, young Russians, young Czechs, doing many of these same things - demonstrating peacefully in a nonviolent manner, and ultimately, through their spiritual strength and courage and vision, bringing about a revolution, a peaceful revolution, for 400 million people - a small number by comparison with China, but nonetheless a very significant democratic process - a bringing of tolerance and diversity to these countries and these cultures. I want to say in all seriousness that I believe your movement, Falun Gong, is the movement which will define our time, at the beginning of the 21st century. I think that when people look back, they will say: "Oh yes, there was Gandhi, there was the American Civil Rights movement, there was Solidarity, and then there was Falun Gong. There was a movement that came out of China that defined its era, and ultimately it was successful."

My parents, my mother and father, were married in Shanghai. My sister was born in Qingdao. I've always felt very close to China and the Chinese people. I grew up in a house full of Chinese things. I deeply believe that these thousands and thousands of years of tradition that Falun Gong represents is unshakable, and therefore I believe deeply that you will succeed. And I look forward to going over to the Chinese Embassy this afternoon and joining with all of you there. Thank you, and any help I can be, I want to be.