Two months ago, we held a candlelight vigil here to commemorate 255 fellow practitioners persecuted to death in Mainland China. Today, as we gather again at the Washington Monument, the number of fellow practitioners in Mainland China who have died as a result of the persecution by the followers of Jiang Zemin has reached 293.
Only because of their unwavering belief in Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance, those fellow practitioners became targets of a vicious campaign by Jiang Zemin's followers. Enduring suffering and tribulations of unimaginable magnitude, they chose, between life and truth, the latter. If only they had followed the mandate of the authoritarian regime, they would have been spared being murdered. They, however, fully understood that the evil was persecuting the most valuable human attribute, its morality, which is also the hope and basis on which the human race continues into the future. Indeed, the choice they made was noble and great. They perhaps never held an eminent rank or had abundant wealth among everyday people, but they had the noblest human spirit, and through their words and actions, they have built a monument of morality that will illuminate humankind and history.
The campaign against Falun Dafa by vicious people continues to escalate, and their persecution against Falun Dafa disciples has become even more ruthless. Now, hardly one day passes without new deaths of Dafa disciples reported. They are jailed only because they are steadfast in their belief. On a daily basis, they are tortured and abused, and any second they could lose their lives. Even under this circumstance, the practitioners in Mainland China still manage to strive forward walking a fine line between life and death.
We notice that the persecution by the evil force in China has been turned from individual loss of life into mass killings, from unexpected deaths from brutality to ill-concealed murders. Now, they throw practitioners from buildings to their deaths when the victims have been tortured to their last breath, or even have them cremated alive to manufacture evidence of suicide. Already, the evil force's persecution against Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance has gone beyond the boundaries of human desperation.
On September 11th, the whole world was plunged into grief following the terrorist attack on America. Witnessing the bloody murders of innocent people, no person of conscience could turn their eyes the other way. However, even as we think there can be nothing more shocking than the tragic events in New York and Washington DC, here is a government running state terrorism--against its own innocent citizens. Under the cover of lies, this state-sanctioned terrorism controls the media and stokes hatred among its own people against each other. Therefore, this kind of terrorism is even more covert and gory. Actually, wherever the tentacles of Jiang Zemin's evil campaign against Falun Gong reach, millions of families are forced to endure unbearable agonies. Behind each practitioner's death was nightmarish suffering that would haunt anybody. In terms of the size of the population affected or the means adopted, the reign of terror by the followers of Jiang Zemin does not pale compared to the September 11th tragedies, and is very likely to have surpassed it in terms of the total number of people who have been affected.
Falun Gong's tragedy must stop, and the persecution must stop. This requires the joint efforts of you, me, each one of us. Let's tell the truth to every person, so that all can make the right choice and have their voices of justice be heard based on their conscience, courage and benevolence.
We also make an urgent call to the international community so that they will support us to help resolve the crisis in China, and to stop the atrocities committed by the followers of Jiang Zemin and his state-sanctioned terrorism.