Author: Tian Mu Translation: Huang Ciping
July 13th marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. For Chinese people, the “July 13 Memorial Day” is a cultural and historical symbol, and it has become a memorial day that the world will not forget to commemorate Liu Xiaobo every year.
Liu Xiaobo was a pioneer of peaceful struggle. He dedicated his life to fight for freedom of the press and speech in China, and to promote the movement for constitutional democracy in China. On July 13, 2017, Liu Xiaobo died in prison due to liver cancer.
Commemorating Liu Xiaobo, facing the US-China competition and the Russian-Ukrainian war, we should uphold the values of freedom and human rights even more to defend the democratic legal system and resolutely stand together with people of Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, and Falun Gong friends. We shall show our strength and uphold the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights that we share as a big family.
We pay homage to Liu Xiaobo every year as our way to console the spirits of the martyrs of the democracy movement in heaven, to inspire the growing ranks of constitutional democracy, and to urge those who follow to move forward courageously to revive constitutional democracy in China. As Wei Jingsheng said: “The Chinese people continue to resist, and the resistance has become more and more fierce. The society is accumulating and brewing a larger resistance movement. The way out for China is to establish a constitutional government and democracy.”
The world will always remember Liu Xiaobo, the symbol of freedom, democracy, conscience and bravery in China.
Our writers, friends, and colleagues in the liberal democratic movement have organized several annual memorial services for Liu Xiaobo in Kempen (2017), Berlin (2018), Kempen (2019), Cologne (2020) and Hamburg (2021).
On July 13 this year, we will hold a memorial service for the fifth anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s death at Piccadilly St. James Church in London, England. The church was built in 1676 and completed its majestic spire of the West Tower in 1700. It belongs to the Anglican church and its architecture is stately and quaint.
The guests presenting at the memorial ceremony in St. James and in zoom include:
Wei Jingsheng, Chairman, the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition;
Jhy-Wey Shieh, the Taiwanese Ambassador to Germany;
Wang Dan, friend of Liu Xiaobo, a student leader of the 1989 Democracy Movement;
Sonam Tsering, the representative of Dalai Lama in the UK;
Hu Ping, a Chinese democracy theorist;
Wang Juntao, friend of Liu Xiaobo,Chair, the National Committee of the Chinese Democracy Party;
Marie Holzman, a French Sinologist;
Ross Holder, head for the Asia/ Pacific Region, PEN International;
Olha Mukha, PEN International;
Huang Ciping, Secretary-General, Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition;
Li Hengqing, a student during the 1989 Democracy Movement;
Chen Liqun, Vice Chair, the National Committee of the Chinese Democracy Party;
Wang Anna, Chairwoman of IPK Media;
Huang Hua, Consultant of the UK Headquarters of the Chinese Democracy Party;
Wang Guanru, Chairman of UK Headquarters of the Chinese Democracy Party;
Dr. Steven Tsang, Representative of Hong Kong People in UK;
Pan Yongzhong, Editor-in-Chief of Sino Euro Voices; etc.
Friends from all over the world will participate in the commemoration of the 5th anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s death through the video network.
1: Time: July 13, 2022 (Wednesday), the memorial times around the world are:
New York: 10:00
Berlin: 16:00
London: 15:00
Hong Kong and Taiwan: 22:00
Japan: 23:00
2. Address: St. James Church Piccadilly, 197 Piccadilly W1J O London, England.
Using the Zoom network venue, the commemorative conference will be held for about 1 hour. The live broadcast and technology of the conference are by IPK Media and St. James Church
3. Hosts of the memorial ceremony:Revd. Roland Kühne (Teacher at the Rhein-Maars Vocational School in Kempen, Germany)
Tienchi Martin-Liao (Vice Chairwoman of Peace Committee, PEN International and President of Sino Euro Voice, Cologne, Germany)
Rector Lucy Winkett (Pastor of St. James’ Church, Piccadilly, London, UK)
Link to original publication of this article:
https://www.peoplenews.tw/articles/4c7764b951
https://sinoeurovoices.com/news/10945
