for human rights
by Kevin Moore
Chinese political dissident and human-rights activist Harry Wu told a Gunn High School gathering last week that he had no plans to return to China but he "cannot turn my back to my homeland." "I cannot turn my back to my people," the Hoover fellow told the students during his Nov. 3 address. "I cannot forget my past."
But the most emotional part of the day came after his formal address when Wu met individually with some of Gunn's students. He answered some pointed questions and debated issues with them for more than 30 minutes.
"There were a few students who felt he was betraying the country (China) and not doing the right thing," said Gunn social studies instructor John Mitchell. "One student felt he was actually doing the country harm. He (Wu) was extremely pleased that there were students who were so interested."
As part of his ongoing campaign for increased U.S. pressure for human rights reform in China, Wu related details of his first 19 years as a political prisoner, including the severe beatings he endured that resulted in a broken arm and a broken back. His crime was criticizing the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary.
"All of you, you've never lost your freedom," said Wu during his speech. "I lost my freedom twice. The first time in 1957 when I was a college student."
His second, much shorter imprisonment was this summer when he was arrested upon entering China for revealing Chinese state secrets. Wu showed Gunn students the notorious BBC tape "Organ Transplants in China" which details how the communist Chinese government uses dummy companies in Hong Kong to evade U.S. restrictions on the importation of goods produced by forced labor.
The BBC tape showed dramatic footage of prison officials telling how prisoners would be beaten if the quality of the goods they produced was not high enough. It exposed the international export companies used to move manufactured goods around the Pacific so their origin could not be traced back to the Chinese prisons. It featured a Chinese official denying everything, including official government documents detailing how to evade U.S. import restrictions. It even showed some of the forced labor in action.
The tape was used as evidence at Wu's August trial at which he was sentenced to 15 years for espionage but deported to the United States because of pressure brought by the American government on his behalf.
Because of the tape, Wu was seized immediately upon entering China. He made a statement every day that he wished to see the U.S. consul. He said the Chinese secret police escorted him, kept him in isolation and mounted a 24-hour guard. He was not even allowed to use the bathroom alone.
"The worrying part was uncertainty," Wu said. "Because outside nobody knew what happened with me. Many of you made a strong protest. It helped a lot."
Wu also fielded questions from the assembled students. Most were about his feelings toward his experience and any future plans to return to China. Wu said he has no plans to return to China. His family members who weren't killed after the revolution have disavowed him, and he has no wish to jeopardize their safety by contacting them.
He said the classless society in China was achieved by ruthlessly eliminating the upper and middle classes. One student asked him what he thought of political prisoners and forced labor in the United States. Wu said it doesn't compare with the brutality of Chinese lao gai (labor camps). "Everything you saw in this movie is happening today in China," Wu said. "All the prisoners in China is forced to labor, subject to brainwashing.
"Communists are liars. They lie all the time. Without the lie they can not exist."
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