On September 28, 2012, Dr. Jianli Yang, president of Initiatives for China, aka, Citizen Power for China, joined 11 other speakers, including the Burmese Democratic leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to address the first U.S.-based Freedom Forum organized by the Human Rights Foundation in San Francisco.
Other speakers included: Saudi women’s rights pioneer Manal al-Sharif, conflict psychologist Justine Hardy, Iranian author and former prisoner of conscience Marina Nemat,Slate editor William J. Dobson, drug policy reformer Ethan Nadelmann, installation artist Naomi Natale, Ugandan equal rights advocate Kasha Jacqueline, Ghanaian economist George Ayittey, Moroccan journalist Ahmed Benchemsi, and Kazakh theater director Bolat Atabayev.
The Freedom Forum is an international conference series produced by the Human Rights Foundation (“HRF”). The Forum seeks to: inspire action through the exchange of ideas; cultivate a vibrant international community; spotlight the work of activists and innovators; establish a human rights axis for journalists; connect participants with allies and supporters; raise human rights to the top of the global agenda; and create a publicly accessible archive of powerful human rights testimony.
In the speech entitled “Three Chinas and the Rest of the World”, Dr. Jianli Yang talked about the current severe political, economic, sociological and sentimental divisions existing between China’s ruling elite and its people and envisioned the road of bringing the two divided societies together to build a democratic China based on universal values.
Text of speech and original footage of the speech is available online.
