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Open Your Mouth --Littlejohn Interview.Pdf NEW WORLD POLITICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS “Open Your Mouth for the SPEECHLESS” While trade agreements get underway between the U.S. and China, a more pressing collaboration resurfaces: American citizens and Congressmen unite to amplify China’s dissident cry. REGGIE LITTLEJOHN helps us to grasp the urgent plight of the oppressed while catalyzing a heightened sensibility in the nation and the world. BY SUZANNE LABOE call for justice in China was for hundreds of Chinese dissidents ward alleviating the crippling un- heard in the nation’s capital and immigrants, many felt that the employment rates, said the nations recently when President Hu President should have pushed harder sealed deals that would mean $45 Jintao came to negotiate for an end to violent and unjust op- billion in U.S. exports and create business with the U.S. Pres- pression of millions of China’s citi- roughly 235,000 jobs. The package Aident and more than two dozen of zens, whose most outspoken protag- included moves by China to expand America’s top executives. As the head onists reside in the USA. U.S. investment and curtail theft of of a country that offers political asy- After Hu Jintao’s visit, President intellectual property. Could Hu Jin- lum and personal and legal support Obama, eager to show progress to- tao’s foreign policy, which advocates 24 No 3 2011 reform in China from Secretary of It wasn’t until later that I realized State Hillary Clinton (after two years I was being called to fulltime work of silence), but he decried her pro- for this cause. In 2003, I had bilateral nouncement of China as an “equal mastectomies, further complicated partner” with the USA, saying, “It is by a post-operational, drug-resistant time to really change course.” MRSA staph infection. I had many Exploring this question with more surgeries and months of ag- Traces on the eve of the 100th an- gressive antibiotic treatments. While niversary of International Women’s my life was very much in the bal- Day is Reggie Littlejohn, President of ance, I began praying for all of those Women’s Rights without Frontiers, in situations worse than my own: a non-partisan, international coali- women who were being forcibly tion to oppose forced abortion aborted and Christians who were (there are 35,000 abortions per day) being tortured or even giving their and sexual slavery in China. As an lives for their faith. expert on China’s One Child Policy, God moved my heart during this she has addressed the Eu- time, and when I recov- ropean Parliament in ered He drew me to be a Brussels, briefed the White the voice of the voiceless House, and testified before in this heartbreaking Congress. cause. She has also met with of- ficials in the U.S. Depart- So your faith as a Chris- ment of State, the British tian has always been in Parliament, and the Vati- play… can. A graduate of Yale Yes. Although Women’s Law School, Ms. Littlejohn Rights without Frontiers is the leading voice in a Reggie Littlejohn. is not a religious organi- growing awareness of the zation, that fact does not forcible policies at work in uphold- stop me from having my own per- ing the One Child Policy in China. sonal faith. One of the Scriptures that has spoken deeply to me over How did you transition from be- the years is Proverbs 31:8-9, “Open ing a high-powered attorney to a your mouth for the speechless, in fulltime Chinese human rights ad- the cause of all who are appointed to vocate? die. Open your mouth, judge right- In the mid-1990s, when I was work- eously and plead the cause of the ing as an intellectual property litiga- poor and needy.” tor, I had my first asylum case on be- half of a woman who was mercilessly With the twentieth anniversary of persecuted as a Christian in China, the Tiananmen Square massacre “China’s peaceful development” in and also underwent a forced sterili- just passed, do you believe that the pursuing “soft power” in interna- zation, without anesthesia, after her international pressure since that tional relations, lead to a more re- second child was born. Due to the event has helped to improve treat- laxed treatment from within of the lack of hygiene, she got a massive ment of Chinese citizens? millions of political prisoners and infection and has lived in chronic No. I don’t believe we’ve seen inter- others suffering from human rights pain ever since. It was then that I national pressure; rather, we’ve seen abuses? At a press conference during grasped what horrific tactics were at international appeasement, and the visit, Bob Fu, President of China work in enforcing the One Child therefore the situation has grown Aid, applauded a recent call for such Policy. worse. Allowing China member- » No 3 2011 25 NEW WORLD POLITICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS » ship into the World Trade Or- just announced that STATISTICS ganization in 2001, and subsequent it is cutting off its collaborations, have had the oppo- Mandarin services, 35,000 site effect we had hoped for, as the contributing to this abortions per day human rights situation is now de- news blackout. linked from Most Favored Nation status. The Congressional-Executive What should Presi- Commission on China was created dent Obama do 500 specifically to monitor Chinese hu- now–can he take female suicides per man rights after China was accepted more action on be- day (three times that into the WTO. half of human rights for men) Their reports very specifically de- yet preserve the eco- tail in hundreds of pages the escala- nomic boost to the tion in human rights abuses. U.S. that China pro- 400 million vides? births prevented since th On January 18 , the same day that Our government’s institution of the One President Hu Jintao was treated to a voice is muted be- Child Policy in 1980 State Dinner by President Obama, cause of the terrific you and many others spoke at a debt situation, and press conference presided over by history has shown Congressman Chris Smith, the lead- that we cannot count 30 million ing international human rights ad- on the Obama ad- marriage-aged males in vocate on Capitol Hill. Did this im- ministration to press excess of the female pact on the visit’s negotiations? for justice in China. same-aged population You never know what kind of im- by 2020 pact such a conference will have. But And yet there is President Obama did not raise the much hope among Data: Women’s Rights without Frontiers issue in any forcible way. There has the Chinese that been a great sense of disappoint- America can provide ment over the decrease in support some relief… from our government. For example, America’s private citizens and or- it was just announced that the Voice ganizations such as my own do not of America Mandarin have their hands tied like services is being cut off. There is a our government does, The excuse given is shortage of women and like the Chinese na- budget cuts, yet the tionals do. As a U.S. citi- money that would have in China, giving zen, I have freedom of gone to the Mandarin rise to a business in speech and I feel the Policy, and the gendercide of female services will simply go to human trafficking moral obligation to babies, there is now a shortage of other VOA services. involving girls speak out as loudly as I women in China, giving rise to a If it’s not saving money, brought in from can against human tremendous business in human traf- why cut the Mandarin surrounding rights abuses in China, ficking and sexual slavery involving services? Is it a coinci- countries. which always includes girls brought in from surrounding dence that this proposed not only the “offenders” countries. cut follows closely on the but also the incarcera- Also, the One Child Policy is par- heels of the U.S. visit of President tion and abuse of family members– ticularly oppressive for many Chris- Hu Jintao? Such an action leaves the even for those manifesting signs of tians and Buddhists, who may oppose Chinese people bereft of news from “unauthorized” pregnancies. abortion on religious grounds–so around the world, and even from And what many don’t realize is forced abortion is also a violent form their own country. The BBC has also that after 30 years of the One Child of religious discrimination. 26 No 3 2011 NEW WORLD POLITICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS under violent conditions. I am bringing the perspective that forced abortion is not a choice but rather a form of official government rape that is destructive physically, emo- tionally, and spiritually. I would like this to become a top priority of the UN who otherwise would be ignor- ing one-fifth of the world’s female population. What inspiration do you have in this uphill battle? One of the most important Bible verses for me, that keeps me going, is Proverbs 24:11: “Deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaugh- ter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man ac- cording to his deeds?” And of course, anyone who knows Jesus knows how much He loves little children, and how much these offenses must grieve His heart… Fr.
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