Rally at the U.S. Capitol: “Demanding Human Rights for People in China and Throughout the World” – Speech by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher

(Minghui.org) Editor's note: Below is Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's speech delivered in person on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 17, 2014, at the rally marking 15 years of the persecution of Falun Gong.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher is a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats and as a member of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher speaks at the rally on July 17, 2014, at the U.S. Capitol.

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Thank you very much, and thank you for being here today!

Thank you for sending a message to the American people that if we believe in freedom, we must support the people in China who are being persecuted for their faith. Thank you for sending that message to the American people. God bless you for that.

I have only got a couple of minutes because I have a vote that I have to make. You know, when you are elected, your people who elect you expect you to vote for them in the Congress. So I have to run off. But just one or two thoughts...

And that is, we know that the gangsters who run the government of Beijing, we know that they have discarded that part of communism, Marxism, Leninism, that says you shouldn't make a profit, and there shouldn't be private property, and there shouldn't be private businesses, etc.

They've discarded that. They've discard that because, of course, they are on the take. They're making money themselves. They're corrupt.

Well, if they can discard the idea that profit-making is no longer against their ideology because they are Marxists, Leninists, it's about time that they discard that part of Marxism and Leninism that tells them that they need to persecute people of religious faith.

That is no more inconsistent than the part about profit. The fact is, that communism is in the ash heap of history. It has never worked. It never will. And all it did is to oppress millions of people.

And the residue that's left over from this, in China and in other places, the decent people of the world have to stop them and say, “Communism is gone. It didn't work. It will never work. It was a nightmare rather than a dream.”

It's time for all of us to respect the human rights of every person on this planet. And that is especially true of religious believers.

Whatever their faith, whether they are Muslims in Burma, or whether they are Christians in different parts of the world, or whether they are the Falun Gong in China, people around the world need to stand together with one, if nothing else, one concept, and that is, we respect each others' right to worship God or not worship God in their own choosing.

That should be one thing that can unite all decent people of the world. And that's what we are saying today.

Thank you for sending that message.

The Falun Gong has been in the forefront of this fight, and God bless you for that. You are not just complaining about what has been done to the Falun Gong, but you are demanding human rights for people in China and throughout the world. I'm with you. I stand with you.

We will see the day, when these dictators and these gangsters and these corrupt people who run the government in China no longer oppress you and no longer stand for their oppression of those who believe in God.

Thank you all very much.