Rally at the U.S. Capitol: "Everyone Must Choose Whether They Stand on the Side of Repression or Freedom" - Speech by Yi Rong, President of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP

(Minghui.org) Editor's note: Yi Rong, President of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP, presented her remarks at the rally marking 15 years of the persecution of Falun Gong in person on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 17, 2014.

Ms. Yi Rong, president of the Global Quitting the CCP Service Center speaks at the rally in front of the Chinese consulate in New York on July 20, 2014.

Greetings, everyone!

Today, more than 170 million people want a new China without the Chinese Communist Party. Two years ago Chinese people were turning their backs on the Chinese Communist Party at a rate of 60,000 per day. Now it is more than 90,000 people every day. Chinese people want freedom.

We are here today to remember 15 years of efforts by Falun Gong practitioners in resisting the persecution by the Chinese Communist regime. While Falun Gong is practiced openly in over 100 countries today, in its home country of China it is subjected to severe, systematic, and well-documented human rights violations. The scale and scope of abuses taking place make this the largest religious persecution in the world today. All this has happened because the CCP claimed that Falun Gong was supposedly a threat to their power. The CCP has not only persecuted Falun Gong, it has also persecuted all Chinese people.

Freedom in China will come because tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners have never given up their belief in the principals of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. Freedom in China will come as hundreds of millions of Chinese people stand up and renounce the CCP.

The Tuidang movement is the largest grassroots movement in the world, and every day, every month, it gains more momentum. Freedom begins in one's own heart and mind, and Tuidang guides Chinese people, who have lived under 65 years of censorship and propaganda, in how to truly set themselves free.

Tuidang is a personal decision that Chinese people make to renounce the Chinese Communist Party or one of its affiliated organizations such as the Communist Youth League and the Communist Young Pioneers. Most Chinese people have joined or were forced to join one of these organizations.

In fact, anyone in China who wants freedom can Tuidang, or "renounce the Chinese Communist Party." We hope more Chinese people will join this great Tuidang movement and renounce the CCP.

In the future, whatever governing institutions Chinese people may choose for themselves, the Tuidang movement have laid an essential foundation - that a free and open society begins with people who are broadminded and free.

The Tuidang movement is a peaceful, personal awakening that the Communist Party that is holding Chinese people back from a better future. We believe that as this Tuidang movement grows ever larger, the CCP will diminish and disappear. We believe that this Tuidang movement is China's best and only hope for peace.

Here today, I call for the Chinese Communist regime to end its 15 years brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. I call for the Chinese Communist regime to end its brutal persecution of all Chinese people regardless of their religion or belief. And I call for the release of all prisoners of conscience in China, especially those who have participated in or advocated for the Tuidang movement.

A new China is coming, a renewed China, without the Chinese Communist Party. We hope that people around the world will stand on the side of justice and stand together with the people in China who want freedom. This is an historic moment when everyone must choose whether they stand on the side of repression or freedom.

Please allow me, on behalf of the Tuidang movement, to express my sincere gratitude to several government officials who have offered us their support and have commended Chinese people for their bravery in stepping forward and upholding freedom. They are: New York State Senator Tony Avella; long-time Democratic activist and District Leader Martha Flores Vasquez from Flushing, New York; and Public Advocate for the City of New York Letitia James.

Thank you very much!