A DAY to STAND AGAINST TYRANNY

Visual Artists Guild Press Release: For Immediate Release: October 1, 2020
       Today as we celebrate the moon festival, we recall the Chinese people who began the revolt against the Mongols in Yuan Dynasty by putting messages inside the moon cakes. Yuan Dynasty was considered the most repression period in Chinese history until now.
       We need to pay special attention to the 12 Hong Kong youths who attempted to escape from Hong Kong to Taiwan in a speedboat and were arrested on August 23, 2020 by China's coast guard.  Lawyers hired by their families have not been allowed to visit them.  Of the twelve people, two are under 18 years at the time of their arrest.  None of the twelve youths have been allowed visitation from their family members.  Three of them need medication and family members have not been able to provide them with such medications. Four families who previously had hired lawyers from China had been told by the lawyers that China's government had threatened them and they had to drop the case.
      China's authorities indicated that two of the twelve have hired lawyers.  However family members feel that those are lawyers assigned by the government and are not approved by the family nor the two youths themselves.
      The Visual Artists Guild, calls on China, as a member of the United Nations, that they must abide by the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights and must follow such convention to the latter.
      This June 30 at 11:55 p.m, Beijing formally announced the National Security Law as applied to Hong Kong.  Five minutes late, on July 1, the 23rd anniversary of the Hong Kong authority transferred from the United Kingdom to China, the law became effective.  The National Security Law effectively :
               Ends the One Country Two Systems for Hong Kong
               Ends Hong Kong's autonomy - a security agency is being installed in Hong Kong to report directly to Beijing.
               Ends Hong Kong Rule of Law - Beijing's law takes precedence over Hong Kong Law.
      From that National Security Law, Hong Kong issued arrests warrants in August of the six activists who are based overseas.  Among the six is Samuel Chu who is a U.S. citizen.  Such action effectively criminalizes anyone whom China consider has violated the National Security Law even if they are foreign nationals as Samuel Chu is.                     
      Visual Artists Guild calls on the international community to stand up for the Hong Kong Six and the Hong Kong 12 Youths.    
Let today's Moon Festival be called the Day to Stand Against Tyranny and may the Spirit of the Moon cakes continue to carry that message against tyranny.
Visual Artists Guild

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ONLINE COMMEMORATION: ANNUAL AWARD & TIANANMEN COMMEMORATION 31st ANNIVERSARY

WHAT: The Visual Artists Guild will be streaming live on Youtube and Facebook for its 31st Annual Commemoration of the Tiananmen Massacre

WHEN: Sunday, May 31st, 2020, 2 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
WHERE: Online via Visual Artists Guild Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmt032_hMve6vSp0qdC6-TA )

CONTACT: Ann Lau 310-433-0697
                  Catherine Bauknight (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
                  www.visual-artists-guild.org

Every year since the Tiananmen Massacre on June 4th 1989, when thousands of student protesters were murdered, the Visual Artists Guild has been commemorating their sacrifice. It has been a celebration of free speech. While the Chinese government has successfully erased this atrocity from the public consciousness, outside of China it is known thousands of peaceful protesters were murdered by the People's Liberation Army. They were executed for exercising their right to free speech.

Since Tiananmen our team of volunteer activists at the Visual Artists Guild has put together live commemorations attempting to continue this dialogue regarding the freedom of speech.  The 1989 Tiananmen Massacre started a period that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of Eastern Europe Communist Dictatorships. Due to the Wuhan virus, the 31st anniversary will be done completely online. This pandemic finds us in a tragic situation largely due to another cover up by the CCP, and we will be honoring the Wuhan virus whistleblowers.

We will be honoring these outstanding champions of free speech and human rights:

Dr. Li Wenliang- Original whistleblower censured for reporting the virus who then died.

Zeng Yingchun and Zhen Yan- Doctors who submitted an article to The Lancet, a British Medical journal calling for international help with Wuhan hospital, and since disappeared.

Ai Fen- Doctor who sent initial information to Dr. Li Wenliang and others, who disappeared; has since reappeared.

Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua-All three citizen journalists who went to Wuhan to report the facts. All three have disappeared. Li Zehua has reappeared.

Zhang Zhan- Chinese citizen journalist in detention since live-streaming on the Wuhan virus from Wuhan a story critical of the government’s response to the crisis.

Matan Evenoff- Youth that became an internet sensation speaking truth to power about Hong Kong human rights.

THE VISUAL ARTISTS GUILD IS A NONPARTISAN NONPROFIT PROMOTING THE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION WORLDWIDE

MISSING PATIENT ZERO ON WHO REPORT 

Press Release: For Immediate Release
WHAT: Questions for World Health Organization (WHO) on Wuhan Coronavirus
               What happened to Patient Zero on WHO report
WHY: Lancet Medical Journal authored by 29 medical researchers in China
                               VS.
            WHO-China joint mission report
QUESTION TO WHO:
         Why is Patient Zero from Lancet report missing from WHO report?
       
ANALYSIS OF THE TWO REPORTS

Comparing the graph from the Lancet and the WHO-China joint mission report.
The first patient on the Lancet report was dated Dec 1, 2019 as shown on the graph on the left.
The first patient on the WHO-China Joint Mission Report was 12/2 as shown on the graph on the right.
The graph from the right was embedded in the WHO graph below.
Question to WHO:  Why did WHO-China joint mission report left out Patient Zero of the Lancet Report?

The Lancet report shows that the Patient Zero on Dec 1, 2019 has no exposure to the Huanan seafood market.
Not until Dec 10, 2019 did the Lancet report identifies a patient was exposed at the Huanan seafood market.
The WHO-China joint mission report did not address that issue adequately.

The WHO-China mission visited China for 15 days from February 10 to February 24, 2020 but only select members went to Wuhan on February 22 and left Wuhan on the 23rd.
The majority of the time by the mission was spent in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu.
Question to WHO:  Why did the WHO-China joint mission team spend so little time in Wuhan?

Submitted by
Ann Lau, 310-433-0697