In the spring of 1989, Beijing erupted with the largest spontaneous demonstrations the Peoples' Republic of China had witnessed in its 40-year history.  The pro-democracy movement quickly spread to over 30 cities around China before the world witnessed the horrors of the government's brutal crackdown.  As the Chinese people fled from the tanks and guns, they asked the international press to let the world know the truth. 

They asked the world not to forget.

20 years later, across the globe, the students and citizens of Iran demanded that their vote be counted.  The image of a dying young woman named Neda Iran on the street of Tehran forever became the Voice of Iran just as the iconic image of the Tank Man's defiance on the Avenue of Everlasting Peace in Beijing.  A poem written and recited by an Iranian woman in the night amid the shouts on rooftops of "God is great" could very well have been the same posting on the Democracy Wall in Beijing two decades ago.

Please join us in honoring

Esha Momemi
A women's rights defender. 
Ms. Momemi was a Masters' degree student from California State University Northridge conducting research on her thesis on discrimination against women when she was imprisoned in Iran.  She was later released as a result of worldwide pressure.  Ms. Momemi will accept the award in person.

& Students and Citizens of Iran
who struggled to have their votes counted

& Tan Zuoren
Activist for victims of Sichuan earthquake
Mr. Tan has been sentenced this February to five years in jail for subversion by the government of the Peoples Republic of China.
At the time of his arrest, Mr. Tan was trying to document the actual number of children who died from the collapse of schools during the earthquake.  It is suspected that shoddy construction caused the collapse of what the parents called "tofu" schools.

Special Guest

Fang Zheng
2009 Visual Artists Guild Champion of Freedom of Speech Awardee
In 1989, Fang Zheng was a student who joined in the pro-democracy movement.  At the night of the massacre, his legs were crushed by a tank when he tried to push a fellow student out of the way of an oncoming tank.

with entertainment by

Ariana Delawari

Ariana has been featured in Los Angeles Times with her album "Lion of Panjshir", a psychedelic folk journey recorded in both Kabul and Los Angeles.  Delawari's own guitar, piano and vocal melodies are soaked in classical Afghan rhythms and echoes of Laurel Canyon rock & roll. In Kabu, the band collaborated with three Afghan Ustads of which one is an 88 year old dilruba player, the last living master of this instrument.  Under previous Taliban rule these talented musicians had once dismantled and hid their instruments due to a ban on music.

(click on "read more" below for details)

Visual Artists Guild P.O. Box 861132 Los Angeles, Ca. 90086-1132