Please Join Us
WHAT: Call for Release of Chen Guangcheng
The Great Firewall of China Marching
Brigade of Visual Artists Guild will
call for the an end to the persecution
of human rights activist
Chen Guangcheng
as part of the Pasadena Doo-Dah
parade
DATE: Saturday, April 28, 2012
TIME: The parade starts at 11:00 a.m.
Please wear sunglasses to show your
support.
Please wear yellow top and dark pants.
Please see below if you wish to
participate
Please arrive half an hour before the
parade start.
WHERE: Pasadena Doo-Dah Parade
Staging area - Nina Street ( between
Vinedo and Altadena) in Pasadena
CONTACT: Ann Lau 310-539-0234 or 310-433-0697 or
email alau@visual-artists-guild.org
Chen Guangcheng is a blind self-taught lawyer who brought attention to the systematic forced abortions and forced sterilization of thousands of women in Linyi, Shandong province. Since China's national regulations forbade such horrific actions by family planning authorities, Chen helped the women to file a class-action lawsuit. In August, 2006 Chen was sentenced to four years and 3 months in jail with some trumped up charges. After serving his full sentence, Chen was released but was put into house arrest with thugs monitoring his movement inside his village hut. When friends, journalists and activists tried to visit him, they were often roughed up. In February, 2011, Chen was able to smuggle out a video of his extreme living conditions under surveillance. He and his wife were beaten severely as punishment. In December, 2011, Hollywood actor Christian Bale with a CNN crew, drove 10 hours to Chen's village with the intention to show support to Chen and to the local villagers who tried to help the family. However, Bale and his team were punched and roughed up.
Chen was named 2006 Time magazine 100 people who changed the world.
Currently, Chen Guangcheng's health is in grave danger. The government, using local thugs are preventing him from getting any medical care.