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PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Visual Artists Guild to join in Pasadena's Doo-Dah Parade to
Call for the release of the Bridge man Peng Lifa and other White Paper protesters in China and Hong Kong

WHAT:     The Great Firewall of China Marching Brigade to join Pasadena Doo Dah Parade
WHEN:      Sunday, November 24, 2024
TIME:       10:00 a.m. if you wish to join us and be part of our marching brigade
                   Parade starts at 11 a.m.
WHERE:   Pasadena Doo-Dah Parade
                    Start: Memorial Park, Pasadena
                    The LA Metro’s blue “A” line stops right at the parade staging area at Memorial Park Station. Find out details at Metro.net
                    See Doo-Dah Parade map below

SPONSOR:         Visual Artists Guild
CO-SPONSOR: China Democracy Party

CONTACT INFORMATION:
            Ann Lau 310-433-0697 or email alau@visual-artists-guild.org
            Please arrive by 10:00 at the parade stage site at Memorial Park if you wish to join us and be part of our Marching Brigade
            Please wear black top and dark pants to participate

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
            The Great Firewall of China Marching Brigade will be represented at the Pasadena Doo-Dah Parade on Sunday, November 24, 2024 to bring attention to the political prisoners in China and Hong Kong.
     In particular, we call on the release of Mr. Peng Lifa, who on October 2022 hung two large banners on Beijing's Sitong Bridge. One banner read "We want food, not Covid tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want respect, not lies. We want reform, not the Cultural Revolution. We want a vote, not a leader. We are citizens, not slaves".   The second banner read, “Go on Strike, depose the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping.”
             Mr. Peng became China's 21st century Tank Man as a symbol of courage in standing up against the authoritarian rule in China. His action inspired a student to just hold a white paper and stood silently in protest against China's Zero-covid policy. Soon the White Paper protest spread throughout colleges and major cities in China and in colleges around the world where Chinese students attended.
             Ma. Peng has since been imprisoned. Many of the White Paper protesters have also since disappeared.

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Press Release: for immediate release

Visual Artists Guild calls for the release of Mr. Peng

Two years ago today, on October 13, 2022, Mr. Peng Lifa, a researcher and physicist, brought attention to China's upcoming 20th National Congress when Chairman Xi was expected to be given a third 5 year term and Xi's Zero-Covid policy was in its third year.

On that day Mr. Peng hung two large banners on Beijing's Sitong Bridge. One banner read "We want food, not Covid tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want respect, not lies. We want reform, not the Cultural Revolution. We want a vote, not a leader. We are citizens, not slaves". The second banner read, "Go on Strike, depose the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping."

Mr. Peng's bold actions became the inspiration for others to echo his writings and spread the photos and video of Sitong Bridge on social media even as the censors took them down. This eventually led to the White Paper protest movement throughout China a month later after a fire on November 24 in a locked high rise residential building in Urumqi which caused the death of at least 10 people.

Mr. Peng became China's 21st century Tank Man as a symbol of courage in standing up against the authoritarian rule in China. Chairman Xi Jinping's Zero-Covid policy with its lockdowns caused starvation and deaths. The young people in China who never experience the Great Famine of 1958-62 began to recognize that the right to freedom of speech is most important to their own survival.

As the Nobel Laureate in Economics Mr. Amartya Sen had pointed out in his research that there has never been a famine in a democracy because in a democratic system, with freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and an opposition political party, the party in power must address any local food shortages for their citizens.

In 2023, as a symbol of dissent and his courage in speaking out even knowing that he would have to pay the price for his actions, Mr. Peng Lifa was awarded Visual Artists Guild's Champion of Freedom of Speech Award.

Mr. Peng has since disappeared but has not been charged. His wife and children have been under surveillance and restricted movements as well his other relatives.

Visual Artists Guild calls on the government of China to release Mr. Peng and stop the harassment of his family.
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