By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, September 24: In welcoming the Chinese President Xi Jinping for his state visit, a popular Washington museum has prepared banners in Chinese calligraphy that advocate human rights, democracy and free speech in China.
Newseum,an interactive museum of news and journalism, in collaboration with seven other Rights organizations including International campaign for Tibet (ICT), has organized an exhibition to draw attention to China’s intolerance of freedom of expression and religious liberty.
The museum has displayed several profiles of Tibetan political prisoners and the Chinese Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo in the stands normally reserved for the museum’s ‘Today’s Front Pages’ exhibit.
The rights groups hope that the Chinese President will pass by the museum situated only a few blocks away from the White House. This is also the first time the museum has used its facade as a means of activism.
“All people should be able to speak truth to power without fear of government retribution. While the banners on the front of our building are temporary, the freedoms that permit their display are permanent, universal, and are a fundamental human right,” said Newseum’s CEO Jeffrey Herbst.
The banners of the nonprofit museum read, “Release Human Rights Defenders in China,” “Long Live Freedom, Long Live Democracy,” “Lift Restrictions, Free the Press,” and “Chinese Government Should Respect Human Rights”.
Xi will be meeting CEOs of major US tech firms including Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, IBM and Google. The meeting comes amid a period of tension between the two superpowers on cyber espionage.
Lu Wei, the highest official of Internet policy and cyber-security of China, will also attend the US-China Internet Industry Forum with the CEOs of Alibaba and Weibo, according to the press statement issued by ICT.
“The situation in China and in Tibet is very different from that in the United States and other democratic countries; in China the information flow is strictly monitored and censored by the State and citizens can be convicted for expressing views contrary to the State propaganda,” said Matteo Mecacci, President of ICT.
He also added that the US tech firms should not fail to express concern about the trends in Tibet and the PRC and should stay away from endorsing a business model that denies freedom of expression to over a billion people.
