1.CPIFC’s Tribute to Mr. Bao Tong
December 10, 2018 Washington, D.C.
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, it is with great respect and deep gratitude that we present the 2018 Citizen Power Award to Mr. Bao Tong, in recognition of his decades-long contribution to building democracy in China, and the personal sacrifices he has made toward achieving a peaceful transition of China’s political system and support for its civil society.
The June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre of protestors was a tragedy of modern China, and a personal disaster for Mr. Bao Tong himself. In the 1980s, Mr. Bao Tong was the primary assistant of Zhao Ziyang who as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and who was also one of the few open-minded leaders of the Party. Bao Tong contributed greatly to supporting Mr. Zhao’s attempts to reform the Chinese political system. During the 1989 student democracy movement, he sympathized with the students and opposed the government’s violent oppression of the students. For this reason, after the massacre, he was sentenced to seven years in prison, and has been under house arrest and close surveillance since his release from prison.
However, Mr. Bao Tong does not regret losing his government position, nor is he discouraged by the setbacks of Chinese political reform. For years, he has continued to speak out as a citizen. He has advocated for human rights, and has bravely challenged China’s suppression of civil society. Indeed, it seems that with every setback, the more emboldened he becomes; he never retreats, always displaying his tremendous willpower and moral character.
Mr. Bao Tong’s consistent sincerity is the embodiment of China’s conscience. He has greatly encouraged and inspired all of us. Mr. Bao Tong has not only been a witness to the tremendous tides that have swept China’s modern history, he has been a force for good. We are honored to walk side-by-side with Mr. Bao in the right direction of history, and we will surely arrive at our destination. Today, we pay high tribute to Mr. Bao Tong by presenting him with the Citizen Power Award.
公民力量奖颁奖词—致鲍彤
在六四屠杀三十周年即将到来之际，我们怀着敬重的心情，授予鲍彤先生本年度公民力量奖，致谢鲍彤先生几十年来为中国政治体制改革和民间社会发育所付出的牺牲、所作的贡献。
在上个世纪八十年代，鲍彤先生是中共开明领导人赵紫阳的主要助手，在帮助赵紫阳先生推动政治体制改革的尝试上做出突出的贡献。在八九学生民主运动中，他同情学生的诉求，坚决反对政府对学生实施暴力镇压，为此，在六四屠杀后，他被判刑监禁七年。
六四是现代中国的悲剧，也是鲍彤先生的一场劫难，但在七年的牢狱之灾过后，鲍彤先生并未因失去官职而痛悔，也未因中国政治改革的挫折而消沉，而是以一个公民身份坚持自由言说，长期参与人权活动，勇敢挑战极权对社会空间的打压，愈挫愈奋，从不退却，展现了他惊人的意志力和政治品格。
鲍彤先生始终如一的真诚是中国良心的体现，给我们以极大鼓舞和鞭策，鲍彤先生是中国大历史的见证人，也是中国大历史的推动者，在必将抵达的历史方向上，能够与鲍彤先生同行，是我们的荣幸， 我们以公民力量奖向鲍彤先生致以崇高敬意。
2018年12月10日 华盛顿
Bao Tong’s Speech on Receiving the Citizen Power Award
December 10, 2018 Beijing
Thanks be to Citizen Power Initiatives for China, and thank you Mr. Jianli Yang, thank you everyone! Thank you for your encouragement. Civil society is your pursuit and mine as well. I want to be a citizen in a civil society. I don’t want to be a slave in the slave society, nor a slave owner who dominates others. Everyone who is neither willing to be a slave nor a slave owner is my fellow comrades. Roads are made by many travelers. Our road is still very long and we need to continue our journey together.
Thank you again!
鲍彤领奖辞
感谢公民力量，感谢各位，感谢杨建利先生！感谢大家的鼓励。公民社会是你们的追求，也是我的追求。我愿意做公民社会里的公民。我不愿意做奴隶社会里的被支配的奴隶，或支配别人的奴隶主。一切既不愿做奴隶也不愿做奴隶主的人，都是我的同道。路是许许多多人一起走出来的。路还很长，需要我们继续走。
再一次谢谢大家!
2018年12月10日 北京
2.CPIFC’s Award Tribute to Ms. Mihrigul Tursun
December 10, 2018 Washington, D.C.
This honoree’s personal bravery is humbling and incredibly inspirational. Mihrigul Turson was born in Kuerle City, Xinjiang. She is an ordinary Uyghur woman but has taken extraordinary courage and heroic action in helping to expose to the world the Chinese Communist regime’s atrocities against millions of Uyghurs.
Mihrigul gave birth to beautiful triplets in March 2015. However, when she took her two-month old babies back to Xinjiang in May 2015, the Chinese police detained her and took her babies away from her. She did not see her babies again for another three months, and when she did, they were in the hospital, suffering terrible health problems. Her oldest son later died.
Between May 2015 and April 2018, Mihrigul was taken into detention 3 times. Altogether she survived 10 months in the camps. Each time she was taken, police handcuffed her and put a black sack over her head. Each time, she suffered unbearable torture and mental torment.
The cells were so overcrowded that prisoners had to take turns sleeping. The conditions were filthy, with a single toilet in the room for 60 or more people. Some prisoners had not taken a shower in over one year. The prisoners were fed a starvation diet, often just a steamed bun or watery rice. Mihrigul suffered beatings that caused her hands to bleed. She suffered prolonged sleep deprivation, and electrocution so severe that she begged the guards to kill her.
Because both of Mihrigul’s children have Egyptian nationality, the Egyptian Embassy in China intervened. Finally she was allowed to leave China for Egypt. Before boarding, the Chinese authorities warned her not to forget who she was and that her parents were still under the protection of China.
Mihrigul has shown tremendous inner strength in surviving China’s modern-day concentration camps. As a 29-year-old grieving mother and torture survivor, she chose not to suffer in silence but to come forward to the world stage to tell the truth, to tell about the horrific suffering and cruelty that over a million others are still experiencing in China today, right now. While the Chinese Communists continue to lie and try to cover-up their attack on the Uighur people, Mihrigul’s brave testimony has helped shine a light where there has only been darkness. For her extraordinary strength and her courage in coming forward as a public witness to crimes against humanity, Citizen Power Initiatives for China awards her this Citizen Power Award of 2018.
公民力量奖颁奖词—致米娜.特尔逊 （中文翻译：陈云鹏）
获奖嘉宾米娜.特尔逊在面对邪恶的迫害时所表现出的勇气，是令人叹服和无比鼓舞人心的。
米娜出生在新疆库尔勒市，是一个平凡的维吾尔族女子，但她向全世界揭露中共政权迫害百万维吾尔人暴行的英雄之举，展现了她不同寻常的勇气。
2015年3月，米娜生下了漂亮的三胞胎。5月份，当她带着两个月大的三胞胎回新疆时，中国警方却扣押了她，并强行将她与她的孩子分离。直到三个月后，她才在医院见到病重的孩子们。不久，大儿子不幸死去了。
2015年5月至2018年4月，米娜曾三次被抓，被关押在集中营累计10个月。每一次被抓，警察都给她戴上手铐，并用黑色的袋子套在她头上。每一次关押，她都饱受折磨和精神的摧残。
关押犯人的牢房已经牢房挤得不能再挤，犯人们不得不轮流睡觉。牢房肮脏不堪，厕所就在里面，60多人就共用这唯一的厕所。有些犯人已经一年多没洗过澡了。犯人们被罚饿肚子，每顿饭只有一个馒头或米汤。
米娜遭遇过被毒打到手流血，长时间被剥夺睡眠，以及痛苦到让她求警察杀了她的电棍酷刑。
因为米娜的孩子都是埃及国籍，最后在埃及驻中国大使馆的干预下，她才被允许离开中国回埃及。登机前，中国当局警告她不要忘记她是谁，她的父母还在中国的控制下。
米娜凭着内在无比强大的信念，才得以在中国现代集中营活下来。作为一个29岁遭遇丧子之痛的母亲，和集中营酷刑的幸存者，她没有选择在沉默中隐忍，而是站出来向世界说出真相，讲述上百万人正在中国经历的苦难和残害。当中共还在继续用谎言来掩盖对维吾尔人的镇压时，米娜勇敢的证言就如同打破黑暗的一道光。
鉴于她以非凡的勇气和力量，挺身而出指证反人类的罪行，我们把2018年“公民力量奖”颁发给米娜.特尔逊。
2018年12月10日 华盛顿
Mihrigul Tursun’s Acceptance Speech
December 10, 2018 Washington, D.C.
Ladies and Gentlemen! And dear friends at the Citizen Power Initiatives for China!
Thank you so much for giving me this meaningful award.
I am Mihrigul Tursun. I am blessed to have miraculously escaped from China’s concentration camps or the so called “re-education centers.” I spent a total of 10 months in these camps; I was starved and beaten. I suffered physical and psychological torture. And I was electrocuted in the infamous tiger chair. I am a mother who lost her son. I am a wife who was separated from her husband. And I am a daughter who may never see her parents again…
This award means a lot to me because it gives me faith in the existence of humanity and justice in this world. I believe that this will also give hope to my people, millions of Uyghurs being tortured at this moment, that there is humanity, justice, and love in this world.
I am now in a free world. I can breathe freely. I can speak freely. But my people, millions of innocent women, men, and children are facing unjust and inhumane treatment in China’s concentration camps just because their language, religion, and ethnic and cultural identity are different from that of the Chinese Communist Party.
I believe there is one power in the world that can stand against hatred, brutality, and atrocity, and it transcends ethnic, religious, and geographic barriers. And that power is humanity. It is the power of love, compassion, and tolerance. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your compassion.
You have strengthened my will to be the proud and brave voice of my people. For me, this is not just an award; it is a responsibility. China’s Communist government is carrying out an ethnic cleansing of innocent Uyghur people. I personally witnessed 9 deaths in three months alone. I stand before you as the only witness in the US of China’s brutal concentration camps. And I promise you that I will continue to be the voice of those silenced, oppressed, and tortured Uyghur people and I will continue to tell the world about the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity.
I believe that this is a responsibility for all of us. Every person who can speak freely in the free world has a moral obligation to speak up and take an action on behalf of those silenced, oppressed, and tortured so that one day we can give back their faith in the existence of humanity, justice, and love.
Thank you.
米娜.特尔逊领奖致辞 （中文翻译：陈云鹏）
女士们，先生们，各位亲爱的公民力量的朋友们，
非常感谢你们把这么有意义的奖项颁发给我。
我是米娜.特尔逊。我有幸奇迹般地逃出了中共的集中营，也就是他们所谓的“再教育中心”。我在那里被关了十个月，挨饿和被毒打，在臭名卓著的“老虎凳”上被施以电刑。无论肉体上，还是精神上，我都饱受摧残。我是一个（在中共的迫害之下）失去儿子的母亲，被迫与丈夫分离的妻子，和一个也许再也见不到父母亲的女儿……
这个奖项对我意义重大，因为它给了我这个世界上还有人性和正义存在的信念。我相信它也给了我的族人希望，上百万此时此刻正在遭受摧残的维吾尔人会因此看到这个世界上还有人性、正义和爱。
我现在身处自由的世界，可以自由地呼吸，可以自由地发表讲话。但是，我的族人，上百万无辜的维吾尔女人、男人和孩子，却正在中共的集中营面对不公正和不人道的待遇，仅仅因为他们与中共有着不同的语言、宗教、民族和文化。
我相信世界上有一种力量可以与仇恨、残忍和暴行抗衡，它超越了族群，宗教和地域的界限，那就是人性。它包含了爱、同情和宽容。感谢你们的爱，感谢你们的同情。
你们坚定了我自豪地，勇敢地为我的族人发声的决心。对我而言，这不仅是一个奖项，它是一份责任。中共政府正在发起对无辜的维吾尔族人的种族清洗。我自己在三个月里就亲眼见证了9个人被迫害致死。我现在作为残酷的中共集中营在美国的唯一证人，站着你们面前。
我相信这是我们所有人的责任：每一位在自由世界里可以自由表达自己观点的人，都有道义的责任，代表那些被迫保持沉默，被迫害，被折磨的人们发声和行动，以此，我们可以在未来的某一天让他们重新找回对人性，正义和爱的信念。
谢谢！
3.CPIFC’s Award Tribute to Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett
December 10, 2018 Washington, D.C.
This honoree is a fierce partner in our fight for democracy. Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett is the President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Ten years ago, Katrina founded the Lantos Foundation to continue the human rights work of her legendary father, Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in the United States Congress. Congressman Lantos not only served as the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but was also the founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Katrina has built on the solid foundation of her father and become a human rights powerhouse in her own right, both through her work at the Lantos Foundation and through her other outside commitments. She is a longtime passionate and forceful advocate and defender of human rights. Her passion for the persecuted and the weak, her love for humanity, her independence in politics, and her innovative thinking have made her a global human rights champion, one who has advanced religious freedom, rule of law, internet freedom, and free speech. She has been beacon of hope and offered strong support for those on the front lines of human rights work around the world. Katrina has been a friend, mentor, advocate and powerful ally for all of those fighting oppression or injustice. For Katrina’s outstanding contributions to human rights, it a great honor for Citizen Power/Initiatives for China to present Katrina Lantos Swett with the Citizen Power Award of 2018.
公民力量奖颁奖辞—致可翠娜.兰托斯 （中文翻译：陈云鹏）
获奖嘉宾可翠娜.兰托斯博士，是一位勇往直前，始终与我们并肩为民主而战的伙伴。可翠娜.兰托斯博士
现任兰托斯人权与正义基金会的主席。该基金是可翠娜为继承其富有传奇色彩的父亲，众议员汤姆.兰托斯的人权事业，在十年前创立的。兰托斯众议员是唯一一位进入美国国会殿堂的犹太人大屠杀幸存者，他不仅担任过众议院外交事务委员会主席，还是国会人权委员会的创始人。
通过参与和投入兰托斯基金会以及其它的人权活动，在父亲坚实的基础之上，可翠娜凭借自己的实力，成为了人权事业的强大的推动力。她是一位坚持不懈的，充满激情和力量的人权倡导者和捍卫者。她对受迫害者，对弱者的热情，她对人类的爱，她在政治上的独立，和她的创新思维使她成为全球人权运动的领军人物。她始终如一地向着实现宗教信仰自由，法治，互联网自由以及言论自由得目标前进。对于全世界战斗在人权最前线的人们，她一直像灯塔一样，为他们照亮希望和提供强有力的支持。
可翠娜一直是所有反对压迫和不公正的人们的朋友，导师，引领者和强大的盟友。鉴于她对人权事业做出的突出贡献，我们很荣幸地把2018年度“公民力量奖”颁发给可翠娜.兰托斯博士。
Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett’s Acceptance Speech
December 10, 2018 Washington, D.C.
Thank you for this award. I am deeply honored not only to be receiving this award, but also to be receiving it from someone I so greatly admire – Yang Jianli.
I have had the privilege of knowing and working with Jianli for many years now and to me, he embodies the virtues that all human rights leaders should seek to emulate.
He is unyielding and undaunted in his determination to stand up for democracy and human rights in China and he is equally unyielding in his determination to do this in a way that is not only non-violent and inclusive of all communities, religious and otherwise, that are impacted by China’s repressive policies – but also in a way that calls forth what Abraham Lincoln used to call “the better angels of our nature.”
So thank you Jianli – not only for this award but also for the inspiration you are to me and so many others.
We need to keep the spirit you embody alive as we work to hold China accountable for its massive and spreading abuses of human rights. Not only within China proper, but also through its insidious tentacles internationally in business, academics, and the media.
Because of its vast size and throw weight, China again and again succeeds in distracting, denying, and downplaying the outrageous abuses taking place from Tibet to Hong Kong, to Xinxiang to the daily lives of millions of ordinary Chinese citizens who simply want to claim their inherent birthright to freedom, democracy, conscience rights, the rule of law, free expression and freedom of movement.
The challenge is great indeed, but China is not invincible as it sometimes appears to outsiders. Any government that does not derive “its just powers from the consent of the governed” has an underlying fragility and vulnerability that no boasting or blustering can conceal forever. Particularly not if brave activists like all of you continue your unrelenting efforts, using every legal, peaceful tool at your disposal, to shine the light on China’s abuses and to hold our leaders accountable for the way they do or don’t speak out and act to defend human rights in China.
Whether that means applying the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction Chinese officials implicated in severe human rights abuses.
Whether it means adequately funding and supporting internet technologies that allow the Chinese people to circumvent the great firewalls that seek to keep them locked in an information prison.
Whether that means robustly applying the IRFA to more forcefully advocate for persecuted faith communities in China including the Uighurs, the Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhists, the Christian community, and others.
Finally, China can no longer be allowed to flout the rule of law with impunity in business matters including the theft of intellectual property, industrial espionage, forced technology transfers, and violation of sanctions. I have read much in the past few days about how the detention of the Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada has stoked fear and anger in China. I don’t know enough about the case to comment on the merits, but I do know that it is high time China realizes it cannot act with impunity to violate international laws and expect to get away with it – and if the case of the Huawei CFO makes them a little afraid that their unlawful behavior will have consequences, that is probably a good thing.
I pledge the Lantos Foundation will continue to fight for democracy and human rights in China and we are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with all of you in this battle.
My late father, Tom Lantos, used to love to quote the famous New Hampshire poet, Robert Frost, who wrote;
“The woods are lovely dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep”
We must each resist the temptation to be focused only on our personal goals and lives and strive instead to remember the promises we must keep to those who are striving for lives of dignity and freedom under tyrannical regimes. We indeed have miles to go before we sleep but it is a noble journey and well worth the effort.
Thank you.
可翠娜.兰托斯.斯维特博士的获奖演说（中文翻译：陈云鹏）
感谢颁发这个奖项给我。我觉得非常的荣幸！不仅是因为得到这个奖，还因为这个奖来自于我非常敬佩的人-杨建利。
到今天为止，我享有与建利相识和一起工作的“特权”已经很多年了，在他身上体现了所有人权领袖都应当效仿的美德。
他捍卫中国民主与人权的决心始终不动摇、不退缩，他的坚持不屈体现在始终主张团结所有族群、宗教和其他被中共镇压的群体，用非暴力的方式争取民主和人权,还体现在他的言行总会唤起亚伯拉罕.林肯所说的：“我们天性中的良善”。
因此，我要感谢建利-不仅是感谢颁发我这个奖，还要感谢你带给我和许多人的启发和鼓舞。我们需要保持你身体力行所示范的这种精神，投身到阻止中国不断蔓延的、大规模的践踏人权的工作中去。这种对人权的危害不仅仅存在于中国境内，它还通过中共阴险的触角延伸到国际商业、学术和传媒领域。
凭着其巨大的体谅和重要的国际地位，中共一次又一次成功地转移了国际社会的注意力，不断否认或轻描淡写其从西藏到香港到新疆对数百万普通百姓的日常生活施以令人发指的人权侵害，而这些普通人只是单纯地想主张他们与生俱来拥有自由、民主、良知、法治、言论和迁徙自由等的权利。
挑战的确是巨大的，但是中国也并不像它有时对外显示的那么不可战胜。任何不是“通过被统治者同意而获得正义力量”的政府，都具有潜在的脆弱和隐患，自我炫耀和恫吓无法永远掩盖真相，特别是当像在座各位这样勇敢的人权活动人士，继续不屈不挠地努力，继续用你们所能支配的一切合法的、和平的手段，揭露中国政府暴政的黑暗，促成我们民主国家的领导人对于他们捍卫中国人权的言行或沉默负责任，他们应为是否在使用“全球马格尼茨基法案”制裁卷入严重侵犯人权的中国官员而负责；他们应为是否给予充分的资金和网络技术支持使中国人能够绕过将他们封锁在信息监狱的强大的防火墙而负责；他们应为这是否更坚决地实施“国际宗教自由法”更有力度地支持包括维吾尔人、法轮功、西藏佛教徒、基督徒等等在中国被镇压的信仰团体而负责任。
最后，不能再对中国窃取知识产权、经济间谍、强制技术转让、违反禁运制裁等商业行为视若不见不予以惩罚，而允许它继续蔑视法治。在过去的几天里，我读到不少关于华为财务总监孟晚舟在加拿大被扣押，在中国激起了恐惧和愤怒的报道。我对这个案子本身的了解不足以评判它的是非曲直，但我确定地知道一点，是时候要让中国认识到：它不可能不受惩罚地违反国际法并期望逍遥法外。
兰托斯基金会誓将继续捍卫中国民主与人权的战斗，能和在座的各位在这场战斗中并肩作战，我们感到骄傲。
先父汤姆.兰托斯，曾经很喜欢引用著名的新罕布什尔州诗人罗伯特.弗罗斯特的诗句，他写道：
“树林可爱地幽暗深远
但，我已承诺坚持前行
在我睡觉前还有漫漫长路
在我睡觉前还有漫漫长路”
我们每一个人都必须抵挡住只关注个人目标和生活的诱惑，而努力记住我们必须信守的，对那些在专制统治下为生命的尊严和自由而奋争的人们所作的承诺。我们的确还有漫漫长路要走，但这是一段崇高和非常值得付出的人生旅途。
谢谢各位！
2018年12月10日 华盛顿
