题图：汤姆.兰托斯人权与正义基金会主席 、已故众议员外交事务委员会主席汤姆.
朋友们，早上好！
今天我们聚集在一起纪念天安门屠杀事件32周年，这几乎是不可想象的。之所以说是不可想象的，因为大屠杀在我们的脑海中仍然记忆鲜明，尽管我们是从远处看到悲剧的展现。对于那些亲身经历了这个恐怖时刻并永远承受这个悲剧负担的人来说，也是难于忘怀的。另外，更令人难以想象的是，在争取民主和人权的和平运动被残酷镇压32年之后，中国已经成为一个更为专制、更加极权的监控国家 – 一个谋求向全世界输出有中国烙印的威权模式的国家，并炫耀自己扼杀香港民主和法制、持续压迫西藏、在新疆地区对维族人实行种族灭绝等粗暴强奸国际法的恶行。
在这种令人沮丧的情况下，放弃希望是很容易的 – 但这是我们永远不能做的一件事。那些在天安门广场牺牲了一切的人，他们英勇无畏的英名要求我们不倦不馁地来推动他们如林肯所说的 “完全彻底为之献身”的事业。
今年，“公民力量”发起倡议，以一种难忘的方式纪念天安门广场的英雄。我们将一起聆听一场王西麟的《第三交响乐》在线音乐会。王西麟先生是一位著名的中国作曲家，他这件意义深远的音乐创作的灵感一方面源自于他在强迫劳改时的亲身经历，他曾忍受残酷折磨，另一方面还源自于他作为天安门抗议活动亲历人所目睹的一切。他用音乐叙述了那些坚持为中国自由民主而奋斗的人的哀伤和悲悯、希望和决心。
今年，我们通过音乐来纪念天安门事件恰合时宜。
1989年，有一个最著名、最具标志性的音乐作品，在鼓励天安门广场抗议者方面发挥了强大的作用。当军队开始集结兵力准备镇压年轻的民主活动人士的时候，一些学生在广场临时安装了扩音器，开始播放贝多芬的《第九交响乐》。他们用借来的汽车电瓶，以一颗勇敢的心唱起了贝多芬的《欢乐颂》。抗议活动的学生领袖之一封从德说，面对坦克和军队的威胁，宏伟壮丽的歌声以某种方式把我们连接成为一个紧密团结的团体。用他的话来说，“我们用《第九交响曲》为我们自己和中国人民创造了一种团结和希望的氛围”。
在这场民主对抗独裁、尊严对抗专制的战斗中，抗议者手无寸铁与镇压者奋战。但是在话语权的争夺战中，在坚持讲真话和散布谎言的人之间对抗中，用封从德的话来说， “我们激昂高歌，一度战胜了敌人”。
“我们播放这盒贝多芬《第九交响曲》的磁带，用以淹没政府的声音。所以说这是一场真正的话语权大战。当我们在广场上播放音乐的时候，成千上万的学生群情激昂振臂高呼，他们的呼喊声盖过了政府的高音喇叭广播。我当时有一种胜利的感觉，我们…终于赢回了人的尊严。“
那一天，天安门广场上的英雄们输掉了那场战斗，但是会有一天，如果我们始终对他们、对勇士的献身精神忠贞不渝，他们终将会赢得最后的胜利。我已故的父亲，美国国会议员汤姆·兰托斯，他本人也曾是共产党独裁的受害者。他曾经说过，独裁者终有一天会被扔进历史的垃圾桶，而那些为自由挺身而出的人将因他们的勇敢而流芳百世。今天我们以王西麟的音乐纪念这些英雄们，让我们坚守我们的理想，让我们守护我们的希望！迟早会有一天，那些在天安门牺牲的人们将被正名和获得嘉奖。
我们今天要听到的音乐将使我们升华，让我们更坚强、更勇敢。让我用亨利·大卫·梭罗的话作为我致辞的结束语，“当我听到音乐时，我无所畏惧，所向无敌。”
愿上帝保佑我们从音乐获得力量以期再战
的所有人！
谢谢！
Katrina
附录1：纪念六四三十二周年 王西麟音乐会
附录2：Katrina讲话英文原文
Good morning， friends-
It seems almost inconceivable that we are gathering today to remember the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. It’s inconceivable because the massacre remains so fresh in the minds of those of us who watched the unfolding tragedy from afar. It is even more inconceivable for those who lived through that terrible time and who carry the burden of it with them always. and finally it is inconceivable that 32 years after the brutal repression of a peaceful movement for democracy and human rights, that china has become an even more repressive, totalitarian surveillance state – one which seeks to export its brand of authoritarianism around the world and flaunts its outrageous violations of international law from it’s strangulation of democracy and rule of law in Hong Kong, to the ongoing suppression of Tibet and the genocide of the Uyghur community of Xinxiang.
Under such disheartening circumstances it can be tempting to give up- to lose hope but that is the one thing we must never do. The brave legacy of those who sacrificed everything at Tiananmen square demands that we neither tire nor grow weary in seeking to advance the cause for which they gave in Lincoln’s words, “ the last full measure of their devotion.
This year, citizen power, initiatives for china, will be remembering and honoring the heroes of tiananmen square in an unforgettable way. Together we will be participating in an online concert featuring Wang Xilin’s symphony number 3. Mr. Wang is a renowned composer but this particular piece of music springs from his own searing experiences in a forced labor camp, enduring brutal beatings and what he witnessed as a participant in the Tiananmen protests. his music speaks of the sorrow and the pity, the hope and the determination of those who stay in the fight for a china that is free and democratic.
It is fitting that Tiananmen should be remembered this year through the medium of music.
In 1989, one of the most famous and iconic pieces of music played a powerful role in encouraging the protestors in Tiananmen square. as troops began assembling ,preparing soon to crush the young democracy activists, makeshift loudspeakers were rigged up by some of the students over which they played the Beethoven’s 9th symphony. with borrowed car batteries and brave hearts they sang the ode to joy. one of the leaders of the protest Feng Congde said that singing those magnificent bars of music in the face of the threatening tanks and troops somehow connected each of them individually and as a united group. in his words “we used the 9th to create an ambiance of solidarity and hope, for ourselves and for the people of china.”
In this battle of democracy versus dictatorship and despots versus dignity, the protestors had no weapons that could match their oppressors. But in the battle of voices, of those speaking truth versus those speaking lies, they were for a moment triumphant over their foes. in the words of Feng;
“ I put on the cassette of Beethoven’s 9th to cover the voice of the government system. So there was a real battle for voice. Hundreds of thousands of students shouting as we broadcast the music on the square louder than the government system. I had a feeling of triumph. We…finally regained our dignity as human beings.”
The Tiananmen square heroes lost the immediate battle that day but one day, if we stay faithful to them and to their sacrifice, they will win the final battle. My late father, congressman tom Lantos, himself a refugee from communist dictatorship used to say that in time the dictators would one day be consigned to the dust bin of history while those who dared to stand up for freedom would be crowned with laurels and honored for their courage. Today we are honoring and remembering those heroes through the music of Wang Xilin. let us hold fast to our ideals, let us hold fast to our hope that in time the sacrifice of those who died and suffered at Tiananmen will be redeemed and rewarded and let us be lifted to a stronger and braver place by the music we will hear today. In the words of Henry David Thoreau,
“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable, I see no foe”.
May god bless us all to find the strength that music can give us to meet the battles ahead.
Thank you.
