作者：《议报》记者 何佳
2021年12月14日
第十六届族群青年领袖研习营于2021年12月14日美东时间上午9点至下午2点在线召开。主题是“推倒防火墙加强自由世界秩序“的本届研习营由公民力量、汤姆.兰托斯人权与正义基金会（Tom Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice）合办，得到台湾民主基金会的资助。
研习营由公民力量创办人杨建利博士致开幕词，汤姆.兰托斯基金会主席Katrina Lantos Swett博士和公民力量副主席韩联潮博士做主题战略演讲，达赖喇嘛住北美代表朗杰曲珠博士与会发表祝词，世界维吾尔大会执行委员会主席Omer Kanat先生就维族被网络全面严控状况做专题演讲。
这次小规模闭门研习营邀请了原政府主管信息战略的高官、公民社会的推动网络自由的专家、以及致力于帮助中国人突破防火墙的一线高科技专家共6人分别从网络国际秩序、信息战战略、中共的假信息策略分析、最前沿的突破防火墙的工具等几个方面给出席者讲座。
来自汉族、维族、藏族、蒙古族、香港、台湾、法轮功和基督徒不同群体的40余位人权人士应邀出席了研习营并参加了讨论。
族群青年领袖研习营由时任“二十一世纪中国基金会”主席的杨建利博士于2000年创办，该研习营致力于增进与中国直接相关的不同民族、宗教、地域群体之间的交流了解、消除误解和仇视、并形成在推动人权民主进步工作上的团结合作机制。
公民力量主席 杨建利博士
汤姆.兰托斯基金会
公民力量副主席 韩连潮博士
达赖喇嘛住北美代表朗杰曲珠博士
世界维吾尔大会执行委员会主席Omer Kanat先生
附：杨建利博士开幕词
Let Us Unite to Combat China’s Digital Dictatorship
— Opening Remarks at the 16th InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conference
Jianli Yang
December 14, 2021, Washington, DC
Dear Friends:
Welcome to the 16th InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conference.
From its inception in 2000, the Conference Series has sought to advance mutual understanding, respect, and cooperation among the diverse ethnic, religious, cultural, and regional groups of China or directly related to China. The Conferences also aim to explore universal values and find common ground to build a united front to advance democracy and human rights for all. Through a spirit of cooperation and teamwork, these gatherings have enabled us to forge a strong coalition among these ethnic, religious and regional groups.
The theme of this year’s Conference is “Tearing Down China’s Great Firewall to Strengthen the Liberal World Order.”
Xi Jinping’s digital dictatorship has effectively silenced Chinese civil society and poses an existential threat to the free world at large. Democratic governments, public and private businesses, citizen-engaged communities, the IT community, and concerned citizens must take swift and effective action to address the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. At today’s Conference, experts, activists and policymakers will explore strategies, solutions and new tools that will enable us to tear down China’s Great Firewall.
To be clear, China’s Great Firewall is the most sophisticated system ever built to control access to information, suppress the truth, and crack down on free speech. Also known as the GFW, the Great Firewall operates as a critical part of the CCP’s propaganda apparatus, separating the people of China from the rest of the world. The threat of China’s digital dictatorship is real, and it is not confined to its borders. Now that the CCP has achieved tyrannical control over every aspect of its citizens’ lives, China’s communist regime is now seeking to export its model of digital totalitarian governance to the rest of the world.
Now is the time to take meaningful action to help the people of China rebuild their space of civil society. We must begin by helping them gain free space on the internet. Equally important, we must work to prevent digital dictatorships from becoming the international norm. Other countries of concern include Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia, among others.
Many of the groups and communities represented at this Conference are desperate to have access to unfiltered information and the freedom to both hear and express a wide variety of viewpoints in the virtual public square. Let us unite to combat China’s digital dictatorship. Let us rise to tackle one of the paramount human rights issues of our day head-on, and lead the fight to tear down China’s Great Firewall!
Thank you all.
