[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14073]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 CAPTIVE NATIONS WEEK, 43RD OBSERVANCE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEN CALVERT

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 19, 2001

  Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a deep sense of personal 
conviction and pride to submit for the Record a proclamation on the 
43rd Observance of Captive Nations Week. It was in memory of the 
millions who perished under authoritarian regimes and remain under 
authoritarian regimes still that the 86th Congress and President Dwight 
D. Eisenhower began the tradition of paying tribute to their fight for 
freedom, democracy, free market economy, human rights and national 
independence, with Public Law 86-90. President Ronald Reagan served to 
more forcibly imprint this need several years later when he called 
history's most powerful authoritarian regime, the Soviet Union, an 
``evil empire.''
  I am convinced that Captive Nations Week has served a vital role in 
the fight against authoritarian governments. This one week a year has 
provided, and continues to provide, a level of focused pressure and 
attention on those nations that utilize force, coercion and fear to 
maintain control over the individual. As a result, we no longer witness 
Germany fascism, Soviet Stalinism, the Nazi concentration and work 
camps of World War II and more. In time, I believe that remaining 
Captive Nations, such as China, will also join the community of 
democratic states.
  China in particular provides us visible daily evidence of the human 
rights violations that continue to be perpetuated in the world. In this 
country the authoritarian government continues to deny men and women 
their inalienable rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of 
movement and assembly, freedom of the press and the right to practice 
their religious beliefs without fear of persecution.
  Captive Nations Week recalls our obligation to speak out for captive 
peoples around the world. During this one week in July, we may reaffirm 
our support for peaceful efforts to secure their right to liberty and 
self-determination. Thomas Jefferson's timeless words on the 50th 
Anniversary of our Nation's Independence in 1826 best highlight the 
goals of Captive Nations Week:
  ``All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general 
spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the 
palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles 
on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride 
them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for 
others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever 
refresh our recollections of these rights and an undiminished devotion 
to them. . . .''
  Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I add my prayers and hopes to the millions 
said each and every day for the ``rights of man'' to be secured for all 
peoples around the world and that Americans are privileged to 
experience with each breath that they breathe. And I also applaud those 
who would not be victimized, the individuals who refused to be swayed 
by untruths and promises of power--the ones who fought tyranny and 
prevailed. In 2001 there remain many Captive Nations, but our hope 
remains that one day there will be none.

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