"We all have elements of communism in our minds. Let's erase the communism from the minds of our children!" exclaimed Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, to crowd of over ten thousand people rallying in Prague on May 1. The event, dubbed "Letna 2007" after the park in which it was held, was organized by the Confederation of Political Prisoners under the motto, "No more communism, no more fascism, no more dictatorship."
Letna 2007 activities included enactments of the suffering experienced by people in the last remaining communist states: Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and China.
Topolanek said that the Chinese regime was "repressive," but that he was "optimistic" that change would happen.
"I support resigning from the Chinese Communist Party," he told The Epoch Times.
Starting at 11 a.m., more than a dozen speakers including politicians and victims who suffered from communist regimes' persecution spoke to the crowds, discussing lessons learned, and condemning the tragedy occurring under existing communist regimes.
Mr. Ming Zhao from Ireland shared his experiences of being tortured in China's labour camps for practicing the Falun Gong meditation practice, which has been suppressed in China since 1999.
"I was submitted to a lot of tortures including deprivation of sleep, beating, forced squatting for hours, and electric shocking. What I have mentioned is still happening now in China," said Zhao.
"China's economic development has made the world's people overlook its human rights situation…it is still a communist system there. There is no freedom of speech, no freedom of assembly, no freedom of association, no freedom of press," he added.
Former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific Mr. David Kilgour was specially invited to talk about human rights violations in China.
"Look at what that government (China) is doing to its own people, including independent journalists, human rights activists, democrats, religious communities, Uighurs, Tibetans and many others," highlighted Kilgour.
"Two of us Canadians have concluded to our dismay in our recent report that the government of China is even killing Falun Gong prisoners of conscience without any form of judicial process and selling their vital organs for high prices to transplant tourists from abroad," he said. (Please see the full Kilgour-Matas Report on organ harvesting in China for details.)
While speaking with The Epoch Times , Prime Minister Topolanek equated the 2008 Olympic Games with the 1936 Games held in Nazi Germany.
Kilgour hopes that by calling for a worldwide public boycott of these upcoming Olympics, he and other Western dignitaries including European Parliament vice-president Edward McMillan-Scott can bring the organ harvesting to an end.
Swedish Member of Parliament Mr. Göran Lindblad, who drafted the Council of Europe resolution calling for international condemnation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes, addressed the rally as well.
The all-day event also included photo exhibitions documenting crimes committed under communist rule, and a concert. Among the bands that performed during the rally was the Plastic People of the Universe, which was an underground band that was persecuted by the communist regime in the Czechoslovakia.
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