WARSAW—Tomasz Korczynski, a Polish sociologist, took part in the Global Human Rights Torch Relay support event in Warsaw, Poland on June 4. He started his leg of the relay at the monument to Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, a famous Polish freedom fighter and human rights advocate.
EET: How is it that you have found yourself here?
TK: I was invited by a fantastic campaign, the Global Human Rights Torch Relay. There's a spiritual connection with the representatives of that organization… It was suggested that as an organization we present the abuse of human rights in China, in particular pertaining to the aspect of religion, namely Christianity, or belief in Jesus Christ.
EET: Maybe you could quickly say a few words about human rights violations in China in this context?
TK: The communist [Chinese] government has allowed itself to sink to an unbelievable low. Here in Poland we still speak too little about this situation. Thankfully, more and more campaigns such as the Global Human Rights Torch Relay are being realized. Above all, the worst is that we know that in Chinese jails, in Chinese labour camps, there are at least 24,000 [Christian] people, and numerous priests and bishops. A very large number of people that were sentenced simply because they believe in Jesus. Prison sentences of three years given quickly, instantly, are ruining human lives, young human lives.
In many instances these are young people, and when they come out of prison, the are human wrecks, people that later find themselves unable to participate in society. We know about these people. We remember them, and pray for them, and we help them how we can. [We remember] people that landed in prison in 1989, on exactly this anniversary that we are observing today, and are indeed still there. These people are ruined, you know, students, young people such as us, such as the many Warsaw residents who had a chance to come here to stand in front of the Chinese embassy today.
We are aware of this reality, that their careers, their lives, their ambitions, their desires, their dreams… all have been written off, by people, evil, base people, who have forced them, or have tried to force them, into believing in this materialist dimension, this atheistic philosophy of lies, totally apart from spirit, only presenting what it sees as being important, namely the material.
[The Chinese Communist Party has been] killing and murdering the spirit, that which defines a person, freedom, and truth, since 1922, when the Chinese Communist Party began permeating that amazing dimension of ancient Chinese culture, having a tradition of 5000 years.
This ideology of evil [communism], the one that John Paul II repeatedly called a civilization of death, has possessed the people of China, and wants to enslave them completely. Our organization wants to tell people in Poland and around the world, to inform them, of what is happening in China today. We also want to show Chinese people that we have not forgotten them, that we are their ambassadors, that we are their representatives, that we are a sort of loudspeaker for them, speaking in their stead, when they are unable to speak for themselves.
We will continue to speak this way, all the more so since Poland has a gigantic weight of responsibility with respect to people, because of the times when we ourselves were jailed, when my parents and grandparents were persecuted because they believed in Jesus or were simply members of Solidarity. These people were persecuted because they stood up against evil, against this materialistic, atheistic system, the civilization of death.
When I took part in the relay, it was a deeply meaningful experience for me. When I stood under the monument to Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, Primate of the Millenium, who was also a victim of the communist regime, who during many of the worst Stalinist years in the 1950's was held in jail, and then when I ran with the relay, I thought to myself that I was simply so proud, so honoured, to be able to take part in such an excellent initiative.
I expressed a hope to God in my thoughts that all this would not end here with only words, with a single explosion of enthusiasm. In Poland, I hope we will not remain focused only on monuments and historical dates, but that this will become a constant, unending cycle, a constant, unending exposure of what is happening with people, remembering them.
We are now in the European Union, a country that is developing, becoming richer and richer economically. Maybe we sometimes forget about it, about our responsibility, to wake people up, to tell them 'wake up!' [We should tell them] there's a situation where people are suffering, where people are being murdered, arrested without cause, because they have a bible or a cross, because they speak out, as does this organization that invited us here, because they have an idea of what freedom is.
[We should tell them] that people are being murdered, the death penalty is being enacted on them, which is instant, uncontrolled, that women in a terrible, devilish way are being forced into abortions or sterilizations so that they cannot have any more children, cannot offer any longer that fantastic gift of life. These are devilish tricks, you could say – ones that are tangible in this immediate material dimension.
We can imagine it [the communist system] because during Jaruzelski's clique, or the times of Gomulka or the secretary generals followed, exactly these sorts of models were copied. But we have hope, because of actions such as this one. Speaking strongly and clearly, we believe that in China the [communist] system will also soon collapse. We know that it will collapse. It can't persist. These are evil ideologies, and very evil is made of paper. On the outside it is terrible and threatening, and in fact brutal, but inside it is empty, empty of anything. It's a paper dragon, a paper monster.
It's important to inspire hope and faith that things can be better for Christians and people in general in China. [We need to] let them know that we remember them, so that they don't allow themselves to be broken, that they move to action, that they undertake all sorts of initiatives to win their own freedom.
EET: This is very moving, what you have just said. What would you say to people of other belief systems, for example to practitioners of Falun Gong?
TK: It's most important to not give up, to not allow your inner spirits, as John Paul II put it, to be put out. He repeated these words from Jesus' scriptures, saying that you should not give up, that you believe in truth, that you keep moving forward.
Know that there are people who remember you, who are proud of you, who know that you are struggling, who know about you, who will talk about you and be your voice.
To all the heroes and martyrs that are at this moment being murdered, at this moment we are connecting with you and remembering you. Among other organizations ours is remembering you, praying for you, but also [helping you] using actions such as this one today, and others that I have participated in. We want to continue, and be with you.
EET: Perhaps you have heard about the situation in Flushing, in New York, where mobs are being organized against people supporting the ongoing massive withdrawals from the Chinese Communist Party. Maybe you would like to comment on this situation?
TK: Yes, I have heard about this, what is happening in the United States. I was speaking about this earlier, of how regimes, dictatorships and totalitarian systems have this in common, that they try to create fictions, in a deceitful way, to manipulate people, to take advantage even of those people that are innocent, to create scapegoats.
This is exactly the situation right now in the United States, when the communist regime is trying to present Falun Gong, or representatives of Falun Gong, as assailants, as criminals. This is fiction. Of course this has everything to do with the earthquake [in Sichuan]. It's a classic example of manipulation of the facts, of presenting untruths, namely that Falun Gong practitioners are breaking the law, taking away money from those Chinese that are in need.
In fact, it's the exact opposite. They are offering them help, they offer them moral support, they talk about them, and they show what the government of Hu Jintao did. It did this: First, it didn't inform the citizens that a powerful seismic event was approaching. People didn't know about it, they were helpless against this natural catastrophe. Part of Sichuan was destroyed, and people were helpless, as nobody was aware of it. That's the first issue. Second, later, they didn't help them as they could have, and then put the responsibility on scapegoats, saying that they were blocking aid. At least, that's how I understand it, that's the sort of information we received.
The most important thing is to not allow yourself to be fooled. It's simply propaganda, what we in Poland experienced non-stop. There were all sorts of campaigns organized, against people in the [Catholic] church, there were provocations, priests and believers that weren't in the party were portrayed as law-breakers and criminals, they were even provoked in all sorts of ways into committing crimes. It's a system of evil, a civilization of death, pushing people towards evil.
EET: Thank you. That's all.
Mr. Korczynski lectures at the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski in Warsaw, and is the Coordinator of the Information Service for the Aid to the Church in Need, Poland Section. He also coordinates the Calendar of Prayer spiritual campaign, mobilizing Christians to pray for the persecuted peoples of the world.
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