Quote of the Week: "He is a hero in the eyes of women"

Chai Ling's Testimony Before the House of Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights:

Chai LIng, the founder of All Girls Allowed,
nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize
following her leadership role in the Tiananmen
Square student movement in 1989.

"[I]t grieves me to hear Chen dismissively referred to as 'a single guy'. He is one man; it is true. But he is a symbol - a hero - in the eyes of women, children, and the poor in China. Why? Because he defended them when it was costly, and when no one else would. [...] Often missing from last week's news stories was the cause that defined Chen Guangcheng's work, and led to his imprisonment. [...] The One-Child Policy formally sanctions violence against women. Chen knew this. Chinese authorities jailed him in 2006 after he filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of women who had undergone forced abortions and sterilizations because of the Policy. [...] If you are concerned that such a course is not realistic or pragmatic enough, I humbly ask you to do what is right. It was not economically pragmatic for William Wilberforce to seek an end to the British slave trade. It was not expedient for Martin Luther King to speak out against injustice and then land in a Birmingham jail. Ronald Reagan was not acting with calculated diplomacy when he said, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.' I can think of many instances in history where men and women sacrificed pragmatism for the sake of higher principle. Somehow they invariably ended up on the right side of history. I hope that you will stand on the right side of history in confronting the injustices of our time."

Read more at All Girl's Allowed