【大纪元11月17日讯】（大纪元华府记者站美国华盛顿DC报导）2009年11月13日晚，美国大华府地区的政商界名流汇聚在靠近华盛顿的阿灵顿希尔顿酒店，庆祝华府《大纪元时报》创办九周年。《大纪元时报》华府分社办公室所在地马里兰州格底斯堡市(Gaithersburg)市长悉尼‧卡兹（Sidney Katz）先生签发褒奖，宣布2009年11月13日为“大纪元日”。
前美国新汉布尔州联邦众议员、美国驻丹麦大使理查德‧斯威特是汤姆兰托斯人权基金会的董事会成员之一。他对现场的来宾说：“我希望《大纪元时报》 还将会有更多更多个九年！ 现在在中国大陆和其它一些国家还有严重的迫害人权的事情发生，很高兴我们能有《大纪元时报》，它是一个非常具有专业性、开放性的重要新闻媒体。信息的透明化、面对权力讲真话是一场重要的改革，《大纪元时报》在世界各个地方都在实践着这原则，特别是在中国社区。”
以下是理查德‧斯威特大使演讲的中文翻译。(根据录音整理,小标题为记者所加)
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【基金会】与【大纪元】揭露弊端增进人权理念相同
我以做为【兰托斯人权与正义基金会】(Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice)一名董事会成员的身份向各位祝贺。我被邀请来演讲﹐但是我们家最好的演讲人是我的太太Katrina﹐或是今晚也应邀我的岳母安娜特‧兰托斯(Annette Lantos)﹐已故联邦众议员﹑外交事务委员会主席汤姆‧兰托斯(Tom Lantos) 的太太。我们的基金会就是以纪念汤姆‧兰托斯而命名的。我要告诉你们一些有关基金会的事情﹐因为它和我们今晚正在庆祝的大纪元报庆有关。汤姆‧兰托斯(Tom Lantos) 先生是一位支持全世界人权的人。他最关心的﹐最伟大的战争之一就是揭露存在于中国大陆的那些弊端与人权问题的战争。他为保护中国人权和将希望之光带给全世界那些发生恐怖事件的地方所做的事情﹐不仅在中国社区有着很大的意义﹐同时对那些在人权迫害﹑存在恐怖问题的所有社区与社会都有很大的意义。
期待并荣幸能共同赞助DC的“神韵艺术团”演出
我们非常喜欢《大纪元时报》以及你们所做的事情。能够参加这份重要刊物九周年的庆祝会是我们的荣耀。我们也有机会能够共同赞助“神韵艺术团”在华盛顿DC肯尼迪剧院的演出。我们的许多朋友和你们的许多朋友因为观看这样的演出而联合起来创造了一个更大的社区。“神韵艺术团”每年来华盛顿DC演出﹐能够看到这个演出团体所表现出来的美﹑华丽壮观和艺术方面的演绎对我们家族来说是一件大事﹐我们期待并且感到荣耀和高兴能够作为共同赞助团体之一来帮助推动在华盛顿DC的演出。
信息透明化带给全世界美好远景有助相互学习合作
但是最重要的是我们今晚在这里为一份非常专业﹑非常开放﹑以及非常重要的刊物庆祝第九年的生日。《大纪元时报》已经把讲真话带给全世界﹐而这种真话在世界的许多地方仍然没有被听到。在座的我们中间有记者﹑有支持者以及许许多多的人都知道要解决那些恐怖事件﹑瓦解那些迫害人权的唯一办法就是信息透明化﹐对权力讲真话。我们要创造一个没有任何人可以躲藏的环境﹐任何人都公开化﹐不管他们那些人是在做坏事﹐还是可以把坏事变成好事。
信息透明化是《大纪元》正在给全世界做的一项重要改革﹐特别是在中国社区内。我们同时也知道现在是把美好远景带给全社会的时候﹐ 而这个远景意味着我们必须要学习如何共同合作。我很高兴能够与我同桌的印度政论家Dr. Vaidik交谈﹐我们谈到如何能够解决世界上那么多不同困难的事情。我相信只有《大纪元》的报导才能达到这样的效果。借着公开提出存在于社会上所有的矛盾和问题﹐我们才能真正的开始找到解决问题的办法﹐借着汇集在一起的真相以及由此而产生的合作﹐为更好的明天而努力。
有一个很重要需要大家注意的事就是现在的时刻﹐就像我岳父曾经说的﹐是历史上的关键时刻。我们在打开历史上的那些门﹐进入历史的新时刻。这种信息透明和新的美好远景会产生巨大的改变。在那里人们将会看到并且开始以一种建设性的方式来处理这些问题。但是这是需要持续警惕﹐长期关注与报导﹐那就要有像《大纪元》这样的一份重要刊物﹐像【兰托斯人权与社会正义基金会】这样的一个重要的基金会组织﹐以及像今晚我们较早时所听到介绍的那些与会组织公司。没有这些组织公司来努力让这些事情发生﹐我们将依然无知,对那些恐怖事件缺乏了解﹐而社会上的人们也依然无法努力去解决那些非常困难的事情。
《大纪元》像阳光普照世界阴暗角落 维护和平与自由
所以今晚我非常荣幸能够在这里和你们讲话。能够代表【兰托斯人权与社会正义基金会】来祝贺你们庆祝九周年的成功﹐并且希望《大纪元时报》还将会有更多更多个九年！我们可以预见到不久的将来，《大纪元时报》会将阳光普照到世界上那些阴暗的角落，会促使世界的领导者们汇集到一起讨论解决问题的方案，并将这些方案付诸实施。同时也开始重新建立一个新的社区，在那里人们可以支持与维护和平与自由，而所有重要的民主人士都能够实现他们的梦想。为了这个目标﹐我相信我们记住这个故事是非常重要的。我听到这个故事很多次了﹐它提醒着我这些事情会发生的。而我今晚很愿意和大家分享这个故事。
这是一个有关原住民美国人和一个纽约人的故事。他们走在街上﹐美国土着人告诉纽约人说﹕“我听到一只蟋蟀在叫。” 而这个纽约人看着他说﹕“你在开玩笑, 我一点都没有听到蟋蟀在叫﹐你到底在说什么﹖”于是美国人土着带着纽约人在前方转弯的树丛一角找到那只正在叫的蟋蟀﹐令纽约人震惊不已。
持续奋斗 推倒中国实体的铁幕与网际虚拟的高墙
这个故事是告诉我们要细心的倾听那些鼓励人心的内涵。人们受压迫会反抗迫害﹐会渴望自由﹐人们会齐心协力创造一些好的机会﹐能够再一次生活在他们所梦想的自由与现实中。如果我们听到这个故事﹐如果我们能够跟随我们的良心与理想﹐并且了解这个故事能够提醒我们持续为我们的理想而奋斗的话﹐我相信总有一天我们会有机会把所有的高墙都推倒﹐不只是20年前柏林的那个铁幕的墙﹐也包括今天存在于中国的那些高墙﹐那些实体上的铁幕与在网际虚拟空间存在的阻碍信息流通的那些墙。
我祝贺《大纪元时报》在带领这个目标上扮演着重要的角色，我谢谢大家能够支持这个理想﹐因为事实上这是一份非常重要的报纸﹐即使在面临经济危机﹐许多报纸正在挣扎存活的时刻，《大纪元时报》仍然能够继续存在下去！再次的谢谢大家与感谢大家的支持。
(Speech of Ambassador Swett at DC Epoch Times’ 9-Year Celebration)
I bring you greetings from the Lantos Foundation, which I am honored to serve as a board member. I have been asked to speak, the better speaker of the family is actually my wife Katrina and even another guest tonight my mother-in-law, Annette Lantos, the wife of late Congressman Tom Lantos, who the foundation is named after and has been the Chairman of the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee for many years.
I want to just tell you a couple of things about the Foundation because it really has a great deal to do with what we are celebrating here tonight. Tom Lantos was a person who stood up for human rights all around the world. One of his great battles that he waged with enthusiasm was the battle of revealing those abuses and problems that existed in Mainland China. What he has done for the expatriate Chinese community in protecting both human rights in that country and bringing light around the world the terrible things that has been done, has meant a great deal to not only the Chinese community but all communities and societies where human rights abuses are a terrible problem.
We are greatly fond of the Epoch Times and the work that you are doing. It is a real honor to be here to celebrate the 9th anniversary of this important publication. We have also had the opportunity to co-sponsor the Shen Yun performances here at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. Many of our friends have mingled with many of your friends and we have created an even greater community based on this participation to see the beauty and the pageantry and the artistic expression of the Shen Yun Performing Troupe. As it comes to the Washington, DC every year, that is something that all of our Lantos families look forward to, and we are honored and glad to be one of the sponsoring Foundations to help promote that presentation here in Washington.
But most importantly, tonight we are here to celebrate ninth anniversary of a very professional, very open, and very important reporting that the Epoch Times has done to bring forward the truth as it has not been aloud to come forward in many parts of the world. We have among us, reporters and supporters and people that have come to recognize that the only way that we can overcome these horrible events, and perpetrated injustices against human beings, we have to bring “transparency”, we have to speak truth to power, we have to create an environment where no one can hide, and everyone is revealed, both the bad things that they are doing, and hopefully when things change to the good things that can be done. This “transparency of information” is an important transformation that the Epoch Times is working to produce all around the world, and most importantly within the Chinese community.
We also understand that this is the time where good perspectives must be brought upon all societies, and that perspective means that we learn how to work together, and I have had the great pleasure of sitting at my table with Dr. Vaidik, a renowned Commentator of India, and talking with him about how we can solve some of the very different, difficult problems all around the world. I believe that it is the reporting of the Epoch Times that can accomplish this kind of efforts, by speaking out against the frictions and the problems that exist in societies. That we can begin to in fact illuminate a solution and work towards a better tomorrow, by incorporating these truths and the cooperation that they can engender.
It’s important to know that this is the time that my father-in-law used to say is the hinge of history. We are swinging those doors of history, open into a new time where this “transparency of information” and the new perspectives are going to make a tremendous difference, where people are going to see and begin to deal with those problems in a constructive way. But it will require continued vigilance, it will require the on-going surveillance and reporting that is so important to publications like the Epoch Times that is so important to organizations like the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Social Justice. Because without those participating organizations, that many of those organizations that we heard about earlier in the introduction portion of this programs, making these things known, we will continue to be devoid of and ignorant of these terrible things, and also of the people that are out endeavoring to solve these very difficult problems.
So it is a very great honor for me to be here tonight to talk with you, to bring you the greetings from Lantos Foundation to celebrate nine years of success, and hope for nine times nine many more years to come. Knowing that in the future that what the Epoch Times will be able to accomplish will be to shed the sunlight on the dark corners of the world, to bring together world leaders who can talk about the solutions, and make those solutions real, and begin to build that community where people are able to support themselves and sustain themselves in peace and freedom. All of the important democratic governing bodies will then be able to realize their own dreams and for those reasons, I believe that it is important that we remember stories that has been told to me many times. It reminds me of how this all can take place. And I would like to share this story with you tonight.
It’s a story about a Native American and a New Yorker and they are walking down the street and the Native American says to his friend: “You know, I hears a cricket chirping.” The New Yorker looks at him and says: “you’ve got to be kidding, I can’t here this cricket chirping at all, what are you talking about….” The Native American took the New Yorker friend to the corner on the right of the block. He found behind a bush a cricket chirping….
The story is that we have to listen with heart for those tales of peace, those courageous tales where people are standing up to the oppression, crying out for the freedom, and working together to create the positive opportunities for people to once again be able to live in freedom and in realization of the own dreams. And if we listen attentively for those stories, if we can follow our hearts and minds, and understand how those stories can help inspire all of us work to that end, I believe there will be a day when we will have the opportunity to bring all of the Walls down. Not just the Berlin Wall of 20 years ago in the iron curtain, but the Walls that exist today. The Walls that are both physical and that exists in cyber space in China.
I want to congratulate the Epoch Times for being an important player in bringing this about, and I wanted to thank all of you for supporting this cause. Because this is in fact an important newspaper, that will continue to thrive, even in these economic down times where there are so many that are struggling or collapsing. Thank you once again for your attention and thank you for your supports.
(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
