Harry Wu’s Speech Reported by Media and Inspiring Audience

March 9, 2013 by admin

On January 23, 2013, Harry Wu, Founder and Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation was invited to give the keynote speech at the Second Annual Lecture on Asian Democracy at University of Louisville.

The official title of the speech was “My Life in the Chinese Gulag.” In addition to the warm reception from the audience which included not only university students, but also faculty members and university administrators and even the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, Mr. Wu’s talks attracted intensive media attention from the local community.

Even before Harry Wu’s arrival in Louisville, Kentucky, The local newspaper, The Courier-Journal, also ran an interview with him on January 22, 2013, in which Mr. Wu’s Laogai experience and human rights activism were highlighted. The next day, the website of Louisville’s NPR Station, WFPL-89.3 also ran an interview with Harry Wu, with a provocative title: “Former Chinese Political Prisoner Harry Wu: U.S. Companies Too Cozy with Communist China”.

Afterwards on January 29, 2013, The Louisville Cardinal, the independent weekly newspaper at the University of Louisville, ran a headline story and devoted another full page to Mr. Wu’s speech and visit to the university.

Apparently, Mr. Wu’s speech has left an indelible mark on the minds of his audience, as shown by more than a dozen thank-you cards that Harry Wu has received from the audience since the speech. One of the cards reads,”… Your stories from and insights into the workings of the Laogai system made a profound impression on me. Having studied the Soviet Union for several years and read many accounts from the Gulag system, I was saddened to hear the parallels in Laogai. I hope that your continual advocacy contributes to precipitating an end to this human tragedy…”