On Tuesday, Sept. 9, I attended Mr. Harry Wu’s lecture on the Laogai prison system in China. Unfortunately, there were individuals present who were a continual disruption to Wu’s presentation. One young man repeatedly shouted angry remarks while Wu was speaking and then continued to interfere after members of the crowd asked him to please be quiet. I was personally very angry at this man’s inappropriate behavior. Those of us who assembled at the Memorial Union came to listen to Harry Wu — not members of the audience.

I also feel that Fusheng Wei’s flyer and subsequent article in the Daily on Wednesday, Sept. 10, were equally childish and inappropriate. He accuses Wu of being a “convicted rapist” without any supporting sources or evidence. He then continues with an illogical argument in a feeble attempt to discredit Wu. Wei claims that China’s communism is “nothing but cosmetics.” It is hard to believe that a country that felt the need to violently crush the peaceful demonstrators in Tiananmen Square is moving toward a peaceful and loving “democracy” and is only cosmetically communist.

Wu’s evidence of the human rights violations occurring in China’s prisons was overwhelming. Wu traveled to China to secretly videotape the Nazi-like prisons with the television show “60 Minutes.” National news programs are not in the habit of broadcasting lies. However, Wei maintains that they were just that — “lies.”

Wei’s continual attack of Mr. Wu’s character is an attempt to veil the real issues. There are serious human rights abuses taking place in China today. Everyone should know the truth. I applaud Mr. Wu’s efforts to extend basic human rights to every human being.

Anna Keyte

Freshman

LAS Undecided