Annette Lantos, wife of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, has written a letter to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) defending Voice of America China broadcasts in Tibetan and Cantonese.\u00a0 The BBG put these broadcasts on the chopping block in its budget proposal earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Herself a holocaust survivor, Mrs. Lantos recounted the way that VOA broadcasts \u201cfanned the fires of resistance in the brave underground fighters who sought to destroy the brutal Nazi totalitarianism from within.\u201d\u00a0 Her letter states:<\/p>\n
\u201cI well remember as a girl in Nazi-occupied Hungary, how every Sunday afternoon my family would draw the shades, close the curtains, and gather around the shortwave radio, pressing our ears close so that we could catch each precious word of freedom and hope that poured out of that radio receiver like manna from heaven . . . The VOA and BBC broadcasts were our one connection to freedom, our one connection to hope, and our lifeline that gave the resistance the courage to endure to the end. . . To cut off the VOA broadcasts would have been to cut off the very legs of the resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers, said, \u201cI am deeply grateful to Mrs. Lantos for supporting Voice of America broadcasts into China, as she is a towering presence for human rights all over the globe, including millions who suffer at the hands of the brutal, totalitarian regime in China. \u00a0With a wave of self-immolations in Tibet, now is not the time to cut off VOA broadcasting in Tibetan.\u00a0 The Cantonese broadcasts are essential as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Littlejohn continued, \u201cAs Mrs. Lantos stated, \u2018VOA has been the voice of freedom and democracy in China for 70 years. It is highly respected, even venerated, in China.\u2019 Congressman Tom Lantos would not stand for any cuts to VOA.\u00a0 Mrs. Lantos is carrying on his powerful legacy.\u00a0 As Congressman Lantos warned: \u2018We must remember that the veneer of civilization is paper thin.\u00a0 We are its guardians, and we can never rest.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Lantos served as the Executive Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, co-founded by Congressman Lantos, the only holocaust survivor ever to serve in the United States Congress.\u00a0 Mrs. Lantos now serves as the Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.lantosfoundation.org\/index.asp<\/a><\/p>\n Mrs. Lantos\u2019 letter also urges restoring broadcasts to Russia, and commends the efforts of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB), which works to ensure that U.S. government-funded broadcasts promote respect for human rights and freedom of the press, especially in nations where these basic freedoms are under attack.<\/p>\n Read Mrs. Lantos’ letter here:\u00a0 http:\/\/womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/letter.pdf.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Annette Lantos, wife of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, has written a letter to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) defending Voice of America China broadcasts in Tibetan and Cantonese.\u00a0 The BBG put these broadcasts on the chopping block in … Continue reading