(Clearwisdom.net) Congresswoman Ms. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin was unable to attend the July 14 rally in Washington D.C., but sent the following message of support.

Remarks for the rally to mark 12 years since the Communist Party of China
initiated a campaign to persecute and suppress Falun Gong
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
July 14, 2011

Please accept my regrets that I am unable to join you here at our nation's Capitol to mark the twelve-year anniversary of the Communist Party of China's campaign to persecute and suppress Falun Gong practitioners.

As you all know, Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline which consists of moral teachings for daily life, meditation, and exercise based upon the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. According to the 2008 Annual Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, tens of millions of Chinese citizens practiced Falun Gong in the 1990s and adherents to the spiritual movement inside of China are estimated to still number in the hundreds of thousands despite the government's ongoing crackdown.

Since the 1990s, the Communist Party has grown its campaign to eradicate Falun Gong - banning books on Falun Gong, criminalizing its practice, and engaging in mass arrests of its practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners continue to be at particularly high risk of torture and other ill-treatment in detention and constitute at least half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in re-education through labor (RTL) camps.

Today, I add my voice to support the Wisconsin Falun Dafa Association in calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and celebrate the Chinese citizens who are taking a principled and peaceful stand by rejecting the violence and inequity of Communist Party rule.