Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-10-22-Speech-3-468-000"
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"en.20141022.24.3-468-000"2
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"Mr President, pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong are opposing state-imposed candidates for elections. The Chinese-backed governor fears that full democracy will lead to the poor dominating politics. Well we can only hope, can we not? Would that not be a fantastic system? Let us hope that that could happen all around the world. It would be a better place. I hope and pray that it is true.
A great hero of mine, President Reagan, famously said: ‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. We must be thoughtful, protect it, and hand it on to them to do the same.’
Many of us thought that President Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and their allies had defeated the tyranny of Communism in the last century. Sadly, in China, its vestiges live on, and there are many new anti-democratic tyrannies around the world, not all of which show their true faces, but are a force for evil all the same.
Protesters are carrying umbrellas in Hong Kong to protect themselves from teargas. We must hope and pray that these good people will stand firm in Hong Kong; in many places around the world we need people to stand firm in their battle for democracy. We hope and pray that good will prevail over evil and right will defeat wrong, and that the umbrella can become a symbol of democracy, protecting individuals against tyranny.
This is a classic case of individuals standing against an overbearing, over-powerful state. As such we wish them well and hope their example will inspire the people of China itself to cry out the demand for democracy so loud that even the ghosts of Tiananmen Square will hear it and join in.
The idea of freedom cannot be killed. It lives in all of our hearts. To the people of Hong Kong: we wish you well."@en1
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