Note From the Editor Born in 1973, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is a legal scholar, pioneer of China’s rights defense movement, and a founder of the New Citizens Movement. On April 10, 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subverting state power.” Before this, he had served a separate prison term from 2013 to 2017 for his Citizens Movement activities during Xi Jinping’s first wave of crackdowns on civil society after coming to power in late 2012. Between the two

Speaker: Giovanni Vassallo, President of the Bay Area Friends of Tibet & Co-founder of the Bay Area Chinese and Tibetan Friendship Group Good evening, dear Chinese brothers and sisters! My name is Giovanni Vassallo. I am honored to stand before you today as one of the founding members of the Bay Area Friends of Tibet, and as a co-founder of the Bay Area Chinese and Tibetan Friendship Group, which first began meeting back in 2009. Thank you so much for having me here today. I