Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal activist and NYU fellow, just released a new video where he calls for the release of Chinese political prisoners and urges other nations to intervene and tell China to loosen some of its more restrictive laws. The video was released just in advance of the United Nation's Human Rights Day, which is slated for December 10th.

In the video, Guangcheng takes aim at Xi Jinping, the man who will take over as state president of China next month. "Dear Mr. Xi Jinping, the whole nation is watching you," he says. "Whether you will follow the call of heaven and people to carry out reform, or kidnap the government and maintain the power of the Communist Party, is a matter of whether China will have the transition in a peaceful way or a violent way."

His most impassioned words come near the video's end:

"Citizens of the world, let your voice be heard in support of justice. And people of China, we are capable and ought to join together to work for our own rights. We can rely on our own actions to establish and maintain a fair and just social system. Don't expect some good emperor to bestow the right upon us, or some upright officials to defend our rights. God helps those who help themselves. Our fate is actually in our own hands."

Translation via Beijing Cream