July 20, 1999, in the wee hours, behind the curtain of the dark night, the Chinese armed police force, ushered on by China’s then-ruler Jiang Zemin, launched a nationwide blitz arrest of Falun Gong practitioners, jump-starting a violent oppression of 100 million innocent citizens.
No one at the time – neither the oppressed nor the oppressor – believed the persecution could last long. To Falun Gong practitioners, the persecution must have been the result of a misunderstanding. Less than three months earlier, on April 25, Premier Zhu Rongji had met with representatives of Falun Gong practitioners and assured them of their right to practice Falun Gong. As recently as June 14, a government spokesperson had stated that the government never prohibited Falun Gong practice, and that people had the right to practice. How could a government contradict itself so quickly?
Since its public introduction in 1992, more than on hundred million people of all ages in over eighty countries have taken up the practice
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More importantly, Falun Gong practitioners could not think of any justifiable reason for the persecution. Falun Gong only teaches people to follow the principle of Truth-Benevolence-Forbearance to improve their moral and mental quality, and to practice five sets of meditative exercises to improve their physical wellbeing. The authorities were quite aware of Falun Gong’s positive impact on society; a February US News and World Report article quoted an official from the National Commission of Sports as crediting the practice with saving 100 billion yuan in medical expenses for the 100 million people practicing Falun Gong.1 One third of the 60 million Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members and a large number of high-ranking government officials practiced Falun Gong. How could a government turn on its own supporters?
To the CCP the persecution was meant to be a quick kill. Jiang himself, for example, had claimed: “I simply do not believe our Communist Party cannot conquer Falun Gong.”
The regime had every reason to be self-assured. For several months, its intelligence agents had locked onto Falun Gong practitioners whom they thought to be “leaders,” and its propaganda machinery had prepared potent fabrications to vilify Falun Gong and turn the public against it. In so many previous persecutions, these two steps alone were enough to break the backbone and spirit of any victim group.
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In the days following July 20, tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners travel to Beijing to engage in non-violent appeal against the recent “ban” issued by Jiang Zemin. After being released from custody, most Falun Gong practitioners go back to peacefully appeal and are repeatedly arrested.
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The regime commands the world’s most powerful machinery of repression: the largest army, armed police force, public security police force, and detention center/labor camp system. This well-oiled machine has accumulated the most experience and skill in controlling people’s minds, dictating people’s social behavior, and annihilating nonconforming groups. In addition, the regime has achieved a feat no oppressors had ever accomplished before: enticing the world’s acquiescence towards repetitive human rights abuses through economic favors. There simply seemed no stopping it from doing what it wanted to do.
So overflowing was the regime’s arrogance that the CCP deviated from its usual practice of labeling its political persecutions as “internal affairs” to divert international attention, and instead boldly trumpeted its new persecution abroad and even asked Interpol to apprehend and extradite the founder of Falun Gong. With such confidence, the CCP gave itself three months to “completely solve the Falun Gong question.” Some China experts and international observers thought the government needed just a week.
As history unfolds, what seemed a lopsided onslaught has turned out to be an epic struggle of peace vs. violence, truth vs. lies, and conscience vs. evil.
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The vulnerability of women to torture is not only of no concern to the PRC government, but is in fact ruthlessly exploited to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
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There is no doubt regarding the oppressor’s ferociousness. In the first few years of the persecution, the CCP was able to bring the weight of the entire society down onto Falun Gong practitioners. Every element of society, from government ministries to neighborhoods, was turned against Falun Gong. Practitioners were forced to renounce their belief, or be fired from their jobs, expelled from schools, stripped of business licenses, evicted from their homes, and deprived of retirement payments.
There is also no doubt of the regime’s brutality. Those who refused to yield to the political and social pressure were incarcerated, brainwashed, tortured, and killed. Millions upon millions of Falun Gong practitioners, from young children to pregnant women and the elderly, have been detained and abused. Thousands have been tortured to death, while countless others have simply disappeared. Most shockingly, at least one clandestine concentration camp has extracted vital organs from thousands of Falun Gong practitioners. With the regime’s information blockade keeping the full picture hidden, the scope and severity of the atrocities are difficult to fathom.
Facing the extreme injustice, facing heinous torture and killing, Falun Gong practitioners have remained completely peaceful. They remain peaceful in the face of police beatings; they remain peaceful towards inmates whom police coerce into becoming torturers. They have exemplified Falun Gong’s teaching of “not hitting back when attacked, and not talking back when insulted.” Only the righteous command the moral power of non-violence. Such moral power is not displayed by just one or two, or a few, but by all Falun Gong practitioners. Their great tolerance and righteousness have touched countless people, including the torturers.
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Li Wanyun was tortured nearly to death in the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp. He died on August 3, 2006 , at the age of 43.
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At the same time as the violent persecution, the communist regime also launched a far-reaching campaign of disinformation to demonize Falun Gong, to incite hatred, and to put pressure on Falun Gong practitioners. The CCP’s propaganda machine flooded the printing presses and airwaves with the basest lies and fabrications, claiming that Falun Gong preached doomsday and encouraged suicide, that the regime had treated Falun Gong practitioners “like a mother treats her daughters,” and that it had won “decisive victories and successfully transformed 98% of Falun Gong practitioners.” In early 2001, the regime even staged a self-immolation of five people in Tiananmen Square and, like Nero’s shift of blame for the Great Fire of Rome to Christians, blamed the immolation on Falun Gong. The potent propaganda poisoned many people into hating Falun Gong and participating in the persecution.
With great compassion towards those who are under the influence of the venomous lies, Falun Gong practitioners have persisted in what the Chinese language describes as “truth clarification” informing people of the facts about Falun Gong and waking them up about a persecution that is completely based on lies. In the beginning, few people listened, and they even turned many practitioners in to the authorities. Gradually, people started to listen. As they learned about the heinous torture and saw through the CCP’s lies, they began to distance themselves from the persecution. The CCP can no longer mobilize society to assist in the persecution. More and more people have also started to protect Falun Gong practitioners and help them to spread the truth.
For the first time the CCP has had to restrain its propaganda machine; to continue its smear campaign against Falun Gong would only convey the message that Falun Gong is still standing and Falun Gong practitioners are still going strong in China. For the first time in its long history of dictatorship the CCP has had to take its persecution underground and stop claiming more “decisive victories.”
The regime, however, cannot stop the tide from turning. The persecution of Falun Gong has thoroughly exposed the despotic nature of the CCP. At the same time, the courage of Falun Gong practitioners has awakened people’s consciences. Large numbers of people have renounced their CCP memberships and resigned from other CCP-affiliated organizations as a declaration to reclaim their consciences. By November 2006, more than 15 million people had renounced their allegiance to the CCP, and the number is rapidly growing.
This resistance to a violent persecution through truth clarification and awakening people’s conscience is unprecedented. The steely will Falun Gong practitioners have demonstrated and the tremendous sacrifices they have made are what the Chinese language describes as “startling the heavens and moving the gods.” When this page of history is turned, there is no doubt that historians, writers, and scholars for generations to come will visit and revisit the epic story playing out today.
Harvesting Organs from Live Falun Gong Practitioners in China
The Canadian report of human rights lawyer David Matas and former MP David Kilgour on the Chinese Government’s crime of taking live Falun Gong practitioners’ organs.
http://organharvestinvestigation.net/
http://organharvestinvestigation.net/
The newsletter on organ harvesting.
http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1495&Itemid=0
http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1495&Itemid=0
Picture Exhibit:
