Germany: Speech from Human Rights Day in Bremen

The following speech was given by a Falun Gong practitioner at a press conference in Bremen on the 10th of December, World Human Rights Day.

Honoured Ladies and Gentlemen, today is World Human Rights Day.

The right to live, the right to think and the right to form a personal opinion are rights we in Germany take for granted. Sadly, these rights are forbidden to Chinese citizens living in their homeland.

It is now twelve years since Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, came to the public. It is five years since the persecution started. Falun Gong is a traditional, Chinese qigong practice that is part of the Buddhist School. Falun Gong practitioners follow the principles “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.”

Today, we find that Falun Gong is persecuted in China without cause. Practitioners have to suffer torture and are sent to slave labour camps. The Chinese media disseminates fabricated stories to suppress information about this groundless persecution. We even find that the German media repeats the stories and distorted subject matter about Falun Gong, disseminated by the Chinese regime. I’m sad to say that this is the same regime that perpetrates the persecution.

For a long time China has inhumanly persecuted many groups of people, be it Christians, Buddhists, the democracy movements or Falun Gong. The persecution of Falun Gong has extended into each facet of life, work and family. People are even persecuted because they are friends with a Falun Gong practitioner. This persecution is aimed at peaceful people, who only wish to practise their belief freely.

Such injustice does not occur anywhere else in the world, only in China where medieval torture instruments are used to break the will of practitioners. This is happening now! This is happening today! This is happening at this very moment!

The originator of this illogical state terrorism is the former head of state and chief of China’s Communist Party Jiang Zemin. He has to assume sole responsibility for the genocide perpetrated against Falun Gong practitioners; he has to assume sole responsibility for Falun Gong being considered China’s number one enemy; he has to assume sole responsibility for the death of over 1,150 practitioners and the imprisonment of more than 500,000 practitioners in slave labour camps.

Countries such as Canada and Ireland, as well as other countries, have clearly shown that it is possible to maintain a stable commercial relationship with China, while at the same time espouse advocacy for human rights. We hope that Germany will be able to stand up for human rights as well.

The Chinese regime has promised its citizen human rights, but has not granted it. Johannes Rau said during his China state visit that a large country like China “can no longer be governed solely by an authoritarian regime.” Rau continued that human rights have “universal application” and “must be applicable worldwide.” “No compromises are acceptable when it comes to the fundamental rights of an individual: living in freedom and being safe from arbitrary torture, arbitrary loss of freedom and discrimination. Such rights are not negotiable.”

Can we have commerce with China? Yes, but we cannot and must not sell our fundamental values and beliefs. This is the only way for Germany to deal with China upright and credibly. Do you know that the products we find during this Christmas season in the stores, such as toys, technical components and jewellery, are mass-produced in China’s slave labour camps – these cheap goods are probably produced with the hands of slave labourers? The labourers are those detained in slave labour camps, and eighty percent of these slaves are Falun Gong practitioners.

For those who think that they are unable to help in this matter, please listen to the following. In September, Falun Gong practitioner Xiong Wei was set free. Xiong Wei is a former student of the Technical University of Berlin who suffered two long years in a forced labour camp because she practises Falun Gong. Many people participated in our petition signature drive and signed their names, and many of them were locals from Bremen. Therefore, we thank the Bremen people from the bottom of our hearts.

One can ignore it; one can give up in the face of this overwhelming suffering and believe that a single individual from this world cannot eradicate suffering. Or one can become a part in this effort, and do as much as one can. One can feel compassion for one moment and do something.

If you decide to support us, please view the petition signature lists, sign and be a part of ending the persecution of Falun Gong.

Thank you for listening to me.