Australia: Forum in Brisbane, An End to Genocide in the 21st Century

On the evening of June 11, 2003, the Falun Dafa Association of Queensland and the University of Queensland Amnesty International branch jointly hosted a seminar at the University of Queensland's St Lucia campus entitled, "An End to Genocide in the 21st Century". The focus of the seminar was on the lawsuits being filed around the world against China's former leader Jiang Zemin, particularly the lawsuit filed in the US against Jiang for genocide and crimes against humanity in his persecution of Falun Gong. Steve Maloney, President of University of Queensland Amnesty, opened the seminar by discussing the class action lawsuit in the US against Jiang and the 610 Office. The lawsuit is based on the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act, and has been filed by individual plaintiffs (all Falun Gong practitioners, both Chinese and Westerners, who have directly experienced the persecution).

Senator John Cherry	Taiwanese, Falun Gong and Amnesty speakers

Attendees then watched two videos. The first video showed the peaceful exercises of Falun Gong. This was in stark contrast to the second video, which showed China Central Television' footage of the so-called "self immolation" incident at Tiananmen Square in January 2001. The video pointed out many inconsistencies that indicate this whole event was staged. For example, the footage clearly showed that Liu Chunling collapsed after being hit with a heavy object. The man who was claimed to be Wang Jindong by China Central Television sat cross-legged on the ground, but not in the Falun Gong meditation position. A police officer stood next to him with a fire blanket and waited until he shouted something before dropping the blanket over Mr Wang's head. At least two different voice prints have been established for people claiming to be Mr Wang.

John Andress, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Queensland Inc, spoke about the background of Falun Gong since it was introduced in China in 1992 and how it was supported by the government until the brutal persecution began in 1999. He compared Jiang's persecution to the genocide of the Jews in Nazi Germany. "The Nazis gave show tours of their concentration camps, just as western journalists were given show tours of China' labour camps where hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners were held." It was noted that the SARS incident showed the entire world the deceitful nature of the Jiang regime and how this "poisonous deceit" had also infected many people, both inside and outside China, particularly regarding Falun Gong. Mr Andress pointed out that the lawsuit is not against the Chinese Government, but against Jiang, a very important distinction. "Being against Jiang's persecution is not the same as being against China. On the contrary, it is for a long-term relationship with the Chinese people, for healthy relationships among the world's nations and for safeguarding the future of humanity".

Senator John Cherry, from the Democrats, discussed how the Democrats were working on getting human rights issues on the Australian Government's agenda, ensuring the rights of Falun Gong in China and Australia. Senator Cherry pointed out that such crimes as Jiang has committed affect all people, not only those in China. He mentioned that he was very pleased to see this lawsuit, and encouraged all Falun Gong practitioners to "keep up your struggle for freedom of belief".

The final speaker was Mr Li Yongreng from Taiwan, who spoke passionately about his views on democracy, freedom, human rights and the pursuit of truth, compassion and forbearance. Although Mr Li doesn't practise Falun Gong, he is very supportive of practitioners' beliefs and rights of belief. He explained how many Taiwanese had suffered from the White Terror policy in the past and encouraged people in Mainland China to take brave steps toward democracy, freedom and human rights. Mr. Li said that there are hundreds of thousands of people freely practising Falun Gong in Taiwan at the moment, quite the opposite of what' happening in Mainland China.

The seminar concluded successfully with all attendees gaining a much deeper understanding of the need for Jiang to be brought to justice for his crimes against humanity.