The People’s Review (London Newspaper) – “Nothing new then” by Tom Parker

On November 20th, a group of 36 Western Falun Gong practitioners convened in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a location infamous for its history of public human rights abuses. Lilian Staf, a Falun Gong practitioner from Sweden was among them. Her statement outlining her motivation to travel to China read, "I cannot silently watch this gross injustice…If I were living there [China] wouldn't I have hoped for the International Community to help me from these indecent abuses". She is referring to the reports of over 300 Chinese citizens killed and over 10,000 sent to forced labour camps. The offence? Practising Falun Gong.

In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party ruled the practice of Falun Gong illegal. Why? The Chinese authorities - among other nebulous denunciations - have claimed that the Falun Gong is an 'evil cult' which has a dangerous effect on the Chinese psyche. [they were recently forced to publicly withdraw this evaluation to appease the 2008 International Olympic Committee]

The Falun Gong website - www.falundafa.org - points to a combination of different factors. They claim a climate of 'totalitarian paranoia' exists among the Chinese authorities because of the huge number of Chinese people practising Falun Gong. A 1999 Government survey reported the figure to be around 70 million - a number larger than the Chinese Communist Party membership. Others point to the fact that it has been mythicised as a 'danger' to "start political unrest, thus providing them (the politicians) with a 'cause' to gain political power." The durability of a doctrine often requires the existence of an apparent 'threat' to justify itself.

Over and above such speculation, it remains of great interest that a group of Westerners were propelled to risk their physical wellbeing and make a stand in a country with notoriously severe methods of dealing with unwanted assemblies.

When this commentator interviewed Lilian Staf, one thing stood out – her undying commitment to Falun Gong and her clear conviction that Falun Gong was good. Lilian supported this claim with the fact that so many people were Falun Fong practitioners worldwide and therefore "Public opinion is preserving the truth. There is nothing negative about living by truthfulness or compassion". In a TIME interview with the Falun Gong's founder Li Hongzhi, he stated, "I have enabled more than 100 million people to achieve good health…this is a fact". Despite the somewhat messianic undertone, Li Hongzhi is only a teacher and nothing more, according to Lilian. Falun Gong's central principle is "truthfulness-compassion-forbearance" (Zen-Shan-Ren). Despite having many similarities to Qigong, Buddhism and Taoism, Lilian assured me that Falun Gong was certainly not a religion, rather "it is a physical and mental way of living". Professor Barend Ter Haar, a leading scholar on Falun Gong, states, "there can be little doubt that in terms of its institutions, and among part of its practitioners, the Falun Gong functions like a religious organization". He concluded that whatever the case, this does not imply anything inherently 'evil' or even 'negative' about the Falun Gong, let alone legitimize the human rights abuses occurring.

However, the Chinese violation of Falun Gong practitioners' human rights is unquestionable. The 23 hours detention period of the Westerners and the violence inflicted on them has been heavily condemned by Western Governments. In October 2000 the UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Report on China professed that, "Falun Gong would attract no attention from the authorities of any state which truly respected human rights". Furthermore, the International media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) reported that, "For the past two years the Chinese authorities have harassed foreign journalists who investigated this organization [Falun Gong] criminalized by the government". Whether these condemnations will be translated into pressure on the Chinese Government is yet to be seen.

I asked Lilian whether her treatment in Beijing was unexpected, "I felt they treated us unfairly. I didn't plan to be arrested, but yes, I was aware of the possibility". In fact their assembly in Tiananmen Square is illegal under Chinese law. Likewise, the reported violence towards the Westerners and native Falun Gong practitioners is illegal under international human rights treaties signed by China.

I asked Lilian whether her stand in Beijing was purely to protest against the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners or whether there was a wider issue aimed at forcing the Chinese Government to address all its human rights abuses including the Tibet issue. This was the one stage of the interview where I was a little confused as to whether - as she reiterated in the interview - the protest was "speaking up for every human being", or was there something particular about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners?

Last week, International Human Rights Day saw Falun Gong stage a series of peaceful walks through major cities of the world urging to "rescue the Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China". In London, a petition was handed to Mr. Blair, and a vigil was held outside the Chinese Embassy. Here the group gave accounts of their experiences in China. How - bearing in mind this was in London, not Beijing - did the Chinese Embassy respond? They played deafening music - allegedly a Second World War march dating back to their conflict with Japan - out of the public announcement system for thirty minutes. Local residents called the police and it was eventually turned off. In Australia, Lilian told me how a similar gathering was given a thorough washing down with buckets of water, courtesy of the Chinese Embassy. Additionally, there are reports of physical and verbal intimidation by overseas Chinese authorities trying to influence Falun Gong practitioners abroad.

This commentator has no difficulty in understanding that human rights abuses do take place in China and the perpetrators must be rebuked. However, for a non-Chinese citizen to judge what is good for the Chinese people as a whole, given the incessant indoctrination many have experienced, is a different and difficult task. What is clear though, is that violent punishment for a non-violent practice - whatever the location or person - must be stopped. The Falun Gong activists must consider whether their current methods of protest are the most effective for initiating a change in policy of the Chinese authorities.