As Victims Exercise Their Legal Rights, Offenders Should Take the Opportunity to Make up for Past Mistakes

The history of humankind has had its ups and downs, but it always follows the laws of nature: good deeds are rewarded, and bad deeds result in negative repercussions. Five years ago, the Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin and his regime began the global media campaign of deceit to sway public opinion against Falun Dafa, spending tremendous amounts of national resources to effect the persecution. Today, due to the forces of just resistance, the systematic persecution of kindhearted practitioners and their supporters is heading towards complete collapse, just as wise and farsighted people had predicted. The worldwide legal effort will find and justly punish the perpetrators. At this historic moment, offenders are at a crossroads, with the burden of their own futures on the line: they must decide whether to continue their roles in the persecution or to make up for their past wrongdoings.

Three incidents in China and abroad illustrate this current situation well. One of them is a written statement signed by 241 relatives of persecuted practitioners that was submitted to the Chinese National People's Congress, the Chinese Supreme Court, Justice Department and High Procuratorate, to the Justice Office and Court of Hunan Province, and to the Local Procuratorate in Hunan Province. This statement charges policemen led by Zi Wei, the vice principle of Chi Shan Prison, Yuan Jiang, and Hunan Province with using cruel torture to persecute their family members. It demanded that the 41 policemen connected to the persecution be severely punished. The second example is the breaking apart of the wall of hatred that existed as a result of the Chinese Consulate's persecution of Falun Gong in Toronto¹. The third incident occurred on the 4th of November, 2004, when Su Rong, the Communist Party Secretary of Gansu Province, went to Zambia for an official visit along with over 100 other people. During his visit, he was charged in a lawsuit brought by Falun Dafa practitioners. Following the lawsuit in Tanzania brought against the former Minister of Education in China Chen Zhili, Su Rong is the second highest official from China to be sued in Africa and the first Chinese official to be detained in Zambia.

The persecution divides people into three groups

The persecution effort produced three groups of people: first, the victims, including Falun Dafa practitioners, their relatives and the vast populace whose minds were poisoned by the deception; second, the misinformed and initially unknowing participants who were in essence also victims, although some of them were able to take action to make up for their past mistakes once they learnt the true nature of the persecution; and finally, the perpetrators who vigorously pursued the persecution of innocent practitioners.

The perpetrators cannot evade justice

Ruling by law in a civilised manner is the international norm of modern society, yet Jiang's regime went against that. He single-handedly launched the terrorist movement to persecute kindhearted people in his own country, thus challenging the very essence of contemporary human civilisation. Today the voices that demand legal action against "Jiang-Luo-Liu-Zhou" are heard around the globe, a testament to the major improvement from five years ago when the persecution first began.

Hu Ping, the scholar who wrote the commentary about the practitioners' lawsuit against Jiang and his followers said, "The persistence evidenced in their actions and the spirit of the practitioners are of great significance. It shows that the struggle against the persecution is a fight for justice and serves as a warning to the oppressors that perpetrators cannot hide forever; justice will find them. In the court of world opinion, the trial has already been won."

The fact that the Zambian government attempted to hold Su Rong while awaiting further notice demonstrates that the effort to punish perpetrators is not only symbolic but real and that legal entities around the globe are taking action against the criminals. The president of the Falun Dafa Association in Canada said in a recent interview, "The persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners over the past five years is also a persecution aimed at the human spirit, morality and human conscience. The crimes committed by Jiang, Luo, Liu, and Zhou are horrendously bloody. Acts of persecution may not be the same as a war, but the harm to human spirituality for future generations is profound and unprecedented; the punishment of their crimes should be equally unparallelled."

As the American prosecutor in the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials Robert Jackson said, "The crimes we want to punish today were so well-planned, vicious, savage and inhuman that to ignore them is not an option for human civilisation; for if similar crimes happen again, that will be the end of our civilisation."

Be the scapegoat or make up for the mistakes

We have to make choices throughout our lives, just as choices have been made during the past five years of the persecution. Uninformed people use ignorance as their excuse for being one of the oppressors. After five years, with the volume of evidence surfacing, the indisputable facts about the persecution coming to light, and the heroic acts of practitioners speaking out against the atrocities with little consideration for their own safety, one is provided with more than enough facts to force anyone with a conscience to make fresh, new choices.

The fact that Falun Dafa practitioners are taking legal action against the perpetrators demonstrates their desire to have the responsible parties brought to justice, including the leaders and their henchmen. On the other hand, it is not revenge that they seek. The justice that they pursue serves to frighten and alarm those who continue to commit such atrocities. The practitioners who conduct themselves according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are giving plenty of warning and opportunities for the perpetrators to stop their brutal acts.

In the end, one may become a scapegoat for the crimes of persecution if he or she continues. On the other hand, if one ceases to assist in the persecution and stops instigating hatred, one is bringing hope for his or her own future.

Jiang's faction is falling out of favour; it is the right moment and a good opportunity to make up for past mistakes. Failure to do so leaves the perpetrator waiting for history to catch up with his past faults.

The Toronto Chinese Consulate's wall of hatred has been broken, but we have yet to find out whether the fire of hatred will resurge. Since many people already understand the facts about the persecution, it is highly likely that more people will come to know the truth, and the current course of events will only move forward.

The sufferers are not the weak ones

In a speech entitled "A History of Suffering and Honor," political critic Mr. Hu Ping makes the comment about practitioners that "Falun Gong cannot be defeated. The Communist government of China is one of the most powerful and dictatorial political regimes in the world; it has mobilised the whole nation as one machine to destroy Falun Dafa for five years, but it has not succeeded. Falun Dafa has sustained its integrity during this unprecedented horrendous trial. Even the slightly informed have no doubt that the suppression will conclude in a total failure. The vitality of Falun Gong cannot be underestimated, and its prospects for the future are very bright; it will play a major role in the revival of moral values in China."

The momentous class action lawsuit brought by the relatives of Falun Dafa practitioners against the persecution illustrates that the practitioners are not the only victims. According to China's official statistics, there are 70-80 million practitioners. If one member of a three-member family is a practitioner, then there will be 200-300 million people affected. The actual number of victims is much larger. Furthermore, Jiang's regime's efforts to slander the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" ideal have had a poisonous effect on the entire population of China.

A little while ago, there was a rumour about the Communist Party Government trying to make things right in an effort to lessen the danger of social disorder. But the anti-persecution movement sustained by individuals is far ahead of high-level government policymakers. The truth is that it is a law of nature that evil cannot restrain righteousness. The indifferent and those standing on the sidelines are just as guilty as the oppressors, but there are still opportunities to make the right choice and make up for the errors of the past.

As more people realise the depth and the scope of the persecution and understand that the practitioners are not the only sufferers, they must also realise that such a group encompasses the entire population, from those who ordered the persecution to the those who have implemented it, including government officials, special agents and the police. The anti-persecution effort by practitioners will undoubtedly become the anti-persecution movement of the entire population; this is the irreversible course of human history.

Note:

1) Wall of Hate: A wall in the Toronto Chinese Consulate covered with anti-Falun Gong hate-propaganda. For more information, see http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200411/23105.html