Columbia Spectator (Columbia University's Daily Newspaper): China's Oppression of Falun Gong

Opinion

A Voice in the Crowd

By Brian Wagner

November 30, 2004

It is impossible to have missed them during the last few months as you wandered around Times Square or caught the 1/9 at 116th Street. They are easy to recognize: serene individuals, often Chinese, holding up signs describing and depicting scenes of torture. The Falun Gong, banned from China, target New York as a place where decision-makers live and people care about human rights abuses. They may seem odd or repelling to the average New Yorker, what with their solemnity, fake-blood face paint, and street theater re-creations of abuse. However, Columbians should look beyond their initial impressions and consider the horrible situation that confronts them.

Falun Gong is neither a cult, sect, nor religious group. It is not even a truly cohesive organization. There is no membership roll, no hierarchy, no fee, and no belief system that must be forced on non-adherents. Instead, it is a spiritual movement that exalts Zhen-Shen-Ren (Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance) and the cultivation of the mind and body above everyday material interests. While there is a supernatural element to the belief of the more literal observers, these beliefs are not in themselves dangerous, especially coming from a country where Qigong, Buddhism, Taoism, and other practices and beliefs have historically involved mysticism and the supernatural.

The Chinese Communist Party, led by General Secretary Jiang Zemin, cracked down on the Falun Gong starting in July 1999. The crackdown was largely motivated by the realization of the CCP after a 1998 government study that there may have been more Falun Gong than CCP members.

In a world that is accustomed to hues of gray, the situation here is clearly black and white. The beliefs of the Falun Gong, [...] do not justify punishment. Pre-1999, many CCP officials were Falun Gong practitioners. Foremost among the ideas espoused by founder Li Hongzhi is that practitioners will not take other human lives. He also includes the warning that all practitioners must follow the rules of the country in which they reside. This is not exactly a recipe for unrest.

The reality of international politics, in which morality plays at most a supporting role, is that we can do little more than condemn China's crackdown from afar as hundreds of thousands of practitioners languish in jail. While Congress and many U.S. mayors and governors have condemned the [persecution], their hands are tied by political and economic realities. China is a quickly growing power and must be handled with great care. Thus, it is up to the average individual to make a difference.

What we can do is show our intolerance for China's crackdown in the United States. Falun Gong practitioners and their lawyers have a massive list of documented instances of abuse and force used by people associated with the Chinese government in the U.S. For example, Chinese consulates have made threatening calls to film festival officials to stop them from showing films such as Sandstorm, a fictional retelling of police brutality against the Falun Gong based on true stories.

Such efforts are far less likely to succeed if people arm themselves with the simplest weapon against intolerance--understanding. If you are interested in learning more about these people, read the two basic texts--Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun--which are free online.

I was drawn to the Falun Gong practitioners not by their beliefs, but by how they have continued to live up to Zhen-Shen-Ren in the face of complete and utter oppression from a government whose officials had sung Falun Gong's praises in previous years. Lend them your ears, take their pamphlets, and if you are really interested in their plight or the teachings of Falun Gong, talk to them. It can't hurt, and it lets them know that people in the United States believe the First Amendment is a universal value. Just don't let the propaganda spewed by the Chinese government serve as a substitute for your own opinion.

So while you may register your disgust at the shock tactics employed by Falun Gong in New York, remember that these are individuals who, due to nothing more than an individual spiritual belief, have come to New York, often at great personal cost, in hopes that well-educated and well-connected New Yorkers can help their friends and families gain freedom from the labor camps, jails, and oppression that constitute their hellish plight.

Who are these people being oppressed? Today, Falun Gong members are not just Chinese. There are now reportedly 30 million Falun Gong practitioners in over 50 countries other than China, with a growing number based in the U.S. In the words of medical writer and scientist Dr. Lara Pullen, the practitioners she met were "the nicest group of people I ever had the pleasure of talking to."

Brian Wagner is a Columbia College junior majoring in political science. A Voice in the Crowd runs on alternate Tuesdays.