Radio Free Asia Interviewed a German Falun Gong Practitioner on World Human Rights Day

Falun Gong practitioner Ms Xiong Wei, who was interviewed by Radio Free Asia during activities for World Human Rights Day, said that two years of detention in a forced labour camp made her realise that the Chinese Communist Party not only abuses human rights but does something even worse; the Chinese Communist Party makes the Chinese people completely forget their basic rights as human beings through years of propaganda and suppression. The following is edited from a report by Radio Free Asia’s Tian Yi.

December the 10th was World Human Rights Day. Ms Xiong Wei, who was arrested and locked up for two years after distributing leaflets disagreeing with the Chinese Government’s suppression of Falun Gong, took part in activities held by international human right organisations and Falun Gong practitioners. According to her personal experience, she called on the Chinese people to recognise human nature and human rights, as well as calling on international society to stop China from abusing human rights. Concerned about this issue, Ms Xiong Wei accepted RFA’s interview.

“Recently, I read an article called “Nine Commentaries about the Communist party”, which gave me a great shock. Due to accepting communist education from birth, my mind has been distorted unconsciously by many notions produced under the Communist Party’s unbalanced education - for example, my knowledge of human rights. In China, there are no human rights guidelines for treating people; human rights violations don’t only happen in prisons and labour camps, and they don’t only happen to Falun Gong practitioners. In Chinese society and the treatment Chinese people receive, there is no sign of respect toward human rights or education leading to basic knowledge of human rights.”

According to the Chinese Government’s propaganda, “Chinese people don’t need human right as westerners do.” Ms Xiong Wei said emotionally, “Of course Chinese people need human rights. Chinese people need even more knowledge of basic human rights than people in other countries. The Communist Party’s evil propaganda and education benefits its own domination. Chinese people don’t even know the meaning of human rights and what kind of rest, sleep and food we need for our basic subsistence. This has been reflected even more prominently in labour camps. The food we ate was so filthy: it was hardly washed and there were many insects. We didn’t even know whether we had a right to sleep. We never got paid for that heavy physical work. Where we could we get our human rights from?”

With regard to this, Ms Xiong Wei believes that to the Chinese society and people, the worse damage was, “The Chinese Communist Party’s control of the media with its power to give people unbalanced information for several years, which has concealed basic respect towards human rights and human nature. This was much worse for people than being hurt physically.”