The year 2004 should be Falun Gong's year of abundant harvest. The Falun rotates continually and officials of the Chinese Consulates and Embassies outside China seem to have become muddleheaded. They follow orders from the Chinese regime to attack Falun Gong and treat it as their prime task, while putting national diplomacy aside. But the effect is the opposite of what they intended.
When the US National Press Club hosted Falun Gong, Chinese diplomats sent a letter in protest. When the local chamber of commerce invited Falun Gong practitioners to participate in local culture week, Chinese diplomats sent a letter to protest. These acts stunned Western people, who could not figure out which rules of the Chinese communist regime were breached by the Falun Gong's "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." Once, when a Chinese Consul General was invited to attend a local business banquet, he gave an irrelevant speech furiously attacking Falun Gong, which puzzled the entire audience. They wondered whether this diplomat who represented China was drunk or had taken the wrong medicine.
Posters on Wall Indicate Lack of Confidence
The Chinese Communist regime used the entire nation's resources to persecute Falun Gong. A while ago, some Chinese consulates hung posters on their walls with propaganda slandering Falun Gong. But these actions gave people an impression that the consulates were really stupid. Any confident government would not do such things.
Is Falun Gong really as the regime says? Are all students who practise the exercises under a spell or brainwashed by someone? From the rapid growth in the number of practitioners, how many people "came under the spell?" Many of them are intellectuals who have received higher education. They all seem to participate out of their own free will and no one is coerced. At the end of the 1950s, under Chairman Mao's intimidation, the common people in China were collectively brainwashed. They were forced to form communes and eat together in common dining halls in an attempt to realise the myth of communism in three years. As a result, severe famine occurred and millions of people subsequently died. Isn't that a real cult? What Falun Gong teaches is "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." It does not take people's lives.
Why would Falun Gong practitioners protest overseas? Originally, in China, Falun Gong was a spontaneous cultivation practice, which received a number of proclamations from the Chinese government. However, when there were many more Falun Gong practitioners than Communist Party members, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) felt threatened and imposed restrictions on the practice. They instituted the "Regulations on Associations and Organisations," thus repressing Falun Gong.
Constitution Exists But Not Human Rights
However, Falun Gong practitioners would not comply with the Party's unreasonable demands and stop such a good practice. The practice is now slandered with fabricated media stories, and practitioners are tortured and persecuted in China. The CCP does not allow the existence of any independent organisations, because it fears that these organisations will challenge its power. Doesn't the Chinese Constitution stipulate that people enjoy the freedoms of speech, belief, assembly and forming associations? However, the reality in China is that there is a constitution, but there is no constitutional government. The CCP does not take the constitution seriously, which is also the crux of all of the political, economical and social problems in China. The CCP previously boasted that "human rights are included in the constitution." However, isn't it still a mere scrap of paper if it is not carried out by government policies and law-enforcement departments?
Falun Gong practitioners have formed international organisations opposing the persecution and are seeking support from human rights organisations. They are righteous and confident, with justice on their side. The fifth article of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and the seventh article of the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," which the Chinese Communist regime also ratified, all stipulate that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." Later, in 1948, the United Nations formally expanded these articles to form a "convention" in which "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person... and when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. This is exactly what Falun Gong practitioners personally experience in Mainland China. Falun Gong has more than enough reasons to file complaints to the United Nations' human rights organisations and to file lawsuits with the International Criminal Court in The Hague. This is because the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners falls into the category of "crimes against humanity," a persecution against a group based on religious belief, which is included in Article 7 of the "Stipulations of an Agreement." Although communist China is still one of the very few countries that has not ratified the "Stipulations of an Agreement," it is discredited after all, when those legal complaints are published.
Silent Reenactments of Tortures Show Faith
Perhaps the Chinese communist leaders did not expect that Falun Gong's opposition would be so persistent and tenacious. Over the past year, based on their belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," Falun Gong practitioners have conducted reenactments of torture methods, which are very moving. They endure hunger and cold and silently perform reenactments of torture every day and in all kinds of weather. These reenactments have been very powerful in clarifying the true nature of the CCP. Onlookers are shocked that a country scheduled to host the Olympic Games is so brutal and cruel.
Persecuting Falun Gong and underground churches in no way increases the stability of the communist regime. It only reduces the legitimacy of the government. Human rights, as included in the Constitution, must be implemented by the law-enforcement departments. Otherwise, the so-called "New Administration of Hu and Wen" is only a deceitful lie.
The author of this article is Dr. Yin Huimei from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a commentator in the U.S.
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