Italy L’opinione: Beijing Declares War on Falun Gong.

As everyone knows, everything about China is shrouded in mystery. Are they the main characters involved in the alleged hijacking of state-run satellites to broadcast pro-Falun Gong propaganda last month? Falun Gong followers who have made the world’s most powerful dictator feel threatened declared that they had nothing to do with the satellite broadcast hijacking. It is very hard to understand the truth of the event though it actually happened in front of millions of viewers.

According to a Beijing official, from June 30th to July 10th over one million Chinese people viewed pictures and information of Falun Gong on TV programs. [...]The event maddened the dictator Jiang.

Of course, the satellite broadcast hijacking is undoubtedly an earthquake for a country that destroyed the natural environment of Tibet, arrested and tortured to death hundreds of political criminals and has sentenced more convicts to death than any other country in the world. The hijacking is a major problem for the Beijing government. In a few days, they are going to prosecute the first person involved in the satellite broadcast hijacking. The gate open to the public is being monitored so as to adapt to the new policy of the Beijing totalitarian government. They plan to wipe out all that may jeopardize state security. Over 300 companies and organizations have signed the voluntary “Public Pledge on Self-discipline for China’s Internet Industry”.

[...]A few weeks ago, because of Jiang’s visit to Iceland, the Icelandic Ministry of Justice denied Falun Gong travellers’ entry into Iceland because they planned to protest against China’s human rights violation. During the Chinese Vice Premier’s visits to Rome and Florence, members of [human rights organisation] “Hands Off Cain”, dedicated to abolishing the death penalty, and a small group of Falun Gong practitioners held a peaceful demonstration against the visits of the head of the “the 610 Office. [..] (The notorious “610” Office was set up on June 10th 1999 and its mission is to eradicate the spiritual movement of Falun Gong at any cost.) According to statistics from Amnesty International, from 1999 until now at least 430 practitioners have been tortured to death, plenty of them sent to labour camps and the families of the practitioners have also been persecuted.[..]

In Florence, we interviewed Diego, a writer at the age of 53. He works to help people in our country understand Falun Gong and to protect the reputation of Falun Gong against slanderous attacks made by the Chinese Embassy in Italy. Their web site is: httpou://web.tiscali.it/falundafa.

Question: Diego, could I ask how you learned about Falun Gong?

Answer: Two years ago I heard about Falun Gong. At that time I was fifty and out of work, looking for a new job. One year ago, because of overworking and tension, I had fainted four times and my health was very poor. At home my relationship with my wife was very tense and we often quarrelled. Life for everyone was just like living in hell. One day, a friend of mine came to me asking to use my computer to send a mail. She was a teacher of t’ai chi and yoga. She asked me if I had ever heard of Falun Gong. I said I thought I’d read a newspaper article about it in September 1999, but had no idea of what it was about. Then we started searching for information about Falun Gong online. Finally I found many Falun Gong web sites and downloaded a book. At that time I was very eager to read articles of cultivation experience sharing written by practitioners.

Question: If I am not wrong, you are responsible for media work. Does this mean Falun Gong has some kind of organization and responsibility?

Answer: Falun Gong has no organization or any ranking. All of us are practitioners. Based on our own ability and will, we take the job we want to do.

Question: How many practitioners are there in Italy?

Answer: Because there is no organization, nor any name list, we can only say that we have taught hundreds of people to practise Falun Gong around Italy. [..]

Question: Recently Beijing has accused Falun Gong of satellite broadcast hijacking. It is not anything new now. But in one of your news releases, you said that you have no idea who did it. Could you talk about this?

Answer: Generally speaking, anyone who performed the satellite broadcast hijacking should be praised because in China the media are manipulated and deceived by the government. This is the only chance for the Chinese public to know the truth. But for this particular problem, we doubt the facts provided by the Ministry of Information Technology. It seems a fabricated event to make people believe the interference is from another foreign country, which could be used as an excuse for the Chinese government to put pressure on foreign governments to limit the freedom of Falun Gong practitioners. The evidence provided by China in their news conference was doubted. It was said that those who were interviewed actually do not exist. Their statements were contradictory. The fact is that the places mentioned in the conference cannot receive TV signals.

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is an ancient practice method of special exercises and meditation to purify mind and body. During the several years since its introduction, Falun Dafa has become the qigong practice with the most practitioners in Chinese history. Mr. Li Hongzhi first taught Falun Gong to the public in 1992. Now there are millions of people practising Falun Gong in over fifty countries around the world. Practitioners make use of their free time to practise exercises. They have no place for any religious activities, but they have very powerful web sites. They hold themselves to the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.” The Falun Dafa Information Centre can provide you with detailed information on the 433 practitioners tortured to death. They were victimized by the persecution carried out by Jiang’s regime from 1999.