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on the Situation in China You may
have heard about the massive crackdown against Falun Dafa currently going on in
China. Exactly what is happening, and why has the Jiang Regime unleashed its fury
against a practice that is so obviously peaceful and non-threatening? We hope
we can help shed some light on these questions for you. Q:
How many people have been affected by Jiang Zemin's persecution against Falun
Gong?
A:
Since the president of China, Jiang Zemin, began the persecution
of Falun Gong practitioners in 1999: - Around
100 million people practised Falun Gong in 1998, but lost that right when Jiang
banned it in 1999.
- Over 100,000 Falun Gong
practitioners have been illegally arrested and detained.
More than 500 have
been sentenced to prison terms of up to 18 years.
More than 1,000 have been
forced into mental hospitals, an act condemned by World Psychiatric Association. -
Over 20,000 have been illegally sent to labor camps without
trials.
At least 3124 deaths through
police torture have been confirmed, with government sources
inside China disclosing that the actual number is in the thousands.
Background It
must first be understood that the Jiang Regime, run by the Communist Party, is
officially atheist, so anything of a spiritual nature is discouraged and often
outlawed because it is not in keeping with Communist ideology. For us in nations
with democratically elected governments, freedom of belief is considered to be
one of the most basic universal rights, but in China, such fundamental human rights
are rarely protected.
The
Events On April 25, 1999, more than
10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners held a legal, peaceful gathering in Beijing outside
the Chinese leadership compound, Zhongnanhai. The assembly was prompted by reports
of violence and harassment previously inflicted upon Falun Dafa practitioners
by Chinese police in the city of Tianjin, as well as an unjustified ban on publishing
Falun Dafa materials. The assembly was peaceful and orderly, and after participants
presented their case before Mr. Zhu Rongji, Premier of the Chinese State Council,
they quietly returned to their homes. The
event clearly shook the Jiang Regime because they hadn't anticipated that so many
people could have gathered so quickly in the heart of the capital. Not since the
Tiananmen Incident in 1989 involving many Beijing students had so many people
gathered together to make an appeal to the government, and the government's reaction
to that particular incident was, of course, swift and brutal. On
the night of 19 July 1999, police raided the homes of hundreds of practitioners
and dragged them off to prison. The next day,
Falun Dafa was officially declared illegal in China. From that moment forward,
a massive campaign was formed to suppress and destroy Falun Dafa. The state-controlled
media worked overtime to spread false information to the public, and they also
sent out their propaganda through the Chinese embassies stationed around the world.
The purpose was to mislead the public and cover up their severe human rights abuses
against Falun Dafa practitioners as thousands were rounded up and held in detention
for interrogation, torture, and so-called "reeducation." To
date, the Jiang Reqime has used any method available to terrorise and pressure
people to renounce their faith. They have pitted society and family members against
each other through threats and heavy fines, and thousands have lost their jobs
and their homes. And the list goes on. Millions
of Falun Dafa books and tapes have been publicly burned and destroyed. Access
to all Internet websites regarding Falun Dafa have been blocked or jammed in China,
and those who send out accounts of the beatings and abuse they experience while
in detention have been arrested and jailed for "leaking state secrets."
Practitioners are denied legal representation and have received sentences up to
18 years in prison in show trials. Thousands of others are sent to forced labour
camps without any trial at all. Even worse,
many Falun Dafa practitioners are being committed to psychiatric wards and forcibly
medicated with powerful psychotropic drugs causing serious harm to their bodies.
This is a tactic used in the Soviet Union under Stalin as a way to make the public
think that the victims are mentally insane and therefore they deserve to be locked
up.
To date, there are more than 3124
documented cases of otherwise healthy practitioners being beaten
and tortured to death while in detention. Reliable sourses inside
China say the true figure is in the thousands.
During these months of
violence and torture, Falun Dafa practitioners have shown unparalleled kindness
and forbearance. Not a single practitioner has struck back or physically retaliated
against police. Worldwide, all practitioners have used only non-violent, peaceful,
and legal means to appeal. This kind of conduct, in the face of such torment and
injustice exhibited on such a large scale, has spoken eloquently to the world
about the fundamentally peaceful and compassionate nature of Falun Dafa. What
Can You Do to Help? The best way
you can help is to let people around you know what Falun Dafa is. Let them know
that it is a practice based on ancient philosophies that helps people gain better
health and peace of mind. China's biggest weapon against all spiritual practices
is to call them 'cults' because the derogatory connotations of that word is often
enough to put people on guard, and in the case of Falun Dafa, it is a label that
is completely inaccurate. Practitioners lead normal lives and participate actively
in their communities. The practice is an individual choice and is centered on
the improvement of one's self. There are no obligations, and everyone is free
to come and go as they choose. Falun Dafa is more accurately thought of as a "cultivation
practice," which is a concept that may be somewhat new to us in the West.
Many other self-cultivation practices similar to Falun Dafa have been practised
in China for many centuries, as they have provided health, wisdom, and peace of
mind to countless generations. As these arts become more familiar in the West,
our vocabulary for them will expand. Also
let people know what is happening to Falun Dafa practitioners in China. Get copies
of the two-part video "Falun Gong: The Real Story" and invite your friends
and colleagues to screenings. Write to your government representatives so they
know that their constituents are concerned about the human rights situation in
China.
"We are not against the
government now, nor will we be in the future. Other people may treat us badly,
but we do not treat others badly, nor do we treat people as enemies.
We
are calling for all governments, international organizations and people of goodwill
worldwide to extend their support and assistance to us in order to resolve the
present crisis that is taking place in China."
- Li Hongzhi, July 22, 1999 For
further information and resources regarding the situation in China:
Amnesty
International
FalunInfo.net
FalunInfo.net contains general-interest news about Falun Dafa, updated daily by
practitioners.
http://www.fofg.org
Friends of Falun Gong seeks in particular to free the Falun Gong prisoners of
conscience in the People’s Republic of China and to end the persecution there. Go
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