Looking Back on the April 25 Peaceful Appeal


(Minghui/Clearwisdom commentary) “April
25
” is here again. Eight years have gone by in a flash.


On April 25, 1999, boulders cracked and heaven was moved when more than
10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners voluntarily and peacefully appealed in front of
the State Council Appeals Office. The world was deeply moved by the confidence,
self-discipline and high morality displayed by these practitioners. On July 20,
1999, Jiang and the Chinese Communist regime suddenly unleashed their brutal
persecution of Falun Gong. Fabrications from all of the Communist
Party-controlled media covered the newspapers and the airwaves. Huge lies filled
China and the whole world. Many people, misled by the Communist regime's
propaganda, believed that “April 25” was the igniting fuse that caused
this persecution.



First Large-scale Appeal Opposing Persecution



In fact, the “April 25” Falun Gong peaceful appeal was not a sudden
incident, nor a political protest as described by Jiang's regime. After Falun
Dafa began to be openly spread in May 1992, until the start of the brutal
persecution in July 1999, the number of Falun Gong practitioners quickly
increased to 100 million. The suppression of Falun Gong slowly escalated in the
three years starting from the Guangming Daily's attacks on Falun Gong in
July 1996 until the violent arrests in Tianjin in April 1999. When Luo Gan
single-handedly directed the violent arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in
Tianjin (in April 1999), it was the first incident of the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) using violence against Falun Gong. This event led to “April
25,” the first large-scale Falun Gong appeal occurring at a national level.



Brief Historical Facts of “April 25”



From April 23 to 24, 1999, directed by Luo Gan, policemen from the Riot
Prevention Division of the Tianjin City Police Department beat Falun Dafa
practitioners, causing bleeding and other injuries. They arrested 45
practitioners. Soon afterwards, the government-controlled TV openly lied when
they said, “[they] did not arrest one single practitioner.” In a
lawless society where legal workers have no public respect or adequate training,
Falun Dafa practitioners thought they should go to the Central Government
Appeals Office to call for justice. Because Falun Dafa has no organizational
form and no member list, the details of the Tianjin incident could not be easily
passed to the whole body of practitioners. It seemed that the state policy
toward Falun Gong, which had formerly been supportive of the practice, changed
suddenly. Only about 10,000 practitioners (.01%) made it to the State Council
Appeals Office overnight. Compared with the total number of Falun Dafa
practitioners, 10,000 is not too many, but instead, too few! If 100 thousand or
ten million (10%) of Falun Gong practitioners could have made a stand (on April
25, 1999), maybe they could have eliminated the evil instantly.


So, on April 25, 1999, what exactly did Falun Dafa practitioners do in
Beijing? As described in a report published on the Mingui/Clearwisdom website on
April 25, 2000, “Falun Gong came to the attention of the world as some ten
thousand of its practitioners gathered quietly outside Zhongnanhai, the Chinese
Government leadership's compound in Beijing. Their only intent was to
communicate the harassment and injustices practitioners were facing throughout
China at the hands of Chinese police. The peaceful gathering was sparked by the
beatings Falun Gong practitioners endured only a few days before in the
neighboring city of Tianjin. In both cases these practitioners did nothing more
than remind the government of their constitutional rights to freedom of
conscience, assembly, and speech.” (quote from http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/4/25/3905.html,
“Northern American Falun Dafa Practitioners' Press Announcement on the
first “April 25″ Anniversary”)


The “April 25” Peaceful Appeal was resolved peacefully after
Premier Zhu Rongji directly communicated with Falun Gong practitioners. The
international society highly praised the wisdom and self-restraint of both
sides, but on the night of April 25, the CCP Head Secretary Jiang declared that
the “April 25” appeal incident had “a 'higher-up' behind the
scenes scheming and directing this.” [“Top Secret.” “Notice
Regarding a Letter from Comrade Jiang to the Standing Committee of the Politburo
and other related leadership comrades.” Central Office telegram (1999), No.
14, quote from http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/4/48863.html,
“A Reporter's Notes from Secret Documents: The Plot Hatched in April and
May, 1999 – (Part 3)”].


On June 7, 1999, Jiang stated, “Falun Gong has deep political social
background and a complicated international background.” [“Top
Secret.” “Notice Regarding a Talk from Comrade Jiang on Meeting of the
Standing Committee of the Politburo about Quickly Dealing with Falun Gong
Issues.” Central Office telegram (1999), No. 30, quote from http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/16/74568.html,
“A Reporter's Notes from Secret Documents: The Plot Hatched in April and
May, 1999 – (Part 5)”] Jiang also said in this speech, “The Central
Committee has agreed to establish a special task group to deal with the Falun
Gong issue.” In fact, the “Central Committee” Jiang referred to
here is himself alone, because six out of seven members of the Standing
Committee of the Politburo did not agree to persecute Falun Gong.


Jiang's jealousy of the founder of Falun Gong and his fear of 100 million
practitioners are the true fuse that ignited this persecution.



Smashing the CCP Dream of Eliminating at Will



One of the most powerful ways of opposing and disintegrating the persecution
is to openly expose it, letting Chinese and international society learn the
truth. The CCP seems strong, but it is weak in nature, because it is
anti-heaven, anti-truth, blood-stained and in fear of the light of truth ever
since it was born. In the last half-century, everything the CCP did was without
conscience and devoid of humanity. It betrayed their ancestors and committed
robbery; all of its acts were those of a scoundrel. Its words and actions are
all irrational and shrouded in darkness. Regardless of the fact that it has
openly suppressed people in the past, or recently adopted techniques of covering
up its suppression, those are all absolute manifestations of the CCP's cruel and
weak nature.


The past eight years of Falun Gong practitioners peacefully exposing the
persecution and clarifying the truth is a movement that has
rectified the human heart through the most thorough, most persistent and largest
exposure of the CCP in history. “April 25” marked the beginning of
widespread opposition to the persecution. The anti-persecution efforts of
Chinese Falun Dafa practitioners, together with overseas practitioners, have
destroyed the dream of the CCP to “eliminate Falun Gong in three
months,” and to knock down whomever it wishes. This is a miracle in Chinese
history of peacefully opposing persecution, rectifying human morals, and
establishing righteous thoughts.


Falun Dafa practitioners' resistance of the persecution is approaching a
successful result. This persecution, initiated by the CCP, is bringing about the
total collapse of the CCP itself. The CCP has now lost all chances to redeem
itself, due to initiating and sustaining the persecution. It can be clearly seen
that the days remaining for the CCP are fewer and fewer.



Prelude of Fa-rectification Period Cultivation



“April 25” is the prelude of the Fa-rectification period
cultivation. The cultivation form of Falun Dafa practitioners is different than
all cultivation ways in history, not only because we do not leave the secular
world to become monks or nuns, but more importantly, because we shoulder the
difficult historical mission of safeguarding Falun Dafa and saving sentient
beings. We cultivate ourselves well to pave the way towards fulfilling our
mission, just like building an ark to save people. The builders of the ark are
definitely not building it for the sake of building an ark, but because only
when the ark is built, can we save people. Falun Dafa practitioners will
naturally reach consummation by following Master to save sentient beings.



Pause for Self-reflection



“April 25” is a milestone where Falun Dafa practitioners can witness the spirit,
see the light, learn from experience and find the lessons. We recall Master's
teaching in “Be Rational, Awaken,” (“Hongyin“II),



“Rest momentarily for self-reflection, add righteous thoughts

Analyze shortcomings explicitly, advance again wholeheartedly”



Just as we declared eight years ago, the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong was
doomed to fail from the beginning. The majority of Falun Dafa practitioners have
established their paths to becoming enlightened beings by firmly opposing the
persecution and clarifying the truth in all manner of rational ways. The CCP is
destroying itself through sustaining this persecution. The historical moment,
that will be witnessed by all those fortunate beings who have learned the truth,
is coming quickly, when the CCP completely disintegrates and Falun Gong, based
on the mighty power of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, moves towards a
bright future! Let us pause and re-examine “April 25” as a milestone,
summarizing our experience and learning from our lessons, welcoming and
validating that day with solid faith!


April 25, 2007

Posting date: 27/Apr/2007
Original article date: 26/Apr/2007
Category: Open Forum

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