By Chen Zhenghong, Minghui reporter in Taiwan
Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) began to spread throughout
the world in May 1992. It revealed the characteristic of the universe, “Zhen-Shan-Ren,”
and people who began to practice quickly obtained better health while at the
same time they strived to become better people. Falun Gong was spreading fast,
by word of mouth, from one person to another. On April 25, 1999, after Tianjin
police beat and arrested 45 Falun Gong practitioners, more than 10,000 practitioners
went to the State Appeals Office near Zhongnanhai (they went to Fuyou Street)
in Beijing to peacefully appeal to government officials. The appeal was handled
by the premier of the State Council, who met with Falun Gong practitioners,
and they reached a common understanding and reasonable resolution. The entire
event went peacefully and it was over in the evening.
Media reported about this event and the name of Falun Gong became well known
nationwide as well as throughout the world. For example, in Taiwan, many people
wanted to know about Falun Gong. The monthly “Nine-day Seminar” was always full
of participants and the number of practitioners increased significantly. Right
now there are several hundred thousand Falun Gong practitioners and about 1,000
practice sites in Taiwan, covering almost all 300 towns and villages including
the islands of Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu. Today Falun Gong has already been
spread to more than 80 countries. More than a hundred million people have benefited
from Falun Gong.
However, less than three months after the April 25 Appeal, on July 20, 1999,
Jiang Zemin and his gang started the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. They
arrested a large number of the practitioners. They used every power the government
had – every media, legal system, police and military, spies, communist party
organizations, as well as diplomacy – from every
direction to try to crack down Falun Gong. They made up lies and blocked information.
They used various methods, such as arresting, brainwashing, torturing, raping,
injecting drugs that destroy the central nervous system, and even removing and
selling organs from live practitioners. Over 3000 are confirmed dead as a result
of the persecution. Countless civilians have been put in detention centers,
forced labor camps, prisons, brainwashing centers, and mental hospitals.
Withstanding the Persecution with Reason and Steadfast Faith
Despite myriads of physical and psychological tortures, Falun Gong practitioners
have persevered in their faith. Laden with inhuman abuses, insult and persecution,
practitioners harbor no hatred towards or rage over their torturers. Instead,
they have been resisting the persecution with peace, reason and forgiveness.
While tirelessly working to end the persecution, practitioners have been diligent
in their cultivation practice, thus creating the most touching and inspiring
stories. As a group of unarmed, law-abiding citizens of China, Chinese Falun
Gong practitioners have withstood the persecution from the tyrannical Chinese
Communist regime and stood firm.
For the past nine years since July 20, 1999, practitioners worldwide have resorted
to many forms to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to governments and media
around the world, including public banner displays, distribution of truth-clarification
materials on streets, marches, parades, press conferences, candlelight vigils,
signature campaigns, anti-torture exhibits, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance
art exhibits, photo exhibits featuring practitioners clarifying the facts, and
arts performances. Practitioners have reached out to communities, as well as
governments and media worldwide. They have established their own radio station,
television station and newspaper. Practitioners have filed lawsuits against
the main culprit of the persecution Jiang Zemin, as well as his henchmen, including,
but not limited to Li Lanqing and Luo Gan. Practitioners have prevailed over
China's information filtering blockade to call, fax and mail truth-clarification
materials to people in China. In short, they have tirelessly been clarifying
the facts about China's persecution of Falun Gong in order to inspire people's
kindness and conscience.
“The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” Reveals the Evil Nature of
the CCP and Awakens the World's People
Nine Commentaries on the
Communist Party published by The Epoch Times at the end of 2004, has
triggered a global trend among the Chinese people worldwide to withdraw from
the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and/or its Youth League and Young Pioneer
League. By April 2008, over 35 million people have published open statements
on the Epoch Times' website to withdraw from the CCP and/or its two youth
leagues.
From the aspects of history, politics, economics, culture and religion, “The
Nine Commentaries” reveals the true evil nature of the CCP. More and more Chinese
people worldwide, after seeing through the wicked nature of the CCP, have declared
to withdraw from the CCP.
Many people have changed their attitude towards Falun Gong practitioners. Take
the people in China for example. Nine years ago, they were instigated by the
CCP's deceitful propaganda to hate Falun Gong. Now many Chinese people
know that practitioners are good people. After reading “The Nine Commentaries”,
many Chinese people have withdrawn from the CCP in order to be free from the
control of their wicked minions. The global trend to withdraw from the CCP and
its two affiliated leagues is a sign that Chinese people's morality and
conscience have awakened. At first, they felt sympathetic and they related to
Falun Gong's cause. Over time, they approved and supported practitioners
and attorneys have represented and defended them in court.
Righteous Support from International Society
Falun Gong practitioners have tirelessly clarified the facts about the CCP's
persecution and withstood this persecution. They have exposed the CCP's
litanies of lies and crimes. As the truth is widely circulated, the CCP's
wicked force is diminishing. On October 4, 2004, the U.S. Congress unanimously
passed resolution 304 and thus expressed their opinion on the CCP's persecution
of Falun Gong. The Congress asked that the CCP immediately end its interference
with Chinese people's religious and political freedom and rights, including
practitioners' freedom and rights to practice Falun Gong. The Congress
further requested that the CCP not employ its diplomats to spread lies to slander
or twist Falun Gong, and that the CCP release all prisoners of conscience, including
Falun Gong practitioners.
On January 25, 2006, the Council of Europe, consisting of 46 member countries,
passed a resolution condemning the crimes committed by totalitarian communist
regimes. On January 31, 2006, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed
a resolution that “condemns the persecution of Falun Gong.”
During the second steering committee meeting of the Council of Europe in April
2006, eleven representatives of the Council raised a motion asking for a hearing
on the case which was recently exposed to the public regarding the Chinese Communist
Party's (CCP) crimes of organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners,
and also demanded that the Chinese government open all labor camps to international
delegations to conduct independent investigations.
The Olympics and Crimes Against Humanity
Cannot Coexist
In April 2004, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in
China (CIPFG) was set up by a group of people in different fields concerned
about the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners. CIPFG asked the CCP to immediately
stop the persecution. In 2007, it launched the “Human Rights Torch Relay”, which
intends to let the world's people face up to and plead with the CCP to
stop the persecution before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Human Rights Torch
Relay began when the torch was lit on August 9, 2007 in Athens, Greece. HRTR
has passed through more than 20 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East,
South America, the United States, and will soon continue in Canada and Asia.
Wherever it goes, it has been welcomed and supported.
Commemorating the April 25th Appeal Highlights the Justice of Anti-persecution
An old saying goes that “virtue is not alone, there must be a neighbor”. For
the past nine years, practitioners at home and abroad have been clarifying the
facts about Falun Gong, calling upon the conscience and kind nature of the world's
people in various ways. This feat, their righteous conduct, like a raging torch
in the dark, has been leading the people gradually to a bright future.
The twilight before dawn has emerged. Justice will prevail. The bloody hands
of the executioners cannot escape the responsibility for their crimes. Although
the persecution continues in China, Falun Gong practitioners will, as always,
persist until its cessation. The long dark night has come to an end. The bright
future is right in front of us.
Posting date: 26/Apr/2008
Original article date: 26/Apr/2008
Category: Open Forum