Scrolling
On February 15, 2006, the 78th Student Union at the University of Sydney held the first annual student union conference. A student representative who is also a Falun Gong practitioner proposed a resolution supporting Falun Gong practitioners’ freedom and condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong, and the resolution was passed.
On February 15, two House committees jointly held a hearing entitled, “The Internet in China: A Tool for Freedom or Suppression?” Four major U.S. technology companies, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco received harsh questioning for yielding to pressure from the Chinese Communist regime. Atlanta practitioner Dr. Yuan Li, who was recently assaulted by the regime’s secret agents, also attended the hearing.
The Chinese government uses the Internet as a tool of repression to crush dissent and monitor usage, says Congressman Christopher Smith, chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.
The Falun Dafa Information Center has learned that Falun Gong practitioner Peter Yuan Li was assaulted and robbed by armed Asian men yesterday in his Atlanta home. Li is an information technology specialist who has been active in Falun Gong human rights advocacy over the past six years.
The year 2005 has passed and the 2006 Chinese New Year is just around the corner. With the coming of each new year, I eagerly think of my father, who has been illegally imprisoned for practicing Falun Gong. I always hope he will be reunited with his family and celebrate Chinese New Year with us.
On January 28, 2006, the 9th “Freedom, People’s Choice Exhibition” organized by Australian Amnesty International had an award ceremony. One Falun Gong practitioner’s oil painting, “The Death of a Truthfulness Compassion Tolerance Believer” won the “People’s Choice” award. Another Chinese-Australian painter and Falun Gong practitioner, Zhang Cuiying’s traditional Chinese painting, “The Beauty of Spring” won the “Freedom Art Award”.
Comparing Google’s English and Chinese language search engines highlights how far the company has gone to win the approval of China’s authorities. Entering sensitive terms into the Chinese search engine throws up unusual results, with official Communist Party viewpoints taking precedence.
The result of censorship, it argued, was that the internet in China was “becoming more and more isolated from the outside world” and freedom of expression was shrinking.
Several human rights-related organizations in the U.S. have filed a civil complaint against China Central Television (CCTV) for programming that aids and abets illegal arrest, prolonged detention, torture, and brainwashing of Falun Gong practitioners.
American citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Dr. Charles Lee suffered three years of both mental and physical abuse in a Chinese prison for going back to China to spread the truth about Falun Gong. On the morning of January 21 2006, Dr. Lee finally returned and reunited with his fellow practitioners and friends at the San Francisco airport.
