UK MPs Briefed on Persecution in China

Source: The Epoch Times

LONDON—On July 20 it will be ten years since the Chinese Communist Party officially started its crackdown on Falun Gong. To mark this anniversary, a panel meeting to discuss the continuing persecution of Falun Gong in China was held in the UK Houses of Parliament on Wednesday 15.

The MPs in attendance heard personal accounts of torture, estimates of tens of thousands stripped of their organs to be sold for profit, and how Falun Gong has achieved what no other group has ever achieved – the gradual disintegration of the Communist Party.

Chaired by David Howarth, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, the panel included Ethan Gutmann, an award-winning investigative reporter and expert on China issues, Peter Jahual, Chairman of the UK Falun Gong Association, Dr Yi Xu from the Federation of Saying “Good-bye” to CCP and Annie Yang, a Falun Gong practitioner who has suffered torture.

Award-winning investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann outlines his research on organ harvesting to MPs in parliament (Edward Stephen/The Epoch Times)

Peter Jahual explained how the persecution began with the then head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Jiang Zemin. He went on to say “Jiang Zemin believed if the CCP could not defeat Falun Gong, the Party would become a laughing stock. He ordered it to be eradicated within three months.” Jahual stated that the official figure of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death in custody now stands at over 3,200.

“This figure is only the tip of the iceberg.”

The difficulties of estimating the extent of the persecution of Falun Gong were discussed in detail by Ethan Gutmann, an investigative reporter on China issues. He presented figures and the rationale from his own research. Mr Gutmann explained that based on the credible figures about the labour camp system provided by the Laogai Foundation in Washington DC that there were as many as 1.2 million Falun Gong practitioners in the Laogai system at any one time.

We pretend that we just don’t know

Mr Gutmann has been researching the phenomenon of organ harvesting where organs are stripped from the bodies of living Falun Gong practitioners to be sold for profit, killing them in the process.

Mr Gutmann suggests that up to 162,000 Falun Gong practitioners may have had their organs harvested with 13,500 being the low-end estimate, and 87,750 being the median. He made a comparison to the figures presented in David Kilgour and David Matas’s report on organ harvesting Bloody Harvest stating, “It’s remarkable that the two methodologies are completely different yet the discrepancy is quite minimal.”

Mr Gutmann suggested how Western governments could tackle this issue: “In Western political circles, it is argued – quietly of course – that we have no point of easy leverage on this problem, no ability to undo what has been done, no silver bullet that can change the Chinese regime.

“Perhaps not. But we could ban our citizens from getting organ transplants in China. We could boycott Chinese medical conferences. Sever medical ties. Embargo surgical equipment. And refuse to hold any diplomatic summits until the Chinese put in place an explicit, comprehensive database of every organ donor in China,” he said.

“The first step in that process is to drop the pretence that we just don’t know,” he emphasised.

Annie Yang described her first-hand experience of persecution in China.

She was taken away in March 2005. “Eight men burst in one night but only one of them was in police uniform,” she recalled. “The rest were in normal clothes. I guess they were from the National Security Department.

“They took away my computer and my Falun Gong books. They took me from my 16-year-old son and put me in the local district detention centre. I didn’t see a lawyer and there was no mention of court. Forty days later I was sentenced to two years in a labour camp in Beijing.

“I wasn’t allowed to see my son or any family or friends. No one knew where I had gone or what had happened to me.”

“In the camp, they removed all of our basic human rights,” she continued. “We were not given enough food or water, only 500 ml of water and 30 grams of bread a day. All my hair turned white because of the pressure. I was not allowed to sleep for more than a few hours a day, or to shower or change my clothes and all because I refused to renounce my beliefs.

“I was forced to sit on a stool with my knees and feet together, my hands underneath and my back straight, and I was not allowed to close my eyes. I had to sit there for 20 hours at a time and was not allowed to move without permission. It was to break us down.”

But Annie’s faith never wavered. “Every day I thought about suicide,” she says. “But my beliefs helped me through those difficult times.”

She was freed on September 1, 2006. She says: “My body was swollen because of lack of nutrition. I couldn’t walk because I’d been forced to sit for so long without moving. The police said if I continued to practise Falun Gong they’d arrest me again, sooner or later. So I came to England, leaving my son, my family and friends behind.”

Tuidang campaign is most successful civil rights movement in China

Dr Yi Xu, a prominent Chinese dissident and regular spokesperson on the promotion of democracy within China, opened his speech expressing gratitude to Falun Gong practitioners for their efforts towards creating a democratic China.

He said: “The Chinese Communist Party is not just the greatest evil in China but also the world.”

Dr Yi Xu went on to cite the United Nations definition of genocide, saying that by this definition alone the persecution of Falun Gong within China should be defined as genocide. “Communism is a terrible, destructive force. It is polluting the environment and constantly creating ethnic tension.

“Communism is incapable of fixing itself and the active pursuit of its downfall is the only way to achieve real human rights within China.”

Dr Xu explained how the Tuidang movement – a campaign to help Chinese citizens quit and renounce the CCP which was initiated by Falun Gong practitioners – was having a huge impact within China and on the CCP itself. “The Tuidang campaign is the single most successful civil rights movement in China today.”

He said, “In ten years I have not been able to persuade a single one of my friends to quit the party but Falun Gong’s movement has seen 40,000 to 50,000 a day quitting.”

In these terms the Chinese Communist Party is defined not only as the main political party but also includes the Young Pioneers and the Communist Youth League. Using official CCP figures, the combined membership is approximately 263 million. Currently the figure of those who have quit through the Tuidang movement stands at 57 million.

“The resistance led by Falun Gong is really hurting the CCP,” said Dr Xu, “but to my knowledge the Western media has not reported anything about it.

“It’s really important that the Western governments and media speak out because any explicit statement puts enormous pressure on the CCP and creates a positive cycle within China regarding democracy.”

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture estimates that as many as 50 per cent of the people in China’s vast network of “re-education through labour” camps are Falun Gong practitioners.

Last updated,
Jul 20, 2009

May the Truth Lead Even More People to Find Hope

By Zheng Yan

(Clearwisdom.net Special Commentary)July 20, 2009 is the ten-year anniversary of Falun Gong practitioners all over the world resisting the persecution and clarifying the facts about Falun Gong. It could be said that these ten years were unexpected by the wicked Chinese Communist Party (CCP), most Falun Gong practitioners, and society as a whole. The events of the past ten years have fully validated the purity and righteousness of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. The faith of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is indestructible, a fact that has been witnessed by all.

On July 20, 1999, the leaders of the CCP initiated the brutal persecution of Falun Gong out of jealousy and paranoia. At the time, they publicly stated their goal of “eradicating Falun Gong in three months” and gave the infamous policy for the persecution: “defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically.” They felt assured that with their iron grip over television, radio, newspapers and the Internet in China, along with all their other propaganda organs, once they mobilized the military, police, special agents, jails and labor camps, diplomats, and with their half-century’s experience in persecuting innocent people, three months would be plenty of time to wipe out a group of unarmed Falun Gong practitioners that live by compassion and forbearance. Many in China said that Falun Gong’s efforts to resist the persecution would be like “dashing an egg against a rock”.

As the last decade has gone by, people can see that the “egg” is an indestructible, divinely assisted one. Instead of being wiped out, Falun Gong practitioners inside and outside of China have become more mature and rational, gained deeper understandings of the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, and strengthened their faith. Along the way, they have helped 57 million Chinese people withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party or its affiliated organizations. This was an outcome that the perpetrators of the persecution could never have imagined possible.

At the same time, even though Falun Gong practitioners knew from day one that the persecution would end in failure, the vast majority of us did not expect that we would need to continue to resist the persecution for ten years. There are factors related to our cultivation state at work here, not to mention changes brought about by the cosmic climate. Regardless, this unprecedented ordeal has allowed us to see ever more clearly the CCP’s wicked nature, and to realize that the persecution can be completely ended only with the CCP’s disintegration. We saw that this persecution is wicked to the extreme not just because it targets the Falun Gong practitioners’ belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, but because it is attempting to wipe out the moral principles and spirituality of people all over the world. Because of this, helping more people to know the truth has become the top priority for all truly cultivating Falun Gong practitioners.

We know that in the past ten years, massive amounts of truthful information have been widely disseminated through the Minghui/Clearwisdom websites and through the Falun Gong practitioners, but inside and outside of China, too many people are still unable to overcome the CCP’s lies and slander, which they came into contact first. There are also too many people who dare not look at Falun Gong positively, in the face of economic benefits or the CCP’s iron-fisted rule. Still more are buried in their busy lives, without a chance yet to find out about Falun Gong even after ten years. But we firmly believe that the stage of history was not created for the evil, and the truth will guide people to find hope and discover what they need most in their lives.

Ten years have passed by, unexpected by good and evil alike, and a new chapter of history is being written. The cultivators of Dafa will walk ever more solidly, quickly, and steadfastly on their paths. On a foundation forged over the last ten years, Dafa disciples inside and outside of China will not only cultivate themselves better, but will pour even more of themselves into resisting the persecution and helping people to know the truth. We will absolutely not allow this persecution to go on. This battle between good and evil can only end in the CCP’s ultimate demise, a fate brought on by itself; the end of the persecution; and more people of the world seeing the truth and choosing to side with justice and goodness.

We hope that more people will distance themselves from the CCP as soon as possible, discover the facts for themselves, and in the process help end this wicked persecution–and may the truth lead even more people to find hope.

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/7/19/109306.html

Parade in NYC Explains Falun Gong

Parade in NYC Explains Falun Gong

By Joshua Philipp
Epoch Times Staff

NEW YORK—Drums and flutes sounded as the band warmed up. Dressed in blue and white, the Divine Land Marching Band led more than 4,000 people in a parade in Manhattan on Saturday.

The participants came from more than 70 countries to call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

The Divine Land Marching Band, composed mostly of Falun Gong practitioners, warms up before a parade in Manhattan on June 6. (Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times)

“We came here to support human rights. We can’t just be silent,” said Miatra Miraftabi, a middle-aged woman who is visiting New York from Iran.

Falun Gong practitioners are thought to account for 66 percent of the torture victims in the prisons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a 2007 report from the U.N. The U.S. Department of State also said in a 2007 annual report that foreign observers estimate Falun Gong practitioners constitute at least half of the known prisoners in the Chinese regime’s forced labor camps.

Other reports and witnesses have shown evidence that in addition to using torture and forced labor on Falun Gong practitioners, the CCP also uses them as living sources for organ transplants.

“This is the most brutal human rights abuse through history until now and it must end,” Mriaftabi said.

The parade gave a broad image of the practice, from its roots in ancient Chinese culture, to the meditation and values that it is based on.

Girls dressed in ancient Chinese dress danced with large flowers, hundreds of people demonstrated the slow movements of the Falun Gong exercises. Others held banners displaying the guiding principles of the practice—”Zhen, Shan, Ren,” which translates to truthfulness, compassion, tolerance.

Women dressed in ancient Chinese dress display traditional Chinese culture during the parade. (Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times)

Chu-Cheng Ming, a 56-year-old professor of political science at the National Taiwan University held a banner with the a large Chinese character on it.

“The practice is about being a better person, both morally and physically,” said Ming. “It is an overall improvement of yourself.”

Ming said that the practice has helped him become much more peaceful in his daily work. He said that it helped him become less attached to things such as fame and personal gain. “I’m no longer bothered by those things,” he said.

“[After practicing] your mind is more free,” said Ming. “Nowadays I get whatever I get and I’m happy where I am. If I have it I’m fine and if I don’t have it I’m also fine.”

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa is the most popular meditation practice in China. There were an estimated 70 to 100 million people practicing Falun Gong inside China, within just seven years of it being made public.

Exposing the Persecution

People hold pictures of those who have lost their lives to the Chinese Communist Party for practicing Falun Gong. (Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times)

Because of the large large numbers of people practicing Falun Gong, the CCP launched its persecution against it in 1999. More than 3,000 people are confirmed to have been killed for practicing Falun Gong, although witnesses say the number is much higher.

A large section of the parade was dedicated to those who have lost their lives. Dressed in white, hundreds of people held pictures of family and friends who were killed by the CCP for practicing Falun Gong.

Vivian Duan, 30, was among the participants in that part of the parade. She held a picture of Wang Bin, a 47-year-old man who was killed by the CCP by having his organs removed for forced transplant.

“In China there are no human rights and there is no freedom of belief,” said Duan. “They kill these practitioners and steal their organs. It is more horrible than words can describe.”

“We are calling for help—bringing attention to what is going on in China,” she said.

Another part of the parade was dedicated to the “Tui Dang” or “quit the party” movement.

Tui Dang is a movement of Chinese withdrawing their membership from the Chinese Communist Party. It began as a peaceful approach to end the regime’s abuse of its people. Through Tui Dang, Chinese people have simply stated that they will not partake in its abuses and are withdrawing from the regime’s ruling structure.

“Going by its nature, we cannot expect that the CCP will stop the persecution by itself,” said Zheng Qu, a research scientist at CalTech who was marching in the parade. “For me, Tui Dang is the most peaceful way to stop the persecution and is an effective way to awaken the conscience of the Chinese people.”

Last Updated
June 8, 2009