Misplaced Pages

Falun Gong: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 20:24, 17 February 2006 view sourceDilip rajeev (talk | contribs)5,244 edits →Government crackdown← Previous edit Revision as of 20:26, 17 February 2006 view source Dilip rajeev (talk | contribs)5,244 edits →The Tiananmen Square self-immolation incidentNext edit →
Line 104: Line 104:
The campaign of government criticism begun in 1999 was considered by most observers to be largely ineffectual until January ], when persons whom the government claimed were Falun Gong practitioners, among them a 13-year-old child, doused themselves with ] and set themselves on fire in ]. Videos of the incident were widely broadcast on Chinese state television, as were interviews with the 13-year-old, who was horribly burned and whose mother did not survive the incident. The campaign of government criticism begun in 1999 was considered by most observers to be largely ineffectual until January ], when persons whom the government claimed were Falun Gong practitioners, among them a 13-year-old child, doused themselves with ] and set themselves on fire in ]. Videos of the incident were widely broadcast on Chinese state television, as were interviews with the 13-year-old, who was horribly burned and whose mother did not survive the incident.


Several inconsistancies have been pointed out in the goverment's version of the story. In ], the closest building to the People's Hero Monument is at least 10 minutes away. Yet, the flames were put out in less than a minute. Normally, the surveillance camera in Tiananmen Square covers a fixed area. But on this particular day, the camera follows the police to the scene and zooms in to focus on the incident. The Chinese media claims that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots. But the head of the International Department of CNN stated that CNN did not film anything because at the very beginning of the incident, CNN reporters were arrested and their equipment confiscated. CNN did not have a chance to shoot any footage. Authorities did not allow any reporters other than those from the Xinhua News Agency to interview 13-year-old Siying, nor did they allow any of her family members to visit. Two months after the incident in Tiananmen Square, the hospital announced the sudden death of Siying. Several inconsistancies have been pointed out in the goverment's version of the story. In ], the closest building to the People's Hero Monument is at least 10 minutes away. Yet, the flames were put out in less than a minute. Normally, the surveillance camera in Tiananmen Square covers a fixed area. But on this particular day, the camera follows the police to the scene and zooms in to focus on the incident. Though the Chinese media claimed that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots, the head of the International Department of CNN stated that CNN did not film anything because at the very beginning of the incident, CNN reporters were arrested and their equipment confiscated. Authorities did not allow any reporters other than those from the Xinhua News Agency to interview 13-year-old Siying, nor did they allow any of her family members to visit. Two months after the incident in Tiananmen Square, the hospital announced the sudden death of Siying.


Falun Gong practitioners strongly denied that the people who set themselves on fire could have been actual Falun Gong practitioners, since ] is strictly forbidden by their principles. Some have suggested that the incident was either a ] or staged, pointing out several inconsistencies in the video footage broadcasted by State-run ]. For example, one of the burn victims appears to be wearing protective clothing, has unburnt hair, and the green plastic bottle that supposedly carried the gasoline was not even burned. Independent, third-party investigations continue to be denied by the PRC government. Third Part investigators have created a video called "False Fire," which deconstructs the incident in slow motion. Falun Gong practitioners strongly denied that the people who set themselves on fire could have been actual Falun Gong practitioners, since ] is strictly forbidden by their principles. Some have suggested that the incident was either a ] or staged, pointing out several inconsistencies in the video footage broadcasted by State-run ]. For example, one of the burn victims appears to be wearing protective clothing, has unburnt hair, and the green plastic bottle that supposedly carried the gasoline was not even burned. Independent, third-party investigations continue to be denied by the PRC government. Third Part investigators have created a video called "False Fire," which deconstructs the incident in slow motion.

Revision as of 20:26, 17 February 2006

File:Falun emblem.png
Falun emblem. The svastika appearing in the Falun Gong emblem is a traditional Buddhist emblem with no connection to Nazism.

Falun Gong (法輪功 — literally Practice of the Wheel of Law) is a controversial Chinese spiritual movement which was started in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. Central to Falun Gong are five sets of exercises (four standing, and one sitting) that involve meditation and are claimed to help in the "purification" of mind and the body. Employing many routines reminiscent of qigong breathing exercises, and theoretical language containing elements of Buddhism and Taoism, it adds also New Age and apocalyptic beliefs. Also known as Falun Dafa, the practice has grown swiftly in popularity around the world.

The government of the People's Republic of China began a nation-wide suppression of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. Concerns were triggered especially when 10,000 practitioners gathered at the Central Appeal Office at Foyou street, outside Zhongnanhai. According to government sources, this event paralyzed Beijing's traffic and demonstrated that practitioners could gather in large demonstrations. Additionally, there were reports that significant numbers of Chinese officials (including military and police personnel) were practicing.

After the persecution began, the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China was estimated by the government at 1-2 million or even less; however, according to a state-conducted survey in 1998, there were several tens of millions of practitioners in China. Falun Gong sources claim that there were 70-100 million practitioners - which would exceed the estimated membership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Some believe that after the July 1999 crackdown, the Chinese regime began spreading a much lower number in an apparent attempt to downplay Falun Gong's presence in Chinese society. The New York Times mentioned a figure of 70 million in at least two articles, both released 27th of April, 1999 - one of them written by Seth Faison and another by Joseph Kahn, who professed that "Beijing puts the tally of ... followers at 70 million". Renee Schoof, writing for the Associated Press (26th of April, 1999), mentioned a figure of "at least 70 million, according to the State Sports Administration". Indisputable numbers are hard to confirm, because there are no membership or rosters in Falun Gong practice.

The CCP has burned and destroyed books and other materials about Falun Gong, and blocked access to internet resources about the topic.

Treatment of Falun Gong members has been regarded in the West as a major international human rights issue affecting freedom of religion and freedom of speech. The Chinese government justifies its actions by denouncing the group as an "evil cult" that spreads superstition and discourages the use of medical treatment for serious illnesses. Falun Gong adherents point out the non-violent nature of the teachings, and that practitioners are free to enter or leave the group as they please, and that this distinguishes Falun Gong from many tightly controlled religious cults. However, Li Hongzhi uses overtly religious language to describe himself and his mission.

Origins and beliefs

File:EuropeanPractitionerFG.jpg
A European Practitioner in Meditation


File:LittingGirlMeditatingFG.jpg
A Young Practitioner Meditating

Falun Gong (simplified Chinese: 法轮功; traditional Chinese: 法輪功; pinyin: Fǎlún Gōng; literally "Practice of the Wheel of Law") is also known as Falun Dafa (simplified Chinese: 法轮大法; traditional Chinese: 法輪大法; pinyin: Fǎlún dàfǎ; lit. "Great Way of the Wheel of Law"). It was introduced to the general public in 1992 by Li Hongzhi (now residing in Brooklyn, New York), and grew very swiftly in popularity not only in China but worldwide. An estimate of the CCP presented in 1998 on state-owned television in Shanghai mentioned that in mainland China alone the number of practitioners were approximately 70-100 million. There being no concept of membership or organization in Falun Gong, the actual number of practitioners is a matter of dispute: Falun Gong itself claims to have over 100 million, including 70 million inside China; current official Chinese estimates put the number at about ten million, while, prior to the onset of the persecution, surveys pointed to about 70 million practitioners. Falun Gong has been growing in popularity world-over and the 70 million figure being a 1998 estimate - it is likely that the number of practitioners are far greater than 100 million.


Beliefs

Central to Falun Gong is the Buddhist concept of "Cultivation practice" - in which the practitioner constantly strives to elevate his mind nature(xinxing) and let go of attachments.


People practicing Falun Gong exercises outside of Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario

Cultivation practices of the Buddha School teach "Shan" (Compassion) and of those of the Dao School teach "Zhen"(Truth). Falun Gong teaches that the Buddha Dharma, in its highest manifestation, can be summarized in three words- Zhen 真, Shan 善 and Ren 忍, which translate approximately as 'Truth, Benevolence (or Compassion), and Forbearance (or Endurance)'. The process of cultivation is thought of to be one in which the practitioner assimilates himself to Zhen 真, Shan 善 and Ren 忍.


Li Hongzhi states that the term "QiGong" is of recent origin. That originally these were cultvation ways and had names like "The Dhyana of Vajra", "Ninefold Immortality Elixir method" and "Dafa of Cultivating Dao". That the lowest level things of some cultivation ways, for healing and fitness, were brought out to the general public under the name "QiGong". According to the website QiJournal.com -"It wasn't until 1953, when Liu Gui-zheng published a paper entitled "Practice On Qigong Therapy", that the term Qigong (Chi Kung) was adopted as the popular name for this type of exercise system. Prior to that date, there were many terms given to such exercise, such as Daoyin, Xingqi, Liandan, Xuangong, Jinggon, Dinggong, Xinggon, Neigong, Xiudao, Zhoshan, Neiyangong, Yangshengong, etc. "


Purifying the body

A health survey was conducted to 12,731 Beijing practitioners in 1998: "Our results show that Falun Gong's disease healing rate is 99.1% with a cure rate of 58.5%; Improvement rate is 80.3% in physical health and 96.5% in mental health. The survey indicates that Falun Gong has a significant effect in disease healing and health promotion."

Most systems of QiGong view the cause of disease as pathogenic qi or blockages in Qi meridians. Falun Gong, like other other cultivation ways, teaches that the human body has different manifestations in different dimensions and that the root cause of suffering is Karma - which is considered to be of material existance in another dimension.

Falun Gong teaches that through cultivation practice Karma is eliminated and transformed and that if one can truly cultivate oneself one will reach a state free of illness - though the purpose of cultivation practice is not to cure diseases.

Central to Falun Gong are five QiGong exercises (including meditation, four standing, and one sitting). All Falun Gong exercises are taught free of charge by practitioners and are detailed in Li's books, and exercise instruction videos all of which may be found, free of charge, on their websites (such as http://www.falundafa.org).

In Zhuan Falun, Li states that a Falun resides in the abdomen, in another dimension, of all true practitioners of Falun Gong. Falun means "Wheel of Law" in the Chinese language, which appears similar to the Dharma wheel or Chakra; to Falun Gong practitioners, the Falun is specifically a wheel consisting of five srivatsas and four taijitu, as illustrated on the top right-hand corner of this page. The Falun is said to be a miniature of the universe, and once it is installed into the abdomen, it turns continuously. When the Falun turns clockwise, it absorbs energy from the universe into the body; when it turns counter-clockwise it eliminates waste from the body. Some of Falun Gong practitioners believe they can see this Falun rotating in their abdomens, provided their "celestial eye" (said to be associated with the pineal body) is open. The concept of Celestial Eye is not unique to Falun Gong - similar beliefs can be found in Daoist and Buddhist Scriptures and in Hinduism too.

Morality

Li states that the five exercises are not sufficient to make progress in cultivation; only by cultivating one's mind-nature(Xinxing) can one progrss in cultivation. The practitioner is required to hold himself to a high xinxing standard.The book Zhuan Falun states - “As a practitioner, the first thing you should be able to do is to not fight back when you are beaten or sworn at—you must be tolerant. Otherwise, what kind of practitioner will you be?”... “If you can tolerate it and yet it preys on our mind, it is still not good enough.”

“What is xinxing(mind-nature)? It includes de (a type of matter), tolerance, enlightenment quality ,sacrifice, giving up ordinary people’s different desires and attachments, being able to suffer hardships, and so on. It encompasses various things. Every aspect of xinxing must be upgraded for you to make real progress.”


Falun Gong teaches a form of conservative morality. The practitioners call it emphasizing virtue (de), being a good person in all environments, and returning to one's original nature. As in many traditional practices, lust is thought of as something that hinders a person's progress in cultivation, and premarital sex is abjured. And, as with many traditions, the act of homosexuality is regarded as a sin. "The disgusting homosexuality shows the dirty abnormal psychology of the gay who has lost his ability of reasoning at the present time" states Volume II of Li's Zhuan Falun. In Frankfurt (1998) he was asked about whether homosexuals can practice cultivation. Li said yes, provided that they give up their behavior. "You are wantonly indulging your thoughts. Your thoughts, like the ones I just mentioned, are not actually you. The mentality that makes you homosexual was driven by postnatally-formed bad things. But you yourself were numbed by them and went along with them and wallowed in the mud. You need to find yourself again and stop doing those filthy things. Gods view them as filthy."

However, these criteria only apply to people who want to cultivate in Falun Dafa. In Frankfurt (1998) Li stated: "we don't bother with the affairs of everyday people. How the society of everyday people develops is everyday people's business. Here we're just teaching the Fa to cultivators."

Falun Gong also believes in the act of retribution, and all good and evil deeds will be paid in return in the due time. Because of this, they see the Chinese government crackdown as an act of "evil", and pro-Falun Gong groups have reported of a number of people dying or suffering spontaneously after their alleged involvement in the crackdown of Falun Gong.

The taking of any life is said to have negative consequences, and miscegenation seems to be discouraged. In his lectures, Li controversially suggests that different races bear the image of the gods that created them and that each race of people on earth have their own cosmic paradises, but that people of mixed race do not. According to an article by Andreas Landwehr, a journalist writing for Deutsche Presse Agentur and reproduced in the German Scientology News, Li has called people of mixed race "defective" and said, "Anybody who does not belong to his race will not be cared for. I do not just say that. It is really true. I am revealing the secret of heaven to you." However, these words as such haven't been found in any of his public lectures or interviews. It is possibly a misquote of what Li said in Sydney (1996), "I have already talked about such interracial children. I have only mentioned the phenomena in this Dharma-ending period. If you are an interracial child, it is, of course, neither your fault nor your parents' fault. Anyway, it is just such a chaotic situation brought about by mankind, in which such a phenomenon has appeared. The yellow people, the white people, and the black people have the corresponding races in heaven. Then, if one is not from his race or does not belong to his people, he will not take care of him. This is the truth, and it is not that I'm making up something here. What I am telling everyone are heavenly secrets. All interracial children were born in the Dharma-ending period. People are not to be blamed for it, because everyone is drifting in the tide, and nobody knows the truth. This is the way they have come through. If you want to practice cultivation, I can help. As for which paradise you will go to, we will need to look at your situation. I will assimilate more of whichever portion that is better preserved. Anyway, you should concentrate on your cultivation and should not concern yourself with these things." It is worth noting that such beliefs are also found in ancient Hindu works like the Manusmriti and The Bhagavat Gita ( Ch 1. Verses 41- 43)

Government crackdown

Falun Gong practitioners enacting torture scenes in New York City
Demonstration against persecution of Falun Gong at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City
File:Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners.jpg
Arrest of People practicing the 5th. exercise in China
File:Tianamen beating.jpg
Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing

For the first few years after introducing Falun Gong to the world, Li was granted several awards by Chinese governmental organizations to encourage him to continue promoting what was then considered by them to be a wholesome practice. At the Asian health expo of 1992 and 1993 in Beijing, Falun Gong was successively nominated as the "star qigong". From 1992 to 1994 Li lectured regularly all over the country in front of large audiences. The practice was popularized in mainland China for seven years, mainly by word of mouth and through the Internet.

At the end of May 1998, a Chinese physicist from the Chinese Academy of Science, He Zuoxiu, denounced Falun Gong in an interview on Beijing Television. The program, after showing a video of one of the practice sites, called it a "feudalistic superstition". Falun Gong practitioners have affimed that the people seen in the video were not actually practitioners. The TV station was swamped by protest letters from Falun Gong practitioners, and practitioners were also protesting in front of its offices.

On April 11, 1999, He Zuoxiu published an article in the Tianjin College of Education’s Youth Reader magazine entitled “I Do Not Agree with Youth Practicing Qigong .” From April 18 to April 24, Falun Gong practitioners went to the Tianjin College of Education, which published the magazine, and related governmental agencies to hold daily protests.

Some practitioners were arrested and were, according to reports , beaten by the police. Several days later, for 12 hours on April 25, about 10,000 people gathered at the Central Appeal Office at Foyou street, outside Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of Chinese Communist Government and lined up along a 2 km stretch. They held no signs and chanted no slogans. Premier Zhu Rongji met with some representatives of the practitioners and promised to resolve the situation within three days. The practitioners dispersed peacefully after they received word that Zhu had agreed to their requests. Nevertheless, it was widely reported by the Chinese media that Li's ability to organize a protest in the heart of the Chinese Communist Party alarmed many senior leaders, particularly Jiang Zemin. According to some estimates, at this time there were more than 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing alone.

On June 10, 1999, the government established the "6-10" office, an extra-constitutional body, to facilitate the crackdown. Most political analysts believe that this was the direct result of events that occurred in April 1999.

In July 1999, the government declared the practice of Falun Gong illegal. The government had become especially concerned by reports that significant numbers of government officials, as well as military and police personnel, were practitioners. Another influence in the change in policy was the cultural memory of the 19th century Taiping Rebellion, when a religious cult had caused a civil war.

"By unleashing a Mao-style movement , Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line," a Communist Party veteran later told CNN's Willy Lam. "This will boost Jiang's authority-and may give him enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress next year."

The Falun Dafa Information Center, a website which "endeavors to compile, cross-check, organize and publish" reports about the government crackdown on Falun Gong, has confirmed that at least 2,792 (December 2005) Falun Gong practitioners have died while in police or government custody.

Falun Gong representatives and practitioners have said that about 70 million people practice it, which is more than there are members in the Chinese Communist Party (about 60 million people). Others claim that there were practitioners amongst high officials of the government and that several high ranking army officers had embraced the practice as well.

The CCP has issued reports stating that 1404 people died in China as result of practising Falun Gong, mostly by not seeking medicine for various illnesses . No such incident has been reported by sources outside the CCP. Some scientists in China claim that there is no scientific evidence to show Falun Gong is beneficial for health. A frequent argument made by Chinese scientists is that followers are encouraged to avoid, by practice, most conventional medicine.

The media war

The People's Republic of China (PRC), led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), became concerned by the number of people practicing Falun Gong in all segments of the Chinese society, as well as the ability of practitioners to gather in large demonstrations almost instantaneously. On July 20, 1999, the government began a nation-wide suppression of Falun Gong, referring to the practice as an "evil cult" spreading superstition to deceive people. To be noted that at the time there were said to be 100,000 practitioners in Beijing alone. Jiang, the former leader of the CCP, condemned the group in the state-controlled media, stating a position the Chinese government promotes to this day. Li, has in the past denied that it is either a religion or a cult, despite its using some language similar to Chinese Buddhism and Taoism. In recent years, however, Li has been using increasingly religious language to describe himself and his mission as well as the spiritual significance of Falun Gong. He claims that his practice of "Fa-rectification" encompasses the entire universe, purporting to include and go beyond all aspects of the Christian, Buddhist and Taoist religions . In distinction to many tightly controlled religious cults, Falun Dafa practitioners are free to learn or leave as they please.

The CCP claims that the practice has deviated its focus from engaging in spiritual cultivation to engaging in politics, basing their opinions on the existence of numerous websites disparate from, yet in support of, Falun Gong (such as Friends of Falun Gong). Due to an implication derived from its core principles, the teachings of Falun Gong are said to forbid any political involvement, and practitioners claim to have little interest in power or politics, the large number of political protests leading to the crackdown notwithstanding. However, Falun Gong's supporters, such as The Epoch Times, tend to be conservative and anti-Communist. Kangang Xu, a Falun Gong speaker, is the Chairman of the paper's board.

In China, the CCP has blocked access to certain sites on the Internet (including this article, see History of Misplaced Pages), and burned Falun Gong's books and materials. In addition, some junk mail filters are targeting spams related to the Falun Gong spiritual movement and other dissidents.

On the other hand, there have been incidents in which China's state-owned television networks were jammed with reports on the persecution of Falun Gong. In addition, a syndicated Chinese language newspaper with worldwide circulation, The Epoch Times (English)(Chinese), is accused of having a pro-Falun Gong platform, mainly because it has been the mouthpiece of much of Falun Gong's claims of suppression and torture, but also partly because it has published articles suggesting a declining state in the CCP. These articles include Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party (jiuping), New Zealand to Celebrate 7 Million Renouncing Chinese Communist Party, and others .

According to WOIPFG reports, eight Falun Gong practitioners were arrested after one of the jamming incidents in Changchun city, including Liu Chengjun, who was allegedly tortured to death after 21 months incarceration in Jilin Prison.

The Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident

File:Faluntorture.jpg
According to Xinhua, this is a photo of Chen Guo, one of the disputed self-immolators

The campaign of government criticism begun in 1999 was considered by most observers to be largely ineffectual until January 2001, when persons whom the government claimed were Falun Gong practitioners, among them a 13-year-old child, doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. Videos of the incident were widely broadcast on Chinese state television, as were interviews with the 13-year-old, who was horribly burned and whose mother did not survive the incident.

Several inconsistancies have been pointed out in the goverment's version of the story. In Tiananmen Square, the closest building to the People's Hero Monument is at least 10 minutes away. Yet, the flames were put out in less than a minute. Normally, the surveillance camera in Tiananmen Square covers a fixed area. But on this particular day, the camera follows the police to the scene and zooms in to focus on the incident. Though the Chinese media claimed that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots, the head of the International Department of CNN stated that CNN did not film anything because at the very beginning of the incident, CNN reporters were arrested and their equipment confiscated. Authorities did not allow any reporters other than those from the Xinhua News Agency to interview 13-year-old Siying, nor did they allow any of her family members to visit. Two months after the incident in Tiananmen Square, the hospital announced the sudden death of Siying.

Falun Gong practitioners strongly denied that the people who set themselves on fire could have been actual Falun Gong practitioners, since suicide is strictly forbidden by their principles. Some have suggested that the incident was either a hoax or staged, pointing out several inconsistencies in the video footage broadcasted by State-run Xinhua News Agency. For example, one of the burn victims appears to be wearing protective clothing, has unburnt hair, and the green plastic bottle that supposedly carried the gasoline was not even burned. Independent, third-party investigations continue to be denied by the PRC government. Third Part investigators have created a video called "False Fire," (High res, Low res) which deconstructs the incident in slow motion.


Many observers believe that the incident helped turn public opinion in China against Falun Gong and has rallied support for the government crackdown.

Foreign views on Falun Gong

The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has been regarded in the West as a major international human rights issue. In 2000, Ian Johnson of the Wall Street Journal investigated the reports of abuse, and published a series of investigative articles that won him the Pulitzer Prize the following year. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDI), there are, as of December 13, 2005, 2,792 verified cases of Falun Gong practitioners dying in police and government custody mainland China, giving rise to allegations of torture and police brutality. The report also states that hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained, with more than 100,000 sentenced to forced-labor camps. Moreover, there are more than 30,000 documented cases of persecution. The CCP does not deny detaining Falun Gong practitioners, but insists that they died from hunger strikes and refusals to seek medical treatments.

As of December 2005, 61 lawsuits have been filed in about 30 countries charging Jiang and several other senior officials with genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity for their roles in the treatment of Falun Gong in mainland China. (See a discussion on universal jurisdiction.) In at least one case, in Belgium, the lawsuit did not proceed further. If such allegations are true, China is directly violating the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), also ratified by China. Its second article states: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture", and "An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture."


Some exit counselors have recognized characteristics of cults in Falun Gong. For instance, Rick Ross, an independent and self-proclaimed cult expert, writes that "on its characterisation of Falun Gong as a cult that aims to destabilise the regime, I think Beijing is largely in the right. Falun Gong looks, acts and smells like a cult with grandiose earthly political ambition, not to mention the interplanetary stuff."

The practice of Falun Gong is currently present in more than 80 countries across the world; government reactions have ranged from open acceptance (United States) to tolerance (Australia) to suspicion (Japan and Singapore) to arrests (France). Arrests in France took place after pressure from Chinese diplomats during Hu Jintao's visit in 2004. The arrests were later criticized by politicians in France and across Europe.

Falun Dafa umbrella groups contend that the Chinese authorities spread disinformation in Western countries in order to portray Falun Gong in a negative light, and to get the help of their governments in fighting it.

French Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhist groups, and other organisations regularly hold protests, sit-ins, distributions of leaflets, and other activities critical of the Chinese government. In 2004, the French Falun Gong association asked president Jacques Chirac to convey a message to the Chinese authorities asking them to stop the crackdown . Falun Gong practitioners have filed criminal charges in France against some officials of the Chinese police apparatus.

Resolution Number 188, unanimously passed by the United States Congress states:

"Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of personal belief and practice with millions of adherents in the People's Republic of China and elsewhere; Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has forbidden Falun Gong practitioners to practice their beliefs, and has systematically attempted to eradicate the practice and those who follow it"

""Jiang Zemin’s regime has created notorious government ‘610’ offices throughout the People’s Republic of China with the special task of overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong members through organized brainwashing, torture, and murder "

"Whereas propaganda from state-controlled media in the People's Republic of China has inundated the public in an attempt to breed hatred and discrimination"

"The campaign of persecution has been... carried out by government officials and police at all levels, and has permeated every segment of society and every level of government in the People’s Republic of China."

24-hour continuous protests

Falun Gong supporters in Vancouver, Canada continue to stage what they claim is the world's longest-running continuous protest against China's treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. The protest, which runs twenty-four hours a day, is located at the entrance to the Chinese Consulate on Granville Street. There are also similar protests being staged in front of the Chinese Embassy in London, New York, and other cities worldwide. They have been continuous since June 5, 2002. The government of Hong Kong allows nearly continuous demonstrations, albeit on a small scale, in tourist areas.

Falun Gong presence overseas

More recently, despite their stated disinterest in politics, Falun Gong practitioners have been seen on the streets in major metropolitan areas, directly informing the public of the alleged treatment their fellow practitioners in China (and worldwide according to some pamphlets) receive from the Chinese government. In many Western cities (particularly Manhattan, New York City) several elaborate streetside demonstrations can be seen that portray graphic scenes of alleged government brutality. Amidst these public displays are signs with simple slogans, such as "Falun Dafa is Good" and "Bring Jiang to Justice." Falun Gong practitioners are seen asking passerbys to sign petitions against the CCP, or simply to voice support for the movement and condemn the torture.

The Falun Gong mouthpiece in the West is the Epoch Times, distributed for free in metropolitan areas in the US, Canada, and Australia; however, the newspaper is intended for a wider audience, and not all of its employees are practitioners. Sound of Hope, a radio station broadcasting to China as well as Western countries, and a TV station named New Tang Dynasty are operated mostly by Falun Gong practitioners.

References

External links

Categories: