Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 15:41, 2 July 2020

“China Tribunal and ETAC are backed by Falun Gong”

The following paragraph contradicts many claims of the Tribunal and is problematic:

Both the Tribunal and ETAC are believed to be backed by exiled Chinese religious group Falun Gong. For example, ETAC's UK national manager, Andy Moody, is reporter of Falun Gong backed media NTD. Other claims from the group include practicing Falun Gong cures cancer, and its founder, Li Hongzhi, possesses the power of God.

First, while the Tribunal was initiated by ETAC, it claims to be independent of ETAC (Point 17 of https://chinatribunal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ChinaTribunal_JUDGMENT_1stMarch_2020.pdf):

“All members of the Tribunal, Counsel to the Tribunal, volunteer lawyers and the editor of this Judgment have worked entirely pro bono publico (for the public good) which for those unfamiliar with the term or practice means completely without financial return of any kind. None of the members of the Tribunal, Counsel to the Tribunal, the editor or the volunteer lawyers working with Counsel to the Tribunal is a Falun Gong practitioner or has any special interest in Falun Gong. Two advantages flow from this: first, all those engaged on the work are completely free of any influence from Falun Gong practitioners; second, worthwhile work otherwise unaffordable is done. Where funds have been required, for hire of rooms for evidence hearings, travel to London of non-UK Tribunal members etc, these have been provided by ETAC.”

Saying the Tribunal to be backed by Falun Gong is biased and unsubstantiated.

Second, the claim that ETAC is backed by Falun Gong also contradicts the following (https://chinatribunal.com/about-etac/):

ETAC is an independent, non-partisan organisation that has no alignment with any political party, religious or spiritual group, government or any other national or international institution. Members are from a range of backgrounds, belief systems, religions and ethnicities.

ETAC's UK national manager being a reporter of a Falun Gong media does not support the claim that China Tribunal or ETAC is backed by Falun Gong.

Finally, even assuming ETAC is backed by Falun Gong, saying that Falun Gong’s founder Li Hongzhi possesses the power of God is completely irrelavent to China Tribunal.

For the above reasons, I have deleted the paragraph.

Keyboardwarrior (talk) 19:06, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

Please do not censor available information

Please do not censor any available evidence linking the tribunal or ETAC to Falun Gong. Rather, add the tribunal's claim that multiple positions do not contain Falun Gong practitioners to it, and leave the judgement to the reader. Simply deleting what you disagree with will mislead readers. Thank you!

AshleyCh628 (talk) 20:19, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

I think the evidence linking ETAC to Falun Gong may appear on ETAC’s page (which doesn’t exist), but it’s a bit of a stretch to mention it in China Tribunal’s page.

Even assuming ETAC is backed by Falun Gong, the purported connection between China Tribunal and ETAC (and hence Falun Gong) is very weak and denied by China Tribunal. Also, the purported connection between ETAC and Falun Gong is original research, forbidden by Misplaced Pages.

Also, claims about Falun Gong (such as founder Li Hongzhi possesses the power of God) is irrelevant to China Tribunal. For instance, Tom Cruise is a famous Scientologist. Should we mention Scientology’s teachings in Mission Impossible page, since the movie may be backed by Scientology (which again is a dubious connection)?

For that reason, I have deleted the Falun Gong’s claims from China Tribunal’s page. You can create a page for ETAC and include those Falun Gong claims there (but they will probably be challenged, too).

Keyboardwarrior (talk) 15:41, 2 July 2020 (UTC)