When people see my "I support Falun Gong" button, they often ask me, "Who is Falun Gong?"
As I am graduating in about a month, soon nobody at Brown will be able to ask me this question anymore. So for those who still want to know, here is a basic explanation for why "I support Falun Gong."
First of all, Falun Gong is not a person, but a peaceful meditation practice from China. It teaches people to be True, Kind and Patient, and can help you improve your health and cultivate inner peace. Falun Gong was first taught publicly in China in 1992 by its founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi. Its health benefits were quickly recognized by many, including the Chinese government, who therefore helped to promote it around China. Thus, with the help of the Chinese government, Falun Gong spread to over 50 countries worldwide by 1998, with over 100 million people practicing its gentle exercise movements.
However soon the rapid spread of Falun Gong came to greatly alarm Chinese officials, who fear even the remotest sign of potential opposition to their absolute power. And some, such as former Chinese premier Jiang Zemin, felt that this movement had to be stopped. For despite the benevolent nature of Falun Gong, the Chinese Communist Party feared the 100 million practitioners who were outnumbering the 55 million members of the CCP.
Thus, before people who liked to practice Falun Gong even knew what was going on, the government was already launching a nationwide campaign to wipe out the practice within three months. Jiang Zemin immediately issued three policies directed at practicioners - "to ruin their reputation, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically."
How is the CCP trying to carry out these three policies?
By controlling China's media, the CCP is trying to ruin the reputation of practitioners with a continuous flood of anti-Falun Gong propaganda justifying the suppression. Secondly, the CCP fines companies that hire people who practice Falun Gong, until such businesses could no longer afford to employ them. With so many practitioners in China, this is a huge blow to many families, who can no longer support themselves.
Finally, Jiang Zemin invested a huge sum of the government's money into founding a Gestapo-like organization called the "6-10 Office". This body was put specifically in charge of all affairs relating to the suppression of Falun Gong. They are directly responsible for arresting practitioners en masse, illegally detaining them in "Re-Education Through Forced Labor Camps," psychiatric hospitals and detention centers. There practitioners are tortured, using many of history's most cruel torture methods, until they sign a piece of paper stating that they will thereafter give up their practice of Falun Gong and their belief in its guiding principles.
When I first heard about these facts, I was truly shocked to my core. I could not believe that a government would go to such lengths to suppress people's freedom of belief. I am not the only one to respond in such a manner - many governments worldwide, the United Nations and all human rights organizations that I know of firmly condemn the CCP's suppression of Falun Gong. Furthermore, there are over 16 lawsuits in over 13 countries charging Jiang Zemin and other CCP officials with "genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture."
Today, many practitioners in the United States are participating in a long-term effort to spread awareness about this issue to New Yorkers. This might have a good effect on the many big businesses that do trade with China and have their headquarters in New York. They might like to know that much of the money that they have invested in China has been used to fuel this inhumane persecution.
I wonder: How much does it cost to monitor and detain so many of China's 70 million Falun Gong practitioners and harass their families and friends? Could this money not be spent instead on improving China's education programs and crumbling healthcare system?
China has the largest population and fastest-growing economy in the world. One could ask: With so much persecution directed at its citizens, where are the CCP's priorities in running the country?
Jacob Wallenburg '05 would like you to contact him for more information on Falun Gong.
