6. The World Recognizes Falun Dafa and Speaks Out

The world is bearing witness to the goodness of Falun Dafa and its teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi. Persons of good will and noble institutions the world over are speaking out on behalf of Falun Dafa, objecting to China's vicious campaign. A 50-year-old mountain in China, called intolerance of dissenting beliefs, appears to be moving.

On the eve of the 1^st anniversary of the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Dafa, several well-known political leaders spoke at a press conference held in Washington DC on July 20, 2000, at the Hilton Hotel.

At the conference, Mark Palmer, the Vice-chairman of Freedom House and former Ambassador to Hungary, described Falun Dafa's importance in unequivocal terms. He stated: "I want to say in all seriousness that I believe your movement, the Falun Gong, is the movement which will define our time, at the beginning of the 21st century... I deeply believe that these thousands and thousands of years of tradition that Falun Gong represents is unshakable, and therefore I believe deeply that you will succeed. ^"At the same conference, T. Kumar of Amnesty International stated that: "it's time for the Chinese government to open up, take this as an issue that is fundamental to their country at large, and move forward with dignity." Kumar also raised a question to Chinese authorities that is shared by millions around the world: "[Falun Gong] has never done any harm to other people, so why do you round up these people and imprison them?"

Rabbi David Saperstein, Past Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, believes that Falun Gong "has become a symbol of the struggle for religious freedom, more broadly, in China and elsewhere." He stated at the conference that: "This struggle for freedom is not just the struggle of the practitioners, not just the struggle of those of you who are believers, but it's the struggle of every caring, thoughtful, and committed human being who believes that freedom, including religious freedom, is the ultimate destiny of all humankind. It is that fundamental belief that has brought us together."

On August 6, 1999, 19 senators in the US wrote to China's President Jiang Zemin, urging "the immediate release of those detained" for Falun Gong practice. In their letter, they called for a thorough investigation of "beatings and other mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners who were recently detained in cities across China."

On November 18, 1999, the US House of Representative unanimously passed concurrent resolution H. Con. Res. 218, which condemned China's mistreatment of Falun Gong in the strongest of language. One day later, the US Senate unanimously passed concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 217, urging China to stop its persecution of Falun Gong and respect freedom of belief more broadly.

In marking the 51st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, President Clinton, in a human rights speech on December 6, 1999, criticized China's crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement. The speech marked Clinton's first comments about China's detention and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners. The president called it a "troubling example" of the Chinese government acting against those "who test the limits of freedom."

On August 28, 2000, over 80 members of the US House of Representatives wrote to President Clinton. They argued that "the most egregious example of the PRC government's contempt for the rights of its own citizens has been the unrelenting campaign of repression against practitioners and defenders of Falun Gong." They urged President Clinton to "reiterate the United States opposition to Beijing's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the strongest possible terms and in every available forum."

Even more importantly, the congressmen urged President Clinton to "convey to Beijing as strongly as possible that it is not Falun Gong or other political and religious dissidents who are destabilizing the country, but rather the government's brutal reaction against its own citizens."

In its declaration of "Falun Dafa Day," the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States, proclaimed that "Falun Dafa practitioners practice the principle of Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance) and incorporate it into their daily lives, striving to become better people in all environments and situations. In addition, they cultivate their bodies by practicing smooth and tranquil exercises that can improve their overall physical health." Two proclamations were issued in support of the event, while the Mayor himself congratulated practitioners for their efforts to improve the health of Philadelphians' bodies, minds, and spirits.

Perhaps Mayor Robert C. Lanier of city of Houston, Texas, USA, said it best after he proclaimed Mr. Li Hongzhi an "Honorary Citizen" and designated him a "Good Will Ambassador." In his declaration of "Li Hongzhi Day" on October 12, 1996, Lanier stated:

Falun Dafa transcends cultural and racial boundaries. It resonates the universal truth to every corner of the earth and bridges the gap between East and West. Li Hongzhi has worked tirelessly to convey Falun Dafa from China to the rest of the world. Along the way, he has touched the lives of countless people in many countries, earning an acclaimed international reputation.

Her Excellency the Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, sent a congratulatory letter to help celebrate Canada Falun Dafa Week (August 21 - 27). In her commendation letter, she stated: "The men and women who follow the precepts of the Falun Dafa Buddhist rules strive to perfect their bodies and minds. They wish to live in symbiosis with the universe and experience inner peace... They cultivate the will to live in peace with themselves and in harmony with the universe, thus learning compassion for others and helping to create a more open and tolerant society."

Herb Gray, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, stated that: "Falun Dafa has as its aims the refinement of both the mind and the body, using the idea of Zhen-Shan-Ran, which means 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance'. These are certainly principles which resonate with many Canadians."

A. Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, describes the benefits of Falun Gong in practical, immediate terms: "Millions of Falun Dafa followers around the world have found that this advanced traditional Chinese Qigong practice is the answer to the stresses and strains of modern day life,"

In his July 12, 2000, letter to China's president Jiang Zemin, Canadian Parliament Member Rob Anders asked the Chinese government "to lift the ban on Falun Gong and allow the practitioners to pursue their personal beliefs in accordance with Article 36 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China." He also asked that "the citizens who have been imprisoned for their beliefs be released. These people do not advocate violence and do not deserve to be kept from their families."

In a letter to one European Falun Dafa practitioner, Mr. Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, indicated that "The EU has, on several occasions, expressed its concern about Falun Gong, and in particular about reports of torture and ill-treatment of arrested followers, and the harshness of sentences given to these members. This will also be raised during the next round of the EU-China human rights dialogue, on 25 February in Lisbon." The European Union has shown its support of Falun Gong in China on several occasions.

The Irish government has also expressed its concern over the persecution of Falun Gong. It was particularly vocal when 4 Chinese citizens, all residents in Ireland, were arrested for appealing on behalf of Falun Gong in Beijing. "We have expressed our concern about the situation and called on the Chinese authorities to respect the human rights of individuals, including those who are followers of Falun Gong," said Taoiseach, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Support from France has been clear as well. Jean-Marie Magnien, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, summarized France's position, stating: "France, along with the European Union, has been closely monitoring, since the very beginning, the development of the Chinese Government's campaign against Falun Gong." As the chair of the European Union, France "will continue to let China understand the mutual position of the 15 member nations that form the European Union, especially during Sino-European human rights talks."

Members of the House of Lords of United Kingdom proclaimed their appreciation of and support for Falun Gong, stating: "Falun Gong is an entirely peaceful belief system which encourages the highest standards of moral behavior among its adherents. These people are not only harmless but also deeply respectable."

This past March in Geneva, Switzerland, at the 56^th UN Human Rights Commission, a speaker from the Association of World Citizens remarked in his speech that: "Falun Gong... is a deeply-spiritual self-cultivation practice that deeply transforms its practitioners in terms of both mind and body. For its adherents to conduct themselves by anything but the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, would be unthinkable--and this even includes under the circumstances of torture."

On July 22, 2000, the 1^st anniversary of the Chinese government's banning of Falun Dafa, Rights & Democracy called upon the Government of China to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to stop persecuting members of the practice. In its statement, it declaimed the Chinese government's manipulation of the country's judiciary system, calling it "a mockery of the universally espoused principle of an independent and impartial judiciary."

Amnesty International, on October 22, 1999, called upon China to stop persecution of Falun Gong. AI wrote: "Amnesty International is deeply concerned by reports that detained followers of the Falun Gong have been tortured or ill-treated in various places of detention in China." The report offered detailed criticism of China's actions, including specific breeches in agreed upon human rights covenants.

On July 22, 1999, Human Rights Watch strongly condemned the Chinese government's nationwide ban of Falun Gong. It urged the release of the organization's leaders and members arbitrarily detained in a nationwide sweep aimed at suppressing the group.

On December 27, 1999, Human Rights Watch, condemned the harsh sentences given to four so-called "leaders" of the Falun Gong practice. "These Falun Gong members should never have been arrested, much less given heavy sentences," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division. "We call on the Chinese government to immediately make public the names of all those formally arrested, where they are being held, and what they are being charged with," said Jendrzejczyk. "They should all be promptly released."

On February 22, 2000, World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) called for investigation of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners In China.

The Committee on Misuse and Abuse of Psychiatry recently "expressed outrage at many reports of alleged involuntary detention of non-mentally ill Falun Gong practitioners, and urged that the board of trustees formally request the World Psychiatric Association to investigate the matter." The committee appealed to the American Psychiatric Association board of trustees to urge the World Psychiatric Association to look into reports of Falun Gong practitioners being detained and tortured in psychiatric hospitals.

Seth Faison, a Visiting Fellow at the Pacific Council for International Policy and former New York Times correspondent in China, has pointed out that "In contrast with China's democracy advocates--few and disorganized--Falun Gong followers number in the tens of millions and act with remarkable discipline. They are determined and stoic, eager to endure personal hardship for the broader right to practice their beliefs." Faison has argued that: "Any genuine effort to understand the significance of Falun Dafa should look past the few to the many. And there are many... the protesters keep on coming."

Over the course of the past year, journalists have make marked improvements in their reporting on Falun Dafa. They have gradually moved past the cases of the few, the exceptional, and begun to appreciate the scope of what is currently unfolding in China. They have begun to recognize the many, after having initially looked for stories on Falun Dafa in the wrong places.

Early on, media of the world missed and frequently misinterpreted ongoing developments surrounding Falun Dafa. Danny Schechter, a renowned media analyst, has offered his insights, stating that Falun Gong was "downplayed in mainstream and progressive media alike. When it was covered, it was often covered with a sense of incomprehension... Falun Gong is the unexpected--and most journalists missed its emergence and rapid spread... For seven years, it was barely acknowledged in the media or reported on outside of China."

In most newsrooms, according to Schechter, Falun Gong was "falsely [thought] to be only a Chinese phenomenon. Many journalists did not notice--or chose not to notice--that the practice had actually become internationalized with groups now in 30 countries and 104 cities in 38 states in the United States."

Alarmingly, Schechter notes, "High profile writers and publishers did not even condemn the widespread burning of millions of Falun Gong books in China... Falun Gong remains isolated and alone in large part because of the poor job the media has done in explaining who they are and what China is doing to them."

And this, Schechter has argued, despite the fact that, "Falun Gong practitioners have shown the world they may be peaceful but they are not passive. In many ways their campaign is comparable to Gandhi's civil disobedience movement in India and the nonviolent civil rights activism of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the American South."

With time, the composure of Falun Dafa practitioners under the ban in China and their capacity to peacefully endure hardship has begun to draw long-overdue attention. This past year has witnessed the vast majority of Western journalists describe and perceive Falun Gong more accurately. Most have stopped passively echoing the pejorative terms crafted by China's propaganda machine. Journalists have begun to report the real story of Falun Dafa. Through the eyes of these reporters, the world has learned ever more about the what is happening in China. And all this, despite the Chinese government's vigorous efforts to keep the persecution a local story, hidden from the rest of the world. Despite constant harassment, intimidation, and threats by Chinese public security officials, Western journalists in China have continued to report on Falun Dafa.

For example, Ian Johnson, staff reporter of The Wall Street Journal, brought the harrowing torture and death account of Chen Zixiu to the rest of the world. In his April 20, 2000 report, Ian claimed that "A year on, Falun Gong faithful have mustered what is arguably the most sustained challenge to authority in 50 years of Communist rule." It seems that reporters like Johnson are garnering a better sense for the importance of this situation.

Within a week of Johnson's account, The Wall Street Journal followed up with an editorial on April 26 in which Falun Gong practitioners were praised as "heroes." Practitioners in China, the editorial explained "may receive long sentences of hard labor for the 'crime' of asking for the freedom to follow their religious beliefs, a freedom that is guaranteed in the Chinese constitution but has never been honored." Yet, it continued: "Even the best efforts of the Beijing regime cannot stamp out spirituality. Chinese society is changing quickly, and odds are that more and more people will follow the example of the Falun Dafa practitioners and demand their rights."

Four months later, Ian Johnson portrayed another Falun Dafa hero, a practitioner affectionately nicknamed Brother Li by his fellow practitioners, who pedals his bike around Beijing and relies on his pager and pay phones to assist those who come to Tiananmen square to protest the ban. Li's story is one of the many that help us understand the tremendous sacrifice practitioners have made for the well being of others.

In a supportive Los Angeles Times article of December 28, 1999, titled "Beijing's Brutality Won't Work," it was written that: "The depth of an authoritarian government's fear of its own people can be measured by how severely it punishes dissent."

After reading Ian Johnson's report on Chen Zixiu's death, Jeff Jacoby, a staff writer at The Boston Globe, responded on May 22, writing: "When will the time be ripe for normal dealings with China? When the Chinese Communist Party tells the truth about Chen Zixiu. The poor woman died, the government insists, of natural causes."

An August 1^st article this year in the Washington Post stated: "It has now been just over a year since the government of China began its efforts to stamp out the nonviolent spiritual movement known as Falun Gong. Thousands of Chinese followers of the group have been subjected to surveillance, harassment, arrest, torture and, in some two dozen cases, death." It continued, yet "for all its determination to deny Falun Gong practitioners their right to the free exercise of their beliefs, Beijing has been unable in a year to restore the monochromatic ideological climate its rulers require. The effort to destroy Falun Gong will be a 'long-lasting, complicated and acute struggle,' a July 20 editorial in the official People's Daily conceded. This backhanded compliment to the undeniable courage and tenacity of Falun Gong's adherents was also, alas, probably a threat of even greater official violence to come."

On June 23, 2000, another editorial appeared in the Washington Post. It explained that "The old Soviet Union pioneered the misuse of psychiatry against political dissidents; China has followed suit in at least three documented cases in the past decade. But the story of 32-year-old computer engineer Su Gang, who had been repeatedly detained by the security department of his workplace for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, is dramatic nonetheless."

The Post article continued: "Falun Gong practitioners have since released what they say are accounts of similar abuses against more than 100 other members of the movement. None of these other cases ended in death, but the stories are broadly similar: Falun Gong members, usually those who either went to Beijing to protest or were accused of having done so, are arrested and told they must abandon their beliefs. Then, sometimes after spending days in jail, they are confined for additional periods in mental hospitals. Unfortunately, these still-sketchy reports are difficult to confirm, and none is as well-documented as the story of Mr. Su--whose confinement in the hospital has been confirmed to the Western press by an official of the institution itself. The job of shedding further light on this seemingly ominous turn in China's treatment of its own people falls to international human rights organizations--and democratic governments outside China."