I recently read a news report from the Xinhua News Agency of a signature-collecting campaign during a Chinese Lunar New Year's Party organized by Beijing University and China's Academy of Sciences. The petition, which was titled as "Opposing XX [slanderous words omitted], Protecting Human Rights", was lead by He XX [name omitted] and some other people. After reading the news, I felt deeply worried that, these two most respected educational and scientific research institutes of China were being invaded and contaminated, bit-by-bit.

Jiang Zemin and his followers have turned the whole country up side down by suppressing Falun Gong. This has caused a nationwide decline in professional ethics and general morality, while sentiments of dissatisfaction have increased. And now, just before their end comes, they are beginning to harm and dishonor the intellectual community.

What exactly are Jiang Zemin and his followers opposing? It is Zhen- Shan-Ren (Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance), the highest moral standard of mankind and profound principle of the universe. What are they afraid of? It is the loss of their specialized privileges and social status.

The spread of Falun Dafa (Zhen-Shan-Ren) has lit up the world, exposing everything that is not upright and everything that is not righteous enough. Therefore, the true nature of Jiang Zemin was unveiled which is dishonest, deceitful and vicious. In a hysterical tantrum, he began the unprecedented evil suppression of Falun Dafa.

For their own interest, Jiang Zemin and his followers have committed crimes that deprived people's basic human rights, although they claimed to "protect human rights." The following are some examples of what they have done to "protect human rights":

Force 100 million people to stop their preferred cultivation practice that benefits both their mind and body;

Brainwash Falun Gong practitioners, and force them to speak against their heart;

Make vicious personal attacks against the founder of Falun Dafa with fabricated facts and false accusations;

Torture Falun Gong practitioners with methods reminiscent of fascist brutality;

Recklessly beat practitioners in public who went to appeal in Tiananmen Square;

Cause the death of at least 131 practitioners to-date in the brutal persecution;

Sentence over 500 Falun Gong practitioners to jail;

Send over 50,000 practitioners to labor camps without trial;

Send over 600 practitioners to mental hospitals and forcefully administer various drugs for mental illnesses;

Strip female practitioners and confine them with male prisoners with the intent to harm them;

Force abortion of female practitioners;

Force countless students, teachers, workers, soldiers, farmers etc. to leave their schools, jobs etc. and forfeit their basic livelihood;

Deceive countless individuals including policemen with lies and threats, and fool them into recklessly beating Falun Gong practitioners in a style similar to the "cultural revolution".

Deprive a basic citizen's right to appeal for 100 million practitioners;

Repeatedly accuse Falun Gong practitioners of various non-existent crimes, severely violating the constitution;

Reiterate "class struggle" (a means used to justify oppression against a group of people by ideological classification, which was widely used for abuse during the cultural revolution [1966-1976]) although it was removed from the constitution long ago;

...

...

Now, a few politicians wearing "scientist" masks are hassling top representatives of the intellectual community with their politically motivated "petition", isn't this another violation of human rights.

Since we all in scientific professions have in front of us a critical choice, let's first share what Albert Einstein wrote in an open letter to the Society for Social Responsibility in Science (published in Science, Vol. 112, December 22, 1950, p.760. on July 19, 1950), "The problem of how man should act if his government prescribes actions or society expects an attitude which his own conscience considers wrong is indeed an old one. It is easy to say that the individual cannot be held responsible for acts carried out under irresistible compulsion, because the individual is fully dependent upon the society in which he is living and therefore must accept its rules. But the very formulation of this idea makes it obvious to what extent such a concept contradicts our sense of justice." He also said: "Institutions are in a moral sense impotent unless they are supported by the sense of responsibility if living individuals. An effort to arouse and strengthen this sense of responsibility of the individual is an important service of mankind."

On the other hand, have the rights of intellectuals ever been respected and protected in China? There is no exception even with Qian Xuesen, one of the most respected scientists in China. In 1999, Jiang Zemin pushed Mr. Qian to support the suppression of Falun Gong, but failed. As a student of Einstein, under vicious pressure from Jiang and his followers, Mr. Qian solemnly preserved the honor and purity of his scientific heritage thus establishing a glorious model for the Chinese intellectual community.

It is well known that if you start to talk about "human rights" with Jiang, you would be dubbed as "exerting pressure on the government", you would be "anti-Communist Party", "anti-Government", "anti-Socialist ideology", or "uniting with overseas anti-China forces to undermine the Chinese government". This is confirmed by what Falun Gong practitioners have experienced. Only because of their stepping forward to tell the truth and stating the facts, they were put into jails or labor camps for months, even years. Isn't it absurd to refer to the signature-collecting campaign against Falun Gong as "protecting human rights?"

Furthermore, to truly protect and respect human rights by collecting signatures from the public, how about founding an organization something like " Association Against Persecution in China?" If a campaign is initiated to "Stop the Suppression of Falun Gong, Protect Human Rights" by collecting signatures, billions, let alone millions, of signatures could be expected. Just go to the streets and ask whoever supports it to sign. By comparison, the general public will know how to really "Protect human rights."

It is very clear that, although disguised as "protecting human rights", the real purpose of Jiang and his followers is to preserve their specialized privileges and social status. With the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2001 approaching, more massive arrests of Falun Gong practitioners are taking place nationwide. Let's keep an old saying in mind, which is "Good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil".

Liming

January 20, 2001