Harald Nordlund
Member of Swedish Parliament á
This is a fantastic experience. If this had been in China these wonderful people would already have been arrested.
The language of oppression is loud. Totalitarian power does not listen; it orders, commands, and demands. But when it is met with silence it becomes frightened and feels threatened. And power that feels threatened is dangerous and threatening, even for those who do not lay claim to power.
We have an example from our own world of culture, a long way west of the Great Wall of China. It is of the son of a carpenter from the town of Nazareth in Galilee about 2000 years ago. Only once did he raise his voice, and also his hand. That was when he turned on the profiteers and money-lenders who exploited people, including vulnerable people, for their own gain in a temple where peace and tranquility were meant to reign. This man declared, time and time again, that he had no claim to earthly power. "My kingdom is not of this world" he said, and he was put to death.
Of course silence can, when faced by power and claims to power, pose a threat to power itself. We have many examples of this. Mahatma Gandhi did harm to the British Empire and Martin Luther King questioned justice in what is usually referred to as the world's greatest democracy. Self-chosen modesty and poverty are unconquered and powerful forces, which those who lay claim to power and wealth cannot meet.
The regime in China is brutal. It has great need not only of displaying power but also of creating fear amongst people, which is a prerequisite for being able to exert its power. Fear is created by executing large numbers of people.
Falun Gong is popular, and more and more people are becoming practitioners; but that which the regime cannot direct and control, it attempts to knock down with violence. The manifestation here is important but it must be followed by all of us continuing to, in various ways, put our foot down. Especially the political parties must react now. The Government must, more clearly, put its foot down.
To the prime minister I would like to say: why not use the Swedish presidency of the EU in order to, here and now in Gothenburg, protest against the gross violations of human rights which are being committed daily by the Chinese dictatorship?
June 15th, 2001