[Clearwisdom.net] The term "Human Rights" has often been the focal point of criticism against the XX government [party name omitted] by the West. The usual rebuttal from the Chinese government is "Stop interfering with our internal affairs!" Even though China does not like it when others criticize its record of human rights abuses, China smugly defends its notorious reputation by actually trumpeting their support for "Human Rights." The latest political campaign known as "The Million Signature Movement for Safeguarding Human Rights", initiated by Jiang Zemin and his cohorts, is, itself, a grim violation of human rights.
1. The "Million Signature Movement" is a direct violation of all Chinese citizens own human rights.
The motive behind the "Million Signature Movement" is none other than demonstrating to the media, both inside and outside of China, that the persecution of Falun Gong has received popular support. There are 1.3 billion people in China. With signatures from only one million supporters, what about the opinion of the other 1.299 billion Chinese people? Aren't their basic human rights stripped away? To discern actual popular opinion, they should have gathered at least more than 650 million signatures, not just one million signatures.
2. The "Million Signature Movement" has violated the human rights of citizens who are against the persecution of Falun Gong.
In the past, movements served specific political objectives so that the organizers could affect political change with their supporters. They collected signatures and filed them with the proper authorities. It was a bottom-up approach. On the other hand, the "Million Signature Movement" initiated by Jiang Zemin has nothing to do with this type of movement. The movement organizer IS the establishment and decision making authorities. This represents a top-down directive.
The persecution had been on going for more than one and a half years. Only now are they trying to seek popular support. This proves that they did not have any popular support when they started the crackdown 19 months ago. They did not have the faintest idea what the prevailing popular opinion was when they started. If the Chinese government really wants to ascertain public opinion before it carrying out the next move, then it should collect signatures from both supporters and opponents. This way the real collective opinion would become obvious.
Taking the U.S. presidential elections as an example, we see that "Gallop Polls" were used extensively. It would be ludicrous to conduct a poll of a small group of people supporting certain, specific candidate. Rather, they sampled a group reflecting the general demography of the society. However, even popular polls such as these are limited in their scope and should only be used as a reference - never as the basis for decision or policymaking. It is only a sampling survey. The U.S. presidential election thus provides an opportunity for all qualified and willing citizens to participate and express their opinion.
Therefore, Jiang Zemin should never expel the opposition party and ignore their human rights if he really wants to have an actual popular survey. If Jiang Zemin would like to validate his decisions with survey results, then he should allow each and every citizen willing to participate to have the chance to voice their opinion. They should be allowed to independently express their supporting or opposing opinion, without risk of reprisal.
3. The "Million Signature Movement" violated the citizens' right to know.
Since July 1999, all media outlets were under governmental control, and people were not allowed to hear any voice defending Falun Gong. All independent investigations were flatly refused. Chinese practitioners are to be sentenced to stiff jail terms if they are caught distributing pamphlets or downloading information from the Internet. Mainland citizens were forcefully brainwashed by the authorities with all sorts of misinformation and deceptions. They were completely stripped of their right to know the real facts by the government. Signatures collected under this environment cannot possibly reflect the real attitude of the participants; therefore the movement should be considered invalid.
4. The "Million Signature Movement" violated the rights of students.
The movement drive was brought to schools. Even elementary school students could not escape this massive government initiative. They are very young and impressionable and are incapable of understanding these politically motivated undertakings. When their teachers urged the children to sign the petitions, a trap set up by adults, they treated the children like monkeys. Such acts directly assaulted the innocence of these children and their independence. It severely violated this most basic human right.
5. The "Million Signature Movement" violated the citizens' right to self-determination.
Like many public movements during the past, this petition movement was initiated from the top layer of government. Quotas were assigned, punishment and other disciplinary actions such as termination of employment, payroll withholding, layoff, labor camp sentencing, intimidation and other coercive tactics were adopted to force citizens to sign. This severely violated the citizens right to self-determination. Petitions gathered under such circumstances absolutely cannot reflect real opinions of the participants.
6. The "Million Signature Movement" will further aggravate the Government's decision making process , causing a further deterioration of citizen's human rights.
By adopting such a unilateral signature collection movement, with participants lacking the right to know and the right of self-determination, the organizers tried to seek an excuse for their flawed policy and to further deceive the Chinese people. They have, hence, set the stage for a further escalation of the persecution. Dodging the condemnation of worldwide public opinion will only make Jiang Zemin and his accomplices more unscrupulous in their heinous acts. They will fall into a vicious cycle and human rights will deteriorate even further. Therefore, this "Million Signature Movement" is harmful and will cause further degradation in the long-term human rights picture within China.
7. The "Million Signature Movement" deceives the United Nations and nullifies the basic concept of human rights.
We have learned that Jiang Zemin and his establishment is intending to present this "Million Signature Movement" to the United Nations, to justify his persecution of Falun Gong, and thus evade condemnation by international human rights groups. With the most dubious human rights record, Jiang Zemin's government has adopted the most vicious and inhumane method to obtain the signatures. This initiative itself is a blatant violation and theft of human rights. By bringing it to the United Nations, they are trying to swindle and bluff their way through. This brings disgrace to the United Nations. We must present the whole truth behind this "Million Signature Movement," including some specific persecution case studies to the United Nations.
Perhaps, Jiang's own trick should be turned against himself. Perhaps the United Nations should petition the Chinese government to conduct a genuine signature drive of the entire Chinese population, allowing Falun Gong to present their side of the story and let the Chinese people themselves make an informed decision. Even though this is highly unlikely, the denial by the Chinese government will make them lose international and moral credibility. Jiang Zemin's "Million Signature Movement" is a joke to every intelligent person.
The Jiang Zemin government slandered and defamed Falun Gong for 3 months nationwide before they considered the constitutionality of "governing according to the law." Then, another 19 months of bloody and brutal suppression ensued before they considered a public opinion poll. The self-immolation tragedy, full of suspicious actions and dubious facts at best, is still flaunted all over the news media. Because of his personal vendetta involving millions of innocent citizens in a "class struggle," Jiang Zemin has gotten himself into an embarrassing situation without legitimate justification from the outset. That is why Jiang has been desperately seeking a "legal cover" for his misguided policies.
What a pity! As a dictator who does not respect human rights, regardless of how hard he tries to dramatize the situation, he is destined to be seen in history as a mere layman when dealing with human rights. The "Million Signature Movement" will ultimately be seen as an embarrassing act of desperation!
March 5, 2001