SUN STAR (Philippines): Falun Gong: Freedom under attack

Monday, April 21, 2003

Persecution, whether they be political, ethnic or religious in nature, has taken a great many innocent lives and has made life miserable for countless other people over a long period of time.

As the number of practitioners of Falun Gong - a Chinese-inspired traditional exercise introduced in 1992 by Li Hongzhi in Changchun City, China - reached its peak at 100 million in 60 countries, it is still ironic that their world is becoming smaller.

The continuing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has already become a shadow that keeps on following them wherever they go.

Practitioners of the Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (Great Way of the Law Wheel) say that this is a simple practice of meditation and exercises based on three principles - truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.

It places emphasis on improving one's health and putting the interest of others first.

But Chinese authorities still perceive them to be a politically motivated group, which poses a great threat to their communist government.

As a result, the Chinese government, not content in banning the practice of Falun Gong in their own country, has expanded the persecution to affect practitioners in America and other countries around the world.

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Jobo, a New York-based practitioner, claimed that not one among the millions of Falun Gong practitioners have any interest of toppling the Chinese government, reiterating that Falun Gong is simply a spiritual practice or cultivation, which has no official membership and hierarchy.

"Falun Gong is the biggest non-violent movement since the time of Gandhi with more than 100 million members in 60 countries yet we are being prosecuted and discriminated even here," Jobo said.

The worldwide persecution of the more than 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners spearheaded by former Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, under the pretext of its all-out war against potential suicide bombers or extremist groups, put China as one of the nations with an alarming rate of human rights violations.

While the Chinese government has been getting much criticism from mainstream media like the Cable News Network and other international news organizations, it heaved a sigh of relief when the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) came into the picture.

A Falun Gong practitioner claimed that the Chinese government is now riding on the SARS issue to cover up the newly confirmed deaths involving Falun Gong practitioners. He said that if deaths in China remain unreported, practitioners would surely find their way to report it in other countries like the Philippines.

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To cover up for their human rights violations, the Chinese government-controlled media bombarded the world with propaganda justifying the violent persecutions done to Falun Dafa practitioners.

The Chinese government, in their aim to defame Falun Dafa in the eyes of the world, has reportedly used self-immolations done by two alleged practitioners.

Amid its cover-up, the persecution campaign claimed 487 lives in September 2002. Chinese authorities, however, claimed that the actual number of deaths was over 1,600.

This was aside from over 100,000 practitioners that have been detained and tortured, put into mental institutions and millions more who have been forced out of their jobs.

More appalling, sources claimed, were the methods used by Chinese security forces in torturing jailed practitioners to death by brutal beatings, the application of electric batons to sensitive parts of the body, the forced eating of feces or drinking of urine and the forced abortion and rape of women.

The persecution, however, did not stop pioneers of Falun Gong from introducing the traditional exercises around the world.

In a span of more than 10 years, more than 100 million people, transcending national boundaries and religion, are now practicing the Falun Gong.

In the Philippines, Jobo said that he has received many requests for the exercises since they gave away flyers about the Falun Gong in Binondo, Luneta and Quezon City Circle. They also come to Baguio during weekends to do demonstrations at the People's Park.

Jobo said that the first thing he did when he came to the Philippines was to talk to editors of foreign news desks of the major broadsheets on their situation and the misconceptions regarding the Falun Gong.

Meanwhile, as the Chinese government proclaims it is the bastion of communism that promotes equal justice, the souls of Falun Gong practitioners who were meted death sentences because of their beliefs keep on hounding Chinese authorities, hoping that the latter will put an end to these senseless crimes.