(Clearwisdom.net) On September 26, acclaimed Jewish scholar and chairman of the Organ Donation Committee of the Kidney Foundation for Eastern Ontario, Rabbi Reuven Bulka attended a rally to condemn the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) atrocities, and gave an improvised speech. On August 25, he wrote in the Ottawa Citizen that organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners is "a human rights breach of the worst order and demands a global response." He said, "Governments must raise their collective voices in disgust at this, and condemn it with uncompromising terms." After the rally, a reporter interviewed Dr. Bulka.
Dr. Bulka at the rally held at Parliament Hill on September 26
Reporter: Some people say that the Olympics in Beijing will help improve the human rights situation in mainland China. Do you agree with this opinion?
Bulka: I agree that we have to do whatever we can. If it means even stopping the Olympics, I think that we should be doing that. In other words, we can do [what it takes] to get this thing resolved and right now we have the muscle of the Olympics, and the Chinese don't want anything to compromise those games. So if we use that as a wedge to get this thing corrected, it is perfectly legitimate and it would be a shame not to use it, because after the Olympics, the Chinese will just walk away, and they will be laughing. So we should be doing that, absolutely.
Reporter: Are you talking about boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympics?
Bulka: I think that we need to use it as a weapon to get this thing done. If that is one of the things that we can use to say to them that if this doesn't stop, we are going to have a wholesale boycott by the entire West. And I would say that we can go even further than that, to ban travel during the Olympics. So that they don't even make money off the people that are attending, so that this is a real boycott, and not just a symbolic one.
And to say that this is going to happen, we are going to put out a ban, threaten you with a ban on travel unless this issue is taken care of. This is the kind of language that has got to be used. Because otherwise they will think, you know what we will be nice, we will pussyfoot around, and we will make excuses and we will deny it until after the Olympics. And then you won't have any muscle on them. And God forbid that this should go on until the Olympics. This is something that has to be done now.
And there are other things that we can do in terms of, I know that we want their trade but we have to ask ourselves, do we want to trade with a partner that is so barbaric? We don't want that and that is not what we stand for, it is so un-Canadian, what is happening. And I can imagine, for example, how would anybody have anything to do with Nazi Germany in its heyday. We want nothing to show that we are supporting them. We have to do the exact same thing now and to use everything that we have. The Olympics is a muscle, trade is a muscle, international condemnation, everything that we can use and do.
Reporter: Do you have any other suggestions for the Canadian government or the Canadian people?
Bulka: I think that the awareness has to be expanded over all of Canada and we have to yell and scream because people are being murdered as we are speaking, and you just can't just stop and you have to be relentless, and continue to chip away at this until the pressure is so intense on the Chinese government that they have no choice but to say this is going to stop. And I don't know even how you can monitor to make sure that they are doing this. But you have to do whatever you can in terms of having the United Nations investigators coming in to make sure and you know, and in all of the hospitals you have to basically monitor what is happening, and to cut out this trafficking source entirely.
Reporter: Have you read this report by Kilgour and Matas?
Bulka: Of course, yes.
Reporter: Do you have any comments on the report?
Bulka: The report is a very important document, which for the first time it was put together, what you would call enough evidence to say, there is no way they could have gotten this done unless they murdered people. 50,000 [the report figure is 41,500] organ donations, they promised people that if the first one doesn't work we will give you another one in a week. We know what goes on with organ donations, and that is the only way they can do this because they murder people and they know that they have this steady supply. It is so horrific, and it is hard to believe that human beings are capable of such evil.
And there is no question [if] you put all of the facts together, including their own statements, it adds up to the fact that this is what they are doing. There is no question about this. And they can deny from here to doomsday. But if their denial is as creditable as they say, that they are an open society where everybody is allowed in, then you know where the truth is. And they are not doing anything to show that these allegations are untrue. All they are doing is attacking the people and making stupid allegations on the side instead of attacking the facts. This is always a telltale sign that this is the truth.
Reporter: Do you think that the international justice system can do something to stop the crimes?
Bulka: Pressure, pressure, pressure! Any government can say that if this doesn't stop, we can withdraw trade. I know this is harsh, but that is the only language we can use. We are not dealing with human beings that think like human beings. This is barbaric stuff.
About Rabbi Dr. Reuven P. BulkaRabbi Dr. Reuven P. Bulka received his Rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Rabbinical Seminary in New York, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Ottawa in 1971, concentrating on the Logotherapy of Viktor Frankl. He has been Rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas, Ottawa, since 1967.
Host of the TV series, In Good Faith (New RO) and weekly Radio call-in program Sunday Night with Rabbi Bulka (CFRA). Author and/or Editor of 31 books.
He has contributed scholarly and popular articles to various journals, including AMHC Forum, Analecta Frankliana, Chronicle Review, Hadarom, Humanitas, International Forum for Logotherapy, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Journal of Religion and Health, Judaism, L'Eylah, Midstream, Pastoral Psychology, Tradition, and Voices.
