(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has fabricated numerous lies in order to justify its persecution of Falun Gong, a mind and body practice based on the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. One major lie is that “practicing Falun Gong is illegal,” which many Chinese people still believe in despite Falun Gong practitioners’ persistent effort to debunk the lie. I’d like to share some thoughts on why this is the case.
After Falun Gong was introduced to the public in 1992, it quickly drew numerous students due to its profound principles and tremendous health benefits. The Chinese communist regime was initially supportive of the practice, but as Falun Gong’s popularity skyrocketed, the regime felt threatened. On July 20, 1999, the regime launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong. Numerous practitioners have since been arrested, jailed, tortured, or even had their organs harvested while still alive.
Since the CCP has also controlled its state-owned media to blast out propaganda smearing Falun Gong over the past 23 years, many Chinese people have been misled to firmly believe that “Falun Gong is illegal.” However, this statement, upon further examination, is a false claim that deceives the public.
“Practicing Falun Gong Is Illegal”?
The legitimacy of this statement should be determined on legal grounds. The answer is simple: It is not true. The People’s Congress, China’s law-making body, has never enacted any law that bans Falun Gong; hence, Falun Gong has always been legal in China.
Despite this, the CCP has been violating the law all these years to persecute Falun Gong. In order to justify the persecution, the CCP uses propaganda to denounce and slander Falun Gong, instigating people’s hatred towards Falun Gong.
But such hate propaganda does not constitute a legal basis to ban Falun Gong. It is the communist regime that has been above the law and doing whatever it wants in its failed attempt to eradicate Falun Gong for China.
“Authorities Do Not Allow People to Practice Falun Gong”
Having been brainwashed by the CCP’s propaganda in TV, radio, and newspapers, many people in China naturally came to the conclusion that the authorities do not allow people to practice Falun Gong, so no one should be doing it.
This reflects a sad situation in China: The communist party, by placing itself above the government bodies, imposes its own will to the entire country through the state-owned propaganda machine, which portrays the regime’s will as the law. Additionally, the regime violates its own laws on the books. For example, China’s Constitution grants citizens basic rights including freedom of belief, but the regime chose to suppress Falun Gong and many other groups who dared to express different opinions than the regime.
Many Chinese have become afraid of the CCP’s persecution and thus simply followed the CCP’s orders, so as to avoid trouble for themselves. They have a hard time understanding why Falun Gong practitioners would risk their lives in seeking their constitutionally protected rights to freedom of belief.
The Fait Accompli Practice of Abusing Practitioners
While the communist regime has never had any legal basis to ban Falun Gong, it has been persecuting practitioners since July 1999 by citing Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which stipulates that anyone using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, no law in China has ever declared Falun Gong a cult. Nonetheless, Article 300 has become a “legal basis” to arrest, detain, and prosecute, sentence, and deny appeals of practitioners.
These never-ending fait accompli practices have created the impression that practicing Falun Gong is illegal and will result in consequences. Not only does the general public think negatively of Falun Gong practitioners, but people who used to support them sometimes also turned against them after being implicated or persecuted themselves.
As the Fa-rectification process transitions to Fa rectifying the human world, it is imperative for us practitioners to clarify the truth and restore Falun Gong’s legitimate status. There are a few things that we can do:
1. Minghui recently published the article “Falun Gong Has Always Been Legal in China” that explains clearly: according to China’s law, Falun Gong has always been legal; practicing Falun Gong is not a crime; and the communist regime’s persecution of it has no legal basis. We can spread the information in this article in many different forms, such as flyers, pictures, text messages, etc.
2. Practitioners can add more legal contents in their own media, such as legal arguments against the persecution, defense statements for Falun Gong practitioners, the London-based China Tribunal’s judgment that the Chinese Communist Party has committed genocide crime in its persecution of Falun Gong, the legal punishment that countries around the world hold perpetrators accountable under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and the bulletins of recent persecution crimes published by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG).
3. Practitioners can explain to people that Falun Gong brings benefits to society and is legal according to China’s law. Plus, it is the communist party that keeps defaming Falun Gong. The communist party will be brought to justice and the perpetrators will face sanctions by other countries for their wrongdoings.
4. Practitioners can tell the law enforcement officers in China that since Falun Gong is legal, their actions against Falun Gong practitioners have violated the law and they would be held responsible for those actions.
This article only represents the author’s current understanding meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)