(Minghui.org) On July 20, 1999, China's communist party initiated a nationwide persecution in China to eradicate Falun Dafa. Every year, Dafa practitioners around the world hold events to tell people about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 23-year-long persecution, and call for it to end.

Paul Folley, Director of Australia China Watch, a campaign of Australian Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP), condemned the persecution and addressed a rally in Sydney on July 8, 2022.

Paul Folley addresses a rally in Sydney on July 8, 2022.

“I would like to say to the people of China, you are in our thoughts and prayers,” said Mr. Folley. “We will campaign ceaselessly so that one day you have the same freedom and human rights we enjoy in the West. We are certain that the Communist regime is not as strong as it pretends to be. It lives in fear. It fears the people of China, the very people it lords over. It fears the outside world, even though it needs Western finance to keep functioning and wants the Western media to echo its propaganda.

“For 23 years, the CCP’s persecution of the belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance has turned China into a big prison with moral defects. Since mid-2020, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the CCP and the 610 Office, an illegal organization specializing in persecuting Falun Gong, have launched a nationwide 'Zero out' campaign against Falun Gong in China. Kidnapping, heavy sentences, heavy punishments and other despicable means of trampling on human rights are used to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief.”

Mr. Folley said, “The Chinese people don’t need to grow up under a brutal totalitarian regime, which doesn’t need to use violence, concentration camps, and torture chambers to make a country great. A country can become great by allowing life to be free to release the longing in one’s soul.”

He said about the CCP, “This is an inherently weak regime, a morally bankrupt regime, dependent on lies, blackmail, and terror to stay in power. It is the proverbial giant with feet of clay!”

He reminded Chinese people, especially those living outside of China, “Do not be misled and deceived by the CCP, which is not China. To Chinese people living outside of China, you are most welcome here and it is my hope that you flourish.

“But beware of the Chinese Communist Party that wants to use you to further its agenda. You are told that criticism of the Communist Party is betrayal of your own people. This is not true! Do not allow yourself and your friends to be bullied by this psychological pressure. You are here because you love freedom. Let’s all work together to keep that freedom strong.”

Courtesy, Morality, and Decency of Falun Gong Practitioners Are Impressive

Falun Dafa practitioners adhere to the universal principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and continue to display these core values, passed down from ancient times, in adverse situations today. Mr. Folley said, “Falun Dafa has made a positive contribution to the development of moral and traditional values in the Australian community.

“I am privileged to have several Falun Dafa members as friends, and I have met many more,” said Folley. “I am impressed by their courtesy, morality, and decency. Another point I admire is the emphasis on family values. Building support for the family and fostering good morals is vital.”

One of the Worst Crimes Against Humanity in History

For more than 20 years, Falun Dafa practitioners have been brutally persecuted by the CCP just because of their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Paul said, “In this crime committed by the CCP, the connivance of the Western world is one of the greatest shames of our time.

“The persecution of Falun Gong in China is one of the worst crimes against humanity in history. Not only were practitioners arrested, tortured, had their property confiscated, their families broken up, and were imprisoned for long periods of time, they were turned into a commercial product, a living supply of organs to be mined at will when Chinese hospitals ordered their organs through an online database. This method of organ procurement on an industrial scale turned China, almost overnight, into a world leader in organ transplants. It is no coincidence this happened exactly at the time of the crackdown on Falun Gong.

“How is such a crime possible? It’s possible because of the connivance of so many with a lack of conscience. As time went by, and the evidence mounted and became irrefutable, little by little institutions, cracks and holes grew in the wall of silence hiding the Chinese Communist Party’s crimes. Today, happily, the media, academia and public opinion in general is much better informed and is finally the matter seriously.”

The British China Tribunal announced in London on June 17, 2019 that the Chinese government has committed large-scale organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, mainly Falun Gong practitioners, committing crimes against humanity and torture. The final paragraph of the China Tribunal judgment makes clear to the world that all organizations dealing with the Chinese government, whether political, medical, cultural or economic organizations, should be clear that they interact with a criminal state.

Calling for Humanity and Conscience

Mr. Folley said the CCP cannot be allowed to continue carrying out these crimes, “As even being done by the Australian Government. It’s time that we end this kowtowing leading up to one of the worst, most brutal dictatorships mankind has ever known.

“This regime is not as strong as it pretends to be. It fears its own people. It fears the world of public opinion. Its fear is like criminal fear. When you throw a light, when you turn a light on a criminal in the dark, that criminal is afraid because it is discovered.

“The Chinese regime is like that—it fears being discovered. Let us throw the spotlight on what it’s doing. It fears to lose popularity and support in the West because it knows it will collapse on the day that Western finance and Western industrialists and Western business people stop working with it. It’s time to end this. It’s time to let it collapse.

“I pray that this day comes very soon. Let’s work for this. All of us together with one heart and one mind. And for the Chinese people to be free of this tyranny so they can flourish among the nations of the world and create a beautiful civilization in China, in replace of this anti-civilization of communism.”

He said, “It's time for Australia to wake up. It’s time for our consciences as a society to wake up. Because our attitude to what’s happening in China, to the persecution of Falun Gong and others, reflects our attitude to each other as Australians. It reflects our own humanity. It’s time to become a human, to have human feelings for those who are suffering, and to do everything we can to help these people.”

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises, have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply China’s organ transplant industry.