September 20, 2002

DISGRACEFUL: Nothing else can be said about the decision to exclude the Chinese meditation movement Falun Gong's prized dance performance from the festival Asian Comments that started yesterday in Copenhagen.

Followers of Falun Gong, who practice a kind of meditation and eastern philosophy, is known to be brutally suppressed in China, and when the leader of the festival, Olaf Gerlach, explained in yesterdays newspaper the reason for the exclusion that they did not want political messages mixed into the festival, it had a very, very hollow sound.

How do Olaf Gerlach and the rest of the leadership of the festival actually distinguish between culture and politics?

In some of Gerlachs previous and very successful festivals, such as Images of the World and Images of Africa, a very important point was made to strike a blow for cultural diversity, draw attention to the sufferings in Africa or to problems concerning globalization.

Why is it different when it comes to Falun Gong, a movement with millions of followers without any other political goals than to practice their meditation?

Why were they not allowed to dance and raise awareness of their art and existence?

NO MATTER HOW much the organizers deny it, there is only one explanation, namely that they did not want to offend China.

If there has been an actual pressure from China or if it stems out of self-censorship is not of interest; the crux of the matter is that they have allowed considerations for a suppressing dictatorship to decide who can perform in Copenhagen.

And this it nothing less than a scandal. China is certainly a big and powerful country, but if all of our principles regarding political freedom and freedom of expression should make any sense, it is crucial to hold on to them, also when facing big countries.

Otherwise they would not matter.

[For details concerning the subject of this editorial, see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/10/19/27715.html]

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