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Script:
Falun Gong is freely practiced in more than 50 countries around the world, but relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to block all information, FGMTV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.
Hello, and welcome to FGMTV on January 8th, 2002.
I'm Susan Mitchell.
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Our top story this week:
Police investigate a report of an Ottawa University MBA student being beaten up inside the Chinese Embassy during a New Year's Eve 'movie party' that included an exhibition of 90 large posters defaming Falun Gong.
And some of our other stories:
At a court hearing in Montreal on Monday, January 8, 2002 a judge rules that the good reputation of Falun Gong practitioners is more important than freedom of the press for Les Presses Chinoises and upholds the order forbidding the printing of any more defamatory articles against Falun Dafa. Photos of Falun Dafa New Year's Eve activities around the world Canadian and Chinese artists paint New Year's greetings for their teacher Australian practitioners are invited to participate in the annual Summer Festival in Hobart, Tasmania Learning to meditate, in San Diego's Balboa Park on the west coast of the United States
In this week's update from China:
Falun Gong practitioners bravely unfurl 4 banners on Tiananmen Square on New Year's Day Truth from a taxi driver: Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan's group are at their wits end because Falun Dafa is getting stronger in China Two practitioners from Jilin Province died on New Year's day while in police custody and finally...
Falun Dafa day in Changchun City, hometown of the founder of Falun Dafa, Mr. Li Hongzhi
Our top story this week comes from Ottawa where a University of Ottawa MBA student was beaten up by staff inside the Chinese Embassy during a new year's eve gathering.
Leon Wang, a 25-year-old Chinese MBA student at the University of Ottawa was invited to a New Year's Eve movie party at the Embassy by the student contact in charge of issuing invitations to his fellow students. On the chance that the Embassy might be using the opportunity to further defame Falun Gong to the citizens invited, Mr. Wang carried his camera with him. On entering the Embassy, he discovered that one room had been set aside for a large-scale slanderous pictorial exhibition of approximately 90 posters. When they saw him begin to take photographs, he said:
"Three or four Chinese Embassy staff forcefully dragged me into a room where they hit my head very heavily. I felt my head spinning, though I didn't lose consciousness. I was forced to the ground many times. One embassy staff member twisted my arm behind my back and pummeled my body with his fist and kicked my legs. He pulled and dragged me, attempting to throw me to the ground. It was terrifying," he said.
"There were no signs prohibiting taking pictures, so I took a photo. For this, I was beaten as they tried to get my camera from me. What are they hiding? Why are they so afraid of a picture being taken? If a Falun Gong practitioner can be subjected to this kind of treatment right here in Canada, just imagine how horrifying it must be for those persecuted in China."
Embassy staff accused the practitioners of sensationalizing events and said that the RCMP had been called to escort some practitioners off the premises. But RCMP officers, who are routinely posted outside embassy functions, have no record of anyone being escorted from the property. Canadian Foreign Affairs officials are waiting for the police report before taking action. According to one police source, it may be difficult to lay any charges since the staff involved may have diplomatic immunity and the incident took place on Embassy grounds, which is considered Chinese territory in Canada.
Moving to Montreal in Canada, where a Quebec Court Judge
at 2pm on Monday, January 7th ruled that the court order preventing Les Presses Chinoises and a particular author from printing any more slanderous articles about Falun Gong is to be extended until the next court date. In what practitioners believe to be an unprecedented move, the judge also advised that in this particular case, the good reputation of Falun Dafa practitioners comes before freedom of the press. When the opposing lawyer tried to put down Falun Dafa, Mr. Bergman, counsel for Falun Dafa clarified the truth of the practice, saying that Falun Dafa is based on Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, and that even Canada's governor general said Falun Dafa is good... the opposing lawyer was unable to respond.
and now, to Taiwan, where
Taiwanese Practitioners Attended the New Year's Flag-rising Ceremony in Taibei. At 4:30am on January 1, 2002 before the first sunray appeared, over 1000 practitioners of Taibei gathered at the square in front of the Presidential residence to await the flag-rising ceremony. An hour later, when the general public arrived, they were greeted by two red banners with yellow letters that read "Falun Dafa is Good". After the flag-rising ceremony, practitioners rapidly moved to a place close to presidential residence and formed the characters for "The Fa rectifies the human world". The practitioners then sat down and for a few minutes, to help get the New Year off to a good start, sent forth their pure thoughts to eliminate evil in the world.
Many practitioners around the world took the opportunity to remind authorities in Chinese embassies and consulates of the plight of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China.
We have photos from Sydney, Australia....
Japan...
the Town of Teaneck, New Jersey in the US, where practitioners were invited to join in the annual celebrations and parade, and to teach the exercises to the citizens there.
moving now to Australia and the annual Summer Festival in Hobart, Tasmania.
Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania is the southern-most state of Australia. Sometimes referred to as Australia's 'Island State', Tasmania has a population of approximately 190,000 people and hosts its annual Summer Festival, held this time from 28th December 2001 to 28th February 2002. People all over the world travel to the Hobart Summer Festival to enjoy this diverse event with a brilliant array of sounds, food, art, theatre, film and sport. Hosting the finish of the famous Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Hobart's population almost doubles its size during this time.
Falun Dafa practitioners were invited to participate. Approximately fifty practitioners from Melbourne and Sydney joined local practitioners for activities that include a Photo Exhibition in the Town Hall, daily discussion forums, music performances, video presentations, a Truth-Compassion-Forbearance Celebration Day/Opening Ceremony with guest speakers, daily Exercise Demonstrations and Hongfa/Truth Clarifying material distribution in the city mall and the marketplace amidst the festival.
Although it rained on New Year's Day, people were rewarded with 2 beautiful rainbows in the afternoon and a few practitioners celebrated by doing their exercises, framed by the rainbows.
There are many artists among the ranks of Falun Dafa practitioners. Here is a small sample of beautiful paintings wishing Teacher Li Hongzhi a happy new year.
by a Canadian artist,
by Chinese artists in Harbin City in China
and over to the west coast of the United States...
The joy of meditating knows no age barriers. During regular Saturday afternoon exercising-teaching sessions in San Diego's Balboa Park, this little 3-year-old was one of the enthusiastic learners
as well as
this group of older women who 'took the golden opportunity' to experience the peace of the Falun Gong exercises
In this week's update from China... As of today, the number of practitioners verified to have been murdered in police custody in China is 336. However, sources inside the Chinese government advise that the total at the end of October, 2001 was actually closer to one thousand, six hundred people. They range in age from 8-month old baby Hao Meng and his mother, Wang Lixuan to over seventy years old. They include farmers, housewives, university students and professors, business people, and high-ranking officials in the Chinese government and judiciary.
We want to remind our viewers that the laws passed to persecute Falun Dafa violate the Chinese constitution. That constitution guarantees its citizens the right of peaceful assembly and the right to hold their own beliefs.
The only things that practitioners of Falun Dafa have ever requested is the right to practice their traditional exercises and to study the writings of their teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi. Those writings stress the importance of living life according to Truth, Compassion and Forbearance -- the nature of the universe.
Falun Gong practitioners bravely unfurled four banners on Tiananmen Square on New Year's Day. Both uniformed and plain clothes police quickly grabbed both the banners and the people holding them, beating one woman to the ground mercilessly and shoving a disabled older woman practitioner into a van. And what was so subversive about those banners? They simply made statements such as Falun Dafa is Good. However, as we have reported previously, Jiang Zemin has declared those words are illegal in China.
A taxi driver confirms that the persecution of Falun Dafa is falling apart and Communist party officials are at their wits end.
In the evening of November 17, 2001 in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, Chen and I took a taxi to a Computer Market. On the way, we clarified the truth of Dafa to the driver. He said that a friend of his is an official in the Communist party and revealed that (quote) 'In the past, whenever the party launched a campaign, it had always been successful. While under current Jiang's regime, they are out of ideas of how to handle those harmless but steadfast Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners still go on even though many of them were beaten to death by the police and authorities. The authorities are full of complaints from high to low levels. Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan's people have used all kinds of means to persecute Falun Gong and are at the end of their wits.
My friend also told me not to believe TV, newspaper and other media propaganda on Falun Gong because the reports are all false. Inside the party, nobody is interested in the media reports on Falun Gong. What is on Falun Gong's flyers is the real truth. In every campaign, the party murders lots of people. We know the persecution of Falun Gong is wrong. Once the day comes that Falun Gong's reputation is restored, those people who take part in the current persecution of Falun Gong will end up being punished."
Truth from a taxi driver in China.
And from the Falun Dafa Information Center in New York...
It has been confirmed that two Jilin Province Falun Gong practitioners died on January 1, 2002, while in police custody. According to sources inside China familiar with these cases, both victims had been detained only a short time and were in good health prior to being illegally arrested.
and finally.... Falun Dafa Day in Changchun City of Jilin Province
At the end of November 2001, some Falun Dafa practitioners in Changchun proposed to establish a Falun Dafa Day in Changchun City, the home town of Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of the practice.
They wrote: "Changchun Falun Dafa Day was chosen to be on December 22, the Winter Solstice. This day has always been recognized as the time for the transition between the Yin and the Yang. From this day on, the dark night will become shorter and the daylight will become longer. Heaven and earth will come back to life. This day is chosen as it indicates the evil force has come to an end, and the bright light has started illuminating the human world."
At great risk to their lives, the practitioners planned to hang banners throughout the city. The day dawned clear and bright and hundreds of their banners shone in the first rays of the morning sunlight, spreading the truth to people who have been poisoned by constant propaganda from Chinese state media.
The banners read: Falun Dafa is Good; Falun Dafa is innocent; Restore the reputation of my Teacher; Restore the reputation of Falun Dafa.
As the proposal of Falun Dafa Day reads, "Does adherence to Truth, Compassion and Tolerance, and reverence to Buddhas and Gods have to be approved by the government?"
At 5 p.m., along with the night breeze came the voice of the World Falun Dafa Radio Station. People heard Mr Li's latest poem: "The Chill of Autumn's Winds" and the fact that Falun Dafa is being well received around the world.
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Thanks for watching FGMTV, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.