December 1, 2004

Staff Editorial

Falun Gong, a form of qigong, is a practice of refining the body and mind through meditation and exercises similar to Tai Chi, but it stresses the pursuit of wisdom and enlightenment. Those who practice it strive to become better people by applying the universal principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance in everything they do. Also unlike Tai Chi, classes are free.

Falun Gong followers cite everything from better concentration and patience to the healing of Hepatitis B and full recovery from a stroke as benefits from what they do.

"I had no feeling in my arm for six years, until one day we were [doing Falun Gong exercises], and all of a sudden there was this loud popping," said Robert Nappi, for whom all feeling returned to his arm six years after a stroke.

This peaceful practice couldn't be more harmless, but in July of 1999, the Chinese government launched a campaign against it, labeling it as a [slandering word omitted] and forbidding its practice in China. The government uses violence, high-pressure propaganda campaigns and "study sessions," where people are taken to what are essentially labor camps and brainwashed until they publicly renounce their belief in Falun Gong, or they are imprisoned in the labor camps where they are tortured and forced to work.

"The most active members are sent directly to labor camps where they are first 'broken' by beatings and other torture," said a Chinese government advisor.

Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, who saw Falun Gong as a challenge to his moral and cultural authority, started the campaign of oppression. People all across China followed were practicing Falun Gong, and they did it of their own choosing. Zemin saw this as a threat to his political power and, despite objections from members of the Communist Party, he started a campaign to wipe out Falun Gong.

The situation has escalated to the point that U.S. citizens and residents are feeling the effects. Many instances of groups with ties to local Chinese consulates beating people up and threatening them have been reported in New York City. New York-based Chinese papers published defamatory articles about followers of Falun Gong. There have been death threats, car bombs and countless instances of intimidation and violence aimed at U.S. Falun Gong adherents. An American citizen is currently being held in a labor camp in China, and Chinese officials have even gone so far as to pressure, with diplomatic and economic threat, local U.S. officials who would support Falun Gong and its human rights, according to the newsletter, "Falun Gong Today."

"I am upset at the way the Chinese government has been treating people who practice Falun Gong," said Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.). "The United States does not approve of the persecution of practitioners of Falun Gong, and we want it to end."

Despite comments like Edwards,' it's disturbing how little is known about this serious situation. The Falun Gong controversy has been extremely prominent among New York City activists and newsletters similar to Falun Gong today, but the mainstream media have remarkably barely uttered a peep.

This past October, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Chinese government's oppression of Falun Gong in the United States and China, but further action against this severe violation of human rights has been virtually non-existent.

China's Most-Favored-Nation status in trade agreements, among other things, is obviously influencing the United States to pick its battles, but the United States has a responsibility at the very least to begin shedding some light on these gross human rights abuses, if not in China, then definitely on its own soil. This issue, if nothing else, deserves a front-page story in The New York Times. The media needs to take responsibility and begin doing its job. It's appalling that an issue like this can just magically slip under the radar.