Behind Political Movements in China

Xiao Zheng

[Minghui Net] In the past nineteen months, in order to eliminate Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin has used all means of compulsion and violence and has not stopped to count the cost. He has stated: "I don't believe I cannot defeat Falun Gong." "We must wipe out [Falun Gong] within three months." He has ordered: "Discredit Falun Gong practitioners; cut off their financial resources; annihilate their bodies." "Torturing a Falun Gong practitioner to death will not be prosecuted." "[A Falun Gong practitioner] tortured to death is counted as having committed suicide." "[Torturing Falun Gong practitioners to death] is not a crime." Everybody, at all different levels of the country, has been disturbed. They have already tortured 149 Falun Gong practitioners to death. Why is there such a campaign? Is Falun Gong itself bad? No.

As everyone knows, the Chinese [party name omitted] Party has launched many nationwide political movements during the decades of its reign. Every movement continued and ended in catastrophe for the people of the whole country. Not until the Central Committee decided to stop the movement and announced rehabilitation, did people realize that each movement was just part of some power struggle within the highest levels of the Central Committee. None of those whom the Central Committee decided to sacrifice could avoid being labeled with all kinds of crimes, reviled by their controlled media throughout the country, and hated by the people the media deceived. Speculators even added to their misfortunes with cruel suppositions. Vice President Liu Shaoqi, Senior General Peng Dehuai, and the "rightists" who answered the Party's call to speak out freely and air their views fully, are among these unfortunate people. Those who were denounced and criticized committed no unpardonable crime, nor did they want to fight against power or interest or engage in politics; they trusted their government in its word, and were betrayed. But political campaigns need sacrifices, and high-level political struggles need people involved involuntarily.

Many people may not know that in the first few years after Falun Gong started to spread in 1992, some individuals tried to suppress and damage it. But its excellent healing power and morality improvement are so widely and plainly observed, the country embraced Falun Gong. Although a small number of people tried to defame it and cause trouble in several disturbances over the years, including anti-Falun Gong reports on television and the "gathering" on April 25, 1999, the country resolved these disturbances quickly, following existing policies and laws. This had the good result of increasing the mutual trust of government and citizens. But Jiang Zemin felt that he needed to extend his personal authority regardless of the means. He couldn't accept Falun Gong's rapid spread, nor its principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance," nor its belief in Gods. He made the personal decision of persecuting Falun Gong.

Therefore, the persecution started, not from the content of Falun Gong itself, or from changes in Falun Gong's activities. It came only from Jiang's need for a political campaign to secure his power, and from his hardening attitude against Falun Gong.

If a country or government cannot safeguard its morality, laws, human rights or systems, it would have no credit, no stability, nor long term development. In such a country, one side can cancel all promises to you at any time with any excuse based on their selfish thoughts. Laws and system, to them, is only empty talk. Such people, who arbitrarily remake laws and systems, do not have any moral restriction.

This is what I see propelling the political movement of persecuting Falun Gong. In this movement of persecuting others, though it looks like it has nothing to do with me, how many people can keep their conscious mind and take a stand that they will not regret later?

February 21, 2001
Chinese version available at http://minghui.cc/mh/articles/2001/2/22/8228.html

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