Falun Gong Practitioners Invited to Speak at Fordham Law School in New York City

by New York Practitioners

On March 15, three practitioners were invited to Fordham Law School in Manhattan to speak about Falun Gong and the persecution in China. They attended a "Brown Bag" lunch seminar sponsored by the Crowley Program in International Human Rights.

The session began with Dr. Yun Song's brief overview of Falun Dafa and its principles. Then, Dr. Song and Mr. Erping Zhang demonstrated the exercises, while Mr. Scott Chinn explained some of the principles behind each exercise.

Falun Gong spokesperson Erping Zhang gave a 30-minute talk on the plight of Falun Gong in China. He explained that the persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin was totally illegal according to China's own Constitution. He pointed out that to justify his persecution of Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin ordered the People's Congress to pass the so-called "anti-cult" laws in October 1999; and this was three months after the brutal persecution began back in July, 1999. Furthermore, lawyers were prohibited from representing Falun Gong practitioners in court, unless their defense is consistent with the propaganda of the Communist Party.

Several of the students were shocked when Mr. Zhang explained that China is not practicing the "Rule of Law," since Jiang's policy is beyond the law. The regime is actually ruled by Jiang's 'law' or his policy. The creation of the so-called "6.10 Office" is a good example. This Office is in charge of making policies that persecute Falun Gong and such policies violate everything that is said in China's own Constitution. In addition, Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong is also in direct violation of China's commitment to the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights.

After the session, the audience expressed that what Jiang is doing is beyond comprehension. One student said that last year several Fordham Law students went on a trip to China. While visiting Tiananmen Square, they decided to take a group picture and one of them decided to display their "Fordham Law School" banner for the picture. Immediately, they were surrounded by many police and their banner was taken away from them!

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