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Guelph Mercury (Canada) Letter to the Editor: Religious freedom still not complete here
February 28, 2003 On February 11, I attended an information session at the University of Guelph
on Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), a [Buddha school] spiritual practice.
I was expecting a light evening where I would learn a few gentle exercises
and perhaps receive some instruction on meditation, but what I got instead was
insight into persecution unprecedented since the holocaust. It was my impression that the Chinese government was coming around in terms
of human rights. I've been hearing next to nothing in the media on the terrible
conditions in China, and they were beginning to seem less and less like the red
menace and more and more like our friendly Communist allies to the east. I mean, trade with them is expanding, and we're even giving them the next
Olympics. Their human rights policies have to have improved, right? Wrong. Falun Gong, a peaceful philosophy based primarily on health-improving
exercises and the basic principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance was
originally accepted and even encouraged by the Chinese government. But since
1999, around the same time that Falun Dafa practitioners started outnumbering
Communist Party members, the Chinese government has decided that Falun Dafa is
now such [a popular] practice that it must be eradicated, no matter how high the
death toll. Chinese Falun Gong practitioners now face the worst kind of persecution.
Practicing in China is treated as a crime of the highest degree resulting in
arrest and torture, (often resulting in death.) But this is not a problem that
simply ends at the Chinese border. Globalization has ensured that the long arm
of the Chinese government affects the freedom of Canadian citizens as well. During the information session, I noticed that while there were many in
attendance of Southeast Asian descent, none took on the role of presenting.
Afterwards, one of the Falun Gong practitioners explained to me that the reason
for this was that it is common practice for Chinese government informants to
attend Falun Gong events with the intent of identifying practitioners who have
relatives living in China. They will persecute relatives of those practitioners who dare to practice
Falun Gong, even outside of China. I am extremely proud to be Canadian, and I have always believed that along
with my citizenship came the unquestionable right to exercise my religious
freedom. I was disgusted to find that there are still thousands of Canadian
citizens who are not free to practice their religion of choice for fear that
their families will be tortured and killed. I am disgusted that Canada promises a long list of freedoms and rights, yet
when the most basic of those rights is attacked, we offer trade and open arms to
the attacker. Tyler Senyshyn Guelph, Ontario Posting date: 3/4/2003 |