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Consequences of Repressing Falun Gong
Written by a Chinese Police Sergeant (Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong has been repressed in China for nearly
five years. What on earth is Falun Gong? What kind of people are the Falun Gong
practitioners? I think people already know the answers to those questions. Whether it's the victim of the persecution, the authorities, or the
bystander, there is a consensus that Falun Gong is a good practice that teaches
people to be good and helps them achieve physical and mental health. Falun Gong
practitioners are good people. Due to the different social status and
situations, people might have different attitudes and reactions towards them. As the target of persecution, Falun Gong practitioners, under the most
unfavorable circumstances, are persistently defying the persecution in a
rational and peaceful way by doing what they think ought to be done. Their family members and friends have changed. In the past, they tried to
stop the practitioners from confronting the government by saying, "You
should obey the government," "How can the arm beat the thigh in
wrestling!" Some even helped the government to repress practitioners, but
in most cases it was because they were afraid of the government. Nowadays,
although they are still not in favor of confronting the government, they are
determined to protect the legal rights of their family members who are
practitioners. Now they dare to defy the illegal arrests and detention of their
family members. It is a defiance generated by the pressure. As for those who participated in the persecution, some of them have awakened
and stopped doing it in one way or another or to a certain extent. Those who
still have not awakened, especially those who try to "transform" the
detained practitioners, are very weak. They can only use a few ridiculous
excuses to defend themselves such as "We should follow whatever the
government says," or "I am only carrying out orders from higher
authorities." As for the bystanders, they know clearly the reasons behind the persecution.
More and more people are speaking for justice. All this seems to be the natural
result of the changing situation. However, do many people realize the
consequences of repressing Falun Gong? I'd like to talk about my understanding
of that issue. Consequence One: The dignity of law is destroyed. Ever since China adopted an opening up
policy, Chinese people have been trying to step away from the regime of
dictatorship in the Cultural Revolution period, and striving to build up an
environment of democracy and law. Although there has not been a fundamental
change in China's political system, the significance of law has been gradually
building up in peoples' minds along with the construction and improvement of the
legal system. However, such a young and fragile legal environment has been
completely destroyed by Jiang's 'persecution of Falun Gong. It is not only a
simple issue of authorities overruling the law or suppressing the law with human
power, but to override the Communist Party's rules and the state law with one's
own will. Jiang's oral orders have become the so-called "Supreme
Direction," just as what happened during the Cultural Revolution period.
For example, judicial organizations and law firms are prohibited from defending
the victims, nor are they allowed to take up the cases filed by the victims or
help with their appeals. One time, the husband of a practitioner went with some of his relatives and
friends to see his wife who had been detained in the custody center. Among his
relatives and friends was a legal worker who raised challenging questions about
"the legitimacy of repressing on Falun Gong." However, the husband
seriously told him not to mention anything about law to the police in the
custody center. He said, "If you irritate them, my wife is going to suffer
in their hands." There is a practitioner who knows about the law. When he was trying to use
his legal knowledge to argue with the administrative staff in the 'brainwashing
center, the staff said sarcastically, "You dare to talk law with the
Chinese Communist Party? The party is the law. Whereas in here, I am the
law." The staff' member's rude words might just represent himself, who is
not well educated. But for the people working in the legal system, they too do
not dare to carry out the law or face the law. Some of them even join those who
break the law. What a shame! Consequence Two: The human rights issue is more serious. Repressing Falun Gong is illegal and
unjust. Falun Gong practitioners follow the principle of
Truth-Compassion-Forbearance to do good deeds and to be good people. To repress
such a group of people, the methods used would certainly be evil, such as
"Send the cement heads (the practitioners who are firm in their belief) to
hell," "beat them to death and claim that they committed suicide, then
send them to be cremated without verifying their identity," "lock them
up in mental hospitals and keep them drugged," "police who search a
practitioner's house can keep the valuables as their own, " "police
can rape female practitioners, or the wife and daughter of male practitioners
and they won't be reported." In a word, all sorts of inhumane and offensive
conduct is protected and encouraged under the name of "Cracking down on
Falun Gong." A low level party secretary of a political and legal committee who is in
charge of the Falun Gong issue told the following story with emotion, "A
friend of mine owed some money to the township government. The officials sent
people to take his wife away and beat her in the same way as they treat a Falun
Gong practitioner. Her body was beaten black and blue all over. It was
outrageous." Incidents like that are just too many, such as the "Sun
Zhigang Incident," ('Note: Sun Zhigang was a college student. Police
stopped him to check his ID. He didn't have it on him. So he was taken as a
jobless guy wondering around in the street. According to the regulations, people
like that should be put together and sent back to their hometown. Yet Sun was
beaten to death in the interrogation. China adjusted the related regulations
after the incident.) "Covering up the mine accident," "the
treatment of the democratic activists," and "the abduction of people
working for a just cause." Consequence Three: Speaking the truth is considered a crime. In order to persecute people
practicing Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, what's been advocated must be
"Lies-cruelty-evil." To speak the truth is risky. To speak the truth
is likely to offend people in power. To speak the truth will be repressed. On
the contrary, to tell lies has become the rule to follow. It is so even with
national media, which is full of lies. When Jiang was interviewed by a CBS journalist, he dared to tell lies in
front of the world. What's more, he claimed that all his lies were absolutely
true to the fact. With people like him in power, can anyone who speaks the truth
get any good result? Dr. Jiang Yanyong, the retired medical doctor in the PLA
General Hospital, is a person who pursues truth. He takes it as his life
principle. Under the circumstances of the Chinese government covering up the
SARS epidemic, Dr. Jiang, out of the instinct of a medical doctor and the
conscience of a person, submitted his suggestions to his superiors to no avail.
When they wouldn't listen, he broke the truth of SARS to the public. It is
exactly his just action that forced the authorities to publicize the information
of SARS and implement measures to check the disease from further spreading.
However, this national hero has also become a target of Jiang's 'persecution. Consequence Four: Corrupt officials on every level have all learned to use the power in their
hands to protect their own interests. One of the major social issues that
irritates the public is the corruption of officials. After Jiang seized power
through illegal means, he has used corruption as one of the major ways to
strengthen his power. To those who follow him, he gives them the green light to
corruption and protects their "achievements in corruption." As for
those who do not follow him, he uses corruption as an excuse to get rid of them,
and uses their cases to demonstrate his "resolve in attacking
corruption". The corruption is systemic, carried out from the top down to
the bottom. When those in power are corrupt, will they still be able to serve
the people? Instead of serving people, they are annoyed when people attempt to
stop them from embezzlement. Therefore, they have to hold up the banner saying,
"A stable society is the most important." In fact, as long as their
power is stable, and the interests of their families and their circle are
rapidly expanding, they 'don't care about trivial matters, such as food and
shelter for unemployed workers, or the widespread bankruptcy of state-owned
enterprises, China and Russia border issues, or the life and death of Falun Gong
practitioners. They are making use of everything to their own benefit. Once they
see someone annoying, they use the state machine and people's money to crack
down on him. As the saying goes, the subordinates imitate the superiors. Nowadays, the
subordinates have been keen to detecting the intentions of their superiors. If
the superior asked the subordinate to do two important things, one is to
"organize the rescue of people from the natural disaster," the other
is to "silence the one who reported on me." I am pretty sure that a
larger number of the subordinates will choose to do the latter without
hesitation. They seem to have a simple excuse, "He paid us. We shall
certainly help him." "My boss provides me with food and shelter. Of
course I shall follow his direction." Under the guidance, many staff in
government offices are willing to be used as slaves and servants. The above mentioned consequences are what I can think about for now. There
must be more that I didn't think about and more to come in the future. Why am I
so sure? It is because the repression of Falun Gong is totally injust. It
violates social norms and the historic tides. Written on July 12, 2004
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