The Herald-Sun (Durham, NC): China's oppressive ways
January 31, 2005 Monday By: THAI THON Guest columnist The Herald-Sun's Web site carried an Associated Press article about the
Falun Gong ["Chinese show off repentant Falun Gong"]. As a Falun Gong
practitioner, I am disappointed that after four years, the AP is still
following the Chinese government's propaganda. The article never questioned
the Chinese government's claim that "Falun Gong practitioners" set
themselves on fire on Tiananmen Square in January 2001. Our media should be
able to independently report the facts, especially in something as serious
as the Falun Gong persecution in China. The so-called Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident is actually old
news. The International Education Development (IED) reviewed the videotape
of the immolation and called it a staged event by the Chinese government at
the United Nations in August 2001. The documentary "False Fire: China's
Tragic New Standard in State Deception," which analyzed the incident, won an
award at the 51st Columbus International Film & Video Festival in 2003. A
video deconstruction of the immolation "footage" is available online at
www.faluninfo.net/videosonline.asp showing that it was likely staged. Every year around this time, the Chinese government brings out this old
propaganda to incite hatred against Falun Gong. What's interesting this year
is that Zhao Ziyang, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP), died recently. Zhao was against the 1989 Tiananmen student massacre
and was consequently sacked and put under house arrest for the last 15 years
until he died. Zhao's death has brought a great stir in China and evoked
memories of the massacre. Does this explain why the immolation propaganda is
so intense this year -- to distract the Chinese people? The CCP's violent persecution against Falun Gong has gone almost six years.
Thousands have died, and hundreds of thousands are suffering torture and
abuse in labor camps and prisons. The CCP is intolerant of any belief
outside its communist ideology. Our country was founded on freedom and human
rights, and our media should live by these principles. We should not help an
oppressive government commit genocide. The writer is a biologist who lives in Woodcroft.
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