NEW YORK -- Scores of individuals in the U.S., Canada, and at least a dozen countries throughout Europe reported receiving phone calls today with recorded messages unmistakably from China's Communist regime. The messages contained propaganda demonizing Falun Gong and claiming the Chinese Government is defending "human rights" by "saving" people from the traditional Chinese practice.
Individuals described receiving such calls as "shocking," "disturbing," "outrageous," and "frightening." Most report receiving multiple phone calls; some received as many as six calls. The messages were in both Chinese and English. Calls came throughout the day, each carrying the same recorded message.
We are working with Federal and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to investigate and find all parties behind these cowardly acts.
In all likelihood this marks the first time in U.S. history that agents of a Communist nation have, undoubtedly under that state's direction, done a mass calling to U.S. homes and cell phones with recorded propaganda. To FDI's knowledge this was not seen even in the cold war era. That China's Communist regime -- which now enjoys WTO status, UN Security Council Membership, and describes itself as a "friend" in the war on terrorism -- would do such a thing bespeaks of the regime's bizarre, irrational, destructive obsession with Falun Gong. While hundreds of millions in China live in poverty without healthcare or access to education China's leaders are doing tele-hate-marketing in foreign nations. What a sad day for China and its people.
Contents of the message are identical to propaganda from China's five-year-old campaign against Falun Gong. The message centered on reports by the Beijing regime attempting to link Falun Gong with an alleged self-immolation incident in 2001, which has since been exposed as a hoax. (website) Sadly, the propaganda this time appropriates a recent article by the Associated Press-Beijing in an apparent attempt to gain credibility. (statement)
Of greatest concern is that these intrusive phone calls fit into the Communist regime's larger Falun Gong purge. The regime has worked tirelessly for years to discredit and demonize Falun Gong, hoping to bend public opinion. Human rights attorneys have likened China's vilifications to the deadly tactics of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels (against the Jewish people in Nazi Germany) and those in Genocide-stricken Rwanda.
And now these vilifications are reaching into homes across North America and Europe.
We are calling upon the governments of Europe and North America to immediately investigate the source of this hate-mongering and take all possible actions to stop and prevent their likes. All involved must be held accountable. That something like this could happen in the democratic free world is as unthinkable as it is outrageous.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER -- Gail Rachlin 917-757-9780, Levi Browde 914-720-0963, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Christina Chai 917-386-5068. Email: contact@faluninfo.net, Website: http://faluninfo.net/