NEWS - Jan. 12, 2006 Falun Dafa Information Center [ http://faluninfo.net/ ]

NEW YORK (FDI) - Survivors of torture and captivity in China's notorious gulag system have told the Falun Dafa Information Center of a darker agenda behind CCTV's "Same Song" Chinese New Year event to take place in North America.

The event is billed as a celebration and is slated to take place in multiple US and Canadian cities. It takes as its theme song a Chinese hit, "The Same Song" (Tong Yi Shou Ge), and is apparently politically motivated, targeting practitioners of Falun Gong. Firsthand sources explain that the song features prominently in the program of torture and brainwashing that occurs across China's gulag and prison system.

"This is a sort of sick victory song for the CCP. Captive Falun Gong practitioners are made to sing it under threat of violence. To not 'sing along' is to invite beatings with two-by-fours, shocks from electric batons, or force-feeding using feces and sludge. Once a victim is completely broken, prison authorities 'celebrate' with a round of this 'Same Song.' For thousands it is a song of pain and despair, and it has no place in our communities," says FDI spokesperson Mr. Erping Zhang. "We also have reason to believe these CCTV performances are meant to lend legitimacy to the song in China, and will be then shown in the gulag to buttress the lie that 'all the outside world persecutes Falun Gong, too.'"

Survivors of the gulag have told the FDI that the song is bound up with tremendous trauma for them and the hundreds of thousands like them put through usually violent "thought reform" in China. "It haunts you, just hearing it brings me deep pain and sorrow," said one first-hand source. The song has also become a symbol of the state's power over spiritual believers, acting as a veiled threat to those who recognize it.

FDI is deeply concerned by CCTV's choice of theme and song, and the message sent to the many Falun Gong in communities across North America. "This is meant to strike fear in our hearts" said one torture victim. Others described it variously as a "taunt," a "flaunting of power," and something analogous "to burning crosses by the KKK... but only here they're making it look pretty for the public." CCTV has been a major force in the campaign to eliminate the Falun Gong in China and discredit the spiritual practice in western countries.

FDI believes the CCP to be exploiting the freedom of speech afforded in the U.S. for purposes of intimidation, hurt, and insult, and is calling upon U.S. and Canadian officials to investigate the matter and explore injunctions against the song. FDI further asks that venues hosting the CCTV event, such as Radio City Hall in New York, consider that the song and its barbed message will alienate and hurt members of the community. The values encoded in the CCTV song are fully at odds with those of a democratic society, and have no place being celebrated on stage.

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NEWS - Jan. 12, 2006
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of the Buddha School, consisting of meditation and exercises, with teachings that emphasize living by three principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Originating in China, Falun Gong is now practiced in over 70 countries. With Chinese government estimates of 100 million practicing Falun Gong in China, in July 1999 the Chinese Communist Party-state launched a nationwide, violent campaign to "eradicate" the practice. The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 2,804 deaths and over 44,000 cases of torture (reports / sources). Millions have been detained or sent to forced labor camps.