Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands united with practitioners of the Falun Gong, who seek our universal human rights and dignity. For over 12 years, there has been a continuing effort to deny human rights to practitioners of the Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
However, we also seen many, many instances of human rights courage and solidarity, including protests throughout Washington D.C., which R.E.A.L. has been honored to join. Ten years ago in the PRC on November 20, 2011, human rights activists made an appeal to the conscience of human beings in the PRC and around the world to end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
The persecution of the Falun Gong has continued. In addition, PRC representatives have sought the harassment of PRC representatives around the world.
In my experience with the Falun Gong, they have remained the spirit of non-violent peaceful protest that those of us in America look up to and respect. They protest with spirit, but with dignity. They express their defense of human rights, but remain compassionate.
The United States Congress has recognized their plight and called for action on this in House Resolution 605 in March 16, 2010, which recognizes that Falun Gong practitioners and their family members have “suffered persecution, intimidation, imprisonment, torture, and even death for the past decade solely because of adherence to their personal beliefs.”
But R.E.A.L.’s support does not end in our solidarity and shared anguish over the plight and the human rights injustices of the Falun Gong. Sympathy is not enough.
We also call for action. We call for real courage of the United States government to make this and other human rights abuses in the PRC a priority in discussions and meetings with the PRC. It has been nearly two years since the passing of H.R. 605.
Where does the United States government stand on its objectives to call “upon the Government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately cease and desist from its campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners, to immediately abolish the 6- 10 office, an extrajudicial security apparatus given the mandate to ‘eradicate’ Falun Gong, and to immediately release Falun Gong practitioners, detained solely for their beliefs, from prisons and re-education through labor (RTL) camps, including those practitioners who are the relatives of United States citizens and permanent residents”? Respectfully, I ask if President Obama and our leaders can let us know where they stand on this in discussions with the PRC? There are many Americans whose hearts go out to the Falun Gong practitioners around the world and seek to support their human rights and human dignity.
All of us involved in human rights are grateful and appreciative our every effort to stand in solidarity and leadership on human rights issues. But we also know that good intentions and noble words need the sacrifice and seriousness to make changes. They are complex, difficult issues to be certain, given many international issues and the world economy.
But as Americans, we stand first and foremost on the truths that we hold self-evident on such inherent human rights and dignity. That is not just a promissory note to future Americans, but it is also a declaration of our identity as a nation; they may be large shoes to fill, but the American vision is based on such large goals and aspirations. Furthermore, as world citizens, we have an obligation to defend the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for all people around the world.
Two Falun Dafa practitioners hold a candle at the candle light vigil in Washington, DC on July 22nd -- marking 11 years of persecution in China. (Jeff Nenarella / The Epoch Times) Responsible for Equality And Liberty's Jeffrey Imm Joins Candlelight Vigil (Jeff Nenarella / The Epoch Times)
My good friends in support of Chinese democracy, freedom, and dignity sent me this article below in Epoch Times about the Kennedy Center hosting of performances of the Chinese National Ballet organized by the Communist Chinese government. They protest the ballet’s history of glamorizing Communist violence and oppression. They have organized 25 human rights groups to join them in an Open Letter which will be published stating their protest on this.
We fully respect the rights of the Kennedy Center and all private businesses to chose what and who they will have at their establishments. We respect their freedom of expression, including that we disagree with. We support our universal freedoms and human rightsfor the Chinese people and all people around the world.
We reject the glorification of Communist violence, and we reject glorification of a message of oppression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We reject the messages of violence and oppression which have been part of this ballet’s performances.
The pain of the Chinese people who seek democracy and freedom is a voice the world cannot ignore.
So we stand with our brothers and sisters in support of Chinese democracy, freedom, dignity, and justice – because we are allResponsible for Equality And Liberty.
Chinese Ballet at Kennedy Center Extols Violent Revolution
By Matthew Robertson Epoch Times Staff
September 23, 2011
A scene from “The Red Detachment of Women,” where women wield rifles and knives in pursuit of the landlord villains. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were violently killed in the Party’s land reform campaigns, which are glorified in the ballet. (Maopost.com)
WASHINGTON—Audiences at the prestigious Kennedy Center are being asked to applaud a ballet that celebrates a movement that went on to murder hundreds of thousands. The Chinese National Ballet is performing on Sept. 22-24 “The Red Detachment of Women,” which glorifies the history of the communist land reform campaign in China, while concealing the reality of the violence that suffused it. In 1931 Mao Zedong, head of the communist-controlled regions, signed off on a policy of land reform that would “Rely on the poor peasants and hired laborers, make allies of the middle-peasants, exploit the kulaks and exterminate the landlords.” What followed in the 1930s, 40s, and into the 50s, was mass violence directed at “class enemies”: torture, arson, live burials, smashing and theft—a reign of terror designed to impose the political will of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on villages across the country. Hundreds of thousands were killed. Acts I and II from “Red Detachment” performed at Kennedy precede a scene from “Swan Lake” and the Chinese nationalist favorite “Yellow River.”
“They used this play to trick the Chinese people, and now they’re tricking Americans,” says Wu Fan, editor of China Affairs and co-author of an open letter that opposes the performance.
“They’re bandits and arsonists attacking wealthy people, taking their property and splitting the profits, and they’re portrayed as heroes,” he said in a telephone conversation. “Americans would not stand for a ballet that made Hitler seem glorious. Why should they accept one that makes Mao heroic? Both are mass murderers.”
The “Red Detachment” is a flagship of the CCP’s revolutionary operas, infamous in China because eight of them were the only operas permitted in the country during the Cultural Revolution, from 1966-1976. It is most well-known for being performed for President Nixon when he visited China in 1972.
The open letter, sent to media, politicians, and the Kennedy Center, argues that the performances are part of the CCP’s comprehensive approach to Western nations, which conceals hostility and a desire for dominance, while engaging in spying, propaganda, and infiltration.
A landlord from the ballet cowers as one of the revolutionary woman soldiers hardens her face and strikes a pose with her pistol. Land owners were a class to be struggled against and mercilessly eliminated in the early years of communist insurgency and rule in China. (Maopost.com)
Organizations that signed the letter include Washington Forum, the United League for Democracy in Laos, and the Non-Violent Movement for Human Rights for Vietnam—all groups opposing communism in one way or another.
The thrust of the activists’ complaints is echoed by academics. As Xing Lu, a China scholar, writes in her book: “Hatred permeates every model opera.” The basic message of these operas, Xing Lu writes, is that those designated as villains must be eliminated through violent struggle so a new society can be established.
The plays are meant to foster a “deep hatred for all class enemies and love for the Communist Party,” Xing Lu writes. The “Red Detachment” is the epitome of the genre. It eulogizes communist ideology and showers hatred on class enemies.
The “Red Detachment” is adapted from historical events during the early 1930s, telling the story of how a victimized peasant girl joined a woman’s detachment in the CCP’s red army and overthrew the landlords on Hainan Island, off the south coast of China.
The sinologist Simon Leys explains what land reform, carried out in various regions from the 1930s until the early 1950s, entailed: “By the fall of 1951, 80 percent of all Chinese had had to take part in mass accusation meetings, or to watch organized lynchings and public executions,” he writes.
The crowd was expected to roar in unison when the accusations were read out. “These grim liturgies followed set patterns that were once more reminiscent of gangland practices,” he says, with the purpose being to “ensure collective participation in the murder of innocent victims.”
The airbrushed version of one such history, on which the “Red Detachment” ballet is based, went from novel to ballet to film and then into ballet as commissioned by Jiang Qing, Chairman Mao’s wife.
Jiang was czar of the arts and guardian of revolutionary ideology in China during the Cultural Revolution, and personally made sure the performances were sufficiently red. She added rouge to the cheeks of the female lead and ordered that red flannel be used for collar tabs. She also made a Party representative the protagonist of the play, ensuring it would “present correctly the relationship between the army and the people.”
The Kennedy Center at night. (Lisa Fan/Epoch Times)
The depictions of females engaging in violence (in the play they wield rifles and large knives, strike aggressive poses, and kill landlords without mercy, for example) were anathema to prevailing notions of femininity in China at the time.
Scholars have suggested that such imagery may have contributed in no small part to a culture that saw young female Red Guards run rampant during the Cultural Revolution, torturing and killing their school teachers, ransacking houses, and brutalizing other supposed “class enemies.”
Along with the ballet format, acting techniques are pulled from Beijing opera and Chinese folk dances, and the music is meant to be clear and simple so as to communicate the message effectively. The dumbed down messages also had the useful outcome of “enforcing the uniformity of thought characteristic of… totalitarian societies,” Xing Lu writes in her book.
As simple messages are repeatedly drilled into people’s minds through performances like “Red Detachment,” “the range of word choices became smaller and smaller, the Chinese worldview became narrower and narrower,” Xing Lu says. “Especially when singing became automatic, lyrics and music exercised a hypnotic power to take away the ability to think.”
According to a number of scholars who have written about the play, the story finishes with the protagonist vowing to follow Mao’s motto that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
The play will be performed in the theater named for former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Perhaps it is best that this staunch anti-communist is not around to hear the refrain “Communist ideology is the truth, the Party leads the way” sung in the theater that bears his name.
The Kennedy Center could not be reached at press time.
Anti-mosque protest leader Kevin Fisher was one of 20 speakers and a primary organizer of the anti-mosque protest event. Kevin Fisher is a former candidate for the local school board and the state legislature, according to APB.
Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Politician Kevin Fisher Leads Anti-Mosque Protest (Photo: John A. Gillis/DNJ)
Kevin Fisher has also expressed his opposition to other belief and spiritual systems, including the Falun Dafa / Falun Gong, who have been oppressed by the Communist Chinese party for 11 years, and which in March 2010 received a U.S. Congressional resolution opposing their oppression in the Communist nation. Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline consisting of moral principles and slow-motion physical exercises, has been persecuted in Communist China since 1999.
Two Falun Dafa / Falun Gong practitioners hold a candle at the candle light vigil in Washington, DC on July 22nd -- marking 11 years of persecution in China. (Jeff Nenarella / The Epoch Times)
We ask those in support of the anti-mosque campaigns if this is the direction that they want to take America, to openly seek to deny our Constitutional and Universal Human Rights for all Americans and all human beings, and to follow a course to openly seek to deny freedom of conscience to others, as the Communist People’s Republic of China has done.
In January 2010, R.E.A.L. attended a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC, where Shen Yun performers and Falun Dafa practitioners were shocked that Hong Kong had blocked one of their performances, based on perceived influence against their freedom of expression and conscience by the Communist People’s Republic of China.
January 2010: Falun Gong Practitioner Leeshai Lemish Asks Americans to Stand Up for Human Freedoms at Shen Yun Press Conference, Condemning Communist Influence to Block Hong Kong Freedom of Conscience and Expression
But now we see Americans who are leading anti-mosque campaigns that share the same perspective of a totalitarian nation such as Communist China to seek to deny freedom of conscience in America.
On July 22, 2010, the Falun Dafa / Falun Gong practitioners from around the world joined together in Washington DC, to hold a night time candlelight vigil remembrance of the oppression of the Falun Gong in China that started 11 years ago in the Communist People’s Republic of China.
Washington DC: July 22, 2010 - Falun Dafa / Falun Gong Gather for Candlelight Vigil in Washington DC to Remember Persecution and Lives Lost (Photo: Dai Bing/Epoch Times Staff) Two Falun Dafa practitioners hold a candle at the candle light vigil in Washington, DC on July 22nd -- marking 11 years of persecution in China. (Jeff Nenarella / The Epoch Times)
On March 26, 2010, the United States Congress passed House Resolution 605, which acknowledges the oppression and suffering of the Falun Gong in Communist China and advises the U.S. President to meet with Falun Gong leaders.
— “11 Years ago, on July 20, 1999, a persecution against a meditation practice called Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) officially started in Mainland China. The persecution of Falun Gong was the brainchild of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, who saw Falun Gong’s enormous popularity among 100 million Chinese and simply wanted to crush it.”
As security barricades are erected around parts of Washington and streets near the DC Convention Center are closed down protesters for freedom in China continue to raise their voice to Communist China leader Hu Jintao, who is attending a nuclear summit there.
The Washington Post reports:
— In fact, the morning’s heaviest traffic might have been the well before dawn when the thousands of police, federal agents and uniformed military personnel arrived to man the barricades. Scores of them stared across 11th Street at a dozen supporters of Falun Gong, a spiritual sect banned in China, who stood behind barricades holding banners in Chinese.”
DC protests also reported by AFP: — “More than 100 Tibetans chanted angry slogans in a square and a park on the edge of Washington’s Chinatown, both a stone’s throw from the Washington Convention Center where President Barack Obama is hosting the leaders from 46 nations, including China’s President Hu Jintao.”
Earlier AFP report also stated:
— “In two corners of the park, Falun Gong practitioners went through the gentle motions of their meditative art, which has gained a following of 100 million in China.”
— “‘The Chinese government persecutes anything that is outside its control. If they feel threatened, they go after you, and with more than 100 million people practicing Falun Gong, they’ve become paranoid and have been doing things to practitioners, like harvesting their organs when they are still alive,’ said Dr Wenyi Wang.”
— “‘The international community has to realize that everyone has a responsibility to stop the persecution of the Falun Gong by the Chinese,’ she said.”
— “‘But a lot of people, especially in the United States and Europe, only engage China economically and turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses,’ Wang said, adding that even the Chinese have an expression that says ‘what goes around, comes around.'”
— “Lisa Tao told AFP in heavily accented English that she had come to join the protesters because ‘thousands of Falun Gong have been tortured to death and we want to send a message to Hu Jintao to stop persecuting people.”
— “‘We don’t know if he will change but we have to keep up the pressure. So we keep protesting, wherever he goes,’ she said.”
April 12, 2010 Protests Against PRC Leader Hu Jintao Calling for China FreedomApril 12, 2010 Demonstration with Tibet and China Freedom Activists (Photo: AFP)Security checkpoint near the Washington DC Convention Center (WTOP Photo/Neal Augenstein)
On Sunday, April 11, 2010, in Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza (named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’ s struggle for human freedom in America), an estimated 150 Chinese Americans and their supporters rallied to show their solidarity and support for those Chinese citizens who have left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a stand for freedom in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Activists held large banners in English and in Chinese languages with messages such as “Support 71 Million People Resigning from Chinese Communist Party,” “Nine Commentaries Motivated 71 Million Chines to Resign from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party,” “U.S. House Passes Resolution 605: Supports Falun Gong, Condemns Prosecution,” and “Help Stop the Persecution Against Falun Gong,” and other had smaller placards and signs with messages calling for freedom in the PRC.
April 11, 2010 - Washington DC - China Freedom Activists Banners Recognizing Chinese People Leaving Chinese Communist Party
At the April 11, 2010 Freedom Plaza rally, China freedom supporters, Falun Gong practitioners, and other freedom activists joined in solidarity to applaud the efforts of the Taidung (“Quit the Party”) movement in leading the way for 71 million Chinese citizens who have voluntarily left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (see earlier report on the Taidung movement). China freedom activists sang songs on the Taidung movement, the oppression of the Falun Gong, and also provided traditional Chinese dance and drum routines at the Freedom Plaza rally.
Among those speaking at the Freedom Plaza rally was a former official of the CCP, who renounced the CCP upon coming to the United States of America. In addition to China freedom activists and Falun Gong supporters, freedom activists in Asia from Vietnam, Laos, Tibet, and Japan also spoke at the Freedom Plaza rally for freedom in China and supporting those who left the CCP. Multiple speakers remarked on the March 16, 2010 passing of House Resolution 605, which acknowledges the oppression and suffering of the Falun Gong in Communist China and advises the U.S. President to meet with Falun Gong leaders.
Freedom Plaza Rally Speakers for China Freedom (Photo: AFP)
China freedom activist and leader of the China Support Network John Kusumi called upon U.S. President Barack Obama to make freedom in the PRC a priority as part of American foreign policy objectives on issues such trade, currency, and security. John Kusumi also urges the world community to take a stand on the Communist Laogai forced labor camps. John Kusumi also manages the China Support Network blog on China human rights and freedom issues.
Freedom Activist and Musician Sings "Taidung" Song at Rally
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)‘s Jeffrey Imm recognized that the Freedom Plaza rally was taking place on Holocaust Remembrance Day, and that while much of the world was saying “never again” to the history of the Holocaust, “never again is now” in the PRC for those suffering in Communist Laogai forced labor camps, for men, women and children in China that seek to live in freedom, and for the Chinese people whose culture has been systematically been undermined and destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party. Jeffrey Imm noted that near the Freedom Plaza where the event was being held, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on his historic speech “I Have a Dream.” Jeffrey Imm stated that “I have a dream that all of the Chinese people will someday be free… but we all have a responsibility to make that dream a reality.” Jeffrey Imm noted that those struggling for freedom in the PRC must use their passion to educate the world on the abuses against the Chinese people, with a single message to the world “Free China Now,” which Imm and the other participants chanted together “Free China Now!”
The event was covered by Asian media sources as well as the AFP News. An earlier AFP News report includedphotographs of the April 11, 2010 Freedom Plaza rally in their subsequent report on the Tibetan and Falun Gong protesters outside of the DC Convention Center where Hu Jinato was meeting with other world leaders. The updated AFP News report only showed photos of the April 12 protest.
Good afternoon. My name is Jeffrey Imm, and our group’s name is Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.).
I appreciate all of you here today fighting for freedom.
We share your fight for freedom around the world.
Today is “Holocaust Remembrance Day.” Around the world, people say “Never Again.”
But “Never Again” is not just history. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), “Never Again” is now.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, people talk about concentration camps.
But that’s not just history, in the PRC that’s now.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, people talk about cultures being destroyed.
But in the PRC, “Never Again” is now.
So when we stand in solidarity with those that remember the Holocaust today, we say to them that in the PRC, “Never Again” is now.
Compassion is passion. We share your passion for freedom.
This is “Freedom Plaza.” It was named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Near here, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on a speech called “I Have a Dream.”
I have a dream – that the people in China will be free.
I have a dream – that the Tuidang – will be remembered as heroes.
I have a dream – that the 71 million who have left the Chinese Communist Party – are just the start of waves of freedom – that will Free China Now!
Share with me: Free China Now, Free China Now, Free China Now! (crowd chants in unison).
We have a dream, but we also have a responsibility.
President Obama, you have a responsibility, under House Resolution 605, to meet with the people fighting for freedom and the Falun Gong.
President Obama, you have a responsibility, to have a foreign policy where human rights are our first priority, not our last.
(Holding up poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
These represent the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They were signed by the Republic of China on December 10, 1948.
Less than a year later, the People’s Republic of China broke these (speaker tosses sign of Declaration of Human Rights to the ground, indicating the PRC’s rejection of them).
We must pick this Declaration of Universal Human Rights up. We fight for these human rights.
We fight for universal human rights for China.
With its original signature of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, China has signed a promissory note, a promise guaranteeing human rights.
We tell the PRC government today – Free China Now!
Chant with me: Free China Now, Free China Now, Free China Now! (crowd chants in unison).
Good afternoon. My name is Jeffrey Imm, and our group’s name is Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.).
I appreciate all of you here today fighting for freedom.
We share your fight for freedom around the world.
Today is “Holocaust Remembrance Day.” Around the world, people say “Never Again.”
But “Never Again” is not just history. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), “Never Again” is now.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, people talk about concentration camps.
But that’s not just history, in the PRC that’s now.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, people talk about cultures being destroyed.
But in the PRC, “Never Again” is now.
So when we stand in solidarity with those that remember the Holocaust today, we say to them that in the PRC, “Never Again” is now.
Compassion is passion. We share your passion for freedom.
This is “Freedom Plaza.” It was named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Near here, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on a speech called “I Have a Dream.”
I have a dream – that the people in China will be free.
I have a dream – that the Tuidang – will be remembered as heroes.
I have a dream – that the 71 million who have left the Chinese Communist Party – are just the start of waves of freedom – that will Free China Now!
Share with me: Free China Now, Free China Now, Free China Now! (crowd chants in unison).
We have a dream, but we also have a responsibility.
President Obama, you have a responsibility, under House Resolution 605, to meet with the people fighting for freedom and the Falun Gong.
President Obama, you have a responsibility, to have a foreign policy where human rights are our first priority, not our last.
(Holding up poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
These represent the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They were signed by the Republic of China on December 10, 1948.
Less than a year later, the People’s Republic of China broke these (speaker tosses sign of Declaration of Human Rights to the ground, indicating the PRC’s rejection of them).
We must pick this Declaration of Universal Human Rights up. We fight for these human rights.
We fight for universal human rights for China.
With its original signature of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, China has signed a promissory note, a promise guaranteeing human rights.
We tell the PRC government today – Free China Now!
Chant with me: Free China Now, Free China Now, Free China Now! (crowd chants in unison).
On April 11, 2010, supporters of human freedom will join together at Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza to recognize the growing movement of Chinese citizens in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that have left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as their rejection of Communist totalitarianism. The movement known as the Tuidang and Quit CCP movement states that over 71 million Chinese people have chosen to leave the CCP since December 2004.
Chinese-Americans and their supporters will gather at the Washington DC Freedom Plaza, which is located on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, between 13th Street and 14th Streets NW. from 2 to 4 PM on Sunday, April 11 to recognize and show solidarity with the Chinese people that seek to embrace freedom.
Image from a NYC Rally Challenging Communism in PRC (Shaoshao Chen/The Epoch Times)
The Tuidang movement or “Quit the Party” movement has seen an increasing wave of resignations from those that now publicly reject Communist totalitarianism in the PRC. The Tuidang movement calls upon the Chinese people to resign their memberships in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), so that Chinese people in the PRC will have an opportunity for political and human freedom. Resignations include the statement that “I declare that I solemnly denounce the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.”
On its Facebook page, Tuidang states that “As of 06/04/10 [April 6, 2010] – 71,146,636 people have submitted statements withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party or its affiliated organizations. Those who are current members of the CCP or its affiliated organizations are with these statements resigning their membership; former members use these statements to sever all association with these organizations. All are renouncing the CCP totally.” The “Quit CCP” web page states that this number of those resigning from the CCP continues to grow. The “Quit CCP” web site also lists the individual statements of some of those who have resigned from the CCP. In challenging Communist totalitarianism, the Epoch Times reports on “Nine Commentaries” that justify the reason for Chinese people leaving the CCP.
Symbol of the Tuidang Movement of Chinese People Rejecting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
On January 5, 2010, NDTV reported that a former CCP director, Zhang Kaichen, came to America and publicly resigned from the CCP, stating: “”Today I am reborn. I come across the ocean, and solemnly declare to the world that, from today on, I will make a clean break from the evil Chinese Communist Party.” NDTV reported that “Zhang Kaichen is the former Director of the Liaison Branch of the Propaganda Department of the Shenyang CCP Committee in China’s Liaoning Province.”
January 2010: Fomer Chinese Communist Party Official Zhang Kaichen Resigns from CCP in America (Photo: NDTV)
Now the Tuidang and “Quit CCP” web sites state that, as of April 2010, over 71 million had resigned from the CCP. Chinese Americans and their supporters seek to show their solidarity in America’s capital, Washington DC, on April 11, 2010, to let those continuing to struggle against Communist totalitarianism that they stand in unity and in support of their efforts.
Rally Logistics:
— Date: Sunday, April 11, 2010
— Time: 2 to 4 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time
— Location: Freedom Plaza, Washington DC, 20004 – on Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 13th and 14th Streets NW
The Freedom Plaza in Washington DC is named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., who worked on his “I Have a Dream” speech in the nearby Willard Hotel. In 1988, a time capsule containing a Bible, a robe, and other relics of King’s was planted at the site.
Freedom Plaza - Washington DC - 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW - Site of April 11 Rally for Chinese Freedom
— Parking lots: the nearby National Theater reports the following parking lot areas include:
— PMI
— 1220 E Street, NW – Enter on E Street between 12th and 13th Streets
— 424 11th Street, NW
— 1325 G Street, NW – Enter on G Street between 13th and 14th Streets
— QUICK PARK
— 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW – Enter on 13th Street between E and F Streets
As Obama plans his visit to China in November, he should pay attention to the Tuidang movement. It shows that the Chinese people understand human rights and civil liberties.
By Caylan Ford
posted October 21, 2009 at 12:00 am EDT
Washington —
The lead image on the Sept. 27 edition of the Jinzhou evening newspaper was hardly unusual. In anticipation of the 60th anniversary of Communist Party rule in China, it featured a street lined with enormous red flags beating in the wind.
It would have been nearly indistinguishable from any other Chinese state-run newspaper that day but for one important detail. In the bottom left corner of the photo, scrawled on a bike rack, were eight tiny but clearly visible characters: “Heaven condemns the Communist Party; denounce it and be blessed.”
Similar writings that dare to challenge the divine mandate of China’s rulers appear regularly across China, hanging as banners in city parks, posted on Internet forums, or handwritten on paper bank notes. It is all evidence of a movement that has silently swept the nation. Called Tuidang, which translates simply as “withdraw from the party,” the movement encourages people to publicly renounce their membership in Communist organizations. The implications are manifold. This is the first time since the 1980s that China has seen such a large, organized dissident movement – if an underground one.
The day after the image ran, the Jinzhou newspaper came under investigation by the government. Its website was shut down, and the paper taken out of circulation.
The incident represents a fitting analogy for the state of the Communist Party today. Beneath the pomp and power lie resentment, discontent, and questions. In 60 years of Communist rule, China has endured political and social upheaval that have left deep psychic wounds.
But in the country’s totalitarian climate, the people have few avenues to openly discuss their country’s history or to make peace with their own role in it. Since China has not had its opportunity for truth and reconciliation, its citizens are finding their own ways to do this.
Perhaps that explains the extraordinary appeal of the Tuidang movement, which organizers say has more than 60 million participants. It began in late 2004, when New York-based Chinese dissident newspaper DaJiYuan (Epoch Times, affiliated with the spiritual movement Falun Gong) ran a series of polemic editorials detailing the history of the Communist Party in China.They also proclaimed that the country would not truly be free or prosperous until it was rid of the party, which, it argued was at odds with China’s cultural and spiritual values.
Millions of copies of the articles found their way into mainland China through e-mails, faxes, and underground printing houses. Some Chinese readers say the articles finally confirmed what they suspected all along – about the Great Leap Forward, the Tiananmen massacre, the Cultural Revolution. This offered recognition that their memories were real and their suffering was shared.
But despite appearances, this is not a political movement in the conventional sense. Unlike the student movement of 1989 or the more recent Charter 2008 manifesto – both of which embraced the language of Western democracy – the Tuidang movement employs distinctly Chinese language and meaning. More Confucian than humanist, it often makes its points by drawing on Buddhist and Daoist spirituality.
Denouncing the party is thus not simply political activism, but takes on spiritual meaning as a process of cleansing the conscience and reconnecting to traditional ethics and values.
In December 2004, one month after the articles were published by the dissident newspaper, its editors starting receiving statements from readers declaring their wish to disavow membership in the Communist Party, the Communist Youth League, or the Young Pioneers, sometimes after their memberships had technically expired. Today, statements representing some 60 million people have been sent to the newspaper, which posts them to an online database.
The authenticity of the declarations is impossible to independently verify. Most people sign them using aliases to protect their safety, and there are no provisions to prevent fraudulent postings.
But the numbers are really not the point. For those who do send in their statements disavowing the party, the postings offer a rare platform to vent frustrations, discuss ideas, share stories of suffering, or find forgiveness.
Many relay tales of personal victimization under the Communist Party. Take, for instance, Ding Weikun, a 74-year-old veteran party member from rural Zhejiang Province. In 2003, his town’s government colluded with private developers to seize the land of local farmers. The farmers protested, Mr. Ding wrote, and armed thugs were brought in to suppress them. “I witnessed the killing and injuring of dozens of villagers, on the spot,” he noted. The old man tried to pursue justice by appealing to the local government, but he was arrested and sentenced to prison by the very party that he had served for 40 years.
While some write of their personal suffering, others speak of their crimes. For them, withdrawing from the party is about seeking absolution.
“I have always thought that I was a good man, but looking back I realize that I had gradually lost myself,” wrote Xiao Shanbo, a former party member from China’s northeastern Liaoning Province. “My mind and heart slowly became corrupted. I declare invalid all the words and deeds I have done in the past. These were decisions that I made out of ignorance due to the lies and propaganda of the [Communist Party].”
Mr. Xiao never specifies his crimes, but closes his posting with a plea for forgiveness: “God, please give me this chance! I have gone through much arduous soul-searching, and I intend to change my ways and make up for what I have done.”
The Communist Party has reacted to the phenomenon with predictable disdain. Terms related to the movement are among the most vigorously censored on the Chinese Internet, and at least 71 people have been imprisoned for possessing movement literature or propagating its spread. That means that, if found, the activist who vandalized the bike rack in Jinzhou city will be in serious trouble.
The party may have good reason to be anxious. For decades, its power has relied on an ability to censor information, control public memory, and suppress dissenting views. The statements of participants offer a rare glimpse and great insight into the sources of discontent in China.
The Tuidang movement also shows the manner in which Chinese people understand human rights, civil liberties, and democracy, and how they might reconcile these ideas with a more traditional Confucian worldview. It could perhaps even serve as a precursor for another democracy movement.
But one way or another, the movement certainly challenges the popular view that most Chinese people are satisfied with the status quo. As President Obama prepares for his November visit, it is reason to consider engaging more with the Chinese people, and not only with their government.
Today, as more and more Chinese citizens are remembering their past, they may well change China’s future, too.
Caylan Ford is a master’s degree candidate in international affairs at The George Washington University, where she studies Chinese politics and international security. She is currently writing a thesis on organized dissent in China. She is also a volunteer analyst at the Falun Dafa Information Center and was a staff writer for Epoch Times until 2007.
[Editor’s note: The original version did not give the English name of the referenced newspaper or the affiliation. Additional information about the author has also been added.]
The House Resolution 605 bill was titled: “Recognizing the continued persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China on the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party campaign to suppress the Falun Gong spriritual movement and calling for an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners.”
Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives —
(1) expresses sympathy to Falun Gong practitioners and their family members who have suffered persecution, intimidation, imprisonment, torture, and even death for the past decade solely because of adherence to their personal beliefs;
(2) calls upon the Government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately cease and desist from its campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners, to immediately abolish the 6- 10 office, an extrajudicial security apparatus given the mandate to “eradicate” Falun Gong, and to immediately release Falun Gong practitioners, detained solely for their beliefs, from prisons and re-education through labor (RTL) camps, including those practitioners who are the relatives of United States citizens and permanent residents; and
(3) calls upon the President and Members of Congress to mark the 11th anniversary of Chinese official repression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement appropriately and effectively by publicly expressing solidarity with those practitioners in China persecuted solely because of their personal beliefs, and by meeting with Falun Gong practitioners whenever and wherever possible to indicate that support for freedom of conscience remains a fundamental principle of the United States Government.
==============================
AFP reports on U.S. Congressional Resolution calling for an end to Communist China’s persecution of Falun Gong:
— “WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US House of Representatives on Tuesday urged China to end its ‘persecution’ of the Falungong and rejected Beijing’s charge that the banned spiritual movement is an ‘evil cult.'”
— “In a nearly unanimous vote, the House called on China to free thousands of practitioners who are said to be imprisoned and to abolish an office tasked with fighting the Falungong.”
— “The House expressed ‘sympathy to Falungong practitioners and their family members who have suffered persecution, intimidation, imprisonment, torture and even death for the past decade solely because of adherence to their personal beliefs.'”
— “The resolution asked China to ‘immediately cease and desist from its campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison and torture Falungong practitioners.'”
— “The measure expresses the sense of lawmakers but is not binding on Washington policymakers. China has bristled at previous resolutions on its human rights record, calling it interference in its internal affairs.”
— “Falungong — a movement loosely based on Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian philosophies that features spiritual exercises — enjoyed growing popularity among Chinese in the 1990s.”
— “China’s communist government banned the movement in 1999 and later branded it an ‘evil cult’ after thousands of practitioners silently converged in Beijing to air their grievances, showing their organizational might.”
— “‘Chinese authorities have devoted extensive time and resources over the past decade worldwide to distributing false propaganda claiming that Falungong is a suicidal and militant ‘evil cult’ rather than a spiritual movement which draws upon traditional Chinese concepts of meditation and exercise,’ the resolution said.”
— “Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who led the legislation, called China’s treatment of the Falungong ‘one of the most flagrant examples of systematic persecution against a particular group taking place in the world today.'”
— “‘The Beijing regime of today engages in the barbaric repression of some of its own people simply because they seek to practice a peaceful spiritual discipline,’ said the Florida congresswoman, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”
— “Ros-Lehtinen, a longtime critic of China, pointed to allegations that Beijing has harvested organs from Falungong prisoners.”
— “‘It seems incomprehensible that in the 21st century such barbaric acts could occur — a cruelty comparable to imperial Romans throwing Christian martyrs to be eaten by lions,’ she said on the House floor.”
— “‘The stark reality which this resolution addresses gives new meaning to the phrase ‘Butchers of Beijing,'”‘ she said.”
— “A former Canadian cabinet member in 2006 authored a report that found that China harvested organs from live prisoners, mostly jailed Falungong members.”
— “China denounced the report as inaccurate and biased, saying the information came from Falungong supporters overseas.”
— “A total of 412 lawmakers voted for the resolution. Only one voted against — Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas.”
— “Paul, a maverick former presidential candidate, routinely opposes measures which he considers interference in another nations’ internal affairs.”
Washington DC's Leon Chao to Americans: "I ask Americans to take a stand and not take our freedoms for granted"
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每 小時雜誌。605605 In the House of Representatives, US,在眾議院，美國， March 16, 2010. 2010年3月16日。
Whereas Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992, which consists of spiritual, religious, and moral teachings for daily life,鑑於法輪功是一個傳統的中國精神紀律李洪志創立於1992年，它包括精神，宗教，道德 說教的生活， meditation, and exercise, based upon the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance;冥想，運動，依據的原 則，堅持真理，同情和容忍;
Whereas according to the 2008 Annual Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, “tens of millions of Chinese citizens practiced Falun Gong in the 1990s and adherents to the spiritual movement inside of China are estimated to still number in the hundreds of thousands despite the government’s ongoing crackdown,” and other estimates published in Western press place the number of Falun Gong adherents currently in China at the tens of millions;而根據2008 年年度報告國會執行委員會的中國，“幾千萬的中國公民修煉法輪功，在90年代和信徒的精神運動在中國境內，估計數目仍然在數十萬人，儘管政府正在進行的打 擊，“和其他估計西方媒體發表的地方有多少法輪功信徒在中國，目前在幾千萬;
Whereas in 1996, Falun Gong books were banned in China and state media began a campaign criticizing Falun Gong;而在1996年，法輪功的書籍都被禁止在中國的官方媒體開始批判法輪功 的運動;
Whereas in 1999, Chinese police began disrupting Falun Gong morning exercises in public parks and began searching the homes of Falun Gong practitioners;而在1999年，中國警方開始破壞法輪功晨練的市民公園，並開始搜 索家園法輪功學員;
Whereas on April 25, 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered outside the State Council Office of Petitions in Beijing, next to the Communist Party leadership compound, to request that arrested Falun Gong practitioners be released, the ban on publication of Falun Gong books be lifted, and that Falun Gong practitioners be allowed to resume their activities without government interference;而在1999年4月25日，1萬多名法輪功學員聚集在國務院信訪辦公室在北京，旁邊共產黨的領導化合物，請求抓 捕法輪功學員被釋放，禁止出版法輪功的書籍被取消，而法輪功學員被允許恢復他們的活動沒有政府干預;
Whereas on the same day, immediately after then-Premier Zhu Rongji met with Falun Gong representatives in his office and agreed to the release of arrested practitioners, Communist Party Chairman Jiang Zemin criticized Zhu’s actions and ordered a crackdown on Falun Gong;而在同一天結束後，當時的朱 鎔基總理會見了法輪功學員代表在他的辦公室，並同意釋放被逮捕的人士，共產黨的批評江澤民主席朱的行動，並下令鎮壓法輪功;
Whereas in June 1999, Jiang Zemin ordered the creation of the 6-10 office, an extrajudicial security apparatus, given the mandate to “eradicate” Falun Gong;而在1999年6月，江澤民下令設立的610辦公室，法外安全機構的任務是“剷除”法輪功;
Whereas in July 1999, Chinese police began arresting leading Falun Gong practitioners;而在1999年7月，中國警方開始逮捕法輪功學員的領導;
Whereas on July 22, 1999, Chinese state media began a major propaganda campaign to ban Falun Gong for “disturbing social order” and warning Chinese citizens that the practice of Falun Gong was forbidden;而在1999年7月 22日，中國官方媒體開始了大規模宣傳活動，禁止法輪功“擾亂社會秩序”，並警告中國公民的做法法輪功被禁止;
Whereas in October 1999, Party Chairman Jiang Zemin, according to western press articles, “ordered that Falun Gong be branded as a ‘cult’, and then demanded that a law be passed banning cults”;而在1999年10月，黨主席江澤民根據西 方報刊上的文章，“下令法輪功被命名為1’邪教’，並要求通過一項法律，取締邪教組織”;
Whereas Chinese authorities have devoted extensive time and resources over the past decade worldwide to distributing false propaganda claiming that Falun Gong is a suicidal and militant “evil cult” rather than a spiritual movement which draws upon traditional Chinese concepts of meditation and exercise;而中共當局投入了大量的時間和資源在過去10年全球範圍內傳播虛假宣傳，聲稱法輪功是自 殺，好戰的“邪教”，而不是一種精神運動，借鑒了傳統觀念的冥想和運動;
Whereas on October 10, 2004, the House of Representatives adopted by voice vote House Concurrent Resolution 304, which had 75 bipartisan co-sponsors, titled “Expressing the sense of Congress regarding oppression by the Government of the People’s Republic of China of Falun Gong in the United States and in China,” and that the text of this resolution noted that “the Chinese Government has also attempted to silence the Falun Gong movement and Chinese prodemocracy groups inside the United States”;而 在2004年10月10日，眾議院口頭表決通過了眾議院304號決議的同時，該75兩黨共同提案，題為“的意思表示，國會就政府壓迫的人民共和國中國對法 輪功的美國和中國“，並認為這項決議的案文指出，”中國政府還試圖壓制法輪功運動和中國民運組織在美國境內“;
Whereas, on October 18, 2005, highly respected human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng wrote a letter to Chinese Communist Party Chairman Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao calling for an end to the persecution of Falun雖 然，在2005年10月18號，是非常尊重人權高智晟律師致信中共黨主席胡錦濤和國務院總理溫家寶呼籲結束迫害法輪功 Gong and Chinese authorities, in response, closed his law office and took away his law license, with Chinese security forces suspected of being directly involved in Mr. Gao’s disappearance on February 4, 2009;龔 和當局的回應，關閉他的辦公室，拿走了他的律師執照，與中國安全部隊涉嫌直接參與高先生的失踪於2009年2月4日;
Whereas Gao Zhisheng’s family has subsequently been granted political asylum in the United States;而高智晟的家人後來獲得政治庇護，美國;
Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture in its fourth periodic report of China, issued on December 12, 2008, stated that “The State party should immediately conduct or commission an independent investigation of the claims that some Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to torture and used for organ transplants and take measures, as appropriate, to ensure that those responsible for such abuses are prosecuted and punished.”;鑑於聯合國禁止酷刑委員會在其第四次定期報告中國，發表08年12月12日指出， “締約國應立即進行或委託獨立調查的要求，一些法輪功學員遭受酷刑和用於器官移植，並採取措施，酌情確保那些對這些事件負有責任受到起訴和懲罰。“;
Whereas the Amnesty International 2008 annual report states that “Falun Gong practitioners were at particularly high risk of torture and other ill-treatment in detention * * * during the year 2007 over 100 Falun Gong practitioners were reported to have died in detention or shortly after release as a result of torture, denial of food or medical treatment, and other forms of ill-treatment.”;鑑於大赦國際2008年年度報告指出， “法輪功學員，尤其是高風險的酷刑和其他虐待被拘留* * * 2007年期間，100多名法輪功學員被報已死亡被拘留或釋放不久結果酷刑，剝奪食物或醫療，和其他形式的虐待。“;
Whereas according to the 2008 Department of State’s Human Rights Report on China, “Some foreign observers而按照2008年國務院的人權報告對中國，“一些外國觀察家 estimated that Falun Gong adherents constituted at least half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in re-education through labor (RTL) camps, while Falun Gong sources overseas placed the number even higher.”;據 估計，法輪功信徒組成的至少一半的正式記錄的25萬囚犯中重新勞教（RTL）的營地，而海外法輪功來源放置的數量增加。“;
Whereas according to the 2008 Annual Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, “The (Chinese) central government intensified its nine-year campaign of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in the months leading up to the 2008 Beijing Summer而根據2008年年度報告國會執行委 員會的中國，說：“（中國）中央政府加強了9年的迫害運動，法輪功學員1995年11月至2008年北京夏季 Olympic Games.”;奧運會。“;
Whereas Falun Gong-related websites remain among the most systematically and hermetically blocked by China’s Internet firewall; and鑑於法輪功相關的網站仍然是最系統和密封封鎖中國的互聯網防火牆;和
Whereas, according to an April 2009 New York Times report, “In the past year, as many as 8,000 (Falun Gong practitioners have been detained, according to experts on human rights, and at least 100 have died in custody”:而 根據2009年4月1紐約時報報導，“在過去的一年中，多達8000（法輪功練習者被拘留，據專家人權，至少有100人死於羈押”：
Now, therefore, be it因此，現在無論是
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—解決，那眾議院， (1) expresses sympathy to Falun Gong practitioners and their family members who have suffered persecution, intimidation, imprisonment, torture, and even death for the past decade solely because of adherence to their personal beliefs; （1）表示同情法輪功學員和他們的家人誰遭受迫害，恐嚇，監禁，酷刑，甚至死亡在過去十年僅僅因為他們的堅持個人的信念;
(2) calls upon the Government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately cease and desist from its campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners, to immediately abolish the 6- 10 office, an extrajudicial security apparatus given the mandate to “eradicate” Falun Gong, and to immediately release Falun Gong practitioners, detained solely for their beliefs, from prisons and re-education through labor (RTL) camps, including those practitioners who are the relatives of United States citizens and permanent residents; and （2）籲請政府對中華人民共和國中國立即停止，並停止其活動，迫害，恐嚇，監禁和酷刑的法輪功學員，立即取消6 – 10個辦公室，法外安全機構賦予的任務來“剷除”法輪功，並立即釋放法輪功學員，被拘留僅供自己的信念，從監獄和勞教所勞動（RTL）的營地，包括醫生誰 是親戚美國公民和永久居民;及
(3) calls upon the President and Members of Congress to mark the 11th anniversary of Chinese official repression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement appropriately and effectively by publicly expressing solidarity with those practitioners in China persecuted solely because of their personal beliefs, and by meeting with Falun Gong practitioners whenever and wherever possible to indicate that support for freedom of conscience remains a fundamental principle of the United States Government. （3）呼籲總統和國會議員，以紀念11週年，中國官方鎮壓法輪功精神運動適當和有效地公開表示聲援練習者在中國受迫害，只是因為他們個人的看法，以及會見 法輪功學員隨時隨地以表明支持良心自由仍然是一個基本原則，美國政府。
