News media reports discussing the killing of over 200 individuals in Syria – and YouTube video are describing the attacks reportedly by the Syrian government.
The NYT reports: “Syrian opposition leaders raised the death toll to 260 in a military assault on Saturday on the ravaged central city of Homs, an attack that they described as the government’s deadliest in the nearly 11-month-old uprising.”
We offer compassion and prayers for the victims in Nigeria of terrorist atrocities, where over 178 have been reported killed, with the Bin Ladenist extremist group Boko Haram taking responsibility for the bloodshed and murder. Boko Haram has declared war on the Nigeria government and the Nigerian people. In the latest attacks which Boko Haram takes responsibility, it launched coordinated attacks on Nigerian government offices and police stations. During Christmas 2011, Boko Haram launched attacks on Christians and their churches, and in August 2011, Boko Haram launched an attack on a United Nations office in Abuja. Boko Haram has proven that they don’t stand for any religious or culture principals, other than their views of seeking death, destruction, and the end of human rights for Nigerians.
We need people of all faiths, all religions, all conscience, and all identity groups to stand against such violence, murder, and hatred.
We need our voice of hope, compassion, and dignity to be more than a whisper to the shouts of those who would seek to destroy and hate our brothers and sisters in humanity.
Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins.
Terrorist Attacks in Nigeria - with Boko Haram Taking "Credit" for Death and Destruction (Photo: Reuters)
Nigeria: Over 178 Dead After Bomb Blasts – Islamist Boko Harum Group Takes Responsibility
— Reuters…. “Islamist insurgents kill over 178 in Nigeria’s Kano”… “Gun and bomb attacks by Islamist insurgents in the northern Nigerian city of Kano last week killed at least 178 people, a hospital doctor said on Sunday, underscoring the challenge President Goodluck Jonathan faces to prevent his country sliding further into chaos. … “The scale of the carnage makes this by far the deadliest strike claimed by Boko Haram, a shadowy Islamist sect that started out as a clerical movement opposed to western education but has become the biggest security menace facing Africa’s top oil producer. ‘We have 178 people killed in the two main hospitals,’ the senior doctor in Kano’s Murtala Mohammed hospital said following Friday’s attacks, citing records from his own and the other main hospital of Nasarawa.”
Boko Haram spokesperson Abul Qaqa takes credit for weekend attacks killing 178 in Kano State in Nigeria
— Vanguard… “Nigeria: Why We Attacked Kano – Boko Haram.. Maiduguri — The Boko Haram sect has given reasons for its weekend attacks, which led to the killing of about 162 people in Kano State, saying it was to avenge the persecution of its members. Spokesman of the group, Abul Qaqa, made this known in a telephone interview with newsmen in Maiduguri, yesterday. Claiming responsibility for the attacks and multiple bombings on police stations, State Security Services, SSS, and passport office buildings in Kano metropolis, Qaga said: ‘Last night’s (Friday) attacks and bombings of Kano city followed our warnings in the second week of December, 2011.'”
Whispered prayer against Boko Haram needs to be spoken with louder conviction against violence
— “The emir of Kano has led a prayer service asking for God to help end attacks by a radical Islamist sect across Nigeria’s north. The ceremony by the senior Muslim religious official was held Monday in the city of Kano, where more than 150 were killed in a series of coordinated attacks Friday by Boko Haram. The emir spoke only for one minute in a voice so soft those gathered inside the half-emptied mosque could barely hear.”
Los Angeles Times
— “Reporting from Kano, Nigeria, and Johannesburg,— A militant Islamic group whose almost daily attacks have put Nigerians on edge left the country stunned Saturday after a well-coordinated strike with disturbing echoes of Al Qaeda’s brand of mayhem.” Daily Telegraph Report
— Many people are feared dead after a series of explosions outside of police stations in the largest city in Nigeria’s Muslim north.
Boko Haram’s Rise in Nigeria Sparks Civil War Fears — “Friday’s deadly bomb attacks in Nigeria’s second largest city, Kano, are the latest in a series of spectacular strikes by the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. The coordinated series of assaults on police stations and other government offices killed at least 200 people. The rise of Boko Haram is sparking concerns that Africa’s most populous country may be edging closer to civil war… The radical Islamist Boko Haram has made headlines with increasing frequency lately for a series of audacious terrorist strikes. Among them, a Christmas Day bomb blast that killed worshippers at a Catholic Church and a deadly suicide bomb last August at a U.N. headquarters in Abuja.”
One of the greatest enemies to a coherent society and to shared human rights and dignity is the obsessive pursuit and defense of pride. Many try to instill a sense of self-confidence in our children. But self-confidence is not the same as self-obsession. You can readily tell the difference by the way that the self-obsessed are so intent on defending their pride that they believe they cannot be wrong, they cannot make mistakes, and their pride is more important than their society.
Excessive pride can be one of the more destructive forces among human beings, with the idea that some may believe that they or their group someone have superior rights, superior value, superior importance, and superior dignity than others. We cannot be individuals or a society which works towards equality and social justice when we are burdened with a preoccupation regarding pride.
In many cultures, pride is even viewed as a sin. In Judaism and Christianity, Proverbs 11:2 states that: “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” Catholics view pride as one of the “Seven Deadly Sins.” In Hindu cultures believers are warned in The Gita, XVI. 4, that pride and arrogance belong “to him who is born to the heritage of the demons.” Pride is rejected in Buddhist cultures. In Islamic hadiths, Allah Ta’ala states “Verily, Allah does not love the proud ones.” Much of the world’s religions reject pride as something that undermines their values and peaceful society.
But to those cultures and philosophies where we believe that we are the most important part of the universe, pride is promoted. In the long run, such pride is self-destructive even in those cultures. Pride keeps some from recognizing and admitting when they are wrong or have made mistakes. Pride enables some to believe that they have a “right” to be superior over others. Pride gives false confidence to others that they deserve their personal pleasure and whims to be catered to, even if it means the suffering of others. Pride ultimately leads to societies based on endless wars among its members in the endless quest for MORE – even at the cost of undermining the very Earth itself. To some, there is nothing more than pride and seeking MORE.
Even in ancient Greek cultures, however, such obsession with pride was viewed as a societal sickness. One of the grave crimes in ancient Greece was the crime of hubris, and the view that one could believe that they were so superior to others that they had the right to abuse weaker individuals. One of the examples of the crime of hubris in Greek culture was the raping of young boys.
This brings us to the case of the Pennsylvania state University (PSU), my alma mater. My alma mater is where so many have been preoccupied with Penn State Pride, seemingly above all else.
The reports of raping of young boys at the PSU football facilities have sickened me as they have sickened sane individuals across the nation. The scandal is revolting and disturbing to all people with any decency. What is just as troubling are the cases of those within the PSU leadership who reportedly failed to do everything they could to stop such abuse of children. That institutional scandal has been unimaginable to me as an alumnus.
This too is part of the problem at the Pennsylvania State University. My horror and shock is partly due to my respect for my father, who struggled for 10 years to get his college degree there. My father was a symbol of a man who would sacrifice for his family and his community. His story of working his way from a janitor to becoming an engineer, by taking part-time classes at the Pennsylvania State University was one of the great success stories and profiles of courage in my life and in my family. My father – he was a living symbol of Real Courage. His courage and his tenacity to help his family and his society were guided by his years of accomplishments at the Pennsylvania State University. Financial difficulty and health problems never took his educational accomplishments away from him. When my father died in November 2010, it was like someone tore out half of my heart from my chest. I have continued to live and work, but it has been a deep struggle for me. One of the things that kept me strong was his lifelong example of courage and commitment to do the right thing, and remembering my father’s example of courage.
So it was a double blow a year later, when the PSU child rape scandal appeared in the national press in November 2011. Penn State was one of the accomplishments that my father and I held dear to our hearts. Penn State was a place where we had many special moments; it was in a part of my heart where hope, dignity, and happiness had their brightest days.
We had seen things changing over the years. In his final years, father and I had gone to football games at the Pennsylvania State University. He was beginning to lose mobility in his legs. We had to arrive at the campus very early in the morning to get a parking space in the handicapped parking lot. This was not because of the many handicapped attendees, which were less than 10 percent of those in the parking lot. It was because of the groups of youngsters with minivans, SUVs, and trucks who used other people’s vehicles with handicapped stickers to get choice parking spots in the handicapped lot near the stadium to host their tail-gate parties and drinking binges. Yet my father, step by halting step, walked with his hands on my shoulders and my arm around his waist as we took a few steps and then stopped, then took a few steps and then stopped, and took a few steps and then stopped. All the way. We had to be there at the crack of dawn for a parking space, so that my father could struggle like this. My father wanted to have a last few chances to cheer for the Penn State football team, as an excuse to visit the campus and for a few days remember the good old days where he struggled as a young man and student to get a college degree. What an accomplishment. A college degree.
As we sat at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, surrounded by young people, the game began with the Blue Band playing the Alma Mater song… and the dirty secret that few of us spoke about, how many, many of the youngsters sang “we don’t know the God D*** words” (and laughed), as we tried to sing our alma mater asking “let no act of ours bring shame,” as my father and I shook our head, and just let ourselves believe that some of the kids there were drunk. No they weren’t, but it made us feel better to think that way. My father, who I nearly had to carry up the concrete steps of Beaver Stadium, step by step, just to be there with fellow Penn Staters, who couldn’t imagine the sacrifices and the struggle that he made for his college degree, including vulgar, spoiled youngsters who didn’t deserve to be in the same room let alone sit beside my father.
But that is the pain of my loss still speaking, and the struggle I too have made so much with the sin and social evil of pride. It is the same struggle I have had with pride that has made this scandal so difficult. It has been a sense of disgrace of my alma mater, when the facts are that my alma mater is no different than anyone else’s alma mater, and when the facts are that every college, educational institute, and organization will have bad apples, criminals, and those who will fail in their social responsibility. Still the weight of our alma mater song “May no act of ours bring shame, To one heart that loves thy name” still feels like a ton on my heart. Our pride led us to believe that Penn State was somehow different, somehow a last resort of dignity and honor. Our pride blinded us to the youngsters who would disgrace singing the alma mater song, and who would later be the type of students who would riot in the streets. Our pride refused to let us see what was clearly in plain view. We ignored a culture that continued to grow at Penn State, where football became too important in the Penn State community and culture. We could see it, but we didn’t do anything about it.
We were wrong. Our social responsibility, not our Penn State Pride, is and must always be our first and foremost priority. As a PSU alumnus myself, I want to publicly apologize to all those and to all those children who suffered as a result of the culture of blind pride that allowed some to believe that they could look the other way at the alleged crimes of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
To the Penn State alumni, our alma mater has gone from its brightest days to its darkest nights. There will be those who debate actions or individuals. There will be those who will seek to point fingers and who will seek to deny accountability. But in the brightest day and the darkest night, we need to learn from our mistakes and grow as individuals and communities from our mistakes. We need to challenge ourselves as individuals and as a group. But we can’t begin to change, when we can’t begin to admit our mistakes and reject our pride that has caused so much damage. To those who seek to defend those that cannot admit mistakes, you too need to think about whether perpetuating the past will help us overcome our tragic mistakes to grow and change in the future.
My father, God love him, loved the Penn State community, no matter how decrepit and damaged it had become. He loved how it represented the opportunity for change and second chances for people to grow above their current station and be a positive contribution to society. I would like to say I have the decency and love of my father, but the truth is I do not. He had more decency in his finger than I have in all of me. To those of the Penn State community who would defend those that who looked the other way while little boys were raped, if it were just me, I would reject you and the Penn State community in disgust and shame.
But it is my blessing that I still have my father’s hands on my shoulders even today to guide me in the right direction, no matter how difficult the journey, and no matter how impatient and temperamental I may be. So I know that the right thing to do is to seek forgiveness for all. The right thing to do is to pray for the health and healing of all. I know that the right thing is to call for change in the Penn State community, not by turning my back on it, but by engaging with the Penn State community to seek positive change.
Change begins with apologies. If “We Are Penn State,” then we are also all those who looked the other way during all these years of this disgraceful scandal, because we enabled a culture that let it happen.
We Are Penn State, and We Are Responsible.
We need to end the dialogue of PRIDE and begin the dialogue of RESPONSIBILITY for our society and our community.
We need to stop talking about what we “deserve,” and about what we can do to help others.
We need to stop obsessing over those in Penn State that some alumni feel have been slighted, and being working to change a community where the football team became so important that so many were willing to make such morally compromised decisions. The past is the past. They were wrong, we were wrong. Our pride was our downfall. We must not let the past to define our future.
Instead of being Penn State Proud, we must choose to be Penn State Responsible.
Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
PSU Alumnus Robert C. Imm - Believer In Penn State Community, Honor, and Responsibility
A few weeks ago at the National Press Club, I spoke of the world crisis in respecting children’s dignity and human rights, and the need to challenge those who commit and those who tolerate abuse, hatred, rape, and violence against our children. I love my brothers and sisters in humanity of all identity groups, but we must stand united as a human race to challenge those who would attack our children.
I stated in my December 8 comments, they are “our children” because humanity’s children are humanity’s shared future. They are not just the responsibility of their parents, they are also our shared responsibility as a human society — not only for our human rights, but also for our very future existence. They are part of our shared responsibility not only for equality and liberty, but also for the future of humanity itself.
Even animals in the wild have the instinctual need to defend their children. Our human society must do better. We must work to end the very contempt so many have for our chidren, their innocence, their future, and their very lives.
So many would like to explain away not just the abuses of our children, but the societal willingness to accept this. We are too busy, the people committing such abuses are just crazy, they are the responsibility of the police and the children’s parents.
CONTEMPT.
You don’t spit on a child and call them filthy names by accident. There is no explaining this away. It is nothing less than open, unmitigated, CONTEMPT.
Yet this is precisely what has been reported in Israel over the past week. In the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh, an 8-year old Orthodox Jewish girl walking to Jewish religious school, wearing a long dress and long sleeve blouse was set upon by “ultra-Orthodox” extremists who spit on her.
Frightened Israeli Child Na'ama Margolis Fears Being Spit Upon and Threatened by Dozens of Men (Photo Clip: YouTube / Channel 2)
For months, this child, Na’ama Margolis, and her classmates have endured being spat upon and threatened with filthy insults by dozens of cowardly men, who see nothing wrong with attacking children. Such men apparently claim that these girls’ conservative dress is not conservative enough for them. This was reported and many in Israel have condemned such outrages against these children. Others have been challenging efforts at public gender segregation, excluding girls and women from public sphere in public events, in stores, on buses, and even on the sidewalk. Men supporting such abuse of women have clashed with the police. The attacks on such children and attempts at public gender segregation in the streets was broadcast by Israeli Channel 2 and is provided with English subtitles on YouTube at:
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Some Israelis have also been challenging a growing repression against Israel women, including an Israel woman soldier called filthy names by a man for sitting in the front of a bus. I stand with the women and men protesting in Israel to reject such contempt against girls and women, and I am proud to support your campaign for freedom and respect. I reject the efforts of those who seek to use violence and contempt to intimidate girls and women in Israel (or anywhere). Outside of the U.S. Secretary of State, the situation in Israel has been received with a significant silence here in the United States, especially by activists. I am especially disappointed to see feminists who have been very active in challenging the disgraceful so-called “honor killings” around the world, apparently must be on vacation and too busy to be concerned about these issues involving Israeli women. I have also seen some writers who seem to want to explain the abuses against Israeli women away as political targeting or as some type of cultural misunderstanding.
Local Man in Beit Shemesh Justifies Spitting On Little Girls (Photo Clip: YouTube / Channel 2)
To those who believe it is a cultural misunderstanding to spit on little girls, let me tell you there are plenty of fathers who would have their own cultural response with a closed four fingers and a thumb if you spit on their daughter.
It is instinctual, it is normal, it is part of basic human survival coding to want to protect and defend our children. We shouldn’t need to explain it. We shouldn’t need to encourage it. It should be part of our human identity.
Nor is it political targeting to challenge abuses against children, among people in any nation or any identity group. I have stood in defense of Israelis many times to seek the respect, security, and human rights that all human beings deserve. But wrong is wrong – as other protesting Israelis point out, and we must have no acceptance of contempt against our children.
This incident summarizes the entire issue of open contempt against children, their rights, and their dignity: Spitting on Our Children. Such contempt does not get any clearer than that.
Certainly we cannot address child abuse in another nation, without addressing the disgrace and child abuse in the United States of America, who has yet to ratifythe United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), accepted by the General Assembly in 1989. While the United States signed this important convention as part of the United Nations, the United States is one of the few nations that has failed to ratify this convention. 23 years later, administration after after administration, Republican and Democratic, have come and gone, and still this basic convention on the rights of children has not yet been ratified by the United States. In 2008, Barack Obama promised to “review” this, but as we approach 2012, nearly four years later, the current United States administration has also failed to ratify this convention on child’s rights.
The only other nation that has not ratified the CRC is Somalia, where a 13-year old little girl (Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow) was publicly stoned to death in a pit as “adulteress” for the “crime” of being raped, watched by over 1,000 people who failed to act, as Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow’s extremist murderers justified killing her based on their interpretation of Islamic Sharia Law. The U.S. Senate passed a resolution condemning that killing, but where are they on ratifying the CRC?
We also cannot address the importance of the CRC, without challenging those who have ratified it with “exceptions,” that some children only have rights to life and human dignity based on limited religious interpretations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ensure human rights for all – without exception – but the United States of America’s government needs to ratify the CRC themselves so that when it offers advice to other world powers, it has done the least that it could do.
Image from State Dept Human Trafficking Report, section "Gender Imbalance in Human Trafficking"
We lead as human beings, as parents, as social leaders, as religious leaders, as identity group leaders, and political leaders – must lead by example. “Do what I say, not what I do” accomplishes nothing in social change and human rights. So the series of disgraces against children around the world require us to speak out consistently everywhere in the world, with every group in the world, and in every circumstance. We must show human rights, dignity, and compassion to some children, but we must do so for our all of our future children.
Our places of learning should be obvious places where children are safe. But we have learned in America how untrue that is today in our nation. Today, yet another alleged rape victim has reported the use of the Pennsylvania State University campus football facilities , as part of an apparently organized effort alleged to have been committed by former football coach Sandusky. It is sickening for Americans and people with respect for children’s rights around the world to hear the growing allegations, and this latest victim brings the number to 11 reported victims. All of us our responsible for our children, including those in positions of authority, not simply when it is convenient, but all of the time. Even if it is inconvenient to someone’s weekend (as former football coach Joe Paterno testified), we must alert the authorities to known or suspected abuse of children, and do the most we can to protect our children, not the least we can. As a Penn State alumnus, I understand when it comes to children’s safety – no one, no organization, no team, and no activity – is more important than our children.
Former Penn State University Coach Joe Paterno Testified that He Did Not Want to Disrupt the Weekend of University Official in Reporting Sandusky's Activities with Naked Boys (Photo: Ralph Wilson-AP Photo)
We see some who would rationalize and look the other way when children are killed as part of violence among adults. It is always and will always be unacceptable and wrong. There are no exceptions. We must stop killing our children, because we can not find ways to live with each other and to deal with our conflicts. Those who seek to fight, fight as adults, and leave our children out of these wars. I know the arguments, how people need to fight for security and defense. But our children don’t have to be a part of that. To those who say that is impossible, I say you need to find a way. If we are not preserving our children’s lives, what type of security, what type of defense, and what type of “victory,” do you think you are working towards?
In terms of the United States government, the Israeli government, and every government in the world who is at war or in conflict, there are no “acceptable” child casualties in war. It does not matter how we define these casualties, as “collateral damage,” or how sorry we are. This also includes the disgusting and disgraceful allegations that some Israeli soldiers have also used human shields. This also applies to any solider, American, or from any nation, who believes it is acceptable to allow the deaths of our children. Our apologies do not bring the lives of our children back anywhere in the world. No war justifies the death of children anywhere in the world, any place, any time.
A Child Injured in U.S. Drone Attack in Pakistan (Photo: AP/The Hindu)
Pakistani Child Ali Ahmad - Trained to be Suicide Bomber (Photo Clip: Voice of America)
This also includes disgraceful allegations of Palestinian militants using child human shields, or any other group with militants fighting anywhere in the world. Such groups claim they are working for ideological and nationalist causes. No cause justifies murdering children anywhere in the world, any place, any time.
In Pakistan and around the world, we have seen terrorist organizations seek to brainwash children with hatred and to train children to become terrorists. As the Pakistan Daily Times has reported, some Pakistani groups have used madrassas to teach children how to wear suicide bomber vests. Throughout Africa, and in other parts of the world, there are others who seek to recruit children for their wars. In Somalia this week, children are being recruited as “child soldiers” to wage war on the government by the Al-Shabaab group. No cause justifies this promotion of hatred in children’s minds, this warping of their innocents hearts to believe that people of all one kind, one group, or one religion deserve hatred, violence, and death. No group has the right abuse our children and try to turn them into killers.
Leave Our Children be Children
In every case and circumstance, those who would kill our children and make them into killers, anywhere and everywhere in the world, they too are spitting on our children.
Texas: Raid on Polygamist Group that Claimed Justification of Sexual Abuse (Photo Clip: NBC video)
We have also seen those who claim they have the “right” to murder young girls in America in so-called “honor killings,” rationalized by their extremist interpretations of Islamic religion and culture. Just slightly over a year ago, the trial of Faleh Almaleki began for the “honor killing” murder of his daughter Noor Almaleki. The Arizona Republic reported that “[f]amily members told police that the father was upset that his daughter failed to live by traditional Muslim values.” We need others to condemn those who rationalize murder and hate. (Almaleki’s families comments to the Arizona Republic is an extremist view that will no doubt disturb many traditional Muslims practicing love and respect to children and one another.) In April 2011, Faleh Almaleki was sentenced to only 34 years in prison for what was clearly a premeditated murder of his daughter.
Noor Almaleki - American Girl Murdered for an "Honor Killing"
Other American Girls Murdered in "Honor Killings": Amina and Sarah Said (Top Left), Methal Dayem (Top Right), and Tina Isa (Bottom)
All those who would use religious RATIONALIZATION to sexually abuse, beat, attack, and kill our children also have contempt for children’s rights. Their contempt and violence against our children speaks for itself, and they cannot hide behind their claims that contempt, abuse, and violence against children is justified by their extremist religious views or culture. They too are spitting on our children.
Those who seek to pray on our children’s minds and souls to corrupt towards violence and hatred know no boundaries. In our reporting at Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), we have reported on those who seek to influence children via the Internet and from extremist group meetings to promote hatred of people different from themselves. We have seen with our own eyes the images of small children influenced by the Christian extremist Hutaree group and other groups that promote hatred and promote violence in the United States. When we challenge groups that promote such hatred and racial nationalism in America, as well as other groups that promote hate, we seek to protect our children – our shared responsibility.
Christian Extremist Terrorist Group Hutaree Give Rifle to Baby (Left); American Nazis Seek to Brainwash Young Girl (Right)
This problem is not limited to any one religious, ethnic, racial, national, or identity group. There is a decided effort by those promoting hatred to fight their war for hate with, against, and through our children. They too are spitting on our children.
But the contempt towards our children is hardly an isolated incident and, as I expressed in my December 8 remarks, this is a global phenomenon that we must challenge consistently and without exception. In every case, these too are spitting on our children.
Egypt: 15 year old Dina El-Gowhary - Target of Acid Attacks
In Sudan and Darfur, children are killed, young girls are raped, children are starved, authorities refuse to let children learn about their culture, and children are abducted to be forced into military service. In Balochistan, we have seen over 168 children who have “disappeared” and teenage boys killed as part of a brutal “kill and dump” campaign by authorities. In Bahrain, I have read reports of 5 children killed and hundreds of children subjected to excessive force by a brutal government that seeks deny democracy and human rights.
Sudan's Starving Children - Oppressed by Totalitarian Government (Photo: AP)
Only a Passing Trash Collector Tried to Save Chinese Baby Yue-Yue
(To those who state, you failed to address the contempt towards our children shown by this group or that group, you are correct. Given the near infinite variety of groups in the war against children, I guarantee I have missed some. Please write me at usa@realcourage.org and I will address such topics in the future.)
I know that this sometimes reads like just statistics, which is why in my December 8 remarks, I raised the issue of murdered American child Jorelys Rivera, a 7 year old girl who was raped and murdered, and dumped in a trash bin in Georgia, the week we were remembering Human Rights Day around the world. Our children are special, unique, and deserve the love, respect, and human rights. They deserve to be remembered not merely as statistics, but as human beings with names.
Jorelys Rivera - 7-Year Old America Girl - Murdered and Raped - Left in Trash Bin
The grim story of global contempt against our children is not just something I have heard about, but something I faced personally in the United States. I have spoke to young girls who have been the victims of sexual abuse predators in our nation, who have sought to steal their dignity because of the poverty and unemployment in America. To those who expect law enforcement will act on these matters, I can tell you from personal experience that this is not always the case.
The face of children’s human rights is the face of every child, those who have suffered and those remain unscathed. These children are humanity’s future. We cannot and must not expect the authorities or “someone else” to take the leadership in protecting our children around the world from contempt, hatred, brainwashing, abuse, rape, violence, and murder. Our conscience and our survival as a human race demands that we must not tolerate such abuse of our children – anywhere, any group, and any time.
We are the adults – when it comes to protecting our children – we are the authorities. It is our responsibility. It is our responsibility to stop those spitting on our children, literally and figuratively.
Our children deserve our universal human rights, including the right to life, dignity, and respect.
We extend respect to all identity groups, all religions, all races, all genders, and all nationalities as our brothers and sisters in humanity. While such individual identity groups are not to “blame” for extremists within them, they and we all have to responsibility to speak out on behalf of the need to protect and love our children – everywhere and anywhere.
Consistency on human rights is difficult, and perhaps painful and ugly at times. If we are consistent on human rights, we are going to offend someone. If we are consistent on human rights, our political allies, our national allies, our cultural allies, and our identity group allies are at some point going to be upset with us.
But the truth is that our future depends on consistency on human rights.
Our children depend on us to have the courage to be consistent on human rights, anywhere, everywhere, and all the time. We must set that example and provide that leadership for the next generation.
But first we must challenge the CONTEMPT against our children. It is unacceptable anywhere, everywhere, and all the time – with every child without exception. We must challenge the contempt against our children with our hearts, minds, and voices.
Our petition calls for all nations of the world, including the United States of America, to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Our petition also calls for the world nations to make their ratification of the CRC without exception or qualification. We shouldn’t need to “qualify” the basic rights of our children to life, respect, dignity, and the universal human rights we all share.
Our petition rejects those who claim that any human culture or ideology permits contempt, abuse, rape, violence, and hatred towards children, and even murder of children.
Our petition calls for the end of child slavery and condemns the nations and individuals that participate and tolerate such disgraces.
Our petition calls for the protection, dignity, and safety of children anywhere and everywhere – free from attack by weapons of war, free from abuse by soldiers of any kind, free from terrorism and crime, and free from abuse and violence from any person.
Finally, our petition encourages the world to reject the idea that our children are someone else’s responsibility, but they are our responsibility and our future – not just when it is convenient, but all the time.
You may think you can’t do anything about the contempt towards our children, but you can. You can start with your public voice on the issues that all human beings should share regarding our children and our future.
Statement by Nazir S. Bhatti, President, Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC), and Editor, Pakistan Christian Post (PCP) on Human Rights Day Regarding Human Rights Issues of Pakistan Christians, including urging the government of Pakistan to repeal blasphemy law and demand formation of Judicial Commission to investigate and to arrest killers of Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities who was assassinated on March 2, 2011, in Islamabad.
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Pakistan Christian Congress' Dr. Nazir Bhatti - Speaking at a previous R.E.A.L. Human Rights Day Event - National Press Club, Washington DC
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I congratulate, Mr. Jeffrey Imm, Chief Coordinator of Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) for organizing this event as commitment to Declaration of Universal Human Rights of United Nation. It is important to pay homage to REAL leadership for commitment and re-commitment of Human Rights Day every year in DC when many champions of Human Rights not even bother to raise voice for persecuted communities on this day.
Availing opportunity of this occasion on Human Rights Day, I must submit that 20 million Pakistani Christians are a forgotten community by the International forums and Human Right organizations. There are incidents of gang-rape, abduction and enforced conversion to Islam of Christian women but silence prevails in capitals of Western governments. The Pastors are gunned down, Churches are attacked, Christian properties are set on fire, worshipers in churches are sprayed with bullets and Christian women and children are burnt alive but culprits walk free from courts if they are arrested. There are arrests of Christians under controversial blasphemy law to settle scores by Muslim majority but Human Right champions have never dared to press upon government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan to repeal such black laws which are contradictory to Universal Human Rights of UN, of which Pakistan is a signatory state.
There are frequent incidents of murder of Christian victims of blasphemy law in custody of law enforcement agencies and by hands of extremist elements but none of culprit is ever arrested and brought to justice. The Christian youth is denied equal opportunities in education and employment to undermine their due rights and even in share of US AID on such programs in Pakistan.
Dear Sirs,
It will be surprising to note that Islamic Republic of Pakistan claims to be a Democratic state but 20 million Pakistani Christians are deprived of their basic right to elect their representation by their vote in Pakistan. We are forced to vote for a Muslim and then that Muslim selects our member in Parliament but Western Democratic countries have never linked their AID to Pakistan for true democracy. Pakistani Christians have long standing demand of representation in National Assembly of Pakistan, Senate of Pakistan; Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan and Local Bodies with proportional to their population which is 13% but never received due consideration.
Dear Sirs,
I must submit that there have been more than 1,500 cases registered under blasphemy law in Pakistan since 1986, in which Christians, Ahmadi, Hindu and individuals of some Muslim sects were arrested. The Christian and Ahmadi victims of blasphemy law were killed by the hands of extremist’s Islamic elements in which none was arrested to ensure justice.
On occasion of Human Right Day, I will urge government of Pakistan to repeal blasphemy law and demand formation of Judicial Commission to investigate and to arrest killers of Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities who was assassinated on March 2, 2011, in Islamabad; The Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab TTP accepted responsibility of killing of Shahbaz Bhatti but Joint Investigation Committee comprising of Islamabad Police and some Christian leaders have failed to make any arrest. I will also demand release of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of 5, who was sentenced to death on accusation of blasphemy and waiting in jail for his appeal pending in Lahore High Court. Pakistan Christian Congress PCC demands release of more than 100 victims of blasphemy in jails and adequate security for those who have been acquitted from courts and forced to live in hidings.
It is also important to bring in notice of United Nation that Pakistani Christians are facing genocide in Islamic Republic of Pakistan and immediate action is required to safe 20 million Pakistani Christians by awarding Refugee Status for their safety and security of life and property.
I, President of Pakistan Christian congress PCC, Nazir S. Bhatti, on behalf of 20 million Pakistani Christians demand, His Excellency Ban-Ki Moon, Secretary General UN, on Human Right Day of 2011, to form a Commission to investigate genocide of Pakistani Christians under following Universal Conditions for Genocide.
1. Public display of ethnic and religious differences through physical features, language and communal symbols.
2. Absence in multi-religious and/or multi-ethnic societies of strong integrating institutions.
3. Absence of the rule of law and presence of authoritarian traditions of governance.
4. Deep-seated insecurity on the part of ruling elites.
5. Widespread perception of vulnerable religious and ethnic groups as potential agents of politically subversive powers.
6. Prevalence of a racially or religiously discriminatory ideology or worldview that upholds a utopian vision of a homogenous society as the foundation of political unity.
7. Institutionalization of racial or religious discrimination in statute law or social custom.
8. Widespread communication by state and/or non-state actors of hateful propaganda that portrays members of religious or ethnic communities as subject peoples, aliens within society, or as subhuman creatures.
9. Outbreaks of organized violence by mobs or individuals against members of vulnerable religious or ethnic communities.
10. Habitual denial of discrimination by state and non-state actors that engage in oppressive practices, including violence, against vulnerable groups in society.
11. Widespread militarization of society and/or widespread influence of non-state terrorist groups or militias.
We hope that formation of UN Commission on genocide of Pakistani Christians will be revival of Declaration of International Human Rights in Pakistan and around globe.
At the National Press Club in Washington DC, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) coordinated a Human Rights Day event on December 8, inviting co-sponsors from various groups to speak on behalf of human rights issues important to their organizations. The groups remembered the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations on December 10, 1948 and the inherent human rights, human dignity, respect, and social justice that all of our fellow human deserve – of any identity group and in any part of the world.
(For each individual, we have provide Internet links to their Human Rights Day Event remarks.)
The speakers discussed the need to consistently show respect, compassion, dignity, and human rights to people in different parts of the world and in different identity groups.
Human Rights Day – Remembering the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
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R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm spoke on the need to emphasize respect, instead of arrogance, in recognizing human rights, stating that it was arrogance by those who believe that they had superior rights to others that is a key problem in human rights around the world. He urged the world to make a “declaration of love” towards their fellow human beings, and to Choose Love, Not Hate, in our lives and the lives of others in our communities, our nations, and our identity groups. Jeffrey Imm spoke of the dire situation of poverty around the world and the impact on such poverty on human rights, stating that such poverty can undermine human rights for many, including individuals in the United States of America who he was working to support. He urged people to give to charities and to people in need.
R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm also spoke on the future of human rights being defined by the example we set, and the way we treat our children. He spoke on the continuing disgrace of abuse, rape, kidnapping, and murder of children around the world, as well as by those in institutions and society who have not made chidren’s rights a priority. Jeffrey Imm urged the United States to adopt the Convention on Rights of the Child.
He also spoke on atrocities against children in the United States of America (the murder of 7 year of Jorelys Rivera, the murder of children in Texas), in Pakistan (the brainwashing of children by terrorists, the rape and murder of young girls, and the killing of Christian minority girls, including the recent killing of Amariah Masih), in Sudan and Dafur (rape of young girls, killing of children, and loss of their culture and innocence), in Balochistan (over 168 children have “disappeared” with teenage boys killed by authorities in a “kill and dump” campaign), in People’s Republic of China (the lack of concern of about a 2 year old child killed in the street, the government-sponsored forced abortions and infanticide, and the killing or abandonment of minority children such as children of Falun Gong practitioners), and in Bahrain (five children killed and hundreds of children subjected to excessive force by anti-protest authorities). Jeffrey Imm also spoke on the institutional willingness to accept such abuses of children, including an Afghan girl released from prison on the condition she marry her rapist, and the reports of child abuse at the Pennsylvania State University and other institutions in America. He also decried the so-called “honor killings” of young girls and boys by those who believe their cultural or religious views justified abuse and murder of children, and called for an end to these, noting that there were 3,000 such cases in the United Kingdom alone, according to stophonourkillings.com. He spoke of the oppression against children in the United States of America, and his own efforts to stop such abuses.
Jeffrey Imm stated that these “are all OUR children,” who “are our common bond and bridge to the future.” He suggested that in this season of reflection and gift-giving in much of the world, that we should first reach out to help the children and the less fortunate among us. He stated that our greatest gift to children from adult human beings must be in making a renewed commitment to protect our vulnerable children around the world. Jeffrey Imm stated, “We must give the gift of our courage, our consistency, and our commitment for the universal human rights and dignity to all of our children around the world…. We must set an example for our children. We must provide a beacon and symbol of hope for our children. We must show that by our words and more importantly by actions, in the United States and around the world – to our children – and to each other… We are Responsible for Equality And Liberty.”
Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), Human Rights Day Event 2011
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Ahmer Mustikhan, a senior journalist and Balochistan area expert, spoke on the issue of supporting democracy and human rights for the Baloch people, and called the end to abuses against Pakistan minorities. Regarding the challenges within the Pakistan government, Ahmer Mustikhan called for the United States and the nations of the world to prevent the Pakistan military from interfering with the democratic government in Pakistan. “It is true the democratic government of President Asif Ali Zardari gave the Baloch 300 bodies in the last four or so years, but still we would support it against the military generals. Democracy does make a difference in the lives of people and we can not remain oblivious to this fact,” Mustikhan said. Mustikhan, who founded the DC-based American Friends of Balochistan and co-founded the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, also asked the world community to intervene in Balochistan on the same lines as they did in Libya to stop the genocide there and safeguard the right to self-determination of the Baloch people. He said scores of Baloch teenagers have been made victims of enforced disappearances and killed. He narrated the story of a Baloch minor boy Abdul Wahid Baloch, aka Balaach Baloch, who gained fame after his picture showing him clad in a Balochistan flag was posted on social websites last year. Ahmar Mustikhan also spoke on the issue of Pakistan minorities, including Pakistan Christians, and urged the Pakistan government to free Asia Bibi, who has been imprisoned on trumped-up charges of the “blasphemy law,” which has been used to target and oppress religious minorities in Pakistan.
Ahmar Mustikhan, Senior Journalist and Area Expert, Balochistan – regarding the oppression and abuse of the Baloch people and Pakistan minorities on Human Rights Day Event 2011
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Carolyn Cook, founder and CEO of United for Equality, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington DC on December 8, as part of a Human Rights Day Event, calling for a renewed commitment by Americans in support of the Constitutional rights for all American women, as part of our global human rights goals. United for Equality is a social justice enterprise seeking the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) by 2015. Carolyn stated that we must change the way people think and what we tolerate in our culture regarding the rights and dignity of our fellow Americans and fellow human beings. Carolyn spoke out against the discrimination and the efforts to deny full equality to women in America, in every aspect of their lives. She stated that we need to take our system back and make it ours. Carolyn Cook stated that United for Equality’s coalition successfully introduced a bill to the 112the session of the United States Congress calling for Congress to remove the time limit on the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.), as the United States previously had the ratification of the E.R.A. in 35 states, and it requires ratification in 38 states and by 2/3s of the House and Senate. She pointed out how previous U.S. government officials sought to halt the efforts to ratify the E.R.A. after 10 years when nearly all of the required states but 3 had ratified this Constitutional Amendment, and pointed out that women have no desire to “start over” the ratification of the E.R.A.
Carolyn Cook also spoke on the paradigm of options we have as activists and participants in defending human rights. Carolyn urged a more holistic approach towards addressing human rights as lifelong causes. She discussed lessons learned from the Occupy movement and other social activist efforts to bring change to the world. Her discussion on lessons from the Occupy movement are detailed in the YouTube video of her speech beginning at 6:36 minutes in on Part 1 and continuing and concluding in Part 2 of her remarks.
Carolyn Cook, CEO and Founder of United for Equality, Speaks on Behalf of American Women’s Constitutional Rights – on Human Rights Day 2011 Event
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Jared Pearman, Spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Washington, DC, spoke on behalf of human rights and human dignity for the Falun Gong / Falun Dafa. He provided information about the Falun Gong as “a peaceful spiritual practice rooted in traditional Chinese culture,” which “consists of meditation, five gentle sets of exercises, and a moral philosophy centered on the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.” While pointing out that Falun Gong is not political, Mr. Pearman stated that “as Falun Gong grew in popularity throughout the 1990s, China’s communist leaders began to view the practice and its moral philosophy as ideological competition.” For the past 12 years, he indicated that “China’s rulers began a campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. Since then, like underground Christians and Tibetan Buddhists, millions of Falun Gong adherents have been denied the right to peacefully practice their faith.” Despite massive arrests, torture, killings and denial of human rights for the Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party, Mr. Pearman stated that “Falun Gong has not been crushed, and reports from China indicate that the number of practitioners is instead growing. Ordinary citizens are increasingly standing up in defense of Falun Gong and are refusing to participate in the persecution.” He called for the Chinese government and the world to recognize and defend the human rights of the Falun Gong. Mr. Pearman offered “an alternate vision of what China could be — an alternative way of conceptualizing Chinese national identity”…. that “connects with China’s moral and spiritual traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and holds that the cultivation of virtue, honesty, and humanness are the true sources of national greatness.”
Jared Pearman, Spokesperson of Falun Dafa Association of Washington DC, oppressed in the PRC and denied their most basic human rights and dignity by those who view their practice and support for traditional Chinese values as a threat to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – Speaking at 2011 Human Rights Day Event
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Husain Abdulla, leader of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), spoke on behalf of Bahrainis oppressed by government forces that seek to deny democracy. He spoke of the initial protests on February 14, 2011, of those who sought to join the “Arab Spring” movement for democracy, and the brutal oppression of the Bahrain government. Since March 2011, Husain Abdulla stated that Bahrain protesters have been subjected to torture and death. 45 were killed, over 2,000 arbitrary arrests, 1,866 cases of documented torture, 5,000 prisoners of conscience, destruction of 40 places of worship, and 3,000 fired from their jobs, 500 forced out of Bahrain, 3 on death row, 477 students expelled from universities, and 300 students had scholarships taken away — all in retaliation for the willingness to protest against the Bahrain government. He stated that over 500 doctors have been detained. He noted that Bahrain is a close ally to the United States, and he urged Americans to call for the American government to end the “blind eye” to Bahrain human rights violations.
Husain Abdulla, speaking at National Press Club on Human Rights Day Event – Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) — speaking on behalf of Bahranis oppressed by government forces that seek to deny democracy
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Niemat Ahmadi spoke at the National Press Club Human Rights Day Event on December 8, 2011, to address the abuse of Darfuris and Sudanese. Niemat Ahmadi represents the United to End Genocide group. She spoke about the Genocide in Sudan which has been ongoing for over 8 years, and that have driven 4,000,000 out of their homes. Niemat Ahmadi spoke on the need for Americans to call for justice regarding Omar Al-Bashir. She noted that the efforts of Al-Bashir regime have changed their tactics and seek to use rape against women as a weapon of war against the Darfuri people. Niemat Ahmadi spoke of the continuing attacks on Darfuri cities, homes, and attempts to stop safe travel of people of African nationalities who have been fleeing to displaced persons camps. Niemat Ahmadi urged those in Arab nations seeking democracy in their nations to stand up to dictatorial Arab regimes who have supported the brutal Al-Bashir regime.
Niemat Ahmadi, with United to End Genocide, Speaks Out on the Darfur Genocide in Support of Human Rights – at Human Rights Day Event 2011
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In R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm’s concluding remarks, he urged the human rights activists to continue to work together in the coming year on joint activists. He noted that after the winter comes the spring, and in the spring, he often goes to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum during Holocaust Remembrance Days to participate in the reading of the names. Even if there is only one or two people there, Imm noted, there is someone to remember, and it is done simply because it is the right thing to do.
He urged human rights activists to remember that in their work of spreading hope, reaching out to offer dignity, justice, freedom, and consistent universal human rights to all. That is the vision and the mission of being collectively…
Responsible for Equality And Liberty….
Choose Love, Not Hate, Love Wins.
Orange Ribbon for Universal Human Rights – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
Husain Abdulla, leader of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), was a speaker at a Human Rights Day Event at the National Press Club in Washington DC, speaking on behalf of Bahrainis oppressed by government forces that seek to deny democracy. He spoke of the initial protests on February 14, 2011, of those who sought to join the “Arab Spring” movement for democracy, and the brutal oppression of the Bahrain government. Husain Abdulla spoke of earlier oppression by the Bahrain government in 2010 in reaction to earlier protests. He also discussed how Amnesty International reported on Bahrain’s “torture edicts,” making the case the government of Bahrain has been systematically torturing political prisoners. Husain Abdulla stated that Bahraini people are facing 6 governments that seek to deny them human rights.
Since March 2011, Husain Abdulla stated that Bahrain protesters have been subjected to torture and death. 45 were killed, over 2,000 arbitrary arrests, 1,866 cases of documented torture, 5,000 prisoners of conscience, destruction of 40 places of worship, and 3,000 fired from their jobs, 500 forced out of Bahrain, 3 on death row, 477 students expelled from universities, and 300 students had scholarships taken away — all in retaliation for the willingness to protest against the Bahrain government. He stated that over 500 doctors have been detained. He noted that Bahrain is a close ally to the United States, and he urged Americans to call for the American government to end the “blind eye” to Bahrain human rights violations.
Husain Abdulla, speaking at National Press Club on Human Rights Day Event - Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) -- speaking on behalf of Bahranis oppressed by government forces that seek to deny democracy
Niemat Ahmadi spoke at the National Press Club Human Rights Day Event on December 8, 2011, to address the abuse of Darfuris and Sudanese. Niemat Ahmadi represents the United to End Genocide group. She spoke about the Genocide in Sudan which has been ongoing for over 8 years, and that have driven 4,000,000 out of their homes.
Niemat Ahmadi spoke on the need for Americans to call for justice regarding Omar Al-Bashir. She noted that the efforts of Al-Bashir regime have changed their tactics and seek to use rape against women as a weapon of war against the Darfuri people.
Niemat Ahmadi spoke of the continuing attacks on Darfuri cities, homes, and attempts to stop safe travel of people of African nationalities who have been fleeing to displaced persons camps. She stated that people who spoke out for people in the camps have been kidnapped, raped, and killed; she indicated that many NGOs have abandoned the Darfuri people.
Niemat Ahmadi urged those in Arab nations seeking democracy in their nations to stand up to dictatorial Arab regimes who have supported the brutal Al-Bashir regime.
Carolyn Cook, founder and CEO of United for Equality, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington DC on December 8, as part of a Human Rights Day Event, calling for a renewed commitment by Americans in support of the Constitutional rights for all American women, as part of our global human rights goals. United for Equality is a social justice enterprise seeking the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) by 2015.
United for Equality has the symbol of the three women, symbolizing the three waves that it has taken for women to struggle for equality in America. Carolyn stated that we must change the way people think and what we tolerate in our culture regarding the rights and dignity of our fellow Americans and fellow human beings. Carolyn spoke out against the discrimination and the efforts to deny full equality to women in America, in every aspect of their lives. She stated that we need to take our system back and make it ours.
Carolyn Cook stated that United for Equality’s coalition successfully introduced a bill to the 112the session of the United States Congress calling for Congress to remove the time limit on the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.), as the United States previously had the ratification of the E.R.A. in 35 states, and it requires ratification in 38 states and by 2/3s of the House and Senate. She pointed out how previous U.S. government officials sought to halt the efforts to ratify the E.R.A. after 10 years when nearly all of the required states but 3 had ratified this Constitutional Amendment, and pointed out that women have no desire to “start over” the ratification of the E.R.A.
Carolyn Cook also spoke on the importance of human rights activists to work together in our common causes of universal human rights for women, men, and children, and people of all identity groups. She also spoke of learning from other activist groups, and identifying how we can grow as human rights activists, by first identifying where we are on the paradigm of activism and learning how we can reach further as individuals committed to human rights and social justice.
Carolyn Cook also spoke on the paradigm of options we have as activists and participants in defending human rights. Carolyn urged a more holistic approach towards addressing human rights as lifelong causes. She discussed lessons learned from the Occupy movement and other social activist efforts to bring change to the world. Her discussion on lessons from the Occupy movement are detailed in the YouTube video of her speech beginning at 6:36 minutes in on Part 1 and continuing and concluding in Part 2 of her remarks.
Jared Pearman, Spokesperson of Falun Dafa Association of Washington DC, oppressed in the PRC and denied their most basic human rights and dignity by those who view their practice and support for traditional Chinese values as a threat to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) - Speaking at 2011 Human Rights Day Event
Statement by Jared Pearman, Spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Washington, DC, at the National Press Club on December 8, 2011
Hello Everyone, It’s an honor to be here today to mark World Human Rights Day. I’d like to especially thank Jeffrey and everyone at Responsible for Equality And Liberty for putting today’s event together.
Some people here may be familiar with the persecution of Falun Gong in China, but perhaps for others, this is the first you’ll be hearing about this in-depth. So let me begin with a brief introduction to the issue followed by some of the key developments we’re seeing in China today.
Introduction
Falun Gong, which is often also called Falun Dafa, is a peaceful spiritual practice rooted in traditional Chinese culture. It consists of meditation, five gentle sets of exercises, and a moral philosophy centered on the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Practitioners of Falun Gong aspire to live in accordance with these principles in their daily lives. It’s a very simple, very effective method of achieving a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
Although it is rooted in ancient Chinese spiritual tradition, Falun Gong was first taught publicly in China in 1992. It spread quickly through word-of-mouth as tens of millions of Chinese citizens took up the practice. By the mid 90’s every park in every city of China had people practicing the graceful movements of the exercises. Today, Falun Gong is practiced in over 80 countries worldwide by people of all ages and backgrounds. It is always taught free of charge by volunteers, and can be practiced individually or in groups.
Unfortunately, as Falun Gong grew in popularity throughout the 1990s, China’s communist leaders began to view the practice and its moral philosophy as ideological competition. Although Falun Gong is peaceful and possesses no political aspirations, the Communist Party of China does not tolerate large independent religious or spiritual practices. Thus, on July 20th, 1999, China’s rulers began a campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. Since then, like underground Christians and Tibetan Buddhists, millions of Falun Gong adherents have been denied the right to peacefully practice their faith.
Falun Gong in 2011
Now, let’s talk a bit about what’s happening with Falun Gong today. In the last year, Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China continued to be the targets of a severe, centrally-coordinated suppression at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. Hundreds of thousands of practitioners are estimated to be detained extrajudicially in detention centers, labor camps, prisons, and in the network of ad hoc “transformation-through-reeducation” centers. In all these facilities, adherents of Falun Gong are subjected to varying degrees of psychological and physical torture and coercion as authorities seek to force renunciations of their beliefs. In the last several years, we’ve received verifiable reports of over one hundred deaths due to torture, and this year’s numbers sadly look to be on par with that, bringing our confirmed total to 3427. The real number could be many times higher.
The campaign against Falun Gong continues to be coordinated by what’s known as the 610 Office—an extrajudicial, Communist Party-based security agency named for the date of its creation on June 10, 1999. The 610 Office is overseen by the Central Leading Group for Dealing with Heretical Organizations, headed by Politburo member Zhou Yongkang. Corresponding local 610 Offices exist at the provincial, municipal, district, and neighborhood levels, as well as in some large workplaces and universities. Although they possess no legal authority, the 610 Office wields substantial influence in coordinating the anti-Falun Gong campaign, as well as the power to direct media entities, courts, and the state-based security forces.
In 2010, the central 610 Office ordered the launch of a three-year campaign to intensify the coercive “transformation” of Falun Gong practitioners nationwide. Transformation here refers to a process of ideological reprograming, the objective of which is to force the Falun Gong practitioner to renounce their belief in Falun Gong. If they fail to renounce their beliefs, they are sent to labor camps or sentenced in sham trials to lengthy prison terms.
In February, the Jiamusi Prison in Northeast China established a special unit to increase the transformation rate of incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners. Within two weeks of the unit’s establishment, three middle-aged, male Falun Gong practitioners were tortured to death in custody at the prison.
Although the majority of Falun Gong adherents unlawfully detained are held in reeducation-through-labor camps, in recent years a greater proportion of practitioners have been sentenced in sham trials to prisons. Most are tried under a vaguely worded provision that outlaws “using a heretical religion to undermine the implementation of the law.” Which laws are being undermined is never made clear. Moreover, as lawyers have pointed out, there are actually no laws in China that formally ban the practice of Falun Gong.
Lawyers who have sought to defend Falun Gong clients continue to face harassment by security agencies and the 610 Office. These lawyers have reported being denied access to clients, barred from entering courtrooms, or facing harassment, detention, imprisonment, and even torture for their advocacy on behalf of Falun Gong. Dozens of lawyers who have taken Falun Gong cases have been either disbarred or have been unable to renew their licenses to practice law.
Chinese authorities, under the direction of the Communist Party, have also continued to intensify the response to Falun Gong’s efforts to disseminate information to the general populace of China. This includes cracking down on underground “material sites” run by Falun Gong practitioners, which produce literature and information on the practice and its suppression. Ongoing crackdowns on black market satellite equipment, on the internet, and on shortwave radio broadcasts are also strongly linked in official literature to the anti-Falun Gong campaign.
Although the central 610 Office and Communist Party continue to pursue the eradication campaign as a national priority, grassroots opposition to the persecution has been steadily increasingly since approximately 2005, as has the efficacy of Falun Gong’s resistance to suppression. As I said, human rights lawyers continue to risk their careers and personal safety to defend Falun Gong adherents. In a series of wonderfully surprising events, thousands of ordinary Chinese citizens in multiple locales have openly petitioned for the release of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners—something that would have been inconceivable only a few years ago. Anecdotal reports from across China speak of local 610 Officers and public security agents who have grown resentful of the central orders to crack down on Falun Gong, and who secretly protect the Falun Gong practitioners they are charged with persecuting. Similarly, many judges and prosecutors participating in anti-Falun Gong cases now do so with disdain, and sometimes openly express admiration for Falun Gong (though they still comply with 610 Office directions).
Perhaps the best evidence of the waning support for the party’s anti-Falun Gong campaign comes from official documents themselves. Publicly available documents published online in recent years describe Falun Gong’s resistance efforts as a potential existential threat to the party—a “matter of life or death.”
This erosion of grassroots support for the anti-Falun Gong campaign is significant. As with other political “douzheng” (struggle) campaigns launched by the Communist Party, the anti-Falun Gong campaign has been carried out with the support and participation of the citizenry, co-opted through propaganda. Although many citizens do continue to participate actively in the suppression, a growing proportion now refuse to be complicit. Some of these—perhaps tens of millions of people—have gone so far as to symbolically disavow their affiliations with party organizations in a movement known as Tuidang, which literally translates as “quit the part.”
Outlook
The trend lines are now clear: Falun Gong has not been crushed, and reports from China indicate that the number of practitioners is instead growing. Ordinary citizens are increasingly standing up in defense of Falun Gong and are refusing to participate in the persecution. At the same time, however, it is vitally important to make it clear that the Communist Party has not given up its campaign against the practice, and in all likelihood, it never will; to do so would be a potentially fatal admission of fallibility, one that would lay bare the truth of a campaign that has taken thousands of lives, costs billions of dollars, ruined innumerable families, and deceived a nation.
It is important to state here, that Falun Gong does not seek political power in China or elsewhere. The pursuit of worldly influence is viewed as being inconsistent with the transcendental objectives of our practice. Falun Gong has never prescribed what kind of system of governance China should adopt, nor participated in unrelated social or policy debates. Falun Gong is, and has always has been, apolitical. Our interest is purely to secure basic human rights.
Yet in the course of our efforts, we have presented an alternate vision of what China could be—an alternative way of conceptualizing Chinese national identity. Like Falun Gong itself, this vision connects with China’s moral and spiritual traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and holds that the cultivation of virtue, honesty, and humanness are the true sources of national greatness. Put simply, Falun Gong is challenging the Communist Party’s hegemony over what it means to be Chinese, and has done so in a manner that is credible, accessible, and inspiring to the Chinese people. If this vision gains momentum over the Leninist / Legalist paradigm currently in place, it is our belief that the Chinese people will enjoy greater freedoms and security, and China will become a more transparent, cooperative, and stable partner for the world.
