NDTV Reports: “While China’s notorious Re-education through labor system has finally ended its 57 years of practice, the over 14 year long persecution of the Falun Gong has not been terminated, and continues in the brainwashing centers and black jails. Minghui.org, which reports on Falun Gong and the persecution in China, reports that at least 76 Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have been persecuted to death in 2013 alone. According to data from Minghui.org, among the 76 Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death in the persecution campaign, eight of them were tortured to death by police to extract confessions in detention centers. 10 were killed during violent mental and physical torture at brainwashing centers and labor camps. Twenty nine were tortured to death by prison guards, and 29 were killed after being repeatedly kidnapped by the regime. One third of those who were persecuted to death were young adults, many of whom were public servants, doctors, professors, and industrial managerial personnel. For instance, Deng Huaiying, who had a Masters of Finance from North China Electric Power University, was illegally abducted and detained by police on April 27, 2013. Within a month, he was tortured to death and the authorities secretly cremated his body. Yang Zhonggeng, a native of Zhejiang Province, was abducted by the police on June 24, 2013. He was beaten to death in just four days and died at the age of 38. His mother, suffering from mental trauma after seeing her son’s remains, has not been able to talk since. In addition, art teacher Huang Yuangren of Guangxi Teachers Education University at Changgang, and math teacher Zhang Yan of Bengbu City Middle School both died at young age, and their parents were left with suffering from the pain of losing their dear ones. Witnesses of the tragic scenes of the persecution have also been left with much sadness and trauma. Ms. Hu, Falun Gong practitioner in Chongqing: “While I was illegally detained in Chongqing Women’s Forced Labor Camp in 2011, there was a Falun Gong practitioner there named Xu Zhen. Because she refused to give up her beliefs, the guards ordered criminal inmates to tie her to a bed and brutally beat beat her. They ripped out her toenails, they force-fed water into her mouth and nose, and violently attacked her genitals with brushes, causing profuse bleeding. When she passed out, they woke her up to continue the torture. A few days before she died, we were awakened by her screams for two consecutive nights. Too horrible, I will never forget.” Data on Minghui.org shows that roughly 150,000 Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have been persecuted between January 2000 and August 2013. Among them, there were 6,889 Falun Gong practitioners killed by persecution. In fact, the regime’s blockage of the information and the authorities’ pressure on the victims’ families has left many more cases unexposed. The reported cases by Minghui.org are just the tip of the iceberg. Wang Zhiyuan, World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong spokesman: “The communist regime’s information blockade is extremely tight. What Minghui.org has reported are the ones that can break through numerous blockades and are confirm with real names. The ones that were kept unknown, untold, or unidentified are countless.” A conservative estimate by Zhengjian.org says that since the persecution of Falun Gong in China started on July 20, 1999, about 3.4 million practitioners have lost their lives. That equates to half of the Jews killed by the Nazi’s during World War II. Wang Zhiyuan: “The estimated data of Zhengjian.org is based on information collected from these many years of persecution, provided by multiple rescue organizations. These projected data are certainly very conservative, because there are many unclear situations in China. Since the persecution campaign began in 1999, large numbers of practitioners went on petitioning. When they were detained, they wouldn’t reveal their identities so as to avoid getting family and friends in trouble. Most of them have been imprisoned and then disappeared.” Many Chinese Communist officials, police, and thugs who were actively participating in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners have suffered miserable and sudden deaths. For instance, many 610 Office (the office responsible for persecuting Falun Gong) officials throughout China have died of cancer. The 610 Office is thus also nicknamed, the death occupation.” See also NDTV video.
End the Torture and Human Rights Abuse of Falun Gong!
Gu Kailai (L), wife of the ousted Bo Xilai (R). The Epoch Times recently learned that Gu killed British businessman Neil Heywood because he had revealed information about organ harvesting in which he, Gu, and Bo were all involved. (New Epoch Weekly Photo Archive)
Gu Kailai is the wife of a former leader in the CCP, Bo Xilai. On March 15, 2012, Bo Xilai was dismissed from his Politburo post in the CCP. The major news media has reported on Gu Kailai’s conviction of the murder British businessman Neil Heywood. However, Chinese human rights activists also have obtained additional information for context on the motive behind this crime.
The recent Epoch Times report states a motive for Gu Kailai’s murder of Neil Heywood was his knowledge and “revealing information about organ harvesting,” stating “[r]evealing [h]er and Bo Xilai’s organ harvesting crimes led to Heywood’s murder.”
“The murdered British businessman Neil Heywood knew too much– and apparently talked about what he knew. That, according to a source familiar with the matter, was the motive for his being killed. Heywood’s involvement with former Chinese Communist Party heavyweight Bo Xilai and Bo’s wife Gu Kailai was far more extensive than has previously been reported. It apparently included profiting with them from the atrocity of forced live organ harvesting and from allegedly trading in dead bodies. It also involved his assisting them in plans for a coup. Heywood was found poisoned to death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel in the central-western megalopolis of Chongqing on Nov. 14, 2011. On April 10, Gu Kailai and her employee Zhang Xiaojun were reportedly in custody as suspects in the murder. Gu was originally described by state-run media as having murdered Heywood due to disagreements about financial matters. On July 25, in its first comment on the matter since April, the regime mouthpiece Xinhua elaborated on this motive: as a result of the disagreements over business matters, it was said Gu feared Heywood would harm her son, Bo Guagua, and so decided to murder the British businessman.”
“Allegedly Heywood was involved with Bo and Gu in the business of organ harvesting in Liaoning, according to The Epoch Times’ source, and this is what sealed his death warrant. Heywood had begun leaking information about their involvement in this atrocity. Heywood was also allegedly involved in the trade of dead human bodies. Beginning in 2000, two factories opened in Dalian that preserved human bodies for exhibition purposes. In 2003, ‘The Oriental Outlook Magazine,’ an affiliate of state mouthpiece Xinhua, reported that in 2003 China had already become the country exporting the largest number of human corpses, and that one of the companies in Dalian City was the largest human body mummification factory in the world. Earlier this year, The Epoch Times obtained reliable information from Dalian City that the vast majority of bodies made available to the mummification factories were murdered Falun Gong practitioners.”
Epoch Times reports that the CCP’s Bo Xilai and former CCP secretary of the PLAC Luo Gan were involved in the global organ and human body trafficking. The report states that Bo Xilai’s wife “Gu Kailai was a mastermind in financial management, international and domestic online advertisement, and the opening up of export channels for organ and human body trafficking. According to The Epoch Times’ source, Heywood assisted Gu.”
In April 2012, Beijing police reportedly detained a reporter Wang Xijing (a reporter at 21st Century Business Herald), and two other reporters who had been sharing a text message “that is related to the Bo Xilai and Neil Heywood investigation cases.” China Uncensored has a related report on Bo Xilai and organ harvesting. In February 2012, Epoch Times provided another report on organ harvesting atrocities, Bo Xilai, and former director of the public security bureau Wang Lijun. According to the February 2012 report, Wang Liju was aware of “several thousand intensive on-site transplants.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) Calls for the CCP and All Chinese Doctors to Reject the CCP Demands for Organ Harvesting on Chinese Prisoners, End Such Killings for Organs and Atrocities, and to End the Crimes Against Humanity Perpetuated against Falun Gong Practitioners (Photo: NDTV file photo)
The atrocities have previously been reported in a series of reports by human rights investigators and the United Nations:
July 13, 2012 - Washington, D.C. - Thousands of Falun Gong Members Rally for Freedom and Human Rights - Seeking Freedom from the Chinese Communist Party
August 7, 2012 - Taipei, Taiwan: Seeking release of prisoner Chung Ding-Pan - a young boy and his sister stand with placards as they join Falun Gong members and sympathizers gather in Taipei (Photo: Reuters)
We call upon the people of the world to educate themselves, speak out, and demand action from their governmental leaders and world power leaders to use their full power, and economic and global influence, to demand that the CCP halt these crimes against humanity against the Falun Gong and the Chinese people.
Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) Supports the Universal Human Rights for Chinese People and All of Our Other Brothers and Sisters in Humanity
On July 13, 2012 in Washington D.C., practitioners of Falun Gong / Falun Dafa, China Democracy Party, human rights activists, and other supporters of freedom in China held a parade in the streets and led a rally at the Washington Monument. At the rally, individuals who had renounced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spoke out about the abuses of the CCP and called for freedom for Falun Gong / Falun Dafa practitioners and for all people in China. The historic Tuidang (“Quit the Party”) freedom movement of the Chinese people has now led to 120 million people leaving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)!
The July 13, 2012 rally was to praise the courage of those who have sought to support human rights, human dignity, and respect for the Falun Gong practitioners and all other people in China, and to call for an end to the human rights abuses against them by the CCP. The courageous Tuidang movement has continued to encourage people in China, every year to abandon the CCP and to reject the CCP’s tyranny.
Speakers told of their oppression for being practitioners of Falun Gong, and their subsequent harassment, imprisonment, and torture in prison camps by the CCP. The oppression of the Falun Gong continues daily, with families being divided, women beaten and tortured, and Falun Gong practitioners killed. Speakers also told of the inhuman practice of organ harvesting of Falun Gong prisoners in CCP prisons. The Falun Gong have been violently oppressed by the CCP since 1999 – for 13 years. The CCP persecution on the Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999.
July 13, 2012 - Rally to Quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) - Those Quitting CCP Speak OutJuly 13, 2012 - Washington Monument - in Washington DC where thousands gathered to protest July 13, 2012 - Thousands of Falun Gong Members Rally for Freedom and Human Rights - Seeking Freedom from the Chinese Communist Party
Speakers told of their personal suffering and abuse in CCP-managed prison camps in China, with efforts by the CCP to seek to force them to renounce their support of the Falun Gong practice.
Speakers included: Chairman of the Overseas Democracy Coalition, Wei Jingsheng, the China Democratic Party Chairman Wang Jun, president of Democracy University Tang Baiqia, Dr. Dayong Li – Director of the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party, Chung Ai Ting-pang (daughter of a Taiwainese Falun Gong practitioner arrested by the CCP), CCP prison camp survivor Chunmei Ma, and Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)’s Jeffrey Imm.
Dr. Dayong Li, the Director of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP Service Center, stated: “Falun Gong has not only a symbol of the persecution of Chinese people, became a symbol of a symbol of hope for the future, justice, dignity, the great strength of the symbol.” In our discussions with Dr. Dayong Li, he believes that China is on the verge of a historic sweeping change by people who will not tolerate the CCP’s continuing human rights abuses, attacks on human dignity, and denial of human freedom.
Chunmei Ma told her story of how, as a practitioner of the Falun Gong, she had been persecuted by the CCP. She stated she “had been arrested four times, sentenced to forced labor camps twice, and had been through so many mental and physical tortures. I was almost killed.” Chunmei Ma had gone to appeal to the Chinese government for constitutional rights for herself and the Falun Gong – and she was arrested in Tiananmen Square. In November 1999, she was taken to a forced labor camp. There she was beaten and tortured with electronic batons and other forms of cruelty. She described how the CCP used electronic batons as a form of “force tranformation” to get people to leave the Falun Gong, along with beatings, tied down to a “death bed,” forced drug administrations, and other cruel practices. She reported how some prisoners vanished after torture, and how she suspected that some were murdered. The CCP guards beat her mother who came to visit her in prison, and the CCP’s coercion and threats sought to divide her and her husband. After being released from the forced labor camp, Chunmei Ma was continually oppressed by local CCP agents. In October 2006, helped by the United Nations, she fled the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and became a refugee in the United States. Chunmei Ma has also spoken of the abuse of the Falun Gong at other events.
"Death Bed" or "Dead Person's Bed" used by CCP Labor Camps to Torture Prisoners Such as Refugee Chunmei Ma - Prisoners are stretched out, tied down, not allowed to move to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom
Our good friend, Lisa Tao, and others received statements by Montgomery County, Maryland government in recognition of their speaking on behalf of liberty and freedom for the Falun Gong and the people of China
July 13, 2012 - R.E.A.L.'s Jeffrey Imm Praises the Courage of Those Who Choose Freedom from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the Falun Gong and the Chinese People
R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm also spoke at the rally, praising the courage of those who have left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Tuidang movement, while reminding the world we must continue to end the human rights abuses against the Falun Gong and the Chinese people. He stated: “To the oppressed Falun Gong practitioners and to all of the oppressed people in China, my message to you is that you do not stand alone. Many people, ranging from human rights activists, U.S. Congressmen, international leaders, and people around the world stand with you today. We recognize and condemn the cruel practices against human rights and against human dignity that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has inflicted against the Falun Gong and the Chinese people. We have seen the endless human rights abuses of the CCP over the years. We have seen the rejection of freedom and human dignity by the CCP to the Falun Gong and the Chinese People. We know about the Laogai prison camps. We have seen the imprisonment of Falun Gong for refusing to renounce their spiritual practice. We have seen the arbitrary arrests, the persecution, the killing and torture of Chinese people by the CCP, with thousands of Falun Gong tortured to death. We have seen the many reports of criminal organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners who have been imprisoned by the CCP. We have seen Falun Gong practitioners abducted while trying to leave China. Most recently, we have seen the CCP’s “transformation” campaign to coerce Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their practice.”
He stated: “We cannot and we MUST not accept the dictatorship of Communism in China to oppress our brothers and sisters in China. When 20 percent of the world’s population is under Communist dictatorship, this is not just the Chinese people’s problem; this is the world’s problem. We must send a message of compassion that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom and human rights to the Chinese people. We must send a message to the world that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom of conscience, human dignity, and human rights for the practitioners of the Falun Gong! We must tell the world: Free China Now!” Free the Practitioners of the Falun Gong! (his complete remarks are at this PDF link, link to comments translated in Chinese, and at the end of this blog posting. Jeffrey Imm has alsospoken at previous Tuidang rallies. and Jeffrey Imm has led previousprotests at the Chinese embassy in support for freedom and human rights.)
The Falun Gong also held a rally at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, July 12, 2012, which included speakers representing Congress and other groups, including: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman Ted Poe, Congressman Sam Farr, Congressman Chris Smith, Ryan Sellinger – Legislative Correspondent for U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Rev. Clark Lobenstine – the Executive Director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, Kristopher Keating, Dan Fefferman – Coalition for Religious Freedom, Dr. Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn – Director of the International Religious Freedom and the Southeast Asia programs at Freedom House, Suzanne Scholte – the President of the Defense Forum Foundation, Delphine Halgand – Reporters Without Boarders, Annette Lantos – Chairman on the Board of Trustees for the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and Faith McDonnell – Institute on Religion.
Speaking for Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), Jeffrey Imm had the following statement: July 13, 2012 Falun Gong Event Remarks – Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
My name is Jeffrey Imm, and I am the founder of the human rights group, Responsible for Equality And Liberty. Our mission is to support the struggle for human rights and freedom for all people around the world. Thank you for inviting me to join this Falun Gong event to support freedom, human rights, and human dignity in China.
To the oppressed Falun Gong practitioners and to all of the oppressed people in China, my message to you is that you do not stand alone. Many people, ranging from human rights activists, U.S. Congressmen, international leaders, and people around the world stand with you today. We recognize and condemn the cruel practices against human rights and against human dignity that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has inflicted against the Falun Gong and the Chinese people.
We have seen the endless human rights abuses of the CCP over the years. We have seen the rejection of freedom and human dignity by the CCP to the Falun Gong and the Chinese People. We know about the Laogai prison camps. We have seen the imprisonment of Falun Gong for refusing to renounce their spiritual practice. We have seen the arbitrary arrests, the persecution, the killing and torture of Chinese people by the CCP, with thousands of Falun Gong tortured to death. We have seen the many reports of criminal organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners who have been imprisoned by the CCP. We have seen Falun Gong practitioners abducted while trying to leave China. Most recently, we have seen the CCP’s “transformation” campaign to coerce Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their practice.
But in the midst of all this oppression, the Falun Gong practitioners have held fast to their beliefs, their support in human freedom, and their support for human dignity, and their support for Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Their example has given courage to others who would reject the tyranny of the CCP, and who would seek freedom.
While we remember and condemn the tyranny of the CCP, we also must recognize the courage of those to publicly reject and renounce Communism and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We must thank the courageous men and women who work daily in the Tuidang movement to seek spread the word about the hope of freedom to others in China, and who give courage to people to Quit the Chinese Communist Party! They have had such great success and we thank them for their leadership. As of today, nearly 120 million Chinese people have left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)! This is a great achievement and a great day for the Chinese people and for the world!
For the past 23 years, one of my great concerns is freedom and human rights for the people of China. In 1989, when the CCP ordered the massacre of innocent Chinese people in Tiananmen Square, I want you to know how the people in Washington D.C. responded. People stopped everything. In the office buildings all around this city, people walked out of their office and started marching up Connecticut Avenue to protest at the old Chinese embassy. The protesters were diverse people: young and old, men and women, and people of every race and religion. They loved freedom and they wanted the Chinese people to be free.
In the continuing struggle against the tyranny of the CCP, I want you to know that the American people still deeply care about the freedom and human rights of the Falun Gong and all of the Chinese people. America has fought Communism around the world. My brother went to war to fight the Communist Party. I work with people across our nation to help educate people on how the Chinese people are rejecting Communism again today. Every day a Chinese citizen rejects the CCP is a great day for the Chinese people and the world.
Americans care for the Chinese people and all people oppressed by Communism. Americans care because we know how important it is to be free. It is great to have freedom. We want freedom for all of our brothers and sisters in humanity, especially the Chinese people. We are so proud of the 120 million Chinese people who have rejected the CCP and found the courage to seek their freedom and human rights!
A week ago, Americans across the country celebrated the national Independence Day, and celebrated our freedom. But what we really want now is to celebrate the Chinese people’s freedom, and celebrate the Chinese nation’s independence from the CCP! We want freedom and independence for the Falun Gong! In China, we want every day to be a new Independence Day for the Chinese people, as one person after another demonstrates their courage to reject the tyranny of the CCP.
Like you, I also speak to the Chinese people visiting here in the United States about the CCP. At American universities, I have met with other Chinese students who are studying in America. Some Chinese students have told me that they support Communism and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They have told me that I am wrong to criticize the CCP. I ask them questions to help them free their minds.
So I ask them if they support human rights, women’s equality, justice, human dignity, and courage. They tell me that they do. Then I tell them about CCP’s abuses in human rights. I tell them about how the CCP has demanded forced abortions and mistreatment of women. I tell them about the CCP’s Laogai prison camps. I tell them about the selling of body parts of prisoners. I tell them about the courage I have seen of Chinese students standing up against soldiers and tanks, when the CCP leaders told the soldiers to attack the Chinese people in Tiananmen Square. I tell them if they are true to their beliefs, then they cannot support the CCP. This makes them stop and think about the propaganda the CCP has told them.
We cannot and we MUST not accept the dictatorship of Communism in China to oppress our brothers and sisters in China. When 20 percent of the world’s population is under Communist dictatorship, this is not just the Chinese people’s problem; this is the world’s problem. We must send a message of compassion that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom and human rights to the Chinese people. We must send a message to the world that we will not accept the CCP denying freedom of conscience, human dignity, and human rights for the practitioners of the Falun Gong!
We must tell the world:
— FREE CHINA NOW!
— FREE THE PRACTITIONERS OF THE FALUN GONG!
Thank you for your time.
Every day is a good day to be Responsible for Equality and Liberty for all of our fellow human beings.
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Other images from the parade and event
Speaker Talks of Oppression of Falun Gong by the CCPThe Hope of the Future - as People Continue to Reject the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands with the Chinese people in remembrance of the martyrs who died on June 4, 1989, in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. On June 4, 1989, I stood outside the PRC embassy in Washington DC in my first protest against totalitarianism. It was not and will not be my last.
On this the twenty-third anniversary of the violent suppression by Chinese authorities of the spring 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, the United States joins the international community in remembering the tragic loss of innocent lives.
We encourage the Chinese government to release all those still serving sentences for their participation in the demonstrations; to provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing; and to end the continued harassment of demonstration participants and their families.
We renew our call for China to protect the universal human rights of all its citizens; release those who have been wrongfully detained, prosecuted, incarcerated, forcibly disappeared, or placed under house arrest; and end the ongoing harassment of human rights activists and their families.
The Power of One
To Chinese people and the Tiananmen martyrs, we will never forget you. We will never forget your sacrifice.
An estimated 50,000 people, many of them students, gather in Hong Kong's Victoria Park for the annual candlelit vigil to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. (Photo: AP)
An Ji
Bai Jing Chuan
Bao Xiu Dong
Ben Yun Hai
Bian Zong Xu
Cao Zhen Ping
Chen Lai Shun
Chen Sen Lin
Chen Zhong Jie
Chen Zi Qi
Cheng Ren Xing
Cui Lin Feng
Dai Jin Ping
Dai Wei
Dong Lin
Dong Xiao Jun
Du Guang Xue
Du Yan Ying
Duan Chang Long
Gao Yuan
Gong Ji Fang
Guo Chun Min
Guo An Min
Han Jun You
Han Qiu
Han Zi Quan
Hao Zhi Jing
He Guo
He Jie
He Shi Tai
He An Bin
Hu Xing Yun
Huang Pei Pu
Huang Tao
Huang Xin Hua
Jiang Jia Xing
Jiang Jie Lian
Kou Xia
Kuang Min
Lai Bi
Lei Guang Tai
Li Chang Shen
Li Chun
Li De Zhi
Li Hao Cheng
Li Hui
Li Li
Li Meng
Li Ping
Li Shu Zhen
Li Tie Gang
Li Zhen Ying
Li Hui Quan
Liang Bao Xing
Lin Ren Fu
Lin Tao
Liu Chun Yong
Liu Feng Gen
Liu Hong
Liu Hong Tɑo
Liu Jian Guo
Liu Jin Hua
Liu Jing Sheng
Liu Jun He
Liu Qiang
Liu Yan Sheng
Liu Zhan Min
Lu Chun Lin
Lu Xiao Jun
Lu Jian Guo
Lu Peng
Luan Yi Wei
Luo Wei
Ma Chene Fen
Ma Jian Wu
Mu Gui Lan
Nan Hua Tong
Ni Shi Lian
Peng Jun
Pu Chang Kui
Qi Li
Qi Wen
Qian Hui
Qian Jin
Ren Jian Min
Ren Wen Lian
Shi Hai Wen
Shi Yan
Song Bao Sheng
Song Xiao Ming
Su Jin Jian
Su Sheng Ji
Su Xin
Sun Hui
Sun Tie
Sun Xiao Feng
Sun Yan Chang
Tao Mao Xian
Tao Zhi Gan
Tian Dao Min
Wang Chao
Wang Dong Xi
Wang Fang
Wang Gang
Wang Hong Qi
Wang Jian Ping
Wang Jun Jing
Wang Nan
Wang Pei Wen
Wang Qing Zeng
Wang Tie Jun
Wang Wei Ping
Wang Wen Ming
Wang Yao He
Wang Yi Fei
Wang Ying
Wang Zheng Sheng
Wang Zhi Ying
Wei Wu Min
Wen Jie
Wu Guo Feng
Wu Xiang Dong
Xi Gui Ru
Xia Zhi Lei
Xiao Bo
Xiao Jie
Xie Jing Suo
Xiong Zhi Ming
Xu Jian Ping
Yan Wen
Yang Han Lei
Yang Ming Hu
Yang Ru Ting
Yang Yan Sheng
Yang Zhen Jiang
Yang Zi Ping
Ye Wei Hang
Yin Shun Qing
Yin Jing
Yu Di
Yuan Li
Yuan Min Yu
Zha Ai Guo
Zhai Shun
Zhang Fu Yuan
Zhang Jia Mei
Zhang Jian
Zhang Jin
Zhang Lin
Zhang Luo Hong
Zhang Ru Ning
Zhang Wei Hua
Zhang Xiang Hong
Zhao De Jiang
Zhao Long
Zhao Tian Chou
Zheng Chun Fu
Zhonq Jun Jun
Zhong Qinq
Zhong Gui Qing
Zhou De Bao
Zhou De Ping
Zhou Xin Ming
Zhou Yong Qi
Zhou Yu Zhen
Zhuang Jie Sheng
Zou Bing
Zou Zuo Wu
May 30, 2009 Candlelight Vigil for Tiananmen Square Martyrs - DC's Washington Monument April 11, 2010 - Washington DC - China Freedom Activists Banners Recognizing Chinese People Leaving Chinese Communist Party
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).
The Power of the International Language of Freedom
Washington DC: Replica of Tiananmen Square "Goddess of Democracy"
On this the twenty-third anniversary of the violent suppression by Chinese authorities of the spring 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, the United States joins the international community in remembering the tragic loss of innocent lives.
We encourage the Chinese government to release all those still serving sentences for their participation in the demonstrations; to provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing; and to end the continued harassment of demonstration participants and their families.
We renew our call for China to protect the universal human rights of all its citizens; release those who have been wrongfully detained, prosecuted, incarcerated, forcibly disappeared, or placed under house arrest; and end the ongoing harassment of human rights activists and their families.
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.)
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.
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.
