Was Falun Gong “getting political” or was it defending itself from persecution? a two sided story.

-On April 25, 1999 about ten thousand Falun Gong people from all over China showed up at the government compound in Beijing (Zhongnanhai).  

-Falun Gong people say it was not organized, just that a lot of people were getting worried about the stance the government was taking toward Falun Gong…The Falun Gong people are very well connected through internet.

-There had been a particularly critical news article that said it was bad to practice Falun Gong and some practitioners went to the newspaper office to tell their opinion on Falun Gong (since obviously they think the newspaper was wrong). Practitioners were detained and eventually 45 people were detained and or beaten due to this appeal.  This is what led to the big appeal at Zhongnanhai.  Also, it is reported that the CCP was persecuting Falun Gong behind the scenes for a couple of years already at that point.  According to Falun Gong websites, they just wanted to ask the government to help clear things up and… appeal.  They were herded around the compound by security and it was not their intention to “besiege” the government building…

-This incident and subsequent Falun Gong actions have been utilized by the CCP to demonize Falun Gong.  Demonizing Falun Gong is the CCP mandate as per the orders of Jiang Zemin.  The CCP tells that Falun Gong is out to “destabilize China” and is working with “anti China forces” to overthrow the government and things like that.  People might believe this more now that the CCP’s lies about the Dalai Lama have become more public.  

-The CCP plays on Chinese peoples wish for a nice country and when it wants to persecute some group, it tells the Chinese people lies about the group and wins support.  This website, WOIPFG has thorough accounts of how the propaganda machine works. 

 

Beijing, 1999, Falun Gong appeal.

In Clear Wisdom articles you can see the Falun Gong peoples accounts of what this is all about and what they want to say.   Pages like Falun Info are good for tracking the persecution.

 I welcome peoples opinions since dialogue is really key in getting to the heart of the matter.