UN Rebuts China for its "Cult" Stigmatization

UN Rebuts China for its "Cult" Stigmatization

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http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1828&Itemid=

On Thursday, October 21, 2010, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt drew the world's attention, once again, to China's persecution of Falun Gong. He specifically denounced China's stigmatization of Falun Gong and some other "small communities" as "cults," during his presentation at the 65th U.N. General Assembly, held in New York.  Special Rapporteur Bielefeldt said, "Small communities, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Baha'is, Ahmadis, Falun Gong and others are sometimes stigmatized as 'cults' and frequently meet with societal prejudices which may escalate into fully fledged conspiracy theories."  This is Prof. Bielefeldt's first report to the U.N. General Assembly since he took the position as Special Rapporteur in August 2010. Ms. Asma Jahangir previously held the position. In his 15-minute presentation to the 192 member states, he criticized the government of China for its systematic persecution of and attitude of "intolerance" towards belief groups, including Falun Gong. His speech was reported to have "irritated" the delegation of China. The delegate responded with their usual demanding tone and repeated the communist party's position that the "correct response" is to eradicate Falun Gong.  The international media described China as being "irritated" yet again. This reaction accords with former reports of this kind. For example, after the U.N. Committee against Torture (CAT) published their China torture report on November 21, 2008, news media including the New York Times, BBC, VOA, and RFI unanimously described the government of China as being "irritated." Through this, the raspy and aggressive nature of the Communist party has been well exposed to the international community.

Brainwashing and Religious Torture Accelerate in China

Brainwashing and Religious Torture Accelerate in China

Gao Rongrong, in hospital after being tortured by Chinese security forces.

The Falun Gong remains the major target of Communist authorities and practitioners in China according to a series of internal Communist Party documents, some of them posted online.

Included are details of a new three-year, multi-billion dollar campaign targeting Falun Gong practitioners across China.

The campaign’s stated goal is to “transform” 75 percent of all known practitioners, who number in the tens of millions despite eleven years of brutal suppression. Specifically, the campaign calls upon security forces to go into “villages and households” to “educate and conquer” Falun Gong practitioners.

Transformation—a euphemism for forcing practitioners to renounce Falun Gong and pledge allegiance to the Communist Party—has been at the core of the anti-Falun Gong campaign since its inception. As part of the
transformation process, individuals are typically subjected to physical and psychological torture. (report)

"What these documents call for is a campaign of surveillance, extralegal abductions, physical torture, and psychological abuse on a massive scale," says Falun Gong spokesman Erping Zhang. "The scenes playing out across China could be taken right out of Orwell’s 1984."

"When Chinese authorities talk of ‘transforming’ Falun Gong practitioners, what they mean is torturing out of people the aspiration to be honest, kind, and tolerant. They torment healthy, rational people to the point where the victim either betrays his or her most deeply held beliefs and completely submits to the will of the Communist Party, dies from abuse, or is driven to the edge of sanity. They push practitioners to the point where life is a living hell."

The Falun Dafa Information Center has obtained eight documents from various localities describing a campaign to intensify efforts to transform Falun Gong practitioners from 2010 to 2012. Seven of the documents are available online, while the eighth was obtained from an internal source whose identity and location cannot be revealed for fear of retribution.

Based on details in the documents, the campaign is a multi-billion dollar initiative. On one webpage from Xinglong township in Sichuan province, the instructions call for an increase in funding for transformation
efforts. The document states that “to transform one Falun Gong person costs on average 45,000 yuan [$6,750] nationwide, 40,900 yuan in Sichuan provice, in my township, 39,000 yuan.” Given that Falun Gong practitioners in China number from 20 to 40 million (demographics), the total cost reaches tens of billions of dollars.

Although all eight documents are from the level of county or below, there is little doubt that the instructions originated at the top echelons of the Communist Party. One document explicitly states that the campaign was initiated by the central 6-10 Office, an extralegal security force that has led the persecution of Falun Gong since 1999.

A timeline of Falun Gong abuse and persection as well as this latest report can be found online at The Falun Dafa Information Center here.