US congress is standing up for Falun Gong

WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives on Tuesday urged China to end its “persecution” of the Falungong and rejected Beijing’s charge that the banned spiritual movement is an “evil cult.”

In a nearly unanimous vote, the House called on China to free thousands of practitioners who are said to be imprisoned and to abolish an office tasked with fighting the Falungong.

The House expressed “sympathy to Falungong practitioners and their family members who have suffered persecution, intimidation, imprisonment, torture and even death for the past decade solely because of adherence to their personal beliefs.”

The resolution asked China to “immediately cease and desist from its campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison and torture Falungong practitioners.”

Lawyer nominated for Nobel

The Lawyers Weekly: David Matas might be the only lawyer in Canada trying to follow in the footsteps of Barack Obama.

While the Winnipeg-based human rights crusader and immigration and refugee lawyer has run for political office in the past, it’s his nomination for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize that has drawn a link with the most powerful man in the world.

Matas and his research partner, David Kilgour, a federal Alberta MP between 1976 and 2006, have been nominated for their investigation into allegations that Falun Gong followers in China are being murdered for their hearts, kidneys, corneas, livers and other organs.

Pre-Modern Religious Policy In Post-Secular China

Thanks to Richard Madsen for this detailed analysis of the surface politics of religion in China

“Religious belief and practice have not faded away, and in many parts of the world they are playing a more obvious role in public life than in the past century. Religion, moreover, is dynamically evolving, taking on new forms as well as reviving old forms, and becoming intertwined with the modern bureaucratic state and the market economy in new ways. This leads to a crisis in modern social theory but also to crises in modern political practice.

The public security forces have been willing enough to expand their scope to encompass imagined new religious threats to national security. The most spectacular expansion occurred in 1999, when the Falungong spiritual movement caught the government unawares by staging a large peaceful demonstration outside of the CCP leadership compound in Beijing. This in turn provoked the government to label the Falungong a “heterodox religion” (xiejiao, which the government officially translates as “evil cult”) and to launch a massive crackdown. The crackdown stimulated a new expansion of the national security apparatus, the “610” Office (named after the day it was established, June 10, 1999). This secret police organization bypasses the state criminal justice system and reports directly to the Party leadership. It coordinates intelligence gathering, arrests, prosecution, and incarceration, often without even the pretense of judicial review. It has units that extend all the way down to the grass roots of society. Although originally developed to destroy an “evil cult,” it has extended its reach to cover political dissidents and other threats to Party domination. The expanded organization has recently been given a new name—the “Harmonious Society Security Office.”[13]”

What kind of sadistic faith is it that traps the people in a voiceless society and still hangs this portrait in the “Gate of Heavenly Peace”.  I usually don’t criticize people’s religions, but when they don’t even know they are faithfully worshiping, putting their trust into a “deity” that has killed so much, has lied so much and continues to do both on the sly, it’s pretty sad.

Shen Yun Tells Stories of Falun Gong in China

Chinese Student: ‘The show is helpful toward humanity’
The Epoch Times

“After watching the scene with the Chinese Communist Party persecuting Falun Gong, I was touched to tears [by the spirit of the Falun Gong practitioners.]”

Miss Jiang said that she would like to see the show again when she gets a chance.

“The show is helpful toward humanity. Shen Yun has allowed me to recognize authentic beauty and learn truth that I cannot find in today’s China.”

UN expert concerned about missing Chinese lawyer

“We don’t know where he is,” said Manfred Nowak, an independent U.N. expert investigating alleged cases of torture.

Manfred Nowak

“I’m very concerned,” he told reporters. “I have repeatedly asked the Chinese government to provide me with information, but I have not received any clear answer.”

Nowak said he met Gao on a visit to China in November 2005 during which they were harassed by state security officials. “He was under heavy, heavy pressure.”

Gao, who took up sensitive cases defending prominent people in Tibet, Xinyiang, Uighurs, members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group and followers of Christian groups, had been arrested several times before, Nowak said.

“He was, according to my information, severely tortured,” Nowak said.

Taipei Times: Falun Gong stages anti-CCP march

About 2,000 Falun Gong ­practitioners staged a march in Taipei City yesterday in support of the nearly 70 million people they claim have dropped out of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 2005.

Holding banners that read “support China’s human rights = support Taiwan’s freedom” and “only with the disintegration of the CCP can the persecution be stopped,” demonstrators gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard to denounce criminal acts allegedly carried out by the Chinese authoritarian regime against Falun Gong practitioners, including harvesting organs from living people.

NYT: U.S. Hopes Exports Will Help Open Closed Societies

WASHINGTON —

Seeking to exploit the Internet’s potential for prying open closed societies, the Obama administration will permit technology companies to export online services like instant messaging, chat and photo sharing to Iran, Cuba and Sudan, a senior administration official said Sunday.

Supporting freedom of communication and access to information in propaganda controlled countries is a very bold move, and would be extremely effective in empowering people with the very basic ability to judge situations, and deal with them from there.

How Nokia helped “Iran “persecute and arrest” dissidents”

ARS: Nokia Siemens issued a public statement on its involvement with Iran.

“Nokia Siemens Networks has provided Lawful Intercept capability solely for the monitoring of local voice calls in Iran,” it said. “Nokia Siemens Networks has not provided any deep packet inspection, web censorship or Internet filtering capability to Iran.”  

So it was only “local voice calls”? Not quite. Nokia Siemens admitted in a “further statement” that its gear could “intercept phone calls and text messages,” so it’s clear that there are data recording and analysis features built into the gear in addition to simple voice recording

The debate over Nokia Siemens’ involvement in Iran mirrors quite closely the debate over China, where Cisco sold the country much of the gear it uses to conduct surveillance. And despite Cisco’s claims about just offering basic functionality to the Chinese, it eventually emerged that the company’s reps were pitching China on using the gear to combat the “evil” Falun Gong and other “undesirables.”

BBC: “Google Says China’s Web Censorship is a “trade issue”

I would have to agree. It”s a political trade issue.  This is what we pay our governments to do in terms of economy. Why else would we pay our politicians to suck up to other countries?

It seems to be much much easier to suck up and compromise for money than to set limits, sot of like parenting I guess.  So when human rights issues are interrupting business and turning into a political game of “everyone must agree to persecute dissidents”, then how come suddenly politics and trade are left for the company alone to sort out?  It doesn”t make sense.

I”m glad that Google was able to take on a lot of responsibility for the situation, but at the very least the people who are supposedly in power should meet them half way, I mean do we still stand for anything as countries, or is it all about the bottom line?  Google was reprimanded in the past for abiding by the communist party”s oppressive “laws”, but that seems very hypocritical for them to not help out for such an important issue.

“When Google launched google.cn in 2006, it agreed to censor some search results – such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Tibetan independence or religious group Falun Gong – as required by the Chinese government.

China has said it welcomes international internet companies, provided they “respect the Chinese public’s interests, the nation’s traditional culture and its laws and regulations”.

Google currently holds about one-third of the Chinese search market, far behind Chinese rival Baidu, which has more than 60%.

China has more internet users – about 350 million – than any other country and last year had a lucrative search engine market worth an estimated $1bn (£614m).”

CCP’s Organ Harvesting Crimes Against Falun Gong (etc.) Exposed around the World

It’s absolutely horrible, but I definitely think it is true. I wish it wasn’t, but, all I can do is hope more people protest.

Clear Wisdom: People often worry about illness striking their bodily organs. Everyone wants to have healthy organs. But under the persecution from the CCP, those people who have healthy bodies are suffering organ harvesting in order to save the lives of those who have problems with their organs. It is completely beyond reason and convention, and only the CCP could do such a thing.