Structures based on evil principles can either persevere in their wrongdoings or change and become something totally different.
by Marco Respinti
On May 10, 2024, nearly 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners from the greater New York City area held a parade in Manhattan to celebrate the World Falun Dafa Day of May 13. “Falun Dafa” is the name of the teachings upon which Falun Gong practitioners act through a series of practical exercises. The day commemorated the 32nd anniversary of Falun Dafa’s popularization in 1992, which coincided with the 73rd birthday of Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi. Messages were sent by several friends of Falun Gong and human rights advocates, among which “Bitter Winter.”
The celebration paved the way for a second day of memory on July 20, which will mark 25 years of persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On July 20, 1999, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) launched a sweeping campaign to completely eradicate Falun Gong. The then General Secretary of the CCP, Jiang Zemin (1926–2022), declared that meditation path to be a threat to the Communist atheist ideology. After only seven years of public activities, the movement counted from 70 to 100 million practitioners. The number of Falun Gong practitioners exceeded the total number of CCP members. Top CCP officials and their families had joined, which confirmed Jiang’s worst fear, that he was losing control of the Party.
Mobilizing the entire government security apparatus to find and arrest practitioners, despite some opposition from within the Party, Jiang started the bloody repression of the movement. Falun Gong practitioners, who remained steadfast in their beliefs, were sent to detention camps. They were brutally and systematically tortured, and thousands lost their lives. A parallel propaganda campaign ignited defamation against them, inciting public hatred.
The “610 Office” was established to fight Falun Gong and other movements stigmatized as “xie jiao.” The Office has been described as a secret police force that swept the country and regarded itself as being above the law, similar to how Gestapo acted in Nazi Germany. Many Falun Gong practitioners could narrowly escape death by choosing the path to exile in foreign countries.
Jan, a Czech tourist who witnessed the parade in Manhattan, told “Bitter Winter” that he was pleased to learn that the book “Zhuan Falun,” the primary text of Falun Dafa written by Li Hongzhi, had been published in his language too as one of fifty translations now extant in the world.
“I see Czech people here,” Jan said, “and this shows how widely Falun Gong has spread. I am very touched. I understand these days are not easy for Falun Gong practitioners, but their courage in defending liberty inspires all who have a sense of justice and conscience around the world.”
Peggy, a local Chinese American, was at the parade, sharing hope that all, in all countries, can follow the three concepts that are at the heart of Falun Dafa’s teaching: truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. In fact, Peggy added, these values are both rare and needed today, especially in Mainland China. Peggy also said that, had the CCP not suppressed Falun Gong, and had the Chinese people followed truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, today the Chinese society would be very much different. “It is a pity,” she added, “that the nature of the CCP cannot and will not change.”
These are both important and severe words, while not without mercy. People who suffered persecution, as well as their relatives and friends, know that while individuals can always change their hearts, and even the cruelest criminal may convert, structures based on evil principles can only either persevere in their wrongdoings or change their foundations and become something totally different.
Marco Respinti is an Italian professional journalist, member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), author, translator, and lecturer. He has contributed and contributes to several journals and magazines both in print and online, both in Italy and abroad. Author of books and chapter in books, he has translated and/or edited works by, among others, Edmund Burke, Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot, Russell Kirk, J.R.R. Tolkien, Régine Pernoud and Gustave Thibon. A Senior fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal (a non-partisan, non-profit U.S. educational organization based in Mecosta, Michigan), he is also a founding member as well as a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for European Renewal (a non-profit, non-partisan pan-European educational organization based in The Hague, The Netherlands). A member of the Advisory Council of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief, in December 2022, the Universal Peace Federation bestowed on him, among others, the title of Ambassador of Peace. From February 2018 to December 2022, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of International Family News. He serves as Director-in-Charge of the academic publication The Journal of CESNUR and Bitter Winter: A Magazine on Religious Liberty and Human Rights.
