Falun
Gong is freely practiced in at least 57 countries around the world, but
relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there
has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China
continues to block all information, FGMtv brings you the stories you may not
hear anywhere else.
Hello,
and welcome to FGMtv on July 2nd, 2002
I¡¯m
Susan Mitchell.
The number of
Falun Gong practitioners verified to have died as a result of
mistreatment by Jiang Zemin's regime is 429. However, a new publication out of
China that seems to have access to privileged information puts the actual
number at over 7,000.
Our top story
this week:
The
Chinese government's Falun Gong black list re-appears, this time in Hong Kong,
and nearly 100 practitioners are denied entry
And some of our other stories:
¡¤
Two Toronto practitioners are
honored by the City of Toronto for being outstanding volunteers in the
community.
¡¤
And in China, a woman writes that she
was almost buried alive by police.
¡¤
Video footage from July 1st
Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
¡¤
A criminal detained in a Changchun
forced labor camp is moved to appeal to the international community to save
Falun Gong practitioners tortured there.
¡¤
Thermal geyser in Iceland spews
black liquid during Jiang Zemin's visit.
¡¤
This directive contravened the Schengen Agreement, signed by
Iceland on March 25, 2001. That Agreement exempts Schengen Visa holders from
Visa obligations for up to 3 months in the Schengen area, which includes
Iceland. Entry was denied to six from Canada, all valid Schengen VISA holders.
¡¤
Since June 22, immigration authorities in Hong Kong have
turned away 96 practitioners, including two Americans, 67 Taiwanese, 13
Australians, four Japanese, two Swedes, one Swiss, two Singaporeans and one
Indonesian.
moving
now to Toronto, where 2 practitioners were honored for outstanding volunteer
contributions to the city.
¡¤
On June 25th, the City of
Toronto held its annual ceremony to honor outstanding volunteers in the
community.
¡¤
Ms. Tiejun Zhang and Mr. Zhaojin Zhang (no relation) were
among the 66 people receiving certificates.
¡¤
Tia and John, as they are known by their
English names, both work tirelessly to share the goodness of Falun Dafa with
people, and to help to clarify the truth of the unjust persecution.
¡¤
As a former ballerina and current teacher
for more than 20 years at the National Ballet School of Canada, Tia has often
performed traditional Chinese dances at various cultural events. Her sparkling
smile and wonderful grace and beauty are a tremendous inspiration to everyone.
¡¤
John is one of the volunteer contact
people in Toronto who has focused his energy on making sure that elected
officials at all three levels of government ¨C municipal, provincial and federal
¨C are kept up to date on the persecution. Through the efforts of John and his
wife, Carolyn, Canadian officials have extended their friendship and concern to
practitioners and are working within their mandates to help bring a just
solution to the persecution.
¡¤
FGMtv extends congratulations to Tia and
John and agrees wholeheartedly with the statement made by the Celebration
Committee president at the ceremony who said, "They deserve the
awards!"
Moving
back to Canada now, for video footage from Canada Day celebrations in the
country's capital city.
¡¤
July 1st, 2002 marked Canada's 135th
birthday. Canadians from all over the country came to Ottawa to celebrate.
¡¤
Canada is a strong supporter of Falun Dafa, and was the
first country to publicly condemn the persecution in China.
¡¤
As a thank-you to Canada and in an effort to continue to
introduce the peaceful practice of Falun Gong to Canadians and tourists in town
for the big birthday party, practitioners from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa
traveled to Parliament Hill. They presented an exhibition of the graceful Falun
Gong exercises and also performances of traditional Chinese culture and songs
composed by talented Falun Dafa musicians.
A
former criminal appeals on behalf of Falun Gong:
A
criminal detained in the Changchun Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Jilin
Province was so moved by the kindness and innocence of the Falun Dafa
practitioners that he was forced to monitor, that upon his release, he sent the
following report to the Clear Wisdom Web site. Here is a short excerpt:
¡¤
Currently, over seven hundred male Falun Gong practitioners
are detained in Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, and they are subjected to
severe torture on an ongoing basis.
¡¤
When I entered the camp I was appointed by the prison guard
to be a "clamper"--that is, one of two criminal prisoners who
"clamp" onto one Falun Gong practitioner without leaving his side,
monitoring his daily life whether he is dressing, eating, sleeping or walking. [This was one way to prevent practitioners
from talking to or interacting with one another.]
¡¤
At the end of March 2002, the Secretary of the Provincial
Standing Committee visited the camp and gave the following order, "Within
three months, Falun Gong's 'transformation rate' must reach 95% -- use any
methods and at all costs punish the remaining 5%."
¡¤
It was reported that Luo Gan, [charged by Jiang Zemin to carry out the persecution], was staying
in Changchun to monitor the situation.
¡¤
On April 5th, the supervisors, prison guards and
prisoners in every team began a concerted effort to torture the Falun Gong practitioners
using electric batons, police clubs, iron sticks, police ropes, triangular
belts, axe handles, punches and kicks. They used all sorts of methods to
torture the practitioners, staining the walls with their blood.
¡¤
This former criminal ends his report by saying, "As a
Chinese citizen with a conscience and a Changchun city resident who knows the
truth about Falun Gong, I can't bear to see so many innocent citizens tortured.
I hope all people both on the Mainland [of China] and overseas will pay close
attention to them and give them support and help, so they can be out of danger
as soon as possible."
Natural
disasters abound in China this year:
¡¤
Falun Dafa's founder, Teacher Li Hongzhi, has said, "When
people do not have virtue, natural calamities and man-made disasters will
abound."
¡¤
While parts of China have been reeling under the worst
floods in decades, the worst snowstorm in the past 30 years hit the Baluntai
mountain area of northern Jing County in Xinjiang Autonomous Region this June.
¡¤
The deepest snow was measured at 50 to 80 centimeters [about 20 to 31 inches], causing more
than 100 kilometers of highway closures, while more than 50 vehicles and nearly
100 people were stuck on the road.
¡¤
The snowstorm cost the local herdsmen heavy losses.
Many
officials who have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners are now suffering
personal calamities:
¡¤
This week, reports were received of disasters that have
overtaken the lives of two Chinese officials who have extorted exorbitant sums
of money from innocent practitioners:
¡¤
Mr. Changzeng
Li, the former director of the Dongzhangbu Police Station in Feixiang County,
Handan City of Hebei Province, was discharged from public office and
stripped of his party membership in March 2002.
¡¤
Mr. Jiqiao
Chen, the former Deputy Director General of the Boyujuan District Port Office
in Yingkou City of Liaoning Province, was fined 100,000 Yuan for drunk
driving and causing a traffic accident.
¡¤
We believe that one cannot escape the well-known universal
law of "good will be rewarded and evil will be punished."
¡¤
Recently, renowned Belgian pianist and composer, Peter
Ritzen was inspired to make an orchestral arrangement of a song composed by
practitioners.
¡¤
The result was his symphonic poem, "Falun Dafa is
Good". He performed his work in a magnificent concert setting in Taiwan,
accompanied by a choir of more than 100 voices and an orchestra of more than
100 musicians.
Thanks for
watching FGMtv, dedicated to breaking through China's information
blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.