On the 17th of July '07 I observed near a DART transition station in downtown Dallas this Falun Gong demonstration to protest the treatment of Falun Gong members in China and to stop the purported organ harvests. Quite a few people, fifty or so, all Asian. They had large and graphic signs with pictures of tortured and deformed people on them to illustrate.

Also today I found several of these pamphlets downtown; apparently somebody is blanketing public places downtown, buses, etc. with Falun Gong literature. The pamphlet says:
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"FALUN GONG (FALUN DAFA)
An Ancient Self Improvement
Meditation Practice For The
Mind, Body, and Spirit.
TRUTHFULNESS COMPASSION TOLERANCE
FREE Instruction"
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Also something about The Teachings, by Li Hongzhi, and more photos of torture scenes and the like. Says, WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT CHINA'S COMMUNIST PARTY IS TORTURING AND KILLING FALUN DAFA PRACTITIONERS? Diagrams of different exercises too, and a lot of contact information.

I don't know much about these folks and am only familiar with the name from having read of them here. Tomorrow I'll scan this thing and post it.
Tonight i'll read up on them.

It's also significant for me to note that I found the literature in the area around El Centro college, a local community college where I am a student. A lot of bus stop and a lot of students and student traffic around there.

They also marched in the Calgary Stampede parade in 2007, looking utterly blissful and enlightened. I had to snort when I saw their banner included the word "Tolerance". Tolerance for everyone except gays (men AND women or just men?) and mixed-race people -- which most of us ARE, according to geneticists.

Guus, it's not the weird beliefs that raise eyebrows. Every religion has beliefs that seem weird to people not of that religion. It's the potential harm toward its adherents, ie. the invalidation of medical science which puts followers at risk when they really do have a problem that could be helped by medicine. Not to mention the demonizing of mixed-race people, who had no more power over choosing their parents than "pure" races did. Or, for that matter, continuing to propagate hatred against gays -- as if there isn't enough.

Don't promote "Tolerance" and "Compassion" when they are only used selectively.

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The first image, of the pamphlet's front side, would not rotate properl and I have it posted here:

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These were found on 25 July '07 in the vicinity of El Centro College in downtown Dallas.

Thank-you for posting that pamphlet Zeusor - I have seen very similar, and with the same website link handed out fairly regularly in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane Australia which has a large Chinese population. The Epoch Times is also widely available there.

In Sydney there are adverts featuring an innocent image of a child with a flower and saying you can uncover the secrets to a peaceful life with a link to the Falun Goong website on the top of taxis. I have only seen the petitioners once at Chinatown asking passerby to sign to the UN against the alledged organ harvesting.

I have taken an interest in supporting Amnesty International for ten years and written many letters, signed petitions etc, but have NEVER heard of these abuses.

Falun Goong is nothing but a variation of Tai Chi and the belief in Qi-Gong which causes psychosis that can be passed off as spiritual experiences. It is the chinese equivalent of prana and hatha yoga and the basis of unproven alterntive health methods such as acupuncture and reiki.

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Ch'i kung or qi gong is claimed to be "the science and practice" of chi. Chi kung literally means energy cultivation. Physical and mental health are allegedly improved by learning how to manipulate chi through controlled breathing, movement, and acts of will. Chi kung masters claim to be able to heal at a distance by manipulating chi. It is even said that one can strengthen the immune system by mastering one's chi.

[skepdic.com]

There is absolutely no proof that prana or chi actually exist but there is plenty of evidence that these practices cause many adverse effects and are dangerous to the individuals practicing them, even on a casual basis.

[kundalini.se]

There are a few accounts of ex members I have found that dont appear to have been posted yet.

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Former key member of Falun Gong, Gao Qingyin, aged 63, repented "the bloody facts awakened me and made me know that the evil cult Falun Gong will eventually lead its followers to self-ruin."

"The cult is anti-humanity and impairs people's right to life," Gao added.

Gao, a former engineer, was a deputy secretary of the Party commission for discipline inspection of the Anhui Electric Power Design Institute before he retired. He began to practice Falun Gong in 1993 and later became deputy head of the Falun Gong promotion station of Anhui, east China.

He regretfully recalled what he did and felt after he woke up with the help and education of the Party and the government.

[english.eastday.com]

[bernie.cncfamily.com]

With regards to torture, the Falun Gong cult often has had their members restrained in uncomfortable positions for hours on the streets of NYC while giving out information about the cult. They have had people with their hands tied behind their back, their arms being held up by ropes in a semi-crucified position and squatting in a wood cage about 3 feet high. Some time ago they have a number of people in front of the Brown Brothers Building on Broadway near Liberty St. downtown. Forcing people to hold uncomfortable positions for hours on end is defined as torture:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5

While I believe torturing of anybody including the FLG is wrong, but does it look like the FLG are promoting their own concerns in order gain sympathetic support from the general public? Even the original poster's first post sounded similar to a Q-Ray bracelet commercial. I don't see the Chinese Catholics do that kind of BS.

Seriously, I am more sympathetic to the Chinese Catholics (Vatican loyalists) than the FLG. FLG are simply an insult to my Buddhist religion and my Chinese culture.

As a human-rights worker with an interest in Chinese affairs I'd firstly say that anything put out by the CCP (and that includes a lot of the oft-quoted FLG info) should be treated with the greatest suspicion. Communist governments are known for their political 'spin' and misleading propaganda. I'm not even going to enter into the question of whether FLG is a cult -opinions on this will always vary- but the point I'd make is that we do have to be extremely careful about the reliability of our sources.

As for the torture allegations, I have no reason to doubt FLG on this. There are too many parallels with the way in which Tibetans who step out-of-line are dealt with. Many escaped Tibetans have described (or even smuggled out) similar instruments - self-tightening handcuffs, electric prods, etc. In fact it would be more surprising were arrested FLG not treated the same way. OK, so this is a human rights issue rather than a cult-education one, but I think we need to set that straight.

The reports of organ-harvesting did seem preposterous - I didn't believe them at first. However, if you read the independent (and very thorough) investigations by David Kilgour (who is a Christian, BTW) then you have to concede that there are too many inconsistencies in the number of organs available versus the number of voluntary donors in China - there simply has to be something highly unethical going on.

I'd have to say that the FLG practicioners I've met don't strike me as your sterotyped, zonked-out cult member. Neither do they extort cash from people in the way that the likes of Sc******ists do. In fact, they have a policy of not accepting donations of any kind. Many are a little obsessive about their creed, but then so are some football fans.

Perhaps the main criticism I would level against them is that they don't 'give and take' -that is they are all too keen to have HR groups promote their case, but at the same time are not prepared to spend any effort on helping other causes or projects that the group engages in. This attitude of 'all take and no give' has led to antipathy in many HR groups.

Falun Gong is really stepping up their public activities recently it appears, most likely due to the upcoming Olympics. Its tragic how these groups can turn into "self-fulfilling prophecies" in so many ways. They want to get more attention due to the Olympics, so the Chinese gov't will clearly crack down on them even more to try to avoid any incidents on the world-stage, thus sparking a vicious cycle of violence. It does appear there might be some type of "showdown" that will coincide with the Olympics.

On the propaganda front, it appears that Falun Gong has been able to either recruit or seduce various western documentary makers to promote their cause. The claims they make are not credible to most westerners, but it seem that is not the target audience. It does appear the target audience for their propaganda is their own followers, to inspire a deeper and more fanatical devotion to Falun Gong and Li Hongzhi.

Just beneath the surface of this group, it truly gets extremely bizarre and disturbing. It never ceases to amaze, the crazy stuff humans can believe.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2007 06:30AM by The Anticult.