Östgöta Korrenspondenten (Swedish Newspaper): Message to the Chinese Ambassador: “Falun Gong is not a threat!

2003-01-07

LINKÖPING
For seven years, Falun Gong was a growing spiritual movement in China. The authorities supported the practise – but maybe it became too popular. In 1999 it was completely banned. Its practitioners are now being persecuted.

“This is what we would like to discuss. Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted, tortured and murdered in China, but information about this is being blocked”, says Ilias Kotsamboikidis, Falun Gong practitioner in Linköping.

Today, the Chinese Ambassador and a Chinese delegation come to visit Linköping. The County Governor, Björn Eriksson, will welcome them.

Ileas, his brother Michel and a friend, Said Rouhi, see this as a golden opportunity to inform people about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

“We are not against the Chinese Government, or any other political party or religion", says Michel. "But we are protesting against the fact that 100 million people risk their lives in China for choosing to practise Falun Gong. That is what we hope to say to Chinese people who are visiting Sweden, so that they don’t hear only the unbiased information from the Chinese media.”

Ancient traditions

Falun Gong is based on ancient traditions of spirituality. It contains both physical and mental exercises. At the same time as practicing physical exercises, one does “moral training” – practicing the concepts of truth, compassion, forbearance.

From the perspective of the Chinese regime, it is the spiritual part that is the problem. During the cultural revolution in China, the CCP tried to wipe out all forms of spirituality: priests were removed, books were burnt, dissidents were executed.

“One is supposed to only believe in the Party”, Said Rouhi explains. Then Qigong appeared, traditional movements but lacking any connection to spirituality. The purpose was to cure illnesses and reach physical wellbeing, nothing else. In 1992, Teacher Li Hongzhi came forward with a Falun Gong seminar, where the spiritual development, the cultivation, again was an important part. Lots of practitioners came flocking and Li was widely recognised as a Qigong Master [..]. Investigations showed marked improvements in practitioners’ health. As a result the countries health care costs were reduced.

Banned overnight

“Jiang Zemin, the president of China, thought that Falun Gong was a danger [to his absolute control over the people of China], Ileas explains. The practise was forbidden overnight, and since then [Jiang’s] propaganda machine has used all the Chinese media to spread lies that Falun Gong is a danger to humanity. A special authority [the “610” Office] was created to persecute practitioners [of Falun Gong].”

“The information between China and the outside world is strictly controlled, says Michel. Internet companies have been bought to sieve away e-mails that contain the words Falun Gong.”

Outside China, the world around is protesting

“The fact that people are persecuted and abused because of their belief or political conviction, is something that the Swedish government can never accept”, said the vice prime minister Lena Hjelm-Wallén in 2001.

“The persecution of Falun Gong in China is unworthy of all that China used to be, and unworthy of all that China should become”, said U.S. President Bush.

Violence is totally out of the question to the Falun Gong followers, as is commercial activities or hierarchic organizations. Their only weapon consists of telling about the practise and the persecution in China.

“This method helps me to improve, says Said. Therefore I must tell others about it. We only want to allow people to have the right to practise this fantastic system if they want to.”