July 20th: The Day Persecution of 100 Million Began
Dear Reader,
I STILL REMEMBER IT LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY. We were getting scattered reports of middle-of-the-night home raids across China. People were literally being kidnapped from their beds. Here in New York, a few volunteers had their homes broken into and were staying in hotels or left town for fear that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents may attack them in the U.S.
So began one of the largest persecutions in the world, and one that still rages today.
Yesterday, July 20th, marked exactly 22 years since the CCP launched a massive campaign to eliminate the Falun Gong spiritual practice in China. Millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China have since been imprisoned, tortured, or killed, including through forced organ harvesting. The CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong has also extended far beyond China’s borders, resulting in censorship, cyber-attacks, and transnational repression affecting believers in dozens of countries.
In this newsletter we present an international group of government leaders and prominent human rights advocates standing in solidarity with Falun Gong, and condemning the persecution in China. We also offer you a panel of experts providing insight into the current state of this human rights crisis as well as the impact across China, and around the world.
Sincerely,
Levi Browde, Executive Director Falun Dafa Information Center
“China should immediately release all Falun Gong practitioners it has detained, and allow them to practice their faith with dignity and respect.”
– U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ);
Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee
“CCP officials have subjected Falun Gong practitioners to physical and sexual assault, forced labor, and torture to make them renounce their beliefs. Even more disturbing are the credible allegations of forced organ harvesting”
Over 30 parliamentarians urged Prime Minister Trudeau to impose sanctions on Chinese officials over the Falun Gong suppression and condemn the persecution in a joint letter. July 20th marks the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 22-year-long eradication campaign against the adherents of Falun Gong in mainland China.
Featuring a wide range of experts and a torture survivor from China, this insightful panel discussion explores the current state of the Falun Gong human rights crisis in China, its global implications, and what further action can be taken by the U.S. government and others to curb ongoing horrific abuses and support victims.
Moderator: Sarah Cook, Research Director for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Freedom House
Speakers:
Johnnie Moore Jr., Former Commissioner, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; President, Congress of Christian Leaders
Erping Zhang, Director of Government and Advocacy, Falun Dafa Information Center
Levi Browde, Executive Director, Falun Dafa Information Center
Dr.Jessica Russo, Board Member, Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting
Weiyu Wang, Survivor of Chinese Prison and Torture, Former PhD Candidate at Tsinghua University
From ancient roots extending back thousands of years, to a house-hold name in China during the Qigong boom in the 1990s, to the largest grassroots civil disobedience movement in the world, this is the complete story of Falun Gong…
