While no murders of Falun Gong members have happened outside China, Montreal Falun Gong members say persecution happens even here.

Bill Guan, who left China in 1995, says he returned for a visit in 1999 to "tell the truth about Falun Dafa to the government." But instead, Guan, then a permanent Canadian resident and Chinese citizen, was arrested and detained for one week, then kicked out and told he could come back to China only on condition he gave up Falun Gong, Guan says.

Continued devotion to Falun Gong has cost Guan his Chinese citizenship and the right to return to China to see family members, Guan says. In 2000, Guan says the Chinese government refused to renew his Chinese passport unless he renounced Falun Gong. After receiving Canadian citizenship in 2001, Guan says his boss requested a visa on his behalf so he could act as translator for a business trip to China. The visa was refused.

Guan also says that in 2000 a midnight phone call from an unidentified man warned Guan his life would be in danger if he didn't stop practising Falun Gong, and that this year strange things have happened with his car. After a brief visit to a friend in Chinatown just before Canada Day, Guan drove away to discover the two back tires were flat. When he went to pick up the car from the garage, he says mechanics were surprised to find that one of the back tires of the car, which had been parked outside, had once again gone flat. Guan says Montreal police can't help because Guan has no witnesses and no proof.








 
 

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Tyrrany is inherent to Communism     The thing you have about Marxist/Leninist/Trotskyist political ideology, as well as its Stalinist and Maoist offshoots is that political repression in the form of secret police surveillance and slave labor camps is inherent to Communism. Never mind the false dichotomy about left-wing (global socialism, ie: communism) or right-wing (national socialism, ie: fascism), it's the same bird. Both are totalitarian systems that use fear and intimidation to control people (ie: a police state). To be fair, a lot of China's problems stem from the turn of the century when the European colonial powers (especially Britain) took advantage of a corrupt government and social upheaval to invade and partition the country into spheres of influence. Missionaries were a part of this. They were involved in a new spiritual movement that culminated in the Taipei rebellion which when brutally repressed resulted in 20 to 30 million dead. It is unfortunate that missionaries get involved in political intrigues because they like to meddle in other people's affairs (see www.akha.org to know what they're doing in Thailand, it's not pretty). On the other hand, communists are control freaks who want the people to be docile and dependent on them. Any movement capable of organizing and mobilizing people on a mass scale, even something harmless like a social club, will be repressed. Anyone trying to become self-sufficient (like growing their own food) will likewise be persecuted. I remember a scene in the movie The Blue Kite where communist revolutionaries were confiscating food. Go to www.savethemales.ca about the true nature of Communism and Nazism (there are links to other sites which examine these issues in more detail) and www.larouchepub.com about the role of British Intelligence in the aborting the republican movement and replacing it with a communist revolution, and using China as a training ground for other communist terrorist organisations like the Khmer Rouge and Shining Path.
Joel Joseph	{5 votes}	October 4th, 2005
When Chinese communists rear their ugly faces     The way I see it, Falun Gong is just a toned-down martial arts mixed with a bit of mysticism/spirituality. Nothing really harmful or really different from traditional tai chi juan. But more and more stories sprout about people who practice falun gong. At first, I would have been tempted to believe that those people were a bit paranoid or were trying to recruit more followers by playing the victims in order to get media attention. After all, why would a government persecute people simply for something as mundane as physical exercice with a dose of metaphysical beliefs. But a friend spent a great deal of time in China, teaching English to Mandarin-speaking technical and engineering students. He spent something like 4 years in 4 major cities in Continental China. In that whole period he obviously didn't witness anything particular involving falun gong. After the Tienanmen Square massacre of June 1989, Communists have learned to be a bit more unconspicuous in doing their evil deeds. But he kept reading, in the official newspapers, crazy stories about falun gong followers who kidnapped and killed children or tried to poison wells. The Communist Chinese government is on a real hate propaganda against falun gong, trying to demonize it. These practices are not really different from what Nazis did before World War 2. ----- And meanwhile, you have all the leaders of the world going on diplomatic missions, trying to sign juicy contracts with Chinese authorities. China has an economic growth of 10% a year, so who cares about civil liberties, right ?
Sylvain Provost	{2 votes}	September 26th, 2005
Misreading Falun Gong: Third Eye Blind............     Falun Gong is a peaceful method of living your life that, for some in China, encapsulates all that they believe and all that they aspire to become, better people. Unfortunately, 6 years ago, China's political leader Jiang Zemin, felt the need to quell the growing practice. Books about Falun Gong were appearing that were attracting new followers and creating a buzz and interest in a society looking for a breath of fresh air into an otherwise cramped and controlled way of life. He immediately instituted policy that turned almost 100 million Chinese into criminals. Falun Gong was not to be heard from or practiced or his military officials now had the power to arrest. What is so bloody awful about Falun Gong and what caused so much concern for Zemin? Speculation had it that Jiang Zemin was afraid that he had become perhaps redundant as a political leader and that there was competition for who was the top dog. Jiang tried to include his peers in his rationale however conversations with the rest of the Communist Party did little to find any harm in Falun Gong. If he was to present the practice as a threat, he would have to go at it alone. Jiang had to show people he was serious so he began "mass arrests, beatings, and unlawful detentions of thousands of Falun Gong adherents-human rights abuses that have been verified by Amnesty International". One example of someone who was scapegoated as a victim of Jiang's insecurities was a 58-year old woman by the name of Chen Zixiu who was tortured with a cattle prod and asked to renounce Falun Gong. She refused and died several days after. The events in Tiananmen Square in 1989 tried to counter government opposition but since then, it seems that Falun Gong has really been forced to hide for fear of government oppression and torture. What Jiang has started has had the opposite effect on the population. People are more opposed to government than ever before and may damage their "international standing".
Steve Landry	{13 votes}	September 20th, 2005
My girlfriend was tortured for practicing Falun Gong     My girlfriend who is Chinese and came to Canada three years ago, was arrested twice and tortured by the communist regime because she practices Falun Gong. They sent her to a psychiatric hospital and was tied to a bed for a week. She went on a hunger strike, so they force-fed her with hot milk by passing rubber tubes through her nose. Her mom, who was arrested at the same time, was sent to a forced labor camp for refusing to renounce the practice. Anyone who inquires about the human rights situation in China can find all the documentation and proofs of what I'm advancing. Wheter it is Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights in China, the United Nations, Freedom House, the Cardinal Kung Foundation, the Laogai Research Foundation, they all point out the most horrible means of tortures used against peaceful and law abiding citizens. Falun Gong is the main issue in China, and it has suffered a Cultural Revolution type of political campaign. When the practice was banned in 1999, they burned every book, cassette and video they found, and unleashed an immense propaganda machine to demonize the practitioners. The Chinese people who were supportive turned against, and became the tools of the blood thirsty communist party. And then you have other religious groups, as peaceful, who also suffer. Tibet is being colonized at a fast pace (soon thanks to Bombardier who helps build the train that will bridge with mainland China), Christians who refuse to worship in the State sanctioned "against the pope" churches are being chased down, jailed and tortured, and Muslims in the Northwest Xinjiang are being labeled as terrorists to justify and all too well known pattern of ethnic segregation and persecution. China on the rise? You like? You like those cheap products? 5 million people in labor camps, the majority supposedly Falun Gong practitioners. Wake up! Read up on it : http://www.faluninfo.net/
Noah C.-Chapdelaine	{51 votes}	September 16th, 2005
I'll be honest     I'll be honest with you. The Falun Gong irriate me in the same way that Hare Chrishna and Christian Scientists do. All three, though they may very well be engaging in peaceful practice, have made me late for work too many times for me to really buy that. That said, I'll defend their right to practice with my life (in that, "I didn't stop them when they came for the communists because I wasn't a communist" way of thinking.) Props to China for the strides it's made in the past 25 years, but we must bear in mind that religious tolerance tends to be the final frontier of reformation. Certainly this will be true in China, where it's precicely the ancient and classical chinese traditions (like the basic principles of the Falun Gong) whose erasure was the main symptom of their 20th-century instability and whose reacknowledgement will mark the absolute end of it. The problem that arises with the freedom of religion is that there's really no way to get around the right to recruit. Which, in turn, starts bleeding into my territory. But there's really no name for whatever right I feel is being violated when people I don't know tell me my depression is my own fault, or when I have to walk through the religious right to get to my gay rights rally on the Mall. Many of us have experienced it, and so we know that liberal intellectualism falls a little short as a faith in the face of people with a charter, constitution, or declaration behind them. Really, it's a church/ state matter, and the point is not that this man's persecution by the Chinese Government is wrong, but that persecution by the government is wrong. And if that could get sorted out, then there could be a neat little niche for heretics like me. And in my little niche, Mr. Guan could get a visa. And neither of us would make the other late for work...but that last bit's just an idealist's fantasy.
Caroline Eldred	{30 votes}	September 16th, 2005
Communism has no room for religion     Even though China on it's way to becoming the next greatest super-power of the world, it still has a long way to go. Religious tolerance for one thing. What is the problem with Falun gong anyway? It is a non-violent spiritual practice and I am sure they are not plotting to overthrow communism in China, because that would certainly invlove violence. Could it be that if Falun gong caught on to a large majority in China, then it would have to be recognized and addressed openly in public debate? What am I saying? There is no public debate in communism, but that is beside the point. The simple fact that the Chinese President Hu does not even answer questions regarding the issue, raises many questions about the issue and does nothing else but further solidify the fact that Human rights are being trampled on over there. What really gets my goat, is the fact that there are millions of practicing Buddhists in China, and as far as I know Buddhism is also non-violent, along the same lines as Falun Gong, so what is the big deal? Can they not handle more than one religion? The Chinese government should wake up and realize that as long as they pursue such primitive, barbaric behavior, they will never get the full support of their people, and isn't that what communism is supposed to be all about? Building a society based on community? O.K. religion does not fit in, but as long as it does not get in the way of daily life, let it be. In my opinion, you reap what you sow, and if you sow hate and intolerance... then your society is headed down the same path as Nazi Germany and the U.S.S.R...down the toilet...sorry.
Shant Noubarian	{14 votes}	September 15th, 2005
News flash!     What ever happened to equality in the world? Is that a serious question or not, I wonder. As far as my world history goes this world has never been truly just, fair or equal. Ever. Sure, we're better off now than ever before but that's just by a question of degrees. There has always been persecussion, slavery, barbarism, fascism and every other sort of deplorable human state possible. Ask an anglophone living in Quebec and see what he'll tell you. Ask a francophone from Quebec about living in Canada and see what he'll tell you. As bad as we and the U.S. are (and here, let's be honest, the U.S. is so far worse than we'll ever be) China (and a few select countries around the globe) is so much worse that we can even imagine. If you think Bill Guan is an isolated case, think again. If you do a bit of research you'll be apalled by what you find.
Pedro Eggers	{16 votes}	September 15th, 2005
Freedom of religion     Two thousand years ago Christianity as a religion was also persecuted with its followers having to go underground and practice in secret. It was only centuries later that the leaders of the Roman Empire finally let its Christian disciples show their faith out in the open. Likewise these days followers of Falun Gong have to practice their creed behind closed doors so that the authorities are none the wiser. For their faith to survive and prosper it is foolhardy to attract the attention of an intolerant leadership. Years later more openness to the West will gradually soften the views of the Chinese ruling class.
Stephen Talko	{2 votes}	September 21st, 2005
Let's stop hate crimes!     I was outraged after I read this artcile. I just can't believe what this poor man, Bill Guan, had to go through just because of his beliefs. What happened to his car wwas probably a hate crime. A hate crime is acting out against a person or a group because of their religion, sexual orientation or beliefs. Examples of hate crimes would be : beating up someone because they were gay, or vandalising someone's house because they were jewish. These kinds of things have to stop and I think the gouvernment should do more to prevent them.
Rachelle Doucet	{8 votes}	September 15th, 2005
Falun Gong     I don't know very much at all about this organisation but have heard that they do meditiation exercises. The persecution of groups who hold ideas that are different from the majority has sadly been around forever, with the prejudice against coloured peoples, muslims, jews, women and aboriginals still at the forefront in the modern day. Falun Gong is another organisation to fall prey to this discrimination. China is an extremely powerful country and their human rights record has never been that great...still we continue to trade with them and get their peoples to make all our designer goods for a pittance. It is a sad thing that someone's devotion to their beliefs should result in their citizenship being revoked, but that is the price I am sure Mr. Guan knew he would pay, regardless of whether China is right or not in taking that decision. Unfortunately China will doubtless continue to discriminate against Falun Gong members until there is a change in policy or government... I should really learn a bit more about Falun Gong/Falun Dafa...it would have been good if the article had given a bit more information about it.
Ellen Reid	{7 votes}	September 15th, 2005
Unfair     Falun Gong practionners should be free to believe in what they want to believe in, the president and his team should be more open to new ideas, these people mean no harm by practising Falun Gong, they just believe in it, and that belief, according to me is sane, it won't lead them to violence or terrorism, I really don't see the harm in it, they should be left alone and free to believe in what they desire!!
Brian Fung	{1 vote}	September 24th, 2005
Freedom please     If some people want to practise Falun Gong they should be free to do so. Especially because this practice doesn't hurt anyone, it's non-violent but the people who practises it are violated physically, this is unacceptable, the chinese population should really reevaluate the way they see Falun Gong.
Roxane Gibault	{2 votes}	September 21st, 2005

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