The Chinese consider the Falun Gong protester at the WH today a terrorist

[NNN0LHI]

http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/10/23/willy.china.split/

CHINA, Beijing -- Beijing is cracking down on anti-government and secessionist groups, including the Falun Gong, under the banner of fighting terrorism.

A Communist party directive released earlier this month identified organizations ranging from the Falun Gong spiritual movement and underground gangs to Xinjiang separatists as "terrorist groups."

Also fingered were violent "splittist" (or secessionist) outfits among other ethnic minorities, as well as subversive and "unstable social elements" who had used weapons such as bombs to vent their anger at central authorities.

A Chinese source close to the legal establishment said President Jiang Zemin and the Politburo Standing Committee asked various departments to assess the danger of terrorism within China soon after the September 11 attacks on the U.S.




I am not saying Falun Gong is a terrorist organization or not. I don't know hardly know anything about the group. But I sure bet they would fit Bush's definition of a terrorist organization.

"You are either with us or against us." Remember that one?

Don

[chookie]

1. He certainly sent a powerful message today

"Hey Hooey! -- I have to avoid dissent myself!" Two repressive governments holding hands. This is diplomacy (considering that the Bush family is mightily profiting by trade with China irrespective of their repressive ideology). (Diplomacy is one thing -- opening the country's legs and begging to be raped is another.)

In the past, leaders like Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan confronted China. Now we are China's vassal and debtor -- what security is there in that relationship? Cheap goods in the short term-- because American workers are paid so outrageously poorly and must seek recourse to their foreign inhumanely produced goods in order to sustain a lower middle class lifestyle.

Trouble is -- China is on the upswing -- and America -- thanks to neoconservative rule -- is on the decline -- and yep --this is going te be the major challenge ion our lifetime, dwarfing even Middle Eastern oil.

Enjoy....

[norml]

2. Falun Gong (From Wikipedia)

Falun Gong
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The Falun emblem is the symbol of the Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) created by Li in 1992. According to Li “this Falun emblem is the miniature of the universe.” The central character is the Chinese "wan", also known as manji. To Western eyes it resembles the swastika used by Nazi Germany (except that it faces right and is rotated 45 degrees)

.Falun Gong (Traditional Chinese: 法輪功; Simplified Chinese: 法轮功; Pinyin: Fǎlún Gōng; literally "Practice of the Wheel of Law") is also known as Falun Dafa (Traditional Chinese: 法輪大法; Simplified Chinese: 法轮大法; Pinyin: Fǎlún dàfǎ; lit. "Great Law of the Wheel of Law") is a system of qigong introduced by Li Hongzhi in 1992. Falun is also sometimes translated as dharma wheel or chakra. Central to Falun Gong is five sets of meditation exercises (four standing, and one sitting). A few years after its public introduction in 1992, Falun Gong quickly grew to become one of the most popular forms of qigong in Chinese history, and has been growing in popularity around the world.

Falun Gong has been the focus of international controversy since the government of the People's Republic of China began a nationwide suppression of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. Concerns were triggered especially when 10,000 practitioners assembled in peaceful protest at the Central Appeal Office at Foyou street, outside Zhongnanhai. Not since the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 had so many people gathered together to protest the government.

When the clampdown began, the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China was estimated by the government at 2.1 million <1>. The membership claimed by the Falun Gong was much larger; it claimed to have 100 million followers worldwide with 70 million in China.<2>


snip


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong

[laheina]

4. So it's a religion-ish group?

Hardly terrorist. But that's the box that chimpy has opened.

[frustrated_lefty]

5. Qigong isn't religion...

Although it might be considered "spiritual." It's more an inner practice for promoting health and well-being. Its history is intertwined with Tai Chi, and it's not uncommon to find instructors teaching Tai Chi-Chi Kung. One way of thinking of it is Qigong is a practice for inner cultivation of energy which is given expression through motion in Tai Chi. It is considered an "inner" martial art, but not "religious" in western terms.

The thing is, the Falun Gong, by my understanding, IS a religious group which has adopted the practice of Qigong. The nearest western equivalent, I think, would be biblebelt fundamentalists crossbred with backwoods militia-men.

[laheina]

9. Good info.

Does the Falun Gong utilize violent means in their protests?

The occurrence with Hu didn't sound to me like the methodology of a "terrorist" organization, which led me to think that the Chinese government putting this label on them was just their way of spinning their condemnation of the group for the West.

[chookie]

3. And it will be hard to argue...

... morality in dealing with dissent because the US is imprisoning and torturing people, not to mention invading countries which do not plan attacks against us. Ooops -- Bush lost our former moral ground for us. I suggest that his actions will have difficult consequences in the parts of the world that do not worship us, which is quite substantial. Given the consequences of Iraq -- which had shut down its WMD projects -- which country would allow themselves to be attacked by the US without taking the best defense they can produce? Ooops. Bush/Condi/Rummy/Wolfowitz's war has destroyed the Ace card that America always had the ability to play -- because force is no longer a deterent -- it is a certainty. And what nation is just going to sit there and take it? Oops oops oops.

[Peter Frank]

6. The contradictions are too obvious to ignore...

...the scariest part lies in the similarities.

[Disturbed]

7. So The Glorious Leader apoligizes that a person spoke...

out to a Fascist Dictator of a repressive regime? Amerika sure has changed, eh?

[NNN0LHI]

8. He apologizes to Hu but never to us. Thats a typical Repug for you n/t