Falun Gong practitioners brought some challenging questions to New York City Council Member John Liu on July 2. The session was arranged by Liu's office and held at the Flushing, Queens branch of the New York library. Council Member John Liu Dodges Questions from Beleaguered Community
The discussion lasted over 2 hours and was attended by about forty Falun Gong practitioners and some media. It was the result of repeated requests by Falun Gong practitioners to meet with Liu since violent attacks against them began happening frequently on May 17.
A video was played for Liu by Falun Gong practitioners which showed an overview of some of what had happened. Most of the footage took place on Main Street of Flushing near the library. In the video, people who were not Falun Gong practitioners waved Chinese Communist flags, and shouted death threats, physically attacked, spit on, and cursed at Falun Gong practitioners.
Liu watched the footage quietly, and dismissed it as not showing anything significant.
Calls Made for Investigation of NY Councilman and AssemblywomanAccording to two reports by pro-communist newspapers Chinese Press (Qiaobao) and Ming Daily (Ming Pao) , on June 28 New York State assemblywoman Ellen Young granted an audience to several members of the pro-communist mobs who allegedly assisted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in their assault against Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing, Queens.
Young, while listening to their "complaints" during the meeting, also said that she would be working with New York council member John Liu to restrict the New York Police Department (NYPD) 109th Precinct from issuing permits which allow Falun Gong practitioners to hold rallies in the downtown Flushing area.
Experts are currently appealing to the U.S. government to investigate these two pro-communist media outlets as well as these two U.S. elected officials for allegedly helping the Chinese communist regime to incite spies and accomplices to assault Falun Gong adherents.
59 comments:
Try www.engrish.com
It shows just how backwards these people are.
Rumba 2 wit poke fri rise
ANONYMOUS:
1) Falun Gong is a new religious practice that began in China in 1992 and was banned by the Chinese government in 1999. The Chinese have been persecuting practitioners ever since. The article was about violence in the Chinese community here in New York.
2) "Engrish" as defined on the website you put up – a humor website, by the way - is "the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design." All or very nearly all of the images that appear on the site are from Japan.
3) Japan and China are very different countries.
4) If the Chinese are backwards because the Japanese sometimes use our language incorrectly then we're complete barbarians for the way we use Chinese characters: www.hanzismatter.com
5) I can’t decide whether you’re making a joke about ignorance or you’re just ignorant yourself.
Liu brushed off the film because:
A) He's a Chi Com, or
B) He's ashamed of his ethnicity.
I believe that (A) above is always possible, but, (B) above is more likely.
Too bad. His shame perpetuates the prejudices and fails to help the truly oppressed Falun Gong.
Perhaps Liu has family remaining on the mainland, and he (and they) have been threatened if he has the courage to speak up.
Even the prejudiced people watch and see cowardice, and it re-enforces their mindless hatreds.
Thanks Taxpayer, some people want to ignore what Liu actually did (or didn't do) and instead focus on other things.
I thought China wasn't communist anymore, Ridgewoodian.
I have my support for John Liu and Ellen Young. I live right in the flushing community so i'll be voting for them again. Have you read all the bad things about the leader of this Falun Gong Cult? He did some pretty nasty things. But is really annoying is the amount of people in front of the library with the falun gong. It really slows down my communte going to work.
ANONYMOUS: I thought China wasn't communist anymore, Ridgewoodian.
If you’re asking me about this then I assume you already read my answer to this very same question on another thread. So once again: No, China hasn’t been “communist” in any meaningful sense in many years. Which isn’t to say that it’s become an enlightened democracy that respects human rights; OBVIOUSLY, that hasn’t happened. There’s a school of thought, which makes sense to me, that China has transformed itself into a fascist state, much like Italy in the early years of Mussolini – in other words, it’s still a dictatorship but now it’s a dictatorship on the right rather than the left. There’s an interesting discussion of that issue, originally published a couple of years ago in the venerable old conservative Spectator, HERE.
(By the way, I haven’t seen the video in question but if it shows violence against the Falun Gong as clearly as the article says it does then shame on John Liu for not denouncing said violence. The video should help the police identify the perps, though.)
"But is really annoying is the amount of people in front of the library with the falun gong. It really slows down my communte going to work."
You should advocate for a bike lane. With all the development in Flushing, the area needs one and all the traffic will magically disappear if you get one, pollution in the city will be a thing of the past, and we'll never again be involved in a war. Your kids will still be stupid because the schools suck and bike riding will be a bitch when the stormwater runs into the street and creates 4-ft high puddles, but let's not concern ourselves with these things. Yes, I also support Liu because he's ignoring protesters who are exercising their rights of free speech to speak out against atrocities.
TRUMAN HARRIS:You should advocate for a bike lane. With all the development in Flushing, the area needs one and all the traffic will magically disappear if you get one, pollution in the city will be a thing of the past, and we'll never again be involved in a war.
Sarcasm much? No one except for the most wild-eyed utopians think that bikes are the solution to ALL our problems; congestion and pollution won't disappear if more people took to riding and, sadly, we're going to be fighting for oil for the forseeable future. But they can help. What's wrong with that?
Interesting video of the arrest of an anti-Falun Gonger.
You know what really annoys me on Main Street?
1) Crowds of people that prevent you from walking down the street
2) The smell of rotting garbage
3) Exclusionary stores that don't speak or have signs in English
That's funny, talk to John Liu and he'll tell you the biggest enemy the Chinese have in Queens is white folk. Looks like it's his own peeps he should be worried about.
Ridgewoodian said:
"There’s a school of thought, which makes sense to me, that China has transformed itself into a fascist state, much like Italy in the early years of Mussolini – in other words, it’s still a dictatorship but now it’s a dictatorship on the right rather than the left."
Apart from using the assertion to take a shot at Conservatives, how does a dictatorship of the right differ from one on the left? What is the difference between Communism, Nazism, Fascism, Bolshevism, Marxism, or any of the totalitarian regimes that have operated to exterminate dissidents throughout history? Are people happier or freer under one rather than the other?
Liu prefers to trivialize the obscenity of any government's oppression of people who practice a religion whose tenets differ from the official religion: dictatorship.
Why he does this is a curiosity. That he does it is grotesque.
This story is more complex that what you think. The two stories posted are from Epoch Times, the newspaper of Falun Gong. How objective do you think the stories are?
I wonder why no other news outlets are covering this story if it is as bad as the Falun Gong say it is.
The Epoch Times itself is a pro Falun Gong newspaper and presents a completely biased account of what happened.
Basically, here's the way the story goes:
After the tragic earthquake that occured in China, some Falun Gong supporters utilized this event to protest and criticize the Chinese government.
One of the things they also did was to somehow say that China deserved this earthquake because of the way the government treated its people.
Many Chinese immigrants who walked by this demonstration and display of signs in front of the Flushing Library became upset and outraged by many of these claims.
In addition, many were just dismayed by the fact that Falun Gong would use a tragic event such as the earthquake to push their own political agenda.
So this gave them the right to violently attack them? This seems to discredit your account of what happened:
NYPD Arrest Three More People for Assaulting Falun Gong Practitioners
Furthermore, why would immigrants passing by be upset at Falun Gong criticizing the Chinese government when they left China to get away from it?
Don't like what the independent press has to say? You can always count on the weeklies to not report it.
"So this gave them the right to violently attack them? This seems to discredit your account of what happened:
NYPD Arrest Three More People for Assaulting Falun Gong Practitioners"
Check the source again.
And yes, attacking them is illegal. I agree with you. However, my point is that what the Falun Gong supporters did is tantamount to inciting a riot.
"Furthermore, why would immigrants passing by be upset at Falun Gong criticizing the Chinese government when they left China to get away from it?"
Yes, the people who fled China are against the Chinese GOVERNMENT itself. HOWEVER, the people that died in the earthquake were all innocent people and it was wrong for the Falun Gong supporters to somehow say that China deserved this earthquake.
"Don't like what the independent press has to say? You can always count on the weeklies to not report it."
Forget the weekly trash that comes out then. How come none of the larger papers covered then? The NYT is extremely liberal, and yet didn't come out and write about the plight of the oppressed Falun Gong people.
Come on, it was a big riot right in downtown flushing! And no real media coverage aside from the Epoch Times?
The dailies don't report on much in Queens. If someone died they would have. This is not a popular topic in the New York media. I am grateful there is an Epoch Times to write about these things.
If the NY Times, Daily News, NY Post, etc didn't write about it, it didn't happen. Just like it took them 3 days to realize that western Queens was without power in 2006 and that there was extensive flooding last summer after the rainstorms.
"HOWEVER, the people that died in the earthquake were all innocent people and it was wrong for the Falun Gong supporters to somehow say that China deserved this earthquake."
You didn't say you heard them yourself, you are stating this based on what you heard from others. Games of telephone are dangerous. The news report says something different.
On June 30, Councilmember Liu hosted Victor Yau (also known as Qiu Wei,) and Sui Zhijie. Yau has been charged with a hate crime by the Brooklyn District Attorney for attacking Falun Gong practitioner John Yu with a steering-wheel locking device.
Since the start of the Flushing mob violence, Yau has often roamed the street of Flushing wearing a vest with words slandering Falun Gong. Sui Zhijie was arrested for attacking police officers during mob activity directed against Falun Gong practitioners.
Case closed.
Have any of you ever tried to talk to a member of Falun Gong? They are wacky and can best be described as the Scientologists of China.
I would be careful about believing what you read in their propaganda newspaper.
Some of their belief are discussed in this letter declining an invitation from Falun Gong by the American Humanists:
"We regret, however, that we must decline to accept your invitation. As we’ve participated in a past event, this open letter is being sent to explain our position.
Given our strong human rights position, we cannot share the Falun Gong platform without concern that it will be viewed as an endorsement of the intolerant positions held by this religion. Though the Falun Gong in the United States claim “tolerance” as a primary principle, the Chinese word for this principle (Ren) is more appropriately translated as “forbearance;” in this case, forbearance as a form of resignation, a survival skill for getting through suffering. Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi has explicitly condemned interracial relationships and homosexuality, and has even gone as far as to say that gay people would be “eliminated” by “the gods,” as was reported by the San Jose Mercury News. These intolerant views are confirmed on reading a translated version of the second volume of the Falun Gong’s primary religious text, Zhuan Falun.
Beyond the issue of tolerance, we Humanists don’t support several irrational and unfounded Falun Gong claims—such as Li’s belief that aliens are attempting to overtake human souls, or that Falun Gong unleashes supernatural powers that reverse the effects of aging. While Humanists often work closely with groups and individuals of differing views, any tacit support of these ideas would be incompatible with our dedication to reason and science.
Of course, Falun Gong’s sincerely held beliefs are no justification for Chinese government infringement on their basic human rights. But for the reasons detailed above, the American Humanist Association cannot act in any way that may be construed as an endorsement of the religion and the views its adherents hold. As Humanism is a lifestance that values egalitarianism, compassion, and a scientific approach, we cannot support a religious body that doesn’t meet these basic standards."
Seems like the Falun Gong are hypocritical, wanting equal rights, but espousing the denial of rights to many others.
It's normal for an average Chinese-American to cheer for the Chinese basketball team, but it's shocking to see some Chinese-Americans support the Chinese government openly. If they like the reds so much, they can always go back!
Free Tibet!
Not one American flag displayed.
Flushing, home of the Remonstrance.
Seems like the Falun Gong are hypocritical, wanting equal rights, but espousing the denial of rights to many others.
And what does this have to do with them being violently attacked and their councilperson ignoring the problem?
"In April 1999, 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners staged a silent protest at the Chinese Communist Party headquarters, Zhongnanhai, against beatings and arrests in Tianjin. Two months later, the Chinese government banned and began to persecute the practice, including a large-scale propaganda campaign. Since then, reports of torture, illegal imprisonment, forced labour, and psychiatric abuses have been widespread. According to an US Department of State report, Falun Gong comprise 66% of all reported torture cases in China, and at least half of the labour camp population.
According to some reports, every aspect of society was mobilized against Falun Gong, including the media apparatus, police force, army, education system, families, and workplaces. An extra-constitutional body, the "6-10 Office" was created to "oversee the terror campaign," which was allegedly driven by large-scale propaganda through television, newspapers, radio and internet. Families and workplaces were urged to cooperate with the government's position on Falun Gong, while practitioners themselves were subject to various severe coercive measures to have them recant. Amnesty International declares the persecution to be politically motivated and a restriction of fundamental freedoms.
The U.S. House of Representatives accused China of unlawful harassment of United States citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong, and passed a resolution unanimously calling on the Chinese government to "cease its persecution and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in the United States." Practitioners also draw attention to their plight by demonstrating the meditation exercises, distributing flyers, displaying banners, initiating lawsuits, demonstrating outside Chinese consulates around the world, and organising other public events such as lavish travelling Chinese New Year shows.
" ... the American Humanist Association cannot act in any way that may be construed as an endorsement of the religion and the views its adherents hold. As Humanism is a lifestance that values egalitarianism, compassion, and a scientific approach, we cannot support a religious body that doesn’t meet these basic standards."
Humanism is a "lifestance" that detests religion. Humanism and Communism are partners in their hatred of religion and worship of the state.
A humanist "association" is, by definition, incapable of objective criticism of a religious movement such as Falun Gong.
Humanists will use any and all opportunities to discredit any and all religious activities and beliefs.
Humanists know that any and all religious beliefs compete with the humanist demand that we all worship the state. The Humanist slogan: The State can do no wrong!
What you are saying about Humanists is probably true, but that still does not change the disciminatory beliefs of Falun Gong.
JOHN R.: You know what really annoys me on Main Street?
1) Crowds of people that prevent you from walking down the street
2) The smell of rotting garbage
3) Exclusionary stores that don't speak or have signs in English
Then don’t go there. Problem solved.
TAXPAYER: Apart from using the assertion to take a shot at Conservatives, how does a dictatorship of the right differ from one on the left? What is the difference between Communism, Nazism, Fascism, Bolshevism, Marxism, or any of the totalitarian regimes that have operated to exterminate dissidents throughout history? Are people happier or freer under one rather than the other?
No particular “shot” intended. Unless you believe that all conservatives are fascists at heart. But that would be as absurd as claiming that all liberals or progressives are closet communists. (I’m sure you would never do that.) I hope it’s been clear that I find the current Chinese government – with its use of slave labor and its repression of dissidents – to be nothing other than odious. Of course, it’s PROBABLY better to be Chinese now than it was forty years ago, during the Cultural Revolution.
I agree with you in this: at their extremes, the left and the right become indistinguishable. Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia – they had very different governing ideologies but in the end there was little to chose between them. Patton was probably right - morally if not politically - when he said that if caught between the two he would attack both. It’s only through some remarkable quirk of history that Stalin didn’t end up being the most evil man in the history of the world. As for the Chinese, we’ll get exactly nowhere if we continue to think of them as Mao-suited Reds. It would probably be better for us if they were because then they wouldn’t be able to compete with us economically. Maoism gave them the Great Leap Forward, millions of tons of worthless steel and 15-40 million dead of famine. “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” – which is to say capitalism run by the Communist Party while maintaining a veneer of communist orthodoxy – has lead to the incredible economic expansion of the last thirty years. It behoove us to understand our adversaries and what they’re up to. And make no mistake, China is going to be competing with us for decades to come.
ANONYMOUS: Have any of you ever tried to talk to a member of Falun Gong? They are wacky and can best be described as the Scientologists of China.
I don’t know enough about Falun Gong beliefs to say whether they’re “wacky” or not. But let’s face it, all religions are mostly nonsense. So criticizing Falun Gong on that front is the maggots calling the pus white.
Whatever their beliefs, wacky or intolerant as they may be, they don’t deserve the persecution they’ve apparently experienced in China. And they certainly should be safe in THIS country, home of religious liberty. Personally, I’d like to see the video the Falun Gongers showed Liu. Has anyone seen it?
TAXPAYER: The Humanist slogan: The State can do no wrong!
I’ve known a few self-described humanists in my time, and even one or two members of the American Humanist Association (mostly Unitarian ministers). Not one ever used that slogan with me. You have a source on that, Taxpayer?
Then don’t go there. Problem solved.
Great solution, when half of Queens must pass through there on a daily basis to get to and from work.
ANONYMOUS: Then don’t go there. Problem solved.
Great solution, when half of Queens must pass through there on a daily basis to get to and from work.
Well, if you're passing through you're presumably not lingering very long so the crowds and whatever smell there might be are only momentary problems, if that, and signs in languages other than English don't affect you at all. If you're in a vehicle of some kind - car, bus, train - then probably the smell, if there is a smell, is even less of a problem and, depending on the mode of transport, the crowding is as well.
But maybe I was wrong to say don't GO there. If you don't like it, don't STOP there.
bus service being what it is in queens, you have no choice but to languish there for 15-20 minutes sometimes waiting for a bus...
ANONYMOUS: bus service being what it is in queens, you have no choice but to languish there for 15-20 minutes sometimes waiting for a bus...
Well then, I'd find a different bus - there are lots in Flushing. Or the train - the 7 and the LIRR are right there. Or maybe riding a bike. Or, if all that fails, growing a pair.
You obviously know nothing about Main Street because the 7 ends there and buses to all of eastern Queens start there.
Yes, park your bike on Main Street. It will stay there 5 seconds.
TRUMAN HARRIS: You obviously know nothing about Main Street because the 7 ends there and buses to all of eastern Queens start there.
I'm sorry, are we disagreeing about something? I say there are lots of buses and the 7 (and the LIRR) there and you say I know nothing because there are ACTUALLY buses and the 7 there. Are you doing Monty Python?
Mrs Thing: Oh, have you been shopping?
Mrs Entity: No, I've been shopping.
Should I imagine you doing a screechy British falsetto while prancing around in Eric Idle drag? I don't even know you and that's disturbing.
ANONYMOUS: Yes, park your bike on Main Street. It will stay there 5 seconds.
Then I guess it's the last option: grow a pair and stop whining.
The point is that switching for another bus line will stink no matter which you take, and they go in different directions (hello?). Also, if I just got off the 7, getting back on won't get me home. And asking someone to walk for miles is not very practical. You live in a fantasy world.
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"!
Anything can happen in this second rate namesake and usually does
while everybody just looks the other way.
Welcome to America where chairman Mao's doctrines still apply.
But this time they're being carried out by our own "elected representatives" with the aid of CB#7 and the "illustrious" 109th precinct!
I think this "Ridgewoodian" is a Gallagher/Parkside creation!
C.M. Liu
should be more ashamed
of being related to Tommy Huang's
family (as through Alice Liu Huang....Tommy's wife)!
Someday
the feds will subpoena Gary Ackerman.
He knows all because
he was in on it all 30 years ago!
For years, these "Gong" show practitioners have gotten away with spreading their posters etc. all over the sidewalk in front of the library blocking access to Main Street.
And nobody did shit about it!
Shades of the Korean "Moonies", this time Chinese style!
What's their real agenda?
Now, the Falun Gong show
might be just the thing to bring
tourism to Flushing.
Wadda ya think Terri Osborne?
TRUMAN HARRIS: The point is that switching for another bus line will stink no matter which you take, and they go in different directions (hello?). Also, if I just got off the 7, getting back on won't get me home. And asking someone to walk for miles is not very practical.
Okay, let me make this as clear as possible for you, Mrs. E: I was merely pointing out that there are a number of transit options in Flushing (and, of course, the last option was shut your pie hole, grow a pair, suck it up, be a man, and stop complaining). I wasn’t doing Hop Stop for any particular straphanger.
TRUMAN HARRIS: You live in a fantasy world.
Believe me, I could dream up a much better world than this.
ANONYMOUS: Welcome to America where chairman Mao's doctrines still apply.
Which doctrines would those be? I’ve perused the “Little Red Book,”
(http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/)
admittedly with only a cursory eye, and I don’t see anything that particularly applies to this county in this particular era. Maybe you could point them out. Bush, for all his many, many faults has not starved millions of Americans to death by accident or successfully launched a “cultural revolution.”
ANONYMOUS: Shades of the Korean "Moonies", this time Chinese style! What's their real agenda?
Why does their “agenda” even matter to you? Don’t they have freedom of religion, just like the “Moonies”? And the Christians, and the Jews, and etc. If you find their ideas to be absurd and you don’t want to be Falun Gong, are they forcing you to become one? Granted, Rev. Moon has tried to obtain real political power in this country – just like any number of mainstream preachers – but, just like those preachers, he’s mostly failed because we’re smart enough to mostly separate church and state in this country. Go America!
ANONYMOUS: I think this "Ridgewoodian" is a Gallagher/Parkside creation!
Um, nope.
Honestly – what makes you think I’m a GOP rapist? Or is that just some generic cuss word you use around here, like “liberal” or “fascist,” (or, now, “Maoist”) regardless of the actual meaning of the word?
Sorry to disappoint you, I’m just a citizen concerned with the well-being of his community. Like Siegfried, I’m a self created hero. And I voted for Charlie Ober in the last election.
But I don’t expect you to believe me. So I’ll make you the same offer I made some other poster who took to calling me “Salvatore”: I’ll wager whatever stakes you care to name that I’m not whoever it is you seem to think I am, nor do I have any particular ties to any clubhouse, system, machine, organization, cabal, junta, or any other nefarious evil group, except New York University. How much is it worth to you? How much are you going to make it worth to me? Or will you just admit you have no idea what you’re talking about?
"Ridgewoodian" is definitely the creation of some over development
lobby group.
His lengthy obtuse tirades indicate he's getting paid by the word!
ANONYMOUS: "Ridgewoodian" is definitely the creation of some over development
lobby group. His lengthy obtuse tirades indicate he's getting paid by the word!
I WISH I was getting paid by the word. Do you know anyone who's hiring.
See the last paragraph of my last post. I'll wager whatever you want to wager that you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. The only question is, what proof of my identity will satisfy your paranoid little brain?
I'm gonna volunteer to donate a genuine solid mahogany soapbox to "Ridgewoodian" (or "Sal", whoever) and send him off to Hyde Park speaker's corner in London!
What an addled blow-hard!
Maybe he'll find a more
forgiving audience there for his
theatrical/verbal performances.
Hey, "Ridgewoodian"
we'll show you ours if you show us yours (real identity, that is).
Meet you in the Jamaica High School
boys' room next Friday at 3:00!
Wear your pink panties, please.
Communist Chinese spies
skulking about in the back streets of Flushing and shades of the old "yellow peril" daze!
And Dr. Fu Manchu returns in a new serialized HBO mini series!
Don't ya luv it?
All very intriguingly "exotic"!
Just the thing to attract tourists to this vibrant, bustling, diverse
(did I omit any of the usual PR hype adjectives?) town!
C'mon, delicate offerings like roasted cat and fried mice aren't going to make any Gourmet Magazine rave reviews this month,
let encourage tourism here.
ANONYMOUS:I'm gonna volunteer to donate a genuine solid mahogany soapbox to "Ridgewoodian"…and send him off to Hyde Park speaker's corner in London!
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to London but it’s always been one of my favorite towns. I’d much appreciate an all expenses paid trip. Thanks! I doubt, though, that Londoners would get very excited hearing about NIMBY bigotry and narrowmindedness here in Queens since they mostly think all New Yorkers are crazy anyway.
ANONYMOUS:Meet you in the Jamaica High School boys' room next Friday at 3:00!
I’m flattered by the come on but, not being gay, I don’t meet strange boys in public toilets.
ANONYMOUS: Wear your pink panties, please.
Sorry, I’m a boxer man.
"I doubt, though, that Londoners would get very excited hearing about NIMBY bigotry and narrowmindedness here in Queens since they mostly think all New Yorkers are crazy anyway."
I met an English couple on a trip I took. They complained the entire time about how lazy Jamaicans were invading their country. And if it is true that they think all New Yorkers are crazy, then it appears they have multiple prejudices.
CRAPPER: I met an English couple on a trip I took. They complained the entire time about how lazy Jamaicans were invading their country.
Sounds like you were traveling with some annoying-ass Limies. My sympathies.
CRAPPER: And if it is true that they think all New Yorkers are crazy, then it appears they have multiple prejudices.
Still, I hope ANONYMOUS comes through with that trip and wasn't just spouting stupid bullsht; it's been way too long since I've been in London.
Both John Liu and Ellen Young are big liars. They have used our tax payers' money to aid the Chinese government. It seems that they have very close connections with the Chinese Consulate here in New York City. They should be investigated.
I won't vote for Liu and Young. If they get what they want, I'm sure the Chinese Communist government will be more influential here in NYC. Right now, they have turned all four major Chinese-language dailies here -- including Hongkong based Sing Tao Daily and Taiwan-based World Journal -- into pro-China ones.
ANONYMOUS:
After the tragic earthquake that occured in China, some Falun Gong supporters utilized this event to protest and criticize the Chinese government.
One of the things they also did was to somehow say that China deserved this earthquake because of the way the government treated its people.
Many Chinese immigrants who walked by this demonstration and display of signs in front of the Flushing Library became upset and outraged by many of these claims.
In addition, many were just dismayed by the fact that Falun Gong would use a tragic event such as the earthquake to push their own political agenda.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Anonymous said...
"HOWEVER, the people that died in the earthquake were all innocent people and it was wrong for the Falun Gong supporters to somehow say that China deserved this earthquake."
You didn't say you heard them yourself, you are statingi this based on what you heard from others. Games of telephone are dangerous. The news report says something different....
I was overthere on May 17th. We were making photocopies at the Flushing library. Next to the huge Falun Gong rally was a small stand of Chinese-Americans soliciting funds for the Sichuan earthquake and on the other side of Main Street were Tzu Chi Buddhist Organizers (mostly Taiwanese-Americans) also soliciting funds for the Sichuan earthquake. Both (Chinese) banners and a speech by a Falun Gong member at the time blamed the Sichuan earthquake as retribution from God. They
also blamed the Chinese government for contributing to the death toll by not allowing foreign-aid workers into China. Although I was not there when the fighting between the two groups took place, I can assure you that what Falun Gong was saying definitely disturbed many Chinese-Americans passing by.
As far as blaming John Liu and Ellen Young for not meeting Falun Gong members, it's not as if American law failed here. After all, the attackers (whatever their affiliations) were arrested and taken away by the police. It seems Falun Gong desperately wants more media attention; it may be jealous that many people of all nationalities are contributing money to the Sichuan earthquake and not to Falun Gong; the (Chinese version of ) The Epoch Times in it's last few August issues have been encouraging donations to them and have consistently written accounts accusing John Liu and Ellen Young as being communists and accusing the entire Chinese-American media of being pro-Communist; when in fact that is hardly the case at all. Sorry didn't get involve sooner but was away on vacation for a few months. Hopefully this clears up some of the controversy.
Anonymous, in response to your question, I was in Flushing during those days when violence against Falun Gong practitioners happened.
I was shocked at absolutely how violent the mobs were, especially when the Falun Gong practitioners had been there for 4 years without incident. (And from what I have seen from meeting them, they are very peaceful people. I am completely supportive of their human rights work.)
I did see the so-called earthquake relief groups organized by the Chinese Consulate, but that happened days *after* the violence started against Falun Gong in Flushing.
It is a pity that John Liu and Ellen Young have done nothing against the violence. I won't be surprised if they have been bought out by the Chinese Communist Party.
Stephen Spencer said:
I did see the so-called earthquake relief groups organized by the Chinese Consulate, but that happened days *after* the violence started against Falun Gong in Flushing.
It is a pity that John Liu and Ellen Young have done nothing against the violence. I won't be surprised if they have been bought out by the Chinese Communist Party.
I am Chinese-American and go to Flushing quite frequently. The relief groups you mentioned were in front of the Flushing library at least three days before the so-called incident. I know because I donated money to them three days before the incident. How do you know these relief groups were organized by the Chinese Consulate; and furthermore are you trying to suggest that Tzu Chi Buddhist Organization was also commanded by the Chinese Consulate to collect relief funds for the Sichuan earthquake victims? What nonsense!
As far as John Liu and Ellen Young not doing ANYTHING about the violence against Falun Gong, I suggest you check your facts first. John Liu, at least, delivered a speech in front of the Flushing library urging people to be tolerant to all people who wish to speak their mind. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE NOTHING! Both the Falun Gong demonstrators and "the mob" are part of his constituency. John Liu allowed the law to work while encouraging and educating new immigrants about tolerance and what freedom of speech really means. If John Liu and Ellen Young were really so biased towards "the mob", why didn't they put up the bail money for these guys... instead of allowing the police to arrest those people. Enuf said...
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