Can you imagine to be persecuted and tortured by the government just for practicing yoga?
Something very similar is happening today in China, where the practice of the Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, a millenary 5-exercise routine that promotes the philosophy of truth, compassion and tolerance, is totally forbidden for Chinese citizens.
Falun Dafa involves mind, body and soul and it’s part of the traditional Chinese culture. Those who practice Falun Dafa try to improve in life by respecting certain values (truth, compassion, tolerance) and living with a strong moral basis.
Falun Dafa was spread in the world by word of mouth since 1992. It’s not a religious or political group.
But if everything is so good, why is it forbidden? Why the followers of this practice are considered enemies of the state?
The persecution against the Falun Dafa practitioners started on July 22nd, 1999 and the Chinese government implemented brainwashing techniques, forced feeding, physical and mental torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions and killing of thousand of practitioners of this discipline. Some of them were sent to prison or forced to work in labor camps.
According to the Falun Dafa Information Center 3,000 people were killed and 44,000 were tortured just for disobeying the government and making the “revolutionary act” of Falun Dafa. Human rights violations have attracted the attention of important NGO’s like Amnesty International.
For the Chinese Communist Party, Falun Dafa is dangerous for the survival of the regime because the truth-compassion-tolerance philosophy is opposed to the use of violence and the dichotomy bourgeoisie-proletariat, that is essential in communist/socialist governments. They are afraid that the diffusion of the Falun Dafa principles could change the way of thinking of many Chinese citizens that won’t be disposed to the ideological brainwashing from the government.
Today, when everybody is talking about the BRIC countries and the economic growth of China, it would be interesting that Western countries would stop thinking only about economic progress and start paying attention to human rights violations before signing agreements with China.
The Arab world showed us that human rights are not negotiable and some countries, like Italy, are paying the price of having strong business links with the Libyan government.
Please, spread the word about Falun Dafa and sign this petition to help to create awareness about the situation: http://www.falunhr.org/te/index.php?signature=1&lang=english
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