On January 6, a press conference was held in front of the Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv, announcing that over 30 million Chinese people renounced their membership in the Chinese communist party and its affiliated organizations. "Renouncing" the party is not something to be taken lightly when it comes to the Communist dictatorship in China.
"Chinese embassy employees, we are here because we believe there is goodness in your hearts", Epoch Times representative Ben Kaminsky said in Chinese. "This is a historical period of time that might not last long. After everything is over, when the crimes are all exposed, and the communist party is dissolved, no chances will be left … Renounce the party now, and save later regrets," continued Kaminsky.
Kaminsky made his remarks at a press conference held by The Epoch Times Israel staff and human rights advocates, in front of the Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv, on January 6
The press conference supported the 30 million Chinese people who have renounced their membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. The conference had the additional goal of raising the public and media's awareness of the fascinating phenomenon of the giant wave of renouncements.
Banners, displayed in a long line, told the story of the various crimes against humanity carried out directly or indirectly by the CCP. Crimes such as torture, murder, organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners, the massacre in Tibet, demolishing citizens' houses and restricting freedom of expression vis a vis the upcoming Olympics, and the 80 million citizens who died unnatural deaths during the party's rule. Representatives of Burmese refugees living in Israel also attended the conference and displayed banners protesting the CCP's support of the military junta in Burma, as well as banners in Chinese calling the Chinese people to renounce the CCP.
A Wave of Resignations
The wave of renouncements from the CCP began in November 2004, following the publication of the Nine Commentaries on The Communist Party. 1 The book is a series of nine essays thoroughly reviewing the almost 60 years of the Chinese communist party's existence. Since its publication, the Nine Commentaries has been distributed in China widely but clandestinely. (Possession of the book is a criminal offense inside communist China.). Many Chinese find great relief in reading the The Nine Commentaries, because the book stated clearly the facts that the Chinese people were forbidden to mention. The Nine Commentaries, relieved nationwide feelings of distress that were repressed by fear of the party's terror tactics.
For Chinese, joining the party and its affiliated organizations is a process which begins in childhood, by joining the Communist Youth League and Young Communist Pioneers. In institutions for higher education and places of employment, being a party member is mandatory for receiving benefits and promotion. Quitting the party was always something unheard of, and if carried out would result in immediate retaliation.
Amongst those who resigned are many high-ranking party members. Their consciences could no longer put up with the assignments they were forced to carry out.
How Do Chinese People Quit the CCP
Every day, over 40 thousand Chinese announce their resignations. The formal resignation is performed on an Internet website called Tuidang ("Resigning the Party" in Chinese"). It can be done using a nickname to avoid jeopardizing the lives and freedom of those who resign, as well as their families. Those inside China, must use sophisticated technology to access the website, which is censored by China's Internet firewall —the biggest of its kind in the world.
The number of resignations has now surpassed 30 million, and the numbers keep rising day by day. Not all resignations make it to the website. Chinese who live in remote villages and have no access to the Internet use a third party to pass on their resignation statements to the website. In these cases the resignations take longer to arrive. Some people glue detailed resignation notes to walls in public places or even scribble their resignation on bank notes.
Crimes Against Humanity
Ora Feidman, representing the Falun Gong spiritual movement, stated that, "The CCP's dictatorial regime employs terror inside China, in a way that even those who wish to put an end to the crimes, or even mention them, find themselves persecuted—like human rights activists Gao Zhisheng and Hu Jia, [who were arrested by the regime for championing human rights;] their whereabouts are unknown."
Feidman called the Chinese authorities to open forced labor camps and the hidden camps which are associated with harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners. "We call all ranks of the Chinese government: let the Chinese people live respectfully without having to give up their consciences," concluded Feidman.
Feidman talked about crimes against large numbers of practitioners: "Their organs are harvested while they are alive, and sold for a profit in the transplantation market developed by the CCP. After the organ harvesting the practitioners' bodies are cremated—exactly like in Auschwitz. They are even cremated while still alive—to hide evidence."
Olympics and Crimes Against Humanity?
Yaniv Nitzan, representative of the Human Rights Torch Relay, spoke at the conference. The torch passes through 150 cities in 37 countries echoing the thought that, "The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China." "The Torch will arrive in Israel in February", said Nitzan, "and student associations and youth movements have already expressed their wide support", he continued.
Civil Responsibility
Tamuz Itai, CEO of the Israeli offices of The Epoch Times, talked about why the newspaper welcomes the resignation phenomenon. "The press is the watchdog of democracy and rule", says Itai, " The Epoch Times is a global newspaper therefore it has global responsibility.
"For example, Washington Post exposed the Watergate Scandal. At first people attacked the paper, but Nixon's regime went down as a result of the scandal being exposed, and the newspaper won prestige it continues to enjoy up to the present day.
"It's the same with our newspaper. It exposes, for the first time in history, the CCP's real face, the brutality, the arbitrariness, the murder and the evil. We saw it as our civil responsibility to do it. A year prior to the Nine Commentaries' publication, our newspaper also exposed in the world for the first time the Chinese regime's scheme to conceal the SARS epidemic in China.
Itai continued, "In March 2006, our newspaper was the first to expose the fact that the CCP is running an operation for harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners.
"From the moment the newspaper did its part and exposed the CCP's nature, the responsibility shifted to the shoulders of the Chinese citizens, and now they are beginning to carry out their responsibility.
"In the way the people of Eastern Europe dismantled the Communist block in the late 1980's, now the Chinese are doing it. If something can be learned out of history and how it ended in Eastern Europe, I think it can be learned here. Then no one will be surprised when the communist regime in China falls, very soon".
[1] The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party won the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) award and has been translated as a book into 31 languages.
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