For some reason, the international community has not grasped the urgency of the human rights disaster in China where hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are detained in labor camps in which they face brainwashing and torture.
The Falun Dafa Information Center can confirm 3,137 deaths due to torture, but this is unfortunately only a fraction of the total Falun Gong deaths at the hands of the Chinese regime. The report Bloody Harvest by David Kilgour, the former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) and David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, estimates that 40,000 practitioners have been killed by having their organs harvested for use in China's transplantation industry.
Celebrities rightfully speak out against the Darfur genocide; politicians take a stand for Tibet. Yet for nine years millions of kind and good citizens in China have suffered crimes against humanity while the world stands by in silence.
One wrenching account of a loving couple split apart by this persecution is told in A Love Story of Wind and Rain. Hongwei Lou, working on graduate studies in Cambridge and a Falun Gong practitioner, makes her regular Saturday night call to her husband still in China only to discover him missing. The nightmare begins.
She discovers the way police in her country deal with kind and good people. Kidnap them without neighbors knowing; don't tell the family which forced labor camp they are being held, and torture the victims until they renounce their spiritual beliefs.
The author, although educated and from "a better part of town," displays a certain naiveté toward her government, not believing the police she calls "Uncle Police" or the CCP could possibly go after people who only want to live by truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
But it happens to her and her husband. First she is sent to the most notorious detention center in Beijing, then, without legal proceedings, taken to a forced labor camp. China proclaims a system of laws and procedures, but all bets are off when the communist party uses force to protect its own interests.
Lou's interrogation shows how interrogators turn truth into lies. The questioning continues for hours on end by several police:
"Everyone says that Falun Gong has miraculous health effects. It's actually all in the mind.""'What's wrong with that? As long as it cures diseases, it's good for the nation and family."
Another individual tried to sound very objective. "Falun Gong was very good to start with, but later it began appealing to the government, handing out flyers, and became political."
"Who would appeal to the government if not for the persecution?" I asked. "Would there be a need to hand out flyers if appealing to the government were a viable option? Falun Gong has not changed, it has not participated in politics, it is only protesting against an irrational persecution. If one suffers injustice, can't one speak-up?"
Then another chimed in. "You dare say that Falun Gong is not an organization?"
"Falun Gong is a loose group of people formed by many individuals." I replied. "They come from all types of backgrounds, just like chess-lovers would often gather together to play chess. Would you call that an organization?"
I finally caught on! These people did not want to discuss anything with me, because they were simply repeating the same questions many times.
The reader might think this questioning fine for suspected criminals because we see it on "Law and Order" TV programs, but this is regularly carried out with law-abiding citizens who have been forcibly taken from their homes, often never to be seen again. One might recall the taking of young people during the military's control of Argentina in the 1970s.
The Beijing Olympics are gearing up. Falun Gong practitioners have never opposed the Olympics being held in Beijing. They only mention parallels with the Olympic Games in 1936 where a powerful regime was preparing for a terrible holocaust with war thrown in. Can we not learn from history? Can good people not act now?
According to an Amazon reviewer, "The book does not disclose the gruesome truth, but tastefully brings the reader closer to understanding the China that is hidden behind shutters. It tells the people that there is more to China than economics. It speaks of torture and killing of innocent people because of their belief in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. It asks people to awaken to the truth and keep the promise given after WWII—'NEVER AGAIN!'"
Lou puts it this way: "Physical separation is not at all fearsome. Even if we are not together we know that no one can tear us apart. But this separation, where the threat of death is present at any moment, only because of our faith, is excruciating painful."
Most people of goodwill hold that one's spiritual belief is a basic human right. Unfortunately, the regime in China says it ain't so.
Perhaps ignoring this benefits companies and governments in the free world, but it's no help to Hongwei Lou, who works to free her husband from this persecution. A good read.
A Love Story of Wind and Rain by Hongwei Lou is available from Seaburn Publishing Group and Amazon.com.
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