The following is a transcript of an interview with European Parliament member and Swedish politician Göran Lindblad. He has been a member of the Swedish parliament since 1997, and is noted as a voice against repressive regimes worldwide. He proposed the Council of Europe resolution 1481: "Need for International Condemnation of Crimes of Totalitarian Communist Regimes".
ET What do you think about the incidents in Flushing, New York?
MEP Göran Lindblad: Well, I mean the incident must be staged by the communist regime. And it's sort of terrible that they start doing these things in other countries as well. I was surprised that the … police didn't find out in time.
ET: Why is this happening now?
GL: Oh, because they [the CCP] have been so surprised and overwhelmed by the protests in front of the Olympics with the torch relay, and about Tibet and everything, that they try to take the focus off those protests and try to do something else. They're trying to make it an issue of national pride for China… that's their new idea of nationalism, they try to make people in China and elsewhere believe that this is an issue of national pride for China, of whether China should have communists or not.
ET: What do you think about this happening in the West?
GL: It's not acceptable that a foreign country stages demonstrations in another country, especially not a terrorist regime like the communists in China, [they] shouldn't do that. It's important that the police everywhere, not only in the United States, but also in other countries, are very cautious about what kind of protest the CCP might want to start.
ET: Do you have any advice for those facing this?
GL: Well, the American people must be very careful with their constitution and claim their rights. Not only constitutional rights but human rights as well. And it is not acceptable that American citizens or whoever has the permit or the right to be on American soil, or for that matter in any other country, to be attacked by crooks sent out by a terrorist regime.
ET: Do you believe this is an international matter?
GL: Of course it's an international matter, even Tibet is an international matter. At least a couple of governments have stated that the situation in Tibet is not just a matter for China, it is actually international politics. And this is so as well.
ET: Did you hear about a restaurant in Flushing that refused to serve Falun Gong practitioners?
GL: That's very surprising, and it's of course illegal in the United States, as it is illegal in any other civilised country—not to serve a person because the person has a certain belief, a certain philosophy, or a certain race, or something else. That is not legal. [They should] file a court case in the United States, and they will most probably win. Go to the police and report it, to start with, as an act of discrimination.
ET: Thank you very much
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