Nonviolence for Social Change
Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated peaceful
nonviolence to change ailing social systems. They and their
followers were able to successfully change the social conditions
of their times. Recently, a lawyer in China named Gao Shizheng
has called for symbolic ongoing hunger strikes across China to
support people who have encountered violence and ongoing
persecution perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party which
currently rules China.
For over six years now, since July of 1999, the peaceful Falun
Gong practitioners have used nonviolent actions to draw world
attention to the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners
by the Chinese Communist Party. If past history is any
indication, the Falun Gong practitioners and human rights
advocates such as Gao Shizheng will be successful in the long
run.
The Chinese Communist Party is a large stumbling block to
overcome. They are unwilling to admit that human rights
violations are occurring in China. Fortunately, the world knows
better thanks to groups like the Falun Gong practitioners,
Amnesty International, Freedom House and even the United Nations
Special Rappateur on Human Rights.
One can find all kinds of evidence including testimonials, video
footage, and other documentation to prove the gross human rights
violations perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party. In
addition, the very existence of a labor camp system in China
demonstrates the systematic nature of the human rights
violations.
Virtually everyone in the world knows what is going on, yet
China continues to deny the facts. One is reminded of the many
murderers throughout history that have committed terrible crimes
and yet proclaimed their innocence. They are met with justice.
But these are individuals in society and here we are talking
about a large group of people, the Chinese Communist Party,
acting in unison to perpetrate, hide and then deny their abuses.
It is harder to bring an entire group to justice or convince
them to change their behavior.
The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) numbers around 60 million
people. That is sixty million individuals that are willing to
deny in tandem any wrongdoing. It is similar to sixty million
criminals all proclaiming their innocence together at the same
time.
In Nazi Germany you had a smaller group of people who were able
to plunge the entire world into war and commit horrible human
rights violations. It could be said that they were an organized
group of thugs similar but perhaps not as vicious as the Chinese
Communist Party operating in China today. In fact the Chinese
Communist Party is responsible for far more deaths over the
decades than the Nazis were in their day.
The Nazis are gone but the Chinese Communist Party is still
operating, still grossly violating human rights and still
denying their own bad deeds at every turn. How long can
something like this go on? It could go on for a much longer
period of time, if people don't stand up and speak out against
the atrocities.
Staying in tune with the nonviolent means of achieving social
change in history, it becomes the duty of every individual in
the world to speak about the atrocities. As much and as often as
the CCP denies human rights violations every person should speak
out about them. With many more voices ringing with truth to
counter the lies of the CCP, ending the human rights violations
is an inevitable conclusion. However, it is a conclusion that
must come sooner rather than later because people are suffering.
To learn more about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners
in China visit the FalunInfo or the Clearwisdom websites for
additional information. A simple action that you can take today
to help in the spirit of nonviolence is to call the nearest
Chinese Embassy and say, "Stop persecuting Falun Gong
practitioners. Stop the human rights violations."
Change is inevitable. As an individual you have the ability to
help bring an end to the atrocities sooner rather than later.