SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Impassioned speeches asking Californians to stand together against tyranny were heard at the state Capitol on Aug. 31, when around 200 human rights activists gathered to show support for SJR 10—a state resolution that condemns the Chinese Communist Party for its ongoing persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners.
State legislators, as well as three survivors of the brutal persecution, implored Californians to stand together against the “egregious state-sponsored violence,” as one senator put it, that is now occurring in China.
On Aug. 29, the resolution had passed the judiciary committee hearing unanimously. But then on Sept. 1, the day following the rally, the state Senate unexpectedly voted to refer SJR 10 back to the rules committee—essentially blocking it from coming to a vote in the Senate.
Foreign Interference
The action appears to be the direct result of interference by the Chinese communist regime in American governmental affairs.
That day, members of the Senate received via email a threatening letter on the stationary of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco.
“We would like to urgently draw the attention of the California legislature to SJR-10,” the unsigned letter begins.
“This may deeply damage the cooperative relations between the state of California and China,” it continues.
Later, the letter points out the high level of trade between China and California, the great number of tourists from China who visit the state, and the fact that China is the largest source of foreign students who attend California’s colleges and universities.
Then it directly asks legislators not to support the resolution, “so as not to sabotage the friendship and sustainable development between California and China.”
The author of the resolution, Republican state Sen. Joel Anderson, knew that passing an official condemnation of China’s human rights abuses would not be easy.
At the rally, Anderson said: “I proudly stand here with everyone to condemn the Chinese government for their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. ... It takes great courage to stand up against persecution, to stand up against one of the greatest nations in the world—China—and to call them out for their practice of harvesting organs and the genocide they have created against Falun Gong. Together, we’ve taken our first steps toward defending freedom and human rights.”
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that consists of performing gentle exercises and living by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. First brought to the public in 1992, it spread rapidly throughout China, and by 1999, there were 70 million to 100 million people practicing.
Fearing its popularity—there were more Falun Gong practitioners than members of the Communist Party—then Chinese leader Jiang Zemin banned the practice and enlisted the nation’s entire security complex, media, and judiciary to participate in a massive persecution campaign that continues today.
Organ Harvesting
The persecution over the past 18 years has amounted to genocide. At the rally, Anderson used this weighty word and called for it to be stopped.
“In World War II, there were deniers who said the Holocaust didn’t exist, who said it wasn’t happening. We now know that the Holocaust happened and that millions of Jews lost their lives. I will not stand by and watch millions of Falun Gong practitioners lose their lives,” Anderson said.
“If you feel strongly and you believe that nobody should be persecuted or executed for their body parts because they practice a faith, then you need to call your legislator and tell them that they need to stop genocide in China,” he said.
Anderson was referring to the murder of Falun Gong practitioners to supply China’s flourishing organ transplantation industry.
In July 2006, former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) David Kilgour and international human rights lawyer David Matas released a report, “Bloody Harvest,“ which investigated allegations that Chinese state institutions were ”harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners, killing the practitioners in the process.”
Kilgour and Matas determined that the allegations were true.
