NEW YORK—A rally was held at noon on Sunday, Mar. 1, across the street from Chinese Consulate on West 42nd St. to support those who have renounced their membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. The number of those quitting the CCP now exceeds 50 million.
Lao Jingtao, a Chinese citizen, said “We need to keep spreading the Nine Commentaries. In the past decades in China, the Party has oppressed and manipulated the minds of the people, and then in turn they support [the CCP]. It can be said that the Chinese Communist party has brought the people countless disasters.” The Nine Commentaries referred to by Lao are a series of nine essays detailing the history and atrocities of the Chinese regime. The Nine Commentaries were written by editors of the Chinese language version of the Epoch Times and published in November 2004; since it has spread in China it has become a major impetus for Chinese citizens to quit the CCP. “We need to resist and reject this oppression,” he continued. “Every Chinese citizen should understand and realize what an evil practice it [the CCP] is. Quit this evil practice.”
Wang Zhiyuan, another speaker, said the lawlessness of the CCP regime, that they would arrest innocent people and not ones who really committed crimes, was absurd.
“If someone practices Falun Dafa, is that a crime? It’s not a crime, it’s his right,” he said. “If someone is a friend of someone who practices Falun Dafa, is he guilty of anything? He has that freedom! We need to come out and bravely stand up and resist [the CCP].”
The crowd then chanted to free Gao Zhisheng, stop the persecution of Falun Dafa, and that only without the CCP would there be a new China.
“The Epoch Times’ Quitting the CCP counter has shown that the people that have quit the Chinese Communist Party now amounts to over 50 million and this is a big event that signifies a new time,” Dr. Wang Wenyi, Executive Director of the foundation supporting Chinese people quitting the CCP said.
She added that the Party has committed countless injustices since coming to power, including the ruin of Chinese culture and continuous oppression through violent means, and more recently the prolonged persecution of Falun Dafa.
Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, is an ancient spiritual discipline that originated in China and became a popular form of “Qi Gong” in China in the 1990s. Though initially supported and practiced by high-level members of the CCP, it was outlawed in 1999 and its adherents have been brutally persecuted for nearly ten years.
“Quitting the CCP is what people can do to push China in a different direction; people need to do what they have the power to do to move China into a necessary reform,” Wang said.
The next speaker, Mr. Zheng, said that the Party deprived the Chinese people of their freedom.
“What kind of country does that? The CCP can’t represent the people of China; that is an outrage. We need to speak out and change the way we think, like the Falun Dafa practitioners, so our people can achieve real freedom, the freedom they deserve,” he said.
Wang Yun, a Falun Dafa practitioner who came to New York to work for New Tang Dynasty TV, spoke of her mother, who had been persecuted to death by the CCP for practicing Falun Dafa. She said that after her mother was taken into custody, it was two weeks before the family knew where she was, and by that time she was already in a concentration camp.
“I don’t understand why the CCP would be afraid of a 61-year-old woman who was just being a good person. My mother was a good person,” she said.
Wang said that after her mother started practicing Falun Dafa, a lot of her health problems disappeared, and her mother was very grateful and wanted to spread the word.
“Is that a reason [for arresting her]? Because she was being a good person?” she said. “Countless families have had their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, other family members arrested. If they won’t even let a 61-year-old woman go, would they let anyone else?”
Ms. Meng told another story of persecution. Her parents were arrested, beaten, forced to take medication meant for people with mental illnesses, drugged, and had to crawl to go to the bathroom. They also suffered other inhumane treatment under the CCP because they practiced Falun Dafa. Even the people who were not Falun Dafa practitioners but were living with them in China were arrested.
Lao Jingtao, a Chinese citizen, said “We need to keep spreading the Nine Commentaries. In the past decades in China, the Party has oppressed and manipulated the minds of the people, and then in turn they support [the CCP]. It can be said that the Chinese Communist party has brought the people countless disasters.” The Nine Commentaries referred to by Lao are a series of nine essays detailing the history and atrocities of the Chinese regime. The Nine Commentaries were written by editors of the Chinese language version of the Epoch Times and published in November 2004; since it has spread in China it has become a major impetus for Chinese citizens to quit the CCP. “We need to resist and reject this oppression,” he continued. “Every Chinese citizen should understand and realize what an evil practice it [the CCP] is. Quit this evil practice.”
Wang Zhiyuan, another speaker, said the lawlessness of the CCP regime, that they would arrest innocent people and not ones who really committed crimes, was absurd.
“If someone practices Falun Dafa, is that a crime? It’s not a crime, it’s his right,” he said. “If someone is a friend of someone who practices Falun Dafa, is he guilty of anything? He has that freedom! We need to come out and bravely stand up and resist [the CCP].”
The crowd then chanted to free Gao Zhisheng, stop the persecution of Falun Dafa, and that only without the CCP would there be a new China.
“The Epoch Times’ Quitting the CCP counter has shown that the people that have quit the Chinese Communist Party now amounts to over 50 million and this is a big event that signifies a new time,” Dr. Wang Wenyi, Executive Director of the foundation supporting Chinese people quitting the CCP said.
She added that the Party has committed countless injustices since coming to power, including the ruin of Chinese culture and continuous oppression through violent means, and more recently the prolonged persecution of Falun Dafa.
Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, is an ancient spiritual discipline that originated in China and became a popular form of “Qi Gong” in China in the 1990s. Though initially supported and practiced by high-level members of the CCP, it was outlawed in 1999 and its adherents have been brutally persecuted for nearly ten years.
“Quitting the CCP is what people can do to push China in a different direction; people need to do what they have the power to do to move China into a necessary reform,” Wang said.
The next speaker, Mr. Zheng, said that the Party deprived the Chinese people of their freedom.
“What kind of country does that? The CCP can’t represent the people of China; that is an outrage. We need to speak out and change the way we think, like the Falun Dafa practitioners, so our people can achieve real freedom, the freedom they deserve,” he said.
Wang Yun, a Falun Dafa practitioner who came to New York to work for New Tang Dynasty TV, spoke of her mother, who had been persecuted to death by the CCP for practicing Falun Dafa. She said that after her mother was taken into custody, it was two weeks before the family knew where she was, and by that time she was already in a concentration camp.
“I don’t understand why the CCP would be afraid of a 61-year-old woman who was just being a good person. My mother was a good person,” she said.
Wang said that after her mother started practicing Falun Dafa, a lot of her health problems disappeared, and her mother was very grateful and wanted to spread the word.
“Is that a reason [for arresting her]? Because she was being a good person?” she said. “Countless families have had their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, other family members arrested. If they won’t even let a 61-year-old woman go, would they let anyone else?”
Ms. Meng told another story of persecution. Her parents were arrested, beaten, forced to take medication meant for people with mental illnesses, drugged, and had to crawl to go to the bathroom. They also suffered other inhumane treatment under the CCP because they practiced Falun Dafa. Even the people who were not Falun Dafa practitioners but were living with them in China were arrested.
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