By Josh Kastrinsky
[email protected]
Reporter-Times, IN
Tuesday May 15,
2007
Martinsville
http://www.reporter-times.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=70646&format=html
An Indianapolis group has begun a statewide tour to advocate against the actions allegedly occurring in China against practitioners of the religious practice of Falun Gong. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of refining the body and mind through special exercises and meditation, according to www.falundafa.org.
Joe and Lixuan Tackett, two members of the group, stopped by the Reporter-Times as part of the first leg of its tour to discuss the group's goals and raising awareness.
Q: What is the goal for the tour about Falun Gong and the alleged human rights abuses?
A: What we're doing is raising awareness ... Have you ever heard of something that's just so horrific that you can't believe it's true? It's a thing you don't hear much about. And worse, more and more businesses are doing business with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and nobody seems to be talking about organ harvesting.
We actually didn't start the tour, by no means; there were practitioners in Kansas, who practiced Falun Gong, they did a car tour (in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, Missouri). ... We're a very small group, but we're trying to do what we can.
(The goal) is to raise people's awareness of the persecution of the Falun Gong, but in doing so, if we can bring this to light, it will make them aware, make them talk. Because if people are aware, if you bring something evil out into the light, hopefully it will go away.
Q: How does this affect the United States?
A: Pittsburgh has a huge transplant center and many Chinese doctors who go there to get training or attend conferences and also a big transplant center in Cleveland. That's also probably mentioned in the recommendation of the report; bar those doctors from coming to the US for training or the international conferences.
Q: What are the alleged acts, and what proof is there of the occurrences?
A: Dave Kilgour and David Matas - one of them is a human rights lawyer in Canada, one is in Parliament, so these are pretty reputable. ... This doesn't prove that they're doing it, but it's not proving that they're not doing it, so it's a pretty unbiased report.
The issue of proof is difficult. Is there a problem with information campaign? No, first off, it's just one of those eye-opening, jaw-dropping subjects, 'are you kidding me?'-type of things, so we really haven't gotten anybody jumping in our faces arguing for the Chinese Communist Party
Q: What action do you hope to inspire from the campaign?
A: (We) just (want) to make people aware; the more it's known, the more it's aware, hopefully it will stop. ... If you are sitting there and you have to wait three to four years for a liver in the US or Canada, and you can go someplace, get a blood test and wait two weeks, does that tell you that, wait a minute, there's a pool of organs?
Q: What has the reaction been to this information nationally?
A: It's quite shocking ... last September, there was a congressional hearing held on this in D.C. ... the sad thing is, come 2008, we're all going to be sitting in front of the TV, watching the Beijing Olympics, with all the pomp and circumstance behind all these ... Is evil, just out and out evil, I mean it smacks of ... the 1936 Berlin Olympics - we're going to see all of this display, and everything is going to be grand and great, and people have no idea what's going on behind the scenes.
It's not just a human rights issue, it's a crime against humanity.