By Jonathan Browde
Epoch Times New York Staff
Jan 22, 2006
NEW
YORK – A woman lies naked and bleeding profusely on the cold cement floor
of a Chinese forced labor camp. Her skin is so bruised and burnt from the electric
shocks inflicted by her torturers that she is almost unrecognizable.
The
smell of burning flesh is in the air.
Again, her torturers demand that
she renounce her faith and adopt the Chinese Communist ideology. As she has done
for the past three days of this "interrogation," she ardently refuses.
Exasperated, her captors roll out a television, put in a tape, and play
it.
Lifting her weary head from the floor, she peers up at the television.
The woman first sees the grandeur of New York City’s skyline. The video cuts to
a shot of Radio City Music Hall and then fades in to Radio City’s stage, where
what appears to be a grand performance is about to commence.
The woman’s
confusion at being shown such benign images quickly turns to horror as the performers
on the video begin singing "The Same Song" – a song that is used
throughout Chinese forced labor camps to celebrate when a victim of torture has
relented, agreeing to give up his or her beliefs and become obedient to the Communist
Party.
The woman’s head falls to the ground, and with it, the last of her
resolve.
Surely, she thinks to herself, if "The Same Song" is celebrated
in New York City on Radio City’s grand stage….surely what her captors tell
her is true.
The whole world is persecuting Falun Gong. We are alone. No one
cares if we live or die here.
Utterly defeated, the woman relents.
This
is precisely the scene that several U.S.-based human rights organizations, and
their attorneys, are seeking to prevent from ever happening by filing a civil
complaint against China Central Television
(CCTV) yesterday in New York.
According
to the Falun Dafa Information Center, which announced the lawsuit today, the complaint
filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
is "an action for compensatory and punitive damages against CCTV for its
intentional production, broadcast and dissemination of propaganda and other material
geared specifically to incite, aid and abet, authorize, order or instigate the
illegal arrest, prolonged arbitrary detention and severe mental and physical torture
and brainwashing of plaintiffs and persons similarly situated in China."
The Center says the complaint was filed by International Advocates for
Justice, World Organization for Human Rights (USA), and the Human Rights Law Project,
all of which are based in the United States.
Attorney Ms. Lana Han, who
represents the plaintiffs, says CCTV’s "Same Song" performance, set
to play at Radio City Music Hall on Monday, January 23, is a key component of
CCTV’s persecution of Falun Gong. "While it appears to be a benign pop tune
and a far cry from the forceful, Communist-style propaganda that the Chinese Communist
regime has directed at Falun Gong over the past six years," Han says, "it
is actually a key element of the torture campaign that is being waged in China.
Han explains that "The Same Song" is used in forced labor camps
throughout China amidst torture sessions as a way of celebrating the breaking
of a person’s spirit through intense brainwashing and brutal violence. "As
the victim succumbs to the torturers and pledges total allegiance to the Chinese
Communist Party, both torturer and victim alike must join in singing ‘The Same
Song,’" Han says.
In a statement released on Wednesday, January 18,
the New York Falun Dafa Association expressed grave concerns over how the Chinese
regime will use Monday’s planned "Same Song" performance at Radio City
Music Hall. In its statement, the Association said, "The Chinese Communist
Party will certainly film this show on Radio City’s grand stage so that it can
be turned into propaganda films and shown inside labor camps throughout China
to further terrorize torture victims, leading them to wrongly believe that even
in New York City, people celebrate the song that, for them, is synonymous with
brainwashing and horrific violence. This cannot be allowed. It is a demented and
totally unacceptable use of our theatre, our city, and our nation."
Still,
the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Dr. Terri Marsh, says the lawsuit is targeting
the broad spectrum of propaganda and "outright lies" that CCTV has propagated
against Falun Gong, and not just the use of "The Same Song."
According
to the Falun Dafa Information Center, CCTV makes no secret about its mission to
advance the cause of the Chinese Communist Party. CCTV’s own website states that
it "serves as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party and follows the
CCP’s plans and mandates as well as those of the Central Propaganda Department."
Marsh likened CCTV’s tactics to "those used in Nazi Germany, in Rwanda,
during the massacre of the Tutsi by the Hutu, and in Yugoslavia under Slobodan
Milosevic." Marsh explains, "In all of these massacres, not only is
the message always the same (‘Destroy them or they will destroy you’), but the
name of the mass crime that follows is genocide or ethnic cleansing , and now
we’re seeing something similar propagated against Falun Gong in China."
"CCTV
has effectively created a network of lies about Falun Gong that encourages and
incites the public, the police, and other security forces in China to subject
practitioners of Falun Gong to unlawful arrests and detention, illegal police
interrogation, torture as well as brutal forms of brainwashing and indoctrination
techniques to force practitioners to renounce their belief in the tenets of Falun
Gong," Marsh said.
The Falun Dafa Information Center says that since
the Chinese Communist regime first launched a nationwide campaign in 1999 to "eradicate"
the practice, the Center has verified details of 2,804 deaths and over 44,000
cases of torture. Millions have been detained with as many as two million sent
to forced labor camps.
"The role of CCTV in the persecution of Falun
Gong is broad and sinister,"
explains Marsh. "But a key component
of CCTV’s arsenal is ‘The Same Song’
show set to play at Radio City. Thus,
if it goes on, we will explore the possibility of additional persons being complicit
in the event. It is very likely others might be named alongside CCTV for aiding
and abetting the abuses perpetrated against Falun Gong."
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-1-22/37234.html
By Jonathan Browde
Epoch Times New York Staff
Jan 22, 2006
NEW
YORK – A woman lies naked and bleeding profusely on the cold cement floor
of a Chinese forced labor camp. Her skin is so bruised and burnt from the electric
shocks inflicted by her torturers that she is almost unrecognizable.
The
smell of burning flesh is in the air.
Again, her torturers demand that
she renounce her faith and adopt the Chinese Communist ideology. As she has done
for the past three days of this "interrogation," she ardently refuses.
Exasperated, her captors roll out a television, put in a tape, and play
it.
Lifting her weary head from the floor, she peers up at the television.
The woman first sees the grandeur of New York City’s skyline. The video cuts to
a shot of Radio City Music Hall and then fades in to Radio City’s stage, where
what appears to be a grand performance is about to commence.
The woman’s
confusion at being shown such benign images quickly turns to horror as the performers
on the video begin singing "The Same Song" – a song that is used
throughout Chinese forced labor camps to celebrate when a victim of torture has
relented, agreeing to give up his or her beliefs and become obedient to the Communist
Party.
The woman’s head falls to the ground, and with it, the last of her
resolve.
Surely, she thinks to herself, if "The Same Song" is celebrated
in New York City on Radio City’s grand stage….surely what her captors tell
her is true.
The whole world is persecuting Falun Gong. We are alone. No one
cares if we live or die here.
Utterly defeated, the woman relents.
This
is precisely the scene that several U.S.-based human rights organizations, and
their attorneys, are seeking to prevent from ever happening by filing a civil
complaint against China Central Television
(CCTV) yesterday in New York.
According
to the Falun Dafa Information Center, which announced the lawsuit today, the complaint
filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
is "an action for compensatory and punitive damages against CCTV for its
intentional production, broadcast and dissemination of propaganda and other material
geared specifically to incite, aid and abet, authorize, order or instigate the
illegal arrest, prolonged arbitrary detention and severe mental and physical torture
and brainwashing of plaintiffs and persons similarly situated in China."
The Center says the complaint was filed by International Advocates for
Justice, World Organization for Human Rights (USA), and the Human Rights Law Project,
all of which are based in the United States.
Attorney Ms. Lana Han, who
represents the plaintiffs, says CCTV’s "Same Song" performance, set
to play at Radio City Music Hall on Monday, January 23, is a key component of
CCTV’s persecution of Falun Gong. "While it appears to be a benign pop tune
and a far cry from the forceful, Communist-style propaganda that the Chinese Communist
regime has directed at Falun Gong over the past six years," Han says, "it
is actually a key element of the torture campaign that is being waged in China.
Han explains that "The Same Song" is used in forced labor camps
throughout China amidst torture sessions as a way of celebrating the breaking
of a person’s spirit through intense brainwashing and brutal violence. "As
the victim succumbs to the torturers and pledges total allegiance to the Chinese
Communist Party, both torturer and victim alike must join in singing ‘The Same
Song,’" Han says.
In a statement released on Wednesday, January 18,
the New York Falun Dafa Association expressed grave concerns over how the Chinese
regime will use Monday’s planned "Same Song" performance at Radio City
Music Hall. In its statement, the Association said, "The Chinese Communist
Party will certainly film this show on Radio City’s grand stage so that it can
be turned into propaganda films and shown inside labor camps throughout China
to further terrorize torture victims, leading them to wrongly believe that even
in New York City, people celebrate the song that, for them, is synonymous with
brainwashing and horrific violence. This cannot be allowed. It is a demented and
totally unacceptable use of our theatre, our city, and our nation."
Still,
the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Dr. Terri Marsh, says the lawsuit is targeting
the broad spectrum of propaganda and "outright lies" that CCTV has propagated
against Falun Gong, and not just the use of "The Same Song."
According
to the Falun Dafa Information Center, CCTV makes no secret about its mission to
advance the cause of the Chinese Communist Party. CCTV’s own website states that
it "serves as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party and follows the
CCP’s plans and mandates as well as those of the Central Propaganda Department."
Marsh likened CCTV’s tactics to "those used in Nazi Germany, in Rwanda,
during the massacre of the Tutsi by the Hutu, and in Yugoslavia under Slobodan
Milosevic." Marsh explains, "In all of these massacres, not only is
the message always the same (‘Destroy them or they will destroy you’), but the
name of the mass crime that follows is genocide or ethnic cleansing , and now
we’re seeing something similar propagated against Falun Gong in China."
"CCTV
has effectively created a network of lies about Falun Gong that encourages and
incites the public, the police, and other security forces in China to subject
practitioners of Falun Gong to unlawful arrests and detention, illegal police
interrogation, torture as well as brutal forms of brainwashing and indoctrination
techniques to force practitioners to renounce their belief in the tenets of Falun
Gong," Marsh said.
The Falun Dafa Information Center says that since
the Chinese Communist regime first launched a nationwide campaign in 1999 to "eradicate"
the practice, the Center has verified details of 2,804 deaths and over 44,000
cases of torture. Millions have been detained with as many as two million sent
to forced labor camps.
"The role of CCTV in the persecution of Falun
Gong is broad and sinister,"
explains Marsh. "But a key component
of CCTV’s arsenal is ‘The Same Song’
show set to play at Radio City. Thus,
if it goes on, we will explore the possibility of additional persons being complicit
in the event. It is very likely others might be named alongside CCTV for aiding
and abetting the abuses perpetrated against Falun Gong."
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-1-22/37234.html
Posting date: 23/Jan/2006
Original article date: 22/Jan/2006
Category:
Media Report
