igh-handed repression of the Falun has been conducted since late July, with the organisation being labelled as illegal and all its propaganda, books, practice or activities being banned This signals the most serious crackdown on dissidence throughout the country since the June Fourth crackdown in 1989.
The People's Daily, in its July 24 editorial, explained that "this is a severe ideological and political struggle, pertinent to the fundamental beliefs of us communists, pertinent to the fundamental ideological basis of the solidarity of the people of the whole country, and pertinent to the future and destiny of our Party and the state"
The question at issue here is not whether this is an exaggeration of the influence of Falun Gong, but how this reveals the gross fear of the CCP leadership towards what is destabilising its rule and probably bringing about "the end of the Party and the state": It is reported that Falun Gong activities began in 1992 and spread quickly in the span of a few years. Different versions give the number of practitioners of Falun Gong from tens of millions to 100 million. Li Baoku, Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs, quoted a figure of around 2 million.
It the same time, the A government report of the Falun Gong organisation showed a pretty extensive network, with 39 headquarters in the provincial capitals OT major municipalities of the autonomous regions, over 1,900 support stations in counties and cities all the country, and 28,000 venues of practice.
The government has waged a propaganda war against Falun Gong, denouncing it for its illegal and violent activities and harmful effects. There are many allegations, but here are just two examples.
The authorities allege that from April 1998 to July 1999, there were 19 cases in which crowds gathered to "besiege and attack" government offices and propaganda institutions.
Another allegation is that Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, amassed wealth equivalent pen after Li Hongzhi and his to US$150,000 in 1993 and 1994 through selling books and teaching the Falun Gong practice.
From the official allegations, it may be surmised that the Falun Gong is seen as a threat because it is not a religion that the CCP feels it can contain and control. On the contrary, CCP members and even high-ranking officials have been recruited into the ranks of the Falun Gong sect.
What the CCP cannot tolerate is that on April 25 this year, without any warning, over 10,000 practitioners of Falun Gong "besieged" Zhongnanhai to demand recognition of its legality. The Falun Gong leaders and representatives, according to the Reuters report of July 25, were current or retired high-ranking officials.
It is difficult to tell the size of the Falun Gong membership among CCP members and cadres. It was reported that in Shijiazhuan, Hebei Province, 1,200 current or retired cadres above the rank of department chief were under house arrest in the suburbs to learn and study Party central documents, and the next phase was to order 3,000 rank-and-file Party members and cadres to withdraw from the Falun Gong sect.
The popularity of Falun Gong shows The high the extent of handed general social polarisation, repression drives unemployFalun Gong ment, disillusionment and underground and accumulating antagonises it grievances.
The high handed repression drives it underground and antagonises it. The lack of confidence that the CCP will manage to crack down and eliminate the opposition can be seen in the end of the Party document to all Party members forbidding any practice of Falun Gong: "All levof Party structures should fully recognize the complexity and arduousness of this struggle"
"There should be adequate estimate of what may possibly hapFalun Gong are being revealed and criticised"... "There should be serious preparations, watching out for developments, and in case ot serious happenings, they should be promptly discovered, reported, controlled and resolved in order to secure social and political stability"
The anxiety behind the warning forebodes an acceleration of the crisis of the CCP rule despite the repression of Falun Gong.
Such anxieties are also expressed in the CCP's crackdown on dissidents before and after the tenth anniversary of June Fourth. According to the China Human Rights and Democratic Movement Information Centre, about 140 dissidents were arrested by the police for their preparatory work in commemorating the June Fourth anniversary.
In Hanzhou city, 100 members of the Democratic Party applied to hold a commemorative gathering in a public park: the application was rejected, and about 20 people were arrested; still about 50 people gathered in the pavilion of the park for the commemoration.
In Sichuan Province, 45 dissidents, against the warning of the authorities, conducted hunger strike at home and held a candlelight vigil. In Liaoning Province, 100 dissidents jointly applied to hold a candlelight vigil on June 4th.
•n Hong Kong which was returned to China's • sovereignty after July 1997, which still remains the only place in China where a candlelight vigil can be held in public, the tenth anniversary drew an impressive 70,000 people.
In the gathering, chants of "Rehabilicratic Movement, Pursue Responsibility for the Massacre, End One-Party Dictatorship, Build Democratic China" were shouted. Outside China, thousands of people joined gatherings or demonstrations in major cities in the US, Canada and England. As for the signature campaign initiated by Wang Dan, the 1989 student leader, 100,000 signatures had been collected by early June. The signature campaign will continue until October 1, the fiftieth anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
Thus, despite repression, resistance and protests continue. On The 1989 crackdown on the Democracy Movement (above and left) has left space for bizarre religious cults instead. May 24, the families of 105 deceased in the June Fourth crackdown jointly filed a lawsuit to the Supreme People's Procuratorate against high ranking officials, including former premier Li Peng, and others such as Yuan Ми, Li Ximing, Chen Xitong, and Yang Baibing, for their criminal liability in the June Fourth crackdown.
After the effort of a decade, the families, led by Ding Zilin, professor from the People's University in Beijing, whose only son was killed during the June Fourth crackdown, had managed to identify the families of over 160 deceased and about 70 handicapped during the June Fourth crackdown. The lawsuit was politically explicit and audacious. It was rejected by the court, but a political statement had been made.
Lord Robertson of Kosovo ПРОМЕНЕ Harry Sloan T MAY have left thousands dead, industries and transport links in ruins and a deadly legacy of unexploded cluster bombs and radioactive shells, bomb-casings and bullets scattered across a polluted landscape, but the NATO bombing of Serbia has been good for one man: George (now Lord) Robertson. The Defence Secretary whose endless willingness to excuse NATO's blundering attacks on embassies, trains, coaches and other civilian targets matched even that of NATO's PR chief Jamie Shea, is said to have had a "good war". So good was his performance for the imperialist alliance that he has now won unanimous selection as NATO's Secretary General, where he can oversee more and bigger bombing campaigns into the new millennium. Robertson's appointment is further evidence of the way in which Tony Blair's New Labour party is pushing back all of the conventional boundaries and replicating itself as a born-again Conservative Party.
Of course he is far from the first politician eagerly to embrace the imperialist goals and objectives of the NATO alliance, which was founded to fight communism in the midst of the Cold War 50 years ago, with eager support from Labour's then Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin.
But he is the first British Labour politician to take charge recently Cruise missiles in bases in England and Scotland. In return, NATO has cultivated a loyal right wing layer of trade bureaucrats and politicians for whom the goals of containing communism and supporting the US notion of "democracy" outweighed any notional commitment to socialism or internationalism. George Roßertson was certainly never troubled by any socialist principles. Born into what is politely termed "a police family", he has always opposed unilateral nuclear disarmament, and has not a shred of radicalism to conceal in his political past. This total lack of any scruple or internationalist sentiment stood Robertson in good stead during the Kosovo conflict. It enabled him to act as the most craven apologist for the US bombardment, even • while other NATO governments - notably Greece, Italy France and Germany - expressed growing levels of concern and tried behind the sceneso prevent any further escalation of the bombing.
The brownie points he scored for this have clearly been the decisive factor in winning over Washington support for Robertson's appointment to a post which in recent years has been held by a token European as a means of distracting attention from the overwhelming level of US control. Interestingly, the outgoing NATO secretary general, Spain's strict limits on the range of targets which the 19 NATO coun tries agreed should be "legitimate" targets for bombs and missiles. In particular there was no agreement to allow the bombing of "Phase Three" targets such as power stations and buildings in central Belgrade linked to Milosevic's state machinery. In theory any decision to escalate to this level required a unanimous vote from all 19 NATO members.
But on March Solana together with supreme commander General Wesley Clark and General Naumann told NATO ambassadors that the original phased plan had been discarded -challenging anyone to disagree. Immediately afterwards NATO bombers struck Milosevic's presidential palace, the party HQ and Serbian TV stations.
Robertson has clearly convinced his US sponsors that he is the man to front up similar aggressive behaviour, and not a man troubled by the toll of civilian casualties that result from striking obvious civilian targets.
Nor did he ever give credence to the key delusion of some on the left who went along with the NATO bombing - that the war was being waged to free the people of Kosovo. In every interview Robertson was adamant that Kosovo would not be independent, and that the KLA would be disarmed as soon as the conflict ended. Now, as a new round of ethnic Opposition to Slobodan Milosevic's increasinglybeleagured regime has continued to grow both within Serbia itself and in the remaining parts of the rump "Yugoslavia". The next issue of Socialist Outlook will carry a full assessment of the situation after the war. cleansing begins under the passive gaze of K-for "peace-keepers", the similarities between the NATO intervention in Kosovo and the 1969 British army intervention in the north of Ireland become even more striking.
As the mayhem continues, Mr Roberston is one of the few to emerge smiling from the rubble. Sounding like a Miss World conlestall, Robertson claimed as news of his impending appointment leaked that his objective was to work for "world peace". But his dogged commitment to the capitalist system and to its most vicious defenders - the US government - means that Robertson is likely to be a figurehead for further military aggression for years to come.
ПОСТАВКЕ Fitting reward for stooge without scruples