December 13, 2003

By Robert Fulford

National Post

The government in Beijing wants the 2008 Olympics to do for China what the 1964 Olympics did for Japan: Display the country's best qualities and prove that it deserves a place in the family of nations. This means that the Olympics offer a once-in-a-century opportunity to anyone hoping to nudge China toward freedom. Assuming that Chinese human rights remain at their present level, international activists could make the Olympics an occasion to reveal all the grim details. Or perhaps, by simply making a credible threat to humiliate China in 2008, they could encourage long-term improvements.

Members of Falun Gong are the most famous among the several classes of officially persecuted Chinese. The government has made their spiritual practice illegal, on the dubious grounds that they constitute a dangerous, superstition-spreading cult that jeopardizes social stability. Translated, this means Chinese leaders can't live with an organization, however innocent, that's beyond political control. Falun Gong members have been beaten, tortured, sent to work camps, and imprisoned in mental hospitals. All over the world they stand silently outside Chinese consulates and embassies, living symbols of opposition to a regime that smugly believes it can get away forever with arbitrary cruelty. In their vigils the Falun Gong [appeal], peacefully, for help from the part of humanity that's free.

They deserve support. Why shouldn't the athletes of the world, who will probably contribute to China's prestige in 2008, adopt the Falun Gong as their personal cause? They could begin by indicating sympathy through frequent visits to Falun Gong vigils. They could write letters of support to members imprisoned in China, request talks on the Falun Gong with every Chinese diplomat in the world, and raise the subject whenever meeting Chinese officials for any reason.

They could announce that if China doesn't change its ways, they'll march into the Beijing Olympic Stadium on opening day in 2008, congregate on the field, and perform slow-movement meditation in the style of Falun Gong while several billion TV viewers look on. (They could start practicing it at athletic meets right now, as a sign of solidarity.) To do all this they wouldn't need permission from their governments, just silent assent.

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