The New York Times reports of people getting ambushed by a sneaky Falun Gong performance at Radio City Music Hall:
Before long came a ballet piece in which three women were imprisoned by a group of officers, and one was killed. At the end of the number, more members of the audience, in twos and fours and larger groups, began to walk out. At intermission, dozens of people, perhaps a few hundred, were leaving.
Apparently, this part of the program wasn’t advertised:
Advertisements for the show, which have appeared on Metro-North trains and in The New York Times, among other places, make no mention of Falun Gong. Nor do the show’s Web site or the brochures being handed out on Manhattan sidewalks. The brochures include what appears to be an endorsement quotation from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg: “Brings to life the rich traditions of ancient China right here in the Big Apple.”
However, a spokesman for the mayor, John Gallagher, said that Mr. Bloomberg had neither seen the show nor praised it, and that the quotation may have been taken from a greeting card Mr. Bloomberg sent to Chinese-American organizations in which he saluted Chinese New Year celebrations in general.
The Chinese Embassy, shockingly, comes out sounding downright, um, reasonable and accurate:
In a statement, the Chinese Embassy criticized the network for trying to “inveigle the public into watching the show,” and said, “The truth is that the so-called ‘galas’ were nothing but a sheer political tool used by ‘Falun Gong’ organization to spread cult and anti-China propaganda.”
But the New York Times ends on this interesting quote:
Joe Wei, national editor of the World Journal, a Chinese-American newspaper that is based in Queens and that takes no position on the practice and its teachings, said he saw one of the group’s shows about one year ago and detected no Falun Gong imagery. “This would be a major change,” he said. “I don’t know why they want to do this.”
Uh, Joe? It was the same last year. You might want to think back…
Falun Gong Show Called Propaganda
Oakland Tribune January 20, 2007…Performances of the popular “Chinese New Year Spectacular” are being held at high-profile venues in 28 cities worldwide, including Radio City Music Hall in New York City and San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, where audience members paid up to $168 per ticket earlier this month.
The variety show, now in its fourth year and themed “Myths and Legends,” features singers, musicians and dancers in elaborate costumes and celestial settings. Several segments reference Falun Gong’s spiritual beliefs and persecution in China. One dance depicts a practitioner who is jailed, beaten and killed by Chinese policemen who are later punished by supernatural beings.
All of it is the same, including “endorsements”:
The show’s program features letters of support from a long list of American officials, including Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Aides for Schwarzenegger and Boxer said they had simply responded to requests for Chinese New Year greetings, and hadn’t seen the show and weren’t aware of its Falun Gong connections.
Sneaking political content into Chinese New Years performances? Gosh, who else would do something like that? Yknow, I think Americans should go see this show at Radio City. They’d actually be getting a more genuine modern Chinese experience than they realize.
* I missed the CCTV snore-a-thon this evening, but I’m willing to bet they stuck in an extra special something about collectivism in the face of adversity due to the recent weather problems. Can anybody tell me if they had any ham-handed messages of old school socialist unity?
Palm, Falun Gong’s controversy is somethine we in the community are well aware of.
In addition to receiving financial support from various Falun Dafa Associations, Falun Gong media have also received funding from faction of US Congress that’s considered “Blue Team” China hawks.
Most notably The Friends of Falun Gong, a quasi-government organization started by Congressman Tom Lanto’s wife, Annette Lantos, and operated by Ambassador Mark Palmer, one of the co-founders of NED:
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2001/134/145/2001-134145670-1-9.pdf (page 4, list of directors)
FoF’s non-profit filings over the years show that millions were given to various Falun Gong media outlets:
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/134/145/2005-134145670-028e40ed-9.pdf
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2004/134/145/2004-134145670-01d39938-9.pdf
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2003/134/145/2003-134145670-1-9.pdf
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2002/134/145/2002-134145670-1-9.pdf
Hey Bobby, I’ll check those links out.
Which community do you mean by “we”?
Dave, I mean the Asian-American community.
I thought you might be interested in reading this piece about Bobby Fletcher/Charles Liu who’s commented on your blog. He’s been all over the blogosphere discrediting the organ harvesting report and slandering Falun Gong. We, in the West, know about him! Have a look.
Western Standard (Alberta): Sowing Confusion; Embarrassed by reports of live organ harvesting, China’s sympathizers launch a high-tech disinformation campaign
http://organharvestinvestigation.net/media/WesternStandard_040907.htm
http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=2436
http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/article.php?id=2436
April 9, 2007 Monday
Final Edition
HEADLINE: Sowing Confusion; Embarrassed by reports of live organ harvesting,
China’s sympathizers launch a high-tech disinformation campaign
BYLINE: Kevin Steel, Western Standard
He posts his messages everywhere under several different names on Internet blogs and discussion groups. He writes letters to the editor anywhere and sends e-mails to anyone–anyone who might take seriously shocking evidence that the Chinese government “harvests” and sells live organs from political prisoners. His main message is that the Falun Gong–the group which first brought evidence of live organ harvesting to light–and the Epoch Times newspaper that broke that story are spreading propaganda against China’s Communist government. And he’s not even Chinese. He is Charles Liu, a 40-year-old Taiwanese-born technology consultant who lives in Issaquah, Wash., and does business in China.
Liu has been so active and so pro-Beijing in his writings that some Falun Gong supporters–in particular Epoch Times reporter Jana Shearer–have accused him of being an agent for the Chinese government, waging a disinformation campaign against them, trying to confuse people, and deliberately wasting everyone’s time.
It’s a charge that upsets Liu, who dismisses it as “a bunch of kooky friends making unfounded accusations. It’s just a bunch of blog BS.” As for why he devotes so much energy to attacking the Falun Gong and the organ harvesting allegations, he says, “My position is that I simply don’t agree with their brand of politics, because I observed their politics turning from anti-Communist party, to anti-China, . . . and recently it’s morphed into this anti-Chinese hysteria and that’s going to be hurting people,” he says. As an Asian-American, he says he decided to speak up.
He doesn’t really explain, when asked, why he started a blog last year called “The Myth of Tiananmen Square Massacre” under the name of Bobby Fletcher (one of his online aliases, which he also uses to comment on the Western Standard’s online blog). On that blog, he pushes the minimal 250 casualty figure that the Chinese government has always maintained died that night in 1989 (more reliable estimates put the figure at at least ten times that).
Liu’s actions mirror disinformation campaigns waged by the Chinese government in the past. Typically, these include the deliberate spreading of false or misleading facts to sow confusion or doubt among the conflicting accounts. The classic example is the Tiananmen Square massacre; the Chinese government has maintained that no one died in the square itself, that there was only pushing and shoving on the streets around the square, resulting in a few military casualties. Overseas, the CCP relies on its United Front Work department, part of the Chinese intelligence service, to propagate its message. During the Cold War, the Soviets employed many overseas flunkies through their Disinformation Department.
Former Canadian MP David Kilgour, who co-authored a report on China’s macabre organ harvesting industry, has received many propaganda e-mails from Liu. For instance, Liu has written repeatedly that a U.S. congressional committee looked into the organ harvesting allegations and found nothing.
“[David] Matas and I gave evidence to that subcommittee and got support from both the Republican chairman and the Democratic vice-chair,” says Kilgour. “I just came to the conclusion he was trying to waste my time, and I have other things to do.”
Winnipeg-based human rights lawyer, and Kilgour’s co-author, David Matas, really doesn’t know what to make of Liu. “I don’t know who he is, but what he does is spend a lot of time replicating nonsense to defend the Chinese government,” Matas says.
The only concern Matas has is that Liu seems to know who he and Kilgour met with in the United States to discuss their report. Matas discovered Liu had sent e-mails to politicians–and their staff–prior to the meetings. “The only people who would have that information would potentially be the Chinese government. I can’t imagine how Liu would know we were meeting with those people,” Matas says. “We’re not super-secretive, but you can’t find information on the Internet or in any public place about who we’re meeting with, where and when.” He himself has received at least 10 e-mails from Liu, all of which he’s ignored. Maybe Matas is onto something with that approach.
GRAPHIC:
Colour Photo: CP, Dave Cahn; David Kilgour (left) and David Matas, co-authors of a report on China’s organ harvesting industry: How does Liu know who they’re meeting with?
LOAD-DATE: March 29, 2007
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74819?author_name=Makina&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false#comment189655