Nonviolence for Social Change

Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated peaceful nonviolence to change ailing social systems. They and their followers were able to successfully change the social conditions of their times. Recently, a lawyer in China named Gao Shizheng has called for symbolic ongoing hunger strikes across China to support people who have encountered violence and ongoing persecution perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party which currently rules China.

For over six years now, since July of 1999, the peaceful Falun Gong practitioners have used nonviolent actions to draw world attention to the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party. If past history is any indication, the Falun Gong practitioners and human rights advocates such as Gao Shizheng will be successful in the long run.

The Chinese Communist Party is a large stumbling block to overcome. They are unwilling to admit that human rights violations are occurring in China. Fortunately, the world knows better thanks to groups like the Falun Gong practitioners, Amnesty International, Freedom House and even the United Nations Special Rappateur on Human Rights.

One can find all kinds of evidence including testimonials, video footage, and other documentation to prove the gross human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party. In addition, the very existence of a labor camp system in China demonstrates the systematic nature of the human rights violations.

Virtually everyone in the world knows what is going on, yet China continues to deny the facts. One is reminded of the many murderers throughout history that have committed terrible crimes and yet proclaimed their innocence. They are met with justice. But these are individuals in society and here we are talking about a large group of people, the Chinese Communist Party, acting in unison to perpetrate, hide and then deny their abuses. It is harder to bring an entire group to justice or convince them to change their behavior.

The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) numbers around 60 million people. That is sixty million individuals that are willing to deny in tandem any wrongdoing. It is similar to sixty million criminals all proclaiming their innocence together at the same time.

In Nazi Germany you had a smaller group of people who were able to plunge the entire world into war and commit horrible human rights violations. It could be said that they were an organized group of thugs similar but perhaps not as vicious as the Chinese Communist Party operating in China today. In fact the Chinese Communist Party is responsible for far more deaths over the decades than the Nazis were in their day.

The Nazis are gone but the Chinese Communist Party is still operating, still grossly violating human rights and still denying their own bad deeds at every turn. How long can something like this go on? It could go on for a much longer period of time, if people don't stand up and speak out against the atrocities.

Staying in tune with the nonviolent means of achieving social change in history, it becomes the duty of every individual in the world to speak about the atrocities. As much and as often as the CCP denies human rights violations every person should speak out about them. With many more voices ringing with truth to counter the lies of the CCP, ending the human rights violations is an inevitable conclusion. However, it is a conclusion that must come sooner rather than later because people are suffering.

To learn more about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China visit the FalunInfo or the Clearwisdom websites for additional information. A simple action that you can take today to help in the spirit of nonviolence is to call the nearest Chinese Embassy and say, "Stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Stop the human rights violations."

Change is inevitable. As an individual you have the ability to help bring an end to the atrocities sooner rather than later.