(Minghui.org) Government officials and community leaders held a rally in Sydney, one of the largest cities in the Southern Hemisphere, on February 17, 2022, to celebrate the over 390 million people who have renounced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations.
At Martin Place, known as Sydney’s “civic heart,” in the city’s central business district, participants commended the “Quitting the CCP” movement as one of the most important peace initiatives in the world today. Some thanked Falun Dafa practitioners for their efforts to raise awareness of the issue and called on people to be clear about the CCP’s agenda and reject the regime.
Falun Dafa practitioners demonstrate the exercises during the rally at Martin Place in Sydney on February 17.
Passersby find out about Falun Dafa and sign the petition to stop the persecution in China.
No One Can Stop the Spirit of Freedom and Truth
Professor Sev Ozdowski spoke at the event.
Sev Ozdowski, a professor and director of the Equity and Diversity Department at the University of Western Sydney and former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, pointed out that quitting the CCP organizations is one of the most important peace initiatives in the modern world. He also congratulated the organizers of the event and said that helping Chinese people to quit the CCP has been very successful.
“The Chinese Communist Party is a criminal organization. It is an organization that creates evil in China and is a threat to world peace,” Professor Ozdowski said at the rally. “Since seizing power decades ago, the regime has destroyed traditional culture, killed people, suppressed faith groups, harvested organs from Falun Gong practitioners, undermined Hong Kong’s democracy, and threatened Taiwan.”
Citing the words of Lech Walesa, former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ozdowski added, “This movement, this history's tsunami, as I deeply believe, nothing is able to stop anymore. No one can stop a spirit of freedom and truth.”
Tuidang Center: The CCP Is Leading the World to Destruction
Joanna Zhou from the Tuidang Center
Joanna Zhou, a representative of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP (also known as the Tuidang Center), said, “Many people have been awakened by the pandemic. They realize the CCP is vicious and it is leading the world to destruction.”
Ms. Zhou is happy to see that nearly 400 million Chinese around the globe have decided to sever ties with the CCP. She recalled the Chinese saying, “Good is rewarded with good and evil is punished.” She said, “Since the CCP has a track record of brutality and lies, including killing over 80 million citizens during peacetime, anyone associated with the regime could face an uncertain future.
“From another angle, quitting the CCP is also important for us to oppose such a vicious regime. It is a responsibility for every one of us,” she said. “When this chapter of history passes, we will be grateful we made the right choice at this critical moment.”
Universal Values
John Deller from the Falun Dafa Association in Australia
John Deller, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association in Australia, said, “The banner for the rally says, 'End the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party.' If you think this is a political rally, I ask you to think again. The key issue is compassion. Compassion is the foundation principle of Tuidang, Quit the CCP.
“After the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published by the Chinese Epoch Times in November 2004, Falun Gong practitioners helped to distribute it all over China. For the first time, Chinese people could hear and read the true history of China and the atrocities the CCP had committed against them. The CCP is an evil entity. It exists only because people get corrupted, bullied, or tormented, to give up their inner nature, their goodness, their compassion, their human decency.
“Human beings have a divine connection to the universe. Falun Gong teaches that the underlying qualities of the universe are Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance. It is compassion for fellow Chinese that drives Falun Gong practitioners to help people quit the CCP – so they do not suffer the fate awaiting the CCP. As more and more Chinese people realize the nature of the CCP, it is must end,” he said.
Law Professor: We Cannot Remain Silent
David Flint, professor and former head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, spoke at the rally.
David Flint is a professor emeritus of law as well as former chair of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Australian Press Council. He said, “It is inspiring to see so many Chinese people quit the CCP organizations.
“In most parts of the world, people have to wait for years for liver, heart, or kidney transplants. But the waiting time is much shorter in China. This is because the CCP is killing Falun Gong practitioners, Christians, and Uyghurs and selling their organs for profit. We cannot remain silent in the face of such brutality.
“Therefore, we should continue urging the U.S. and Australian governments to condemn the CCP for the atrocity and stop providing economic assistance. We should make sure nobody is elected to the federal government who is going to support this terrible (communist) regime,” he added.
Barrister: Good Will Prevail
Australian Barrister Sophie York
Ms. Sophie York, an Australian barrister and law lecturer at Sydney University, thanked practitioners for their efforts. She wanted to let the Chinese people know, “Although they still live under the CCP’s brutality, I will stand with them.”
Ms. York also listed some of the resolutions and bills that Australia has passed in recent years. “This indicates that the Australian government is aware and that it will not tolerate criminal activities, nor will it sell territorial sovereignty, compromise principles, or sacrifice freedom.”
But she believes that is not enough. To stop further infiltration by the CCP, Ms. York recommended passing a law to terminate foreign infiltration. “It should be implemented by corporations, firms, educational institutions, churches, the military, and political parties. That is, a legal system would be established to monitor and eventually stop infiltration by the CCP.”
Ms. York was glad to hear that more than 390 million Chinese people have already quit the CCP organizations. “That is wonderful. Congratulations on your effort! You know a tsunami is only little drops of water joined together until it becomes a massive, immeasurable force. Good will prevail in the end when good people get together.”
The CCP Brings Disasters to the World
Mehmet Obul, President of the Uyghur Association of Australia, talked about the harm caused by the CCP based on his own experience. He said that one of the biggest of the CCP’s crimes is suppressing Falun Gong. So many practitioners have been tortured in China with some killed for their organs.
Obul said he was in China when the CCP first started to persecute Falun Gong and witnessed how the CCP made up lies to defame the practice. In fact, the regime did not have bad things to say about Falun Gong—it simply resorted to massive propaganda campaigns to effectively brainwash the populace every day until Obul left in 2003. This is an example of how the CCP persecutes innocent people, including Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, and Uyghurs. He said that the regime ignored international human rights conventions and committed genocide.
Mehmet Obul, President of the Uyghur Association of Australia
Mr. Obul hopes that more people can recognize the CCP’s ruthlessness. Having lived in China for 39 years, he said that he and other Chinese people know what the regime is like, its policies and its secretiveness. “By infiltrating Western countries such as Australia, the CCP is not only an enemy of the Chinese but also brings disasters to the entire world. That is why people should unite to counter the regime.”
Thankful for Falun Gong
Andrew Wilson, former mayor of Parramatta
Andrew Wilson, former mayor of Parramatta, commended Falun Gong practitioners for sharing the practice with the public and raising awareness of their efforts to reject the CCP. “What a wonderful thing for China and what a wonderful thing for the world. I have great respect and affection for people who are able to do that,” he said.
He said that Falun Gong practitioners are good people who follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, following a path guided by the divine. Wilson thanked them for what they are doing for the community.
Support from Passersby
Pedestrians stopped to watch the rally and talked with practitioners for more information.
Many people stopped by the rally, listened to the information, and signed petitions to support Falun Gong. One woman stayed to hear the speeches from the beginning to the very end. She said that she had lost hope for society, but after hearing what these people said, she now saw a promising future.
It was the first time that Marcus Abram had ever heard about Falun Gong or the forced organ harvesting in China. He said that he would have expected more media coverage on this in Australia. “That would help the general public to know what is going on. And that would also help government officials to press the CCP to stop the persecution,” he said.
Dan Ruan said he had heard about the CCP’s forced organ harvesting in the past. “This is a hideous crime—no one should be killed like that.” He could not understand why a peaceful group like this would be suppressed. “In particular, freedom of belief should be respected. It is barbaric for the CCP to commit such a crime. We should call to stop the atrocity in China.”
Impressed by the peaceful practice and gentle exercises, Ruan said he would give Falun Gong a try. “After all, the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are something all of us should pursue,” he said.
Background: What Is Falun Dafa?
Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and learned the five gentle exercises have experienced uplifted health and well-being.
Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline's growing popularity as a threat to the CCP's atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.
Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years, though due to the difficulty of getting information out of China, the actual number is believed to be much higher. Many more have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.
There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.
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