0 commentsBack from New York City. It helps to have friends and things to do in a big city - otherwise, why would you go? I might answer that question in a few months.
Jakob took a camera phone picture for me in NYC this afternoon -
Speaking of friendly protesters - I met demonstrators across Manhattan on at least three separate occasions passing out printed information on China's persecution of the Falun Gong meditation practice (or cult, depending on who you ask). I couldn't understand why China would be so harsh towards these peaceful old people, so I looked it up.
Falun Dafa was introduced to the general public in 1992... It was popularised widely under the PRC government's supervision for 7 years.... In 1998, mainland China - number of practitioners were approx. 70-100 million.
In July 1999 the government decided to put a stop to its popularity and the practice of Falun Gong has been persecuted in mainland China ever since.
Most observers believe that the crackdown was due more to Falun Gong's organizational ability and potential to challenge the Communist Party of China rather than because of its ideology.
And so this makes sense, because the protesters I saw in NYC were very well organized and very passionate about their cause. The Falun Gong, if you remember, are also very skilled at hacking Chinese satellite TV compweekly.com, BBC
Last year I met an African American man who worked in China for most of the 1980's. He said, "We have enough trouble managing an American democracy with less than 300 million people. Can you imagine it with over one billion strong? I'm not saying that Communism is right, but logistically, I think it makes sense in their country."
On a lighter note, here is my favorite camera phone picture right now:
