The persecution of Falun Gong, which started in July 1999, has changed Chinese society and the international community greatly in four short years. Although the tortures and violence suffered in China's detention facilities, labour camps, and brainwashing centres are unimaginably gruesome, archaic, and terrifyingly creative, they pale in comparison to the damaging effect that the hate propaganda has played in waging this persecution.

By forming an extra-governmental body to oversee the systematic eradication of Falun Gong in China, every aspect of the society could be not only monitored, but also utilized to move Falun Gong practitioners out of their communities and into torture camps. Albeit frightening and detrimental to use federal to municipal offices, military personnel to public security forces, hospitals to mental health facilities, elementary schools to post-secondary institutions, etc. to attack the nation's citizens, no aspect of society was used more viciously than the media.

A Washington Post report quotes a Chinese government advisor as identifying the three key factors in the persecution of Falun Gong to be "violence"; "brainwashing", or "intense study sessions"; and "a high-pressure propaganda campaign." The advisor explained, "Each aspect of the campaign is critical. Pure violence doesn't work. Just studying doesn't work either. And none of it would be working if the propaganda hadn't started to change the way the general public thinks." Be it newspapers, radio, television, or the arts, all were used to demonize the teachings of Falun Gong, its practitioners, and its founder.

In the month following the official ban on Falun Gong, the People's Daily (the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party) published 347 articles vilifying Falun Gong. This is more than ten per day in one newspaper alone. Meanwhile, other state-run newspaper, radio, and television media also participated in what the New York Times called "a deafening barrage of anti-Falun Gong publicity". A 24-part drama was recently produced as part of this unrelenting hate propaganda campaign, which has continued for over four years now.

This campaign has been used to:

1. Justify the persecution as a "protection" of Chinese people's human rights.
2. Deceive Chinese people into aiding in the persecution.
3. Quell international condemnation.

Any progress in achieving any of the above objectives, to even the smallest degree, is detrimental to saving people's lives in China. It furthers a nation-wide eradication campaign of a peaceful spiritual practice that teaches Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance.

By now, third-party investigations have addressed the credibility of such propaganda. Human Rights Watch (a U.S. non-government organization) said in a press release in New York on February 7, 2002: "China's efforts to equate the Falungong with terrorists are ludicrous... The charge that Falungong threatens the stability of China does not hold up. Its claim that belief in Falungong is a public health menace is equally bogus. The danger to health comes from the treatment its practitioners receive at the hands of the police and prison officials."

Yet that was not always the understanding of third-party observers, and even today it is not the understanding with everyone. When the persecution of Falun Gong began, many individuals, media bodies, and governments around the world believed that practitioners were, in fact, a group that exists to twist the minds of its followers and take part in an extensive list of behaviours and deeds that endanger lives and undermine the fabric of society.

Despite investigations by reputable human rights organisations and four-plus years of peaceful, non-violent, and compassionate resistance, there are still government officials and good people in our society questioning practitioners' conviction.

This too is a result of the hate propaganda. When the former Chairman of China, Jiang Zemin, traveled to North America, he accused Falun Gong's founder of claiming to be the reincarnation of Jesus. In Asia, the founder is accused of claiming to be the reincarnation of Buddha. He has, in fact, never made either claim, and has even affirmed both to be untrue. Falun Gong's teachings are distorted and quoted out of context with added meanings. Falun Gong has been associated with terrorists, spreading anthrax and SARS, the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo (responsible for the Tokyo subway gassing), and many others.

All material about Falun Gong that comes from any official source in China is persecutory in nature. It is controlled by the former Chairman, who began the persecution and will lose all power, status, and possibly his life if he is publicly held accountable for his crimes. Regardless of what you hold dear or oppose and fear, once Jiang Zemin and his followers understand your interests they will paint Falun Gong in opposition to you.

This is most clearly illustrated in how the persecution of Falun Gong is communicated to the international community at large, as a "protection of human rights." With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and an international annual summit to foster and develop respect in our society, it is clear that the world has developed to a point where it is scarred by past human rights atrocities. Furthermore, it declares the need to protect and enshrine human rights. Yet this is used to justify further human rights violations and crimes against humanity.

People's good conscience to oppose wrongdoing and evil and to protect goodness in society is fundamental for our morality and essential for the preservation of a civilized world. Coercing people's good conscience to oppose or hate good people has fuelled genocide in the past and instigates great conflicts and suffering. Distorting people's good conscience into distrusting innocent people or refraining from opposing the crimes they suffer is numbing indignation towards crimes against humanity. All of this is distorting people's wish to maintain morality into a tool for oppression and eradication.

Creating hatred and fuelling persecution can only have damaging effects on international security. When nothing is done to stop it, it has terrible effects on morality. When the persecution and coercion that is taking place in the world's most populous nation, when it is taking place in a nation the international community is trying to embrace and welcome as an equal, what are the ramifications?