The Chinese regime’s abhorrent practice of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners is unprecedented in history. Never before have people been persecuted for their spiritual beliefs and then killed to fuel a lucrative business in such a manner and to such a scale. For 18 years, the international community has received news and information about this evil industry, yet has not fully recognized the horror. How did we get to this point?
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not come to power by vote of the Chinese people; the Party grabbed power in China when conditions allowed. Technically, the Chinese people are being held hostage by the CCP, a typical pattern in authoritarian societies. Thus, having come to power by unnatural forces, the CCP has one fear: What if the Chinese people realize that their freedom was stolen? In a state of paranoia, the regime has taken all kinds of actions to prevent that from happening. The one-party state has to ensure that non-CCP opinions never reach the ears and eyes of the Chinese people.
The CCP is intolerant to the core. Instead of abiding by international regulations, the CCP is instead changing those regulations to meet its own standards. Unsurprisingly, the CCP could not accept Falun Gong’s spiritual tenets of tolerance and forbearance.
In order to eradicate independence of thought, the CCP has had to resort to force and oppression. The 1989 student democracy movement in China is probably the most famous example in recent history that illustrates the lengths the CCP is willing to go to in suppressing another opinion. The June 4 protest ended in a massacre of at least 3,000 students, the same number of people killed in 9/11. The use of deadly force against its own people reveals another feature of the CCP: ruthless brutality. Naturally, the CCP could not tolerate Falun Gong’s spiritual tenets of compassion and benevolence.
A totalitarian regime still depends on the people that it oppresses. It needs farmers, workers, policemen, soldiers, and families for the future of the country. But if the people realize that they are oppressed, or held hostage, that non-party-line opinions are prohibited, and that there is state-sanctioned brutality, then the society becomes unstable. It becomes paramount for the regime to control news and information so that the truth does not reach the people. Information about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre cannot be found on Chinese internet search engines. Unsurprisingly, the CCP could not accept Falun Gong’s spiritual tenets of truth and honesty.
Falun Gong has been subjected to a brutal persecution by the Chinese regime since 1999 simply because its practitioners live by moral values that the CCP is afraid of. From the perspective of the CCP, Falun Gong practitioners are enemies of the state—probably the most peaceful enemies of a state in the history of the world, as they did not get involved in the regime’s business. But the CCP would not be the CCP if it didn’t deploy misinformation, lies, and brutal methods.
In the eyes of the CCP, Falun Gong practitioners do not deserve the protection of laws and the constitution. They are a living “mass of bodies” subject to forced labor and torture. Forced labor is profitable; torture and death are a way to eradicate “unwanted” citizens. The CCP decided to combine the two: Turn the “unwanted” into a profitable source of transplant organs, killing them in the process.
In a communist society, criticizing forced organ harvesting is impossible, as it is illegal to question the state. Any ethical concerns about it are suffocated, as there is no room for compassion. And any reporting about it is silenced or twisted, as truth is an enemy of the Party.
Forced organ harvesting is a fruit of communism. It is not an abuse limited to China. The abuse of the organ transplant industry could occur in any communist or authoritarian society as a method to eradicate anything that could remind the people—the hostages—that there is goodness beyond communism.
In July, S.4914 was introduced to the Senate. The bill is a moderate attempt to curb forced organ harvesting in China. If passed before the end of the year, it would give hope to those who are now treated as expendable, profitable biomass in China. Passing S.4914 would express care and compassion for those who don’t have a voice to speak for themselves, and it would send a strong reminder to the CCP and the international community that killing people for their beliefs is criminal.
