Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Falun Gong practitioners outside the ASTS symposium

MARCO ISLAND, Fla.--While transplant surgeons attended a symposium at the Marriott Hotel on Marco Island, Falun Gong practitioners rallied outside to publicize the Chinese regime's organ harvesting atrocities.

The American Society of Transplant Surgeons held its winter symposium January 12-14, 2007. The symposium, themed solving the organ shortage crisis, centered topics on organ donors and ethics issues of organ transplants. Outside, about a dozen Falun Gong practitioners displayed banners and distributed flyers to passersby, including doctors who were participating in the symposium. Since live harvestings of Falun Gong practitioners' organs were exposed in March, 2006, a dark shadow had been cast onto organ transplant circle, as demands for organs from foreign countries may have put flames on the flourishing business of organ harvesting in China.

"Grim Harvest in China," "Rescue Falun Gong Practitioners -Jailed for Their Beliefs, Killed for Their Organs," the messages on the banners clearly stated the crimes happening in China.

Organ Harvesting Exposed

The world first learned about China's illicit organ harvesting practices after a Japanese journalist who had been on assignment in China revealed the existence of a labor camp where Chinese surgeons were cutting organs out of living Falun Gong practitioners, using only the smallest amount of anesthesia. The victims were then cremated, whether dead or still alive.

Shortly afterwards, the wife of a surgeon who had removed more than 2,000 corneas from living Falun Gong practitioners publicly confirmed the journalist's allegations.

In July 2006, human rights attorney David Matas and former Canadian MP David Kilgour published the findings of their independent investigation: "Report Into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China."

David Matas is an immigration and international human rights lawyer. David Kilgour formerly was a Canadian MP, a Canadian Secretary of State for the Asia Pacific region, and a Crown Prosecutor.

One of the first anomalies their research uncovered was the enormous increase in transplants in China in the past several years.

Prior to the banning of Falun Gong, and the subsequent arrest of hundreds of thousands of practitioners, China executed approximately 3,000 prisoners each year, and performed about the same number of transplants.

After the communist regime declared Falun Gong illegal in 1999, the number of transplants increased enormously, while the number of executions remained the same.

Kilgour and Matas found that more than 40,000 transplants had been performed with organs for which there was no identifiable, legitimate source.

When Kilgour and Matas' investigators called Chinese hospitals, doctors admitted that their transplant organs came from Falun Gong practitioners. One doctor said he was out of Falun Gong organs, and directed Kilgour and Matas to another hospital that would have some readily available.

The Kilgour-Matas report caused alarm among transplant surgeons around the world. The Transplant Society responded with a statement condemning the use of organs from executed prisoners. The Association of Transplant Surgeons featured the report in the September issue of its magazine, Transplant News.

The rally, which continued throughout the 3-day symposium, offered a chance for transplant surgeons and the general public to learn more about the regime's practice of warehousing Falun Gong prisoners of conscience as a living organ pool for communist China's booming transplantation industry, which it markets abroad.

While most of the surgeons who stopped by the rally were aware of the issue, few knew all the details outlined in the Kilgour-Matas report, which has confirmed the use of Chinese citizens incarcerated for practicing Falun Gong as the principle source of organs for China's lucrative transplant tourism.

"We want to share this information about China's organ harvesting with symposium attendees," explained a western practitioners organizing the event. "We hope that when the surgeons know the whole story they will get involved through their professional organizations, and maybe through the U.S. government."

"We had 10 or 15 practitioners out here each day of the symposium," she continued. "We are all volunteers--we came from all across the state to participate."

The majority of the surgeons who stopped by had heard about China's organ harvesting abuses and were supportive of the efforts to stop them. "As the doctors learn more, they see that the Chinese regime's practice of organ harvesting affects them on a professional level, and they also begin to feel it on a personal level," A practitioner said.

Many surgeons who stopped by the rally expressed shock and dismay at the extent of the atrocities being committed in the organ harvesting industry in China.

Two doctors from the Netherlands had heard of the abuses in China but had not realized the scale. "We have to go back to the Netherlands and discuss this," said one.

The other commented on problems that arise because Chinese hospitals cannot provide the level of care that patients in the Netherlands are used to. He explained that when patients come back with complications from surgery in China, "We have to take care of them--we have to," despite the fact that they abhorred the process by which the patients obtained the organs.

The first doctor added that transplantation has been viewed as a life-saving science. He feared that when the general public learns of the Chinese regime's illicit practices, their perception of organ transplantation might be "turned completely around."

A group of surgeons from the New England Organ Bank said that they were aware of the situation in China and that their organization would be working with the World Health Organization to address the issue.

A surgeon said when he was asked his impression of the symposium that even China has promised to stop using prisoners' organs and to monitor its over 500 transplant centers established after 2000. As an authoritarian state, can it monitor itself? He expressed concern on organ tourism.

Marco Island is a quiet town but many visitors and local resident passed the hotel and accepted information from practitioners. Workers working on hotel renovations graciously offered help and found time to listen to practitioners explain what is happening in China.

One lady stopped her car and asked why the US government did not take steps to stop this heinous crime. She said she would write to her representative.

A gentleman in his eighties driving a expensive antique car came back after accepting our information and asked for a dozen copies of all the information we had. He planned to distribute the information to his friends.

A local newspaper came to interview practitioners and published a report the next day. On the second day, many residents said they had already read the story and understood the situation.

January's Marco Island was unusually hot for this time of year. Practitioners stood under the hot sun for three days and many got sunburned. But they were glad that many physicians and general public learned the true facts.

On the other hand, continued efforts to clarify the truth to the organ transplant community is much needed. We sense strongly the fear from the society of transplant surgeons that what is happening in China has seriously damaged the reputation of organ transplants, which have a goal of saving lives. We need to make them understand that we share the same goal of saving lives and stopping the illegal organ harvesting from innocent people.

Professor Cyril Dabydeen is an English professor at the University of Ottawa, as well as a poet, writer, and former judging committee member for Canada's Governor's General Award for Literature. Professor Dabydeen accepted an interview on January 12, 2007 after the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular performance at the National Arts Center in Ottawa.

Professor Dabydeen said that NTD TV's spectacular was one the best shows he has ever seen

Prof. Dabydeen said during the interview after the Spectacular: It was tremendous; it was one of the best shows I™ve seen at the NAC. It™s wonderful, superb, beautiful choreography, beautiful soprano singing. I enjoyed it immensely.

Prof. Dabydeen said: It™s very hard to make up my mind. I liked the singing, it was very nice, and the various choreography, the dancing was superb, wonderful. It was the best experience of Chinese New Year. When asked which one was his favorite, Prof. Dabydeen answered: I made a lot of notes, in my notes here I say each one is unique, beautiful and unique, hard to say one is better than another. That™s to the credit of the organizers and producers, and the directors, because they all did a wonderful job.

Prof. Dabydeen said, I have a greater appreciation of Chinese culture than ever before, even though I studied Chinese history for many years. I think the culture is extraordinary, it™s beautiful and Eastern is Eastern and Western is Western, and here in Ottawa at the NAC you have this beautiful performance of Chinese New Year. He said that the traditional Chinese culture is awe-inspiring-- The deeper meaning is the sense of the great tradition. If we don™t experience it we are missing a great deal of the world™s culture. Especially the Chinese culture, the culture of China. It is so wonderful and we don™t want to miss that ever again.

As a former judging committee member for Canada's Governor's General Award for Literature, Prof. Dabydeen said: Usually we hear about song and dance multiculturalism, but it™s usually not very deep or very profound. But here tonight it was the most extraordinary cultural show I™ve ever seen and experienced.

Prof. Dabydeen used to study modern Chinese history. He said the Spectacular helped him to understand more about the Chinese tradition. He told the reporter: The message (behind the opera dance), besides the extraordinary choreography, is the tremendous mythical experience of the peace, resonance, evocative Chinese culture. There was the understatement that new things are happening in China which we all in Canada are experiencing: Falun Gong and Tiananmen Square. There the political statement was understated but very much expressed, I experienced it in such a high art form. He said: I™m glad I™ve experienced it, because this transported me into a higher realm. The great artistic tradition of China which I never thought existed before. I had a sense of it because I studied Chinese history in university, but I studied modern China. This gave me a greater understanding and a wonderful appreciation of the great Chinese tradition.

When talking about the Chinese culture, Prof. Dabydeen said: It is a great tradition. From the dynasties in the previous time to the current period, that is where I saw the tradition and the great change that took place over so many centuries. In the West here we are still a new culture. The Western culture is very new. When you think of the Eastern cultures, China and India, particularly the China we saw tonight you get your mind and imagination going to different worlds. It broadens tremendously your understanding of the richness of human civilization, particularly Chinese civilization. It is so grand and so beautiful, so celestial, other worldliness.

Prof. Dabydeen pointed out: The essence of Chinese culture is the pursuit of truth, because some of the lyrics and verses of the soprano singers placed a great emphasis on morality, the sense of truth, pursuing truth and the beautiful harmony of the human spirit. I got that more than ever tonight. The tremendous harmony and search for truth and the harmony and choreography of the human experience, celestial experiences, the grandness and beauty of the human spirit. The Chinese spirit in the New Year, especially.

Prof. Dabydeen suggested: All Canadians, not just Chinese people should experience this because then you have a better respect and understanding for Chinese Canadians that these people who were immigrants or who were born in Canada. There are about 13 million Chinese living outside of China. Prof. Dabydeen said: When you take an experience like this, you get a sense and understanding of these great traditions. These are people like yourselves; you are not just ordinary people, you have a tremendous rich heritage and tradition and that™s what I find beautiful, your great rich heritage and tradition. Finally, Prof. Dabydeen told the reporter: Of course I want to come next year. That makes Ottawa, enriches Ottawa tremendously. The nation™s capital is not an ordinary city anymore, but a top-class world-class city thanks to the Chinese New Year experience.

Professor Dabydeen started writing poems in the 1960's. In 1964, he won his first award in poetry. In 2000, he served on the judging committee for the Canada Governor's General Award for Literature, and he won the Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry four times. He is currently an English professor at the University of Ottawa.