README.adoc

===== The poisoning of Alexei Navalny (2020)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexei_Navalny_(2020)
* https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Отравление_Алексея_Навального

For more poisonings see: <<putin-sponsored-poisonings>>.

The second one! The first one was in 2019, but this one is more serious, the German government said tests confirmed it unequivocally that it was Novichok, which was also recently used in <<skripal>>.

* 2020-12-28 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/28/russia-gives-navalny-ultimatum-return-immediately-or-face-jail "Russia's ultimatum to Navalny: Return immediately or face jail
Russia's prison service accuses Kremlin critic of violating terms of his suspended prison sentence by staying abroad"
* 2020-12-13 more news are coming:
** https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/12/14/fsb-team-of-chemical-weapon-experts-implicated-in-alexey-navalny-novichok-poisoning/ indicates the names of 8 suspects. They had phone metadata for them including geolocation. How did they get that data??? https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/164
** https://www.dw.com/en/navalny-poisoning-russia-made-second-assassination-attempt-report/a-55921189 "Navalny poisoning: Russia made second assassination attempt - report". Says British intelligence told that to The Times, paywall https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-kremlin-made-a-second-attempt-to-poison-alexei-navalny-in-botched-assassination-nh32x737j "Revealed: Kremlin made a second attempt to poison Alexei Navalny in botched assassination". TODO any further evidence? WTF they reveal to a paywall newspaper?
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smhi6jts97I Navalny's video accusing people who he belieaves poisoned him
* 2020-10-18 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexey-navalny-poisoning-putin-russia-60-minutes-2020-10-18/ 60 Minutes interview, they flew over to Germany to interview him. He looks normal.
* 2020-09-05 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54039710 "Alexei Navalny: Trump refuses to condemn Russia over poisoning"
+
____
President Donald Trump has refused to condemn Russia over the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, saying he has not seen proof.

He said the case was "tragic" but urged reporters to focus instead on China, which he said was a bigger threat to the world than Russia.
____
+
Even after Germany and NATO said it was Novichok for sure... He must be <<putin-trump-kiss,sucking Putin's cock>> to have more nukes pointed against China, or maybe with some cyberhacking for the reelection campaign. Perhaps not a bad strategy, but does completely disregard human rights. Do <<violence,the ends justify the means>>?
+
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54097162 Pompeo then condemned.
+
2020-09-14: laboratories in France and Sweden independently confirmed: https://www.dw.com/en/french-swedish-labs-confirm-navalny-poisoned-with-novichok/a-54918924
* 2020-09-04 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54012278 good timeline of events so far
* 2020-09-02 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/world/europe/navalny-poison-novichok.html "Aleksei Navalny Was Poisoned With Novichok, Germany Says". Tests done on a military weapons facility, which the German government said was based on "unequivocal evidence".
* 2020-08-24 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53892900 "Alexei Navalny: Putin critic 'probably poisoned' - doctors"

He was forcibly kept in Russia for a few days to make the poison effect undetectable before they allowed him to be flown to Berlin.

Several policemen prevented family access to him while in Russia.

First doctors told family he was poisoned, but then soon after they changed their minds to some random excuse.

Poison effects consistent with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholinesterase_inhibitor[cholinesterase inhibitors], but the exact substance was not identified in tests.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-politics-navalny-probe/russian-prosecutors-say-no-need-for-criminal-investigation-in-navalny-affair-idUKKBN25N14A

.Photo published on <<alexei-navalny,Navalny>>'s Twitter on 2020-09-15 of him sitting awake in a hospital bed in Germany with his family. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54163389[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Navalny_hospital_sitting.jpg[height=400]

[[khabarovsk-krai-protests-2020]]
==== 2020 Khabarovsk Krai protests (Протесты в Хабаровском крае)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Khabarovsk_Krai_protests
* https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Протесты_в_Хабаровском_крае

In support to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Furgal[Sergei Furgal] (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фургал,_Сергей_Иванович[Фургал, Сергей Иванович]).

=== Russian state media

[[russia-today]]
==== Russia Today (RT, Russian state media)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)

=== Soviet Union

==== Censorship of images in the Soviet Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_images_in_the_Soviet_Union

.Before/after comparison of picture of Stalin with Nikolai Yezhov at the Moscow Canal. Nikolai was edited out form the second picture. (Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images & AFP/GettyImages) https://www.history.com/news/josef-stalin-great-purge-photo-retouching[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Nikolai_Yezhov_Stalin_canal_edit.webp[height=400]

.A meeting of the St. Petersburg chapter of the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class in February 1897, including Lenin and Alexander Malchenko. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Union-de-Lucha.jpg[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Malchenko.jpg[height=500]

.Same as above, but with Alexander Malchenko edited out. link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Petersburg_Union_of_Struggle_for_the_Liberation_of_the_Working_Class_-_Feb_1897_-_Altered.jpg++[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/No_Malchenko.jpg[height=500]

===== Soviet Union radio jamming stations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_in_the_Soviet_Union#Radio_jamming

Ah, the good old days <<gfw,before the TCP/IP>>, when you could just jam around a border ;-)

http://www.antentop.org/008/files/jamm008.pdf has good pics.

==== Agitprop

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agitprop

[[stalin]]
=== Stalin 斯大林 (1922-1952)

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Yagami[Light Yagami] from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Note[Death Note]: "I can kill anyone by simply writing his name here". Stalin: "Bitch please". https://ifunny.co/picture/1-can-kill-anyone-by-simply-writing-his-name-here-TjXCcyuM2[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Stalin_bitch_please.jpg[height=500]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT2z0nrsQ8o "Rasputin vs Stalin." Epic Rap Battles of History YouTube video. This is fire. https://epicrapbattlesofhistory.fandom.com/wiki/Rasputin_vs_Stalin/Rap_Meanings[Explanations].
video::ZT2z0nrsQ8o[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[russo-ukrainian-war]]
=== Russo-Ukrainian War (2014-)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War
* link:++https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Російсько-українська_війна_(з_2014)++[]

[[mykola-semena]]
==== Mykola Semena (Семена Микола Михайлович)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykola_Semena
* https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Семена_Микола_Михайлович

Ukrainina, worked for <<rferl>> previously, and published against the annexation of Ukraina territories.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/07/18/online-and-all-fronts/russias-assault-freedom-expression suggests that one of her articles was added to the <<federal-list-of-extremist-materials>>, possibly "Blockade–the Necessary First Step for Liberation of Crimea", but I can't find the entry.

[[anti-russia-dictatorship-info-sources]]
=== Anti Russia dictatorship sources

* https://meduza.io/en

[[rferl]]
==== Radio Free Europe (Радио_«Свобода»)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty
* https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Радио_«Свобода»

Website: https://www.rferl.org/

USA funded sister media of the <<rfa>>.

=== Mini-Russias

==== Belarus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus

The dictator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lukashenko[Alexander Lukashenko]. Close ties to his buddy <<putin>>.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Belarusian_protests[2020 Belarusian protests].

[[moscow-minsk-friendship-mural]]
.The Moscow-Minsk friendship mural in Minsk (capital of Belarus), originally meant to show the harmonious alliance between Belarus and Russia, was defaced in 2016 by adding barbed wire amidst the flowers held and worn by the boy and girl which represent Russia and Belarus respectively, which indicates that the friendship is actually a prison for Belarus. <<dictatorships-tend-to-work-together>> comes to mind. Photo by Aleh Larychau. Upload https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Mural_Minsk-Moscow_in_Minsk_1.jpg[on Wikimedia Commons] deleted because of the lack of https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Freedom_of_panorama[Freedom of panorama in Belarus]. https://www.euronews.com/2020/12/21/how-the-crisis-in-belarus-is-politicising-a-new-wave-of-street-artists[].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Moscow-Minsk_friendship_mural_girl_with_barbed_wire.jpg[height=400]

==== Kazakhstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB9O4PU5Nnk "How Much Do You Know About The Real Kazakhstan?" by Journeyman Pictures (2016) shows how Western leaders turn a blind eye to Kazakhstan's dictator at the time, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursultan_Nazarbayev[Nursultan Nazarbayev], because they have oil and are willing to cooperate with the West on the war in Afghanistan. In 2019 he was replaced by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassym-Jomart_Tokayev[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev], gotta learn more about the new one. Includes interviews with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_L._Spratlen[Pamela L. Spratlen], an US diplomat, where she diplomatically refuses to say anything meaningful.
video::eB9O4PU5Nnk[youtube,height=400,width=600]

=== Dictatorships tend to work together

Dictatorships naturally become allies.

The thing a dictatorship is afraid more than anything is of their own citizens, and therefore that they might be influenced by democracies to rebel against the oppression.

For this reason, the world basically always tumbles into a dictatorship vs democracy global war.

Also, since dictatorships don't need to convince their people of anything, they tend to make such alliances much faster.

But this presents a serious dilemma to dictatorships, because you can't really trust the other dictator either, as they are just waiting to put a knife behind your back at all times.

This leads to constant tensions between allied dictatorships, e.g. <<russia>> vs China:

* 2020-07-02 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3091611/why-russias-vladivostok-celebration-prompted-nationalist "Why Russia's Vladivostok celebration prompted a nationalist backlash in China" on <<scmp>>

This creates one of the most serious strategic problems faced by dictatorships. It is similar situation with organized crime.

And of course, when a smaller dictatorship makes an alliance with a larger dictatorship, they basically immediately become a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassal_state[vassal state], e.g.:

* <<belarus>> and <<russia>>, see: <<moscow-minsk-friendship-mural>>.
* China and:
** <<iran>>, see: <<china-iran-relations>>
** Pakistan, who is more afraid of India than China right now
* Africa
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0RGa99W0M "Zambia: Under Chinese influence" by FRANCE 24 English (2021)

==== Anti-dictatorship alliances

[[ipac]]
===== Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (對華政策跨國議會聯盟, 2020)

* https://ipac.global/
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Parliamentary_Alliance_on_China
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/對華政策跨國議會聯盟

[[thailand]]
== Thailand (泰国)

It is a crime to criticize the royal family (Lèse majesté):

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lèse_majesté_in_Thailand
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lèse-majesté

As https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam[Terry Gilliam] brilliantly says in the <<the-secret-life-of-brian-2007>> https://youtu.be/hdU_6jUQI9s?t=492[]:

[[sacred-cows]]
____
I was always convinced that there is no where you should't go. There are no https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_cow_(idiom)[sacred cows]. And if there are, if they are really sacred, let's see how much we puncture them and see if they still float.
____

Or in other words:

___
Vajiralongkorn, you little piece of shit, grow some balls and learn how to take an insult. A man who cannot take an insult is not a man, but a big pussy.
___

Everyone who has political power must know how to be laughed at criticized, otherwise <<dictatorship,dicatorship>> follows:

* 2020-08-24 https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/24/after-restricting-a-group-critical-of-thailands-monarchy-facebook-says-it-will-take-legal-action-against-the-government/ "After restricting a group critical of Thailand's monarchy, Facebook says it will take legal action against the government"
* 2017-05-17 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3578661/from-fake-tattoos-and-crop-tops-to-making-a-poodle-air-force-chief-the-king-of-thailands-maddest-moments-revealed/ "As  Thai monarch Maha Vajiralongkorn attempts to sue Facebook over photos posted online, we look at the wacky royal's bizarre life" TODO real? Erm, video by 60-minutes Australia: https://youtu.be/HfF3CGVwrs4?t=84
** 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fufu_(dog).
** Topless wife birthday celebration video: https://youtu.be/HfF3CGVwrs4?t=311

Dissidents:

* Rap Against Dictatorship
** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukIPSb0N6_vRVD_5VlzqQg
** https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/20/rap-against-dictatorship-artist-arrested-in-thailand "‘Rap Against Dictatorship' artist arrested in Thailand", artist Dechathorn Bamrungmuang arrested
** https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/16/rap-against-dictatorship-protests-thailand/

[[thai-king-hamtaro]]
.Side-by-side comparison between https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajiralongkorn[Thai King Vajiralongkorn] and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamtaro[Hamtaro]. This is the Thai version of <<winnie-the-pooh>>. It https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Japanese-cartoon-Hamtaro-used-by-Thai-protesters-to-mock-government[has been used by protesters] as part of the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Thai_protests[2020 Thai protests]. Left https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Thai_protests[photo source].
image::{cirosantilli-media-base}/Side_by_side_comparison_between_Thai_king_Vajiralongkorn_and_Hamtaro.jpg[height=400]

.Leading Thai politicians prostrate themselves before Vajiralongkorn in 2016, presumably during his ascension to the throne. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bbc-investigation-thailand-king-defamation-a7460046.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Thai_king_prostrated_officers.jpg[height=400]

.Suthida Tidjai, Vajiralongkorn's wife, prostrated before him during their marriage in 2016 before he officially ascended to the throne. Yes, prostration is a big thing in Thailand. An older king, Rama V, had apparently even https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chulalongkorn#Abolition_of_prostration[abolished this practice in 1873]. Clearly, <<xi-jinping>> could learn a thing or two from a proper monarch like Vajiralongkorn. https://web.archive.org/web/20190723095722/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/03/thailand-coronation-king-maha-vajiralongkorn-rama-x[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Thai_king_prostrated_wife.jpg[height=400]

.Thai king Vajiralongkorn wearing a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_top[crop top] so tight that it could be called a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra[bra], and accompanied by one of his many girlfriends, in a shopping center in Munich. He can wear whatever the fuck wants, but to both wear that and enforce Lèse majesté? That's the ultimate torture for the Thai people, how can you not make fun of him??? TODO date, exact location, original report. Here is one of the many reports,  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3578661/from-fake-tattoos-and-crop-tops-to-making-a-poodle-air-force-chief-the-king-of-thailands-maddest-moments-revealed/[sample report from 2017 in a British tabloid].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Thai_king_crop_top.jpg[height=400]

[[milk-tea-alliance]]
=== Milk Tea Alliance (奶茶联盟)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_Tea_Alliance
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/奶茶聯盟

News:

* 2021-04-08 <<twitter>> launches official support campaign for the Milk Tea Alliance: https://twitter.com/Policy/status/1379982396490010624

[[iran]]
== Iran (伊朗)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/伊朗

First, never forget about the American-British <<iranian-coup-1953>> which took down a democracy. They deserve everything they got from it.

Now let's criticize the Iranian dictatorships that this possibly created.

* Ayatollah Tanasoli
** https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-31164583
** https://twitter.com/tanasoli

[[iranian-coup-1953]]
=== 1953 Iranian coup d'état (TPAJAX Project, Operation Ajax, 1953年伊朗政變)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953年伊朗政變

Yes, this was a <<western-democracies-are-not-perfect,a major fuck up of the West>>.

=== China-Iran relations

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–Iran_relations
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国－伊朗关系

Superset: <<dictatorships-tend-to-work-together>>.

* 2021
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–China_25-year_Cooperation_Program
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国－伊朗关系
* 2019-09 https://lobelog.com/is-iran-at-risk-of-becoming-a-chinese-colony/ Is Iran At Risk Of Becoming A Chinese Colony?

[[military-dictatorship-in-brazil]]
== Military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dictatorship_in_Brazil

One of Ciro's favorite stories about the dictatorship is how cake recipes or classical https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luís_de_Camões[Luís_de_Camões (1524-1580)] poetry were introduced in newspapers to replace news that had been <<censorship,censored>> in the last minute:

* https://www.vice.com/en/article/j57exd/how-cake-became-a-form-of-resistance-under-brazils-military-dictatorship
* (pt) http://www.memorialdademocracia.com.br/card/noticia-censurada-da-lugar-a-camoes

Who would have thought that even the limiting and ancient limitations of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagination[pagination] would have their usefulness!!! Today's Chinese censors have it easy, as they can just remove the stuff and that damned HTML reflow automatically to fit.

[[apesar-de-voce]]
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhKTzVVDno Apesar de Você (In spite of you [the Dictatorship])] by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Buarque[Chico Buarque] (1970) with English and Spanish subtitles. That video unfortunately mixes anti-dictatorship and anti-Bolsonaro (2020) imagery. A video with better epoch image but no English subtitles can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-bMTOlvx0[]. This is one of the many anti-Brazilian-dictatorship songs of the time, and Ciro really enjoys it. https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Chico-Buarque/Apesar-De-Voc%C3%AA/translation/english[Lyrics with translation]. Top quotes: "You [the dictatorship] who invented this State, who invented sin, forgot to invent forgiveness." and "Where will you hide, from the enormous euphoria [of a revolution]? How will you prohibit it when the rooster insists in singing?". Slideshows with that song have been made for several events, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOqaF3shq6o[the Syrian civil war], and Ciro would like to do a China-themed one as well one day.
video::33-bMTOlvx0[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[os-problemas-da-imprensa-livre]]
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jornal_da_Tarde[Jornal da Tarde] (Afternoon Newspaper) issue entitled on top "Os problemas da imprensa livre nas Américas" (The problems of the Free Press), followed by small rectangles with coverage of several countries such as the USA, Cuba, and others, but not Brazil. The bottom half of the page however hilariously contains recipes for "Doces" (Sweets) and "Salgados" (Dishes), instead of the presumed coverage about Brazil. http://www.memorialdademocracia.com.br/card/noticia-censurada-da-lugar-a-camoes[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Os_problemas_da_imprensa_livre.jpg[height=600]

[[falun-gong]]
== Falun Gong (法轮功)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/法轮功
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/610_Office

<<flg-religion,Religion>> created in the '80s by a Chinese dude called <<li-hongzhi>>.

With the support of the Communist Party to Qigong movements, it reached 70 million believers in 1999, at which point the commies decided they had to be shut down and banned the religion.

Li fled to the USA and lives near New York, where he continues to run the religion as of 2020.

.<<falun-gong>> believer arrested by police in Beijing <<tiananmen,Tiananmen Square>> in 2000-01-10. https://www.theepochtimes.com/spiritual-practice-continues-to-be-persecuted-in-china-amid-the-ccp-virus-pandemic_3296045.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Falun_Gong_lady_silenced.jpg[height=600]

.Police steps over <<falun-gong>> believer's face in 2000 at Tiananmen. This images was http://content.time.com/time/covers/asia/0,16641,20010702,00.html[on the cover of the July 2, 2001 cover of Time Magazine "Crushing Falun Gong"]. https://www.businessinsider.com/dragon-springs-falun-gong-upstate-new-york-compound-photos-2019-9?r=US&IR=T[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Police_steps_over_Falun_Gong_believer_s_face_in_2000_at_Tiananmen.jpg[height=600]

[[zone-theory]]
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClvX7ED8UUI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_%26_Eric[Tim and Eric]'s Zone Theory. If you want to stop <<falun-gong>>, don't put them in jail like the <<dictatorship,dictators>>. Do it the same way you stop dictators: with <<funny,comedy>>. Otherwise, the dictators remain in power, and <<intolerance,next person in jail, will be you>>.
video::ClvX7ED8UUI[youtube,width=600,height=400]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYJ1dbyDcrI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_%26_Eric[Tim and Eric]'s The Universe. Basically the same as <<zone-theory>> but from the believer's perspective. Source a popular mind blown meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mind-blown
video::FYJ1dbyDcrI[youtube,width=600,height=400]

[[aarvoll-shenyun]]
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=IAQ14AnAsmU YouTubber under pseudonym "Aarvoll" (TODO full real name, face shown in channel all the time) tells about his experience playing trumpet for Shen Yun in 2013 as a non-believer and Falun Gong in general. Reading the sacred books and doing Falun Gong exercises were mandatory. He also talks about <<flg-organized>>. Ciro agrees/finds what he says convincing. In one interesting anecdote, he tells how although Li Hongzhi claims to be a God, he looked like an average slightly overweight dude, and had a trumpet since he used to play it, but couldn't really play it because he hadn't practiced in so long. He also comments on the obvious fact that Li does not speak English very well, e.g. on the Shen Yun tour bus he was there one day answering questions, and a translator was needed.
video::IAQ14AnAsmU[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[christine-marie]]
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwoO7Nekmpw&t=445 Christine Marie, founder of http://voicesfordignity.com/[Voices for Dignity] which takes care of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-Day_Saints[FLDS] leaves, was interviewed in VICE documentary "Polygamist Mafia: Escaping The Kingston Clan". While Ciro does not believe Falun Gong is as extreme as FLDS, he does really like the things Christine says. E.g., she calls "cult leaders" with the neutral <<flg-religion,religious>> form "<<li-hongzhi,prophet>>", just like Ciro, and mentions the important fact that "And the another thing that the public doesn't realise, is that there are also beautiful thing within those communities". This is the mindset of <<intolerance,tolerance>> that the world needs.
video::GwoO7Nekmpw[youtube,height=400,width=600,start=445]

[[flg-important]]
=== Why is it important to talk about Falun Gong?

The main reason <<ciro-santilli>> emphasizes FLG is that it shows how the CCP can mercilessly crush a 70M strong group (according to CCPs own statistics) out of a population of 1.3B in 2000, i.e. 5% of the population, and of course not because of <<flg-bias>>, since Ciro is completely and totally unbiased.

If that number is correct, Ciro wonders curious what you would consider an important movement? :-)

Anything much larger would take down the government and change China's history forever.

OK, maybe the fact that 69M of those were likely old ladies didn't help much either. Tip to next <<li-hongzhi,prophet>>: make something that appeals to aspiring military officers.

Let's try to gather some well sourced footage showing huge numbers of believers on the streets:

* https://www.aparchive.com/search?query=falun%20gong&from=1&orderBy=OldestFirst#7e34a6 AP Archive: could not find a good one there
* rehashes of Falun Gong propaganda videos with good footage:
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7cz4Tkbwy8 contains old good footage
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRUp50XkSs Chinese with English subs, above is rehashed from this one most likely

.Thousands of <<falun-gong>> practitioners in Guangzhou, China, 1998. https://www.theepochtimes.com/finding-the-balance-between-ancient-and-modern_2248694.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Falun_Gong_Ghuangzhou.jpg[height=600]

.Thousands of <<falun-gong>> practitioners in Liaoning Industrial Exhibition, China, likely 1998. https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2016/5/21/157091.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Falun_Gong_Liaoning.jpg[height=600]

.Hundreds of <<falun-gong>> believers in Chengdu, China, 1998. https://faluninfo.net/falun-gong-the-practice/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Falun_Gong_Chengdu.jpg[height=500]

[[does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong]]
=== Does Ciro Santilli believe in or practice Falun Gong? 三西猴相信法轮功吗？

No, Ciro is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism[agnostic] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/不可知论[不可知论]) and therefore believes that all the metaphysics that <<li-hongzhi>> says is bullshit.

Here are some things that he doesn't like about Falun Gong for example: <<things-ciro-santilli-dislikes-about-falun-gong>>.

Ciro believes Falun Gong can be split into two parts, like any other <<flg-religion,religion>>:

* the "self-help" "how to live well" part, including the physical exercises and meditation, which cannot be proven or disproved, like any other self-help and <<democracy-is-a-religion,political opinion>>
* the metaphysics, most notably, Li Hongzhi is a living God, and all other non verifiable things he claims like aliens, alternate dimensions, etc., see:
** <<flg-religion>>
** <<flg-verifiable>>

Ciro thinks that FLG's self-help part could potentially be good for you, just like many other meditative practices such as Yoga, Buddhist meditation, Tai chi, deep Catholic prayer, etc. As far as he has heard, all of it sounded good standard religious self-help: be peaceful, be good to others, etc. Like any other well managed religion, FLG does have good things to offer, see also: <<christine-marie>>.

However Ciro believes that the metaphysics is all complete and utter bullshit, child stories made up by Li Hongzhi, and just as real as Father Christmas or the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster[Flying Spaghetti Monster].

Also the "obligation to reach Salvation" is boring like for many other prophetic <<flg-religion,religion>>.

From a purely strategic point of view, the metaphysics is a trade-off:

* some people will believe you are a freaking living God
* others will laugh at you and say you are a charlatan

It may be argued however that Li played this card beautifully: since all Chinese power is concentrated in the CCP, any non-CCP movement dies out, so he was better off long run playing the metaphysics game. The only other choice would have been joining the CCP.

To Ciro it is obvious that Falun Gong is just one of the many very similar movements that came out of the Qi Gong Boom, such as: <<zhong-gong>>. It just happens to be the one that survived due to better luck and strategy.

The absolute truth is already known by the <<li-hongzhi,prophet>>, although he does not want to give clear evidence for reasons: <<flg-verifiable>>, and Ciro finds that utterly boring. There's no fun in living in a world where the absolute truth has been found.

For these reasons, Ciro cannot bother to read even into the self-help part: how can you read that when there is so much bullshit every other page?

Ciro would really like to know if <<li-hongzhi>> really believes in FLG himself, or is just a complete manipulating charlatan, but unfortunately we will never know that. Just imagine if before he died he published a video saying: "it was a joke, gotcha!". Now that would be **epic**!

Since Ciro is good-natured, it's hard for him to believe that he doesn't believe in anything, how can anyone be that evil? Maybe he believes in part of it, but made up some stuff to sell it better, maybe with good intentions that selling the fake part would also lead more people to see the good part?

Like any other prophetic religion, FLG gives tiny evidence that you can directly feel through meditation. The energies, which Ciro believe are real feelings. And then using that entry point asks you to believe a whole lot more, that you can't feel: <<flg-verifiable>>.

This becomes especially strong when a critical mass of believers is reached, and then they start interpreting all sorts of events as miracles, and you start to believe other believers without questioning them, and a circle is formed.

This post by a former believer gives what Ciro feels is a realistic account that matches Ciro's observations: <<me-and-li-by-ben-hurley-2017>>.

And yet, all those who love freedom, must oppose FLG ban, or be themselves enslaved by tyrants themselves: <<democracy-is-a-religion>>.

In any case, at least FLG got one thing right: the commies are <<ccp-evil,evil>>, and we have to get rid of them.

See also: <<flg-fake>>.

[[how-much-does-ciro-santilli-know-about-falun-gong]]
==== How much does Ciro Santilli know about Falun Gong? (三西猴对法轮功有多熟悉？)

He hasn't read their <<flg-canon,canon>> himself, no patience, but he has had <<flg-bias,constant contact with believers>> and so has an idea of its content.

Ciro has summarized his thoughts about <<falun-gong>> at: <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong>> and <<flg-religion>>

[[flg-religion]]
=== Is Falun Gong a religion? 法轮功是一个宗教吗？

If asked if they follow a religion, most FLG believers will say "no", and <<li-hongzhi>> explicitly says that in <<flg-canon>>, e.g. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/jjyz52.htm[]:

____
Falun Dafa is not a religion, but future generations will regard it as one.
____

E.g. they call themselves "practitioners" or "students" (学员) or "disciples of the Great Law" (大法弟子, or mare accurately, of <<li-hongzhi>>'s Law) instead of "believers", and their peers "practitioner colleagues" (https://baike.baidu.com/item/同修[同修]). Non believers call them derogatorily "轮子"("little wheels"), or in friendly terms "轮友" (wheel friend).

And if you say you don't believe in their FLG metaphysics bullshit, they will often reply "he does not understand".

To them, it is not about belief, the truth is clear, and you just don't see it yet.

To this you should reply: "and you don't understand that <<li-hongzhi,Li Hongzhi>> is a master manipulator dude who deceived you and millions of others".

But <<ciro-santilli>> strongly believes that this is just a language barrier/FLG propaganda question (see also "Different levels of truth" from <<orange-papers>>), and that 99.9999% of people in the West would classify FLG as a religion just like <<christianity>> if they are told about FLG's beliefs:

* absolute truth comes from an enlightened <<li-hongzhi,prophet>>, who is perfect and has superhuman abilities
* weekly in-person meetings (学法 "study the Fa", or more verbosely "study the law (of the universe (of <<li-hongzhi>>))"）or daily online meetings where they read from a <<flg-canon,sacred book>>, either written by the prophet, or transcribed from his presentations to disciples, including the disciples questions, much like traditional Chinese texts like <<analects>>, just like Christians read from the Bible over and over again.
+
In both cases, some believers claim that sometimes even reading the same text again gives them new insight.
* prescribed daily meditation exercise hours, somewhat like Muslim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah[Salah] prayers which they call https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazhengnian[发正念 (fa1 zheng4 nian4)], which means "send righteous thoughts". They seem to believe that this meditation helps external good magic things happen, so it is half meditation half prayer.
* longer "less mandatory" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong[Qigong-like] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/气功[气功]) exercises (lian4 gong1, 练功) followed by a meditation (打坐) and which they collectively call https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/修道_(道教)[修炼] "practice austerities". note that this term is borrowed from Taoism but possibly with different precise meaning. There are exactly 5 exercises (meditation being the fifth) some with a fun supernatural name, on <<flg-canon>> https://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/flg_2006_4.htm[] "The Falun Gong Practice System":
** Buddha Stretching a Thousand Arms
** Falun Standing Stance
** Penetrating the Cosmic Extremes
** Falun Cosmic Orbit
* higher intelligent beings
* some believers who practice really well can also get some "supernatural powers" (功能), but not everyone develops them (luckily only so many people are that manipulable!), and you are <<flg-verifiable,not allowed to show your poweres to "ordinary people">> of course, from <<flg-canon>> https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_34.htm[]:
+
[[flg-supernatural-powers]]
____
What will one develop in the course of his cultivation? He will develop supernatural powers which are called supernormal capabilities for short.

Do you want to use them among ordinary people? You are absolutely not allowed to use them among ordinary people at will.
____
+
See also "You don't get the promised goodies" from <<orange-papers>>
** other dimensions, which some select people with vision superpowers can see, this being one of the supernatural powers that may be developed, the "Celestial Eye" https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_21.htm[]:
+
[[flg-cross-dimensional-vision]]
____
A cultivator of a particular attainment level can only see the scenes on that level. He cannot see or believe the truth beyond that level. Therefore, he only believes what he has seen on his own level. When he has not gone up to such a high level of cultivation, he would think those things do not exist and are incredible.
____
+
and the "Supernormal Capability of Remote Sight" is a closely related ability: https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_22.htm:
+
____
A supernormal capability directly connected with the Celestial Eye is called the Remote Sight. Someone says that he can see scenes in Beijing, in America or scenes on the other side of the earth while sitting here.
____
+
And finally there is also the past-future vision ability "Supernormal Capability of Total Recall" https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_23.htm[]:
+
____
 There is another supernormal capability which has a direct relation with the Celestial Eye. It is called Total Recall. Now there are six supernormal capabilities which are generally recognized in the world. They include the Celestial Eye, Remote Sight, and Total Recall. What is Total Recall? It is a supernormal capability with which one can know a person's future and past; if the ability is great, one can know the rise and decline of a society; if the ability is even greater, one can see the Law of the change of the whole celestial body.
____
* aliens that look like humans are amongst us, they gave us part of our modern technology, some are evil, others not so evil. E.g. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19980530L.html[]:
+
____
Science, however, is not something gods imparted to humans. Instead, it was passed down to humans by alien beings inside the Three Realms, and for the purpose of controlling humankind. People's belief in it has surpassed everything. But I tell you that precisely because of its shallowness, this science has caused the degeneration of morality in human society.
____
+
Despite this however, Falun Gong benefits from information technology enormously. For example, many believers use the Internet daily to study the Fa, and to organize their <<falun-gong-media,media outlets>>.
* meetings in which people tell their religious testimonies ("experience sharing" TODO Chinese name, possibly just "分享修炼的美好", e.g. https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2015/9/29/分享修炼的美好-印尼召开修炼心得交流会（图）-316838.html[source]): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony#Religion
+
As Jesus put it in Matthew 18:20:
+
____
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them
____
+
which highlights the critical believer mass effect of reinforced beliefs.
* an impending link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Judgment[final judgment]-like event, which will happen "very soon" (<<flg-verifiable,unspecified date>>), and in which the just will be rewarded
+
Ciro predict that when <<li-hongzhi>> dies, the claim will be that he went to another dimension so save us all, therefore putting this final judgment on hold, a bit like Jesus.
* non-believers are fundamentally different from believers. Although non-followers who do good things are actually doing FLG without knowing it.
+
FLG has a specific terminology for non-believers, which is translated in English as https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_new_4.html["ordinary people"] (常人), as opposed to Falun Gong Believers, which Li calls Falun Gong disciples (大法弟子).
+
Non-FLG people should therefore logically call Falun Gong believers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abnormal_psychology[abnormal people] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/異常心理學[异常人]) in return, much like Ciro likes to call the Chinese who call him 老外 as "老内".
+
Like other aspects of FLG however, this appears in other religions, e.g. my mother mentioned the funny term used by her Protestant's group term but Ciro forgot it, and you can see it in Harry Potter as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muggle[The Muggles].
* xref:flg-organized[You can support FLG by doing X and Y, it is not mandatory, but why wouldn't you since you are saving other people?]. Explaining that Falun Gong is good contrary to CCP propaganda also known as "Fa-rectification" in the English translation jargon.
* alternate dimensions
* pre-civilization: civilization is actually much older than what we believe, and was super advanced, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse[societal collapse] events led us to forget about it, a bit like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis[atlantis].
+
Notably, this also implies that the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution[theory of evolution] is wrong, since there existed modern humans hundred of millions of years ago (the current scientific estimates for anatomically modern humans is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_modern_human[500,000 years]): https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_14.htm
+
____
Archaeologists have found in the world a kind of organism called "three-leaves insect", which came into being between 600 million and 260 million years ago, and became extinct thereafter. An American scientist found a fossil of "three-leaves insect", on which there was also a human footprint, left by a shoe he was wearing, and clearly printed on the fossil. Aren't they joking with the historians? How could there possibly have been human beings 260 million years ago according to Darwin's theory of evolution?
____
* xref:flg-medication[Maybe FLG will make you healthier, but no promises, but it will make you a better person, and that's why you should do it, but if you really really believe, you get healthier]. But people who seemed to be believers also die, because deep within their hearts, there was a belief problem.
* <<falun-g
* <<falun-gong-believes-that-the-ccp-is-literally-a-manifestation-of-real-devils>>

From this, it is obvious that Falun Gong is just a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age[New Age] (link:https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/新纪元运动[新纪元运动]) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism[syncretic] religion combining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong[Qigong], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism[Buddhism], some aspects of <<christianity>>, and whatever other crazy things <<li-hongzhi>> believes in.

Or you could call Falun Gong a <<flg-cult,cult>>, which is nothing but a new/small religion with negative connotation, and thus meaningless.

FLG is very similar to Scientology in Ciro's view: a new religion that mixes elements of both old and new. And just like any other religion, <<democracy-is-a-religion,their practice must be allowed>>.

But consider this: how to classify what a religion is?

Some would answer: science is what every one can perceive with their own senses.

But FLG followers claim to feel FLG energies when doing the exercises, and a few of them have the power of seeing the other dimensions.

On the other hand, how many of your friends have experienced the laws of quantum field theory or general relativity in a very direct way?

And aren't pro-democracy believers also taking actions based solely on a shared belief, possibly organized by a pro-democracy leader?

From a purely strategic point of view, the "religion" denomination would be:

* good to FLG because the concept of freedom of religion carries considerable weight in the West
* bad for FLG because people who already have a religion would be less likely to try it out and start believing
+
Falun Gong's recruitment strategy is to focus on the exercises first, and in particular its <<flg-medication,health benefits>> and then as some people start to feel things, they start introducing the metaphysics.

See also: "Different levels of truth" from <<orange-papers>>.

See also: <<flg-daily>>.

==== Falun Gong believes that the CCP is literally a manifestation of real devils

Unlike <<ciro-santilli>> which does <<is-chinese-politician-x-evil,not think most CCP politicians are actually evil>>, Falun Gong seems to believe that they literally as in they are representatives of, or evil supernatural beings themselves.

E.g. <<jiang-zemin>> is actually an evil frog in some alternate dimension, literally, not just memecally.

And those devils they are literally responsible for example for creating <<corona,Covid-19>>, which is itself a magic force which tests the evil and good: <<falun-gongs-view-of-epidemics>>.

And <<flg-trump,Trump>> likely represents a magical anti-devil force of the universe.

Some of the most direct <<flg-canon,canon>> suggestions we could find: https://en.falundafa.org/eng/HongYin5.htm[]:

____
The Red Devil uses lies and money to meddle with man
____

https://en.falundafa.org/eng/articles/20060209A.html[]:

____
All along, lowlife secret agents of the wicked CCP have been constantly gathering so-called "Falun Gong intelligence."
____

Falun Gong gives the CCP too much credit. The CCP are just a bunch of lazy and greedy people like you and me.

==== Falun Gong preaching

link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-air_preaching[Street preaching] is an important aspect of Falun Gong, using stands and leaflets on the streets much like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses[Jehovah's Witnesses].

Jargon:

* http://www.minghui.org/mh/glossary.html[讲真相]: "truth-telling"
* hongfa (TODO characters?)

The Falun Gong organization also specifies guidelines on how to preach, although these might not be <<flg-canon,canon>>, even though if they are not, it is extremely likely that <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> is directly involved in their specification

Falun Gong has also used <<flg-telemarketing,phone call preaching>>.

All of this is part of their effort to "save people (救人)", i.e. convert them to Falun Gong.

<<li-hongzhi>> personally heavily emphasises the importance of preaching in <<flg-canon>>.

.Falun Gong believers preaching on the street in London in 2016. This image taken from a believer website shows a typical local regular gathering of believers on weekends, or even week days if there are enough retired believers in the group. They will put on their exercise music, and do exercises to attract more followers. Someone will also stand on their stall giving out propaganda flyers, or asking people to sign petitions for Western governments to support Falun Gong, e.g. opposing their alleged <<flg-organ-harvesting,organ harvesting>>. In the case of touristic areas with Chinese people walking around, they will also ask the Chinese tourists to <<tuidang,quit the their CCP membership, possibly using a fake name>>. <<ciro-santilli>> has to say: it is very amusing to see those Chinese people trying to pretend to ignore the censored religion, when some of them are clearly curious about it, especially the younger ones who didn't see it live. Some just get mad, and say how the CCP is so great to them. https://truthinchina.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/london-uk-practitioners-explain-the-facts-about-falun-gong-in-st-martins-place-photos/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Falun_Gong_street_preaching_2016_London.jpg[height=400]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=315&v=nD6792YoOmY from <<nigel-ng,Mikey Chen>> shows a parade/preaching event in San Francisco.

[[flg-telemarketing]]
===== Some Falun Gong people make phone telemarketing

Ciro Santilli has seen Falun Gong people making phone calls to people in China with to explain why FLG is with his own eyes, and therefore is sure it has happened on some scale.

Particularly during <<corona>>, Falun Gong ramped up the telemarketing calls and some voluntary believers were making calls all day nonstop.

Ciro does not know how the called numbers were obtained and if callees voluntarily signed up for it, but that feels extremely unlikely.

Interestingly however, many of the callees seemed interesting in what they had to say, and they often had long chats, Ciro was surprised by that. Maybe they were just bored senseless due to the Corona lockdown. Or maybe <<most-chinese-people-like-their-dictatorship,many Chinese People actually don't like their Government>> and the CCP is fucked.

Also, of course, the callers received call scripts and guidelines to makes those calls, because obviously <<flg-organized>>.

Ciro strongly disapproves of this, Just like for any product, visual ads on the street are impossible to prevent, but any kind of advertising that generates notifications on feeds, or takes people's time, is unacceptable.

As you can easily find on <<google>>/<<baidu>>, such calls may be reported in the <<cac-report-website>>.

Ciro has not however seen them talking about making automated phone calls.

https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1940394/how-rampant-phone-scams-highlight-chinas-need-tighter also mentions that Falun Gong makes telemarketing in passing without any reference.

[[flg-cult]]
==== Is Falun Gong a cult? 法轮功是邪教吗？

Does <<ciro-santilli>> think Falun Gong a cult? Yes.

Is the CCP a cult? Yes: <<ccp-cult>>.

Is <<christianity>> a cult? Yes.

Is democracy a cult? Yes: <<democracy-is-a-religion>>.

Is modern science a cult? Maybe.

Therefore, the only question that matters for all the above is the same: are they good or bad cults?

Falun Gong clearly share many many many characteristics with what many people classify as a "cult", see e.g.: <<orange-papers>>.

However, <<ciro-santilli>> strongly believes that so does any other existing religion e.g. Christianity, and that Falun Gong is not any worse or better than those other well known religions.

Ciro therefore believes that the only reasonable stances are to either:

* be against all religions (including Christianity and Falun Gong), and classify all of them as Cults
* allow both Christianity and Falun Gong to exist, and support religious freedom

but not "oppose Falun Gong" and support Christianity.

Some people will say: Falun Gong is a cult because it is too new and therefore obviously fake!

So, if I tell a lie today, will it become true in a thousand years? Or a truth today become a lie? The Romans called <<christianity>> the "Cult of Jesus"!

Try sending an email to <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> asking him to <<flg-verifiable,prove his powers to you>> :-)

Others will say: Falun Gong is a cult because its prophet is still alive!

But then, worry not, because Li Hongzhi was born in 1951, and therefore will almost certainly die by 2040, unless he truly is a living God as he claims.

Now, for the really important question of weather Falun Gong is a "good" or "bad" religion, <<ciro-santilli>> has seen absolutely nothing in it that is worse than any <<flg-religion,other major religion>> say, e.g., <<christianity>>.

Some possibly neutral Cult analysts analyzing if FLG is good or bad:

* https://www.icsahome.com/articles/the-prc-and-falun-gong-langone

Against:

* https://www.culteducation.com/group/1254-falun-gong.html

In the end however, since there is nothing obviously completely creepy about FLG, all such discussions are basically equivalent to <<democracy-is-a-religion,"is the Left better than the Right">>, and cannot be answered.

One interesting linguistic aspect is that "cult" normally translates in Chinese as "邪教" which means "Evil religion".

As mentioned before, Ciro does not believe that FLG is an "Evil Cult", just another "Acceptable Cult", and therefore would not use "邪教" to describe it.

Amusingly, <<li-hongzhi,Li>> calls the communists Communist Evil Party (中共邪党) in cannon, well played: https://gb.falundafa.org/chigb/jiangfa5_2.htm

The word "Cult" is much more ambiguous in English however, and does not necessarily imply "Evil" in certain contexts, just "worship".

For example, People from <<ciro-santilli>>'s mother's Protestant Church in Brazil, all say that they are going "to the cult" when referring to when they are going to church to pray, sing and read the Bible together.

And obviously, the origin of the word "cult" is exactly the same as that of https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cultivate#Etymology["cultivate"] as in "cultivate the crops" (which is also how Falun Gong believers refer to practicing Falun Gong: "cultivation practice"). All of those come from the https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cult#Etymology[Latin "colō"], which means simply "to protect".

===== CCP cult

The CCP also has many cult-like characteristics, notably <<xi-jinping,"The Guru is always right">>, which is mentioned on <<orange-papers>> itself under "The Guru is always right." (highlight by <<ciro-santilli,Ciro>>):

____
The Guru, his church, and his teachings are always right, and above criticism, and beyond reproach.

In some cults, the guru is dead, but the principle is the same. I use the word "guru" loosely here; in many cults the charismatic leader has the title of minister, priest, yogi, swami, prophet, or all-knowing wise man. **Or even, "<<mao-zedong,Chairman Mao>>."** In any case, the leader is always right.
____

And they also claim that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholics_Anonymous[Alcoholics Anonymous] could be characterized as a cult. Very cool. What else could be powerful enough to get you off a physical addiction, than a mental addiction, right?

____
<<mao-zedong,Mao>> is the Father +
<<xi-jinping,Xi>> is the Son +
The CCP is the Holy Spirit
____

Both Mao and Xi have produced their own sacred books which must be revered, much like <<li-hongzhi>>'s <<flg-canon>>:

* Xi's: <<xi-jinping-thought>>
* Mao's: <<little-red-book>>

Furthermore, both of those books are based on speeches, just like just like Li Hongzhi's speeches become instant canon.

This devotion can also be seen in Xi's benevolent personification: <<xi-dada>>.

See also:

* <<democracy-is-a-religion>>

[[xi-halo]]
.Xi Jinping with a Halo to make <<ccp-cult,the obvious more obvious>>. Reads <<xi-jinping-thought,"习近平思想" (Xi Jinping Thought)>>. Watermark reads "Gucci Minh @Laborwave", so presumably from https://www.instagram.com/laborwavedesigns/[], but I didn't have the patience to find the picture, but it very likey comes from there, a ton of great communist memes in that account. https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/77vfi8/uphold_xi_jinping_thought/[Source].
image:https://web.archive.org/web/20200907151448/https://preview.redd.it/f2q3txu0i8tz.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=4edb61b3454487e43683c367ea014d9f2ec605e4[height=400]

===== Orange Papers

Amazing website talking about Cults and many other things!

https://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

Down as of 2020-04 archive:

* 2016 archive of the Cult Test, which is the key page of the website: https://web.archive.org/web/20160205090248/https://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html This is a must read.
* latest working homepage archive from 2019: https://web.archive.org/web/20190925201137/https://www.orange-papers.org/

TODO who is the author? Copyright says by "A. Orange". Is it the real name, or just a pun for "I ate an orange"?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Orangepapers/comments/5sh7kg/any_info_on_what_happened_to_the_orange_papers/ mentions the creator's first name is "Terry", and that the website went down due to financial trouble.

Claimed interview with him on the 2013 SAFE RECOVERY podcast: https://podfanatic.com/podcast/safe-recovery/episode/orange-papers-founder-terry-talks-about-the-truth-about-aa-1

The website also offered compressed archives, but Ciro could not find any of those on the Wayback Machine, although it is hard to be sure because there are many different timestamps available, the section reads:

____
Get this entire web site in a set of compressed packages so that you can read it later offline (and burn CDs and give copies to friends).

Archives are available in both Unix/Linux tarred-gzipped format, or Micro$uck Windoze winzip format.

Current as of 2016-12-07 (yyyy-mm-dd).

Total Size = 900 MB compressed (1.7 GB uncompressed), but no file is larger than 14 MB, to prevent file size problems with some systems, like Comcast.

Get either set; you don't need both, as the files contained are identical.
____

File names are of form:

* `Orange_Papers-alpha-2016-12-07.tar.gz`
* `Orange_Papers-imgs000-2011-01-01.tar.gz`

A mirror with many broken links and images: http://aorange1.tripod.com/

And the website also has a Free Tibet flag at the bottom.

Many of the points highlighted at are very very interesting and Ciro feels that they apply strongly to <<falun-gong>>:

* "Instant Community" and "Instant intimacy": you instantly join the cult family, and are very very likely to believe or at least consider anything anyone else in the cult says about their religious experiences, no matter how far-fetched, even though it is not <<flg-canon,canon>>
+
Conversely, this also poses a risk for the Cult Leader, as new community ideas can spread very quickly, and if you try to fight them off, they might create a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schism[Schism].
* "Cult-speak": see also "Newspeak" from <<nineteen-eighty-four>> and some common Falun Gong Cult-speak see: <<flg-religion>>
* "Denigration of competing sects, cults, religions, groups, or organizations": yes, <<li-hongzhi>> does this all the time, see: <<zhong-gong>>
* "Personal testimonies of earlier converts": see "experience sharing" at <<flg-religion>>
* "The group and its members are special", "Enemy-making and Devaluing the Outsider": see: "ordinary people (常人)" at <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong>>
* "Making cult members work long hours for free": yes, many FLG members work long long hours for free. Why wouldn't you if you are saving people's souls?
* "No Humor": see also <<funny>>
* "Different Levels of Truth", "Deceptive Recruiting": Falun Gong people don't talk freely about their funny beliefs like <<flg-religion,aliens are amongst us>> to outsiders. Rather, they lure you in with the exercises first. Ciro has personally heard the following said many times: "you should not tell this to non-believers, they are not ready for this truth yet".
* "Front groups, masquerading recruiters, hidden promoters, and disguised propagandists": <<falun-gong-media>>
* "Promised Powers or Knowledge" and "It's a con. You don't get the promised goodies": they seem to believe in a <<flg-religion,Judgement Day like event>> and <<flg-medication,health benefits>>
* "The Guru is always right", "You are always wrong", "No Graduates", "The Guru Is Extra-Special", "Everybody else needs the guru to boss him around, but nobody bosses the guru around", "The guru criticizes everybody else, but nobody criticizes the guru.": obviously: <<li-hongzhi>>
** "Group-think, Suppression of Dissent, and Enforced Conformity in Thinking"
* Membership Rivalry. Members vie with one another for the guru's attention, and for status within the group. Everyone is trying to become part of the favored inner circle. The leader plays the members off against each other in order to maintain his hold over the cult.
* Giggly wonderfulness and starry-eyed faith: <<flg-religion,notably visible during in experience sharing>>

There are also however some points which Ciro feels don't apply, and Ciro praises Falun Gong for those:

* "Dual Purposes": not much of that, most of their propaganda is "we are persecuted unfairly by China", not "let's help the poor"
* "The End Justifies The Means": Li has made it clear that believers must follow the laws of their countries. Cults that violate this tend to not last as long, this is the smart move for cult leaders.

And some points which Ciro feels apply which were mentioned in some other article, (or maybe in Orange Papers but he couldn't find them, TODO find reference?)

* "No time for fun": how could you possibly spend leisure time watching television, etc. when you could be saving the world instead?
* "Focus on the persecution of the Cult": while obviously people who have been persecuted have the right, and almost an obligation, to look for help and share their stories, it is also clear that this is a selling point for the Cult.
+
Why would a nation state attack a Cult? This could give the impression that it is because there is something powerful and true in the Cult, and actually menaces this nation state.
+
For example, Falun Gong puts huge emphasis on its persecution in China, much like the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyr[Martyrdom] of the Catholic Saints is highly emphasised.

This is especially interesting, because the website does not mention Falun Gong at all it seems: it really seems that all those cults are very similar.

It should also be mentioned though that these points extend to any type of human organization, e.g. <<flg-religion,other religions>>, <<democracy-is-a-religion,political parties>>, job associations, etc.

====== Careful control of your image

The cult leader is a master at controlling how people view him.

One aspect of that, is after reaching a certain critical mass of mindless followers, to limit your public appearances to situations in which you have the most control, and notably being surrounded only by your believers.

Because of course: you are human, not a God, and you are going to fuck up from time to time, so why take any risks?

<<li-hongzhi>> does not announce where he is going for the most part, even though he is followed by millions: he just shows up unannounced, and local believers whisper to one another in short advance and come to see him when possible.

This reminded Ciro of the <<vissarion>> video he watched, in which VICE was allowed to visit and interview <<russia,Siberian>> prophet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vissarion[Vissarion] (real name Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop Серге́й Анато́льевич То́роп, AKA "The Russian Jesus"), and they note how well he controlled his appearance.

[[vissarion]]
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Cv5hZfOmk&t=1177
video::W2Cv5hZfOmk[youtube,height=400,width=600,start=1177]

[[flg-canon]]
=== What are the canonical Falun Gong texts?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teachings_of_Falun_Gong

It appears that Falun Gong cannon is present at: https://falundafa.org/

The two main books are:

* "China Falun Gong" (中国法轮功) AKA just "Falun Gong" published in April 1993. 2006 English translation https://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/flg_2006.htm[]. Wikipedia comments:
+
____
Falun Gong is an introductory book that discusses qigong, introduces the principles of the practice, and provides illustrations and explanations of the exercises.
____
+
The first edition contains one of http://qingqing.freebbs.tw/viewthread.php?tid=130###
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teachings_of_Falun_Gong#Zhuan_Falun,_the_main_book[Zhuan Falun] (转法轮), published in January 1995. 1998 English version: https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_01.htm[]:
+
According to Wikipedia:
+
____
Zhuan Falun is the main teaching and the most comprehensive work; it is an edited version of Li's nine-lecture series, 54 of which he taught across China between 1992 and 1994.
____
+
Believers very often read from this text when they <<flg-religion,"study the Fa">> in their gatherings. They often read one chapter per session, and can often just say "we read the Nth teaching" (第N讲, so apparently each chapter corresponds to a separate talk). Just like <<xi-jinping-thought>>!

The initial versions of both of those texts contained versions of <<li-hongzhis-hagiography>>.

It contains <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>>'s approved texts/speech transcriptions, which are sacred.

The only sacred version is Chinese which is a sacred language, and of which there is only one perfect revision. Islam also appears to place great importance on the sacredness of Arabic in which Mohamed first spoke, perhaps even more: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/plight-uyghurs-why-muslims-wont-speak-their-brethren-112466 Protestants and later the Catholic church, have moved away from such really bad strategy however, the accessibility of Christianity is seen on the entrance of many many churches which have a sign "ALL are welcome". Well played.

<<ciro-santilli>> heard <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> claims the specifically chose to reincarnate in China this last time.

The English translation is made by followers, and gets new revisions to reduce translation imperfections.

However, the Chinese language seems to be fundamentally sacred, and there might never be a sacred English version approved by LHZ.

LHZ is of course a de-facto God with superpowers, and can of course speak all languages, but https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=for%20reasons[for reasons] he didn't just write an English translation himself.

This is a reasonable command to download the English cannon for grepping:

....
wget -r -l inf --no-remove-listing --no-clobber --no-parent -w 2 https://en.falundafa.org/falun-dafa-books.html
....

TODO: need to find a way to wrap lines, otherwise grep might fail on sentences.

But funnily the Canon books appear to all be copyrighted, likely "to avoid other people from modifying his sacred text", which is funny since the dude's the voice of absolute truth of the universe, but you still gotta copyright that I guess.

Nothing else is canonical. LHZ seems to have said that there are enlightened followers, but has not specified who, so we can't derive canon from anyone else.

Notably, <<flg-organized,FLG media>> such as https://www.minghui.org/ is believer led and thus not canonical, even though believers have very high confidence in it, and LHZ <<flg-organized,directly supports it>>.

CCP <<ccp-cult,cult leaders>> such as <<xi-jinping>> and <<mao-zedong>> have also published their own canon books, e.g.:

* Xi's: <<xi-jinping-thought>>
* Mao's: <<little-red-book>>

.Front and back cover of <<flg-canon,Zhuan Falun>>, first edition (1994). It is said amongst believers that <<flg-verifiable,the Lotus flower on the back of these books have magically opened progressively as time passed>>. http://qingqing.freebbs.tw/viewthread.php?tid=165###[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Zhuan_Falun.jpg[height=400]

=== Does Ciro Santilli support FLG, or just use it because it is censored?

Ciro Santilli doesn't support FLG specifically, only freedom of religion. See of course: <<flg-bias>>.

Ciro uses it in his usernames simply because it is the most banned and censored one in China today.

He believe that <<thoughtcrime,individuals should only be put in jail for what they do, not for what they believe>>.

He considers FLG <<flg-religion,a religion like any other>>, and he is against its ban, as that of all other religions.

He also believes that freedom of speech and democracy imply that FLG and other religions will exist. If you want freedom, you have to <<intolerance,accept other people's choices>>.

Otherwise, <<democracy-is-a-religion,democracy and communism can also be considered as religions>>, and banned.

See also: <<flg-verifiable>>.

[[flg-daily]]
=== How is it like to live with Falun Gong believers?

This will obviously vary from believer to believer, but here is <<ciro-santilli>>'s experience.

Like any other religion that is taken seriously, they spend several hours per week doing their standard religious activities: <<flg-religion>>.

Ciro has never seen them, or anyone we know from FLG say or do something that he consider morally incorrect because of FLG.

This does not prevent <<wife,his wife>> from working normally.

Ciro's mother-in-law, who is retired, dedicates all her time to Falun Gong when she is not taking care of the house.

Ciro's mother is also religious (link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism[Protestant]), and he gets a very similar feeling about both groups.

Like other religions, Falun Gong gives them meaning in life, and Ciro admires that they pursue their belief energetically, just as he persues his beliefs energetically.

Ciro much prefers that Ciro's mother-in-law does Falun Gong, which is a noble meaningful goal, rather than watch stupid crap on television.

Also, although he is <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,agnostic>>, Ciro also lives in a similar way.

Ciro's religion is that of science and technology, and he pursue it fervently by trying to learn and teach it and spend several hours a week doing that, even when it does not give him money immediately.

If Ciro pursue his meaning, why should he prevent anyone from pursuing theirs?

Previously, Ciro's wife and mother-in-law would sometimes try to persuade him to learn Falun Gong, which was annoying.

But every time he told them very clearly that he knows where to download the books if I want to, and that he may never want to read them, and that his wife must either accept this fact or leave him.

And they have accepted that: they think Ciro's a good person, and they can accept that you can also be a good person even without doing Falun Gong.

Ciro does feel Falun Gong makes Ciro's mother-in-law more reluctant to use or actively search for <<flg-medication,medication or treatment>>. But he thinks it is also linked to the fact that she didn't have a very good education or a good health system around. However, if Ciro and his wife give her something, she will take it. Ciro's wife does not have any resistance to medication.

One thing that does worry Ciro is that Ciro's mother in law sleeps too little every night, doing one of the Falun Gong meditations late in the evening, and then waking up very early to a long series of reading and exercise sessions. But it is hard to say if she would be any different without Falun Gong, it could just be her nature.

Bibliography:

* https://www.zhihu.com/question/27659795 at <<zhihu>>

=== In the Tweet about his mother in law, Ciro Santilli says "correctional facility", but reeducation through labour has been abolished

He was not very precise https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/579270450984984576[here], the precise term is "jail". He was _not_ talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-education_through_labor Unfortunately it is not possible to edit a Tweet.

[[flg-changed]]
=== Falun Gong is completely different in the West than it was in China

I believe that it has changed.

But isn't that the case of every cultural religious movement that migrates to a completely new culture?

Main points which may have changed:

* It has become more organized.
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But why shouldn't they organize to defend themselves now that they have the chance without being put into prison?
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The CCP is highly organized and has way more resources.
* Less emphasis is given to the religious/mystical aspect, and more to the corporal exercises, and health aspect.
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This may be because people in the "West" are:
+
** are "scientific-educated" atheists who wouldn't go for a "religion"
** already have other religions, which would view FLG as a taboo

Also maybe only the richest and most educated believers managed to escape China, and thus the movement carried that bias outside China.

If you know more ways in which it may have changed, let me know.

But once again, we can know nothing for sure about the past in China because of censorship.

Even if you saw something yourself, how can you be sure that it is representative?

And if it has changed, now that it has changed, maybe China should unban it?

See also:

* https://www.zhihu.com/question/23988890 at <<zhihu>>

=== FLG has been funded by the US government at least once, therefore it is evil

1.5M USD in 2010 for a FLG controlled internet freedom group https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8678760.stm

But well, if you are going to do something anyway, and someone offers you money, why wouldn't you take it?

Taking the money does of course give a "bad impression" that someone is trying to buy influence, but does it in itself imply that you are doing something bad?

But do you really think that the US government paid that to buy influence in FLG? What would they force upon that FLG group that they didn't already want to do? Isn't it more likely that the US government wanted them to continue doing exactly what they were doing?

Every government funds groups it supports, it is an all out war I suppose. Compare that to the propaganda funds of the CCP.

What about the funding of political campaigns, which vastly outnumbers 1.5M USD every year?

[[follow-the-law]]
=== FLG is illegal in China, we must follow the law

This might be a bad law that should be changed.

It was perfectly legal for <<nazi,Nazis>> to kill Jews. Does it make that right?

But many times, the commies don't even bother passing a law, they just fuck people anyways without one: <<rule-of-law>>.

[[flg-fake]]
=== FLG is fake 法轮功是假的

The same can be argued about any other religion or political belief of type: it is better if we organize society in this or that way.

How can you disprove their belief, when as in any other religion, every affirmation made hinges on "miracles only happen around when true believers are around" or "only true believers can perceive evidence in their hearts / minds directly". He died of cancer or <<corona>>? Not a true believer, deep withing his heart, something was wrong.

Conversely, do you understand the full sequence of experiments that imply quantum field theory? Have you seen videos of those experiments? Have you attended live demonstrations? Do you understand the construction of the experimentation apparatus? Yet, why do you believe it?

More importantly: what do you propose that should be done about it? Should we kill followers? Or is jail enough?

Also do let me know when you have achieved irrefutable proof that democracy/freedom of speech are the optimal ways to organize the government: <<democracy-is-a-religion>>.

See also: <<flg-religion>>

[[flg-verifiable]]
==== FLG never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers

Exactly, just like any other <<flg-religion>>, this is why <<ciro-santilli>> is <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,agnostic>> and things Falun Gong metaphysics is bullshit.

Notably, <<li-hongzhi>> explicitly forbids display of magical powers gained by believers to non-believers: <<flg-supernatural-powers>> for "reasons". What a convenient coincidence, that prevents any verifiability!

Just like in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter[Harry Potter], Falun Gong believers are part of the magical <<flg-religion,Hogwarts world which non-believers, The Muggles>>, cannot access.

The closest claims to observable Ciro has heard are: