Hatred is China's Clandestine Export: An Un-Peaceful Rise at Columbia
University/Gerard Smith

An Un-Peaceful Rise at Columbia University
By Gerard Smith
Special to The Epoch Times
Apr 30, 2007

David Matas (R), with moderator Dr. Frank Xie (L), answers a question
from a student. (NTDTV photo)

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A panel discussion meant to take a look at a horrifying human rights
violation became the occasion for a stunning show of incivility―a
breakdown of all values and practices that New York's most prestigious
university holds dear. For two hours on Friday afternoon the week before
last, the Columbia University community was given a chilling glimpse at
one Chinese export America can decidedly do without: hatred.

The event sought to examine the findings of a report, "Bloody Harvest"
(http://organharvestinvestigation.net/), authored by two Canadians, the
human rights lawyer David Matas and the former Canadian Secretary of
State David Kilgour. This report finds credible the allegations, made
initially by this paper, that the Chinese Communist regime is engaging
in the widespread, systematic, forced removal of organs from living
Falun Gong practitioners, something Matas has referred to as "a new form
of evil in our time."

The panel was sponsored by the Columbia University Amensty International
Chapter and Falun Dafa Club, and featured David Matas, joined by two
Chinese medical doctors, Dr. Charles Lee and Dr. Jingduan Yuan.

Defending the Motherland

These three speakers became the latest target of what some refer to as
"China's new nationalism," in the form of some 30 Chinese students who
came to the panel not to engage in the discussion, but to end it.

The Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association
(CUCSSA), had sent an e-mail to its members the night before, that said
"facing this demonization [of China] we cannot hold back!"

In language that could have come straight from the mouth of Chairman Mao
some four decades ago, the email further declared, "we will use the sea
of red [Chinese] flags, dyed with blood, to strike hard against the
[group's] arrogant fervor, and to resolutely defend the honor and
dignity of the Motherland!" Physical confrontation is elsewhere
indicated in the message―the implied recourse should "Americans" fail to
"listen to us."

The students indeed showed up with many large Chinese flags, which
campus police prevented them from bringing into the lecture hall, lest
the students put into action the e-mail's injunction to "strike hard."

In the aftermath of the bizarre protest―a mix of childishness (chucking
paper airplanes at the podium), disruptions, and hate speech in the form
of defamatory placards―CUCSSA posted on its website a report on the
event. The report declares that CUCSSA students "share bitter hatred of
the enemy"―referring to the Falun Dafa Club, whose members do meditative
exercises on a small plot of grass on campus each morning.

The article also congratulates the CUCSSA for having "exhibited its
formidable cohesive force and combat effectiveness" and "sent a vivid
warning to other organizations" that holding similar activities would
"only accelerate one's self-destruction!"

The Matrix

According to some scholars, students who grow up in mainland China have
difficulty distinguishing between the place or people of China and the
one-party regime that tyrannizes it. When I asked a student who took
part in the CUCSSA protest if by "China" she meant the communist party,
or the people there―it seemed the difference was lost upon her.

From the cradle on up, everything comprising the students' living
environment has been carefully engineered by the Party-state. It is an
ersatz, Orwellian world if ever there was one, with most everything―from
textbooks to toys, television to theater―regulated by communist rulers
so as to either boost or maintain their power.

It is an air-tight system that defies all but the occasional, slight
puncture. As one friend who grew up in China told me after watching "The
Matrix," "That's China." He would go on to watch the film four more
times, so unsettling was the realization it sparked.

It is a bizarre world, populated by conjured villains (e.g., landlords),
enemies (Japanese), bullies (America), and threats (Falun Gong). Things
are inverted here. AIDS activists like 80-year old Dr. Gao Yaojie are
labeled "trouble makers" and arrested. Human rights attorneys who try to
reign in corrupt officials and uphold the law, such as Gao Zhisheng, are
charged with "subversion" of state power. Activists, like the blind
lawyer Chen Guangcheng, are arrested and beaten for documenting things
like forced sterilization and abortion campaigns. And of course, the
peaceful Falun Gong meditators are portrayed by the state-run press as
"disruptive" and "dangerous," and tortured to death.

Keeping Minds Closed

The freedom offered by the United States unfortunately often does not
have much effect on students whose minds have been so thoroughly closed
by the Chinese regime.

This is not accidental. CUCSSA lists on its Web site an advisory
committee comprised solely of two Chinese consulate staff members.
Rumors on campus are that the Consulate funds the CUCSSA generously.

What happens at Columbia is typical. Upon a student's arrival, the
Chinese consulate, or an organization controlled by it, quickly swoops
in. For example, an incoming student will be greeted at the airport,
quickly bringing him or her into the fold of a very like-minded
community from which some never venture.

One young Chinese man whom I know, didn't know what a "sandwich" or
"Kleenex" was, despite having lived in the U.S. over ten years and
having attended Columbia.

The Consulate orchestrates a virtual reality on campus as it were,
complete with social events, career advising, shopping trips, and of
course, a host of occasions to help you remember how to "think" while on
dangerous soil.

CUCSSA students I have spoken with on campus, I find, often do not read
newspapers published in the free world. "They're all anti-China," one
student confidently explained.

Not surprisingly, some Chinese students eagerly clamor for leadership
positions in organizations like CUCSSA, knowing well the privileges tied
to obedient performance; after a term as president, a plush job is as
good as guaranteed. There is an intoxicating element of power I observe.
These leaders, endorsed and guided by the largest political regime in
the world, get to tell students what they (or "we") should think and do.
A sense of impunity naturally follows.

Loss and Damage

The panel who appeared at Columbia to discuss organ harvesting also
recently appeared at similar forums at Carnegie-Mellon and Princeton
University. At these institutions the panelists also faced organized
attempts by Chinese students to defame Falun Gong. These incidents
follow upon years of incidents in which individuals have acted here in
the U.S. upon the hatred with which the Chinese regime has indoctrinated
them.

In response to such incidents, Congress passed Resolution 304 in
October, 2004, calling on the Attorney General to investigate and order
P.R.C. officials to "immediately stop interfering in the exercise of
religious and political freedoms within the United States" or face
possible legal repercussions.

The Chinese students at Columbia who showed up intending to disrupt a
panel discussion are themselves victims. They are locked inside the
Chinese regime's matrix, battling imaginary foes, and losing the chance
to discover the joys and challenges of freedom. At the same time, their
ignorant and prejudiced actions damage our free institutions.

Fundamental to the idea of a university are the principles of civility,
tolerance, freedom of inquiry, and freedom of discussion. As a friend
and alumnus of Columbia University, I hope it will vigorously defend
these principles. The health of Columbia demands it. Moreover, teaching
respect for free institutions to those who have none, would benefit
them, and such an education is very well the most important thing such
students could take away from their stay at Columbia.

Gerard Smith (penname) is a graduate of Columbia University who lives
and works in New York.

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