> Sychopathic "Patriots" are China's Latest Exports -- 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)
>
> Related Articles
> - More Evidence of China's Organ Harvesting Surfaces Friday, March 30, 2007
> - China's New Regulation Exposes Organ Removal From Live Minors Monday,
> March 26, 2007
> - Dail Committee to Pursue Measures to End Organ Harvesting in China
> Wednesday, February 28, 2007
> - Amnesty, Student Groups Host Organ Harvesting Forum at Colorado
> Universities Wednesday, February 21, 2007
>
> 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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