Key Note: Gregory Globa is member of the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists and a renowned anti-cult expert. Recently, he wrote a report condemning the false information spread by Falun Gong and accused it of damaging the mental health of local citizens. Here is the full text of his report:
On July 20, Falun Gong held a horrible propaganda campaign under the name of “Tank” in Ukraine. In recent years, it has attracted the public’s attention with many such eccentric methods. In 2008, the Administration of Internal Affairs formed an Expert Committee by selecting scholars from local universities and Capital University to deal with the death scene performances acted out by Falun Gong. In this way, it successfully banned suspicious Falun Gong activities.
Expert Testimony
Professor H.A. Lippovskaya at the Dnipropetrovsk College of Public Administration holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Social Science. She has reached the following conclusion on Falun Gong:
“These performances, especially the photo exhibition in Kyiv showing the harvesting of hearts, kidneys and other organs, cause mental problems for local citizens, such as depression, fear, aggressiveness and neurosis, especially forchildren and pregnant women.
“The places where the activities are held are usually vital communication lines, which result in the passive participation of people using public or private means of transportation.
“Though it is up to citizens to choose whether to participate in the activities, people are easily attracted to them due to the deliberate planning of the time and place by the organizers,.”
Dr. T. Shostakovich pointed out in Evaluation of Public Exhibition of Visual Materials by Falun Gong Practitioners that the pictures showing torture or violence can intensify a propensity for violence and result in impulsive attacks or lack of legal awareness. The pictures themselves are a promotion of violence．
The position of the experts is clear: no violent scenarios can be allowed to be displayed, since the effects of these images of violence on the conscious and the subconscious mind are difficult to predict.. Journalists have shown their professionalism and ethical standards by not using pictures or details in reporting death, corpses, torture or other extreme scenes of violence.
Of course, we must take counter-action, as such scenes might break psychological defense mechanisms and logical thinking, damaging physiological response mechanisms and affect the sub-conscience. As a result, people might accept negative information, arbitrarily blame others or even instigate disputes. There is no shortage of such examples in history.
People in a mental state of shock will not pay attention to the sources of accusations, nor will they dig deeper into the background of people engaged in the economic and information war between China and America. One such person is a former employee of the US Office of Management and Budget and partner of Democracy Protection Fund, and another is a Canadian politician who often writes articles about a supposed China Threat.
What has that got to do with Ukraine? Why did Ukrainian Falun Gong followers take action immediately after the No.343 anti-China motion? Is it a coincidence?
Government Response to Public Complaint
Why is it that a problem that had been solved 6 years ago has reoccurred today? It is not the first time that citizens have been subjected to Falun Gong’s shows. In May, 2016, Falun Gong held a nationwide seminar in Ukraine, w here they displayed scenes of death and citizens responded by writing a long letter of complaint to the government.
The (No. 170) Reply issued on May 21 by the municipal government stated that, “The Urban Council of Dnipropetrovsk deliberated the appeal of citizens against the assembly of Falun Gong practitioners and hereby issues a warning to Falun Gong organizations that they are not allowed to violate the laws of Ukraine.”
Yet obviously, Falun Gong practitioners are likely to ignore the warning from the municipal government and hope that they can avoid punishment.
