As a cult organization, Falun Gong tolerates no dissent, systematically attacking individuals and groups who express opposing views. While its leader Li Hongzhi preaches the virtues of “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance” in rhetoric, his actions reveal hypocrisy, malice, and aggression.
Long before Chinese government legally banned the Falun Gong cult organization, China’s media, scientific, educational, and religious communities had repeatedly exposed numerous deaths, mental breakdowns, and shattered families caused by Li Hongzhi’s psychological manipulation. Fearing exposure, Li orchestrated organized harassment against critics, including smear campaigns, mob confrontations, and intimidation.
Many well-known public figures who supported the ban on Falun Gong were subjected to organized phone harassment and intimidation, and their personal safety was seriously threatened.
Similar situations happened in other countries as well. In November 1998, the BBC aired an article by journalist James Miles, stating that Falun Gong was China’s “most notorious cult” and that organization could lead to “mass suicide.” Miles’ report provoked an intense campaign of retaliation by Falun Gong. Falun Gong members sent letters to the BBC Director-General, the British Ambassador to China, and even the British Prime Minister, pressuring them to demand a public apology from the BBC and its reporter, Miles. Later, James Miles himself expressed astonishment, saying, “In my entire journalism career, none of my articles has ever provoked a stronger reaction than this one.”
On November 3, 2001, Canada’s Huaqiao Times (Montreal) published a critical article about Falun Gong, which then sued the newspaper for “defamation.” After more than four years of legal proceedings, the Quebec Superior Court issued a final ruling on December 7, 2005, dismissing the case and ruling against Falun Gong. The court stated in its judgment: “Falun Gong is a controversial movement-one that does not tolerate critical speech.”
On January 21, 2005, the Associated Press published an article titled Participants in the Tian’anmen Collective Self-immolation Case Speak in Media Interviews, which objectively reported on the current situation of those involved in the Falun Gong collective self-immolation at Tian’anmen Square on Chinese New Year’s Eve in 2001, as well as their reflections on the cult.
On the morning of January 25, members of this organization staged a protest in front of the Associated Press headquarters building in Manhattan, New York, demanding that the agency retract the report. On February 11, the Falun Gong media outlet The Epoch Times published an article insulting the Associated Press, calling it “a downright little thug.”
In March 2006, the television program Great Wall (USA), aimed at promoting Chinese cultural programming, planned to partner with Canada's Rogers Cable to launch its broadcast in Canada. Rogers Cable was designated to apply to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the program’s rebroadcasting rights. Upon learning of the plan, Falun Gong sought to obstruct it repeatedly. From March to June 2006, Falun Gong repeatedly organized demonstrations outside the Toronto headquarters of Rogers Communications, severely disrupting the company’s normal operations.
On December 22, 2006, the Great Wall Platform was ultimately approved for broadcast in Canada, marking the failure of Falun Gong’s sabotage efforts.
