Legitimating the Chinese Communist Party Since Tiananmen: A Critical Analysis of the Stability Discourse by Peter Sandby-Thomas

Author:Peter Sandby-Thomas [Sandby-Thomas, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism, Democracy, Political Ideologies, Social Science, Political Parties, Political Science, Political Process, Regional Studies, General
ISBN: 9781136962325
Google: ObDHBQAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17585043
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

16 August commentary: co-textual analysis

The response from Falun Gong adherents to the decision by the government to outlaw both the group and its practice as well as the subsequent propaganda campaign was similar to that when Falun Gong was de-registered by the CQSRS in 1996, in that members of the group contested the decision. As Ching points out, ‘[f]rom the beginning, Falun Gong members did not take the ban passively’ (2005: 47). Indeed, even on the day that the ban was announced, tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations against the ban in ten cities across China.53 For Vermander, this response from Falun Gong adherents could be explained by the fact that ‘[t]he repression, once it began, enhanced still further the redemptive effect of the affirmation of faith and, in this regard, public protests take on a ritual character’ (2001: 5). Chen finds that this response to the ban was paralleled by those of earlier sectarian movements which had been outlawed in imperial times, in that ‘during periods of official repression or adversity, followers were mobilized into greater levels of commitments’ (2003: 513). Moreover, by seeking to contest the government ban, Falun Gong effectively transformed itself from a quasi-spiritual qigong group into a fully political organization.54 Indeed, the performative act of outlawing Falun Gong seemingly had the effect of turning the group into the very organization that the government accused it of being and thus provided further justification for the government’s actions.

In addition to maintaining the propaganda campaign against the group,55 the CCP responded to the actions of Falun Gong adherents by introducing new legislation that would allow it to ban ‘cult organizations’. This legislation, which was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on 30 October 1999 in the ‘Decision on Banning Cult Organizations and Preventing and Punishing Cult Activities’, built on the existing legislation governing ‘cult’ organizations under Article 300 of the Criminal Law to expand the number of activities for which practitioners could be tried as well as clarifying the severity of their punishments.56 Furthermore, due to the interpretation of the Decision by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) on 1 November 1999, these expanded powers were given greater legal force by sanctioning their retroactive application (Keith and Lin 2003: 638–9). As a result, even those who were not directly connected with the group, for example bookshop owners who had once stocked Falun Gong books, could now be, and indeed were, subject to arrest (Leung 2002: 779).57 In addition to the new legislation, new measures, such as the launching of an education movement to ‘reveal the truth’ about Falun Gong as well as ‘the comprehensive management of public order’ to protect against the Falun Gong threat, were also announced in order to further aid the attempt to ‘comprehensively eliminate’ the group (Keith and Lin 2003: 638).

The Decision passed by the NPC Standing Committee resulted in Falun Gong being labelled a ‘cult organization’ (xiejiao zuzhi).58 Although the

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