8.18.1. Falun Gong downplays the fact that it is highly organized (法轮功淡化了它高度组织化的事实)
Many FLG practitioners claim that they are not at all organized, or that they have no political interest, and I truly believe that they mean it.
But it is obvious from the size of the Falun Gong media (法轮功媒体), namely:
that in practice they do have are a highly organized hierarchical structure, and very likely with LHZ at the very top, e.g.:
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Shen Yun’s 2018 libretto says that their Artistic Director and founder is "D.F." (likely an abbreviation for Da Fa, which is an abbreviation for Falun Gong Dafa, which is a full name of Falun Gong), with a picture of LHZ on top. It also amusingly says that D.F. is a "Distinguished Professor of Music and Dance at Fei Tian College in New York", which is likely where many of Shen Yun’s dancers are trained, and therefore controlled by himself to a large extent. It’s Falun Gong’s dance-only-for-now BYU.
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LHZ mentions NDTV, Epoch Times and Shen Yun extensively on his Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作). TODO link to source, this based on unintentionally overhearing to my family members reading it.
Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners directly lobby foreign governments to take action against human rights abuses in China, e.g.:
Like any other religion, they have all the right to take those actions, and it is definitely in their best interest, and perhaps in the best interest of the whole world, that they do so.
The only thing that annoys me is their lack of self perception on this matter: the large majority of Western people would definitely classify them as an organized political force after having observed their activities. When they say otherwise, they are hurting their own credibility.
Many FLG practitioners claim that they are not at all organized, or that they have no political interest, and I truly believe that they mean it.
But it is obvious from the size of the Falun Gong media (法轮功媒体), namely:
that in practice they do have are a highly organized hierarchical structure, and very likely with LHZ at the very top, e.g.:
-
Shen Yun’s 2018 libretto says that their Artistic Director and founder is "D.F." (likely an abbreviation for Da Fa, which is an abbreviation for Falun Gong Dafa, which is a full name of Falun Gong), with a picture of LHZ on top. It also amusingly says that D.F. is a "Distinguished Professor of Music and Dance at Fei Tian College in New York", which is likely where many of Shen Yun’s dancers are trained, and therefore controlled by himself to a large extent. It’s Falun Gong’s dance-only-for-now BYU.
-
LHZ mentions NDTV, Epoch Times and Shen Yun extensively on his Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作). TODO link to source, this based on unintentionally overhearing to my family members reading it.
Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners directly lobby foreign governments to take action against human rights abuses in China, e.g.:
Like any other religion, they have all the right to take those actions, and it is definitely in their best interest, and perhaps in the best interest of the whole world, that they do so.
The only thing that annoys me is their lack of self perception on this matter: the large majority of Western people would definitely classify them as an organized political force after having observed their activities. When they say otherwise, they are hurting their own credibility.