A grand parade, band performances, and traditional Chinese dance and music to mark the 31st anniversary of World Falun Dafa Day regaled onlookers in downtown Toronto on May 6. The event also included a flag-raising ceremony.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual practice rooted in Buddhist traditions that involves meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the tenets of “truthfulness, compassion, forbearance.” After it was introduced in China on May 13, 1992, the practice grew rapidly in popularity largely due to its health benefits, and by 1999 it had an estimated 70 million to 100 million adherents.
But the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) viewed Falun Gong’s popularity a threat to the regime’s rule, and in July 1992 launched a persecution campaign with the intention of eradicating the practice. The campaign, which continues today, involves the arbitrary incarceration, torture, brainwashing, and sexual abuse of Falun Gong adherents, as well as the live harvesting of their organs to supply China’s lucrative transplant industry….