HR0286 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0286 LRB102 18413 ECR 26354 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, On May 3, 2021, thousands of people across the country celebrated World Falun Dafa Day; this marks the second anniversary of the celebration of one of the world's most popular meditation and cultivation practices; and

WHEREAS, Falun Dafa, also referred to as Falun Gong, is a peaceful spiritual practice rooted in the Buddhist tradition; it consists of moral teachings, a meditation, and four gentle exercises that are a truly unique and a highly effective way to improve health and energy levels; it is always taught free of charge by volunteers and can be practiced individually or in groups; and

WHEREAS, At the core of Falun Dafa are the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance; practitioners of Falun Dafa take these fundamental values to be a guide for daily life; and

WHEREAS, People who practice Falun Dafa often find it to be life-changing; many experience dramatic health benefits as well as newfound energy, mental clarity, stress relief, and spiritual awareness; and

WHEREAS, Falun Dafa was first taught in China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi; he is a five time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and was nominated by the European Parliament for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought; he is also the recipient of Freedom House's International Religious Freedom Award; and

WHEREAS, Li Hongzhi's teachings spread quickly through word-of-mouth across China; by 1999, according to China's official estimates, 70 million to 100 million people were studying Falun Dafa; this amounted to approximately 1 in every 13 people in China; and

WHEREAS, Falun Dafa is now practiced in over 90 countries, and its teachings have been translated into over 40 languages; over one hundred million people worldwide have become healthier, happier, and more altruistic through their practice of Falun Dafa; and

WHEREAS, Although widely popular and openly celebrated by the Chinese government throughout the 1990s, China's then president Jiang Zemin launched a violent campaign against Falun Dafa in 1999; he feared Falun Dafa's exploding popularity and felt its emphasis on moral living and traditional Chinese culture were a threat to the atheist, communist regime; and

WHEREAS, A systematic campaign of abductions, torture, and death targeting tens of millions of Falun Dafa practitioners was thus launched; over the past 20 years, several million people have been detained, hundreds of thousands have been tortured, thousand have been confirmed dead with the true number of deceased probably being much higher, and tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, have been killed for their vital organs to fuel a booming organ transplantation business in China; and

WHEREAS, These atrocities have largely been hidden from view because for years the Chinese Communist Party has classified any information about human rights abuses against people who practice Falun Dafa as "state secrets"; and

WHEREAS, As the persecution continues, Falun Dafa practitioners have been consistent in refusing to adopt violence as an option; they instead focus on using every available peaceful avenue to have their voices heard; and

WHEREAS, Today, across China, there are 200,000 or more underground printing houses run by Falun Dafa practitioners; from their living rooms, they have established secure internet connections, accessed websites outside China by using proxy servers, downloaded censored literature on the persecution of Falun Dafa, and produced homemade leaflets; others volunteer distribute the literature, usually by night; and

WHEREAS, Collectively, this resistance movement, composed of bold individual acts in spite of great personal risks, constitutes what is probably today's largest nonviolent underground movement in the world; and

WHEREAS, Falun Dafa was first introduced to Illinois in the mid l990s; since then, volunteers have held free workshops, teaching programs, seminars, and group exercises throughout the state; and

WHEREAS, Falun Dafa practitioners actively participate in community events such as July 4th parades, Thanksgiving parades, Labor Day parades, summer festivals, and farmer's markets; and

WHEREAS, Falun Dafa practitioners have invited the world renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts Company to Illinois to entertain and to share the precious traditional culture and values of truthfulness, compassion, forbearance, and loyalty; and

WHEREAS, It is important for the State of Illinois to express clear and strong support for any person or group of people who are being unjustly persecuted for their beliefs; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare the week of May 10 through May 16, 2021 as Falun Dafa Week in the State of Illinois.