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Falun Gong oppressed

I am writing in response to Ku Er-teh's (顧爾德) column ("Accusations are fanning the flames of hatred," Sept. 23, page 8). Ku calls the likening of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) to Adolf Hitler "irresponsible" and "fanning the flames of hatred."

I'd like to defend the validity of this comparison. After the defeat of Hitler, the newly formed UN General Assembly established genocide as a crime under international law. It was defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Based on this definition, it is common international know-ledge that Jiang's ongoing persecution of Falun Gong clearly meets the definition of genocide. True, Jiang's genocidal campaign was smaller than Hitler's in scale, yet it was no less clear in its intent: to eradicate an entire group of people with a common belief.

As a result of the widespread knowledge of this genocide, 16 lawsuits against Jiang and his senior aides have been filed in 12 countries including the US, Taiwan, France and Spain.

It is unfortunate that Ku would trivialize the large-scale peaceful appeals in New York City by Falun Gong practitioners and claim that their words are irresponsible. In my heart I feel sorry for Ku, as he inadvertently or intentionally fails to write what is at the heart of this issue: people are being tortured for their belief in the Falun Gong practice.

In Ku's words, "By accusing others of being evil, one is affirming that one's own standpoint and set of values are correct, in an absolute sense."

Based on his clarification of the word "evil," I am of the opinion that those who torture and kill people for their belief in Falun Gong are unquestionably evil.

Cary Dunst

Denver, Colorado

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