April 2020 Monthly Message

Hello my China Uncensored 50 Cent Army! How is lockdown quarantine going? I heard from Chinese State-Run CGTN that the coronavirus actually began in a US lab! Fancy that!

In case you didn’t know, today, April 25 is a major anniversary for all things China. On April 25, 1999, 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for their right to practice their beliefs—something supposedly guaranteed by the Chinese constitution. It was in response to the arrest of practitioners in another part of China. It was the largest gathering in Beijing since ten years prior, when students began to protest in Tiananmen.

And it didn’t turn out much better for Falun Gong practitioners. The Chinese Communist Party freaked out that there would be that many Chinese people actually willing to disagree with the something the Party was doing, and then-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin was there to fan the flames. This set the stage for a persecution that would officially begin on July 20, 1999. 

Why is this important? Well, for one, most of the factional power struggles happening in the Communist Party, between the clique tied to Jiang Zemin and current leader Xi Jinping, is tied to the persecution of Falun Gong. 

Also, a lot of suppression you see today happening to, for instance, the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang—that system of persecution was built and perfected against Falun Gong practitioners.

If you’d like to learn more about the significance of April 25, check out the anniversary episode I made last year, How China Manufactured a “Dangerous Enemy”

Once again, thank you all so much for supporting this show, especially in these difficult times. YouTube continues to play hardball. In case you missed it, we did an episode this week about the US government investigating if the coronavirus began in a Chinese lab. YouTube’s algorithm demonetized it. We appealed for review. And then a human at YouTube reviewed it and permanently demonetized it because it depicted quote, “harmful or dangerous acts.” Things like pranks or stunts the message said. Yeah...that’s what we’re up against. Totally arbitrary. 

We couldn’t do this show without you so I think you all deserve a pat on the back!*

—Chris 

*to ensure appropriate social distancing, please give yourself a pat on the back, or have a friend use a pole that is at least 6 feet long.