Oppression Here and There, Not Everywhere

Greater Cincinnati practitioners of Falun Gong, a Chinese meditation system, are speaking out against forcible organ harvesting involving live “donors” in the People’s Republic of China. In an Aug. 16 press conference in front of City Hall, University of Cincinnati Professor Sunny Lu called for action against the Chinese government for harvesting the organs of thousands of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners, underground Christians and other religious and political dissidents.

“We come to you today on an urgent mission to inform the citizens of this area about a horrific situation which has arisen in the world and to ask your help in rousing all men and women of goodwill to stand with us in combating an unprecedented evil that challenges the norms of civilized society,” Lu said.

The press conference was part of a three-state tour to raise awareness of an independent investigation conducted in July on behalf of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China. Hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas are taken from living victims and sold in China’s lucrative transplant market, the study found. The investigation found that between 2000 and 2005 there were 41,500 organ transplants in China that willing donors can’t account for. The average organ waiting time in the United States is two to five years, while a patient in China can receive a kidney within a week and a liver within a month, according to the study.

Mayor Mark Mallory proclaimed Aug. 16 Falun Dafa Day. For a full story about the persecution of Falun Gong, see www.citybeat.com.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment or public accommodation now is illegal in the city of Cincinnati, thanks to the scandalous collapse of an effort by religious zealots to undermine the new ordinance.

Led by Phil Burress of Equal Rights Not Special Rights (ERNSR), opponents of equality for gays and lesbians had circulated petitions for a referendum, hoping voters would repeal city council’s amendment to the Human Rights Ordinance. But so many of the signatures on the petitions turned out to be fraudulent that ERNSR withdrew them.

The ordinance had been delayed in taking effect pending the outcome of the referendum effort. Burress, founder of Citizens for Community Values, an anti-gay lobby, blamed day laborers hired to collect signatures. Supporters of Citizens for Restore Fairness, which opposed the repeal effort, celebrated their victory with a party and called for an investigation of the phony petitions. The Hamilton County Prosecutor is investigating.

People in Costa Rica seem not to be afflicted with the discriminatory impulse running rampant in North America. Lew Moores, a contributing writer for CityBeat, is just back from a week in the Latin American nation.

“Guess what? I didn’t see a single sign in a window, including the funky little town of Liberia — population 15,000 — that said, ‘For service, speak Spanish,’ ” Moores says. “Indeed, some ticos and ticas seem to go out of their way to talk to you so they can practice their English.”

What a curious local tradition: welcoming people from foreign lands. In this country, we build fences to keep them out.

Democrats Building Momentum
It’s very early in the campaign season, but even the Hamilton County Democrats are starting to believe they can win. Last week U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former presidential candidate Howard Dean and former Sen. Max Cleland were in town, stumping for the Democratic ticket. A fundraiser for Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland raised more than $24,000.

Hamilton County Democratic Chair Tim Burke says there’s lots of campaigning yet to be done.

“But it is only August,” he said in a letter to supporters last week. “There is still a great deal to be done to bring victories for all of our candidates in November. We still need to raise quite a bit of money for the Hamilton County Democratic Party’s contribution toward sample ballots and Get Out The Vote operations.”

Brian Garry, who ran for city council in 2003, is getting an early start on his 2007 campaign with a fundraiser Saturday at the home of Adrienne and Chris Carmichael. Garry is running on the ONE Cincinnati platform: Opportunity, Neighborhoods and Education. Garry is a Democrat who has long been active in the anti-war movement.

County Commissioner Phil Heimlich has a fundraiser scheduled, too. CityBeat‘s Porkopolis blog has details on his donors and his links to the anti-gay movement. Visit citybeat.wordpress.com and get today’s news today.

This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2006.