The Daily Signal - 'Unsilenced': Film Lifts Curtain on Horrors of Chinese Communist Party

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

Just over 20 years ago, the Chinese Communist Party began persecuting those in China who followed the spiritual practice of Falun Gong.  Today, Uyghur Muslims face imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Chinese government. Tomorrow, more innocent lives will fall victim to suffering at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party if Beijing’s totalitarian leaders do not face consequences for those human rights abuses.  In the new film “Unsilenced,” director Leon Lee tells the true story of those who were persecuted and killed by China’s government because they practiced Falun Gong.    The film highlights the stories of those who “risk their lives and use their wisdom to find ways to counter the propaganda and fight for their freedom” in China, Lee says.  But the threats of the Chinese Communist Party extend far beyond its borders, the film director says.  It’s past time for America to recognize “that the [Chinese Communist Party] is the biggest threat the West faces,” says Leon Lee, the director of “Unsilenced.” Lee joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss China’s human rights abuses and the danger China poses to the Western world if China’s crimes go unpunished.  We also cover these stories: Republican leaders call on podcaster Joe Rogan to stop apologizing. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tells truckers to stop their protests. TikTok announces new LGBT guidelines.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do we have the wisdom and the courage to clearly understand that the CCP is the biggest threat the West faces? That was Leon Lee, director of the film Unsilenced, discussing the threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to America. And this is the Daily Signal podcast for Wednesday, February 9th. I'm Doug Blair. And I'm Virginia Allen. The Chinese Communist Party has committed countless human rights abuses against its own people. In 1999, the Chinese government banned the spiritual practice known as Falun Gong. Those who refused to recant were imprisoned, tortured, and even killed.

Leon Lee tells the story of those who stood against the Chinese Communist Party and defended Falun Gong in his new film Unsilensed. Lee joins me on the show today to discuss the film and the threat China poses to the entire Western world. Before we get to that conversation with Leon Lange, Let's hit our top news stories of the day. Leading GOP voices are telling Joe Rogan, stop apologizing. After Rogan used the N-word during some past episodes of his podcast, he ended up removing those podcast episodes and apologizing. But for some GOP voices, that doesn't sit right.

In a Fox News interview, Governor Ron DeSantis, who is a Republican, said, no, he shouldn't have apologized. I mean, you see what happens? The mob will come after people, and they're targeting Rogan because. because he's threatening to upset the apple cart on some of the things that they're holding dear. In addition to Governor DeSantis, President Trump also weighed in. In a Monday statement, he said, Joe Rogan is an interesting and popular guy,

but he's got to stop apologizing to the fake news and radical left maniacs and lunatics. As well as Governor DeSantis and former President Trump, Rumble, a free speech-oriented streaming platform popular with those in the conservative movement, offered Joe Rogan $4 million over four years to join their president, platform and dump Spotify. As of the recording of this podcast, Rogan is still on Spotify. Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has a message for the truckers who are taking part in the Freedom Convoy. The message in short is this, stop the protest now. Trudeau wrote on Twitter Monday night that Canadians have the right to protest, to disagree with their government

and to make their voices heard. And he added that we'll always protect that right. But then Trudeau said this, but let's be clear. They don't have the right to blockade our economy or our democracy or our fellow citizens' daily lives. It has to stop. The Prime Minister's remarks come after Ottawa declared a state of emergency on Sunday because of the trucker convoy. Hundreds of trucks and cars have formed a caravan to protest the vaccine mandate for truckers entering Canada. The convoy has been blocking roads and. in Ottawa and causing disruption across the city.

Some truckers say they will continue the protest until the vaccine mandate is lifted. Popular social media site TikTok has released some new guidelines surrounding LGBT individuals. These guidelines include bans on using transgender individuals old names or pronouns, which is called dead naming, or promoting pro-conversion therapy. TikTok head of trust and safety Cormac-Kinan released a statement that said, our policies are designed to foster an experience that prioritizes safety, inclusion, and authenticity. They take into account emerging trends or threats observed across the Internet and on our platform. That quote was reported via the Washington Examiner.

The policy will go into effect within the next few weeks, and users can expect to see guidelines promoting these new policies popping up on their feeds relatively soon. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Leon Lee as we discuss the dark realities of the Chinese Communist Party. Americans use firearms to defend themselves between 500,000 and 2 million times every year. But God forbid that my mother has ever faced with a scenario where she has to stop a threat to her life. But if she is, I hope politicians, protected by professional armed security, didn't strip

her of the right to use the firearms she can handle most competently. To watch the rest of heritage expert Amy Swear's testimony on assault weapons before the House Judiciary Committee head to the Heritage Foundation. YouTube channel. There you'll find talks, events, and documentaries, backed with the reputation of the nation's most broadly supported Public Policy Research Institute. Start watching now at heritage.org slash YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe and share. It was 1999, and there were about a hundred million people in China following the spiritual practice of Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a set of exercises and meditations, but a religion in the sense that it avows a path to salvation for those

who practiced faithfully. The practice was founded in China in the early 1990s, but grew in popularity very quickly. Soon, the Chinese Communist Party saw it as a threat. So in 1999, China banned Falun Gong. Those who refused to recant Falun Gong risk everything doing so. Their story is told in the new film Unsilenced. The movie is based on true events and follows the story of a small group of students who put their lives on the line to stand up against the propaganda

of the Chinese Communist Party. Unsilence was written, produced, and directed by Leon Lee, who joins us here on the show today. Mr. Lee, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. Mr. Lee, Unsilenced is far from your first film. you have written, directed, and produced multiple films that shine a light on human rights abuses. Your 2014 film Human Harvest exposed China's illegal organ trade, and that film won a Peabody Award

and making films about human rights abuses. That's really a weighty calling. Why have you chosen to make movies that expose injustice in our world? Well, I had a love for cinema since I was young. I'm not very proud to say this, but I actually often skipped classes to go to the movie theaters. Then I was the typical, you know, student in China who really loves the country, loves the people, and loves the Communist Party. We were told that to love the party is to love the people, that the party is to love the people, that the party is more important, even than your parents. Then in 2006, I left China, immigrated to Canada, and a friend of mine showed me the footage of the 1989 Tianmen massacre. I was very angry after seeing the footage,

not towards the Chinese regime, but towards my friend. I asked him, why? do you betray our motherland like this? Why do you believe this propaganda fabricated by the CIA? That's what I was told. And my friend was patient with me and he said, take your time to your own research. And boy, as soon as I started doing my own research, a whole world opened in front of me. I learned so many things I did not know before. And it is right then, I was, wanted to do something. And then I actually came across a newspaper article about illegal organ harvesting in China, which was the subject matter of human harvest. I reached out to David Mattis and David Kilgore, who were the two Canadians that pioneered the investigation.

And eight years later, we had the film done. And since then, I just kept going, making more films, shedding lights on human rights atrocities in China, hoping to make a change. Wow. That's a long journey to spend eight years pouring your heart and soul into that first movie, Human Harvest, and all your films are so, so excellent. But your latest, as I mentioned, unsilenced, such a powerful film. I just watched it. And it goes into detail, really, from showing this personal perspective, from the perspective of these. students of young people who were in the middle of this situation in China in 1999 when Falun Gong was banned by the Chinese Communist Party. Why was this a story in particular

that you decided needed to be told? When I was working on my last documentary, a letter from Ma Sanja, someone told me, you need to meet Mr. Wong. He had spent eight and a half years in the Chinese prison. He was from the prestigious Qinghua University. I knew the reputation of the university. It was considered China's MIT. And I was very curious to know his story. So we met, we sat down, and he spent about half a day telling me his story in detail. I was completely blown away. The creative ways he and his friends came up to account to the government propaganda, his courage and determination in facing all these difficulties in his life. It was just very moving.

And right then, I felt that what he had done, that his spirit represented what, you know, in traditional Chinese culture, people would do. In a way, I realized, wait a minute, this persecution of Falun Gong goes beyond a human rights atrocity. This is part of the CCP's efforts to eradicate traditional Chinese culture that started from the Cultural Revolution. And in a way that the Falun Gong practitioners in China, they're not only fighting for freedom of belief and freedom of speech. They're fighting to be reconnected to their root. And then I thought, I need to make a film. So, you know, dozens of drafts later in months and months, we finally got done.

Wow. Well, and I think it's just incredible to hear how that worked out, that meeting that you had with Wang in 2018. And the film so beautifully follows his story, the story of him and his friends. And you mentioned some of those creative ways that they came up with to really push back against the propaganda of the Communist Party in China. Share just a little bit, and I don't want to give too much away for our listeners, because everyone needs to see the film for themselves,

but share a little bit just of Wang's story and of those practices that they used to actually be a voice of truth and to try and push back against that propaganda. Sure. Wong is a PhD candidate at Qinghua, and he had a bright future. If he wanted to work for a multinational company, if he wanted to start his own business, if he wanted to go to politics, it's basically smooth sailing for him.

But he picked up this practice of Falun which, by the way, was actually welcomed and supported by the Chinese regime up until 1999, when they realized that there were more people practicing Falun Gong, then the membership of the Communist Party. So they launched the crackdown in almost overnight. These innocent, you know, carefree students suddenly became the enemy of the states.

There were probably over 2,000 newspapers in China, hundreds of TV stations, and the entire internet space, everything is controlled by the government. So it's incredibly difficult for Wang and his friends. to really get their voices heard. After being expelled from the university, they teamed up. They started distributing leaf fleets, sometimes door-to-door,

sometimes using balloons. They tried to contact Western journalists who were stationed in China, who themselves are under close surveillance by the CCP. So everybody really have to risk their lives and use their wisdom to find ways to counter the propaganda and fight for their freedom and for their life.

And why were people like Wong willing to risk everything to put their lives on the line to defend the practice of Falun Gong? That's a great question. I asked everybody I interviewed, what's your source of strength? How come you were able to do this in such difficult circumstances? And what I got are actually, you know, mostly simple answers. Things like people felt it's the right thing to do. In other occasions, one, for example, what he told me was that the central tenets of Falun Gong's are truthfulness, compassion, intolerance.

So for him being truthful to himself, being truthful to others, stand up for the truth and speak the truth is very important. At the same time, he realized very soon that this persecution is not only targeting the practitioners of Falun Gong. Basically, almost everyone in China is forced to get involved because we see neighbors are forced to force. to turn in practitioners they know. You know, husbands are forced to divorce their lives. In students are kicked out of school, workers are fired from their workplace. If, for example, a general manager or a party secretary,

if someone in his or her workplace or unit is discovered to be a practitioner, then the entire management, will be implicated. So he felt that this is really destroy people's conscience and morality in China, justice. So he wanted to not only defend Falun Gong, but also defend justice. So nobody would be forced to turn against others. I think that's a key motivation for him.

Yeah. It's really illustrated very well, I think, in the movie. And I think you do such a good job of articulating and explaining in the film how China uses propaganda to further the message that the Communist Party wants to tell. So how does China effectively promote propaganda to get its citizens to believe what they want it to believe? Well, number one, the Department of Propaganda, it is the actual name of that department, but later on they change it to a department of publicity. But same thing, really. They have a huge budget to effectively control every single media outlet.

The editors I interviewed told me they sometimes receive dozens of directives a day from the Department of Propaganda. detailing what word to use, what words to sensor, and even the size of pictures, how to effectively control people. And that's on the media side. On the internet, of course, we know the great firewall. People in China do not have access to Google, to YouTube, to Facebook, to the vast, majority of Western media. So once people don't have access to information, it's a lot easier to manipulate the story, manipulate people's mind. And I interviewed someone who was from a secret unit in China's Academy of Social Science. And there's a whole task force. Their mandate is to basically shape what people receive from the news and in order to shape their worldview.

I'll give you, let's say, two examples. One is whenever there is some sort of incident, whether it's natural disaster or some sort of catastrophe in the U.S., for example, you will see on Chinese media, there will be extensive coverage so that the Chinese people will have the this impression, oh, things are not going well in the US. Another example is if there is an election in Taiwan, of course, decades ago, they would just completely censor the news, but nowadays they can't censor it completely. So they report it.

But it's a tiny article coupled with a big picture. And the picture is, you know, sometimes in Taiwan's parliament, they still actually fight physically. So they would have a picture of a chaotic picture of physical fighting in Taiwan parliament. And then the readers will come to their own conclusion. Oh my goodness. After all, democracy is not that good. So they have very sophisticated ways to manipulate people's perception.

And this gentleman who I interviewed with decided to defect not returning to China. So he told us, you know, what was really going. There's a line in the film that Wang speaks. He says, one day the lies will be seen for what they are. And how far do you think we are from that day from people actually seeing the lies of the Communist Party and then working to expose them? Because you've just outlined how China uses propaganda. They've been doing it for decades, for years and years and years. Are we moving? in the right direction at all? Absolutely. I'm actually very hopeful, and I'm hopeful for a reason. I'll give you two examples.

One, quite often in my screenings, whether it's in North America or in Europe, I see Chinese people coming to see my film. And if I compare their reactions, say, you know, 10 years ago to now, I can certainly see a big difference. In the very beginning, people were accusing me how come I don't make films to promote Chinese culture,

why I wanted to help the Western anti-China forces to defame our country. But last time, for example, I had a screening of my documentary in Vancouver and three young girls from China came. They waited until everybody left, they told, and they approached me. They said they were on

exchange program from China. They've been in Canada for two months, but the last two hour was the highlight of their two months in Canada. They had no idea that this is happening in China. And they promised me when they go back,

they will tell everybody they know what they've learned here. So, That's giving me hope. And I was also told that some of my films were among the most pirated political films in China. So that's when you want your movie to be pirated. Yes, that's good to know. That is good to know.

Another very important thing I'd like to mention, which I think is probably the most underreported thing about China now. In 2004, there was a website. set up, which started this Tweetown movement, which essentially is to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations like the Youth League or the Young Pioneer. And people just go there and, you know, say, I quit. In the beginning, I didn't pay much attention. It's a website, right? But last time I checked, there were over 380 million people in China.

308 million people have gone to the website. Some used aliases. Some use their real names. Some will just say I quit. Some I actually write a long essay detailing their why they wanted to quit. And I reached out to the organizers of this website and I wanted to see some data myself. As far as I can tell, this is real. This is the real deal.

That's encouraging. It takes courage in China, even to use an alias, to bypass the firewall, go to the website and say you quit. And these people are the seeds. When the right time comes, they will be the force for change. That's encouraging to hear. Well, we've spoken about Wang and his incredible story that's featured in the film, highlighted in the film, unsilenced. Now, again, I want people to go see the movie for themselves. but share a little bit just about how Wang is doing today.

Well, if you ask me, I don't know if he would admit to it, but I think he suffers from PTSD. When the first time, I met him, the way, when he drives, he still looks back at his shoulder and he's really careful. And when the film is released, I invited him to the premiere, but he declined. I think he doesn't want to, you know, too much limelight. At the same time, I think he's really enjoying some quality time with his family here. He has a great job. That's, and he continues his efforts. You know, he's not hiding somewhere. I believe he still

attends different forums and events to tell his story. So I'm happy that even after eight and a half years in harsh Chinese prison, although he suffered a lot, but they did not really break him. Yeah. It's really incredible. It's incredible to watch his story played out on screen and the determination that he walked in. I just can't really put words to it. I think so many people right now are thinking.

a little bit more about China, who maybe previously haven't. For one, it's obviously in the news a lot. And then there are conversations taking place around the Olympics. And, you know, I think the world is watching. But what do you think that the message is that is being sent to China by allowing them to host the Olympics? Did the international community make a mistake on this? From the perspective of the CCP, I had interviewed people who are relatively higher-ups,

and for a long time, they were actually amazed that the West is either naive or, for lack of a better word, just say they were just so amazed that they actually got their way, that the West actually believed that by engaging with the CCP and somehow the dictators will change their mind and make China more open and more democratic. So now, you know, they realize, okay, it seems like the West is reaching a new consensus. that the CCP poses a threat to our way of life in the West. But at the same time, they realized that people are not willing to take action.

Take the diplomatic boycott, for example. It's clear that the West wants to send a signal, maybe to satisfy a domestic audience. But they're not willing to go de-extramite. to take concrete action. They're not willing to really challenge the CCP. And I think they're emboldened. I think I'm very worried about what's going to happen to Taiwan.

I'm worried that now the CCP realizes that the West is forming a new consensus. They will do other things to try to accelerate their goal. which at the end of the day is global dominance because they consider democracy, especially the United States, as an existential threat to the CCP. And they have a long-term goal, you know. So whether the West boycott the Olympics

is actually doesn't mean much to me personally. What I worry more about is do we recognize that the CCP does not represent 1.4 billion Chinese people? Do we have the wisdom and the courage to distinguish that and then formulate our policies to deal with the CCP, to deal with their aggression? Clearly understand that the CCP is the biggest threat, the West faces, and have corresponding policies.

otherwise it's not looking good. And from what you're saying, it's just, in other words, sounds like China, it's at least right now, doesn't feel threatened by the U.S., by the West, that they're not seeing, they're just seeing a lot of talk and not maybe enough forceful action to make them really change their ways. Right. I think the CCP leaders are ruthless, but they're not stupid. they're very sophisticated. So they understand what's going on. They understand the weaknesses of the West, in particular, the United States at the moment. So they will exploit all the weaknesses, whether it is ideology, whether is freedom of speech here, whether it's the political situation here in the U.S.

So I think it's critical that people from all walks of life and from all sides come to recognize that despite the differences, there's one thing that should truly unite us. And then what should the American government be doing? What action should they be taking that they're not right now? Number one is to really recognize that the CCP is not representing the Chinese people. So when the US administration used terms like China, now the CCP can hide behind 1.4 billion people and say something like, oh, this, you are hurting the feelings of 1.4 billion people. Lots of CCP leaders, their wealth and their family are actually in the U.S. And the U.S. already has the legal tools to sanction people who committed human rights atrocities. and even seize their assets.

So that would be very effective. Then they will actually, the CCP will hear this loud and clear. And also, what about some concrete support to the groups that's fighting for their rights in China? So these are all things that can be done. In my interaction with people in the federal government, in the U.S., I don't think it's a lack of tools that they have. It's really a lack of political will. And then when it comes to people like me, to our listeners who hear this and who say, okay, well, you know, I'm maybe not in a position of authority, of government leadership,

but I want to do something. I mean, when I finish watching the film unsilenced, frankly, I felt very angry. I wanted to do something. I wanted to help, but we're left with that question of what does that actually look like practically? And we know, obviously, so much persecution has taken place in China right now, even as we speak, the Uighur Muslims are facing tremendous amount of persecution. What can we do? It's actually easy. Awareness is the most powerful thing.

I truly believe it. So if you haven't seen the film, come to watch it, share it with your friends and family, If enough people realize what's going on, if they know what's going on in China, if you know that what happens in China has a direct impact on our lives here in America, I think that will be the most powerful thing, the politicians will be forced to take action.

I do want to mention that a lot of people may feel the urge to do something because the human rights atrocities in China are so terrible. Yes, of course. But also, even for a practical side, if we can urge the CCP to somehow we can have them be more transparent, it actually benefit everybody here as well. Think about the pandemic, right? There is dispute on the origin of the virus, yeah, But there is almost no dispute. In the beginning of this pandemic, the CCP censored this outbreak.

They punished Dr. Li Wenliang, who was the whistleblower. He later died of COVID. If they were more transparent, if they work with the international society, then we wouldn't have such a pandemic worldwide, right? So share with your friends and family. Call your representatives. Tell them that this means a lot. to you. If enough people do that, we will then see the change. Unsilenced is playing right now

in select theaters so you can look up and see if it's playing in a theater near you. But Mr. Lee, is there any other way right now for individuals to access the film? At the moment, it's only in theaters. You can go to unsilencedmovie.com to look at the list of theaters. I'm hoping to somehow get it onto the streaming platforms for more people can watch. it. But so far, I don't have any confirmation yet. I hope that the platforms will have the guts to pick it up because there will be a large audience who want to see this. We've got very positive feedback of our first week. I was told that many screenings ended with the standing ovations. So people want to see this.

Yeah. And I certainly recommend that anyone if you watch it, brings some tissues. It's a really, really powerful film. Very, very well done. And Mr. Lee, thank you so much for your time for your work on this movie, on so many powerful films, and for taking the time to share a little bit about why you chose to make this movie and why it's so important for this moment in history. Thank you. Thank you so much. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast wherever you enjoy listening. That includes Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio.

Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts if you haven't and encourage others to subscribe. Thank you again for listening. We'll see you all back here tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Virginia Allen and Kate Trinko, sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, please visitdailysignal.com.