Saudi Arabia demands Syria end bloodshed

DEIR EL-ZOUR, Syria, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait all recalled their ambassadors from Syria Monday in response to Damascus' brutal crackdown on opposition protesters.

The New York Times reported the decision by the three Middle East neighbors came as the state-run Syrian news agency said Syrian President Bashar Assad had replaced his defense minister, Lt. Gen. Ali Habib, with the army's chief of staff, Gen. Dawoud Rajh.

It was unclear why Assad made the move, the U.S. newspaper said. Habib had served in the Cabinet post since June 2009.

Withdrawing the ambassadors is the most significant action taken yet by Arab nations since protests against the Assad administration started in mid-March, the Times noted.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Monday the United States is "very much encouraged" by the actions.

"These are further signs that the international community are repulsed -- is repulsed by the brutal actions of the Syrian government and is standing with the Syrian people. And furthermore, it's signs that, as I've said before and others have said, that President Asad and his government are further isolating themselves from the international community through their actions," Toner said.

Saudi Arabia demanded an end to the bloodshed the Syrian military has inflicted on opposition activists, including nearly 70 people killed in a single day of military assaults.

"What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," King Abdullah said in a statement read over the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news channel.

"Syria should think wisely before it's too late and issue and enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms. Either it chooses wisdom on its own or it will be pulled down into the depths of turmoil and loss," said Abdullah, whose own monarchy bans political opposition and supplied troops to neighboring Bahrain to repress anti-government protests.

"The kingdom does not accept the situation in Syria because the developments cannot be justified," Abdullah said, insisting Damascus introduce "comprehensive and quick reforms."

"The future of Syria lies between two options -- either Syria chooses willingly to resort to reason, or [it will] face being swept into deep chaos, God forbid," he said.

Abdullah's rebuke and warning followed an increasingly widespread surge of condemnation of Assad Sunday, from the Arab League to the pope.

The 22-member league, which had been silent in the five months since the uprising began, said Sunday it was "alarmed" by the bloodshed. It called on Syrian authorities to stop attacking protesters and demanded an immediate halt to the violence.

A league appeal in March for international intervention in Libya laid the groundwork for NATO's bombing campaign against leader Moammar Gadhafi. But with Syria, the league has so far specifically asked the West to stay out.

Pope Benedict XVI called on Assad to respond properly and adequately to the Syrian people's "legitimate aspirations," adding he had "deep concern" about "Syria's dramatic and increasing episodes of violence," which he said had led to "numerous victims and grave suffering."

CNN reported Monday hackers accessed the Web site of Syria's Defense Ministry replacing its content with anti-government messages and support for the protests.

More than 250 Syrian tanks and armored vehicles Sunday laid waste to the country's biggest northeastern city and oil capital, Deir el-Zour, which has been under siege for days, in a predawn offensive that also included snipers positioned on rooftops picking off "anything that moves," said the activist Local Coordination Committees, which tracks the uprising and organizes some protests. Nearly 50 people were killed there, activists said.

Thousands fled the city of about 511,000, the activists said. A family of six trying to escape -- a couple with four children -- were among the dead, they said.

Syrian tanks also shelled Houleh, a town in central Syria's Homs province that had also seen large protests, killing about 20, the activists said.

More than 300 people have died in the past week, the bloodiest in the five-month uprising, the activists said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/08/08/Saudi-Arabia-demands-Syria-end-bloodshed/UPI-17791312786800/.

Libyan militia leader rebuffs call for rebel army

Benghazi, Libya (AFP)
Aug 7, 2011

A top Libyan rebel commander has bluntly rejected demands that his volunteer militias disband and fall into a new national army, despite fears that lack of a unified command is leading to chaos.

Fawzi Bukatif, who commands a large group of volunteer fighting brigades, said forging a unified and uniformed rebel army under the control of professional soldiers was "premature."

"You can't do it. We are in a fight. We are in a revolution," he said emphatically during a lengthy interview with AFP.

Since the early days of the Libyan uprising -- almost six months ago -- rebel fighters have been split between two main camps.

The officer class and special forces are largely comprised of professional soldiers who defected from Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's military, while dozens of loosely connected volunteer brigades, or "katibas," comprise the bulk of the fighting force.

Critics say this dual structure could result in a shadow army that remains outside political control.

Months of increasing calls for the militias to integrate have come to a crescendo following last month's assassination of army general Abdel Fatah Yunis.

His murder, after being taken into custody by rebel fighters, has raised serious questions about lawlessness and the long-term impact of having thousands of armed men roaming the country at will.

Powerful tribal and political groups that were present at the genesis of the revolution are now demanding the formation of a national army.

The February 17 Coalition -- a group that formed the backbone of the uprising -- last week called "for all the armed groups to fall under the National Army or lay down their arms."

But volunteer fighters and their commanders are resisting the move. Mistrust is rife.

Many suspect the motives of defected officers -- such as Yunis -- who had been an integral part of the Kadhafi regime.

To others it looks like a simple power grab. Many resent taking orders from people who they accuse of watching the war from an office in Benghazi while they toil amid the danger and discomfort of the desert.

Bukatif, an affable former oil engineer who is now the spokesman for the Union of Revolutionary Forces and head of the February 17 brigade, is not shy about voicing his unease.

"They are not even 20 percent of the numbers that we have. Where is the army that you are speaking about?

"We actually have no army, we have no organization from the army. Whatever is left from Kadhafi is something that is very poor," he said.

"Even Mr Yunis, when he was there, he did not control anything. Where is the army that he controls? We are speaking about something that is not tangible."

Practicalities as well as politics appear to be preventing the formation of a single fighting force.

The volunteer fighters are just that: volunteers. They appear to be free to come and go as they please, and are not always interested in taking orders after decades spent living in a dictatorship.

"It is a delicate operation we are dealing with," Bukatif said. "You don't order people to go, or come back."

Officers are also sensitive about rocking the boat, introducing hierarchy and discipline that could prompt desertions and gut the rebel fighting force.

For now it appears that Libya's disparate fighting groups will continue to fight their war ad-hoc.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Libyan_militia_leader_rebuffs_call_for_rebel_army_999.html.

Iraqis angry over Abu Ghraib ringleader's release

Baghdad (AFP)
Aug 7, 2011

Iraqis on Sunday expressed anger at the release of the ringleader of US guards who abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, and said US troops should not be granted further immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

Charles Graner, 42, was on Saturday freed on parole from the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas after serving over six and a half years of a 10-year sentence, US army spokeswoman Rebecca Steed told AFP, saying he was released early for good conduct and through work rehabilitation programs.

In Baghdad, residents slammed the decision and said they opposed the extension of immunity from Iraqi justice for any US soldiers who remain in the country on a training mission being discussed for after the end of this year -- a condition insisted upon by American officials.

"This is an unjust decision," said Wael Safah Jassem, a 23-year-old shop-owner with close-cropped hair. "Anyone who committed such crimes should not be freed" so easily.

He added that if US troops remain in Iraq past the end of the year, "it is wrong for them to have immunity."

Iraqi leaders have agreed to talks with the United States on a possible extension of its troop presence, but a decision has not yet been made.

US troops have had immunity under Iraqi law since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, leaving soldiers such as Graner and others who have committed abuses or even murder subject only to US prosecution.

"The criminal who was released ... should be brought to an Iraqi court to be judged," said Anwar Hamud, a 41-year-old government employee with a bushy mustache, who gestured angrily as he spoke.

"He should be executed for his crime in Abu Ghraib," he said.

"They should not have any immunity," he said when asked about the possible extension of the policy for US troops. "If we give them immunity, that means nothing has changed; they will commit other crimes."

"The immunity in Iraq should be cancelled, as should their presence here," he said. "Iraq should have full sovereignty."

Graner led a six-member team of prison guards who sexually humiliated naked prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad in a scandal that dealt a severe blow to the US's reputation after it came to light in 2004.

Photographs taken by the guards and obtained by the media showed US soldiers grinning as they posed next to detainees held on a leash or stacked in a pyramid.

Others showed the detainees forced into stress positions, their heads covered in a black hood, or being threatened by attack dogs.

"Why did they release him? The criminal should be punished," regardless of his nationality, said Reem Hadi, who has worked as a teacher but said she has been unsuccessfully trying to find a job for years.

"We reject immunity being given to US soldiers if they stay," said the 42-year-old, who wore a tan hijab and sunglasses, adding "many people were hurt because of that immunity."

"They have immunity, and they are killing and arresting everywhere -- is that just?" she asked. "Would US citizens accept such things?"

"I don't want them to stay any more."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iraqis_angry_over_Abu_Ghraib_ringleaders_release_999.html.

Tunisia imposes travel ban on ex-minister Tekkari

2011-08-07

Tunisia barred former justice minister Bechir Tekkari from leaving the country by "air, land or sea", TAP reported on Saturday (August 6th). The interior ministry statement came in response to rumors that Tekkari had left the country after his release on August 3rd. Tekkari served as justice and human rights minister during the regime of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/08/07/newsbrief-04.

Libyan refugee camps lack food, Arab human rights official says

2011-08-07

Refugee camps on the Tunisia-Libya border lack food supplies, medical care, hygiene services and adequate security, Arab Institute for Human Rights chief Abdelbasset Belhassan said after meeting in Tunis with Interim Prime Minister Béji Caïd Essebsi, TAP reported on Saturday (August 6th). Belhassan spoke after presenting a report on his visit to the governorates of Tataouine, Médenine and Kébili.

Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began distributing Ramadan food packages to more than 55,000 Libyan refugees in Tunisia. Local and international organizations, including the World Food Program (WFP), have helped pack, transport and distribute food at more than 34 distribution points across southern Tunisia, the UN said.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/08/07/newsbrief-06.

Nafusa rebels advance towards Tripoli

2011-08-07

Libyan rebels from the Nafusa Mountains on Saturday (August 6th) captured a strategic town on the path to the Tripoli, AFP reported. Opposition forces got within 20 kilometers of Surman, on the coastal road west of the capital, while other fighters claimed control of Bir Ghanam.

In related news, the rebel government flew 14 million Libyan dinars (about 8 million euros) "to be distributed directly to families throughout the Nafusa Mountains during the holy month of Ramadan", the TNC said in a statement. "It's the first step of our plan to kick-start the economy and bring back stability to the region," AFP quoted TNC economic adviser Mazen Ramadan as saying.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/08/07/newsbrief-01.

Safi protests turn violent

Moroccan security services and protestors blame each other for a recent outburst of violence in Safi.

By Mawassi Lahcen for Magharebia in Casablanca – 07/08/11

Scores of Moroccan demonstrators and policemen were wounded and government offices set ablaze last week in Safi during clashes over poor economic conditions.

The events began when about 100 job seekers staged a sit-in Monday (August 1st) on the railway that links the phosphate mines and chemical factories with the port. The protestors, who were demanding jobs at Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), barricaded the tracks to block train traffic.

When security forces intervened to end the sit-in, demonstrators moved their protest to residential neighborhoods in the mid-town area. Clashes with security forces continued into the night.

About 20 protestors were arrested in connection with the violence, charged with inciting riots and burning public facilities. An interior ministry office and a police commission were among the buildings damaged during the unrest.

On Monday afternoon, people attacked an interior ministry administrative facility in the al-Qalia neighborhood. Protestors removed all chairs, tables, papers, and computers from the building and set them ablaze out on the street. Another group allegedly tried to burn down a police facility in the Koki neighborhood.

While authorities blamed protestors for the destruction, others claimed government forces were behind the vandalism.

Last Wednesday, the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) local chapter claimed that security authorities hired individuals to burn the administrative buildings, in an attempt to justify their violent crackdown on protestors and the arrest of the members of Co-ordination of Unemployed People.

Later the same day, Morocco's' National Police Service (DGSN) rushed to release a statement denying any involvement in the fires and calling for an investigation of the AMDH allegations.

Authorities later arrested Abdel Ghani Eweina, head of the local chapter of AMDH. He was released late in the evening of August 3rd after being questioned regarding his group's allegations.

Moroccan government spokesperson and Communication Minister Khalid Naciri described the Safi events as deviations, adding that "they are serious and have nothing at all to do with the democratic expression of opinion".

Naciri accused unnamed entities of "consciously manipulating" the legitimate demands of unemployed people "for purposes and goals that have nothing to do with democracy, reform or interests of citizens". The government spokesman went on to call for the public to support the authorities in enforcing the law.

Safi has been the scene of protest violence before. Monday's protest occurred less than a week after the National Human Rights Council completed its report on the circumstances of death of Kamal Amari, an activist from the February 20th Movement. Amari died after being injured during a demonstration in Safi on June 29th.

However, the council refused to disclose the details of the report, saying it was sent to the interior and justice ministries. The report included the investigators' conclusions about Amari's death, together with recommendations for necessary actions.

The public prosecutor in Safi previously said in a statement that Amari died because of a chest disease. But his family and the February 20th Movement maintain that he died after being beaten by police.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/08/07/feature-01.

Mars' northern polar regions in transition

Paris (ESA)
Aug 08, 2011

A newly released image from ESA's Mars Express shows the north pole of Mars during the red planet's summer solstice. All the carbon dioxide ice has gone, leaving just a bright cap of water ice.

This image was captured by the orbiter's High-Resolution Stereo Camera on 17 May 2010 and shows part of the northern polar region of Mars during the summer solstice. The solstice is the longest day and the beginning of the summer for the planet's northern hemisphere.

The ice shield is covered by frozen water and carbon dioxide ice in winter and spring but by this point in the martian year all of the carbon dioxide ice has warmed and evaporated into the planet's atmosphere.

Only water ice is left behind, which shows up as bright white areas in this picture. From these layers, large bursts of water vapor are occasionally released into the atmosphere.

The polar ice follows the seasons. In winter, part of the atmosphere re-condenses as frost and snow on the northern cap. These seasonal deposits can extend as far south as 45 degrees N latitude and be up to a meter thick.

Another phenomenon occurs on the curved scarps of the northern polar cap, such as the Rupes Tenuis slope. During spring, the seasonal carbon dioxide layer is covered by water frost. At certain times, winds remove the the millimeter-thick top layer of frozen water, revealing the carbon dioxide ice below.

These processes bear witness to a dynamic water cycle on Mars and may lead to the varying accumulation of water ice over the polar cap.

Other noticeable features include the Chasma Boreale canyon, colored deposits and a large dune field.

Chasma Boreale is about 2 km deep, 580 km long and about 100 km wide. Its walls allow a perfect view into the strata within the deposits. There are impact craters on the canyon floor, some heavily covered by sand and some partly exhumed.

Dark and light-toned deposits can be seen as a fine and regular covering. The darker sediments have been dropped by the winds during spring dust storms. The patterns are created when the deposits change in quantity according to the seasons.

The polar cap is surrounded by a large dune field, parts of which extend 600 km to the south.

Mars Express will soon be using its radar to probe the northern polar cap in three dimensions. Since the radar antenna was deployed in mid-2005, the team have been waiting for the right conditions to observe the region.

The radar works best at night when the electrical interference from the planet's atmosphere is at a minimum. An excellent opportunity to observe the cap's shape, depth and composition occurs in August and September 2011.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Martian_northern_polar_regions_in_transition_999.html.

Israel Catches Protest Fever, 300,000 March in Tel Aviv

By Yaira Yasmin
August 7, 2011

TEL AVIV, Israel—Driven by calls for housing reform, protests started by a small group setting up tents in Tel Aviv last month, grew into a mass march of 300,000 people on Saturday.

Pleas for affordable housing and lower costs of living, have now engulfed the nation, and created a platform for a variety of grievances. Many groups have now joined the movement including secular Jews, Arabs, and student movements.

The three weeks of continuous protests are largest in Tel Aviv, but have also sprouted up in other cities, added growing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Cabinet.

“We are aware of the fact that working couples with children are finding it difficult to finish the month. We recognize the plight of students who cannot pay their rent. We are aware of the distress of the residents of neighborhoods, of discharged soldiers, and others,” said Netanyahu in an address at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

While acknowledging the protesters’ “genuine distress,” Netanyahu says he will refrain from any short-term solutions, and is instead seeking “genuine solutions.” But protesters say the intentions the prime minister has offered fall far short of their demands.

A committee set up by Netanyahu on Sunday, consisting of government ministers and leading economic experts, is now tasked with forming a dialog with the protesters, proposing plans for economic reform. Recommendations are expected to be ready in a month.

“We will really listen both to the distress and to the proposals for solutions,” Netanyahu said.

However, warning of economic uncertainty Netanyahu said, “We will be unable to please everybody. One cannot please everybody.”

Israel’s defense forces already expressed concerns on Sunday over the possibility of its defense budget being cut as a result of the protests, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Demonstrators say they intend to stay in their tent camp and stage mass demonstrations until there is a solution. The Aug. 6, demonstration doubled the number of demonstrators from last Saturday, raising expectations of more large-scale gatherings in coming weeks.

“They told me this thing is bigger than me. They were right—it is bigger than all of us. My mother told me that she is worried that we will not succeed so hear this mother I promise you that we will,” said Daphni Leef, the freelance filmmaker who first called for the protests, speaking at the rally on Saturday.

With additional reporting by Jasper Fakkert.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/israel-catches-protest-fever-300000-march-in-tel-aviv-60067.html.

Rioting in London Spreads on Second Night of Violence

By Damian Robin
August 8, 2011

Protest over shooting death by police last week degenerated into night of rampage.

For a second night running, north London was on fire in a rampage of looting and arson by youth who were largely venting anger against London’s Metropolitan Police. The violence was sparked by the fatal police shooting on Aug. 4, of Tottenham resident Mark Duggan.

The riots started Saturday night in the neighborhood of Tottenham, and by Sunday the damage to shops and attacks to police property spread to nine other neighborhoods, mostly in north London. Extra police were deployed across the city in an attempt to quell the escalating violence.

Duggan was killed after police pulled over his minicab intending to make a preplanned arrest. An exchange of gunfire ensued, during which Duggan was killed and one police officer received a bullet in his radio, which likely saved his life.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating Duggan’s death.

"Fatal shootings by the police are extremely rare and understandably raise significant community concerns,” said IPCC Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne in a statement the day after the shooting.

Residents in Tottenham, and now nine nearby communities, are angry over what they called police inaction over the killing of the 29-year-old black man.

The Met Police was criticized for its poor handling of the situation after Saturday night’s riots in Tottenham. Over 50 people were arrested in connection with the incident, and about two dozen police officers were injured, reported the Met police.

On Saturday night, protesters began marching from Broadwater Farm—the site of deadly race riots in 1984—to Tottenham Police Station on High Road. By about 8 p.m., local time, two empty police cars were set on fire 200 yards from the station. Rioting escalated into firebombs and bricks being thrown at police and buildings. A supermarket and a carpet store were also set ablaze, forcing the families who lived above the shops to flee their homes in nightclothes.

In a nearby retail park near Tottenham Hale subway station, crowds smashed shop windows. Witnesses reported that people pulled up cars and shopping carts to the vandalized shops, filling them with stolen goods.

On Sunday, a sporting goods store, a McDonald’s, and a bike shop were smashed in Brixton and in Leyton, according to the Londoner.

Member of Parliament for Tottenham, David Lammy, a native of the neighborhood, went to the High Road area on Sunday morning. In an interview with BBC News, he questioned why police had not stopped early skirmishes and mentioned that people from outside the area had joined, which escalated the violence. He also talked about the “ordinary people” who had been left homeless; the shopkeepers who lived above their burned out shops.

Answering the criticism, Met Police Commander Adrian Hanstock said the police were taken off guard by the incident Saturday night.

“There was no indication that the protest would deteriorate into the levels of criminal and violent disorder that we saw. We believe that certain elements, who were not involved with the vigil, took the opportunity to commit disorder,” he said.

The British Home Office also condemned the violence. “Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated, and the Metropolitan Police have my full support in restoring order.”

Tottenham has the highest unemployment rate in London and is often a flash point for gang violence in crime. It also has a history of racial tensions, particularly between police and the sizable African-Caribbean community.

In 1984, one police officer was killed and two others were shot in the Broadwater Farm riots. Police were criticized at the time for being heavy-hand deploying 500 officers in riot gear who used tear gas on the crowds.

The fighting began after a black woman died of a heart a heart attack when police raided her home. This was during a time of high tension between the mostly black community and the 90 percent white local police force.

Brixton District in south London where rioting also spread to on Sunday night is no stranger to riots either. The multiethnic community with a strong African and Caribbean community saw major riots in 1985 and 1981. The latter riot was incited in similar circumstance to this one when the police shot Dorothy ‘Cherry’ Groce a local black woman.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/rioting-in-london-spreads-on-second-night-of-violence-60085.html.

100 Million Chinese Cut Ties With the Communist Party

By Helena Zhu
August 7, 2011

A milestone has been reached in China, but not the kind the Chinese Communist Party is celebrating. For the past seven years, a peaceful movement has been steadily growing—a movement that encourages Chinese people to renounce all affiliations with the Communist Party. This week, that movement reached the momentous milestone of 100 million participants.

“Having 100 million Chinese people withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party is an occasion to celebrate and a historic milestone in Chinese history,” Yi Rong, chairwoman of the New York-based Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party, said at a press conference.

“It means a lot for China’s present and future, as well as for China’s transition toward a future free from the terror imposed by the Communist Party,” she said.

Known as "Tuidang" in Chinese, the movement for Chinese to withdraw from the Party began in late 2004, following the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party by The Epoch Times.

The Nine Commentaries is an editorial series which details the CCP’s history, human rights record, and episodes of terror such as the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and the persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong—topics that are either ignored or misreported under the CCP’s unceasing regime of censorship and propaganda.

The editorial, which was spread to mainland China via fax, e-mail, and mail, led to an overwhelming amount of letters to the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times from readers who wanted to renounce their ties to the CCP and its affiliated organizations, such as the Youth League and the Young Pioneers.

It is estimated that over 700 million Chinese people have been affiliated with at least one of these three groups.

“These 100 million include people of all social strata, from the top, such as military personnel and government officials, all the way to the lower strata, such as villagers and students, crossing all social classes,” Yi said.

A resident of China’s northeastern province of Liaoning, Li Yumei renounced affiliations with the Youth League and Young Pioneers on Aug. 4.

“After reading the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I seemed to have woken up from an illusion,” Li said in her statement. “During the six decades of its rule, [the CCP] has always seen the people as slaves who could be used at any time and in any way. It has used sly words to lure us in our childhood into joining the Party’s affiliated organizations such as the Youth League and the Young Pioneers—something I have the utmost regret for.”

“To cut ties with the evil Party’s lies, brainwashing, and mental control, and for the name of freedom and democracy, for the people who want to be able to make their own decisions, I would like to solemnly renounce from its Youth League and Young Pioneers.”

Li Dayong, executive director of the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party, said that the statements are part of a “war between good and evil.”

The U.S. Senate took a leading step in recognizing the Tuidang movement by introducing a bipartisan resolution in July in recognition of the movement. Li said that the resolution represents the international community’s recognition of Tuidang.

While the Tuidang movement implicitly supports regime change in China, it does not come with replacement political prescriptions, and is understood by both its activists and participants as a spiritual and ethical awakening rather than a political revolution.

The movement does not advocate the overthrow of the Chinese Communist Party, but calls for Chinese to make a psychological separation between China’s future and the CCP. Chinese who reject the lies and violence inherent in CCP rule are often willing to help spread the word about the movement even in the face of danger imposed by the regime.

“I think the 100 million people who have already withdrawn from the CCP will have a snowball effect,” Yi said. “I think in the near future, China will see a very big social change that is supported by all the good people in the world.”

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/100-million-chinese-cut-ties-with-the-communist-party-60078.html.