Place Sun Yat Sen, a small square in the heart of Montreal’s Chinatown, is almost perenially occupied by members of Falun Gong, a psuedo-religious spiritual movement that originated in 1992 in China. Banned seven years later by the Chinese government, which insisted that it was a cult and devoted itself rather heavy-handedly to crushing it, Falun Gong has earned supporters and followers worldwide.
Here in Montreal, its members are a common sight on downtown streets, where they hand out pamplets explaining the movement’s philosophy and outlining the tactics used against it by the Chinese government, which allegedly include arrest, torture and systematic organ harvesting. In Sun Yat Sen Square, a diverse collection of Falun Gong followers can usually be found practicing meditation exercises next to posters that outline their group’s persecution in China.
It’s common for advocacy groups to lay claim to specific bits of public space. I’m reminded of the bizarre protester who picketed McGill University’s Roddick Gates every day for more than a year, hosting signs with messages that many considered to be anti-Semitic. (His goal, he said, was to protest his “wrongful dismissal” from the Jewish General Hospital and to “enlighten the global Jewish community of the virtues of Christianity.”) In Vancouver, the wall of the Chinese consulate is home to a perennial protest against China’s control of Tibet.
These kinds of permanent protests might seem a nuisance to some, but I think they are perfectly legitimate, no matter how strange or unsavoury their message. After all, the beauty of public space is that it’s public.
The Falun Gong people in Chinatown seem especially mindful of that. They never interfere with the many special events that take place there, they pack up their stuff at sundown every evening and they even lent a hand during last month’s Chinatown Clean Up.
3 comments
How about the Lyndon Larouche crowd?
You know, from reading your post above, it’s impossible to understand why many considered the fellow’s sign to be racist. It was certainly not because the sign protested his “wrongful dismissal” from the Jewish General Hospital and to “enlighten the global Jewish community of the virtues of Christianity”. It was because the sign called Jews followers of a false religion, a religion of “sexual perverts,” “troublemakers,” “a litigious community,” and “the root of evil”, to pull from McGill Daily letters.
And, yeah, the Larouchies are another good one. A bit creepier, since they aren’t quite as up front about their … approach to things as friend Signmaster.
You’re right, the guy’s signs were anti-Semitic, but I wanted to tread on the side of caution. That’s mostly because I couldn’t quite recall any of his specific messages.
Of course, my tongue was firmly in cheek when I quoted the “enlightening the global Jewish community” bit, since that’s exactly the kind of smarmy phrase that anti-Semites use.
As for the Larouche people, they scare me. Unlike the anti-Semitic protester, who is crazy but mostly harmless, the Larouchies have the weight of an entire cult behind them. Now that I’ve said that you can probably expect the Spacing Montreal comments to be spammed by legions of his angry followers. (I’m only half-kidding.)