Perry Atkinson of Focus Today interviews with Falun Dafa’s Ben Maloney
In a recent interview on Focus Today with Perry Atkinson, Ben Maloney, Director of Digital Outreach at the Falun Dafa Information Center, offered a comprehensive overview of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing persecution of Falun Gong and how it fits into Beijing’s broader global objectives. The discussion served as both an update on human rights abuses and a sobering look at how China exports its repressive tactics well beyond its borders.
Maloney began by explaining what Falun Gong is—a peaceful spiritual practice that combines meditation, slow-moving exercises, and a moral philosophy rooted in truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. By the late 1990s, Falun Gong had attracted tens of millions of adherents across China. The CCP, seeing the movement’s popularity as a threat to its ideological control, launched a brutal campaign of suppression in 1999. That campaign has never stopped.
He detailed the CCP’s ongoing efforts to arrest, torture, and even kill Falun Gong practitioners in China. The regime has built an elaborate surveillance and propaganda system to justify and enforce the crackdown. What distinguishes Falun Gong from other persecuted groups in China, Maloney explained, is the regime’s obsession with eradicating it entirely. Despite more than two decades of persecution, the movement persists underground and in exile, with practitioners continuing to resist peacefully.
The conversation then turned toward China’s global ambitions and how the persecution of Falun Gong is just one piece of a much larger strategy. Maloney emphasized that the CCP does not merely aim to control its population—it seeks to shape international norms around human rights, speech, and sovereignty. This includes exporting censorship, infiltrating foreign institutions, and using economic leverage to silence critics abroad. The same machinery used to suppress Falun Gong domestically—disinformation, surveillance, intimidation—is increasingly being deployed in democracies around the world.
Atkinson asked about organ harvesting, a topic often associated with Falun Gong persecution. Maloney confirmed that independent tribunals and investigative reports have found credible evidence that prisoners of conscience—especially Falun Gong practitioners—have been killed for their organs on a systematic, state-sanctioned scale. While the CCP denies these claims, the regime’s lack of transparency and obstruction of international investigation only deepen the concern.
Maloney also discussed the role of Western complicity in sustaining the CCP’s power. He noted that many Western companies, media outlets, and even governments have chosen economic gain over human rights. Some have censored themselves or avoided criticizing China’s record to maintain access to Chinese markets. This willingness to look the other way emboldens Beijing to extend its authoritarian influence globally.
One particularly important point was the importance of awareness. Maloney stressed that despite the scale of the persecution, Falun Gong is still not widely understood in the West. The CCP has succeeded in painting the group as fringe or dangerous through a relentless disinformation campaign. By controlling the narrative, the regime not only justifies its brutality but also discourages international outcry. Falun Gong practitioners have made it their mission to pierce this fog of misinformation through grassroots outreach, digital campaigns, and personal testimonies.
Atkinson commended the resilience of Falun Gong practitioners and asked what people in the West can do. Maloney responded that spreading awareness is the first and most crucial step. He encouraged viewers to educate themselves, share verified information, and pressure lawmakers and institutions to take a stand against China’s human rights abuses. He also pointed out that what happens to Falun Gong in China is not just a foreign issue—it’s a warning of how authoritarian models can creep into democratic societies when moral clarity is abandoned.
The interview closed with a reaffirmation of the Falun Dafa Information Center’s mission: to document and expose the persecution, defend human dignity, and challenge a powerful regime that seeks to dominate not only its citizens but the global conversation on freedom and truth.
Through Maloney’s clear and urgent message, viewers were reminded that the fight for human rights in China is deeply connected to the future of freedom everywhere.
