Everyday Activist - Human Harvest: China's Illegal Organ Trade (MLJFF 2015)

Posted on Tuesday, November 03, 2015 at 11:00 AM

Human Harvest: China's Illegal Organ Trade

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

Since it’s just after Halloween, it’s probably ok to write about a real life horror story. When I screened Human Harvest back in January it was called Davids & Goliath, aptly named since it features David Kilgour and David Matas talking about China’s illegal organ trade. For hard core viewers of the CBC documentary channel, the name Human Harvest may sound familiar, given that it aired in late September 2015 while I was away. No matter what you call it, the movie does what the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival does best, social justice. It has you seriously thinking if not openly taking action to learn more about the issues presented. Lucky for Calgarians, at the Saturday, November 21st, 2015 screening, David Kilgour will be in attendance at River Park Church to answer questions about this gruesome film.

Unlike the other fantastic Canadian film “Tales from the Organ Trade”, which avoided the discussion of Chinese organ harvesting; Human Harvest talks about the extraction of organs from Falun Gong practitioners in detail. This begs the question: What is Falun Gong? As a holistic health practitioner myself I was surprised that I hadn’t specifically heard about this modality before. After doing some digging, I found that they meet Sunday mornings in Calgary either at the University of Calgary or in one of the parks downtown. They are the toughest, but sweetest people I’ve ever met. When I showed up, they helped with the postures which resemble Qi Gong or Tai Chi practices. Many people have found relief from chronic conditions such as asthma using the simple Falun Gong techniques.

So now that we know they aren’t the Chinese version of a criminal gang, why is the Chinese government throwing these people in jail to torture and if a suitable match is found, extract their organs without anesthetic? The only explanation is that in the 1990s the number of people practicing Falun Gong outnumbered the members in the communist party. Fearing losing control of the population they took action. From talking to people in the Calgary group, communist members practiced Falun Gong until about 1995. That’s when the propaganda campaigns started and the mass arrests. While in jail prisoners suffered beatings, yet doctors would come by to take their blood and vital signs, because the Chinese government had an aggressive ad campaign to offer their organs to rich foreigners. There’s a scene in the movie where someone specifically asks for Falun Gong organs and the hospital replies that they are available.

Next time you walk downtown in Calgary and people are talking about ending China’s organ trade, listen to them. Join the Falun Dafa (Gong) Society in Calgary to put faces to those who have lost love ones for doing nothing more than meditation and exercise, and most importantly come to the free screening as part of the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival 2015 on Saturday, November 21st, 2015 at 4:45 PM at the River Park Church in Marda Loop. If you don’t want to go alone or want to carpool about 10 people will be going from the Movie Nights Meetup.

Calgary Showtimes: Human Harvest: China's Illegal Orgran Trade >