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BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Dr Campbell Fraser, an accomplished academic, has never thought of himself getting involved in the vortex of harassment from complete strangers.
Campbell is a senior lecturer in Australia’s Griffith University and an expert on international human organ transplanting.
Campbell told Xinhuanet his painful experience started at the Transplantation Society Conference in Hong Kong in August 2016.
He said he presented a paper to the conference, but some representatives of a group named Falun Gong tried to stop him from making the presentation.
The paper was about managing “purported organ trafficking claims originating from special interest groups,” he said.
“I was talking about the fact that most groups, cults and similar organizations are special interest groups and therefore any claims of organ harvesting from such groups should be treated with suspicion,” he added.
The paper did not mention any of the groups, but those from Falun Gong protested to Dr Fraser’s employer and the organizers of the conference, and even unjustifiably demanded the removal of the paper from the conference.
Campbell gave a reason for their detestable behaviour, saying “they perceived that something in the paper could be detrimental to the organ harvesting claim they made.”
Even though these protesters failed to stop his presentation, yet they kept firing insults at him while he was presenting the paper at the conference, he noted.
“They told me I was ‘stupid’ and ‘nobody takes you seriously’,” Campbell recalled the ugly scene.
As he left the conference hall, Campbell, who is also a transplant patient, was attacked by a Falun Gong protester for having a kidney transplant.
Campbell said the protester told him he “should be dead because organ transplantation is morally wrong and against the law of nature.”
Things did not stop there.
Campbell said the group keeps sending him abusive emails after its humiliating failure at the conference.
He got "upset by harassment”, but as he has “come to learn how ridiculous their claims are”, he has “learned to just ignore them”.
Campbell fully understands the reasons behind the ongoing harassment.
“The Falun Gong has this ongoing harassment is because they know if people are allowed to speak against them, it is going to make them look bad,” he said.
“They are trying to suppress other people from speaking out against them," he continued.
Campbell said the Falun Gong members would quickly attack anyone who questions even bits of their claims, and he himself was attacked by them.
“Only a cult would react in such a manner,” he stressed.
The Falun Gong members will attack anyone they believe has the capability to "demonstrates that their claims are fabricated,” he said.
Particularly, they are doing harassment to young academics.
“I have spoken to other colleagues who are continuously getting the harassment. They are crying. They are upset,” he added.
All in all, Campbell believed the best way to combat the ongoing harassment from the cult is for the academic community to “get together and speak with one voice about this.”
“We don’t want to stay quiet,” and “we have to get our side of the story across,” Campbell said.
