Who’s afraid of Falun Gong? In this interview, progressive journalist Danny Schechter (when I was in college in the early ’70’s, he was “the news dissector” on underground rock radio station WBCN in Boston), whose recent book Falun Gong’s Challenge to China has been called a whitewash by the New York Times, explains why it’s not the cult it’s made out to be and why the Chinese are so afraid of the movement some call the most effective protest against the Chinese regime since Tiananmen. This in the aftermath of the recent attempted self-immolation by five sect members, including a 12-year-old girl, protesting continued Chinese suppression of the sect (an act which the sect has publicly disavowed), and, in one of his first official acts as Secretary of State, Colin Powell’s criticism of China’s stance, which drew a bitter rejoinder from its Foreign Ministry. Salon