Human Rights Professor: Shen Yun ‘It’s fantastic’

SYDNEY—Dr. Sev Ozdowski, Australian Human Rights Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner from 2000 to 2005, attended the final night of the Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company with his wife, Hanna, at Sydney's iconic Capitol Theatre, Wednesday, Feb. 23.

Having seen Shen Yun during previous tours to Sydney, Dr. and Mrs. Ozdowski were happy to have caught the New York-based company before it left Sydney to Melbourne for performances during the first week of March.

Dr. Ozdowksi said Shen Yun just kept getting better and better.

“The best dancing I have seen in the last four years, very precise, very well trained, the choreography, its fantastic,” he said.

Mrs. Ozdowski was quick to comment that Shen Yun performances had always been superb.

“It was always there,” she said, adding that she had enjoyed the humorous elements in this year’s program including the Mischievous Little Monks a performance which shows the playful spirit of young monks amidst the routine of their practice.

Dr. Ozdowski is recognised locally and internationally for his contribution to human rights. He authored the ground-breaking National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention: A Last Resort? which ultimately led to children being released from mandatory detention and opened the debate on the government’s detention policies on both sides of Parliament.

He was awarded the Harkness Fellowship in 1984 which took him to Harvard and Georgetown universities and the University of California. He holds the academic appointment of Honorary Professor at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry at Sydney University.

He is currently the Director of Equity and Diversity at the University of Western Sydney.

Dr. Ozdowski said China’s record on human rights under the present regime had not gone unnoticed and particularly concerning was the state-orchestrated persecution of adherents to the spiritual practice, Falun Gong.

“I am very concerned about human rights in China and I am concerned about what is happening to Falun Gong people,” he said.

Shen Yun offered a side of China that he would like to see more of saying that he and his wife particularly enjoyed Shen Yun’s dedication to reviving traditional Chinese culture and their depiction of that.

“I am here because I enjoy Chinese culture,” he said.

Reporting by SOH radio network and Shar Adams.

Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will next perform at Melbourne's Regent Theatre from March 1-6. For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

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