Pacific Sun (a newspaper in Marin County, California): Overheard

December 5 -- December 11, 2001

"Truth, Compassion, Tolerance - who could argue with that?"

Twenty -year- old Sonoma State University student Brad Carson posed that question when I asked him why he traveled to China's Tiananmen Square to participate in a Falun Gong demonstration. On November 20, Carson, former Sonoma County resident Leeshai Lemish, 23, and more than 30 other practitioners (representing roughly a dozen countries) of the spiritual movement took to the famous square to show their support of the movement and of the millions of Chinese citizens who are persecuted for practicing it.

Introduced publicly in 1992, Falun Gong involves exercises and meditation and espouses Truth, Compassion and Tolerance... The Chinese government, reportedly fearful of the potential political power of the massive number of devotees, banned Falun Gong in July of 1999.

The government began a propaganda campaign against Falun Gong, describing it as [Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]. Government officials beat, imprison, and even kill its Chinese practitioners.

Carson discovered Falun Gong about two years ago. "I did the exercises and they were incredible," he said. After a few months of practicing Falun Gong, his asthma eased up.

"It's got Chi Gung forms, but it's really cultivation practice," he explained. "The practice is every part of your life, so every situation that I'm in, I'm able to react compassionately."

As Carson learned more about Falun Gong, he was horrified at the human rights violations being inflicted on practitioners in China. Along with Lemish and practitioners around the world, he has dedicated much time to documenting the abuses in China, corresponding with the United Nations about the violations and pushing for legislation that would prevent such atrocities. A group of devotees decided a trip to China could help them spread the word.

" My intentions in going to China were simply to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to the people who were persecuting it," Carson said. "I simply wanted them to know that Falun Gong was good and that it was practiced by millions of people around the world."

The group gathered in Tiananmen Square and, sitting in the double lotus position, unfurled a banner that read "Truth. Compassion. Tolerance." Just seconds later, police vans surrounded them. The practitioners tried to remain peaceful as the Chinese officials roughly forced them into the vans, hitting some of them and grabbing the women by their hair. Some of the devotees filmed the demonstration, with a direct feed to the European media. Within minutes, the world was learning exactly what happens to practitioners of Falun Gong in China.

Over the next 30 hours, the group was moved to four locations, including the Tiananmen Square jail, where they were interrogated. Lemish and many others continued to be beaten and mistreated. The demonstrators attempted to talk to the police officers and guards --to let them know that Falun Gong was not dangerous, that it was practiced all over the world and they did not have to mistreat people for practicing it.

They were then deported to Vancouver, Canada. Upon arrival there, the media pounced on them, asking for their story. Between being able to voice their beliefs to the Chinese officials and getting the media to report so widely on the situation, Carson feels the trip was a success.

Although he didn't know what would happen to him if he participated in the demonstration, he says he had faith that whatever happened would be for the best. "As a Falun Gong practitioner, we're constantly improving ourselves and ready to help people unconditionally."