Western Practitioner: Reflections on Holding an Anti-Torture Exhibit at Columbia University

On October 20^th and 21^st, Falun Gong practitioners brought the truth about the persecution in China to the Columbia University campus. In the main plaza, a poster display along with torture re-enactment drew the attention of many, including students, professors, and staff. The practitioners involved learned a lot from the event--the following are reflections from three of them.

Practitioner #1: The Process of Preparing for the Exhibit

The process of applying for the exhibit on campus is a process of breaking through our own notions. We had applied for the exhibit during the UN Summit, but we were afraid it might be too graphic to display the exhibit in the heart of the campus. And sure enough, the application suffered severe obstacles from various university officials and was denied for that period.

As more practitioners came to clarify the truth in New York City, there was more manpower for the anti-torture exhibit. The exhibit on campus was brought to the table once again. In the meantime we realized that it was our subconscious feeling of being uncomfortable with older women acting as the victims on campus that lead to Columbia's request that affiliates of Columbia had to be primary actors. Most of us had never acted in an anti-torture exhibit. Were we willing to play the roles in front of our colleagues and classmates? Showing a video instead of an anti-torture exhibit isn't as effective, so we decided to go ahead with it according to the university's request.

In the meantime we realized that it was because we subconsciously did not feel comfortable about having older women act as the victims on campus that lead to Columbia's request that affiliates of Columbia had to be primary actors. Since outside musicians, etc. are routinely invited to stage shows at the same spot on campus, the university's request was a direct consequence of our own notions. All we wanted to show people was that practitioners are severely persecuted in China, so there is no shame in showing older women being persecuted. After we were through with this we clarified the truth to the Columbia official, and our exhibit went on smoothly with both university affiliates and outside practitioners as actors.

Practitioner #2: Clarifying the Truth to the Columbia Community

It was wonderful to hold the event on campus, as it became clear to us that it helped people realize that Falun Gong is a part of their community and something related to them, so they were more apt to drop by and talk than when they're out on the street, in a hurry, and perceive you as a stranger. This gave some people an opportunity to gain a better understanding than before.

For example, when I was offering the Falun Gong Today newspaper to one guy, I said, "Would you like one?" and he said, "No, thanks. I know all about that." I smiled and said, "okay." So then a few minutes later he came back and said he had a question. He told me that he had about three copies of the newspaper at home, but he's still wondering some things. So he went on to ask me questions about why there were so many Falun Gong exhibits and practitioners on the streets of Manhattan. I explained to him about the persecution in China, why we're on the streets of Manhattan, etc. and he understood. Then he said,

"You don't want money, and you're not seeking any kind of policy changes. So you're just doing this to let people know about it?"

I said, "Yes, it's just to raise awareness about the human rights violations in China. We think it's important for people to know about."

And he said, "Wow. This is a bigger campaign than I've ever seen, bigger than any Amnesty International or any other group has done. It's amazing." And he smiled and thanked me.

Many people kept asking the question of why Falun Gong is persecuted in China. And each time I made two points that are very helpful for Americans. One was that Falun Gong grew larger than the Communist Party in China, and so the head of the Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, grew resentful of the group's popularity. So he forced others in the government to work with him to "eradicate" Falun Gong. The other is that, today in China, there is almost no freedom of belief, and Christians and others are persecuted as well. I explained how Roman Catholicism is also banned, and I reminded them about the persecution of Tibetan Buddhists. When I told people about the "Catholic Patriotic Church" and how Christians have to use censored Bibles they were shocked and thought it was ridiculous. Everyone that I explained these two points to thought they made sense and that they now understood why such a horrible thing is happening to Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Practitioner #3: Why haven't I heard about this?

I overheard a group of four students talking as they were looking at the torture exhibit. One of them was saying how people in the US would never imagine that something like this kind of torture would be going on in this day and age. I approached and talked to them about how some practitioners in China were actually going through what they were seeing in the exhibit. One student was Chinese and said how he was so surprised that Chinese people do not know that this is happening. He said, "I have been talking to my mother and brother in China during these three years of studies here, and they never told me about something like this. They don't know about it." This was an opportunity for me to tell them of the efforts the Chinese regime goes through to hide the persecution and how many practitioners in China risk their lives to send information on torture cases through the firewalls and Internet censorship unfortunately built by Western companies. One American student supported my statements by saying that the government does not let people know about it. He said he was in China some time ago and was told by other people working there how parks were full of people practicing Falun Gong exercises before the government's ban.

Later I approached two Chinese men and a woman pushing a stroller with a baby. It turned out one of them was a history professor. When I asked them whether they knew about a brutal persecution of good people happening in China they were very interested to know. After looking at a Chinese booklet and hearing more, the professor asked, "You mean this is going on now?" I replied with more facts of the persecution. The professor was in disbelief. I brought up the example of the Cultural Revolution and how only afterwards Chinese people got to know the devastating effect on many. He wanted to get close to the picture boards and wanted to talk with Chinese practitioners.

Many students said that they had seen other torture exhibits across Manhattan and that they had signed petitions. Some asked how they could help other than signing the petition. I told them to tell people they knew and thus more people would know the truth and there would be less space for the lies spread by certain Chinese officials. One student running to class said, "Hello my friend. I am a strong supporter of yours. Keep it up!"

A group of mainly Chinese men in suits and a few women accompanied by a guide was walking on college walk and stopped right in front of our torture exhibit and the picture boards. It was obviously a delegation from China visiting campus. I approached and said, "Ni hao!", even though I don't speak Chinese, and that pleasantly surprised many of them who responded in the same way and smiled widely. I asked if they knew about how people who practice Falun Gong in China are being persecuted and that's what we were demonstrating in the plaza. They did not react negatively. Some smiled and I thought maybe their English was not very good. So I said, "Falun Dafa hao, remember Falun Dafa hao." They seemed to understand and nodded politely but with fear. When I extended some brochures in Chinese, they seemed afraid of taking them. At that point some others from the group who had lagged behind arrived and I extended the brochures to them. Some took them and went ahead.

Conclusion

Although we only held the exhibit for two days, two hours at a time, it was encouraging to see how many people accepted newspapers and flyers and learned the truth about the persecution through the exhibit.