April 15, 2003, Tuesday

DATELINE: Milwaukee

Practitioners of Falun Dafa held an exhibition in the street level concourse of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee over the weekend. The purpose of the exhibition was to spread awareness of the practice itself and the hardships of those who practice it as part of their daily routine in China.

The exhibition included many photos of people practicing the exercises in public, prominent figures offering their support for Falun Dafa practitioners, along with many photos of people in China who have been persecuted and memorials for those who have been killed by the Chinese government for practicing Falun Dafa.

WHAT IS FALUN DAFA?

Falun Dafa is an ancient form of Qigong, a practice similar to Tai Chi, in which practitioners refine the body and mind through exercise and meditation. It is a self-cultivation practice to improve mind and body, including five gentle exercises and meditation, but also implements the following of truth, compassion and forbearance.

Falun Dafa is not a religion or a club. Those who partake in Falun Dafa are not "followers," because it is rooted in individual discovery. They refer to themselves simply as "practitioners."

Originating from China, Falun Dafa has spread like wildfire since Li Hongzhi introduced it to the world in 1992. It is estimated that 100 million people worldwide have benefited from practicing Falun Dafa. Those who practice gather en masse at parks and in public at what are called "practice sites." A practice site can include two or three people, but the more popular gathering sites have seen hundreds or thousands lined up for exercise, meditation and discussion.

PERCEPTION IN CHINA

The government of China first embraced Falun Dafa, but the massive appeal began to be seen as a potential threat to the Communist leadership. The Chinese government is officially atheist, so anything of a spiritual nature is often discouraged and eventually made illegal because it does not fit with the Communist ideology.

On July 20, 1999, practicing Falun Dafa in China was officially declared illegal. Since then, thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners have been rounded up and held in detention for interrogation, torture and so-called "re-education."

The Chinese government has taken to a large-scale propaganda campaign intended to make people stop practicing Falun Dafa. Books and tapes sharing the message have been burned or destroyed in public displays, and people who practice Falun Dafa have been mutilated, jailed, committed to psychiatric wards and forcibly medicated with powerful psychotropic drugs, or tortured and killed.

To date, there have been 655 documented cases of practitioners who have been tortured and killed while being detained.

THE HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

The U.S. State Department spoke out against the Chinese regime and their severe actions toward practitioners of Falun Dafa in its 2002 Human Rights Report. The State Department referred to the Chinese government's actions against Falun Dafa practitioners as "arbitrary" and "unlawful," citing the numerous cases of detention and torture. The report goes on to say, "[M]any of their bodies reportedly bore signs of severe beatings or torture or were cremated before relatives could examine them."

THE LAWSUIT

On Oct. 22, 2002, President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin began a visit to the United States. Upon his arrival, Zemin and his followers were served with a lawsuit filed in Illinois Federal Court in Chicago by persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners and their family members on charges of genocide and conspiracy to deprive United States citizens and permanent residents of their civil rights. The lawsuit also charges that Zemin's followers have spread and are extending their persecution and intimidation of Falun Dafa practitioners into the United States, and, by doing so, the defendants have conspired to commit violations of civil rights within the jurisdiction of the United States. Compensation is sought in the amount of $ 50 million to $ 1.7 billion.

One recent case involves Dr. Charles Li, a Harvard University graduate, United States citizen and a practitioner of Falun Dafa, who traveled from the United States to China in January and was arrested as soon as he got off the plane. He was accused and convicted [...] and pushed through what's being called a "show trial" on March 21. Dr. Li was sentenced to three years in a Chinese prison. Friends of Dr. Li and his family in the United States are doing whatever they can to raise awareness of his case and get him back safely and as soon as possible.

To learn more on Falun Dafa and the ongoing human rights case involving the practitioners of Falun Dafa and the country of China, go to www.falundafa.org, or www.faluninfo.net.