DEC.11 -- DEC.17, 2001
Stream Weir
Editor
Californian practitioners and supporters of the Chinese art of Falun Gong sent a letter last week to President George Bush signed by local government officials, asking him to put pressure on [Jiang Zemin's] government [...] to end its ban on the practice of Falun Gong.
They planned for the letter to arrive by Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.
County Supervisor Steve Kinsey has signed the letter, which is also signed by about 20 California elected officials, including the mayor of Monte Sereno, the mayor of Gilroy and the Vice-Mayor of Santa Cruz. So far, no other Marin figures have agreed to sign. The mayor of San Rafael and two city council members said they would not sign.
The letter was initiated by San Jose Councilmember Chuck Reed and Saratoga Councilmember Stan Bogosian, both of whom have been active in speaking out for the rights of Falun Gong practitioners.
According to practitioner Cathy Zhang, Bogosian "is one of the first California officials to speak up about the harassment he received from the Chinese consulate since he issued a proclamation to Falun Gong practitioners."
Falun Gong practitioners have been presenting the letter to their local officials as part of an international support movement that began when the [Jiang Zemin's] government outlawed Falun Gong in July, 1999, according to practitioner Kute of San Rafael, a 22-year-old student at College of Marin. Kute asked officials around Marin to sign.
"I, along with so many other practitioners, just feel it is wrong to not do something about what is going on," says Kute, who began practicing about a year ago with other adherents at Pickleweed Park in the Canal area of San Rafael.
"That is why I have handed out fliers, collected signatures and done other things to raise awareness in Marin and the Bay Area."
Zhang agrees. " It is very hard for Chinese people to get their voices out, and mostly people here get information from [Jiang Zemin's] government-controlled media, where they fabricated horrible stories and painted wrong pictures of the practice," she says.
That's why I and my fellow practitioners here feel like doing as much as we can to let people know the true story of Falun Gong."
The letter to Bush begins, "As local elected officials, we request that you communicate to the Chinese government that further persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners in China is completely unacceptable. In particular, we request that the Chinese government release Dr. Chunyan Teng (a permanent United States resident), and Mr. Gang Chen who have been detained for their association with Falun Gong."
The letter also maintains that, while "we cannot over emphasize the importance to California of a healthy trading relationship with China...this relationship must not come at the cost of violation of basic human rights. In the past century, history has shown us that ignoring these principles for short term gains results in large loss of life in the long run."
The efforts to enlist the support of local officials in signing on to the letter is just one branch of the work of Falun Gong supporters in California lately; in October, several practitioners arrived in San Francisco, having walked from Los Angeles to raise awareness about their cause.
A combination of [slow-motion] exercises and meditation with [...] principles [of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance], Falun Gong is known as a [cultivation practice] by its adherents. It was founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992.
China outlawed Falun Gong after about 10,000 Falun Gong demonstrators converged on the government compound in Zhongnanhai, Beijing in April 1999, according to CNN.com.
The group says it has 70 million adherents in China and [also adherents] elsewhere, mainly in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe.
The CNN report says that [Jiang Zemin's] government "had become concerned about the popularity of the Falun Gong. The number of practitioners is said to exceed the number of people in the (Chinese) [party's name omitted] Party." [...]
The Chinese have destroyed Falun Gong books, tapes, and websites and the group believes that tens of thousands of its members have been arrested or beaten, says the report.
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
