Sunday, February 17, 2002
After a harrowing -- albeit brief -- detention by Beijing law enforcement, area Falun Gong practitioner Sara Effner is safely back in Mid-Missouri. Effner is a former resident of Jamestown who lives in Columbia.
She traveled to China last week to participate in a Tiananmen Square demonstration in support of her beliefs. She was one of 70 westerners who convened in China to protest the Chinese government's treatment of those who practice Falun Gong philosophy.
Carrying a banner with a video recorder taped inside her jacket, Effner said she was apprehended by police while walking to the square. Although she was unable to participate, she said about 40 people were able to make it past government guards and other law officials.
She said she was arrested at 2 p.m. on Feb. 14 -- Chinese time -- and held until 10:30 a.m. the following day, when she was taken to the airport and put on a plane to Detroit.
Although she suffered some rough treatment at the hands of police officials, no serious injury was sustained, said Effner. She was also forced to leave her belongings behind in China.
At a press conference on Saturday, Effner -- a wispy 25-year-old who looked tired -- was greeted in Columbia by a group of Falun Gong supporters. In a classroom on the University of Missouri-Campus, she spoke about the experience and her passion for protecting human rights.
"If I wasn't a foreign national, it would have been much worse," she said, adding that people who practice Falun Gong in China are frequently persecuted, beaten and sent to labor camps.
Effner, who began practicing with her parents the teachings of Falun Gong about two years ago, said its tenets are "summarized in the universal principals of 'truth, compassion and forbearance.'" Effner, who spends much of her time as a volunteer advocate for human rights, has participated in events before; last March, she traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend a meeting of Human Rights organizations.
Others in the room on Saturday -- several were international students at M.U. -- defended the Falun Gong movement. Julia Jiang, of Columbia, said it is a system of beliefs directed at improving one's own moral standards.
According to a brochure, Falun Gong -- also called Falun Dafa -- is a way to improve the body, mind and spirit through exercise, meditation and teachings rooted in ancient Chinese culture.
Jiang explained it is a personal system for self-improvement, based on beliefs and values held by mainstream society. Jiang said the movement stresses charitable giving and has no political agenda.
Effner said between 70 and 100 million people practice Falun Gong worldwide; however, she feels within China the government -- fearful of the movement's democratic spirit -- has spread propaganda about the movement, founded by a man named Li Hong Zhi, who has promoted his philosophy since 1992.
"I came away not thinking about the next trip to China, but how much I want to do more and more," she said. "I think the reason that the persecution has gone on this long because the general public does not know how good Falun Gong is, nor do they know how horrible the persecution against it is."
http://newstribune.com/stories/021702/loc_0217020059.asp