By Christy Goodman

11-19-2001

Four Canadian women, practitioners of Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa), arrived in Brooklyn on November 9 as part of the worldwide "SOS! Global Rescue Walk."

The women are walking 750 miles from Ottawa and Montreal to reach their final destination in front of the Chinese Consulate at 42nd Street and 12th Avenue in Manhattan by November 14.

The four, Zhu, Li, Yang and Liu, plan to deliver hundreds of signatures that were gathered by Canadians and Americans that call for an immediate stop to the brutalities and atrocities committed by the Chinese [party's name omitted] regime against Falun Gong practitioners to Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations after the press conference at the Chinese Consulate.

The United Nations was their original destination, but due to heightened security, the four women will be going to the Chinese Consulate.

"The faces of Falun Gong are not only Chinese," began Nadine Leichter of the Falun Dafa Information Center. "They represent the diversity we see here...in Brooklyn," she finished.

Falun Gong, based on Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, is a peaceful and spiritual practice using Qi Gong exercises begun in China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. Currently, millions of people in over 40 countries openly practice it.

In 1999, the Chinese [party's name omitted] Party made the practice illegal, [...]

Borough President Howard Golden was unable to attend the press conference at Cadman Plaza West and Tillary Street in downtown Brooklyn, but sent a strong message of support to the protesters.

"It is a time-honored Brooklyn tradition to recognize those committed individuals who are engaged in the struggle for human rights for all people," said Clearine Hunter on behalf of Golden.

"On behalf of all Brooklynites, I salute the Falun Gong practitioners of Brooklyn as they honor the noble efforts of the Canadian walkers on this special occasion," read Hunter.

Golden named November 9, 2001 "Falun Gong Day in Brooklyn."

Amy Lee, a former Chinese designer, mother and wife in China, spoke of her personal experiences as a practitioner.

"I am one of the tens of millions of practitioners who have been persecuted," said Lee. "Because I uphold my belief, I was detained many times. I was stripped of my clothes and beaten unconscious," she continued.

Like many practitioners, she was admitted to a mental hospital, force fed even though she was not on a hunger strike, forced to work 15 to 16 hours a day, kidnapped, brainwashed and mentally tortured.

Unfortunately, that is just the beginning of the torture peaceful people in China are enduring to uphold their beliefs. If they sign a "repentance statement" renouncing their beliefs, then the torture will cease.

According to Lee, some people are kept hanging in heavy chains and shackles. Some are being injected with powerful, mind-numbing drugs, leaving them in a vegetative state. Some are brutally beaten and shocked with electric batons. They are being burned with red-hot irons.

Women are being stripped naked, paraded around town or worse, being thrown into male criminal cells to fend for themselves against severe abuse and rape.

The above treatment is being enforced on the elderly all the way down to infants.

According to Amnesty International, tens of thousands of practitioners have been detained. Hundreds more are tortured in prisons and forced labor camps. Even more are being taken to mental hospitals to be heavily drugged. Over 300 deaths are confirmed, although inside sources say the more accurate number is about 1,500.

Lee's husband was forced to divorce her. Her child was taken from her. Her apartment was taken from her, as was her job.

"Falun Dafa is good," Lee said simply. "I want to call upon all governments and all kind-hearted people in the world to give support and to help stop China from persecuting Falun Gong practitioners," she said.

Another woman, Xia, now a Coney Island resident, was arrested in China for practicing her beliefs, which she said have helped her mentally and physically.

She also suffered brutal abuse while illegally incarcerated. Her parents tried to see her in jail, but were not allowed.

"Only after I was noted to be very weak did they tell my parents to take me," said Xia through a translator.

She was at her home for 10 days, barely recovered, when they sent people to her house to escort her to a detention center. She refused to leave.

Only after 72 hours and 24 different people coming to her house, watching her every move, did they leave according to her wishes.

Xia's neighbor was arrested, but her whereabouts are unknown. She was forced to leave her 12-year-old daughter to fend for herself.

Zhu, one of the Canadian walkers, was also recently detained. She told the crowd how her feet are blistered, her legs are numb, but "each step forward is a decision."

"Truth, Compassion and Tolerance gives us the courage to go through as much hardship to tell the truth to the world," said Zhu, who has walked through every imaginable weather condition to tell her message.

"Torture cannot make practitioners give up their beliefs," said the darkly tanned Zhu.

A Falun Gong practitioner from Prospect Heights, Denise Benson, informed the crowd that other walkers are walking simultaneously in Europe, Australia, Asia and other parts of North America.

"As one of the walkers said, 'we use our footsteps, our sweat and out hearts to encourage people to join us in upholding truthfulness-compassion-tolerance," said Benson.

Benson also quoted Shuiyu, a university professor in the United States, and said, "At present, lives and security, not to mention the dignity of innocent citizens in China, are at stake. These operations must be stopped."

The vice president of the Falun Dafa Information Center, Scott Chinn, said, "The mission is simple--to speak for those who cannot be heard."

Chinn, who called the movement the largest peaceful movement in China's history, said that not one Falun Gong practitioner has ever used violence to fight back.

"We find the selfless deeds of these walkers most inspiring and admirable," said Chinn.

The four walkers, carrying backpacks, have used their own money to travel to the United Nations and Chinese Consulate in New York. They sleep in tents that are hauled by their driver, Lily Wang.

They have already delivered 95,000 signatures to the prime minister's office on Parliament Hill in Canada.

Leichter said, "It is not a complicated issue. Persecution should not exist."

For more information on Falun Gong, visit faluninfo.net, falundafa.org, falundafa.com and falundafa.ca.