2 November 2004

Jean-François Duval

In support of Falun Gong

A lawyer in Geneva, Marielle Pun is an ardent practitioner of this Chinese meditative practice, whose cause she defends against the persecution

This is the story of a little girl who was very ill in her childhood, "Oh, not to the point of dying, I was never taken to casualty, but I was constantly in pain." An extremely serious form of eczema from the age of 9 months treated with a tar-based ointment, asthma that made her lungs shrink and restricted her breathing; day after day she fought against oppression. "The positive side, as for many children with health problems, is that it left me extremely sensitive to the suffering of others, I knew that more or less everywhere around the world people were suffering, like me."

In Geneva, she goes to the school of Châtelaine, then to the Voltaire college. She also becomes a Guide, head of the Tuareg patrol, of the Catholic group of Saint Mary of the People.

"Hummingbird" is her totem name. "I found the Guides magnificent! And I really liked my totem of hummingbird. I had been told: the hummingbird is a tiny little bird with a very big beak, with lots of stamina and which can travel many kilometres to find food for its young."

A young girl such as this hardly exists any more - far removed from today's youth - who has never smoked a joint, and for whom, far from materialism, it was of prime importance "to apply concretely in one's life the values and ideals discovered in adolescence." Moreover, "surrounded by admirable people, including the priest Andr?Fol who was actively engaged in social work", she also belonged to a contemplative group "to become a better Christian". "Think of others, be altruistic, that was my guide."

In 1985, having qualified as a lawyer, she immediately became a legal officer in the cantonal tax office where, following the death of a director, she was propelled at 27 years to one of the highest positions! She directed the division of registration rights, succession rights and land taxes, with some 40 colleagues under her. "I was the first woman to occupy such a high post." When her friends ask her what on earth she is doing at the tax office, she replies: "I try to put into practice my code of ethics and sense of justice." But a 70-hour working week over five years finally became too heavy a burden for her -- "and I passed the baton". She decides on a new course of life: to work 60 per cent for the administration of Geneva University and during her spare time to become involved in more social causes such as social mediation and handicapped people.

Between Buddhism and Taoism

At the same time, in Changchun, China, in 1992, Mr Li Hongzhi brought to the public the very ancient practice of Falun Gong (a traditional method of Qigong) and today practised in 60 countries (since 1996 in Switzerland).

From the outset, the Chinese Government gave full support and encouragement to the practice. That is, until Jiang Zemin, former Chinese President, became aware of the speed with which the method was spreading, simply by word of mouth, through all strata of society, and to what extent this new, harmless but powerful practice was winning hearts and minds, assisting perhaps towards their liberation. Towards the close of the 1990s, Mr Li Hongzhi having emigrated to the United States in 1995, a survey carried out by the Chinese Government brought to light 70 million practitioners in China, 1 person in 12: Jiang Zemin ordered their persecution on 20 July 1999, just as in the Roman Empire that of the Christians was ordered.

Strange coincidence! That same year of 1999, Marielle Pun becomes ill, suffering from backache around the clock. "Fibromyalgia syndrome" the doctors say. Something continues to whisper, like a wellspring within her: Think of others. Yet in summer 2000 it is sick leave.

Passed on by old practitioners

Her father tells her about a cousin in Canada who practises Falun Gong. Marielle Pun makes some enquiries in Geneva, discovers this discipline with its absolutely informal organization, "where experienced practitioners teach the beginners without charge, where no one asks you for a penny, not even for your name: not even the need to register in order to follow the class -- which is why the exact number of practitioners remains unknown". One drops in when one likes, leaves the class when one likes, always as free as the air. "Within six months, I had come through the problem." Once again she took flight.

In her apartment at Charmilles, she gives you a short demonstration. It is not complicated. "After three sessions of one and a half hours I had learned the exercises ... nothing simpler, no need to do your head in! There are only five exercises, four standing and the fifth, if possible, in the meditative lotus position (which everyone does according to his or her capability). Above all, what captivates her, she says, "is the philosophy of Falun Gong: an inner work, personal, at his or her own pace, to cultivate freely within, in daily life, these principles of truth, benevolence and forbearance. This practice brings you harmony and inner strength and allows the energy to circulate in a marvellous way throughout the body". It uplifts, calms, relieves stress and tiredness, "opens up the meridians", and allows one's masks to fall away.

Then, suddenly, an atrocious contrast to the glimpse of these harmonious movements, she shows you horrible photographs. People being tortured, shocked with electric batons, burned alive, skinned alive, covered with scars. She says "in China there could be from 4,000 to 10,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of people in re-education camps, others in mental hospitals".

Defamatory propaganda

She produces the documentation that, since the beginning of the persecution, shows many reactions at the international level -- the European Parliament in February 2001, the unanimous vote of the American Congress in July 2002, March and October 2004 -- as well as at the local level: that of Joseph Deiss, the then head of the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs, who in March 2000 told the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of his concern; a petition with 27,000 signatures addressed to the federal Chambers in November 2000, which supported it; the position taken by the federal Council which "condemns the repression of which Falun Gong and minorities in general, notably religious, are the target". Or, again, the resolution of the Grand Council of Geneva, concerned in October 2002 by the "cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment" inflicted on the Falun Gong practitioners. Not forgetting Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many others ...

"The focal point of this repression is the defamatory propaganda spread far and wide, hence the prime importance and responsibility of the media", Marielle Pun insists. "To give accurate information is our only antidote, the sole means we have to stop these atrocities in China." She sincerely believes that to speak truth allows for more space in which justice can prevail. She thinks that the word itself has wings.

Jean-François Duval

Migros Magazine 45

2 November 2004