(Clearwisdom.net) Since July 1999 when the Chinese Communist Party launched a senseless persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, Falun Gong practitioners in over 90 universities in the US have been holding photo exhibits and seminars and other activities on their college campuses to expose the persecution and raise awareness among people from all walks of life. On November 6, 2005, American student Michael Courter from California State University Chico introduced Falun Gong's cultivation principles and the persecution happening in China to an audience at the school's auditorium.
Journalist Matthew Bernat from California State University Chico's newspaper, The Orion, reported that a human rights activist spoke to 29 people Sunday in Ayres Hall. The audience learned that many Chinese citizens are being persecuted for following the peaceful practice of Falun Gong.
Michael Courter, a practitioner of Falun Gong, said it is a spiritual practice of exercise and meditation that promotes truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
Courter has practiced Falun Gong for 5 1/2 years after he became interested in Chinese culture.
"It really stuck with me," he said.
The report states, "Falun Gong was introduced in 1992 and quickly spread to between 70 million and 100 million followers. The sheer number of people caused the Chinese president to order the police and army to stop the practice's spread through arrests and beatings in July 1999.
"Courter showed a video of followers in China performing the simple movements of the practice. Police and soldiers tortured Falun Gong followers by shocking them with electricity and beating and burning them to death."
The report states that about 3,000 people have died since the persecutions began. Others, like U.S. citizen Charles Lee, have been placed in slave labor camps.
The report quoted Courter who said that Lee was a researcher at Harvard University and after speaking in favor of Falun Gong while in China, he was sentenced to three years in a slave labor camp where he is forced to make Christmas lights
Courter said that one way practitioners have combated the persecution is to raise awareness. He spoke about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a series of commentaries written by the Epoch Times newspaper. The document lists the atrocities committed by the communist party throughout the years, and is being circulated widely in China.
Courter said that it is one of the most censored and feared documents in China by the communists.
The report finished by stating that since the circulation of the Nine Commentaries, about 5 million people have resigned from the communist party.
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