The Media Question
And, the media did play an important role in the process. Falun Gong practitioners trusted that the worldwide media would be favorable, document the events, give it wide exposure and that pictures of their arrest would prevent the Chinese authorities from imprisoning them. For this reason, Dr. Lemish prepared a plan of action.
“They prepared a press statement in advance and as soon as it was learned that they had been arrested the statement appeared on their internet site. Leeshai prepared a personal statement, as well. They prepared a well-defined plan of action in the event that they were arrested. The plan called for us to seek as much international and local media coverage as possible. Their planning also included practitioners who accompanied them but who did not participate in the protest but rather who acted as tourists in order to photograph and video tape the events, in addition to the media who had been invited to document the event.
“My second argument was that I didn’t think that the media would make a big issue out of a few practitioners meditating in Tiananmen Square. This in and of itself isn’t news, only if there is violence will it be news. ‘Believe me, there will be news’, he said. They knew exactly what they were about to experience, that there was a very good chance that they would be arrested, that we would not sit idly by and as a result there would be a lot of media attention.
“I tried other arguments, for example that the Falun Dafa Movement and humanity would be better served if he continued to be active in California and not wasting away in a Chinese prison. This didn’t do any good either. I tried to enter their way of thought. Since they are against all forms of violence, I argued that ‘by protesting you are provoking the police and giving them reason to use force against you. You are trying to act humanely, but nonetheless cause them to act violently against you.’ I used reverse psychology, trying to convince him through his own theories. So, I said to him, ‘it is as if you are putting a drink before someone who seeks to stop being an alcoholic’. To that point he had no answer and said he would talk this point over with others. I asked if they had thought about the fact that they might actually harm the Chinese practitioners?
“None of our arguments were effective and I became convinced that not only would we not succeed in dissuading him, but that I did not have moral grounds to do so, especially after he said at one point: “mother, imagine what the world would be l like if Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi had given in to their parents’ fears ? I had to admit that I had no response to this argument.
“Certainly as a mother one doesn’t want to think of her son in danger, but as a humanist, what could I possibly say to him? It is true that there would be no change without the courageous acts of those willing to risk their lives. He also told me, ‘this is how you raised me.” And, he is right. He grew up in an activist family aware of social events. From an early age he participated with us in protests in Israel and in the United States. So I can’t possibly say to him these are one kind of action, but when the real crunch comes listen to your mother and father who fear for your life. Peter grew up in the United States, resisted going to Vietnam and was active there in the human rights movement. He has been actively seeking to develop coexistence here and already in 1973 was calling for a two state solution. Leeshai grew up in such a family and internalized our values.
“When I realized that I could not dissuade him and that he was prepared to be hit and sustain other forms of violence, I began to think about how to help reduce the dangers, how to get organized.
Operations Center in the University
“…. According to the most likely scenario we thought he would be arrested and might disappear. Therefore we decided that what we should do when his arrest becomes known to us was to let the media know immediately. This would make it all the harder for the Chinese authorities to hide him. Therefore I made a list of persons to call – embassies, the emergency number at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, media persons, persons who know persons who ….
“and as soon as we heard, I acted just as we planned. I didn’t panic or let myself think for a moment about what could happen. I guess that in our last conversation with him, when we told him once again how proud we are and strong we are in our support of him, it was as if we were also strengthening ourselves. From the moment that we accepted the fact that he was going, I knew that I had to have total faith in him.”
Early on Tuesday morning, about half an hour before the scheduled time in China, Dr. Lemish arrived at her office and put a “do not disturb” sign on the door. About ten minutes before her son was to start his meditation in China she sought to be with Leeshai in his way. “I said to myself, what you should do now is to sit quietly, to concentrate and to think positive thoughts. I must admit that I tried, but didn’t have patience. I called Peter who was working in England during these events. We strengthened one another and hoped for the best. And then I tried to work.”
“About an hour and half later I received a call from his girl friend in the States. Leeshai called her from the jail to let us know that he had been arrested and was OK. Immediately I called Peter and we started to act. I said to myself, OK – action time, and I began to follow the plans that we had prepared. Though I was thrust into this against my will, I was there and had to act to do everything possible to obtain his release, because to sit around, to do nothing or to cry would not help anyone.
“My first call was to the Emergency Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They told me that if Leeshai entered China on his American passport then the United States would be responsible for him, and that perhaps this was better since they [the Americans] were a group and it would be easier to help attain a group’s release. Peter was in contact with the American Consul in Beijing who told him that they were following the situation and explained that they could keep them for up to four days without allowing those arrested to speak with embassy officials. This was very difficult. We knew that he had been arrested and that no one had or might see him in the near future. I didn’t have any idea how long this would continue, if he was safe, under what conditions he was being held. I prepared myself for the possibility that it would take a long time.”
The telephones did not stop ringing in the Operations Center she set up in her university office - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the American Embassy, news desks of the newspapers and radio stations, internet sites, Peter from England, her son’s girlfriend Sarah in the United States.
“At one point rumors were appearing that Radio China had reported that they had been arrested and were to be expelled. What most bothered us was that the Falun Gong site reported that 36 persons had been arrested but the Chinese reported 35 persons. We worried about the missing person. Actually there were all kinds of numbers and reports on various sites on the net. No one really knew what was going on and everyone was quoting one another. This went on for 24 hours. We imagined all kinds of things happening, but knew that since he was determined not to sign any declarations that this might be the act that would send him to prison.
The Arrest
At the same time, Leeshai had been arrested in China. He had arrived four days earlier with his friend, Brad. The two had gone to a hotel in Beijing and immediately found the hidden camera that is apparently part of the facilities in all hotel rooms there. In order to not be suspicious, they conducted their Falun Gong exercises in a corner of a darkened room where the camera could not see them. The next morning they went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square to check out the site. Lemish, “I remember thinking this is not real. It was as if I living a dream. Here is this huge square filled with history and here I am a Falun Gong practitioner and no one knows. I said to myself, I will be here in two days and no one knows what is going to happen. There is a special quiet there as if everything is OK, but under the surface something is really wrong”.
In the morning of the 20th the two prepared themselves for a quick exit from China. They put their belongings in airport lockers in order to be ready for their return flights prescheduled for the late afternoon of the same day. On the way to the Square Leeshai talked with the taxi driver in broken Chinese and learned that the driver didn’t like the government. He restrained himself from telling the driver that they agreed with him and were on their way to protest against the government. At ten in the morning they purchased tickets for the Forbidden City in case they had to escape quickly and find refuge among the hundreds of visitors. They also purchased metro tickets and found all the possible escape routes.
“During lunch I began to feel all kinds of fears, but I confronted them and started to settle myself down and to gain inner quiet. I reminded myself of why we had come - to help others. This helped me to focus on their plight, not my own. After lunch we walked to the Square, found ourselves seats on the side and waited. Time passed by slowly and it was hard to prevent the butterflies from returning to my stomach. At ten minutes to two we started walking to the appointed spot. We saw some of them from a distance and knew that we would not be alone. It was reassuring to see people from all over the world, most of whom did not know one another, united in the mission we had come to fulfill. We met and shook hands. Then we simply sat down on the ground. We saw there were many people around us and they were all watching.
“We saw that some of the police were suspicious of what we were doing. I saw police cars approaching. We said “start” and took off our shoes. A banner was unfurled in back of us. We placed our right hand in front of our chests pointing to the sky - in an ancient sign associated in China now with the fight for human rights.
“We called out once a Chinese sentence which means ‘there is no more evil in the universe’, and then I closed my eyes. I heard the police sirens, the shrieking of tires, doors opened and closed, the racing steps of the police. I closed my eyes because I did not think I was doing anything wrong and I said to myself to remain there for as long as I could. I heard running all around me, felt myself smiling inside and I thought to myself – here I am sitting in Tiananmen Square with 35 other practitioners from all over the world to bring our message to the Chinese and to citizens the world over. We all concentrated, were quiet and giving support to one another. Even though I was in the place where others have been murdered, I was tranquil.
“As they approached we began to chant the phrase ‘there is no more evil in the universe’. We shouted it out and our voices were strengthened with each shout. Slowly I began to hear less and less voices, until finally I only heard my voice. Then I understood that all of them had been dragged away. There was a lot of noise and confusion. Then I felt several hands on me. I didn’t resist but I concentrated on pulling my weight to the ground. They pulled my right hand away, but I was able to return it easily, again to the human rights sign. I said to myself I am staying here, I am heavy, they cannot raise me. I did feel heavy but then suddenly I felt fear and at that moment they succeeded in raising me, causing me to stand up and then they dragged me to the car. As they did so, I shouted “Falun Dafa is good” over and over until they put me into the police car”.
Beatings and Going Home
At the police station the practitioners were able in all the confusion to use their mobile phones and let the world know that they had been arrested. In the initial questioning they sought to explain that their actions were of good intention, but some were hit when they refused to sign statements written in Chinese. One of the policemen grabbed Leeshai, hit him and shouted at him in Chinese. “I told him that I knew only a little Chinese and that I did not understand. He got angry, stood in front of me, cursed and shouted in English – ‘you came here to make trouble, respect me’. He hit me hard in the face and I said to him: ‘why are doing that?” I repeated other sentences that I knew in Chinese. He went totally crazy, pushed me up against the wall and kneed me between the legs. He began to ask me questions, but I refused to give him information about the others or to speak poorly about Falun”.
The practitioners assumption that the government would not keep them in China, because of the international nature of the group, turned out to be true and they were expelled from the country after 28 hours in detention. At 23:45 the next night Leeshai arrived in Vancouver, barefooted - his shoes left in the Square when he was arrested – hungry and tired. He called his mother and in a strong voice filled with happiness, he said – “I am OK, it is over.”
Don’t Want to be a Weeping Mother
Leeshai and his mother came away from these events with different conclusions. It is not every day that a media researcher finds herself as one of the actors in an evolving media event, in the role forced upon her as the mother of a hero who has been innocently arrested and abused. This event will certainly provide her much professional material, for example for her research seminar on the image of women in the Israeli media.
“I learned a lot about myself in this event, about my son, about Falun Dafa, but one of the major things that I learned was about the media. For years I have studied how the media portray women, but I was astonished to learn how the media approached me for interviews. According to the media frame of the ‘bereaved mother’, they expected to find an emotion-laden, weeping mother, that is supposed to say – ‘I am so afraid, if the captors are listening, please do not harm him’. They wanted me to be “the mother of”. But they discovered that they had to deal with a woman who had something intelligent to say, a woman that refused to be hysterical on the phone. There were even reporters who were angry with me, and in a moralizing tone of voice said to me ‘ what, aren’t you worried about your son?” As if to say, you are not normal, ‘what kind of mother are you?’
“ Yediot Ahronot had a full page report on the back page. They interviewed me for a long time yet the only sentence quoted was the following statement: ‘we are very worried and fear for him. I call for help from anyone who can assist us’. I never said that and did not at any time send out an emotional plea to the world for help. There was no place for the words of an intelligent citizen who is also a woman.
“I teach about this very thing and I will have a feast with this incident. Seemingly, our “role” in the media’s eyes is to be - the mother of, the widow of, the wife of, to always cry and to be the poor victim incapable of saying anything intelligent.
“Our place in the media is either in our sexual role or in our roles as mothers. In the Israeli media this means that the ultimate sacrifice of the male is to serve in the army and to be willing to die for one’s country. While the ultimate sacrifice of women is to give birth to children and to raise them to serve in the Israeli army and to die for their country. It was amazing and ridiculous for me to see them placing me in this role. So, here, in the midst of these events I found myself an observer of the media. I watched as they tried to categorize me and I sought to resist their attempts to have me fulfil the one dimensional role they wanted me to play. That is not me. I spoke with the reporters for long periods of time and gave them lots of information, but what the editors thought should be heard from THIS mother is that she is worried and wants him released.
In addition to this I found myself forced to be a spokesperson for Falun Gong. I began reading in order to speak intelligently, and I began to understand more and more. I cannot claim to practice the exercises, but I think all of this has influenced me. I do think of myself as a rational person, who works in the seat of rationality – the university. Yet, we also know that science does not have all the answers to our many questions.
“When I hear about the experiences they had in the prison and how they influenced the soldiers guarding them, how they sustained physical blows and didn’t feel pain, it causes me to question what we really know about the spiritual side of our lives. What do we really understand about all of this? I can’t really dismiss it. For a long time I feared that we were being led into something to with which we couldn’t connect, that we would lose Leeshai, but in the meantime I only see positive things. Falun Gong has no guru, no money is being made on the side, there are no rituals, no religious ceremonies. I looked everywhere to find faults, but have yet to find any.
For his part, Leeshai believes that they achieved their goal. Millions of people heard the message that the world should not be silent in the face of Chinese persecution of Falun Gong. “There is no rational reason to beat someone who sits in a public place under the banner ‘Truth, Compassion, Tolerance’. How many people knew about Falun Gong a few weeks ago, and that it is simply a form of meditation? Many people now know what has been going on, and that is a change in consciousness that we have contributed. I believe that this will lead many people to step forward, to give witness to what we know is going on, to support efforts to tell the truth about human rights violations. That is what we sought to do, we risked our lives to bring forth these messages.
“….. as for the question about why an Israeli citizen should risk his life for human rights in China, he seemed to be prepared and answered quickly: “many people have asked me, why are you not fighting for the rights of the Palestinians, against social inequalities in Israel, the destruction of the rain forest, etc. There are many things that are wrong in our world and I invest much of my time in many of them. But I think that the situation in China is special because there are two clear opposing forces - a quiet group of people who seek peace, tranquility and to be good; and their total opposite. I decided to act because I have not found such dramatic opposites in any other conflicts. I practice Falun Dafa and it has changed my life dramatically. I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to act on its behalf. I wanted to contribute because I cannot imagine people being murdered today simply because they want to be better persons”.
Translation P. Lemish
1 December 2001
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