Italy: Falun Gong Practitioners Invited to Explain the Truth of the Persecution at a Summit on Freedom of Religion and Belief

In a technical school in Milan, a philosophy teacher organised a summit on the freedom of religion and belief. The participants were final year high school students (around 18 years old) and their teachers. Representatives from the Catholic, Jewish and Muslim religions attended. Falun Gong practitioners were also invited to attend, even though Falun Gong is not a religion.

The summit started with showing a video about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. When the video had ended, the practitioners saw many students ‘eyes were full of tears. After that, the Muslim representative, Mr. Paskarlinin gave a speech in which he first expressed how the video had shocked him but also how he was moved by the spirit of Falun Gong practitioners. When others gave speeches, they all indicated that they could not understand why Jiang’s regime was persecuting Falun Gong. Each speaker also talked about why they thought that religions were being persecuted in China.

When students raised questions, they asked what western societies can do to help stop the persecution. The practitioners replied that to make more people realise the truth of the persecution is most important. Besides, worldwide governments can request China to stop the persecution. This way people can see through the plethora of lies, deceit and propaganda that Jiang has created to deceive the world’s people.

Other representatives also expressed the view that western societies shouldn’t turn a deaf ear to the persecution of Falun Gong for the sake of economical benefits. A chief editor of a Catholic magazine said: “Although I’m not a practitioner of Falun Gong, I support Falun Gong. I will use my magazine to spread the truth [about the persecution], and I also invite other people to do so. Falun Gong is not a religion; it is just a practice of meditation to improve body mind and spirit”.

After the summit, the students surrounded the practitioners and asked for Dafa materials as well as the persecution video. The philosophy teacher who organised this summit asked to learn the exercises. Those who attended the summit expressed the wish to help more people come to realise the facts of this persecution.

Chinese version available at http://yuanming.net/articles/200302/17761.html