Telling the Truth at UK’s Liberal Democrat Party Conference

The Liberal Democrat political party held their autumn conference in Bournemouth, UK last week. UK Falun Dafa practitioners took this opportunity to meet the conference attendees. They ranged from Lords; Baronesses; Members of European Parliament; Members of the UK Parliament; Councillors; party activists; NGOs; national organisations; students to diplomats. It was a good opportunity to introduce Falun Dafa to them and help the misinformed to learn the truth about Falun Dafa.

Liberal Democrat is UK’s third largest political party. They have 56 Members of Parliament [MPs] in their party. They take human rights issues seriously.

On the first day, three Falun Dafa practitioners attended the conference and they made sure that most people obtained a SOS leaflet which gave details of the persecution and the efforts being made to rescue the practitioners being persecuted in China. They were well received and people came forward to offer their help and asked to keep in touch. From then on, help was always at hand when needed.

For the remaining four days only one practitioner could attend the conference. She was greatly helped by the security team. Once the security team heard the importance of her mission, they were most impressed and and set about helping her since she did not know how to identify the MPs. They either pointed out the MPs to her, or went over to tell them someone wishes to speak to them, or better still lead them to her! They also told her the best place to hand out leaflets. When they saw her handing the leaflets and the SOS video to the MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] and MPs, they stuck their thumbs up and mouthed ‘well done’

During the next couple of days, the practitioner was able to make more people aware of the persecution by raising questions at fringe meetings, talking to ex-Party leaders, speaking at the Christian Forum within the party and talking to the party lawyer.

The ex-chairman of Liberal International [LI] was keen to help too. He located one particular MEP who accepted the SOS leaflet and video, and promised to keep raising the issue in the Parliament. The MEP also thought that the government’s policy with China should be tougher. He introduced her to the present LI chairman who is already aware of the situation since he has met Falun Dafa practitioners in Canada. He had been hoping we would make contact and was therefore pleased to see the practitioner.

There was also the launch of the Liberal Democrats Human Rights Group at the conference. The main speaker mentioned that the persecution of Falun Gong is one of the main issues they will look into. People were either nominating themselves or their friends to make sure the group was set up quickly.

When it began to drizzle, those other people who hand out fringe meeting leaflets went for cover while the practitioner remained outside, still offering the leaflets with a warm smile. One councillor walked past and exclaimed, ‘How noble! Let me take one.’ By this time, most people had already read the leaflet. Some were alarmed to learn the extent of the persecution; others were shocked to hear the persecution of such a peaceful group of people by their own government and most were dismayed that it was happening at all and felt sorry for not knowing more.

The final day was hectic. All the party members congregated in the same hall. One of the security team took the practitioner to the ex-party leader who spoke Chinese. He was delighted to see the practitioner. The practitioner greeted an MP who said he had been sent material by the Chinese authority, the contents of which he does not believe. He took the SOS information and said he would read it and do whatever he could to help. The party leader, flanked by two aides, followed by the camera crew, did not pause for the leaflet but allowed his companion to take it.

The conference was drawing to a close. The practitioner was wondering how she should spend the remaining time when she suddenly saw the MP she wanted to talk to standing right in front of her. She went up to him immediately. He was more pleased at the opportunity to see her again. Like his colleagues, he has also been subjected to the attack of fabricated material too. He said he has a lot of contact with the Chinese officials and has been told only their side of the story. He was eager to hear the other side of the story from us and asked for information before the practitioner offered it to him. He invited us to keep lobbying him and asked to be kept informed. Whilst people were leaving the building, they were offered the leaflet once more. Many could not resist the chance, including the staff, the stallholders, the camera crew, the news team or people who happened to walk past.

The overall result of this activity has been encouraging. People were obviously touched by the courageous act of Falun Dafa practitioners in China and the efforts of those practitioners who made them aware of such brutal persecution. Remarks such as ‘I am glad you have come’, ‘thank you for coming to tell us this’, ‘what you are doing is right’, ‘keep up with the good work’, ‘the final success is yours’, ‘you must let more people know’, ‘we will do whatever we can’, ‘I wish you all the best’; ‘God bless you’; ‘we will pray for you’ and so on.

UK Falun Dafa practitioner