Sweden: Practitioner’s Speech Celebrating the 5th Year of Falun Dafa in Kalmar

Five years ago in August 1998, more than thirty Kalmar citizens joined the city’s first Falun Gong class. Since then, people practising Falun Gong can be seen each week in Kalmar parks. Gunnel Götason and Monica Bäckström are two of the 30 people who attended the first Falun Gong class. During Christmas and New Year 1998, they went with other Swedish practitioners to Dalian and Beijing in China. Together with Chinese practitioners they practised exercises and shared experiences. At that time, there were almost 100 million Falun Gong practitioners and there were 10 million in Dalian alone. No word can describe how it feels to practice with so many people. Monica used this phrase to try to explain: ”It’s just like I am one of a bunch of bright flowers, flowing slowly with the wind.” While in China, they met many kind and compassionate people.

Now, Gunnel and Monica don’t know where those people are. How many of them have been forced to leave their homes? How many are locked up in labour camps and brainwashing classes? Have any of those innocent people been sent to mental hospitals, or even tortured to death? Monica and Gunnel have not been able to phone or write to them because of the consequences; they may inadvertently place them in grave danger. Likewise, if a Swedish Falun Gong practitioner were to make contact with a non-practitioner relative of a practitioner in China then it is possible that the relative would be placed under surveillance. How could this happen? How could people in China watch innocent people being jailed and do nothing? Why haven’t they resisted? We live with freedom of speech and know that we can do something about the situation in China.

The Chinese people have been continually subjected to the most powerful propaganda and brainwashing system in the world. Before 20th July 1999, under government orders, the media, which had previously encouraged people to practise Falun Gong, began to broadcast arranged incidents, fake messages and lies to try to have people believe that Falun Gong was bad. If people are continually fed lies, then as time passes they will believe them. Fear and suspicion have overwhelmed the Chinese people. During this time, Falun Gong practitioners have been doing their best to clarify the facts about this persecution.

In August 2000, after Jiang’s campaign to stop people from practising Falun Gong was failing, Jiang gave the order to “destroy their reputation, ruin them financially and eliminate them physically”. Has this been done because there’s something to be afraid of? Why be scared of people who do things according to Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance? There have been many proposed answers, but two things must be put forward. Firstly, the number of practitioners exceeded the members of the Communist Party, all of them practising something that is beyond the control of the Chinese dictator. Secondly, the Jiang’s dictatorship is based on lies and corruption.

The Chinese propaganda wouldn’t let go of the West either. Lies were spread to schools, libraries, hospitals etc. via Chinese embassies and consulates. Sweden is just one place where this has taken place. Visas for Swedish people who were going to China were denied just because they practise Falun Gong. When Jiang was visiting Europe, a blacklist of Falun Gong practitioners surfaced. Jiang Zemin’s government gave this list to European countries so that practitioners could be denied access into the country, as happened in Iceland. However, when the people of Iceland learned about this, almost two thousand people stood up and protested on the streets of Reykjavik. Iceland’s Head of Foreign Affairs and President then cancelled their decision and permitted people to enter freely.

Today, lawsuits against Jiang and his followers are progressing worldwide. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the physical and mental torture of Falun Gong practitioners, for children being forced to leave their parents, for personal belongings and money being forcefully taken away, and for practitioners being fired from their jobs, being expelled from school and losing their rights and citizenship. To date, the number of practitioners that have died due to the persecution is still unknown. An estimate number disclosed from government sources says that it is more than a thousand.

Jiang and his followers are presently being sued for genocide and crimes of torture. Swiss lawyer Philip Grant said that Jiang’s responsibility in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners can be proven to any degree.

After a long time of clarifying the truth to the Chinese people, Falun Dafa practitioners have broken through the information blockade, and allowed more people to know the facts.

We, Falun Gong practitioners in Kalmar, are very grateful to have the opportunity to practise the exercises freely in Kalmar City Park. On the 9th August, we celebrated the fifth anniversary, “just like one of a bunch of bright flowers, flowing slowly with the wind.”

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200308/23443.html