Sweden: Falun Gong Practitioners Invited to Talk about Falun Gong at an American Women’s Club in Gothenburg

During Autumn 2003, Swedish Falun Gong practitioners were invited to the American Women’s Club to talk about the history of Falun Gong and the persecution in China, as well as demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises.

The American Women’s Club was voluntarily established by American women living in Sweden. They meet once a month and often hold various charitable activities. Recently, the club organiser took the initiative to contact Dafa practitioners and invited them to participate in their activities.

After learning that Falun Gong practitioners were going to attend a meeting to talk and demonstrate the exercises, the attendance for that evening almost trebled. The entire room was packed! Some practitioners talked about the situation of Falun Gong and as a result many people asked why Falun Gong was being persecuted in China. The practitioners answered their questions in turn. The attendees were shocked by the persecution and in particular the persecution of female practitioners in China.

When Falun Gong practitioner Pirjo Svensson talked about her experience of being illegally detained in Thailand for five weeks, an American woman excitedly said that: "I know who you are! When your friends launched a signature collection campaign to rescue you, I signed my name on that petition. They patiently approached every passer-by to explain the facts about Falun Gong and the reason why you were detained. I was really moved by their action. Since I had signed my name to rescue you, I am especially happy to meet you today.” The attendees were very excited upon hearing this. They all agreed that practitioners struggle for human rights would not be in vain, and would eventually achieve success.

After practitioners demonstrated the exercises, many wanted to learn and later they learned the first three sets of exercises. The activity concluded with a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere.