The Innermost and Sincerest Appeal of Italian Practitioner Alfredo: “This Persecution Must Be Stopped!”

I met Alfredo for the second time when the European “Coming For You” choir attended the Geneva concert. The first time that I met him was in a youth hostel at Rüdesheim, Germany in early January 2004. Back then, the European “Coming For You” choir was newly established. About 150 Falun Dafa practitioners from various European countries attended the first training session. Alfredo, a Dafa practitioner from Italy, also participated in it.

In the four-day long training session, practitioners practised the five sets of Falun Gong exercises, studied the teachings of Falun Gong, exchanged understandings and practised singing together. The schedule was very tight. I took note of Alfredo, an older practitioner; I came to know later on that he is 59 years old this year. Despite his age he was as energetic as a man much younger than himself. He participated in every activity and fully devoted himself to the training and practice. Soon after the training, he sang at the Worldwide Chinese New Year Galas organised by New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) in New York and Paris. This time, he also performed in the Geneva Gala organised by human rights organisations. What motivated him to attend the singing? The author of this article had a chat with him.

Alfredo: “I seldom sang in the past. Every time when I sang, I had to go to the mountains. Otherwise, my friends would complain about it. However, when I heard about the training session at Rüdesheim, Germany, I felt a strong desire to attend. I was very happy to attend the training. I have changed my everyday people’s notion about being good or bad at singing. It is because I sing with my heart and I sing on behalf of Dafa practitioners. Therefore, I am able to sing in a very tranquil and peaceful manner. I sing as a bass in the choir. Because the members of the bass in the chorus were very few, I decide to participate.”
He also mentioned to me: “Dafa disciples will do everything well. Singing is no exception. By righteous thoughts and righteous actions, we can help the people of the world understand Dafa. In the choir, practitioners conduct Fa-study together, and exchange their understandings. It is a precious opportunity. Practitioners become one body and improve their cultivation level together. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to join the choir.”

In our conversations, I learned more about his past. I was surprised to hear that he started to practise Falun Gong from as early as 1995. Soon after he egan practising, he decided to translate Falun Gong and and the main text of Falun Gong, Zhuan Falun into Italian. He and his Chinese girlfriend (also a Dafa practitioner), who later became his wife overcame a lot of difficulties and completed the translation work in 1999.

I wanted to know how he started his cultivation in Dafa, and why he decided to translate the books. He said: “I set up a joint venture company in China, and have been dealing with Chinese people of various backgrounds for years, especially Chinese businessmen. I was very disappointed to notice that most of them were impolite and immoral. All they cared about was money. In the Christmas holidays of 1995, I attended the first International Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Beijing. All of the Chinese Dafa practitioners I met there were polite, peaceful and selfless. They were completely different from those Chinese that I was acquainted with. I realised that it is Falun Dafa that had made them so different. Within a very short time, I decided to cultivate Falun Dafa too.” He also told me that he cried when he saw Master Li for the first time in 1996. He said he was a very resolute guy, and was unlikely to be affected by emotions. However, he wasn’t able to control himself when he met Master. Therefore, he made up his mind to translate the books of Falun Dafa.”

I have read reports about Alfredo on the Internet. He came to Shanghai in October 2001 to manage his company in China, but he was denied entry by the Shanghai customs because he practised Falun Gong. I brought up this topic in the conversation. I learned that his enterprise had enjoyed a very good reputation in Shanghai. The textile products made by his company for industrial application had introduced a technological innovation to the Chinese textile sector at that time. His company became a paradigm of foreign capital investment in China. When he managed and operated his company, he demanded himself to uphold the standards of Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance. He received many outstanding appraisals from various Chinese government departments in charge of taxation and management. He was in China at the time when the persecution of Falun Gong began. He never concealed that he is a Falun Gong practitioner. Later on, he returned to Italy and started to attend the appeal activities, e.g., distributing materials for truth clarification in the Chinese communities in Italy, and contacting media and politicians to provide support for Falun Gong. However, what he did exasperated the Jiang Zemin group. His entry to China was rejected, his enterprise was seriously hurt, and the police started to harass his customers and intimidate his employees.

In early 2002, Alfredo and other practitioners filed a lawsuit against China’s Consul General in Milan who slandered Dafa.

In the end, when asked what affected him most, Alfredo told me: “I have come to Geneva every year when the annual meeting of UN Human Rights Commission was held. I’ve attended the activities with fellow practitioners to call upon the international community to restrain China from persecuting Falun Gong. This year has been the fifth consecutive year that I have come to Geneva. Many of my Chinese fellow practitioners have been arrested and beaten. Cases of persecution, such as that of Zhao Ming and Dai Zhizhen, have moved me very much. Up to now, there have been more than nine hundred practitioners brutally murdered. This persecution has to be stopped!” As he spoke, his eyes looked solemn and deeply concerned.