Clarifying the Truth and Informing People of Falun Dafa on the Island of Gotland, Sweden

In connection with my education, I spent two weeks on the Swedish island of Gotland. The first Tuesday of my stay there, was Tuesday November 21st - the day when the magnificent demonstration by Western practitioners took place on Tian An Men Square. Because I had previously participated in a Swedish radio programme, I received a telephone call from the radio presenter who knew me from before. He wondered if I had the opportunity to participate in a programme feature during the afternoon, which would discuss the event in Beijing (this radio show reaches listeners all over the nation). As I was on Gotland, I took part in the radio feature (it was broadcast from Stockholm) via a radio link from the local radio station on Gotland. In the feature, I tried my best, in a calm way, to expose the evil and unjust persecution that is going on in China. In that way, it became one of many media opportunities in which Falun Dafa practitioners, following the Tian An Men demonstration, participated in and clarified the truth about the persecution of Falun Dafa. Before November 21st, there had been quite a long period of time when Swedish media hardly paid any attention to the persecution of Falun Dafa, which affects millions and millions of lives in China. Thanks to the western Falun Dafa practitioners' demonstration in Tian An Men Square, people in Sweden and in many other countries could again hear more about Dafa and the persecution through the media. It enabled the truth to break through the media blockade arranged by the perpetrators in China, who don't want the truth to be known by people of the world.

I can also share with you that earlier on that day, the radio presenter and I had quite a long conversation via the telephone about Falun Dafa and the persecution. He also asked about my personal experiences of Falun Dafa. When we talked about the characteristics of the universe Zhen - Shan - Ren (Truth - Compassion - Forbearance), he made a comment about how uncalm his children were and how these characteristics would be good for them to live by.

The following weekend, more Falun Dafa practitioners were coming to Gotland. I had written to the major newspapers and the local radio station on the island to inform them of the activities that we had intended to do. I got a call from the local radio station and on the Friday morning, I participated in a radio show which reached out to listeners all over the island (Gotland has 58.000 inhabitants). The presenter and I talked about Falun Dafa and the situation in China for about 15 minutes, all while the Falun Gong music of PuDu flowed out in the background. Of course, the demonstration in Beijing played a role in making this happen too - people want to know more about the persecution and Falun Dafa.

So, for the weekend the other practitioners arrived to Visby, the largest town on Gotland. On the Saturday, we were at the biggest shopping street and collected signatures for stopping the persecution, distributed information about Falun Dafa and the situation in China and also showed the exercises. Among others, we met a woman who was connected with the local Amnesty group, and we gave her some videos and other Falun Dafa material. One of the newspapers on the island came and took photos and asked some questions. On the Sunday, we taught the exercises in a park to some interested people. On the Monday, there were an article in the newspaper about our activity and Falun Dafa.

Further in that week, I also got an opportunity to give the mayor of Gotland (the Chairman of the municipal executive board) a VCD about Falun Dafa and the brutal persecution in China.

During my stay on Gotland, I also took the opportunities to give information about Falun Dafa to the people with whom I came into contact.

A Dafa Practitioner in Sweden
3 December 2001