Czech Republic and Slovakia: Exposing the Persecution and Promoting Falun Gong (III)

Between 16th and 22nd of June 2005, for the first time Falun Gong practitioners in the Czech Republic and Slovakia made wide contact with the mainstream media, exposing the brutal persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist regime. They also hosted various activities to introduce Falun Gong to the general public. Practitioners invited Falun Gong practitioner Xiong Wei from Germany as a special guest. This article is the third part in the series recording their experiences. To read previous parts of this report, please see http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200507/27886.html.

On the morning of the 20th June 2005 the practitioners held a press conference in the Slovakian capital Bratislava. The conference was supported by the human rights organisation Amnesty International.

The press conference was to be held in a venue called Culture Plaza. When the practitioners reached the entrance to the conference hall, they were shocked: the place had obviously just hosted a pop concert and was strewn with chairs, huge speakers, beer bottles. Everything looked a mess. The room was also very dark. Without any complaint or even discussion about the situation, the practitioners immediately started to clean up. They worked in harmony and put the room in good order with great efficiency.

The above kind of thing is very common among Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners cultivate according to the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” in their lives and always consider others first when doing things. This press conference was organised in order to get help from international communities to end the brutal persecution of innocent Falun Gong practitioners in China. Practitioners organised the activity all out of their own hearts, not imposed by any company, management rules or laws. Therefore they can work together in great harmony and self-coordination.

More local practitioners also came to help and everything was soon in order. Chairs were arranged neatly, leaflets prepared and pictures revealing the torture that the Chinese Communist Party has inflicted on Falun Gong practitioners were lined up around the walls. Two huge oil paintings exposing the persecution were set out beside the main platform. Beautiful lotus flowers were laid out on the table.

During the press conference, Xiong Wei described her own personal experience. After being arrested for handing out leaflets exposing the human rights abuseas aganst Falun Gong, she was imprisoned in a Chinese forced labour camp for two years and suffered various types of torture and abuse. Her talk was very simple and straightforward. The atmosphere in the room was very solemn. Everyone was looking at her and carefully listening to the story of a group of kind people who keep steadfast in their belief.

Female journalists couldn’t hide their sadness and sympathy. At the beginning, the young female representative from Amnesty International sat very comfortably and was very relaxed. Soon after she leaned towards Xiong Wei, eagerly awaiting the translation of the next sentence.

All TV stations present wanted to have a special interview. A female journalist asked hesitantly, “I have a question. You don’t need to answer if you don’t want to. I want to know is: when the police treated you very badly, did you still face them with compassion and tolerance?”

Xiong Wei replied, “Yes, but it wasn’t easy for me at the beginning. Faced with such humiliation and hurt for no reason, I could not understand and felt angry. I obtained physical health and spiritual purification by practising Falun Gong, why torture me like this? With more and more thoughts about the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance”, I finally understood: if I am willing to whole-heartedly believe in compassion, I have the determination to get rid of all passive thoughts. I truly did that. The more serious the persecution became, the more clearly I knew that Falun Gong is good. Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance are great!”

Xiong Wei answered the questions very fluently. The honesty, sincerity, kindness and strength displayed by Falun Gong practitioner moved everyone. That evening, they invited Falun Gong practitioners to talk about the persecution in a live programme.