Switzerland: An Overview of the Activities of Swiss Practitioners (Part 3)

Not long after beginning to practise, they learned about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China. Ursula said, “We wanted to tell all the people around us at the very beginning that genocide was happening in China. Later, the extent of the persecution grew wider and wider. We wanted to help those who were being persecuted in China. Raising awareness among more people and gathering signatures for petitions was initially what we could do outside China. That was our most urgent wish”.

From then on, they drove a car carrying information to many villages, big or small, throughout the high land of Berne. Later, for a long time, they went repeatedly to Valais to distribute materials and the journey would take four hours each time. Within Switzerland it is mainly mountainous areas and Valais is the hinterland of the Alps surrounded with rolling hills. Many tourists wanted to climb to the perilous peaks of the high mountains and enjoy the bird’s view. However, it was not easy to drive a car carrying more than one thousand copies of newspapers up to the peak or down to the valleys. Sometimes, Ursula and Ingeborg had to leave the newspapers at a location to continue their driving because the mountains were so high and the roads were so narrow and their car could not hold the weight of so many newspapers. Sometimes, they could only see a family house after a very long drive, but they neither gave up nor stopped going forward.

Many people were willing to tell the news to more other people. The local radio once invited them to discuss the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners during a live programme. Many people in Valais got to know about Falun Gong in this way.

People can also learn about Falun Gong from the various activities organized by Falun Gong practitioners. There have been various 'Information Days', 'Anti-Torture Exhibitions' and the 'Enactments of the CCP’s Live Organ Harvesting Atrocities' held by Falun Gong practitioners in places from Davos in the east to Geneva in west, from Basel in the north to Locarno in the south and from the international metropolis Zurich to the rural town the Appenzelerland.

The World Economic Forum is held in the end of January each year at Davos, a skiing resort. Starting in 2003, Falun Gong practitioners would always come to Davos and set up information desks during the forum each year. The white snow brings limitless happiness to the skiers while to the Falun Gong practitioners who need to stand in the cold wind and distribute information materials for a long time, the white snow brings cold.

David, a Falun Gong practitioner, says, “People would say the weather is very cold. But you would not think about cold or hot when you are doing something that you think very goodl. I think if you think what you are doing is very important, I think no one would really feel the cold because we really do not have time to consider these. Many people come to our desks and express thanks for our coming”.

65 year old Ingeborg who is from the high land of Berne says, “One day a lady talked to me and said the weather was really cold but you had been standing all the time. I said to her, 'Do you know, I would have been in jail or my organs would have been removed alive if I were in China now? So the cold like this means nothing to us. The situation in China is very, very bad. There will be no problem for us to stand such cold or we can go into the room for warmth when we feel cold. But when you are suffering brutal tortures, you have to stand them. Many firm Falun Gong practitioners in China are now suffering the brutal tortures”.

Like any other activities, Falun Gong practitioners also hope that there will be more people coming here to learn about the truth from this activity. As far as 57-year old is concerned, “This is the fifth time for us to hold activities like this during the World Economic Forum. For us, it is good opportunity to expose to the world the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong especially the CCP’s atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. There are many statesmen, media and famous people of all fields coming to Davos from all over the world during this period. Therefore, we can tell the truth to many people. We hope to quickly stop the genocide that is happening in China. We hope to expose and stop the brutal crime of the CCP’s organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners”.