UK: Falun Dafa at the New Mills Peace Festival

On Saturday 29th June, Falun Dafa practitioners joined the Peace Festival in New Mills, Derbyshire (centre of England). This festival was attended by many groups including Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth and its aim was to inform the public about both good examples and terrible violations of world peace. Practitioners felt that they had something to share in both of these categories. The Falun Dafa stall was fronted by a banner reading “Falun Gong is peaceful” and they often demonstrated the beautiful and tranquil exercises. There were also display boards exposing the ruthless persecution of Falun Gong that is occurring in China today. Many people were shocked by the stark contrasts between the two. One lady asked, “How can they torture and kill people for practising these peaceful exercises? This is really wrong.” The local representative of Amnesty International told practitioners how their group are trying hard to end Jiang Zemin’s massive violation of world peace and also expressed amazement that this persecution has been allowed to continue for almost three years.

One man approached the stall to tell a practitioner how he had heard many derogatory reports of Falun Gong in the media and asked “what can you say to make me change my negative opinion of you?” The practitioner told him how at the beginning of this vicious persecution the world’s media had no information with which to construct their reports, except for the propaganda supplied by the Chinese Government. Therefore, many reports have contained lies and negative portrayals. He expressed dismay that a government could be allowed to blatantly deceive people. After talking with this practitioner he decided, “My opinion of you is no longer negative. Thanks for talking to me.”

Pictures

Many people in New Mills had heard of Falun Dafa before and said that they had already received a leaflet. Some expressed an interest in learning the exercises. One young man saw the practitioners meditating and said “Wow! They’re as still as statues!” One English Lady, who spent five years at Beijing University, spoke in Chinese with a practitioner and also expressed worries that her friends in China may be suffering due to this persecution.

The day went very well and many people got to learn about both the peaceful practice of Falun Dafa and the opposing nature of Jiang Zemin’s inhumane persecution.