Italy: Falun Gong, the Focal Point at an Annual World Conference on Women and Peace

[Turin]

November 26, 2002

The annual World Conference on Women and Peace was held from November 22-24, 2002 in Turin, Italy. Women representatives from India, Canada, and Siberia were invited to attend. Two Falun Gong practitioners were invited to speak at the conference. Nearly a thousand Italians attended the two-and-a-half day conference.

The day before the conference started, Italy's largest TV station, Rome National TV station "1," presented a special morning program about Falun Gong and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The program about the annual Peace Conference was produced specifically for Italian viewers. The TV station interviewed Dafa practitioners directly from their Rome TV station newsroom. The program has some three million viewers with real time broadcasting to Italian-speaking areas of Malta and Switzerland.

Italians are famous for their enthusiasm, kindness, and down to earth attitude. They abhorred the persecution and killings. On the day the program was aired, many local viewers in the cities of Milan, Rome, and Vatican city informed Dafa practitioners about this program that they watched, as well as expressed their sympathy and moral support to Dafa practitioners.

On the first day of the conference, government officials from Turin and Piedmont province attended the opening ceremony and gave speeches. They voiced their concerns about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and offered their support to Falun Gong practitioners.

On the second day, the conference coordinator allocated the whole morning for Falun Gong practitioners to speak and demonstrate their exercises. A Dafa practitioner from Sweden who practises Traditional Chinese Medicine, gave a speech. He gave a comprehensive overview about Falun Gong to the conference audience with a background discussion on Chinese traditions, culture, and medical knowledge. His speech was intertwined with demonstrations of the exercises. He invited the audience to learn the exercises on the spot. His speech drew great interest and was warmly received. Regardless if they were young or seniors nearly 80 years old, whether they were doctors or just regular townsfolk, they all paid great attention to learning the exercises. "It is truly beautiful, peaceful," "I've been searching for this my whole life," "Thank you for bringing such beautiful exercises here." Such were the comments heard over and over by Dafa practitioners from enthusiastic Italians in the audience.

Next, an American Dafa practitioner exposed the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China by the Jiang regime, especially the horrifying experiences of women and children. She pointed out that faced with three years of persecution by the Jiang regime, tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners persevered with peaceful, rational, compassionate and tolerant spirits to clarify the truth to people worldwide. They steadfastly followed, applied, and observed Falun Gong's principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance."

Audiences were shocked and dismayed by the stark contrast between the good of Dafa and the evil of the persecution. When they heard about the open letter to the Italian President being drafted by the Falun Gong practitioners, they offered round after round of applause showing their approval and support. At the end of the session they all participated in signing the letter to lend their support.

Before the conference was concluded in the evening of the third day, the entire floor burst into applause when the conference sponsor announced, "Let us welcome Falun Gong practitioners to demonstrate one more time their five sets of exercises." While practitioners demonstrated the five sets of exercises amid the melodious Dafa music of "Pudu," the entire conference floor was still without a sound. It was a deeply touching moment.

Many conference participants commented that Falun Gong was the centre of attention during the conference.