Sunday, July 21, 2002

Hello! My name is S.J. from South Germany. I have practiced Falun Gong for almost five years. I want to share some of my experiences with you to let you know how the three-year-long persecution of Falun Gong in China has influenced my life here in Europe.

When I became aware of the July 1999 ban of Falun Gong in China and the persecution against the practitioners there I said to myself, "That has nothing to do with me; Falun Dafa is non-political and cultivation is an individual matter." It took me another half a year until I realized that I could not merely do my exercises here in Germany in peace and quiet, something for which one could be tortured to death in China.

I began to act - first collecting petition signatures in my community, then in the next city, and later on in larger cities during informational events. Often I had to listen to this question, "Do you think that collecting signatures can bring you any kind of successful results?" At the same time I heard again and again the word "sect" from the media. I felt like tiny David who fought Goliath [a reference to a story in the Bible]. The reasons I have persevered in my endeavors are two-fold: one, I saw a need to untiringly explain to people what Falun Gong is really all about: that our belief system is based on Truth-Compassion-Tolerance, and that we are being unjustly persecuted. These thoughts arose from my unshakeable faith that the truth will always prevail in the end and will come to light. The other was the encouragement I received from many people, the way they told us to continue with our efforts, and the support they did provide in many ways. Often, young women students would stand there with tears in their eyes, asking me why innocent people doing exercises were being persecuted in China . Older men praised my involvement, saying that it is a rarity nowadays that someone intervenes for others. These upstanding people taught me the meaning of compassion. They believed me rather than the propaganda dished out by certain people in China.

And yet, the more support we would garner for practitioners in China, the greater the pressure seemed to become. The persecution did take on a more and more inhumane face, and I had to ask myself the same question that so many others had put to me, "Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China?"

Slowly but surely a certain image constructed itself. "The ruling Party regime has suppressed people for 50 years," a Chinese lady said to me. With Falun Gong, though, it was the first time [in history] that people from the West went to Tiananmen Square in China to intercede for human rights and to seek an end to the persecution [of Falun Gong practitioners].

Jiang and his accomplices persecute people in a most gruesome manner, but Falun Gong practitioners represent justice, by the thousands, by the millions. Some even lose their lives for that cause, because they believe in and adhere to the universal principles of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance, and because they believe in the goodness present in everyone. That is the main reason practitioners are being beaten, tortured and murdered in China - because of their belief in Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.

My message to you today is this: "The whole world needs Truth-Compassion-Tolerance. Please stand tall for those principles, so that no more room exists for lies, murder and suppression - not in China, nor in any other place."

(Original text in German)