(Clearwisdom.net) On the evening of July 5, 2007 an international art exhibition entitled the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Art Exhibition" officially opened in Graz, the capital of Steiermark Province. The "Ars Cara" arts and culture club sponsored the exhibition. Their motto is "Arts for Human Rights." Ars Cara had great success showing the same exhibition last year throughout Austria. It was supported and recognized by politicians, NGOs and a kind and caring public.

This time, Café Kaiserfeld, located in the center of the city, served as the gallery to show these special works of art. The various artists tried not just to create beautiful artworks, but also to call attention to human rights violations and the persecution suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in China at the hands of the Communist regime. The artists, many of whom are of Chinese origin and were persecuted and tortured by the regime because of their beliefs, want to stop the persecution in China by depicting it through their art.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, teaches the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," which translates from "Zhen, Shan, Ren" in Chinese. The persecution is a very criminal and dehumanizing situation inflicted upon a group of people who try to live their lives according to these principles. It is an insult to justice and humanity that more people in Western countries are not paying attention to this atrocity. These same principles also give practitioners the strength to withstand such terror. It remains an unanswered question why anyone would oppose Truthfulness, Compassion Forbearance.

Café Kaiserfeld in Graz allocated a separate room that has been renovated just for the exhibition. The room is especially attractive because it opens to the sidewalk and the street and many people pass by daily, on their way to the city center. There is a large picture window allowing everyone to see the exhibit even without coming inside. We hope that this will allow us to reach many people's hearts through the art.

Mr. Dietz, a representative of the provincial government, gave a beautiful and inspiring talk, explaining how honored he was to welcome the exhibit to the city of Graz. He also stressed the importance of portraying such a great injustice through art. He said that the exhibition does not seek to sell paintings, but is intended only to touch the hearts of the audience.

He was delighted to hear about the exhibition and immediately agreed to give a speech at the opening. He said that usually visitors at a private viewing receive a price list no matter whether the artist is a professional or an amateur. He regretted that most artists and the general public are willing to overlook human rights violations and in favor of economic interests. He thanked us for giving him the opportunity to speak, expressed his hope that the persecution would soon come to an end, and wished the club and all practitioners the best.

Dr. Raimund Kirner, an Austrian Amnesty International representative, also gave a talk about the situation in China. In his speech, he stressed the obvious clash between the 2008 Olympics, normally conducted in the spirit of peace, fairness and universal brotherhood and the human rights situation in a country that is synonymous with human rights violations. The West expected the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to lead to an improvement of the situation; however, reality has proven that the opposite to be true.

As early as April of this year, the Chinese Ministry for Public Security issued instructions for gathering intelligence internationally prior to the Olympics. The instructions list forty-three categories of "undesirables" who will be excluded from participating in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. This is only one of many examples of the lack of scruples exhibited by the Chinese Communist Party and their continued efforts to persecute and suppress people.

Dr. Kirner also explained that the Bruno Kreisky Institute has conferred the highly regarded "Bruno Kreisky Award for Human Rights" on Chinese human rights attorney, Mr. Gao Zhisheng. Unfortunately, Mr. Gao Zhisheng was not able to accept the award in person. He is currently under strict house arrest in China after having been sentenced to three years of detention for "subversion," and his very life has been threatened due his extraordinary efforts on behalf of human rights.

Mr. Gao is currently being held at an undisclosed location and nothing is known about his whereabouts. Dr. Kirner welcomed the efforts of "Ars Cara" to improve human rights through the art exhibition and was grateful for the opportunity to speak.

The audience was very touched by the beautiful program which included the finishing touch by members of the European Choir singing "Coming for You."

Mema-TV filmed the art show opening and conducted interviews with Dr. Kirner and other audience members. We expect that the program will be shown several times on regional TV channels throughout the coming week.

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200708/40641.html