With the support of Amnesty International, practitioners in Norway held a press conference to introduce Falun Gong to the Norwegian public and tell the truth about Jiang Zemin's crackdown on Falun Gong. Practitioners from Sweden, the United States, Canada, and Australia, all of whom had been unjustifiably detained and sentenced by the Chinese government, were invited to the conference. These practitioners used their personal experiences to reveal the inhuman persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by Jiang Zemin's regime. At the same time, they showed how a Falun Gong practitioner remains true to his beliefs in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance under physical torture and psychological abuse.
Two reporters, one from a main Norwegian newspaper, and one from the local Amnesty News Magazine, attended the conference, which lasted nearly two hours. As a result, there was an informing article with photos in the nation-wide paper.
The National Radio Station made interviews with local practitioners, and also had a special interview with a Swedish practitioner about her experiences being detained in China. This resulted a 30-minute radio program on Falun Gong that was sent twice. The Falun Gong exercise music with Teacher's voice was broadcasted nation-wide, giving kind-hearted people a possibility to connect with Falun Dafa.
After the conference, the practitioners went to the Parliament Building in the center of Oslo and talked with a member of the Norwegian Parliament for about an hour. The MP carefully listened to the practitioners' introduction of Falun Gong. As a member of the United Nations Security Council, the MP felt that Norway should take a more active role in solving the Falun Gong crisis in China, as well as helping China improve its human rights situation.
This was the first conference held by the Norwegian practitioners. The practitioners learned primarily by doing and they weren't ashamed to ask for help from the media. They helped each other prepare for the conference and they turned the whole event into an opportunity to deepen and improve their understanding of Dafa.
Practitioners from Northern Europe
April 8, 2001