(Clearwisdom.net) From September 24 to 27, 2004, UK Falun
Gong practitioners organized an Anti-Torture exhibition tour in three major
cities in Scotland: Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee. The exhibitions attracted many
local people. Streams of people came to sign our "Bring Jiang to Justice"
petition. Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party, initiated
the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, which has led to more than a
thousand Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted to death and tens of
thousands of innocent people being illegally detained. Local newspapers and
radio stations reported on the anti-torture exhibition.
Preparatory Work
Before the exhibition tour began, practitioners prepared an
information package including an invitation letter, posters and an introductory
leaflet about Falun Gong and sent them to all major local media, UK Parliament
members, Scottish Parliament members, European Parliament members, social
workers, university lecturers and NGOs. The purpose was to take this opportunity
to further inform them about the ongoing brutal persecution of Falun Gong in
China.
A few western practitioners helped to call the newspaper
publishers to inform them directly about the events in the three major cities.
As a result, the main newspapers and radio stations reported the news of the
anti-torture exhibition in advance and informed their readers that this would be
a good opportunity for them to learn the truth about this brutal persecution in
China.
September 24th and 25th in Glasgow
Even during the set up of the banners and tables in Glasgow's
main busy pedestrian street, people started to come to ask for the starting time
and wanted to sign our petition. We then decided to prepare the signature table
first while doing other preparatory work so that passers-by could sign their
names on the petition.
An official from an organization which has very good
relations with China received our invitation letter and came to see our
exhibition. After learning the truth about Falun Gong and the ongoing
persecution in China, he wished us success and signed the "Bring Jiang to
Justice" petition.
Many people asked practitioners a lot of questions and some
of the questions were quite searching. Once they got satisfactory answers, not
only did they sign the petition to support bringing Jiang to justice, they also
wholeheartedly said: "We wish you luck."
There were many school students coming to see the exhibition.
They carefully read posters and took Video-CDs and leaflets and then queued to
sign the petition. They pointed at Jiang's picture and said he was a bad guy.
They also told practitioners that their schoolteacher informed them about the
ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China. The children were not frightened by
the torture enactment. In fact not only were these children unafraid, they
wanted to sign their names to support Falun Gong.
There were streams of people coming to sign the petition.
These included students, professional people, housewives and refugees. A
westerner said, "I understand you. You are the bravest people. I will write an
article about you and leave it on my personal web page." There was a refugee
from Iraq. He pointed at Jiang's picture and said he was like Saddam and would
have the same fate as Saddam. He then signed on the petition.
When the day's activity finished and we were busy packing up,
there were still people coming to sign our petition.
September 26th in Dundee
After the two-day exhibition in Glasgow, practitioners came
to the Central Square in Dundee city centre to hold another Anti-Torture
Exhibition. The local newspaper had reported on exhibition earlier on the 23rd
September. That day a journalist from this newspaper came to the exhibition and
conducted a further interview.
A schoolteacher told practitioners that his students were all
aware of the persecution of Falun Gong in China and therefore specifically came
here to learn more. He also intended to invite Falun Gong practitioners to teach
Falun Gong at his school.
As in Glasgow, many school students came to see the
exhibition and asked questions. They all signed the petition in support of
bringing Jiang to justice.
September 27th in Aberdeen
On the final day of the Anti-Torture exhibition tour,
practitioners went to one of the most northern city of Scotland Aberdeen. In
order to inform the local newspaper about the exhibition in person, a
practitioner bought a copy of the local newspaper and was surprised to find that
the newspaper already reported the news of our exhibition that day.
Practitioners then decided to contact them and hoped that they would send their
journalist to come to cover our activity.
As usual, practitioners gave out leaflets, talked to people
about Falun Gong and the persecution, and asked people to sign our petition.
Many passers-by stopped to take a look at our exhibition, read posters and sign
the petition. A journalist from the local newspaper came in the afternoon to
take photos.
Five western teenage girls came to talk with practitioners.
When they learned the truth, they asked practitioners if they could help to
collect signatures. When practitioners said yes, every one of them took a
petition board and started to collect signatures from passers-by. Almost nobody
refused their request. They only returned the petition board when our activity
was about to finish. Practitioners found that not only did they sign the
petition themselves, they also collected more than fifty signatures.
Source:
http://clearharmony.net/articles/200410/22320.html
