On Saturday, 15th May, Falun Gong practitioners from around Queensland joined
together at Brisbane’s King George Square in front of Town Hall to celebrate the
fifth World Falun Dafa Day with dignitaries and the public. This was also the
12th anniversary of Falun Dafa’s introduction to the public in China by the teacher,
Master Li Hongzhi. It was a spectacular cloudless and warm fall’s day, reflecting
the beauty of the festivities to follow.
This was Queensland’s largest celebration
yet and many dignitaries, along with a large number of people passing through
the square, joined our festivities. Three Brisbane Councillors, Cr Graham Quirk,
Cr Carol Cashman and Cr Judy Magub, representing the Lord Mayor’s office, graciously
took time out of their busy schedules to attend. Also attending were six police
liaison officers and the editors of the two largest Chinese newspapers in Brisbane
and the president of the Taiwan Friendship Association of QLD Inc.
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The
square was brimming with people, including some Mainland Chinese tourists, learning
about Falun Gong from our numerous photo exhibits showing the history of Falun
Gong from its introduction to the public in 1992 to the severe persecution of
Falun Gong in China over the past five years. Hundreds of flyers were handed out
during the six hours of activities and many questions were answered about Falun
Gong and its persecution. Many people also signed petitions.
The main gazebo
had our six metre long World Falun Dafa Day banner along with eight Falun banners
and photo drops hanging off the back. There was also a Petals of Peace gazebo,
where children and adults learned how to make origami lotuses and the story of
little Fadu, and a gazebo with food prepared by practitioners to share with the
public. Many people stayed and watched our festivities, some for the entire six
hours, clearly moved by the beauty and peacefulness of the practitioners’ dancing
and singing.
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The
festivities began with two songs by the Queensland practitioners singing group
“One World”, who performed at the Inaugural Global Gala event in New
York and has sung at numerous events around Australia. This helped set the stage
for the day’s activities. Following this, two Falun Gong practitioners opened
World Falun Dafa Day, one briefly explaining to the audience the reason for this
celebration and what Falun Gong is. The Queensland spokesperson spoke about the
senseless persecution of peaceful practitioners in China that has been going on
for nearly five years. It was pointed out that the greatest crime committed by
Jiang Zemin was not just the persecution and genocide of Falun Gong practitioners,
but the persecution of the very principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance
that practitioners follow and that hold a society together. The audience was also
asked to imagine being persecuted for doing this as they watched the beauty and
peacefulness of the day’s activities.
Cr Judy Magub, speaking for the Lord
Mayor’s office, then gave a heartfelt speech about Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners
and the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, but mostly focussing
on the terrible persecution of Falun Gong. Cr Graham Quirk, one of our most ardent
supporters, also spoke mainly about the unjust nature of the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners in China. Following the Councillors, presidents of the two
local Chinese newspapers also spoke about their support of Falun Gong’s principles
of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. The president of Asian Community News
said, “I would make a promise here, and that is as long as Asian Community
News runs, it will keep praising Falun Dafa and telling people the truth of the
persecution in China.” Mr Chen, president of World News Weekly, also expressed
his heartfelt view, “Falun Dafa is good!” He appealed to the Chinese
government to stop the persecution and allow the 1.3 billion Chinese people to
practise Falun Gong. Both of the Chinese newspapers give practitioners space to
clarify the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution.
After the VIP’s
speeches, three practitioners shared their stories about how Falun Gong has impacted
their health and lives. They were shining examples of the benefits Falun Gong
has bestowed on tens of millions of practitioners worldwide.
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The
three Councillors and one of the Chinese newspaper editors then joined in officially
cutting the two cakes a practitioner had loving made for this event, after which
everyone sat back to embrace the beauty of Falun Gong presented by the numerous
dance groups, the “One World” singers and demonstrations of the exercises.
During one of the dance numbers, the newly elected Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Mr
Campbell Newman, unexpectedly came down from Town Hall during a break in his budgetary
meeting to greet practitioners and the dignitaries present, share in a piece of
cake and watch some of the dancing. He was most gracious and supportive of our
activities, being the first Brisbane Lord Mayor to actually attend this event.
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It
was ironic that six liaison police officers came to share in our celebration,
while in China, the policemen are the ones who violently arrest, beat, torture
and sometimes kill practitioners who also live their lives by the same principles.
Four of the officers were Chinese, while two were Western, and they all enjoyed
the festivities and took more information about Falun Gong and the persecution.
One
young Western woman stayed for the entire event and then told a practitioner that
this is what she has been searching for all her life. She went to the practice
site the next day, learned the exercises and bought Zhuan Falun, so moved was
she by Falun Dafa.
Many people came up and condemned the persecution of
something so beautiful and peaceful. Some of them said they would contact their
local Members of Parliament and even ring up the Chinese Embassy in Canberra,
Australia’s national capital.
