GENEVA - On the morning of April 1, 2005, a seminar titled “Communism and Human Rights” was held in the 22nd Conference Hall of the U.N. Human Rights Convention in Geneva. It was hosted by the International Organization for Multiple Beliefs, an international non-government organization. This seminar focused on “The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” published by The Epoch Times. Charles Graves, general secretary of Interfaith International, hosted the seminar.

Frank Xie, Vice-President of The Epoch Times and professor of Drexel University in Philadelphia, was the main speaker of the seminar. The title of his speech was: “The Emergence of a Chinese Media and the Rebirth of the Chinese Democratic Movement.” He introduced The Epoch Times’ series of editorials- “The Nine Commentaries”- and the wave of resignations from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that resulted from their publication. In particular, he mentioned that up to the morning of April 1, the number of CCP resignations published on The Epoch Times’ Tuidang website had reached 590,000.

The next speaker, Jan Marejko, a Swiss journalist and writer, is an immigrant from the former Soviet Union. During his speech, he mentioned the similarities between the Communist regime of the former Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist regime regarding the massive human rights abuses and killings, both of which were exposed in the “Nine Commentaries.” He also demonstrated out the influence of communist ideology on intellectuals in western society by sharing his own experiences.

Xia Yiyang, CEO of the U.S. East & West Culture and Science Exchange Funding Organization, explained how the CCP uses media to mislead Chinese people and the world. He listed a huge amount of Chinese official records, websites and interviews that prove that the Chinese media is actually the tongue of the CCP, and that the Department of Media run by the Communist central government controls all media in Mainland China and its expansion outside of China.

The audience warmly welcomed all the speeches. More than half of the conference hall was filled with people, something which is rarely seen in a U.N. Human Rights Convention seminar run by a non-government organization. During the discussion after the speeches, the audience asked many questions about The Epoch Times: its mission, its staff, its distribution volume, and the “Nine Commentaries.” The speakers addressed these questions. Two representatives of the Chinese U.N. Convention from mainland China also asked questions. They mainly stated their perspectives, saying that the speakers do not know China well and that “The Nine Commentaries” twist the facts. The main speaker tried his best to address their questions. Upon asking for clarification from the representatives of the Chinese U.N. Convention which part of the “Nine Commentaries” is not true, the representatives could not give an answer. One lady who was tortured in a labor education center and worked as a slave labor because of her belief in Falun Gong used her own experiences to show the audience that the facts in “The Nine Commentaries” are all true.

After the seminar, many people in the audience went up to the speakers to show their support. A former member of a Swiss non-government organization said to one of the speakers: “You are the real heroes. You are courageous enough to step up and tell the truth. You are really great.” One representative from the Organization for Assisting Returned North Korean Asylums stepped forward toward the volunteers who coordinated the seminar and said: “This is really a great seminar. Please give me a schedule of your seminars. I would like to attend all of them.” When two of the speakers ran into a member from the Organization for Aid to China, the lady raised her thumb from far away and said: “I heard that this seminar was excellent. It is such a pity that I missed it!” After the seminar, the reporter also noticed that a lot of people were spreading the word that there had been a very good seminar on the CCP and human rights in the morning in the conference hall.

Charles Graves, general secretary of Interfaith International, said that this was the first time in all these years that Communist ideology had been publicly discussed. One representative from the Geneva University Student Organization heard that there would be another seminar that night with the same title and contents in Geneva University. She stepped up to Dr Graves to tell him that she would notify many other students to go.

The news spread quickly. Reporters of the U.N. Convention went to find the local staff of The Epoch Times to ask for the special edition of the “Nine Commentaries.” One hundred copies of the special edition were taken quickly. The staff had to go back to their office to get another 300 copies.