A former literature faculty member at Beijing Normal University who has repeatedly pressured Chinese authorities as a human-rights activist, and who currently sits in a Chinese prison, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this morning. Liu Xiaobo, who is 54, was recognized by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for “his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” Mr. Liu, the country’s best-known dissident, won the prize, worth about $1.5-million, after two decades of writing essays and engaging in other peaceful work urging China to reform its authoritarian political system. He took part in the student-led Tiananmen Square protests, which were ruthlessly crushed by the Chinese government in 1989, and since then, blacklisted from academe, he has led efforts to push for free elections, freedom of expression, and other human rights, which the Nobel Committee said were closely tied to peace among nations. He has been imprisoned for “subversion of state power” for his work on Charter 08, a manifesto espousing those ideals. There was no immediate response from China to news of the award, or whether Mr. Liu would be permitted to receive it.
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6 Responses to Chinese Dissident, a Former Academic, Wins Nobel Peace Prize
jffoster - October 8, 2010 at 11:19 am
Much as I despise, loathe, and hold in utter contempt the Nobel Peace Prize, I must concede that anything that pisses the government of Mainland China off has a certain redeeming social value.
johnlehman - October 8, 2010 at 1:31 pm
The official Chinese response (in-so-far as Xinhua is official) is at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-10/08/c_13547668.htm
dank48 - October 8, 2010 at 1:40 pm
They were thugs fifty years ago, they were still thugs in ’89, and they are still thugs today.Someone please remind me: Why should the PRC enjoy Most Favored Nation status?
mchakravarty - October 9, 2010 at 10:39 am
Anything with a penny worth of substance should have a pragmatic leverage of recognition and support particularly if the respondent is worthy of international merit. It is all so hunky dory for the elite at the Nobel Academy to anoint the recipient amid the orgy of fanfare and then begin the usual search once again for the following year’s recipient. Particularly for the Peace award nothing comes as close to as proving dishonorable. The awards for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 in addition to those of many more years have provided glaring examples about recipients who have had nothing to do with world peace. The one’s who have indeed championed the cause of world peace are in reality the oppressed, victimized, tortured and declared as anti-establishment. (a stark exception being M.K. Gandhi who was not even considered worthy of recognition in this regard).The important issue is that nothing is done by the world at large to really ensure that these noble souls are treated with respect within the very regime that they operate in. The converse is true. The not-so deserving are the ones who are having a whale of a time reaping the golden harvest of respect that they do not deserve and in making millions using the medal as a badge of honor and as a pretext and excuse.The token of veracity lies in the fact that the truly deserving do not aspire for the recognition and the non-deserving look forward to using all the possible benefits material or otherwise from one of the most controversial awards of all times. It is about time that this award be done away with.
gzxinyan - October 9, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Reply To:3. dank48 – October 08, 2010 at 01:40 pmThey were thugs fifty years ago, they were still thugs in ’89, and they are still thugs today.Someone please remind me: Why should the PRC enjoy Most Favored Nation status?A short answer might be: that is because there are those people as racially and culturally biased as you. There is hardly any reason to believe that you will be any better off than the PRC’s GOVERNMENT if you are placed in power. My recommendation: Read more books than ranting here.
dank48 - October 11, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Gzxinyan,
It is not racist or culturally biased to recognize gangsterism for what it is. The Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China is, mutatis mutandis, similar to the communist parties of other countries: totalitarian, self-aggrandizing, and willing to do whatever it takes to retain power. Mao’s character and personality are a matter of record. The current crop of criminals are his heirs.
Heaven knows I am as unsuited to run China (or any other country) as anyone, so you needn’t worry. One small matter in re the English language, however. Your pronouncement of my inadequacy to rule the most populous nation on earth should have used the conditional and the subjunctive, not the future indicative:
“There is hardly any reason to believe that you would be any better off than the PRC’s government if you were placed in power.”
In fact there is a lot of reason to believe that I would be a great deal worse off than the PRC’s “government” if I were placed in power, simply because I’m not a conscienceless, murdering criminal who is willing to perform whatever acts are necessary to hang onto power.