Last Friday came word of the Nobel Peace Prize for Chinese political dissident and literary critic Liu Xiaobo, for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. The world knew about the honor before the man himself. Currently imprisoned in northeastern China on an 11-year sentence, Liu learned of the prize only days later, after being granted a rare visit from his wife, the poet Liu Xia. Now comes news that Liu Xia herself has been placed under house arrest in Beijing. China reacted immediately to the news from Oslo, denouncing the award as blasphemy. Russia, too, is dismissing the prize as a “political tool of the west.”
Liu has been prominent since his role in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. His current detention stems from his part in the drafting and dissemination of Charter 08, a petition that called on China’s ruling Communist Party to usher in political reform. As detailed by Geremie R. Barmé, who researches Chinese culture and intellectual history, the petition was signed by leading public intellectuals and concerned citizens, gaining momentum until authorities intervened:
On Christmas Day 2009, as a momentous year of anniversaries drew to an end, the Beijing authorities announced that Liu Xiaobo had been sentenced to eleven years in jail for 'inciting subversion.’ According to media reports, this was the longest term given to any offender accused of this particularly nebulous crime since it was introduced in 1997. Ironically, for the two decades since the tragic denouement of the 1989 mass protest movement that pressed for media freedoms and basic rights Liu’s has been a voice of reason and decency. Like patriots who had agitated for the party to make China a modern and civil nation in the 1940s, activists like Liu, and the thousands who signed the Charter 08, have used peaceful means and public protest to appeal to Chinese authorities to respect their own constitution. (Barmé's full article is here.)
An essay written by Barmé in 1990 that presented Liu Xiaobo as a figure through which to understand the extraordinary energy and enthusiasm of the Protest Movement of 1989 was recently made available online by China Heritage Quarterly. In the essay, Barmé describes Liu's decision not to flee Beijing as echoing "the tragedy of individualistic and heroic Chinese intellectuals of the last century" who "travel a course from self-liberation to self-immolation."
At his recent trial, Liu gave a statement expressing the hope that he will be “the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisition.” As translated by Professor David Kelly of the China Research Centre, at the University of Technology in Sydney, Liu continued:
Freedom of expression is the basis of human rights, the source of humanity and the mother of truth. To block freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, to strangle humanity and to suppress the truth. I do not feel guilty for following my constitutional right to freedom of expression, for fulfilling my social responsibility as a Chinese citizen. Even if accused of it, I would have no complaints. (The Guardian has the full text in english, here.)
We offer our congratulations to Liu Xiaobo on the great honor of this recognition from the Nobel committee. For some months now we have had a contract to publish a selection of Liu Xiaobo's writing, and we now hope to speed the process so as to have this book out by next fall, so that readers of English can judge for themselves the importance of his work. It is neither standard practice to announce a project this far before its publication, nor particularly graceful to advertise it on the heels of such a politically charged event. In this instance, though, and in the face of what appears to be increased persecution of Liu and his family, it does seem appropriate to share the news that we’ll soon do our part to help make Liu’s writing available.
