By Michelle Consorte
After much deliberation, the Norwegian Nobel Prize committee awarded the Peace Prize to prominent Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on October 8, 2010.
(Photo credit: PEN American Center)
Unfortunately, Liu was unable to physically accept the award, as he remains in prison in China on an 11 year sentence under charges of "inciting subversion of state power." Liu was not even aware of his own prize until two days after it was announced, when his wife, Liu Xia, was able to visit him on October 10.
Liu has had a long history of arousing anger and frustration within the Chinese government, but winning the Nobel Peace Prize from his jail cell definitely takes the cake. Instead of silencing him like they had hoped, Liu's name is on everyone's lips, and cries for his freedom are louder than ever, including from President Obama. Liu's name was even used as a prime example for the word 'dissident' by Merriam-Webster.
'Prison' has a different connotation in a country where the right to freedom of expression and other human rights are routinely violated. Liu Xiaobo is not the picture of the red-eyed murderer most Americans would associate with someone who is a "prisoner." Liu is a 'dissident,' 'someone who strongly and publicly disagrees with and criticizes the government,' to go back to Webster again. Liu has been fighting for freedom of expression and democracy in China for years. Most notably, his saga includes helping to organize a hunger strike in Tienanmen Square in 1989 to aid students in their calls for democracy, and helping author Charter 08, a document which calls for more human rights, political reform, and an end to the one-party rule in China. Indeed, Liu embodies this document, especially one line which reads, "we must end the practice of viewing words as crimes;" speaking out for freedom of expression and human rights, and accepting the punishments (detainment, house-arrest, prison sentences) that follow.
For China, watching as the prestigious the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a national dissident, a criminal, was the last straw. Since the announcement of the award, restrictions on Chinese citizens, especially those close to and/or in support of Liu, have only become tighter. Even during the actual announcement, China put its foot down, and blocked the Nobel announcement on CNN and BBC International channels. "The Great Firewall" on the Internet and in the airwaves also shot up, removing any and all posts or SMS messages containing any element of Liu's name or the phrase "Nobel Peace Prize."
All of this begs the questions as to whether Liu's receipt of the prize will help or hurt, both in terms of China's domestic policy regarding human rights and China's foreign relations with countries like Norway-who awarded the prize and is therefore currently the root of all evil-and the United States-who demands Lui's release and is part of the Western influence that helped to cause this problem in the first place-.
China's Foreign Minister was an outspoken critic of the prize, calling it "an obscenity," and stating that awarding the prize to Liu "desecrated" it. Additionally, he stated, point blank, that the prize could hurt relations between China and Norway.
Others, including President Obama, the Dali Lama, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, praised the award and called for Liu's release from prison.
PEN American Center President Kwame Anthony Appiah, who nominated Liu for the prize, has used the event as a springboard towards democracy for China. In an article he wrote for Foreign Policy, he states,
"We need to help the Chinese Communist Party understand what it took a long history of struggle for us to learn in the Western world: A government that cannot hear from its people cannot govern well. My friend Amartya Sen, an economics Nobel laureate, has shown, in essence, that famines don't occur in democracies. A government that hears its people can serve them better. Democracy makes some things more difficult -- but mostly they're things, like corruption and the abuse of human rights, that ought to be difficult."
The Chinese government may be emerging as an economic power on the global playing field, but it is sorely lacking in the human rights department, in comparison to other states. And if a government's main goal is the security of its people, China's priorities need some serious restructuring.
Although leaders of the United States and Canada, in addition to others, have called for Liu's release, just how far are politicians willing to push China?
Not very far, according to J.M.'s blog in The Economist: "[awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo] will infuriate Chinese leaders. It may well give extra ammunition to hardliners in China who argue that the West is bent on undermining Communist Party rule...There will be an upsurge in demands from abroad for Mr Liu’s release [as has already been seen]. Yet major Western powers are little inclined to jeopardize their relationships with China for the sake of individual dissidents."
So, where does this leave us? Liu Xiaobo remains in prison, China is intensifying its crackdown on freedom of expression, and other governments may be too fearful of tipping the delicate balance that is the outside world's relationship with China to force his release. Yet, like those who are able to successfully skirt "The Great Firewall," there must be a way around shattering ties with China and still obtaining Liu's freedom.
In 1989, the same year that Liu was organizing a hunger strike to aid the students in the Tienanmen Square protest, Francis Fukuyama wrote that this was the end of history, and that mankind as a whole was moving toward universal acceptance and embracing of liberal democracy and the virtues that it entails. Appiah echos this sentiment in his call for democracy in China.
We are indeed headed toward democracy, as pressure and involvement from Western powers increases. Still, we're not out of the woods just yet. Actually, we're probably only taking our first step under the canopy of pines. Democracy is possible in China, in fact, its possible everywhere, but it will take an immense amount of difficult work, preparation, and compromise that most nations won't like. It will get ugly. To get to the human rights light at the end of the tunnel, nations will have to be willing to take a risk and putting pressure on China to reform. Attaining Liu's release would be a huge victory- but it is only the beginning.
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