The Nobel Peace Prize 2010 was awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”
Liu, 54, who was a key leader in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, was sentenced on Christmas Day last year to 11 years in prison for subversion.
China said the award was a violation of Nobel principles and could damage relations with Norway. More on BBC.
As expected, the Chinese government has ordered a news blackout on major news portals and has censored foreign news broadcasts (CNN etc.) which are related to the award, but it’s just impossible to block all online information these days.
the members of the norwegian nobel comiteee were very sensitive
for the drama of liu xiabao but not sensitive at all with the drama of otzalan
in the turkish prisons the last 12 years
if europeans believe so much the ideas of democracy and freedom of speech they should demand the release of otzalan immediatelly
if they care so much for peace on the planet earth i mean
Now his lawyer is saying his wife has disappeared. Her cell phone has been cut off and they believe she’s in police custody. The state run Global Times paper called the award “an arrogant showcase of Western ideology” and said it disrespected the Chinese people. I find that hilariously ridiculous considering how the government itself disrespects the people by controlling everything the people say and do and limits them to only the information they want them to know and nothing more through their censorship of news, book authors, movies, TV, Radio and internet. And punishes them if they dare speak out or critisize in any way whether it’s in writing books or whatever. And yet they call it the “PEOPLE’S Republic of China”. Yeah right. There’s very little about that country that is actually controlled by the ‘people’.
It’s sad to hear about the arrest if it’s real, but I’m not surprised if it is.
To be frank I’m not really against ‘one nation, one party’ policy. Many of the ‘democratic’ countries are in total mess of social-political unrest, so democracy (politically) might not be the only way.
That being said, the Chinese government has to start making compromises to allow more freedom to the people; they don’t need to go as far as switching their political system, but should at least allow people to speak their mind and try to offer a bit more instead of just feeding them.
On side note, North Korea has an even grander name… DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’s Republic of Korea. Mind boggling ain’t so?
Sorry for this long post but required a lot to make my points.
I definitely respect that you have your individual opinion. (which by the way, is a democratic characteristic of which the Chinese government apparently lacks). But I have to disagree wholeheartedly with the analysis you made of one-party vs multi-party systems of government.
The problems of a multi-party system are nothing compared to the problems a one-party system present. To suggest that China should make compromises while remaining a one-party system is in my opinion a contradiction. Only by having a multi-party system are the people able to facilitate those compromises with the voting power of the people (Which Chinese people really do not have).
Compromise is what’s happening now in the U.S. with financial reform, health care reform, and all kinds of other reforms that have been accomplished over the years both politically and socially. And it will continue, because the goal of making life better for people is an ongoing process. Life will never be perfect because people are not perfect! The only thing that IS perfect is having the freedom and ability to strive to make changes as needed. With a one-party system the average citizen doesn’t have that. All he can do is wish for changes with no real power to make it happen. He is at the mercy of the people in government power. And any courts or lawyers he may have access to are also largely controlled by government power. Like peasants against a King and his army. (The west and the original U.S. colonies went through that situation of absolute power consolidated in one body of government hundreds of years ago and they made sure it would never happen again.)
Granted, no system is perfect but neither is life in general. But democracy and the power of the people to make change is about as near perfect as you’re going to get. Yes, things get messy in multi-party politics, but they are also worked out over time and eventually changes are made for the better. That’s only possible however, when people are free to cause the changes that need to be made. That’s why changes are being made in the west as we speak. Things will always happen financially, socially or whatever that need to be fixed. The bad guys are exposed eventually and changes are voted on by the people through their representatives in government that they put there to be made. That’s how places like the United States have worked ever since it’s system of government has been put into place. And no one can say the U.S. hasn’t prospered and benefited from that over the long term considering it’s the one place that people around the world for decades have traveled to work and live. Immigration from places like Mexico, the middle and far East Asia is higher than it’s ever been. Why? because people quite simply want to be free to make money and live life without worrying that an oppressive government is going to put them in prison for saying or writing things that the government doesn’t agree with politically.
And that’s another thing I find ridiculous, is how some immigrants (And I’ve met quite a few over time) after they go to the U.S., feel the need to criticize the democratic system and western countries and make comparisons about how much better they think their own systems and country are. So, when asked then why they bother to come, they say, “Oh, it’s because I like to go to your good schools, make money and I also like the individual freedom I have….but I still hate your country and system of democracy”. Lol, well, how hypocritical can one person be? If that person doesn’t realize that it’s exactly that system of democracy and commerce he critisizes that allows for people like him to travel there and make money. And I see a lot of Asian immigrants driving expensive cars and living very well in the U.S. But “oh, what a terrible system democracy is, but I love it’s benefits to me individually.” (It’s actually a little rude to say that because I personally would never go live and work in another country and criticize it to the people who live there.)
How do people think all the money and opportunities in this country came to be available over the last 250 years or so that this country’s system has been in place?! And more importantly, why do some immigrants not realize the reason they are not making that kind of money in their own countries and in some cases aren’t even allowed to have those opportunities. Ummm, it’s because of their insufficient government financial and even social systems.
If a country’s people are free to become educated, expand their ideas, creativity and produce and make money then the whole country benefits. That’s why the west led the world in creative technological inventions, ideas and advancements in the last century, and became rich. Because the government didn’t try to keep the people down and have absolute power over everything they said, did and thought.
It’s really quite simple. Governments don’t make their countries great. The people do! And that’s only accomplished if the governments back off and allow peoole to express themselves and ideas, both politically and culturally and vote among themselves to put it into action.
Oh sure sure, I know China is changing and yeah they have a lot of money now (American Dollars) But truthfully, very little of it gets into the hands of the working people. Why? Because the government controls everything and gives nothing to the public that it chooses not to give. And there’s not a thing the people can do about it. That just won’t work in the long term because it’s incomplete. It’s acting like a rich country when in reality it’s only a rich government with lot’s of money they refuse to put completely into action among it’s people simply because they are too proud to let go of the policies that preach against allowing any one individual to be successful in business and make money. And yet, the very act of the Chinese government’s investment in American treasuries and other investments is in itself, capitalism at work.
Deng Xiaoping’s ideas of economic reform and learning and gaining knowledge from the west have yet to be carried far enough. In order to become as successful as the West you have to do whatever it is that the west did to be that successful in the first place. You can’t fix a car up nice on the outside to look like a fast race car but still keep an old worn out small engine hidden under the hood. You will never completely reach the level of the real race cars. Bottom line, a country cannot completely prosper if it’s people continue walking around afraid of it’s government and not allowed to express their ideas of changes that need to be made.
People can say what they will about the west and it’s problems and political bickering and fighting. But westerners in general are very happy with their system of government and democracy and freedoms. They live unafraid of their government. They know that the government is obligated to listen to what they have to say if something is not the way they want it in their lives. And they appreciate their freedom to say it and vote on it. And problems eventually get solved for the better.
People like Liu Xiaobo scare the Chinese government. He scares them because he threatens to destroy their propaganda machine. He threatens to cause the people to think for themselves. He threatens the government’s unfair and absolute power over the people.
YeinJee, you are completely right about North Korea and the contradiction in it’s name. In fact, the problems for it’s people with that situations are so obvious, it’s not even worth debating because I think everyone is probably in agreement.
I agree that democracy is better than one party system in ideal situation.
Bottomline is, people need to have a strong and responsible government. Democracy will give a better chance to achieve that because the people can always make a change if they want to… but constant change doesn’t mean much if whoever the people put on top to lead the government is going to flop anyway. It’s most probably not the fault of the democratic system itself, but many other factors that caused the social political unrest.
In the US scenario there’s only two major parties, but in many Asian countries there are multiple parties, and in populated ones like India and Indonesia the parties often hold their local interest as priority and couldn’t care much about the national agenda… and quite often there’s no single majority in the government, and nothing can be pushed forward because of the variety of opinions.
Again, it’s probably not the fault of democracy, but other factors. And I reckon that the situation could be worse if these countries are run by a one-party government.
China is one of the very few (or perhaps the only one) single party government that’s doing relatively well. Could it have been better if it’s ruled with democracy from the beginning? I can’t tell. Would it be better if it switched to democracy in future? I don’t know… but I do have doubts.
There’s one thing that I’ve to disagree with you completely, that’s “the money is not getting into the hands of the working people.” There might be some downfalls here and there, but the living standard of the people does improve a lot over the last two decades… not only financially, but also in healthcare, education etc. Many foreign Chinese still keep in contact with their distant relatives in China (including my case), the positive change is apparent from our point of view.
The only thing that has never improved is the freedom of expression.
One thing about democracy and having personal freedoms is that if people have never experienced it in their own country over many decades then it’s difficult just to switch over too fast. But that’s understandable. We saw what happened to the Soviet Union and Russia after they tried to change to fast. They collapsed into poverty and are still trying to recover today. But they are gradually and slowly making their way. The same with war torn Iraq and the problems they are having. One of the key elements in Democracy is compromise of differences and in a region of historic tribal cultures and customs and Ethnic resentment of many many years, that’s hard to do. Transition to Democracy is not an easy thing. It takes work and patience for those who really desire it.
Regarding the political parties in the west, you are right, the US has always had two dominate parties. There have been a few other parties that try to run against the Democrats & Republicans. But they’ve yet to gain any real ground. But it takes time, and as the years go by they are slowly but surely achieving some attention. Honestly, many Americans will be glad if a third party starts to find a strong place in elections. But for now, I can say that some of the third party agendas and concerns have at least had a stronger influence on platforms of the last few elections than in the past. In fact, even the two parties are constantly changing their objectives. A democrat today is not what a Democrat was back before, during or after WWII. And the same for Rebublicans. I personally feel that the days of the Democrats and Republicans as the two dominate parties will not last forever. It may not happen in my lifetime but I definitely feel things are gradually changing on the political stage in the west as well as in the east. Things are gradually going more and more global as we speak and that in itself is forcing changes politically all around the world, east and west. My hope is that the new emerging powers as well as the old powers figure out ways to be partners and everyone will benefit world wide. That should be the goal. In order to do that there will have to be common ground. I believe the younger generations coming up want that and will achieve that.
Just like the twentieth century saw huge changes at it’s beginning, the beginning of the twenty-first century has had so many important events happen so far in the last ten years of so much importance that we are witnessing and entering a whole new phase of change in the world from previous times. The 911 Terrorist attacks, China AND India’s emergence as growing economies, this last big recession and the mortgage & Wall Street crisis, Mexico’s huge and ongoing war on drugs in the west, the continuing progress of the digital age and advancements being made in 3-d imaging and all the possible applications it will effect in every day life, the huge changes in the internet, (facebook, Google, Youtube etc) It’s all mind boggling if you look back at just how much things have changed, progressed and continue to change and progress. And no doubt, inevitable political changes are bound to happen around the world. The list goes on and on. Some really major things happening and a lot of issues that have been stewing over for quite some time are all coming to a head over time and being forced to be dealt with. In my mind it’s all a positive thing in the long run.
Europe is undergoing the transformation from just a couple of parties to multiple. Sometimes a party that’s formed in one or two years could win large chunk of the seats. For better or worse, changes are inevitable… human race will continue to evolve in every sector, and as you mentioned, it’s changing faster and faster.
its official, the wife is in home confinement.