女士们、先生们：
我在北京向各位致意。
12月10日是国际人权日，人权是世界自由、正义与和平的基础。它又是诺贝尔和平奖的颁奖日。这是属于全体人类和为人类争取和平者的荣耀之日。世界上没有任何一个日子对人类尊严有这种双重肯定的意义。
首先，请允许我以个人的真实经历做一个与诺贝尔和平奖有关的简单回顾。12月08日，是上届诺贝尔奖获得者刘晓波先生被捕三周年纪念日。这是北京今冬最冷的一天，我本要前往无家可归露宿街头的上访者们聚集地带，准备为他们提供抵御寒冷和饥饿的帮助。但是中国北京的政治警察们封锁了我的出路，阻挡我前往上访村。为什么？我无法理解专制体制的思维方式，中国共产党的政治警察把人道主义也当作他们的敌人，那更何况更高标准的人权呢。
8月9日，我在前往医院治疗时，在政治警察的跟踪监视下前往刘晓波的家探望刘霞。被刘霞家门外被负责软禁她的保安粗暴拦截。我要求对方提供阻拦我访友和限制刘霞自由的法律依据，很快负责管辖刘霞的警察们赶到，将我扣押六小时。这就是自由公民看望自由公民的后果。9月，警方给我提出了三条底线之一就有绝对阻止我再前往刘晓波的家探望刘霞。而作为亲历者，在这里我愿意向全世界任何政府机构、人权组织和新闻媒体提供证词，证明刘霞确实处于被非法拘禁的状态，过着没有自由的生活。甚至刘晓波的兄弟都无法与刘霞联系。中国的外交部关于刘霞的陈述皆属谎言。在中国，当一个人成为政治犯时，往往意味着他/她的父母、配偶和孩子也同时成为政治犯。应当对北京这些人权压制事件负直接责任的，是中共中央政治局常委周永康和北京市委书记刘淇，因为他们主导司法权和北京的地方行政权力。这些都被滥用于剥夺公民的政治权利和民主权利。
再向前追溯，2008年12月10日，中国政治警察一个月内第七次到监狱试图说服我，他们重申代表外交部、公安部和中共北京市委的意思，让我公开发表声明，拒绝萨哈罗夫人权奖的授予，拒绝诺贝尔和平奖的提名。作为“回报”，我可以在两个月之内以保外就医的形式获得“自由”，同时将得到所获奖金额两倍的金钱“补偿”。在监狱中常常手铐脚镣加身的我，多么渴望拥有自由，回到父母、妻子和不到一岁的女儿身边。但这一切都不能以尊严为代价。我清楚，获奖和被提名的公民不是胡佳，而是这个国家所有争取政治权利并受到压制的公民们。人格无可交易，原则不能打破，道义没有退让的余地。这段过程可以反映出萨哈罗夫奖和诺贝尔和平奖给中国政府的道义压力，不论当局以什么方式表示轻蔑和反对，但他们实际上已经输了，他们很担忧这些奖项成为化开冻土的暖流。
2008年10月10日早晨，我突然从远离北京的天津潮白监狱，被押解到北京南部的北京市监狱。我母亲和妻子、孩子每月探视的距离缩短了三分之二，减轻了老人和孩子的劳累。一年后我才知道，原来这是由于我受到了诺贝尔和平奖的提名，而那一天获奖者将揭晓。在这里，我想让全世界知道，诺贝尔和平奖的被提名或获奖，给中国监狱中或被非法限制人身自由的异见人士肯定会带来一定程度的保护，改善他们恶劣的生存条件。否则他们的境遇会更糟糕。在这里，我们可以期待刘晓波将来给大家讲述狱中与诺贝尔奖有关的经历。
刘晓波因为参与起草《零八宪章》而入狱。三年来《零八宪章》有一万三千签署者，这相对于中国人口，只占十万分之一。这源于中国统治者给社会制造的恐怖以及在互联网络上封锁。我今年出狱不久也签署了《零八宪章》，而我妻子曾金燕是第一批签名人之一。签署时，我的感觉又回到了奥运会之前我们针对许多人权个案的签名行动。那时我们与晓波常常配合。但没有想到，温和理性的《零八宪章》，居然引发了对参与者刘晓波的牢狱报复。这其实不是针对他本人，而是要用他付出的牢狱代价来恐吓其他坚持倡导民主宪政的中国公民们。宪章中描绘了部分公民心中理想中国社会的蓝图，我们只是在重申普世价值。这个国家的每个人都有权提出他心目中的社会理想，而不应受到任何来自中国党卫政治警察的压力。我相信，零八宪章中所强调的那些普世价值，十年之内都会写进中国的宪法。并且依此实施宪政。
去年的12月10日，世界面对着空椅子，见证诺贝尔和平奖颁发给中国大陆公民刘晓波先生。和平奖往往能成为一个民族、一个国家、甚至一个大洲的共同骄傲。它终于来到了中国大陆，这个世界上最大最悠久的专制帝国。感谢诺贝尔和平奖委员会选择中国异见人士。对于海内外若隐若现的争议，让我们回到自由至上的原则，事实是中国的每个“煽动颠覆国家政权罪”的公民都是无罪的，都应该立即无条件地获得自由，恢复名誉。如果你认为自己信仰正义和民主，那么我们就有道义责任为刘晓波和刘霞争取在中国这块土地上自由生活和表达的权利。我们的对手是专制者的暴力机器，我们要抵抗和变革的是专制制度，而不是被这个体制压制的异见人士、维权者。当局不仅从我们的恐惧中获益，而且从我们彼此的漠视和攻讦中获益。在专制者眼中，我们都是异见者，都是一样要被它压制的对象。这个世界没有完美的人，所谓英雄，那只是一个平凡的人做了非凡的事而已。英雄往往是不断战胜自己的恐惧，坚持去争取自由的人。当我们准备批评别人时，请让我们先成为自己符合内心英雄的标准。面对暴政，我们的恐惧来自于我们一盘散沙的状态，而一盘散沙的状态更加剧着个体的恐惧。搁置理念和行为方式的分歧，接纳人性的弱点，当我们相互凝聚包容时，就形成对专制者的制衡和压力。在寒冷的政治冬季，让我们相互雪中送炭。
当诺贝尔和平奖的网站在中国都被封锁，中国人可以感到共产党的“北京墙”要阻隔什么。现在的中国，如同曾经种族隔离制度下的南非，且这里才是全世界最大的民主战场。这里有刘晓波，这里也有盲人陈光诚、艺术家艾未未、维权律师高智晟……更多的是那些在网络上、在现实中为公民权利奋战的亿万中国公民。中国的民主化，是世界议题，中国的民主化是对世界和平至关重要的保障。也唯有中国理性渐进的民主化，能让这个饱经战争和自相残杀的国家和平转型。
今天我们庆祝阿拉伯之春，同时我们更期待并准备着北京之春。再次感谢诺贝尔和平奖委员会选择中国。感谢世界对中国人争取自由的支持。
胡佳
---English Version---
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I send you greetings from Beijing.
Today, 10 December, is Human Rights Day, a day dedicated to the basis of freedom, justice and peace throughout the world. It is also the day that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. This day, which belongs to all of humanity, honours those all over the world who fight for peace. No other day has this double meaning, affirming the importance of respect for human rights.
Firstly, allow me to give you a brief summary of my experience of the Nobel Peace Prize. Two days ago, 8 December, was the third anniversary of the arrest of Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel peace laureate. It was the coldest day of this winter so far in Beijing. I set off for the neighbourhood where petitioners and homeless people gather because I wanted to help them resist the cold and their hunger. But the Beijing political police arrested me on the way, preventing me from going to this “village.” Why? I still do not understand this authoritarian government’s way of thinking. The Chinese Communist Party’s political police regards humanitarianism as its enemy. Not to speak of human rights.
While on my way to hospital to receive treatment on 9 August, I decided go to Liu Xiaobo’s home to visit his wife, Liu Xia, without the political police knowing. I was roughly intercepted by the guards who keep the home under surveillance. I asked them what legal grounds they had for preventing me from visiting friends and for restricting Liu Xia’s freedom. The police in charge of Liu Xia’s surveillance quickly arrived and held me for six hours. This is what happens when free citizens try to visit other free citizens. One of the three orders I received from the police in September was a total ban on going to Liu Xiaobo’s home to visit Liu Xia.
As a direct witness, I would hereby like to testify to all the government institutions throughout the world, to all the human rights organizations and to all the media that Liu Xia is being detained in a completely illegal manner and is leading a life bereft of any freedom. Even Liu Xiaobo’s brother cannot contact her. All the Chinese foreign ministry statements about her situation are just lies.
When someone becomes a political prisoner in China, their parents, spouse and children become political prisoners as well. The people directly responsible for these human rights violations in Beijing are Zhou Yongkang, a member of the party’s Politiburo Standing Committee, who runs the judicial system, and Liu Qi, the party’s Beijing municipal secretary, who is charge of governing the capital. They have abused their power in order to deprive citizens of their civic and democratic rights.
After visiting me in prison seven times in a month, the political police finally asked me on 10 December 2008, on behalf of the foreign ministry, public security ministry and the CCP’s Beijing municipal committee, to issue a public statement rejecting the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and rejecting my candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize. In exchange, I would be released on bail within two months in order to receive medical treatment, and I would receive double the amount of money of the two prizes. In prison, often with my hands and feet manacled, I repeatedly felt the desire to recover my freedom and be reunited with my parents, wife and daughter, who was then less than a year old. But all this could not happen at the expense of human dignity.
I knew that this prize and this nomination did not concern me but all the Chinese citizens who fight for human rights and who, because of that, are stripped of their own civic rights. Human dignity is not for sale. Principles cannot be broken. Morality cannot be compromised. This shows the moral and judicial influence that the Sakharov Prize and Nobel Prize have on the Chinese government. Regardless of its display of contempt and use of violence, it cannot win. The CCP’s leaders are very worried that these prizes could become a torrent of hot water on their frozen ground.
On the morning of 10 October 2008, I suddenly found myself being escorted from my cell in the distant Chao Bai prison in Tianjin to a prison in Beijing, on the south side of the city. The distance that my mother, wife and daughter had to travel for their monthly visits was cut by two thirds, reducing their fatigue. A year later, I learned that it was because I had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and because the 2008 winner had been announced that day.
I would like the world to know that being nominated for or being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize provides an unquestionable degree of protection for imprisoned dissidents in China, for those whose individual freedoms have been illegally suppressed. It improves the poor conditions in which they are held. Without it, their situation would be much worse. Liu Xiaobo can be expected one day to testify to the effect of the Nobel Peace Prize on his prison conditions.
Liu Xiaobo is in prison because he helped draft “Charter 08.” In the three years since its launch, 13,000 people have signed this charter – only one person out every 100,000 in China. This situation is a result of the terror and online censorship mechanisms that the Chinese leaders have imposed on Chinese society. I signed “Charter 08” shortly after my release earlier this year. My wife, Zeng Jinyan, was one of the first to sign it. At the moment of signing, I felt we were back in the era before the Olympic Games, where we signed many petitions about human rights issues. Back then, we often worked with Liu Xiaobo. I had not imagined that he would end up in prison as a reprisal for the charter.
In reality, Liu Xiaobo was not targeted personally. The CCP uses his jail sentence to intimidate all the other Chinese citizens who might continue to promote constitutional democracy. The charter describes the project for a Chinese society that is cherished by part of the Chinese population. We are just reaffirming universal values. Everyone is China has the right to express their vision of an ideal society without being intimidated by the Communist Party’s political police. I believe that the universal values outlined in Charter 08 will enter the Chinese constitution within the next 10 years and will be implemented.
Last year, in December 2010, the world saw the empty chair when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mr. Liu Xiaobo, a citizen of mainland China. A Nobel Peace Prize can often be a source of collective pride for a nation, a country or even a continent. The prize had finally come to China, and biggest and oldest authoritarian empire in the history of the world. I thank the Nobel Peace Prize jury for choosing a Chinese dissident.
The controversies that have arisen here and there, within China and abroad, do not matter. What counts is the fundamental principle of freedom. Every citizen accused of “inciting the overthrow of state authority” is innocent. They should be released immediately and unconditionally, and their good name should be rehabilitated. If we believe in justice and democracy, then we have a moral duty to Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia to ensure that China becomes a land where the right to personal freedom and free speech prevails.
Our adversary is the violent machinery of tyrants. We must resist and change the authoritarian system instead of allowing it to crack down on dissidents and human rights defenders. The authorities exploit our fear, our indifference and the grievances we hold against each other. In the eyes of the dictators, we are all targets for repression. There are no perfect human beings in the real world. Those we call heroes are just ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The hero is often someone who constantly has to overcome his own fears in order to keep fighting for freedom.
When we want to criticize others, let us first become the heroes of our own principles. In the face of tyranny, our fears stem from our own disagreements, which in turn exacerbate our fear. Let us put aside the differences in our views and in our behaviour and accept the weaknesses of human nature. When we join together and accept each other, we will form a counterweight to the autocratic pressures and we will restore the balance. During this icy political winter, let us reinforce our solidarity.
The Nobel Peace Prize website is blocked in China but the Chinese sense what the CCP’s “Beijing wall” wants to block. Like South Africa’s Apartheid regime in the past, China is now the world’s biggest democratic battleground. We have Liu Xiaobo, the blind civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng, the artist Ai Weiwei, the human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and others. We also have the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens online and in the real world, who are fighting courageously for their civil rights. China’s democratization concerns the whole world. It is essential in order to guarantee world peace. China has undergone many wars and fratricidal conflicts. It is only by means of rational and progressive democratization that a peaceful transition will be achieved.
Today we celebrate the Arab Springs and we hope and prepare for the Beijing Spring. We thank the Nobel Peace Prize committee again for having chosen China. And we thank the world for supporting the Chinese people in its struggle for freedom.
Hu Jia
我在北京向各位致意。
12月10日是国际人权日，人权是世界自由、正义与和平的基础。它又是诺贝尔和平奖的颁奖日。这是属于全体人类和为人类争取和平者的荣耀之日。世界上没有任何一个日子对人类尊严有这种双重肯定的意义。
首先，请允许我以个人的真实经历做一个与诺贝尔和平奖有关的简单回顾。12月08日，是上届诺贝尔奖获得者刘晓波先生被捕三周年纪念日。这是北京今冬最冷的一天，我本要前往无家可归露宿街头的上访者们聚集地带，准备为他们提供抵御寒冷和饥饿的帮助。但是中国北京的政治警察们封锁了我的出路，阻挡我前往上访村。为什么？我无法理解专制体制的思维方式，中国共产党的政治警察把人道主义也当作他们的敌人，那更何况更高标准的人权呢。
8月9日，我在前往医院治疗时，在政治警察的跟踪监视下前往刘晓波的家探望刘霞。被刘霞家门外被负责软禁她的保安粗暴拦截。我要求对方提供阻拦我访友和限制刘霞自由的法律依据，很快负责管辖刘霞的警察们赶到，将我扣押六小时。这就是自由公民看望自由公民的后果。9月，警方给我提出了三条底线之一就有绝对阻止我再前往刘晓波的家探望刘霞。而作为亲历者，在这里我愿意向全世界任何政府机构、人权组织和新闻媒体提供证词，证明刘霞确实处于被非法拘禁的状态，过着没有自由的生活。甚至刘晓波的兄弟都无法与刘霞联系。中国的外交部关于刘霞的陈述皆属谎言。在中国，当一个人成为政治犯时，往往意味着他/她的父母、配偶和孩子也同时成为政治犯。应当对北京这些人权压制事件负直接责任的，是中共中央政治局常委周永康和北京市委书记刘淇，因为他们主导司法权和北京的地方行政权力。这些都被滥用于剥夺公民的政治权利和民主权利。
再向前追溯，2008年12月10日，中国政治警察一个月内第七次到监狱试图说服我，他们重申代表外交部、公安部和中共北京市委的意思，让我公开发表声明，拒绝萨哈罗夫人权奖的授予，拒绝诺贝尔和平奖的提名。作为“回报”，我可以在两个月之内以保外就医的形式获得“自由”，同时将得到所获奖金额两倍的金钱“补偿”。在监狱中常常手铐脚镣加身的我，多么渴望拥有自由，回到父母、妻子和不到一岁的女儿身边。但这一切都不能以尊严为代价。我清楚，获奖和被提名的公民不是胡佳，而是这个国家所有争取政治权利并受到压制的公民们。人格无可交易，原则不能打破，道义没有退让的余地。这段过程可以反映出萨哈罗夫奖和诺贝尔和平奖给中国政府的道义压力，不论当局以什么方式表示轻蔑和反对，但他们实际上已经输了，他们很担忧这些奖项成为化开冻土的暖流。
2008年10月10日早晨，我突然从远离北京的天津潮白监狱，被押解到北京南部的北京市监狱。我母亲和妻子、孩子每月探视的距离缩短了三分之二，减轻了老人和孩子的劳累。一年后我才知道，原来这是由于我受到了诺贝尔和平奖的提名，而那一天获奖者将揭晓。在这里，我想让全世界知道，诺贝尔和平奖的被提名或获奖，给中国监狱中或被非法限制人身自由的异见人士肯定会带来一定程度的保护，改善他们恶劣的生存条件。否则他们的境遇会更糟糕。在这里，我们可以期待刘晓波将来给大家讲述狱中与诺贝尔奖有关的经历。
刘晓波因为参与起草《零八宪章》而入狱。三年来《零八宪章》有一万三千签署者，这相对于中国人口，只占十万分之一。这源于中国统治者给社会制造的恐怖以及在互联网络上封锁。我今年出狱不久也签署了《零八宪章》，而我妻子曾金燕是第一批签名人之一。签署时，我的感觉又回到了奥运会之前我们针对许多人权个案的签名行动。那时我们与晓波常常配合。但没有想到，温和理性的《零八宪章》，居然引发了对参与者刘晓波的牢狱报复。这其实不是针对他本人，而是要用他付出的牢狱代价来恐吓其他坚持倡导民主宪政的中国公民们。宪章中描绘了部分公民心中理想中国社会的蓝图，我们只是在重申普世价值。这个国家的每个人都有权提出他心目中的社会理想，而不应受到任何来自中国党卫政治警察的压力。我相信，零八宪章中所强调的那些普世价值，十年之内都会写进中国的宪法。并且依此实施宪政。
去年的12月10日，世界面对着空椅子，见证诺贝尔和平奖颁发给中国大陆公民刘晓波先生。和平奖往往能成为一个民族、一个国家、甚至一个大洲的共同骄傲。它终于来到了中国大陆，这个世界上最大最悠久的专制帝国。感谢诺贝尔和平奖委员会选择中国异见人士。对于海内外若隐若现的争议，让我们回到自由至上的原则，事实是中国的每个“煽动颠覆国家政权罪”的公民都是无罪的，都应该立即无条件地获得自由，恢复名誉。如果你认为自己信仰正义和民主，那么我们就有道义责任为刘晓波和刘霞争取在中国这块土地上自由生活和表达的权利。我们的对手是专制者的暴力机器，我们要抵抗和变革的是专制制度，而不是被这个体制压制的异见人士、维权者。当局不仅从我们的恐惧中获益，而且从我们彼此的漠视和攻讦中获益。在专制者眼中，我们都是异见者，都是一样要被它压制的对象。这个世界没有完美的人，所谓英雄，那只是一个平凡的人做了非凡的事而已。英雄往往是不断战胜自己的恐惧，坚持去争取自由的人。当我们准备批评别人时，请让我们先成为自己符合内心英雄的标准。面对暴政，我们的恐惧来自于我们一盘散沙的状态，而一盘散沙的状态更加剧着个体的恐惧。搁置理念和行为方式的分歧，接纳人性的弱点，当我们相互凝聚包容时，就形成对专制者的制衡和压力。在寒冷的政治冬季，让我们相互雪中送炭。
当诺贝尔和平奖的网站在中国都被封锁，中国人可以感到共产党的“北京墙”要阻隔什么。现在的中国，如同曾经种族隔离制度下的南非，且这里才是全世界最大的民主战场。这里有刘晓波，这里也有盲人陈光诚、艺术家艾未未、维权律师高智晟……更多的是那些在网络上、在现实中为公民权利奋战的亿万中国公民。中国的民主化，是世界议题，中国的民主化是对世界和平至关重要的保障。也唯有中国理性渐进的民主化，能让这个饱经战争和自相残杀的国家和平转型。
今天我们庆祝阿拉伯之春，同时我们更期待并准备着北京之春。再次感谢诺贝尔和平奖委员会选择中国。感谢世界对中国人争取自由的支持。
胡佳
---English Version---
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I send you greetings from Beijing.
Today, 10 December, is Human Rights Day, a day dedicated to the basis of freedom, justice and peace throughout the world. It is also the day that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. This day, which belongs to all of humanity, honours those all over the world who fight for peace. No other day has this double meaning, affirming the importance of respect for human rights.
Firstly, allow me to give you a brief summary of my experience of the Nobel Peace Prize. Two days ago, 8 December, was the third anniversary of the arrest of Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel peace laureate. It was the coldest day of this winter so far in Beijing. I set off for the neighbourhood where petitioners and homeless people gather because I wanted to help them resist the cold and their hunger. But the Beijing political police arrested me on the way, preventing me from going to this “village.” Why? I still do not understand this authoritarian government’s way of thinking. The Chinese Communist Party’s political police regards humanitarianism as its enemy. Not to speak of human rights.
While on my way to hospital to receive treatment on 9 August, I decided go to Liu Xiaobo’s home to visit his wife, Liu Xia, without the political police knowing. I was roughly intercepted by the guards who keep the home under surveillance. I asked them what legal grounds they had for preventing me from visiting friends and for restricting Liu Xia’s freedom. The police in charge of Liu Xia’s surveillance quickly arrived and held me for six hours. This is what happens when free citizens try to visit other free citizens. One of the three orders I received from the police in September was a total ban on going to Liu Xiaobo’s home to visit Liu Xia.
As a direct witness, I would hereby like to testify to all the government institutions throughout the world, to all the human rights organizations and to all the media that Liu Xia is being detained in a completely illegal manner and is leading a life bereft of any freedom. Even Liu Xiaobo’s brother cannot contact her. All the Chinese foreign ministry statements about her situation are just lies.
When someone becomes a political prisoner in China, their parents, spouse and children become political prisoners as well. The people directly responsible for these human rights violations in Beijing are Zhou Yongkang, a member of the party’s Politiburo Standing Committee, who runs the judicial system, and Liu Qi, the party’s Beijing municipal secretary, who is charge of governing the capital. They have abused their power in order to deprive citizens of their civic and democratic rights.
After visiting me in prison seven times in a month, the political police finally asked me on 10 December 2008, on behalf of the foreign ministry, public security ministry and the CCP’s Beijing municipal committee, to issue a public statement rejecting the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and rejecting my candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize. In exchange, I would be released on bail within two months in order to receive medical treatment, and I would receive double the amount of money of the two prizes. In prison, often with my hands and feet manacled, I repeatedly felt the desire to recover my freedom and be reunited with my parents, wife and daughter, who was then less than a year old. But all this could not happen at the expense of human dignity.
I knew that this prize and this nomination did not concern me but all the Chinese citizens who fight for human rights and who, because of that, are stripped of their own civic rights. Human dignity is not for sale. Principles cannot be broken. Morality cannot be compromised. This shows the moral and judicial influence that the Sakharov Prize and Nobel Prize have on the Chinese government. Regardless of its display of contempt and use of violence, it cannot win. The CCP’s leaders are very worried that these prizes could become a torrent of hot water on their frozen ground.
On the morning of 10 October 2008, I suddenly found myself being escorted from my cell in the distant Chao Bai prison in Tianjin to a prison in Beijing, on the south side of the city. The distance that my mother, wife and daughter had to travel for their monthly visits was cut by two thirds, reducing their fatigue. A year later, I learned that it was because I had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and because the 2008 winner had been announced that day.
I would like the world to know that being nominated for or being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize provides an unquestionable degree of protection for imprisoned dissidents in China, for those whose individual freedoms have been illegally suppressed. It improves the poor conditions in which they are held. Without it, their situation would be much worse. Liu Xiaobo can be expected one day to testify to the effect of the Nobel Peace Prize on his prison conditions.
Liu Xiaobo is in prison because he helped draft “Charter 08.” In the three years since its launch, 13,000 people have signed this charter – only one person out every 100,000 in China. This situation is a result of the terror and online censorship mechanisms that the Chinese leaders have imposed on Chinese society. I signed “Charter 08” shortly after my release earlier this year. My wife, Zeng Jinyan, was one of the first to sign it. At the moment of signing, I felt we were back in the era before the Olympic Games, where we signed many petitions about human rights issues. Back then, we often worked with Liu Xiaobo. I had not imagined that he would end up in prison as a reprisal for the charter.
In reality, Liu Xiaobo was not targeted personally. The CCP uses his jail sentence to intimidate all the other Chinese citizens who might continue to promote constitutional democracy. The charter describes the project for a Chinese society that is cherished by part of the Chinese population. We are just reaffirming universal values. Everyone is China has the right to express their vision of an ideal society without being intimidated by the Communist Party’s political police. I believe that the universal values outlined in Charter 08 will enter the Chinese constitution within the next 10 years and will be implemented.
Last year, in December 2010, the world saw the empty chair when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mr. Liu Xiaobo, a citizen of mainland China. A Nobel Peace Prize can often be a source of collective pride for a nation, a country or even a continent. The prize had finally come to China, and biggest and oldest authoritarian empire in the history of the world. I thank the Nobel Peace Prize jury for choosing a Chinese dissident.
The controversies that have arisen here and there, within China and abroad, do not matter. What counts is the fundamental principle of freedom. Every citizen accused of “inciting the overthrow of state authority” is innocent. They should be released immediately and unconditionally, and their good name should be rehabilitated. If we believe in justice and democracy, then we have a moral duty to Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia to ensure that China becomes a land where the right to personal freedom and free speech prevails.
Our adversary is the violent machinery of tyrants. We must resist and change the authoritarian system instead of allowing it to crack down on dissidents and human rights defenders. The authorities exploit our fear, our indifference and the grievances we hold against each other. In the eyes of the dictators, we are all targets for repression. There are no perfect human beings in the real world. Those we call heroes are just ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The hero is often someone who constantly has to overcome his own fears in order to keep fighting for freedom.
When we want to criticize others, let us first become the heroes of our own principles. In the face of tyranny, our fears stem from our own disagreements, which in turn exacerbate our fear. Let us put aside the differences in our views and in our behaviour and accept the weaknesses of human nature. When we join together and accept each other, we will form a counterweight to the autocratic pressures and we will restore the balance. During this icy political winter, let us reinforce our solidarity.
The Nobel Peace Prize website is blocked in China but the Chinese sense what the CCP’s “Beijing wall” wants to block. Like South Africa’s Apartheid regime in the past, China is now the world’s biggest democratic battleground. We have Liu Xiaobo, the blind civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng, the artist Ai Weiwei, the human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and others. We also have the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens online and in the real world, who are fighting courageously for their civil rights. China’s democratization concerns the whole world. It is essential in order to guarantee world peace. China has undergone many wars and fratricidal conflicts. It is only by means of rational and progressive democratization that a peaceful transition will be achieved.
Today we celebrate the Arab Springs and we hope and prepare for the Beijing Spring. We thank the Nobel Peace Prize committee again for having chosen China. And we thank the world for supporting the Chinese people in its struggle for freedom.
Hu Jia
(From:爱艾未未 －Love Ai Weiwei )
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