http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H62GBQ8Y_k&feature=player_embedded
Today, a ceremony held in Oslo, Norway bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize on Liu Xiaobo. There is a lot that could be said, and the best part is how the word will get around inside China. Even though authorities have blacked out the broadcasts and squashed the story in government media, the word will filter around throughout the population. It should be China's proud moment - the first time that a Chinese inside China has been awarded the Peace Prize.
Yet, we know that the government has reacted with a temper tantrum, a crackdown, a hissy fit, a multi-national boycott of the ceremony, and a quickly made-up "Confucius Peace Prize" that was presented as an alternative. (That reminds me of how, when the government didn't like the Panchen Lama, whom they kidnapped, they ordained their own Panchen Lama. They now pass off the impostor as an icon of Tibetan Buddhism.)
So, for the Chinese citizens, the behavior of their own government is very telling. As the word of the prize filters around in China, it's not possible to avoid mentioning the government's behavior, which was petulent, to say the least.
The prize and its reaction, standing in juxtaposition to each other, form an authentic sign of the times -- a commentary on the state of affairs in China, and in the world, today.
I send my congratulations to Liu Xiaobo.
ReplyDeleteIn time truth will out.
But first, a hard rain is going to fall.
\\ll//
Well, at least this one makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThe jailers, today, must be feeling weird.
ReplyDeleteIn the morning, they had to note for Liu Xiaobo, "no, you're not going to the ceremony."
In the afternoon, they had to know that their prisoner deserved congratulations - and that this was a big day for China, even while they have to keep Liu under guard.