Liu Xiaobo i 2009: "Jeg mottar dommen med fred i hjertet"

I går kom meldingen om at Kinas fengslede fredsprisvinner Liu Xiaobo er overført til et sykehus i byen Shenyang. Ifølge kinesiske myndigheter lider han av uhelbredelig leverkreft. Liu har nå sonet åtte år av sin elleve år lange fengselsstraff. Hans kone Liu Xia sitter i husarrest i Beijing uten lov og dom. 

Torbjørn Færøvik

forfatter

Beijing en høstdag i 2009: Vinden var kald, folk flest hutret og frøs. Selv i rettslokalet satt de fåtallige tilhørerne med ytterklærne på. Men den tiltalte Liu Xiaobo virket uberørt. Selv om han ble nektet å si noe, hadde han skrevet et fyldig sluttinnlegg som senere ble smuglet til utlandet. ”Jeg mottar dommen med fred i hjertet, uten å beklage noen av de valg jeg har gjort, og jeg er fylt av optimisme for fremtiden.”

Dommen falt 23. desember 2009. Retten fant ham skyldig i forsøk på å undergrave statsmakten. 

Fredsprisvinneren har sonet i et fengsel i Jinzhou i den nordøstlige Liaoning-provinsen. Byen har vel tre millioner innbyggere og er et viktig stoppested på jernbanelinjen fra Beijing til storbyen Harbin. Lite er lekket ut om hans soningsforhold. I 2010 fortalte hans kone Liu Xia at han satt i en celle sammen med fem andre. Cellen var på tretti kvadratmeter. Bortsett fra å spille kort med medfangene, gikk dagene med til å lese. Da hun besøkte ham, holdt han på med en bok av den japanske forfatteren Haruki Murakami. Fangene tilbrakte to timer hver dag i luftegården. For å holde seg i form, forsøkte han å jogge og spille badminton.

Liu Xia fikk en tid lov til å besøke ektemannen en gang i måneden, men møtene varte aldri mer enn en time. Fengselets tidtakere klokket henne inn og ut. Hver gang hun kom, hadde hun med seg noen bøker han ville lese. Naturligvis måtte de godkjennes før han åpnet dem. Møtene de hadde, ble overvåket av to vakter og tatt opp på video. Da Liu Xia høsten 2010 fortalte ham at han hadde fått Nobels fredspris, begynte han å gråte. ”Denne prisen,” sa han, ”dediserer jeg til alle dem som ofret sine liv i 1989.”

Det foreløpig siste livstegnet fra ham kom i desember 2014 via Liao Yiwu, en annen kinesisk forfatter. Liao har bodd i Tyskland siden 2011. ”Jeg er ok,” meldte Liu. ”Her i fengselet har jeg hele tiden vært i stand til å tenke og lese. Studiene mine har overbevist meg om at jeg ikke har noen personlige fiender.” Det siste utsagnet var som et ekko av hans sluttord til retten: ”Jeg har ingen fiender og nærer ikke noe hat … hat bare tærer på menneskets intelligens og samvittighet … ” Det var ikke enkeltpersoner han ville til livs, men systemet.

Liao Yiwu ville ikke røpe hvordan han hadde fått kontakt med sin fengslede kollega, men forsikret at budskapet var ekte. Fredsprisvinneren tilføyde at ”glorien som omga ham, nå skinte sterkt nok”; verden burde derfor rette oppmerksomheten mot ”andre ofre som ikke var så godt kjent, eller som ikke var kjent i det hele tatt”. 

Selv om det lenge har vært nokså stille om Liu, har flere vestlige politikere forsøkt å tale hans sak overfor lederne i Beijing. Tysklands president Joachim Gauck er en av dem. Gauck er en tidligere luthersk pastor som lenge sto i opposisjon til kommunistregimet i DDR. Da han besøkte til Kina i mars i fjor, tok han opp sakene til seks fremtredende kinesiske opposisjonelle, blant dem Liu Xiaobo. Overfor en forsamling kinesiske studenter minnet han om at DDR-lederne "brakte sine egne innbyggere til taushet, sperret dem inne og ydmyket dem som nektet å bøye seg for ledernes vilje". Resultatet var mangel på troverdighet og "en kultur av mistillit mellom de styrte og de styrende". Det kinesiske utenriksdepartementets talsperson, Hua Chunying, forsøkte etterpå å tone ned den tyske presidentens kritikk. 

Lille Norge, som nå har gjort avbikt overfor Kina, tør nok ikke bruke et så direkte språk.

”Charter 08”, det politiske manifestet han signerte for sju år siden, gikk rett til kjernen av Kinas problemer. Han og de andre 350 underskriverne tok til orde for et uavhengig rettsvesen, ytringsfrihet og frie valg. ”Alle slags sosiale konflikter har konstant hopet seg opp, og misnøyen har steget tilsvarende … Denne tilstanden må endres. Politiske demokratiske reformer kan ikke utsettes lenger.”

Liu Xiaobo presiserte likevel at reformene ikke kunne gjennomføres over natten. I stedet for en hastig omveltning måtte de komme gradvis og planmessig over tid, ”i et samspill mellom de styrende og de styrte”. Bare på denne måten kunne reformene bli ”effektive og varige”. Det er viktig å nevne dette, siden Lius kritikere i og utenfor Kina har forsøkt å tegne et bilde av ham som en ansvarsløs oppvigler.

”Charter 08” ble offentliggjort fire måneder etter at Beijing-OL var over. Flere av underskriverne ble likevel raskt arrestert. ”Den åpne rettssaken” mot Liu året etter varte i mindre enn tre timer. Hans kone ble nektet adgang til rettslokalet, likeså en rekke vestlige diplomater som ønsket å følge saken.

Om de siste årene har vært tunge for Liu Xiaobo, har hans kone kanskje opplevd dem som enda tyngre. Siden 2010 har hun sittet i husarrest i sin egen leilighet i Beijing uten lov og dom. Venner som forsøker å besøke henne, blir bryskt stanset av sivilt politi. I sin ensomhet lider hun av depresjon og dårlig helse. Hensikten med å isolere henne er å forhindre at hun lekker informasjon fra eller om sin ektemann.

De to møtte hverandre i 1982. Da de giftet seg fjorten år senere, sonet Liu Xiaobo i en arbeidsleir utenfor Beijing. Også da fordi han hadde talt Makten midt imot. På bryllupsdagen fikk han permisjon, og de rakk å spise lunsj sammen før han ble skysset tilbake. ”Jeg var svært lykkelig, fordi straks jeg var gift med ham, kunne jeg besøke ham i anstalten,” sa Liu Xia i et intervju i 2010. Hun la til at hun egentlig ikke var så interessert i politikk, ”men så lenge du er gift med en slik mann, vil politikken interessere seg for deg”.

Mens Liu Xiaobo levde av å undervise i litteratur og skrive bøker og dikt, forsøkte Liu Xia å livnære seg som maler, dikter og fotograf. Den første tiden fredsprisvinneren satt i fengsel, fikk de lov til å utveksle brev. Men ikke nå lenger. Liu Xia har fortalt at de sjeldne møtene de har, er preget av få ord og mye taushet – og mye lengsel.

Som ektemannen skrev om henne i sin slutterklæring til retten i 2009: ”Din kjærlighet er som sollys som beseirer høye murer og skinner gjennom vinduer med jerngitre … Min kjærlighet til deg er belastet med skyldfølelse og anger. Disse er så tunge at de av og til får meg til å vakle. Jeg føler meg som en stein på en øde slette, herjet av isende vind og øsende regn, så kald at ingen tør å ta på meg. Min kjærlighet til deg er likevel solid som en klippe, og den er så skarp at den kan bore seg gjennom enhver mur.”

Charter 08, by Liu Xiaobo and Others


Charter 08 was initially signed by over 350 Chinese intellectuals and human rights activists. i was published on 10 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

I. Foreword

A hundred years have passed since the writing of China's first constitution. 2008 also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the thirtieth anniversary of the appearance of Democracy Wall in Beijing, and the tenth of China's signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre of pro-democracy student protesters. The Chinese people, who have endured human rights disasters and uncountable struggles across these same years, now include many who see clearly that freedom, equality, and human rights are universal values of humankind and that democracy and constitutional government are the fundamental framework for protecting these values.

By departing from these values, the Chinese government's approach to "modernization" has proven disastrous. It has stripped people of their rights, destroyed their dignity, and corrupted normal human intercourse. So we ask: Where is China headed in the twenty-first century? Will it continue with "modernization" under authoritarian rule, or will it embrace universal human values, join the mainstream of civilized nations, and build a democratic system? There can be no avoiding these questions.

The shock of the Western impact upon China in the nineteenth century laid bare a decadent authoritarian system and marked the beginning of what is often called "the greatest changes in thousands of years" for China. A "self-strengthening movement" followed, but this aimed simply at appropriating the technology to build gunboats and other Western material objects. China's humiliating naval defeat at the hands of Japan in 1895 only confirmed the obsolescence of China's system of government. The first attempts at modern political change came with the ill-fated summer of reforms in 1898, but these were cruelly crushed by ultraconservatives at China's imperial court. With the revolution of 1911, which inaugurated Asia's first republic, the authoritarian imperial system that had lasted for centuries was finally supposed to have been laid to rest. But social conflict inside our country and external pressures were to prevent it; China fell into a patchwork of warlord fiefdoms and the new republic became a fleeting dream.

The failure of both "self-strengthening" and political renovation caused many of our forebears to reflect deeply on whether a "cultural illness" was afflicting our country. This mood gave rise, during the May Fourth Movement of the late 1910s, to the championing of "science and democracy." Yet that effort, too, foundered as warlord chaos persisted and the Japanese invasion [beginning in Manchuria in 1931] brought national crisis.

Victory over Japan in 1945 offered one more chance for China to move toward modern government, but the Communist defeat of the Nationalists in the civil war thrust the nation into the abyss of totalitarianism. The "new China" that emerged in 1949 proclaimed that "the people are sovereign" but in fact set up a system in which "the Party is all-powerful." The Communist Party of China seized control of all organs of the state and all political, economic, and social resources, and, using these, has produced a long trail of human rights disasters, including, among many others, the Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957), the Great Leap Forward (1958–1960), the Cultural Revolution (1966–1969), the June Fourth [Tiananmen Square] Massacre (1989), and the current repression of all unauthorized religions and the suppression of the weiquan rights movement [a movement that aims to defend citizens’ rights promulgated in the Chinese Constitution and to fight for human rights recognized by international conventions that the Chinese government has signed]. During all this, the Chinese people have paid a gargantuan price. Tens of millions have lost their lives, and several generations have seen their freedom, their happiness, and their human dignity cruelly trampled.

During the last two decades of the twentieth century the government policy of “Reform and Opening” gave the Chinese people relief from the pervasive poverty and totalitarianism of the Mao Zedong era, and brought substantial increases in the wealth and living standards of many Chinese as well as a partial restoration of economic freedom and economic rights. Civil society began to grow, and popular calls for more rights and more political freedom have grown apace. As the ruling elite itself moved toward private ownership and the market economy, it began to shift from an outright rejection of “rights” to a partial acknowledgment of them.

In 1998 the Chinese government signed two important international human rights conventions; in 2004 it amended its constitution to include the phrase “respect and protect human rights”; and this year, 2008, it has promised to promote a “national human rights action plan.” Unfortunately most of this political progress has extended no further than the paper on which it is written. The political reality, which is plain for anyone to see, is that China has many laws but no rule of law; it has a constitution but no constitutional government. The ruling elite continues to cling to its authoritarian power and fights off any move toward political change.

The stultifying results are endemic official corruption, an undermining of the rule of law, weak human rights, decay in public ethics, crony capitalism, growing inequality between the wealthy and the poor, pillage of the natural environment as well as of the human and historical environments, and the exacerbation of a long list of social conflicts, especially, in recent times, a sharpening animosity between officials and ordinary people.

As these conflicts and crises grow ever more intense, and as the ruling elite continues with impunity to crush and to strip away the rights of citizens to freedom, to property, and to the pursuit of happiness, we see the powerless in our society—the vulnerable groups, the people who have been suppressed and monitored, who have suffered cruelty and even torture, and who have had no adequate avenues for their protests, no courts to hear their pleas—becoming more militant and raising the possibility of a violent conflict of disastrous proportions. The decline of the current system has reached the point where change is no longer optional.

II. Our Fundamental Principles

This is a historic moment for China, and our future hangs in the balance. In reviewing the political modernization process of the past hundred years or more, we reiterate and endorse basic universal values as follows:

Freedom. Freedom is at the core of universal human values. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom in where to live, and the freedoms to strike, to demonstrate, and to protest, among others, are the forms that freedom takes. Without freedom, China will always remain far from civilized ideals.

Human rights. Human rights are not bestowed by a state. Every person is born with inherent rights to dignity and freedom. The government exists for the protection of the human rights of its citizens. The exercise of state power must be authorized by the people. The succession of political disasters in China’s recent history is a direct consequence of the ruling regime’s disregard for human rights.

Equality. The integrity, dignity, and freedom of every person—regardless of social station, occupation, sex, economic condition, ethnicity, skin color, religion, or political belief—are the same as those of any other. Principles of equality before the law and equality of social, economic, cultural, civil, and political rights must be upheld.

Republicanism. Republicanism, which holds that power should be balanced among different branches of government and competing interests should be served, resembles the traditional Chinese political ideal of “fairness in all under heaven.” It allows different interest groups and social assemblies, and people with a variety of cultures and beliefs, to exercise democratic self-government and to deliberate in order to reach peaceful resolution of public questions on a basis of equal access to government and free and fair competition.

Democracy. The most fundamental principles of democracy are that the people are sovereign and the people select their government. Democracy has these characteristics: (1) Political power begins with the people and the legitimacy of a regime derives from the people. (2) Political power is exercised through choices that the people make. (3) The holders of major official posts in government at all levels are determined through periodic competitive elections. (4) While honoring the will of the majority, the fundamental dignity, freedom, and human rights of minorities are protected. In short, democracy is a modern means for achieving government truly “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Constitutional rule. Constitutional rule is rule through a legal system and legal regulations to implement principles that are spelled out in a constitution. It means protecting the freedom and the rights of citizens, limiting and defining the scope of legitimate government power, and providing the administrative apparatus necessary to serve these ends.

III. What We Advocate

Authoritarianism is in general decline throughout the world; in China, too, the era of emperors and overlords is on the way out. The time is arriving everywhere for citizens to be masters of states. For China the path that leads out of our current predicament is to divest ourselves of the authoritarian notion of reliance on an “enlightened overlord” or an “honest official” and to turn instead toward a system of liberties, democracy, and the rule of law, and toward fostering the consciousness of modern citizens who see rights as fundamental and participation as a duty. Accordingly, and in a spirit of this duty as responsible and constructive citizens, we offer the following recommendations on national governance, citizens’ rights, and social development:

1. A New Constitution. We should recast our present constitution, rescinding its provisions that contradict the principle that sovereignty resides with the people and turning it into a document that genuinely guarantees human rights, authorizes the exercise of public power, and serves as the legal underpinning of China’s democratization. The constitution must be the highest law in the land, beyond violation by any individual, group, or political party.

2. Separation of Powers. We should construct a modern government in which the separation of legislative, judicial, and executive power is guaranteed. We need an Administrative Law that defines the scope of government responsibility and prevents abuse of administrative power. Government should be responsible to taxpayers. Division of power between provincial governments and the central government should adhere to the principle that central powers are only those specifically granted by the constitution and all other powers belong to the local governments.

3. Legislative Democracy. Members of legislative bodies at all levels should be chosen by direct election, and legislative democracy should observe just and impartial principles.

4. An Independent Judiciary. The rule of law must be above the interests of any particular political party and judges must be independent. We need to establish a constitutional supreme court and institute procedures for constitutional review. As soon as possible, we should abolish all of the Committees on Political and Legal Affairs that now allow Communist Party officials at every level to decide politically sensitive cases in advance and out of court. We should strictly forbid the use of public offices for private purposes.

5. Public Control of Public Servants. The military should be made answerable to the national government, not to a political party, and should be made more professional. Military personnel should swear allegiance to the constitution and remain nonpartisan. Political party organizations must be prohibited in the military. All public officials including police should serve as nonpartisans, and the current practice of favoring one political party in the hiring of public servants must end.

6. Guarantee of Human Rights. There must be strict guarantees of human rights and respect for human dignity. There should be a Human Rights Committee, responsible to the highest legislative body, that will prevent the government from abusing public power in violation of human rights. A democratic and constitutional China especially must guarantee the personal freedom of citizens. No one should suffer illegal arrest, detention, arraignment, interrogation, or punishment. The system of “Reeducation through Labor” must be abolished.

7. Election of Public Officials. There should be a comprehensive system of democratic elections based on “one person, one vote.” The direct election of administrative heads at the levels of county, city, province, and nation should be systematically implemented. The rights to hold periodic free elections and to participate in them as a citizen are inalienable.

8. Rural–Urban Equality. The two-tier household registry system must be abolished. This system favors urban residents and harms rural residents. We should establish instead a system that gives every citizen the same constitutional rights and the same freedom to choose where to live.

9. Freedom to Form Groups. The right of citizens to form groups must be guaranteed. The current system for registering nongovernment groups, which requires a group to be “approved,” should be replaced by a system in which a group simply registers itself. The formation of political parties should be governed by the constitution and the laws, which means that we must abolish the special privilege of one party to monopolize power and must guarantee principles of free and fair competition among political parties.

10. Freedom to Assemble. The constitution provides that peaceful assembly, demonstration, protest, and freedom of expression are fundamental rights of a citizen. The ruling party and the government must not be permitted to subject these to illegal interference or unconstitutional obstruction.

11. Freedom of Expression. We should make freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and academic freedom universal, thereby guaranteeing that citizens can be informed and can exercise their right of political supervision. These freedoms should be upheld by a Press Law that abolishes political restrictions on the press. The provision in the current Criminal Law that refers to “the crime of incitement to subvert state power” must be abolished. We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes.

12. Freedom of Religion. We must guarantee freedom of religion and belief, and institute a separation of religion and state. There must be no governmental interference in peaceful religious activities. We should abolish any laws, regulations, or local rules that limit or suppress the religious freedom of citizens. We should abolish the current system that requires religious groups (and their places of worship) to get official approval in advance and substitute for it a system in which registry is optional and, for those who choose to register, automatic.

13. Civic Education. In our schools we should abolish political curriculums and examinations that are designed to indoctrinate students in state ideology and to instill support for the rule of one party. We should replace them with civic education that advances universal values and citizens’ rights, fosters civic consciousness, and promotes civic virtues that serve society.

14. Protection of Private Property. We should establish and protect the right to private property and promote an economic system of free and fair markets. We should do away with government monopolies in commerce and industry and guarantee the freedom to start new enterprises. We should establish a Committee on State-Owned Property, reporting to the national legislature, that will monitor the transfer of state-owned enterprises to private ownership in a fair, competitive, and orderly manner. We should institute a land reform that promotes private ownership of land, guarantees the right to buy and sell land, and allows the true value of private property to be adequately reflected in the market.

15. Financial and Tax Reform. We should establish a democratically regulated and accountable system of public finance that ensures the protection of taxpayer rights and that operates through legal procedures. We need a system by which public revenues that belong to a certain level of government—central, provincial, county or local—are controlled at that level. We need major tax reform that will abolish any unfair taxes, simplify the tax system, and spread the tax burden fairly. Government officials should not be able to raise taxes, or institute new ones, without public deliberation and the approval of a democratic assembly. We should reform the ownership system in order to encourage competition among a wider variety of market participants.

16. Social Security. We should establish a fair and adequate social security system that covers all citizens and ensures basic access to education, health care, retirement security, and employment.

17. Protection of the Environment. We need to protect the natural environment and to promote development in a way that is sustainable and responsible to our descendants and to the rest of humanity. This means insisting that the state and its officials at all levels not only do what they must do to achieve these goals, but also accept the supervision and participation of nongovernmental organizations.

18. A Federated Republic. A democratic China should seek to act as a responsible major power contributing toward peace and development in the Asian Pacific region by approaching others in a spirit of equality and fairness. In Hong Kong and Macao, we should support the freedoms that already exist. With respect to Taiwan, we should declare our commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy and then, negotiating as equals and ready to compromise, seek a formula for peaceful unification. We should approach disputes in the national-minority areas of China with an open mind, seeking ways to find a workable framework within which all ethnic and religious groups can flourish. We should aim ultimately at a federation of democratic communities of China.

19. Truth in Reconciliation. We should restore the reputations of all people, including their family members, who suffered political stigma in the political campaigns of the past or who have been labeled as criminals because of their thought, speech, or faith. The state should pay reparations to these people. All political prisoners and prisoners of conscience must be released. There should be a Truth Investigation Commission charged with finding the facts about past injustices and atrocities, determining responsibility for them, upholding justice, and, on these bases, seeking social reconciliation.

China, as a major nation of the world, as one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and as a member of the UN Council on Human Rights, should be contributing to peace for humankind and progress toward human rights. Unfortunately, we stand today as the only country among the major nations that remains mired in authoritarian politics. Our political system continues to produce human rights disasters and social crises, thereby not only constricting China’s own development but also limiting the progress of all of human civilization. This must change, truly it must. The democratization of Chinese politics can be put off no longer.

Accordingly, we dare to put civic spirit into practice by announcing Charter 08. We hope that our fellow citizens who feel a similar sense of crisis, responsibility, and mission, whether they are inside the government or not, and regardless of their social status, will set aside small differences to embrace the broad goals of this citizens’ movement. Together we can work for major changes in Chinese society and for the rapid establishment of a free, democratic, and constitutional country. We can bring to reality the goals and ideals that our people have incessantly been seeking for more than a hundred years, and can bring a brilliant new chapter to Chinese civilization.

—Translated from the Chinese by Perry Link