[Peace-discuss] Does Liu Xiaobo Really Deserve the Peace Prize?

[E. Wayne Johnson]

I am not personally impressed by this Mr. Liu.
I dont much care for what he has to say and dont find it edifying.
I do of course support the right of people to say things that I dont 
agree with.

Dr. Qiao says that some Chinese think that there is so much glory in 
martyrdom that
they are willing to do stupid stuff to achieve it.  She is herself the 
beneficent self-preservationist
type so I am not worried, nor excessively reflective about the statement.

Norway's politicians certainly support the war in Afghanistan.

Most Chinese will agree that censorship of the media in China is excessive.
There is however more freedom of speech than what might be imagined by some
Westerners.  But China is a polite society, still ancient in many ways, 
and many aspects
are as much a part of the cultural memes as they are any overt actions 
to squelch free speech.

But on the other hand it is fairly interesting what is permitted.
In the local book stores here I have noted anyone can buy Huckleberry 
Finn, Joyce's Ulysses,
Burroughs, Orwell, Lewis Carroll, Salmon Rushdie, the Koran and the 
Bible, Henry Miller,
"Lolita", even "My Secret Life"...   I saw several copies
of Ron Paul's books including "Revolution" and "End the Fed", and
a stack of Ginsburg's Howl.

Our family's selections are generally less racy and non-prurient fare 
such as "Hop on Pop", "Call of the Wild",
"and to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street", "Adventures of Sherlock 
Holmes",
and "Bootstrap Methods and their Application", and the like.

The thing that seems too obvious is the hypocrisy of bashing China for 
its free speech violations
while vigourously pursuing Wikileaks' Assange.

One colleague lamented yesterday that the Nobel Prize used to mean 
something.

I wanted to say "together we can make the Earth diatomaceous again", but 
didnt.

On 12/14/2010 1:37 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> December 13, 2010
> "Bush Was Right to Go to War"
> Does Liu Xiaobo Really Deserve the Peace Prize?
> By TARIQ ALI
>
> Last year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize escalated the war in 
> Afghanistan a few weeks after receiving the prize. The award surprised 
> even Obama. This year the Chinese government were foolish to make a 
> martyr of the president of Chinese PEN and neo-con Liu Xiaobo. He 
> should never have been arrested, but the Norwegian politicians who 
> comprise the committee, led by Thorbjørn Jagland, a former Labour 
> prime minister, wanted to teach China a lesson. And so they ignored 
> their hero's views.
>
> Or perhaps they didn't, given that their own views are not dissimilar. 
> The committee thought about giving Bush and Blair a joint peace prize 
> for invading Iraq but a public outcry forced a retreat.
>
> For the record, Liu Xiaobo has stated publicly that in his view:
>
> (a) China's tragedy is that it wasn't colonised for at least 300 years 
> by a Western power or Japan. This would apparently have civilised it 
> for ever;

>
> (b) The Korean and Vietnam wars fought by the US were wars against 
> totalitarianism and enhanced Washington's 'moral credibility';

>
> (c) Bush was right to go to war in Iraq and Senator Kerry's criticisms 
> were 'slander-mongering';

>
> (d) Afghanistan? No surprises here: Full support for Nato's war.
>
> He has a right to these opinions, but should they get a peace prize?
>
> The Norwegian jurist Fredrik Heffermehl argues that the committee is 
> in breach of the will and testament left behind by the inventor of 
> dynamite whose bequests fund the prizes:
>
> 'The Nobel committee has not received prize money for free use, but 
> was entrusted with money to give to the pivotal element in creating 
> peace, breaking the vicious circle of arms races and military power 
> games. From this point of view the 2010 Nobel is again an illegitimate 
> prize awarded by an illegitimate committee.'
>
> Tariq Ali’s latest book “The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War 
> Abroad’ is published by Verso.
>
> http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq12132010.html
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