美国笔会庆贺刘晓波获得诺贝尔和平奖
会长说：“我们不会停止为你战斗，我的朋友，直到你获释。” 
 

 

（独立中文笔会2010年10月10日讯）美国笔会前天发表《笔会会员、中国系狱作家刘晓波获得诺贝尔和平奖》新闻稿，全文翻译如下。
 
美国笔会今天庆贺正在中国监狱服11年徒刑的同仁、文学评论家、作家和政治活动家刘晓波成为2010年诺贝尔和平奖得主。笔会会长、普林斯顿大学哲学教授克瓦米·安东尼·阿皮亚在今年一月提名刘晓波争取该奖。
 
阿皮亚教授今天表示：“我们非常高兴，我们的笔会同仁和得到许多国家笔会会员支持的被提名人刘晓波荣获诺贝尔和平奖。我们希望中国当局象全世界其他地方一样接受诺贝尔委员会这一明智决定——认可该国公民们以和平方式引导和塑造他们未来的力量。我们要求每一个国家的公民和领导人和我们一起，敦促中国政府崇尚和平奖的精神，释放刘晓波和他那些系狱同仁。”
 
阿皮亚教授继续说：“笔会一向不但支持言论表达自由，也支持各国间的文化交流。我们相信，我们都从听到中国的声音有大量获益。一个有更大言论自由的中国将不仅有更益于中国人，也使她的公民——和她的政府——在国际社会有更响亮更有力的声音。”


刘晓波在参与起草的一个呼吁中国政治改革、更多人权并结束一党专制的突破性声明《零八宪章》发表前夕，于2008年12月8日被捕。该文件已得到中国各地一万多名公民的签署。他在北京近郊一个秘密地方被关押禁见6个多月后，被正式指控“煽动颠覆国家政权”。2009年12月23日，他在一个法庭不公开受审， 12月25日基于《零八宪章》和六篇文章被判决罪名成立，判处11年有期徒刑——该罪名至今的最长刑期。今年2月，刘的上诉在被驳回， 2010年5月24日被转送到距离他在北京的家数百里以外的辽宁省锦州监狱。他的妻子刘霞只获准每月探访一次。
 
1989年，刘晓波在天安门广场绝食支持示威的学生，并发起呼吁一个真正具有广泛基础的可持续的民主运动。他通过支持和推动呼吁学生非暴力，防止了广场上更进一步的血洗。他因起作用被监禁近两年，并因公开质疑一党制和呼吁中国政府与西藏达赖喇嘛对话于1996年被“劳动教养”三年。 2004年，在撰文批评滥用“颠覆”罪名对记者和活动人士封口后，他的电话线和网络连接被切断，他成为警察的经常性监视和骚扰目标。


刘晓波也是2009年美国笔会巴巴拉·史密斯自由写作奖得主，该奖授予因行使或捍卫言论自由权利而遭受迫害或被监禁的国际文学人物。
 
目前至少有45位作家因其作品被关押在中国的监狱里，其中包括刘晓波在内的4人是独立中文笔会会员，该笔会由约300位中国境内外的作家组成，刘参与创建该笔会，是前任会长和理事。独立中文笔会自2001年成立以来，其活动经常被当局干扰和取消，其负责人和成员经常受到监控，其中一些人被拘留和被讯问有关该笔会的活动。由于独立中文笔会成为争取中国言论自由的重要声音，它在过去三年受到越来越大的压力。


在此期间，美国笔会已发起一项国际性活动，要求中国释放作家并增加和保护言论自由，突出的是在刘晓波被判罪后，新年除夕举办呼吁释放刘晓波集会，由美国著名作家出席，还有阿皮亚教授提名刘晓波诺贝尔和平奖。阿皮亚今天表示，刘晓波获奖的消息也将有助于激励笔会在世界范围内维护言论自由的工作。
 
阿皮亚教授回忆说：“在去年12月被判刑后传给其律师的一封信里，刘晓波说：‘在一个独裁国家中，对一个追求自由的知识分子来讲，监狱是通向自由的第一道门槛，我已经迈进了这道门槛。’正是通过刘晓波这样的作家所付出的牺牲，言论自由得到基础。而且，正是通过国际声援，诺贝尔和平奖就是最好的代表，使做出这些重要的牺牲者得以持续并自由。”
 
阿皮亚教授直接对刘晓波说：“我们不会停止为你战斗，我的朋友，直到你获释。”
 
阿皮亚教授的提名信和更多刘晓波的信息，请访问http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/2065
 
欢迎就此采访阿皮亚教授和其他笔会成员。
 
美国笔会和独立中文笔会属于国际笔会在全世界的145个分会之列。国际笔会致力推进世界各地作家间的友谊和理性合作，为言论自由奋斗，代表世界文学的良知。美国笔会和独立中文笔会一直共同合作，抗议中国当局对作家和新闻工作者的监禁、骚扰、监控，致力于结束中国对互联网的监控和对自由写作的种种限制。更多信息请参阅：www.pen.org/china2008，www.chinesepen.org和www.liuxiaobo.eu。
    
联系人：美国笔会拉里·赛姆斯，(212) 334-1660 ext. 105, (646) 359-0594（手机）, lsiems@pen.org或 萨拉·霍夫曼，(212) 334-1660 ext. 111, (201) 874-9849（手机）, sarah@pen.org
独立中文笔会张裕，+46-8-50022792， wipc@comhem.se

 


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For more information contact: 
Larry Siems, (212) 334-1660 ext. 105, (646) 359-0594 (cell), lsiems@pen.org
Sarah Hoffman, (212) 334-1660 ext. 111, (201) 874-9849 (cell), sarah@pen.org
 
PEN’s Own Liu Xiaobo, Imprisoned Chinese Writer, Wins Nobel Peace Prize
 
New York City, October 8, 2010—PEN American Center today celebrated the news that Chinese colleague Liu Xiaobo, a literary critic, writer, and political activist who is serving an 11-year sentence in a Chinese prison, is the recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. PEN President Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, nominated Liu for the award in January of this year.
 
“We are absolutely delighted that Liu Xiaobo, our PEN colleague and a nominee who has the support of PEN members in many nations, has been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize,” Appiah said today. “We hope the Chinese authorities receive this wise decision by the Nobel Committee as the rest of the world will receive it—as recognition of the power of its citizens to guide and shape their future in a peaceful way. We ask the citizens and leaders of every nation to join us in urging the Chinese government to honor the award’s spirit by setting him and all his imprisoned colleagues free.”
 
“PEN has always stood not only for free expression but also for cultural exchange across nations,” Appiah continued. “We believe we all have a great deal to gain from hearing from China. A China with greater free expression will not only be better for the Chinese, it will allow her citizens—and her government—a louder, stronger voice in the community of nations.”
 
Liu Xiaobo was arrested on December 8, 2008, on the eve of the release of Charter 08, a groundbreaking declaration he co-authored calling for political reform, greater human rights, and an end to one-party rule in China. The document has gained over 10,000 signatures from citizens across China. Liu was held nearly incommunicado at an undisclosed location outside Beijing for over six months before he was formally charged with “inciting subversion of state power.” He was tried in a closed court on December 23, 2009, and on December 25, was convicted of the charge, based on Charter 08 and six essays he authored, and sentenced to 11 years in prison—the longest sentence ever given on this particular charge. Liu’s appeal was rejected in February, and on May 24, 2010, was transferred to Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province, hundreds of miles from his home in Beijing. His wife, Liu Xia, is only permitted to visit him once a month.
 
In 1989, Liu staged a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square in support of the student demonstrators and led calls for a truly broad-based, sustainable democratic movement. He was instrumental in preventing even further bloodshed in the Square by supporting and advancing a call for non-violence on the part of the students. He spent nearly two years in prison for his role, and another three years of “reeducation through labor” in 1996 for publicly questioning the role of the single-party system and calling for dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama of Tibet. In 2004, his phone lines and Internet connection were cut after the release of his essay criticizing the use of “subversion” charges used to silence journalists and activists, and he has been the target of regular police surveillance and harassment in the years since.
 
Liu Xiaobo is also the recipient of the 2009 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, which honors international literary figures who have been persecuted or imprisoned for exercising or defending the right to freedom of expression.
 
At least 45 writers are currently in prison in China for their writings. Four of them, including Liu Xiaobo, are members of the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC), which is composed of 300 writers living inside and outside of China; Liu helped found the center and is a past president and board member. Since ICPC was formed in 2001, it has had meetings interrupted and canceled by authorities, its officers and members are regularly surveilled, and several have been detained and questioned about the center’s activities. As ICPC has emerged as an important voice for freedom of expression in China, it has come under increased pressure in the last three years.
 
During that time, PEN American Center has led an international campaign to free writers and increase protections for freedom of expression in China, highlighted by a New Year’s Eve rally for Liu Xiaobo’s release following his conviction that featured leading American writers, as well as Appiah’s nomination of Liu for the Nobel Peace Prize. Appiah said today that the news that Liu has received the prize will also serve to inspire PEN’s work for freedom of expression worldwide.
 
“In a letter passed to his lawyers after his sentencing last December, Liu Xiaobo said, ‘For an intellectual thirsty for freedom in a dictatorial country, prison is the very first threshold. Now I have stepped over the threshold, and freedom is near,’” Appiah recalled. “It is through the sacrifice of writers like Liu Xiaobo that freedom of expression gains ground. And it is through international solidarity, represented best by the Nobel Peace Prize, that those who make these crucial sacrifices are sustained and freed.”
 
Addressing Liu Xiaobo directly, Appiah added, “We will not stop fighting for you, my friend, until you are released.”
 
For Kwame Anthony Appiah’s nomination letter and more information on Liu Xiaobo, please visit http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/2065
 
Mr. Appiah and other PEN Members are available for interviews.
 
PEN American Center is the largest of the 145 centers of International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. The Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center, which works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled, has been working to end China’s imprisonment, harassment, and surveillance of writers and journalists and curtail Internet censorship and other restrictions on the freedom to write in that country. For more information, please visit www.pen.org/china