For The Enlightenment, against the powers of darkness and unreason, information as a tool against all forms of fanaticism, to promote human and civil rights everywhere, freedom in all forms, and justice for all !
Don't forget what happened ten years ago today.
And remember, the attack was against LIBERTY, your freedom and mine to be whatever we are, to say and write and read any opinion we wish, to live freely with each other in an atmosphere of respect and true tolerance, to cast off the chains of any and all religious fundamentalism.
We still have a lot to do to push back what encroached on our liberty that day as two towers burned and collapsed. All too often since then we have witnessed the tower of liberty collapsing for "security" or for "religious reasons" at different spots around the globe, and we must do all in our power to strengthen the tower of individual liberty everywhere.
With liberty and justice for all, we may be able to make this world a better place for all and finally witness the smoke of 9/11 lifting to reveal the blue sky once more.
With the capitulation of the German Reich to the Soviet Army in Karlshorst in Berlin, Victory in Europe over the Axis was finally secured on May 8, 1945, 66 years ago today.
May those in Tunesia who have driven out the country's dictator of so many decades succeed in moving peacefully to democracy and the institution of full human rights in their country while never forgetting that democracy is rule by the majority WITH protection of the rights of all minorities. May they be able to read this brief post online, as well as every other expression of opinion uttered anywhere by anyone in whatever media.
May those still struggling to have the longtime dictator of Egypt with his mask of fake democracy and disregard of human rights relinquish the reins of government there be successful in replacing Mubarak with a democratically elected president and government, truly democratic, with all parties permitted and given a chance. May Egypt quickly be spared the violence which erupted there yesterday, which continues today, apparently under orders of an unrelenting Mubarak bent on using any means to hang onto power as long as possible. May he be brought to understand that freedom and true democracy are concepts which he stands in the way of.
May forces of tolerance and freedom emerge as the majority in the formation of new governments in the newly emerging democracies in Tunesia and hopefully soon in Egypt, as well as in Syria, Jordan, Yemen, and, I dare to add provocatively, in Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, The Emirates, Iraq, and Afghanistan. And I have not forgotten Iran, hope sincerely that what is happening in Tunesia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Arab world serves as inspiration to those there yearning to be unyoked and provides a warning for the Iranian potentates before it is to late for them as well.
Hope and the support of free expression of opinions is what I have to offer all of those people struggling today.
Caving in to pressure from the People's(!)Republic(!) of China, 18 additional countries have declined invitations to attend the ceremony in Oslo to present
LIU XIAOBO
the award in a couple of days. Of course, HIS chair will also remain empty, because China continues to hold the
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER 2010
LIU XIAOBO,
in prison and keeps his wife under arrest, forbidding her to attend as well. China has warned his relatives not to attend, and has already hindered many of his supporters attempting to leave the country, perhaps to be in Oslo in a couple of days. Most shameful, after the utter shame China itself has, is the announcement of Navi Pillay, UN Human Rights Commissioner, of South African origin, that whe will not attend. That's what I call standing up for Human Rights, lady! Shame on you! Russia, Pakistan, Saudi-Arabia, Kasachstan, Columbia, Tunesia, Serbia, Iraq (!), Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan (!), Venezuela, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, Ukraine, Cuba, and Morocco prefer to bow to the Chinese tramplers of human rights, thus share the shame of China, claiming that the author of
Charter 08
is a common criminal. Well, then, I'm a common criminal, too, because I believe
LIU XIAOBO
very much deserves this prize, is a shining example of civil courage against dictators and violators of human rights, and I would very much like to go to Oslo and watch the ceremony. There will be 19 empty seats for countries snubbing the Nobel Peace Prize, one from the UN, so there would be more than enough room. The most horrid empty chair will be the one
Now that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been freed from "house arrest" in Myanmar/Burma and has appropriately enough, as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, called for unity in her country and democracy and respect for human rights, it is time for that other trampler of human rights and democracy, China, to free another, more recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Liu Xiaobo!
May the Burmese acknowledge the need, the urgent need, for basic human rights and no longer threaten this political activist, but instead move forward in allowing information, access to information, freedom of expression, and respect for the people.
I would like to see a seminar, live-streamed on the web, of all living winners of the Nobel Peace Prize on the importance of the rights to life, liberty, and freedom of expression. No moderation should be necessary.
A wonderful decision for peace and human rights was made today as the Nobel Peace Prize Committee decided to award the prize this year to
Liu Xiaobo
China is now attempting to prevent its inhabitants (I refrain from calling then citizens) from learning of this wonderful honor for a Chinese dissident fighting for the rights of all Chinese people in that so-called People's Republic of commando capitalists. He has been imprisoned again since the end of last year, and his wife received the news, is now herself subject to Chinese efforts to prevent her from communicating with the press. Ms. Liu told Agence France Presse, "I strongly ask that the Chinese government release Liu Xiaobo. I want to thank everyone for supporting Liu Xiaobo. I want to thank the Nobel committee, Vaclav Havel, the Dalai Lama and all those people that have supported Liu Xiaobo." Later, she told Reuters, "They are forcing me to leave Beijing. They want me to go to Liaoning to see Xiaobo. They want to distance me from the media."
Here is the FINAL STATEMENT Liu Xiaobo published on December 23, 2009, before he was imprisoned once more:
June 1989 was the major turning point in my 50 years on life’s road. Before that, I was a member of the first group of students after restoration of the college entrance examination after the Cultural Revolution (1977); my career was s smooth ride from undergraduate to grad student through to Ph.D. After graduation I stayed on as a lecturer at Beijing Normal University. On the podium, I was a popular teacher, well received by students. I was at the same time a public intellectual. In the 1980s I published articles and books that created an impact, was frequently invited to speak in various places, and was invited to go abroad to Europe and the U.S. as a visiting scholar. What I required of myself was: both as a person and in my writing, I had to live with honesty, responsibility and dignity. Subsequently, because I had returned from the U.S. to take part in the 1989 movement, I was imprisoned for “counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement to crime,” losing the platform which was my passion; I was never again allowed publish or speak in public in China. Simply for expressing divergent political views and taking part in a peaceful and democratic movement, a teacher loses his podium, a writer loses the right to publish, and a public intellectual loses the chance to speak publicly, which is a sad thing, both for myself as an individual, and for China after three decades of reform and opening up. Thinking about it, my most dramatic experiences after June Fourth have all linked with courts; the two opportunities I had to speak in public have been provided by trials held in the People’s Intermediate Court in Beijing, one in January 1991 and one now. Although the charges on each occasion were different, they were in essence the same, both being crimes of expression. Twenty years on, the innocent souls of June Fourth do not yet rest in peace, and I, who had been drawn into the path of dissidence by the passions of June Fourth, after leaving the Qincheng Prison in 1991, lost in the right to speak openly in my own country, and could only do so through overseas media, and hence was monitored for many years; placed under surveillance (May 1995 – January 1996); educated through labor (October 1996 – October 1999), and now once again am thrust into the dock by enemies in the regime. But I still want to tell the regime that deprives me of my freedom, I stand by the belief I expressed twenty years ago in my “June Second Hunger Strike Declaration” — I have no enemies, and no hatred. None of the police who have monitored, arrested and interrogated me, the prosecutors who prosecuted me, or the judges who sentence me, are my enemies. While I’m unable to accept your surveillance, arrest, prosecution or sentencing, I respect your professions and personalities, including Zhang Rongge and Pan Xueqing who act for the prosecution at present. I was aware of your respect and sincerity in your interrogation of me on December 3. For hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy. I hope therefore to be able to transcend my personal vicissitudes in understanding the development of the state and changes in society, to counter the hostility of the regime with the best of intentions, and defuse hate with love. As we all know, reform and opening up brought about development of the state and change in society. In my view, it began with abandoning “taking class struggle as the key link,” which had been the ruling principle of the Mao era. We committed ourselves instead to economic development and social harmony. The process of abandoning the “philosophy of struggle” was one of gradually diluting the mentality of enmity, eliminating the psychology of hatred, and pressing out the “wolf’s milk” in which our humanity had been steeped. It was this process that provided a relaxed environment for the reform and opening up at home and abroad, for the restoration of mutual love between people, and soft humane soil for the peaceful coexistence of different values and different interests, and thus provided the explosion of popular creativity and the rehabilitation of warmheartedness with incentives consistent with human nature. Externally abandoning “anti-imperialism and anti-revisionism,” and internally, abandoning “class struggle” may be called the basic premise of the continuance of China’s reform and opening up to this day. The market orientation of the economy; the cultural trend toward diversity; and the gradual change of order to the rule of law, all benefited from the dilution of this mentality of enmity. Even in the political field, where progress is slowest, dilution of the mentality of enmity also made political power ever more tolerant of diversity in society, the intensity persecution of dissidents has declined substantially, and characterization of the 1989 movement has changed from an “instigated rebellion” to a “political upheaval.” The dilution of the mentality of enmity made the political power gradually accept the universality of human rights. In 1998, the Chinese government promised the world it would sign the the two international human rights conventions of the U.N., marking China’s recognition of universal human rights standards; in 2004, the National People’s Congress for the first time inscribed into the constitution that “the state respects and safeguards human rights,” signaling that human rights had become one of the fundamental principles of the rule of law. In the meantime, the present regime also proposed “putting people first” and “creating a harmonious society,” which signaled progress in the Party’s concept of rule. This macro-level progress was discernible as well in my own experiences since being arrested. While I insist on my innocence, and that the accusations against me are unconstitutional, in the year and more since I lost my freedom, I’ve experienced two places of detention, four pretrial police officers, three prosecutors and two judges. In their handling of the case, there has been no lack of respect, no time overruns and no forced confessions. Their calm and rational attitude has over and again demonstrated goodwill. I was transferred on June 23 from the residential surveillance to Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Detention Center No. 1, known as “Beikan.” I saw progress in surveillance in the six months I spent there. I spent time in the old Beikan (Banbuqiao) in 1996, and compared with the Beikan of a decade ago, there has been great improvement in the hardware of facilities and software of management. In particular, Beikan’s innovative humane management based on respecting the rights and dignity of detainees, implementing more flexible management of the will be flexible to the detainees words and deeds, embodied in the Warm broadcast and Repentance, the music played before meals, and when waking up and going to sleep, gave detainees feelings of dignity and warmth, stimulating their consciousness of keeping order in their cells and opposing the warders sense of themselves as lords of the jail, detainees, providing not only a humanized living environment, but greatly improved the detainees’ environment and mindset for litigation, I had close contact with Liu Zhen, in charge of my cell. People feel warmed by his respect and care for detainees, reflected in the management of every detail, and permeating his every word and deed. Getting to know the sincere, honest, responsible, goodhearted Liu Zhen really was a piece of good luck for me in Beikan. Political beliefs are based on such convictions and personal experiences; I firmly believe that China’s political progress will never stop, and I’m full of optimistic expectations of freedom coming to China in the future, because no force can block the human desire for freedom. China will eventually become a country of the rule of law in which human rights are supreme. I’m also looking forward to such progress being reflected in the trial of this case, and look forward to the full court’s just verdict — one that can stand the test of history. Ask me what has been my most fortunate experience of the past two decades, and I’d say it was gaining the selfless love of my wife, Liu Xia. She cannot be present in the courtroom today, but I still want to tell you, sweetheart, that I’m confident that your love for me will be as always. Over the years, in my non-free life, our love has contained bitterness imposed by the external environment, but is boundless in afterthought. I am sentenced to a visible prison while you are waiting in an invisible one. Your love is sunlight that transcends prison walls and bars, stroking every inch of my skin, warming my every cell, letting me maintain my inner calm, magnanimous and bright, so that every minute in prison is full of meaning. But my love for you is full of guilt and regret, sometimes heavy enough hobble my steps. I am a hard stone in the wilderness, putting up with the pummeling of raging storms, and too cold for anyone to dare touch. But my love is hard, sharp, and can penetrate any obstacles. Even if I am crushed into powder, I will embrace you with the ashes. Given your love, sweetheart, I would face my forthcoming trial calmly, with no regrets about my choice and looking forward to tomorrow optimistically. I look forward to my country being a land of free expression, where all citizens’ speeches are treated the same; here, different values, ideas, beliefs, political views… both compete with each other and coexist peacefully; here, majority and minority opinions will be given equal guarantees, in particular, political views different from those in power will be fully respected and protected; here, all political views will be spread in the sunlight for the people to choose; all citizens will be able to express their political views without fear, and will never be politically persecuted for voicing dissent; I hope to be the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisition, and that after this no one else will ever be jailed for their speech. Freedom of expression is the basis of human rights, the source of humanity and the mother of truth. To block freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, to strangle humanity and to suppress the truth. I do not feel guilty for following my constitutional right to freedom of expression, for fulfilling my social responsibility as a Chinese citizen. Even if accused of it, I would have no complaints. Thank you!
LIU XIAOBO
is a human very deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In all humility, I, too, congratulate him and urge CHINA to release him from prison and restore him to full rights and allow him to publish, speak, and travel ... something that country must also allow all of it's citizens, so that they may be considered citizens.
Here the Nobel Peace Prize announcement:
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2010
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to Liu Xiaobo for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has long believed that there is a close connection between human rights and peace. Such rights are a prerequisite for the "fraternity between nations" of which Alfred Nobel wrote in his will.
Over the past decades, China has achieved economic advances to which history can hardly show any equal. The country now has the world's second largest economy; hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Scope for political participation has also broadened.
China's new status must entail increased responsibility. China is in breach of several international agreements to which it is a signatory, as well as of its own provisions concerning political rights. Article 35 of China's constitution lays down that "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration". In practice, these freedoms have proved to be distinctly curtailed for China's citizens.
For over two decades, Liu Xiaobo has been a strong spokesman for the application of fundamental human rights also in China. He took part in the Tiananmen protests in 1989; he was a leading author behind Charter 08, the manifesto of such rights in China which was published on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 10th of December 2008. The following year, Liu was sentenced to eleven years in prison and two years' deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power". Liu has consistently maintained that the sentence violates both China's own constitution and fundamental human rights.
The campaign to establish universal human rights also in China is being waged by many Chinese, both in China itself and abroad. Through the severe punishment meted out to him, Liu has become the foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China.
Friedensnobelpreis 2010 Menschenrechtler in China nach Auszeichnung Lius festgenommen "Dass Liu Xiaobo den Friedensnobelpreis erhält, empört Peking. Nun gab es erste Festnahmen. Die Frau Lius hat Peking verlassen. Unklar ist, ob sie dazu gezwungen wurde." Report from Die Zeit.
Yes, today is the 2oth anniversary of German unification. Since midnight, 20 years ago, the GDR ceased to exist and became part and parcel of the FRG under the already existing constitution. And 20 years + of freedom to travel back and forth within this my home city of Berlin is worth celebrating, as is all the other progress that has been made. Now, let us hope that no new enemies and slogans are used to block the people from thinking, let us hope that solidarity remains the highest principle of the social fabric of this country, let us hope that those who have more do not envy those who have less, and let us hope that those who govern do not forget who the people are they work for!
Happy Birthday, Germany...
Und, Herrn Bundespräsidenten Wulff, ich bedanke mich für Ihre Rede heute zur Einheit. Thank you for this statement, among others, in your thoughtful speech. Here the link to the speech in full, in deutscher Sprache.
Ein freiheitliches Land wie unseres - es lebt von Vielfalt, es lebt von unterschiedlichen Lebensentwürfen, es lebt von Aufgeschlossenheit für neue Ideen. Sonst kann es nicht bestehen. Zu viel Gleichheit erstickt die eigene Anstrengung und ist nur um den Preis der Unfreiheit zu haben. Das Land muss Verschiedenheit aushalten. Es muss sie wollen. Aber: Zu große Unterschiede gefährden den Zusammenhalt. Daraus folgt für mich: Vielfalt schätzen, Risse in unserer Gesellschaft schließen - das bewahrt vor Illusionen, das schafft echten Zusammenhalt.
Yes, the Federal President's speech on the 2oth anniversary of Germany positively surprised me; I am quite willing to compliment him for it.
... Over the next few days, noticing some fellow Muslims on the job, Mr. Abdus-Salaam voiced an equally essential question: “So where do you pray at?” And so he learned about the Muslim prayer room on the 17th floor of the south tower. He went there regularly in the months to come, first doing the ablution known as wudu in a washroom fitted for cleansing hands, face and feet, and then facing toward Mecca to intone the salat prayer. On any given day, Mr. Abdus-Salaam’s companions in the prayer room might include financial analysts, carpenters, receptionists, secretaries and ironworkers. There were American natives, immigrants who had earned citizenship, visitors conducting international business — the whole Muslim spectrum of nationality and race. Leaping down the stairs on Sept. 11, 2001, when he had been installing ceiling speakers for a reinsurance company on the 49th floor, Mr. Abdus-Salaam had a brief, panicked thought. He didn’t see any of the Muslims he recognized from the prayer room. Where were they? Had they managed to evacuate? He staggered out to the gathering place at Broadway and Vesey. From that corner, he watched the south tower collapse, to be followed soon by the north one. Somewhere in the smoking, burning mountain of rubble lay whatever remained of the prayer room, and also of some of the Muslims who had used it.
So open up the pearly gates, cause if we keep on as in recent weeks, then Arlo Guthrie was right, and "we're all gonna die."
Nicolas Sarkozy a célébré les 65 ans de la victoire des alliés sur l'Allemagne nazie à Colmar, l'une des dernières villes françaises libérées, où il a rendu hommage aux "malgré nous", samedi 8 mai. Dans un discours d'une quinzaine de minutes, le chef de l'Etat est surtout revenu sur le sort des Alsaciens et Mosellans incorporés de force dans l'armée allemande. "Ceux qui n'ont rien fait pour empêcher cette ignominie perpétrée contre des citoyens français ont trahi les valeurs de la France, l'ont déshonorée. Vichy a trahi la France et l'a déshonorée."
SZ: Frau Bundeskanzlerin, was bedeutet der 8. Mai 1945 für Sie? Angela Merkel: Das Ende eines schrecklichen Krieges. Das Ende von millionenfachem Mord, des Holocaust. Damit ist der 8. Mai der Tag der Befreiung Deutschlands und Europas vom Nationalsozialismus.
12 happy days for Christmas and a whole year of them following filled with the conscious joy of life! Remember to care about all the other people who live on this planet with us!
... to Herta Müller for the Prize in Literature 2009. Her voice and her WORDS are pillows for those suffering repression.
Here you can read her incredibly moving lecture, in the original German, or in the official Nobel (and I find acceptable) English translation. I have excerpted a couple of passages below, but PLEASE take the time to read her entire talk, for then you will understand why this writer is a true Nobel Prize Laureate.
Jedes Wort weiß etwas vom Teufelskreis Nobelvorlesung 7. Dezember 2009
HAST DU EIN TASCHENTUCH, fragte die Mutter jeden Morgen am Haustor, bevor ich auf die Straße ging. Ich hatte keines. Und weil ich keines hatte, ging ich noch mal ins Zimmer zurück und nahm mir ein Taschentuch. Ich hatte jeden Morgen keines, weil ich jeden Morgen auf die Frage wartete. Das Taschentuch war der Beweis, daß die Mutter mich am Morgen behütet. [...]
Innerhalb einer Woche kam dreimal frühmorgens ein riesengroßer dickknochiger Mann mit funkelnd blauen Augen, ein Koloß vom Geheimdienst in mein Büro. [...] Das dritte Mal setzte er sich und ich blieb stehen, denn er hatte seine Aktentasche auf meinen Stuhl gelegt. Ich wagte es nicht, sie auf den Boden zu stellen. Er beschimpfte mich als stockdumm, arbeitsfaul, als Flittchen, so verdorben wie eine streunende Hündin. Die Tulpen schob er knapp an den Tischrand, auf die Tischmitte legte er ein leeres Blatt Papier und einen Stift. Er brüllte: Schreiben. Ich schrieb im Stehen, was er mir diktierte – meinen Namen mit Geburtsdatum und Adresse. Dann aber, daß ich unabhängig von Nähe oder Verwandtschaft niemandem sage, daß ich ... jetzt kam das schreckliche Wort: colaborez, daß ich kollaboriere. Dieses Wort schrieb ich nicht mehr. Ich legte den Stift hin und ging zum Fenster, sah auf die staubige Straße hinaus. Sie war nicht asphaltiert, Schlaglöcher und bucklige Häuser. Diese ruinierte Gasse hieß auch noch Strada Gloriei, Straße des Ruhms. Auf der Straße des Ruhms saß eine Katze im nackten Maulbeerbaum. Es war die Fabrikskatze mit dem zerrissenen Ohr. Über ihr eine frühe Sonne wie eine gelbe Trommel. Ich sagte: N-am caracterul, ich hab nicht diesen Charakter. Ich sagte es der Straße draußen. Das Wort CHARAKTER machte den Geheimdienstmann hysterisch. Er zerriß das Blatt und warf die Schnipsel auf den Boden. Wahrscheinlich fiel ihm ein, daß er seinem Chef den Anwerbungsversuch präsentieren muß, denn er bückte sich, sammelte alle Fetzen in die Hand und warf sie in seine Aktentasche. Dann seufzte er tief und warf in seiner Niederlage die Blumenvase mit den Tulpen an die Wand. Sie zerschellte und es knirschte, als wären Zähne in der Luft. Mit der Aktentasche unterm Arm sagte er leis: Dir wird es noch leidtun, wir ersäufen dich im Fluß. Ich sagte wie zu mir selbst: Wenn ich das unterschreibe, kann ich nicht mehr mit mir leben, dann muß ich es selber tun. Besser Sie machen es. Da stand hier die Bürotür schon offen und er war weg. Und draußen auf der Strada Gloriei war die Fabrikskatze vom Baum aufs Hausdach gesprungen. Ein Ast federte wie ein Trampolin. [...] Kurz vor meiner Emigration aus Rumänien wurde meine Mutter frühmorgens vom Dorfpolizisten abgeholt. Sie war schon am Tor, als ihr einfiel, HAST DU EIN TASCHENTUCH. Sie hatte keines. Obwohl der Polizist ungeduldig war, ging sie noch mal ins Haus zurück und nahm sich ein Taschentuch. Auf der Wache tobte der Polizist. Das Rumänisch meiner Mutter reichte nicht, um sein Geschrei zu verstehen. Dann verließ er das Büro und schloß die Tür von außen ab. Den ganzen Tag saß meine Mutter eingesperrt da. Die ersten Stunden saß sie an seinem Tisch und weinte. Dann ging sie auf und ab und begann mit dem tränennassen Taschentuch den Staub von den Möbeln zu wischen. Dann nahm sie den Wassereimer aus der Ecke und das Handtuch vom Nagel an der Wand und wischte den Boden. Ich war entsetzt, als sie mir das erzählte. Wie kannst Du dem das Büro putzen, fragte ich. Sie sagte, ohne sich zu genieren, ich habe mir Arbeit gesucht, daß die Zeit vergeht. Und das Büro war so dreckig. Gut, daß ich mir eins von den großen Männertaschentüchern mitgenommen hatte. [...] Ich wünsche mir, ich könnte einen Satz sagen, für alle, denen man in Diktaturen alle Tage, bis heute, die Würde nimmt – und sei es ein Satz mit dem Wort Taschentuch. Und sei es die Frage: HABT IHR EIN TASCHENTUCH. Kann es sein, daß die Frage nach dem Taschentuch seit jeher gar nicht das Taschentuch meint, sondern die akute Einsamkeit des Menschen.Every word knows something of a vicious circle Nobel Lecture December 7, 2009
DO YOU HAVE A HANDKERCHIEF was the question my mother asked me every morning, standing by the gate to our house, before I went out onto the street. I didn’t have a handkerchief. And because I didn’t, I would go back inside and get one. I never had a handkerchief because I would always wait for her question. The handkerchief was proof that my mother was looking after me in the morning. [...]
Three times in one week a visitor showed up at my office early in the morning: an enormous, thick-boned man with sparkling blue eyes—a colossus from the Securitate. [...]
The third time he sat down but I stayed standing, because he had set his briefcase on my chair. I didn’t dare move it to the floor. He called me stupid, said I was a shirker and a slut, as corrupted as a stray bitch. He shoved the tulips close to the edge of the desk, then put an empty sheet of paper and a pen in the middle of the desktop. He yelled at me: Write. Without sitting down, I wrote what he dictated—my name, date of birth and address. Next, that I would tell no one, no matter how close a friend or relative, that I… and then came the terrible word: colaborez—I am collaborating. At that point I stopped writing. I put down the pen and went to the window and looked out onto the dusty street, unpaved and full of potholes, and at all the humpbacked houses. On top of everything else this street was called Strada Gloriei—Glory Street. On Glory Street a cat was sitting in a bare mulberry tree. It was the factory cat with the torn ear. And above the cat the early morning sun was shining like a yellow drum. I said: N-am caracterul—I don’t have the character for this. I said it to the street outside. The word CHARACTER made the Securitate man hysterical. He tore up the sheet of paper and threw the pieces on the floor. Then he probably realized he would have to show his boss that he had tried to recruit me, because he bent over, picked up the scraps and tossed them into his briefcase. After that he gave a deep sigh and, defeated, hurled the vase with the tulips against the wall. As it shattered it made a grinding sound, as though the air had teeth. With his briefcase under his arm he said quietly: You’ll be sorry, we’ll drown you in the river. I said as if to myself: If I sign that, I won’t be able to live with myself anymore, and I’ll have to do it on my own. So it’s better if you do it. By then the office door was already open and he was gone. And outside on the Strada Gloriei the factory cat had jumped from the tree onto the roof of the building. One branch was bouncing like a trampoline. [...]
Early one morning, shortly before I emigrated from Romania, a village policeman came for my mother. She was already at the gate, when it occurred to her: DO YOU HAVE A HANDKERCHIEF. She didn’t. Even though the policeman was impatient, she went back inside to get a handkerchief. At the station the policeman flew into a rage. My mother’s Romanian was too limited to understand his screaming. So he left the office and bolted the door from the outside. My mother sat there locked up the whole day. The first hours she sat on his desk and cried. Then she paced up and down and began using the handkerchief that was wet with her tears to dust the furniture. After that she took the water bucket out of the corner and the towel off the hook on the wall and mopped the floor. I was horrified when she told me. How can you clean the office for him like that I asked. She said, without embarrassment: I was looking for some work to pass the time. And the office was so dirty. Good thing I took one of the large men’s handkerchiefs with me. [...]
I wish I could utter a sentence for all those whom dictatorships deprive of dignity every day, up to and including the present—a sentence, perhaps, containing the word handkerchief. Or else the question: DO YOU HAVE A HANDKERCHIEF? Can it be that the question about the handkerchief was never about the handkerchief at all, but rather about the acute solitude of a human being?
- Translated by Philip Boehm
... and congratulations to Barack Obama, whose lecture today accepting the Peace Prize 2009 was an exercise in humility, honesty, determination, and promise. Here the link to the full text, and a couple of excerpts below.
I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations -- that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice. And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who've received this prize -- Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela -- my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women -- some known, some obscure to all but those they help -- to be far more deserving of this honor than I. But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 42 other countries -- including Norway -- in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks. Still, we are at war, and I'm responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill, and some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the costs of armed conflict -- filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other. [...]
Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. (Applause.) And we honor -- we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it's easy, but when it is hard. [...]
This brings me to a second point -- the nature of the peace that we seek. For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting. [...]
But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached -- their fundamental faith in human progress -- that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey. For if we lose that faith -- if we dismiss it as silly or naïve; if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace -- then we lose what's best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass. Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago, "I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present condition makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him." Let us reach for the world that ought to be -- that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. (Applause.) Somewhere today, in the here and now, in the world as it is, a soldier sees he's outgunned, but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what few coins she has to send that child to school -- because she believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child's dreams. Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that -- for that is the story of human progress; that's the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.
So, this evening, tomorrow, every day, think of those who are subjected to repression and deprived of their rights, who yearn for peace in all its fullness, think of them as individuals, consider a single individual, hungry and determined, sweating and impatient, opening his/her mouth to speak... And LISTEN!
Trembling about the prospects, leary of the consequences, a modicum of trust in his intelligence and judgement is what I can express for Obama in this strategy to END the involvement in Afghanistan WITHOUT plunging the world or that country into the chaos of unchecked terrorist activity. May this agenda succeed, may Obama succeed, may the American troops he deploys, and those the governments of Germany, France, Britain, Canada and other countries send or maintain in the fray, all succeed and return home physically unscathed and emotionally and mentally sound.
Obama's Address on the New Strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, December 2, 2009
Our overarching goal remains the same: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future.
To meet that goal, we will pursue the following objectives within Afghanistan. We must deny al-Qaeda a safe haven. We must reverse the Taliban's momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government. And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and government, so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan's future.
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The 30,000 additional troops that I'm announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010, the fastest possible pace, so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers.
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Now, let me be clear. None of this will be easy. The struggle against violent extremism will not be finished quickly, and it extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan. It will be an enduring test of our free society and our leadership in the world. And unlike the great power conflicts and clear lines of division that defined the 20th century, our effort will involve disorderly regions, failed states, diffuse enemies.
So as a result, America will have to show our strength in the way that we end wars and prevent conflict, not just how we wage wars. We'll have to be nimble and precise in our use of military power. Where Al Qaida and its allies attempt to establish a foothold -- whether in Somalia or Yemen or elsewhere -- they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships.
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We'll have to use diplomacy, because no one nation can meet the challenges of an interconnected world acting alone. I've spent this year renewing our alliances and forging new partnerships. And we have forged a new beginning between America and the Muslim world, one that recognizes our mutual interest in breaking a cycle of conflict and that promises a future in which those who kill innocents are isolated by those who stand up for peace and prosperity and human dignity.
And, finally, we must draw on the strength of our values, for the challenges that we face may have changed, but the things that we believe in must not. That's why we must promote our values by living them at home, which is why I've prohibited torture and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
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For unlike the great powers of old, we have not sought world domination. Our union was founded in resistance to oppression. We do not seek to occupy other nations. We will not claim another nation's resources or target other peoples because their faith or ethnicity is different from ours.
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It's easy to forget that, when this war began, we were united, bound together by the fresh memory of a horrific attack and by the determination to defend our homeland and the values we hold dear. I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again. I believe... I believe with every fiber of my being that we, as Americans, can still come together behind a common purpose, for our values are not simply words written into parchment. They are a creed that calls us together and that has carried us through the darkest of storms as one nation, as one people.
America, we are passing through a time of great trial. And the message that we send in the midst of these storms must be clear: that our cause is just, our resolve unwavering. We will go forward with the confidence that right makes might and with the commitment to forge an America that is safer, a world that is more secure, and a future that represents not the deepest of fears but the highest of hopes.
It is indeed time to consider how to reduce the number of troops from all other countries present in Afghanistan, in particular American troops, the largest contingent, rather than even considering an increase in troop levels! Very little has been accomplished, other than to prop up a glorified mayor of Kabul claiming to be president while reaping the benefits of corruption and fixing elections to the extent that his opponent gave up rather than facing a rigged run-off. What is needed in Afghanistan is pacification of the country and rebuilding of its infrastructure, schools, opportunity, and a law-and-enforcement agency of Afghans for Afghans. There is NO evidence that increasing troop levels there will benefit anyone: not the Afghans, not security of other countries, and certainly not the brave soldiers stationed there. Since a sudden total and immediate withdrawal would provoke chaos, a plan must be devised for a gradual but steady organized withdrawal of troops and implementation of normal security measures in that country. And what is happening in Pakistan is also only exacerbated by military activities in Afghanistan. Rethink the strategy! Indeed, begin truly to think about it at all!
Reasoning Behind Obama's Peace Prize By Robert Parry October 12, 2009 Okay, I’ll admit that when I first saw on the Internet that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I checked to make sure I hadn’t accidentally gone to The Onion’s satirical news site. But the more I think about it – and the more I hear the snickering from Official Washington – the more I appreciate what the prize committee did. [...] So, maybe what the Nobel Peace Prize committee was trying to do was to get Obama’s back so the President could feel a bit safer in charting a new, less warlike course for the United States, no small feat for the American people and the rest of the world. Posted using ShareThis
Not bad for thinking it through from an American point of view, says this one who's often accused of being totally Europeanized (as if that were anything negative).
For all those asking this question with regard to Obama's designation as Nobel Peace Prize recipient in this year, I would first like simply to quote in its entirety the statement by the Norwegian Nobel Commitee that made the decision.
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened. Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population. For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges." Oslo, October 9, 2009
And if that doesn't satisfy you, try adding these reasons as well: Obama is set on closing Guantánamo, an infringement of justice and great jeopardization of world peace as its mere existence feeds the flames of fanaticism and terrorism. He has bridged the violent chasm of racial antagonism in the United States to attain by peaceful means the highest office of the land. He is pulling down the troops in Iraq, from a war which never should have been started and now must be ended cautiously. He refuses simply to throw masses of troops and weapons into Afghanistan, insisting on the necessity of nation-building, security measures, infrastructure, and rights and education in that country as a means of countering the threat of terrorism. He recognizes the essentiality of multilateral discourse and international institutions to solve the problems facing the world today, from the United Nations to the World Bank to the G20, and participates as an equal partner rather than "master". He has begun dialogue with North Korea and with Iran, without relinquishing any means of pressure the U.S. may have. He has cancelled the starwars project that had so riled Russia as to provoke military tensions where none need any longer be. This is in itself a move for world peace. And he has put an end to torture by governmental agencies, which was not only a threat in itself to any efforts for world peace but was a most violent attack on any principles of democracy and justice able to uphold peace. Indeed, he is aware and a promoter of the correct idea that THINKING is the way humans should proceed in dealing with all questions and differences that may arise among them and that SPEAKING with each other is the wisest way to attempt to preserve and protect the world we all share. Finally, he has put an end to one of the most dangerous organizations that threatened world peace, simply by becoming president: he has closed down the playpen!
May we while never forgetting redouble our efforts to rid the world of fanaticism and violence and fill it with compassion and thoughtfulness! I still feel that gaping hole in lower Manhattan. When I'm there, it makes me nervous when I can see the sky at the end of streets where the towers had always blocked it. It makes me afraid when the sun shines where there was perpetual shadow. Yes, that was all part of being a New Yorker. Part of being a Berliner was watching live television images of the destruction eight years ago of those "landmarks" I shopped, ate, played, toured, flirted, laughed, strolled in and then a couple of days later attending a mammoth demonstration of solidarity with the United States and the victims from all around the world at the Brandenburg Gate. No one had any question that such violence is to be condemned, all hoped the response would be reasonable and de-escalatory. Part of being a human was to witness many politicians take bombs to fight suicide bombers who were dead, but is also to consider that those who radically seek to be thought and moral police, who wage war against those who think differently, who get mad when others have fun, may have destroyed those buildings, BUT they can never make them never have been! They cannot destroy their existence. I am the World Trade Center, too, as long as I live and think. Let us commemorate - remember together - what will never be able not to have been and ensure with consideration, upholding our rights and ideals peacefully, that no more must die for religious, ideological, political fundamentalism or fanaticism.
This date marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II, when Germany attacked Poland in the pre-dawn hours. What only a few miles away from where I am now sitting should be a constant and everlasting warning against nationalism and military agression. And the link between such nationalism and the curtailment of human and civil rights is obvious. Remember today to do all to support justice and liberty and democracy everywhere at all times.
It began when I grabbed a pen and a notebook... You thought there was nothing more than these few blog entries? Yes, the notebook exists... Don't think you can wrest it from me now! I've been writing it for so long... You've even helped. Yes, you're in the notebook, too, on nearly every page. And there are so many of them... But I didn't lie: There's always only been one big notebook. The one that's lying on my desk in one form or another. Has it never occurred to you that the notebook might be blue, green, and any other color, simultaneously, and continue forever? It will be there endlessly.
