Liu Xiaobo wins nobel peace prize

[Clanrickard]

XChina's most famous dissident has won the Nobel peace prize. Despite efforts by the thugs in Beijing to stop the award the Nobel committee has awarded it to him

Dissident wins Nobel prize - The Irish Times - Fri, Oct 08, 2010

Norway was subjected to the usual threats from Chicoms but stood firm. I wonder what would happen if the Committee was in Ireland?

 

[Gadfly]

About time.

Must have just edged out Bertie.

 

[Clanrickard]

about time.

Must have just edged out bertie.

lol!

 

[Fantasia]

The Swede travesty, known as the Nobel Prize, predictably find some dissident to stir the pot with China.

 

[Dermot MacMurrough]

I think it is probably not a bad thing that yer man got it but I doubt that it will have much real impact. Most people in China have never heard of him, censorship and apathy on these matters win out, so all that will be achieved is annoying the gov't/party

 

[Green eyed monster]

I don't see this award as being about 'peace' anymore but rather promoting a particular Western perspective....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/08/liu-xiaobo-nobel-chinese-fury

"Nobel committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland said China should expect to be put under greater scrutiny as it becomes more powerful: "We have to speak when others cannot speak. As China is rising, we should have the right to criticise … we want to advance those forces that want China to become more democratic.""

But they too often have given the award to power without any scrutiny and Barak Obama received it despite his current warmongering, yet China (whom they make this award provocatively against) isn't at war with anyone and yet it is supposed to be a 'Peace Prize'.

I support the goal of lessening the power of the state in China and making it more accountable to the people however, but i don't think this is a peace issue as such - to my mind democracies seem to be the most warlike states on the planet. By contrast the likes of Burma, N Korea etc are mostly keeping their heads down.

 

[sue flanker]

Norway was subjected to the usual threats from Chicoms but stood firm. I wonder what would happen if the Committee was in Ireland?[/QUOTE]

We'd Probably have given it to Obama.

 

[sheehan]

Nobel "peace" prize, amazing, perhaps Nobel Oscar prize is the better description of that.

 

[Sync]

I liked that Obama immediately came out for his release. Could he be any more populist if he tried? Like if Liu had come second, Barack wouldn't have said anything.

 

[acme]

The Swede travesty, known as the Nobel Prize, predictably find some dissident to stir the pot with China.

jesus...
The Nobel Peace Prize is from Norway,
The Nobel Prizes for everything else, e.g. physics is from Sweden

Liu's prize 'against principles'

BEIJING - CHINA said on Friday that the Norwegian Nobel committee has 'violated and blasphemed' the Peace Prize by awarding it to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo and warned that ties with Oslo would suffer.

'The Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to those who work to promote ethnic harmony, international friendship, disarmament and who hold peace meetings. These were (Alfred) Nobel's wishes,' foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.

'Liu Xiaobo was found guilty of violating Chinese law and sentenced to prison by Chinese judicial organs,' Mr Ma said in a statement on the ministry's website.

'His actions run contrary to the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize. By awarding the prize to this person, the Nobel committee has violated and blasphemed the award'.

The spokesman added that the awarding of the prize to the 54-year-old co-author of Charter 08, a bold manifesto calling for political reform in communist-ruled China, would 'damage Sino-Norwegian relations'. -- AFP

The Chinese Communist propaganda machine is very like Fianna Fail, even
it clear to themselves all the world that they are corrupt and devoid of decency, they ignore reality, and pump tripe.

 

[acme]

So what exactly did he win for? According to the Nobel Committee, it was
"for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."
His page on the Nobel Prize website currently features congratulations from
fans all over the world. Our favorite message "Save Liu Xiaobo, Save China."

The Nobel Peace Prize 2010

please visit it, and leave your support.

More news from around the web c/o shanghaiist.com

* Reuters has a fact box listing all the reactions Liu's win has garnered.
* The Guardian compares Liu's win to previous Nobel Peace Prize winners.
* CNN documents the non-reaction to Liu's peace prize... though I guess they wrote the article before 7:08am EST. Come on now, CNN, give the Chinese government SOME time to come up with an appropriately blustery response!
* Sify takes time to point out that Liu Xiaobo probably isn't even aware he won the prize, you know, with him being in jail and all. Way to be a downer.
* From twitter: @KaiserKuo: Beijing really should have learned from backfired pressure tactics at Melbourne film & Frankfurt book festivals what the result would be. 活该... and @ChinaGeeks: Netizen meetups to celebrate Liu Xiaobo's victory are already being organized via Twitter. This is exactly what Beijing didn't want.

 

[Fantasia]

jesus...
The Nobel Peace Prize is from Norway,
The Nobel Prizes for everything else, e.g. physics is from Sweden

Thank you! Finally now I understand the difference..

 

[Icemancometh]

I don't see this award as being about 'peace' anymore but rather promoting a particular Western perspective....

Liu Xiaobo Nobel win prompts Chinese fury | World news | guardian.co.uk

"Nobel committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland said China should expect to be put under greater scrutiny as it becomes more powerful: "We have to speak when others cannot speak. As China is rising, we should have the right to criticise … we want to advance those forces that want China to become more democratic.""

But they too often have given the award to power without any scrutiny and Barak Obama received it despite his current warmongering, yet China (whom they make this award provocatively against) isn't at war with anyone and yet it is supposed to be a 'Peace Prize'.

I support the goal of lessening the power of the state in China and making it more accountable to the people however, but i don't think this is a peace issue as such - to my mind democracies seem to be the most warlike states on the planet. By contrast the likes of Burma, N Korea etc are mostly keeping their heads down.

Isn't peace more than the lack of war? I mean, if tomorrow the Palestinians and Israelis agreed to stop killing each other, and no one then died violently for a year, would it be peace? Surely there is a justice component to it.

Furthermore, you seem to think a state with no external conflicts is a peaceful one. I accept that external conflict is typically a lot more bloody than the internal conflicts of an authoritarian state, but that doesn't make it any less wrong, from a moral point of view. I believe that its harder and more courageous for an insider to stand up against the state, (like Liu Xiaobo or Aung San Suu Kyi), than for an outsider to do so (such as Kofi Annan and Jimmy Carter). That's not to diminish their work, but clearly the former group deserve our recognition and support.

Also, its a helll of a lot better than Obama and Gore.

 

[Clanrickard]

Isn't peace more than the lack of war? I mean, if tomorrow the Palestinians and Israelis agreed to stop killing each other, and no one then died violently for a year, would it be peace? Surely there is a justice component to it.

Furthermore, you seem to think a state with no external conflicts is a peaceful one. I accept that external conflict is typically a lot more bloody than the internal conflicts of an authoritarian state, but that doesn't make it any less wrong, from a moral point of view. I believe that its harder and more courageous for an insider to stand up against the state, (like Liu Xiaobo or Aung San Suu Kyi), than for an outsider to do so (such as Kofi Annan and Jimmy Carter). That's not to diminish their work, but clearly the former group deserve our recognition and support.

Also, its a helll of a lot better than Obama and Gore.

Thranduil is typical of the cappuccino left. bashing the US and the West is good, Israel even better but somehow the Chinese...well...it's a cultural thing, we don't understand them bla bla. The Chicoms preside over a brutal and bloodthirsty regime and every right thinking person should highlighting this and applauding this award.

 

[Old Thady]

I don't see this award as being about 'peace' anymore but rather promoting a particular Western perspective....

Liu Xiaobo Nobel win prompts Chinese fury | World news | guardian.co.uk

"Nobel committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland said China should expect to be put under greater scrutiny as it becomes more powerful: "We have to speak when others cannot speak. As China is rising, we should have the right to criticise … we want to advance those forces that want China to become more democratic.""

But they too often have given the award to power without any scrutiny and Barak Obama received it despite his current warmongering, yet China (whom they make this award provocatively against) isn't at war with anyone and yet it is supposed to be a 'Peace Prize'.

I support the goal of lessening the power of the state in China and making it more accountable to the people however, but i don't think this is a peace issue as such - to my mind democracies seem to be the most warlike states on the planet. By contrast the likes of Burma, N Korea etc are mostly keeping their heads down.

Do you consider the Tibetans to be living in peace?

If one takes a slightly broader view and considers 'peace' to be freedom from the threat of violence, then states such a China, Burma and N. Korea are not doing so well. They will not hesitate to use violence against their own people (or the inhabitants of regions they occupy) if they are seen as a real threat to the regime. I'm not saying that these states have no concern for their people's welfare: even the rulers of North Korea would probably prefer the people to be prosperous rather than hungry. However, in these countries, the maintenance of the ruling group's power is the paramount government objective and if people have to be murdered, starved, imprisoned or tortured so be it.

 

[sheehan]

In a 1988 interview with Hong Kong's Liberation Monthly (now known as Open Magazine), Liu was asked what it would take for China to realize a true historical transformation. He replied in this way: "(It would take) 300 years of colonialism. In 100 years of colonialism, Hong Kong has changed to what we see today. With China being so big, of course it would take 300 years of colonialism for it to be able to transform into how Hong Kong is today. I have my doubts as to whether 300 years would be enough."

 

[sheehan]

"...one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Paris, 27 November, 1895

Alfred Bernhard Nobel

 

[sheehan]

"The prize is awarded not by an international group of specialists in peace studies or human rights (Norway alone has quite a number), but by five retired Norwegian politicians. These are all white and, presumably, well-off. They currently represent the five largest Norwegian political parties, one from the left, two from the center-left, and two from the right, according to conventional Norwegian characterizations. The two right-wing parties and one of the center-left parties are for sharply restricting immigration to Norway, at least from outside Europe. The head of the Nobel Peace Prize committee has promoted the idea of Norway sending more troops to fight in Afghanistan." (Barry Sautman)

'Independent' Nobel Peace Committee Members (nice, cosy ground for retired Viking politictians?):

Thorbjørn Jagland: Chair of the Nobel Committee. Secretary-general Council of Europe.
President of the Storting. 2005-2009. Prime Minister 1996-1997. Foreign Minister
2000-2001. Member of the Storting 1993-2009. Member of the Committee since 2009, appointed for the period 2009-2014.

Kaci Kullmann Five : Deputy chair of the Nobel Committee.
Self employed Advisor Public Affairs. Chairman of the Young Conservatives, 1977-79. Member of the Storting, 1981-97. Cabinet Minister for Trade, Shipping and European Affairs, 1989-90. Chairman of the Conservative Party, 1991-94.
Member of the Committee since 2003, reappointed for the period 2009-2014.

Sissel Marie Rønbeck :Chairman Social Democratic Youth (AUF) 1975-1977. Member of the Storting 1977-1993. Cabinet Minister 1979-81, 1986-89 and 1996-97.
Member of the Committee since 1994, reappointed for the period 2006-2011.


Inger-Marie Ytterhorn: Senior political adviser to the Progress Party's parliamentary group. Member of the Storting, 1989-93. Member of the Election Law Ad hoc committee 1998-2001.
Member of the Committee since 2000, reappointed for the period 2006-2011.


Ågot Valle:Member of the Storting 1997-2009. President of the Odelsting 2001-2005.
Member of the Committee since 2009, appointed for the period 2009-2014.

"While arguments may be made on either side of the question of whether Liu’s actions are praiseworthy, there is no question that trying to organize the transformation of China into a replica of the United States of America, and getting arrested for it, amounts in no way to working for fraternity between nations, abolishing standing armies, or the holding of peace congresses."

 

[NYCKY]

This prize has become discredited recently and is no longer the major award it used to be. Last year Obama got it for his first six weeks in office. A few years back it was given to some woman who had been planting trees across Africa. Al Gore got it for narrating a documentary about climate change!

Remember when it used to have significance, when people like Nelson Mandela & FW De Klerk, Lech Walesa, Mikhail Gorbachev and the Dalai Lama won it; people with real achievements that had made a difference. Ditto for worthy organizations like Medecins sans Frontieres.

 

[sheehan]

How have they become the members?

The Committee is composed mainly of politicians. A 1903 proposition to elect a law scholar (Ebbe Hertzberg) was rejected. In late 1948, the election system was changed to make the committee more proportional with parliamentary representation of Norwegian political parties. The Norwegian Labour Party, which controlled a simple majority of seats in the Norwegian Parliament orchestrated this change. This practice has been cemented, but sharply criticized. There have been propositions about including non-Norwegian members in the committee, but this has never happened.