A Nobel Peace Prize About More than Good Intentions
Once again, the Nobel Prize
Committee has made a very political decision, albeit a significantly better one
than Barack Obama's award last year. In choosing Liu Xiabao, the Committee
honors a man who has risked everything for his convictions. His fate reminds us
that not every revolution of 1989 succeeded.
They all would have been
shown again:the people on the Wall, at
the fallen border crossing with black-red-gold flags. If former Chancellor Helmut Kohl -
about whom there had been repeated speculation - had received the Nobel Peace
Prize for the German reunification, all the euphoric images from November 1989
would have been brought out again.
But the Nobel Prize Committee
made a different decision. And it was a good one. In selecting Liu Xiabao, the
Committee honors a man who has long confronted China’s communist leadership. This
honor is a political signal, as it was last year when the award went to Barack
Obama. But while the U.S. president was honored almost exclusively for
intentions, Liu has paid a high personal price for his beliefs and actions for
many years. In 1989 he was one of the leaders of the student protests at
Tienanmen Square. Just five months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chinese
citizens dared to criticize the lack of freedom in their country.
In contrast to the peaceful
revolution in the German Democratic Republic [East Germany], protesters in
China were literally mowed down by tanks. An unknown number of people died that
day and there followed a wave of arrests in which Liu also fell victim. While
East and West Germans were embracing each other, China's political opposition feared
for their lives.Of course, Oslo could
also have honored the successful German revolution, in which case an East
German civil rights activist would have deserved the prize at least as much as
Helmut Kohl. But especially now, remembering the Chinese revolution sends a
stronger signal.
China’s emergence as a world
super power is increasingly apparent, whether it be in the current monetary
dispute, trade disputes or the battle for future raw material supplies. This
emergence is a fact that Western countries are slowly adjusting to, and to
which they must adjust whether they like it or not. In the process, it is imperative
at times that they abandon their superior attitude toward the previously
developing country.
Awarding Liu the Nobel Prize
has nothing to do with Western arrogance. Politically, China remains a
developing nation, a fact that was demonstrated most recently by Liu’s
re-imprisonment at the end of last year. If Beijing - at events like the recent
summit with E.U. nations, for example - seeks more recognition as an
industrialized nation, then it must also submit to criticism of its domestic
polices.
China’s outraged response to
Liu’s selection - the government in Beijing called him a criminal who didn't
deserve the prize - shows that the Chinese leadership still isn't ready for
this type of criticism. The strong support of Liu's selection on the part of
other countries - Germany, among others - offers hope that the West will spare
no one from this type of criticism - not even China.
