Liu Xiaobo, the famous Chinese dissident, who died of multiple organ failure, was given the Nobel peace prize “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”. Liu was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in May, while serving an 11-year sentence for his involvement in a pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08 that called for an end to China’s one-party rule. He is the first Nobel peace prize winner to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, the 1935 recipient, who died after years confined to Nazi concentration camps. The following is the full text of his statement of December 23, 2009 that was read by Liv Ullmann as his Nobel Lecture in Absentia on December 10, 2010.
In the course of my life, for more than half a century, June 1989 was the major turning point. Up to that point, I was a member of the first class to enter university when college entrance examinations were reinstated following the Cultural Revolution (Class of ‘’77). From BA to MA and on to PhD, my academic career was all smooth sailing. Upon receiving my degrees, I stayed on to teach at Beijing Normal University. As a teacher, I was well received…
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