The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize sits in jail in China

Excerpts from Gal Beckerman's article, The Peace Prize's Subversive Potential:

Since the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded last week to Liu Xiaobo, a man jailed in China for advocating democracy and human rights, the Chinese government has reacted with disdain and denial. Mr. Liu is a "criminal" whose award is "a blasphemy against the peace prize," said one government spokesman. "Every Chinese can sense a deliberate maliciousness" in the prize, declared an editorial in a state-run newspaper.

This response recalls the 1975 Peace Prize, which went to Andrei Sakharov, the nuclear physicist who had helped develop the Soviet hydrogen bomb before becoming the Soviet regime's most vociferous critic. Like Mr. Liu today, Sakharov professed democratic values that his Communist rulers dismissed as Western mores being forced on the rest of the world. One of Sakharov's most famous writings was the 1968 essay "Progress, Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom," which circulated widely in samizdat form and was considered an existential threat by Soviet leaders. Mr. Liu, for his part, is currently imprisoned for signing Charter 08, a manifesto demanding political reform and civil liberties.

Chinese authorities have blocked Chinese Internet users from being able to search Mr. Liu's name. In its frenzy to maintain control over what ideas their citizens can access, the government in Beijing has exposed its own vulnerability.

There is another parallel between the two Peace Prizes. Sakharov was given the award during a period of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union. By 1975 the U.S.-Soviet relationship had for a few years been characterized by a realpolitik focus on arms control and trade, while moral issues—like intellectual freedom and the right to emigrate—were downplayed. The Peace Prize forced those issues onto center stage. Mr. Liu's award offers hope that, after years of a U.S.-Chinese relationship that has concentrated on economic partnership and overlooked issues of human rights, China might now have to recognize that universal values can't be so easily ignored.

And the call to action from Amnesty International (follow the link to learn more, sign a petition, donate money, and get involved in AI):

China expressed outrage last week over the Nobel committee’s decision to award its prestigious Peace Prize to incarcerated Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. But the real outrage is China’s treatment of those who dare to speak truth to power.

We couldn’t be more thrilled for Liu and the spotlight the award places on his unrelenting fight for fundamental freedoms and human rights in China. But Liu won’t be able to celebrate his win with the rest of the world from the confines of his prison cell.

Adding insult to injury, Chinese authorities have placed Liu’s wife Liu Xia under house arrest, likely preventing her from receiving the award in Norway on Liu’s behalf. They’ve also cracked down on activists celebrating Liu’s achievement. Liu Xiaobo needs your help.

Liu, a 54-year old author and scholar, is a prominent government critic who has repeatedly called for human rights protections, political accountability and democratization in China. In 2009 Liu was charged with "inciting subversion of state power" and given an 11-year prison sentence after an unfair trial for co-authoring a proposal for political and legal reform in China.

Amnesty International has long called for Liu’s release. We need your help now more than ever to send a loud and clear plea for Liu’s release. This award can only make a real difference if it prompts more international pressure on China to release Liu, along with the numerous other prisoners of conscience languishing in Chinese jails for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Now is the time to act.