Chinese activist,in prison for "subversion" favorite to win Nobel

MrRelevant · Oct 2, 2010

BEIJING When the police came for Liu Xiaobo on a December night nearly two years ago, they didn't tell the dissident author why he was being taken away again. The line in the detention order for his "suspected crime" was left blank.

But Liu and the dozen officers who crowded into his dark Beijing apartment knew the reason. He was hours from releasing Charter 08, the China democracy movement's most comprehensive call yet for peaceful reform. The document would be viewed by the ruling Communist Party as a direct challenge to its 60-year monopoly on political power.

Liu, who over the past two decades had endured stints in prison and re-education camp, looked at the blank detention notice and lost his temper.

"At that moment, I knew the day I was expecting had finally come," his wife, Liu Xia, said recently as she recounted the night of Dec. 8, 2008. Thinking of the Beijing winter, she said she brought him a down coat and cigarettes. The police took the cigarettes away.

Liu was sentenced last Christmas Day to 11 years in prison for subversion. The 54-year old literary critic is now a favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize in what would be a major embarrassment to the Chinese government.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_china_nobel_prize_favorite

Good old "subversion"? Still hard to imagine China is on the UN human rights council. Somehow I find hard to beleive China would be embarrassed in any case. Lets hope the guy wins it and sheds just a little more light onto to the morally bankrupt cockroaches that rule "communist" China.

Swampthing · Oct 2, 2010

They should award her the Nobel prize just for talking about writing a book, rather than writing itself.

Isn't that what they do nowdays?

waltky · Oct 10, 2010

Peace Prize may lead to more activists arrests...

Why Liu Xiaobo Nobel Peace Prize could harm Chinese rights activists
October 8, 2010 - The Chinese government said the award to Liu Xiaobo 'profanes the Nobel Peace Prize.' The immediate future may see more activists arrested, warns Mr. Liu's lawyer.

Infuriating the Chinese government, the Nobel Committee today awarded this years Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo. The committee said it had picked Mr. Liu, the first Chinese recipient, for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. He was sentenced to an unusually harsh 11-year jail term last Christmas Day for having authored a petition demanding broad political reform in China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the award profanes the Nobel Peace Prize in a statement carried on the ministrys website. Liu was sentenced to jailfor violation of Chinese law and I think his acts are in complete contravention to the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. Ma said. Lius wife, Liu Xia, told the Monitor that she hopes the award will be an opportunity to help China become a mainstream civilized society. She hoped too, she adds, that it would lead to the early release of her husband, to whom police were taking her Friday evening for a prison visit.

Chinese websites carried no news of the award other than a brief report from the state-run Xinhua news agency quoting Mr. Mas statement. References to Lius award were being deleted from Internet chatrooms, and mobile phone operators blocked all text messages containing the three Chinese characters forming Lius name.

Chinese activists emboldened

Human rights activists in Beijing heard and welcomed the news, however. I am so very glad because we are not alone any more, says Cui Weiping, a democracy advocate who teaches at the China Film Academy. Our actions are approved and supported by the whole world.

In the long runthis will encourage Chinese human rights activists to strive for democracy and freedom, agrees Teng Biao, Lius lawyer. In the immediate future, however, he fears that the governments control over human rights issues will be even stronger. More activists may be arrested.

Rebuke to Chinese authorities
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carterobamafanclub · Oct 10, 2010

haha, that's funny. Some folks will be saying that they shoudn't honor her or support her, because it may make the Chinese Govt mad, and we don't want that. Sort of like we had better not exercise any constitutional rights, in case it makes muslims mad.

Where's Khan ? Usually he' got a little alarm that rings on his PC whenever the words "china" or "chinese" are posted.

This may have enough coverage that he can't blithely say "it's a lie".

Turkic Brat · Oct 12, 2010

Nobel is a political prize.

You Americans support people who are compatible with your interests.

reedak · Oct 12, 2010

Turkic Brat said: ↑

Nobel is a political prize.

You Americans support people who are compatible with your interests.
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Your Majesty, Gagauz Czar! Its the first time you say something sensible.

Most likely, Wen's visit to Turkey has changed your attitude.

waltky · Oct 3, 2011

Think about it - just the top 25% of students in China outnumber the entire student body in North America...

Asian scientists to topple US run of Nobels: analysts
Mon, Oct 03, 2011 - END OF AN ERA?: During the past decade, nearly half of the science winners and 75% of the economics winners were based in the US, but that trend could change this week

US scientists will again sweep the majority of Nobel prizes at this week’s award announcements in Sweden, analysts have predicted. However, they have also said this dominance might soon come to end. David Pendlebury, a citation analyst who has correctly predicted 10 Nobel winners since 2002, believes that the countries of the east, particularly China, will soon start to rule the awards for science’s greatest prize. “In the first half of the 20th century, the UK, Germany, and France dominated the sciences. The US emerged as the world leader after World War II. Now, I believe we will begin to see as many Nobel Prize winners from Asia as we do from the US and Europe.” Pendlebury, who works for Thomson Reuters, was speaking on the eve of the announcement of this year’s awards.

The prize for medicine will be revealed today; physics tomorrow and chemistry on Wednesday. The peace prize will be announced on Friday; economics next Monday; and literature later this month. A maximum of three individuals will be allowed to share a Nobel, with each prize being worth about ￡1 million (US$1.5 million). During the past 10 years, 31 out of the 76 individuals who won science Nobels were US-based, while 16 out of the 21 economics winners were from the US. By contrast, the UK — a nation with a fair Nobel reputation — won eight physiology prizes, one for physics and one for economics. However, these overall figures are open to wide interpretation. Many winners hold joint nationalities and are often claimed by both their country of origin and their country of affiliation.

Nevertheless, the figures do give a general indication of the gulf that separates the US from the rest of the world, one that is likely to continue this year, Pendlebury said. He has tipped a number of US teams as possible winners, including Robert Langer and Joseph Vacanti, both based in Boston, for their work on tissue engineering; Sajeev John (Toronto, Canada) and Eli Yablonovitch (Berkeley, California) for work on photonics; and Allen Bard (Austin, Texas) for his work on scanning electrochemical microscopy. However, Pendlebury cautioned against betting on his predictions. “If you only consider the top 0.1 percent of the most cited scientists in the world, that includes more than 1,000 researchers,” Pendlebury said. “You can narrow it down, but it gets harder and harder to differentiate their contributions. In the end, it rests with the individual preferences of Nobel committee members. Nobels are currently dominated by US scientists. However, US investment in the physical sciences is no longer as robust as its investment in biological and medical sciences, so I think in the next decade or so we will begin to see as many more Nobel Prize winners from Asia.”

As to his own hopes for this week’s prizes, Pendlebury admitted to a couple of favorites. One is Sir Alec Jeffreys, the Leicester University biochemist who, in 1984, developed the techniques of DNA fingerprinting and profiling that have transformed forensic science. “Nobels are usually given for theoretical work. However, prizes have been given for applied work, such as fiber optics, and I would really like to see Jeffreys rewarded for a discovery that has had an enormous impact on society,” Pendlebury said.

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