Liu Xiaobo

[Rhodes]

The Nobel Peace Prize is already a huge laughing stock and not worth the paper it's written on however this years prize has surpassed even that. The 'award', and I use the term loosely, has recently gone to, wait for it, an empty chair with winner, namely Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, serving an eleven year prison sentence for subversion. The last time a Nobel Peace Prize was not handed out in person to the winner was in 1936 when Adolf Hitler prevented German pacifist Carol von Ossietzky from accepting the award. The prize can only be collected by the winner or his or her close family members however the Chinese rightly banned Xiaobo's family from travelling to Norway for the ceremony where some 1000 guests were present at Oslo's City Hall.

[Eastside Urchin]

Liu xiaobo,is that chicken or beef??

[Rhodes]

For the record, Liu Xiaobo's heinous crime was co-authoring 'Chapter 08', an amateurish 'manifesto' in which he called for the end of the one party state, improved human rights in China and freedom of speech, Xiaobo was rightly found guilty as charged at a three hour trial and sentenced to 11 years in jail at the notorious Jinzho prison in the north east of the Country. This is Xiaobo's third jail sentence, he has had every chance to flee his native China and preach from the West however decided to stay and paid a heavy price for doing so. The activist rose to 'prominence' during the infamous Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 when going out of his way to return from the Columbia University in New York to join the demonstration which was to end in the senseless killing of some 4000 protesters. Following the demonstration, Xiaobo was jailed for 2 years but, incredibly, following his release continued to campaign and was jailed again in 1996, this time for 3 years. Stubbornly still refusing to remain silent he was arrested yet again in December 2008 and this time sentenced to 11 years. When Xiaobo was named the Nobel Prize winner in October, China rightly called the decision 'an obscentity', surprisingly his devoted wife, Liu Xia, was allowed to make the six hour 'pilgrimage' to visit him two days after the announcement but was placed under house arrest on her return home and her phone cut off, her wish to collect the prize in Oslo on behalf of her husband was obviously denied. Apparently Liu Xia wrote to 140 of her husband's friends asking them to attend the ceremony but the authorities acted swiftly, placing most of them under house arrest or under surveillance hence the laughable empty chair at the ceremony.

[Dick Scratcher]

You're not a fan then ?

 

 

[Loose]

Why do you hate this bloke so much Rhodes, did he kick you out of his football club too?

[Rhodes]

Why do you hate this bloke so much Rhodes, did he kick you out of his football club too?

Loosely - Where have I said that I hated Liu Xiaobo, I don't hate anybody as life is far too short

[missunderstood]

For the record, Liu Xiaobo's heinous crime was co-authoring 'Chapter 08', an amateurish 'manifesto' in which he called for the end of the one party state, improved human rights in China and freedom of speech, Xiaobo was rightly found guilty as charged at a three hour trial and sentenced to 11 years in jail at the notorious Jinzho prison in the north east of the Country. This is Xiaobo's third jail sentence, he has had every chance to flee his native China and preach from the West however decided to stay and paid a heavy price for doing so. The activist rose to 'prominence' during the infamous Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 when going out of his way to return from the Columbia University in New York to join the demonstration which was to end in the senseless killing of some 4000 protesters. Following the demonstration, Xiaobo was jailed for 2 years but, incredibly, following his release continued to campaign and was jailed again in 1996, this time for 3 years. Stubbornly still refusing to remain silent he was arrested yet again in December 2008 and this time sentenced to 11 years. When Xiaobo was named the Nobel Prize winner in October, China rightly called the decision 'an obscentity', surprisingly his devoted wife, Liu Xia, was allowed to make the six hour 'pilgrimage' to visit him two days after the announcement but was placed under house arrest on her return home and her phone cut off, her wish to collect the prize in Oslo on behalf of her husband was obviously denied. Apparently Liu Xia wrote to 140 of her husband's friends asking them to attend the ceremony but the authorities acted swiftly, placing most of them under house arrest or under surveillance hence the laughable empty chair at the ceremony.

 

 

I'm slightly confused by your logic on this subject Rhodes. You describe Liu Xiaobo's crimes as heinous for attempting to improve human rights and freedom of speech, and think it quite OK that he was sentenced to eleven years in prison. Could this be the same Rhodes that uses his own freedom of speech so unsparingly to support various right wing nutters and any Z list useless celebrities that takes his fancy at any given time.

[Loose]

Why do you hate this bloke so much Rhodes, did he kick you out of his football club too?

Loosely - Where have I said that I hated Liu Xiaobo, I don't hate anybody as life is far too short

I'm just struggling to understand why you seem to have taken against him when all he has done is attempt to achieve a democracy that you and I enjoy. So what is it then?

[Rhodes]

when all he has done is attempt to achieve a democracy that you and I enjoy.

Well exactly, you said it not me, you seem to have forgotten that Xiaobo lives in China, not England, therefore he needs to abide by Chinese rules and laws!

[Loose]

when all he has done is attempt to achieve a democracy that you and I enjoy.

Well exactly, you said it not me, you seem to have forgotten that Xiaobo lives in China, not England, therefore he needs to abide by Chinese rules and laws!

Rhodesly - you seem to have made that statement up out of thin air. I neither forgot where he lives or that he was guilty under Chinese law of breaking one or three. It still doesn't explain what you have against him since as we all know you are not so discerning about other lawbreakers.

 

Perhaps it is just jealousy, a simple man has the strength of his convictions to suffer not just one, not two but three prison terms to stand up for his beliefs of making life for his fellow citizens a little fairer, that they could vote for the political party they believed might deliver a fairer society. Yes, perhaps it is because of your inadequacies.