There were 237 nominations for the peace prize (highest for this category so far), one of them being ‘Internet’ (looks like whoever suggested or accepted this nomination has ignored the fact that it is also the fastest medium of un-welcomed upsurge).
One of the things that caught my eye was that there were 6 Chinese dissidents on the list; this peculiarity forced to me read more on current political condition in China. Being an optimist or at least trying to be one, I have always looked upon china as a self sufficient and preferred ‘production hub’ by all the major giants. But, I would admit that it was distressing to read that ‘human rights’ conditions have still not improved there, how long it has been when the movement, the crusade first started? Gosh! Forever.
Liu Xiaobo has finally won the prize but on a glance at all the nominated profiles from china, isn’t it imperative to ask - why was he ‘The chosen one’? A couple of key strokes later google dishes out the complete life of Liu. A literature professor at Columbia University, United States who left his job to be with his countrymen and fight for their rights? He has always believed in awakening the youth because they are the future and if things don’t improve they’ll have to suffer the most. He helped the people by writing Charter 08, a call for multiparty elections and democratic reform. He was imprisoned / house arrested countless times because he had the power to stir the world with his ahimsic approach.
"Simply for expressing divergent political views and taking part in a peaceful and democratic movement, a teacher lost his podium, a writer lost the right to publish, and a public intellectual lost the chance to speak publicly, this was a sad thing, both for my self as an individual and, after three decades of reform and opening, for China." - Liu Xiaobo
A brief detail on the six nominees is:
Rebiya Kadeer: I had read sometime back that facebook was banned in china but I ignored as a joke, thinking, how come a website cause such a menace to be shutdown by a government? Because if it is not facebook, it can be twitter, it can be orkut or any other site but after she led a movement which ended up killing lot of people, internet was shunned which I think led to blocking of facebook.
Liu Xiaobo – He is the founder of Charter 08, a petition for democratic reforms in China. In June 2009, he was formally arrested on suspicion of incitement to subvert state power.
Hu Jia: A Chinese HIV/AIDS rights activist who's was instrumental in exposing the blood-selling scandal in Henan which gave tens of thousands of villagers HIV/AIDS. He was found guilty of "inciting subversion of state power" and given three and a half years in prison.
Chen Guangcheng: A blind activist who drew international attention to human rights issues in rural areas. He was sentenced to around four years for "damaging property and organizing a mob to disturb traffic."
Gao Zhisheng: A human rights lawyer in China, he has defended fellow activists and religious minorities. No whereabouts.
Bao Tong : A former Communist Party official who was the top aide to Zhao Ziyang, a reformist party chief that sympathized with democracy protestors in the 1989 incident.
