{"id":35557,"date":"2009-03-13T11:58:25","date_gmt":"2009-03-13T18:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=35557"},"modified":"2009-03-13T13:49:41","modified_gmt":"2009-03-13T20:49:41","slug":"nada-strakova-one-world-homo-homini-award-goes-to-chinese-dissident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/03\/nada-strakova-one-world-homo-homini-award-goes-to-chinese-dissident\/","title":{"rendered":"China: Democracy\u2019s \u2018Don Quixotes\u2019 Face Despair – and Hope, Says Havel (Updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"
From the aktualne.centrum.cz<\/a>:<\/p>\n Every year, People in Need gives the Homo Homini awards to people who have made an important contribution to promoting human rights, democracy and non-violent resolution of political conflicts.<\/p>\n This year the One World festival, organized by the People in Need foundation, decided to bestow the prestigious human rights prize to Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned Chinese intellectual and dissident.<\/p>\n Former president V\u00e1clav Havel handed over the prize last night to a group of Chinese dissidents who represented Liu Xiaobo.<\/p>\n He is one of the original signatories of Charter 08 (and to the other signatories), a new dissident movement and a manifesto criticising Chinese government for violating human rights and freedom of speech, policies that damage the environment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read also: Chinese dissident receives Czech prize<\/a> on the Prague Daily Monitor: <\/p>\n As Liu Xiaobo is being imprisoned, former Czech president Vaclav Havel gave the prize to his counterparts.<\/p>\n The award is given by the group People in Need annually to the people with contribution to the field of human rights.<\/p>\n Organisers said Liu Xiaobo had been awarded as he was one of the personalities of the Chinese democratic movement that seeks dialogue and non-violent solution to conflicts despite unabated persecution by the state power.<\/p>\n Various people can understand in their own way the sense of Charter 2008, but its signatories agree on one thing: the Charter speaks about basic values and objectives of civilised society, Xu You, one of its signatories, said when accepting the prize.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read also: China: democracy\u2019s \u2018Don Quixotes\u2019 face despair – and hope, says Havel <\/a>by Michael Allen:<\/p>\n In a forceful and moving address, Cui Weiping<\/a>, a prominent intellectual who has translated Havel, Ivan Klima and other dissident writers<\/a> into Chinese, paid tribute to the unsung women who “stand in the first rank of those who call for human rights and democracy”. She cited Liu Xia<\/a>, Liu Xiaobo’s wife; Zeng Jinyan<\/a>, wife of the imprisoned Hu Jia; the mothers of Tiananmen Square<\/a>, including the founder of the association, Professor Ding Zilin<\/a>; and the mothers of the Sichuan earthquake victims<\/a> as being amongst those whose suffering and courage consistently appeals to the world’s “conscience, humanity and morality”.<\/p>\n\n