Life Meets With Faith: Student supporter of the century
Liu Xiaobo has a favourite book, according
to the Globe and Mail. It is The Castle by
Franz Kafka, “The tale of one man's lonely
fight against a faceless and dictatorial
bureaucracy.” The faceless and dictatorial
bureaucracy Mr. Liu faces is the Chinese
government and its machinery.
Unfortunately, dictatorial bureaucracies are not faceless. They are full of the faces of masters and sub-servants who generate policies and apply procedures. Managed by, and filled with, humans who are by no means faceless, bureaucracies can generate evil and good according to the imaginations of those at the top and the care or passive acquiescence of those in the lower echelons.
Mr. Lui has been in trouble with the Chinese government since at least 1989. That was the year of Tiananmen Square. Thousands of Chinese students gathered to rally for democratic change in China. The rally ended in bloodshed when the government ordered tanks to move against the students. Mr. Liu, a professor at the time, helped lead that student protest.
In the days that followed a van crashed into him and he was arrested, jailed and forced to sign a “letter of repentance.” That was 20 months of jail time, according to the Globe. Later the authorities imprisoned him for six months and then for three years.
Currently he is at the beginning of 11 more years of prison. His crime this time is his involvement in Charter 08. The Charter calls for freedom of expression, election of government officials, and a judiciary that is independent of government regulation. All very standard in our part of the world, but considered a threat by the government of China.
The Chinese have a long past that does not share some of the key features of Western history that have given rise to many personal freedoms and democracy. I don't mean to put down Chinese history; I understand it to be filled with impressive events. I only want to point out that the interest in human rights in the West is not something that is easily come by in China. It took key events over a period of historical development.
Both of these - personal freedom and democracy - have roots in a high view of the individual person. That high view itself can be traced to the thought of the two most obvious branches of Christianity in the West, Catholicism and Protestantism.
Both of those see human personhood as a reflection of God. If the individual is a reflection of God, it follows easily that every human being has dignity and has the right to be treated respectfully. The nullifying of slavery in the British Empire, for example, came about directly because of the political activism of evangelical Christians led by William Wilberforce. They regarded slavery as a great evil that destroyed its African victims.
The absence of such thinking in the non- Christianized parts of the planet - such as where Islam reigns or where nationalistic myths such as the one that used to fuel Japanese pride before World War II — makes it difficult for the authorities in those parts of the world to allow much freedom to individuals, courts, businesses, churches and student groups.
Thus, for example, the Chinese authorities and the Saudi government would rather crush a few individuals than risk the chaos of individual choices with respect to politics (in China) and religion (in Saudi Arabia).
For the past 200 years in Western countries including Canada, many, though by far not all, cultural leaders have been questioning, and at times attacking a Christian understanding of life. The effects of this are obvious. Whereas in earlier times it was rare to find someone who did not believe in the Christian god, today it is of course extremely easy to find agnostics, atheists and every sort of personal spirituality.
The rise of all of that is understandable, especially when you consider the sexual abuses and the abuses of authority in the Catholic and Protestant communities over the years.
However, we need to be cautious about, as the saying goes, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Perhaps we can drain off the dirtied bathwater more carefully and keep the baby after all. If so, I submit that we will have a better chance of preserving and growing the human rights and dignities we have come to love here in Canada and throughout the Christianized West.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Unfortunately, dictatorial bureaucracies are not faceless. They are full of the faces of masters and sub-servants who generate policies and apply procedures. Managed by, and filled with, humans who are by no means faceless, bureaucracies can generate evil and good according to the imaginations of those at the top and the care or passive acquiescence of those in the lower echelons.
Mr. Lui has been in trouble with the Chinese government since at least 1989. That was the year of Tiananmen Square. Thousands of Chinese students gathered to rally for democratic change in China. The rally ended in bloodshed when the government ordered tanks to move against the students. Mr. Liu, a professor at the time, helped lead that student protest.
In the days that followed a van crashed into him and he was arrested, jailed and forced to sign a “letter of repentance.” That was 20 months of jail time, according to the Globe. Later the authorities imprisoned him for six months and then for three years.
Currently he is at the beginning of 11 more years of prison. His crime this time is his involvement in Charter 08. The Charter calls for freedom of expression, election of government officials, and a judiciary that is independent of government regulation. All very standard in our part of the world, but considered a threat by the government of China.
The Chinese have a long past that does not share some of the key features of Western history that have given rise to many personal freedoms and democracy. I don't mean to put down Chinese history; I understand it to be filled with impressive events. I only want to point out that the interest in human rights in the West is not something that is easily come by in China. It took key events over a period of historical development.
Both of these - personal freedom and democracy - have roots in a high view of the individual person. That high view itself can be traced to the thought of the two most obvious branches of Christianity in the West, Catholicism and Protestantism.
Both of those see human personhood as a reflection of God. If the individual is a reflection of God, it follows easily that every human being has dignity and has the right to be treated respectfully. The nullifying of slavery in the British Empire, for example, came about directly because of the political activism of evangelical Christians led by William Wilberforce. They regarded slavery as a great evil that destroyed its African victims.
The absence of such thinking in the non- Christianized parts of the planet - such as where Islam reigns or where nationalistic myths such as the one that used to fuel Japanese pride before World War II — makes it difficult for the authorities in those parts of the world to allow much freedom to individuals, courts, businesses, churches and student groups.
Thus, for example, the Chinese authorities and the Saudi government would rather crush a few individuals than risk the chaos of individual choices with respect to politics (in China) and religion (in Saudi Arabia).
For the past 200 years in Western countries including Canada, many, though by far not all, cultural leaders have been questioning, and at times attacking a Christian understanding of life. The effects of this are obvious. Whereas in earlier times it was rare to find someone who did not believe in the Christian god, today it is of course extremely easy to find agnostics, atheists and every sort of personal spirituality.
The rise of all of that is understandable, especially when you consider the sexual abuses and the abuses of authority in the Catholic and Protestant communities over the years.
However, we need to be cautious about, as the saying goes, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Perhaps we can drain off the dirtied bathwater more carefully and keep the baby after all. If so, I submit that we will have a better chance of preserving and growing the human rights and dignities we have come to love here in Canada and throughout the Christianized West.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
