In a three-hour trial two days ago, Chinese professor, literary critic, writer, and political activist Liu Xiaobo was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” by a Beijing court. Today, Christmas Day, the court sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
Liu had coauthored a declaration which called for an end to one party rule and for increased human rights. The declaration was signed by hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens.
Liu was a professor at Beijing Normal University and had served as a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York City. He was president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center for four years. According to the PEN website Liu was not permitted to present evidence at his trial.
While the United States is far from becoming the authoritarian state that China is, as the American public accepts the government’s increasing role in each of our daily lives, it behooves all of us—especially authors and publishers—to be watchful for limitations, no matter how subtle, imposed on our right to say or write anything we please.
Just a Write Thought.