Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2010 (22. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)

2010-10-01 / 37. szám

A Nobel Prize for a Chinese Dissident By VACLAV HAVEL, DANA NEMCOVA, and VACLAV MALY PRAGUE — It is hard to believe that it was more than 30 years ago that we, a group of 242 private citi­zens concerned about human rights in Czechoslovakia, came together to sign a manifesto called Charter 77. That document called on the Communist Party to respect human rights, and said clearly that we no longer wanted to live in fear of state repression. Our disparate group included ex-Communists, Catholics, Protestants, workers, liberal intellectuals, art­ists and writers who came together to speak with one voice. We were united by our dissatisfaction with a regime that demanded acts of obedience on an almost daily basis: Shopkeepers were pressured to put up propaganda signs that read “Workers of the world, unite!” Schoolchildren, students and workers were com­pelled to march in May Day parades. Office workers had to denounce American imperialism at the start of the workday. Citizens had to “vote” in elections in which the only choice was the ruling party. Communist parties, then as now, prefer to divide and conquer. After Charter 77 was released, the gov­ernment did its best to try and break us up. We were detained, and four of us eventually went to jail for several years. The authorities also got back at us in petty ways (including the suspension of driver’s licenses and confiscation of typewriters). Surveillance was stepped up, our homes and offices were searched, and a barrage of press attacks based on malicious lies sought to discredit us and our movement. This onslaught only strengthened our bonds. Charter 77 also reminded many of our fellow citizens who were silently suffer­ing that they were not alone. In time, many of the ideas set forth in Charter 77 prevailed in Czechoslovakia. A wave of similar democratic reforms swept Eastern Europe in 1989. We never would have guessed that our short manifesto would find an echo in China some 30 years later. In December 2008, a group of 303 Chinese activists, lawyers, intellectuals, academics, retired government officials, workers and peasants put forward their own manifesto titled Charter 08, calling for constitutional government, respect for human rights and other democratic reforms. It was published to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite the best efforts of government officials to keep it off of Chinese computer screens, Charter 08 reached a nationwide audience via the Internet, and new signatories eventually reached more than 10,000. * As in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s, the response of the Chinese government was swift and brutal. Dozens if not hundreds of signatories were called in for questioning. A handful of perceived ringleaders were detained. Professional promotions were held up, research grants denied and applications to travel abroad rejected. Newspapers and publishing houses were ordered to blacklist anyone who had signed Charter 08. Most seriously, the prominent writer and dissident Liu Xiaobo, a key drafter of Charter 08, was arrested. Liu had already spent five years in prison for his support of peaceful Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Held for more than a year with limited access to his wife or his lawyer, Liu was put on trial for subversion. In December 2009, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Despite Liu’s imprisonment, his ideas cannot be shackled. Charter 08 has articulated an alternative vision of China, challenging the official line that any decisions on reforms are the exclusive province of the state. It has encouraged younger Chinese to become politically active, and boldly made the case for the rule of law and constitutional multiparty democracy. And it has served as a jumping-off point for a series of conversations and essays on how to get there. Perhaps most important, as in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s, Charter 08 has forged connections among different groups that did not exist before. Before Charter 08, “we had to live in a certain kind of separate and solitary state,” one signatory wrote. “We were not good at expressing our own personal experiences to those around us.” Liu Xiaobo and Charter 08 are changing that, for the better. Of course, Charter 08 addresses a political milieu very different from 1970s Czechoslovakia. In its quest for economic growth, China has seemed to embrace some features far removed from traditional Commu­nism. Especially for young, urban, educated white-collar workers, China can seem like a post-Communist country. And yet, China’s Communist Party still has lines that cannot be crossed. In spearheading the creation of Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo crossed the starkest line of all: Do not challenge the Communist Party’s monopoly on political power, and do not suggest that China’s problems — including widespread corruption, labor unrest, and rampant environmental degradation — might be connected to the lack of progress on politi­cal reform. For making that very connection in an all too public way, Liu got more than a decade in prison. In an especially spiteful move, the authorities, perhaps fearful that his prison cell would become a political rally­ing point, have forced him to serve his sentence in the northeastern province of Liaoning, far from his wife Liu Xia and friends in Beijing. Liu may be isolated, but he is not forgotten. Next month, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee will announce the recipient of the 2010 prize. We ask the Nobel Committee to honor Liu Xiaobo’s more than two decades of unflinching and peaceful advocacy for reform, and to make him the first Chinese recipient of that prestigious award. In doing so, the Nobel Committee would signal both to Liu and to the Chinese government that many inside China and around the world stand in solidarity with him, and his unwavering vision of freedom and human rights for the 1. 3 billion people of China. Vaclav Havelis the former president of the Czech Republic.Dana Nemcova is a leading Czech human rights advocate, and Vaclav Maly is the bishop of Prague. All three are signatories of Charter 77 and former leaders of the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. Carmaker Audi invests $1.2 billion in Hungary German carmaker Audi AG year from 2013 and Audi plans said it would invest euro900 mil­lion ($1.2 billion) to extend its production site in Hungary. About 1,800 jobs will be added at the plant in Gyor in west­ern Hungary, where Audi builds engines and assembles cars like the TT Roadster, TT Coupe and A3 models. Audi Hungária now employs more than 5,800 people. The Gyor plant is expected to produce around 125,000 cars a to sell 1.5 million cars a year by 2015, up from around 950,000 in 2009, Stadler said. “To continue this growth rate in a sustained manner, we need further capacity like what we are going to establish in our Hungar­ian location,” Stadler said at a news conference held in parlia­ment with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Environmentalists have raised Október 1,2010 ÍD concerns about the expansion, which is planned on a former military shooting range which is now part of a nature reserve. Orbán said all constructions permits, including environmental authorizations, would be obtained in time for the project to go ahead as planned. Audi, a subsidiary of Volk­swagen AG, has seen its sales rising sharply in recent months, driven by strong exports. SUBSCRIBE TO THE HÍRLAP! A Soldier’s Story: Fatal Immunity A Story on The Human Anthrax Vaccine By Adrienne Papp It’s not only that with his recent documentary Scott Miller has made an amazing film, it’s that the film has made Scott Miller into an amazing director who dares to talk about issues better left unspoken and swept under the carpet. Ten years in the making, Miller’s A SOLDIER’S STORY (The Human Anthrax Vaccine) is the result of years of research into a disturbing medical program involving the U.S. military. The documentary focus on the widespread abuse of the human anthrax vaccine, examining the harm done to Allied Gulf War troops when the governments of the Ü.S., Britain, Canada, and Australia ordered their soldiers to be “immunized” with the anthrax vaccine. The audience, the viewer, the general public, collectively “us” will have the freedom to form our own opinion while watching the film. The freedom that the military person­nel documented in this movie did not have. The freedom that we all think is our basic human rights, our birthrights, military or not, at least in this country, in the United States. Not that we have to pull a lot of political stunts to see the obvious contradic­tion between what the government sometimes says and does, or actually does not say and does not do, while claiming that it stands for its people and their freedom. Who are the people? The people in this movie were not even considered let alone heard. They are not heard to this day. That is why the movie was made. A SOLDIER’S STORY is an eyewitness account of the U.S. and U.K. military anthrax vaccination programs. Because of the vaccine’s crippling and deadly consequences, the incurable autoimmune disease and birth defects has spread like wildfire through Gulf War veterans. Despite the evidence of the fatal and devastating side effects, the anthrax vaccine is still forced on our soldiers today. When our soldiers risk their own lives to fight for our freedom and human rights yet denied their own, then it’s up to us to fight for theirs! Watch this documentary to learn why we must stop the illegal human experimentation on our soldiers in the name of homeland security. Or, as sometimes referred to, and discounted for, as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. ASSA SOLDIER’S STORY is a must see and one of the most provoca­tive and engaging documentary of the year! Never before did we have such dire consequences of ignorance as brought to light in this movie. Or, maybe we just did not know about it. Either way, Scott Miller shines the light on the reality that needs to be under­stood. In 1989 when Miller opened his own production facility, Scott Miller & Company, which has since earned a reputation for being one of the last and one of the best creative television commercial production boutiques in the U.S, he was just starting out in his father’s footsteps. He now specializes in campaigns to launch new concepts and upgrade the corporate image, but also thrive for creative excellence and editorial content. He has been named by Eastman Kodak as one of the 100 of the world’s finest cinematographers. He has been repeatedly featured in promotional advertising by Eastman Kodak Film as a tribute to his outstanding creativity and innovation in the use of the Kodak film. His company has currently billed over one hundred million dollars worldwide. This documentary is executive produced by Demetris Kyriacou, and his company Reach Up High Entertain­ment will be selling the film next month at Cannes Film Festival. The film is publicized by Atlantic Publicity and Atlantic Pub­lisher worldwide, headed by Adrienne Papp. *********************** About the Writer: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles/New York-based publicity compa­nies, Atlantic Publicity and Atlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebri­ties and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine. DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. ft102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 Spa, Hotel foglalások, Kocsi bérlés Kedvezményes repülőjegy árak LAX-BUD-LAX $575 -tői + Tax -I- Fee (2010. augusztus 30-tól) Információért hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 AMERICAN Hungarian Journal AMERIKAI tyagyar Hírlap

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