fareastvagabond:

samanthajmanniex:

Why awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo could harm the reform efforts of other less well known individuals who are pushing for societal reform in China.

While this article raises many good questions about the current atmosphere in Chinese politics on dissidence, it seems unusually kind on the problems of human rights. I do more or less agree that Liu Xiaobo has not really done quite as much for the movements towards democratisation in China besides draft up a constitutional amendment, this article doesn’t seem to consider the opposite side of the political motivations of this Nobel decision. 

Even if the West might be pressuring China to change, we have to consider that the changes they’re asking for is an improvement of human rights, not necessarily for China to overhaul its government system. Also, as a note, “many educated young people” are also the wealthy Han majority who indulge in the benefits of the state, whereas the people whose rights need protecting the most are those who aren’t able to gain a higher education. The Chinese system, although desperately seeking unity, has never pretended to prefer Han people over the other nationalities they so desperately want included. These people are generally the least protected by the state (take for example, the Tibetans).

(Also, the Chinese education system is not meant to empower the students to question their teachers. It’s structured that the teacher teaches, and the students do exactly what they say.)

I could go on and on about this article, actually…