Introduction

Contributors

“Inciting Subversion of State Power”?: Six Essays by Liu Xiaobo and Charter 08

• About Liu Xiaobo
• Liu Xiaobo: A Chronology of Activism
• The CPC’s Dictatorial Patriotism
  Liu Xiaobo debunks the notion successfully purveyed by the CPC that the ruling party is the Chinese nation itself, a fallacious concept that has enabled it to maintain absolute rule over the people.
• The Many Aspects of CPC Dictatorship
  Liu describes the post-Mao regime—unlike that during the era of “Maoist totalitarianism”—as more skillful in using “pragmatic, flexible control methods” to maintain stability. Liu warns that “[t]he loyalty bought by the promise of a comfortable life has a soul that is rotten to the core,” and that the system is ultimately unsustainable.
• Can It Be that the Chinese People Deserve Only “Party-Led Democracy”?
  Liu points out that the Chinese people—having been conditioned historically to view any benevolent policy as mercy granted by their ruler—are in fact complicit in their own oppression. Rather than waiting for the arrival of a “virtuous master,” they must, Liu maintains, place their hope in the “continuous expansion of the ‘new power’ among the people.”
• Changing the Regime by Changing Society
  Liu explores how a continuously growing civil society is the key to China’s gradual, bottom-up transformation into a free society.
• The Negative Effects of the Rise of Dictatorship on World Democratization
  Liu discusses China’s use of “money diplomacy”to degrade world civilization, and the necessity of helping the world’s largest dictatorship transform into a free and democratic country with direct consequences for global democratization.
• Further Questions about Child Slavery in China’s Kilns
  Liu examines the extreme government corruption and lack of accountability that have enabled thousands of children to be kidnapped and used as slaves in kiln factories.
• Charter 08
  A petition for political reform that began circulating online on December 9, 2008.

Freedom of Expression on Trial: Liu Xiaobo Legal Case Documents

• Relevant Chinese Law
• Indictment
• Defense Statement of the First Instance
• “My Self-Defense” by Liu Xiaobo, First Instance Trial
• “I Have No Enemies: My Final Statement” by Liu Xiaobo, First Instance Trial
• Criminal Verdict, First Instance Trial
• Defense Statement of the Second Instance
• Appeal Decision

Freedom of Expression across Borders

• Relevant International Human Rights Law
• Václav Havel on Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08, and the Struggle for Democratic Reform: HRIC Interview
  Václav Havel discusses Charter 77 and Charter 08 and expresses solidarity with Liu Xiaobo and his family and other rights defenders in China.
• Letter from Liao Yiwu to German Chancellor Angela Merkel
  Liao requests assistance from German Chancellor Angela Merkel after being denied permission by Chinese authorities to attend a literary festival in Cologne.
• Letter from Liu Xiaobo to Liao Yiwu
  Liu shares his reactions to Liao Yiwu’s My Testimony.
• “To My German Readers” Letter by Liao Yiwu
  Liao writes to his German readers after being taken off the plane in the Chengdu airport by police en route to Beijing and then Cologne.
• “Statement of Shared Responsibility” by Charter 08 signers

Online Features

• HRIC in Action: December 2009 – March 2010