Liu Xiaobo--The Vagrants Returned to Life

The main themes of Li's The Vagrants are centered around the story of a dissident who did pretty much what Liu Xiaobo was sentenced for last week. I'm outraged over the lack of outrage expressed.   In the West, we have become the slaves of our wallets.  We should make it clear that this is not the way in which we expect a "most favored nation" to conduct itself with respect to its citizen's.  Perhaps we need to eschew Chinese goods (good luck y'all) for a short time to express collective dissatisfaction with the Chinese way of government.

Comments

  1. bobby fletcherJanuary 8, 2010 at 7:54 PM

    Liu Xiaobo has received hundreds of thousands of US government funding via the NED in the past five years. Check NED's China grants for Independent Chinese Pen Center and Minzhu Zhongguo magazine, which Liu heads.

    If Liu is American he would be in violation of FARA (Froeign Agent Registration Act).

    Pray tell, why would we lament Chinese money corrupting our political process, while sending many folds more to China, to corrupt their political process? Advocating overthrowing of the Chinese government? Abolition of China’s constitution?

    ReplyDelete
  2. StevenJanuary 9, 2010 at 8:34 AM

    Dear Mr. Fletcher,

    Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I'm not sure I completely understand the point you are making, but I do appreciate readers taking the time to communicate with me.

    shalom,

    Steven

    ReplyDelete
  3. bobby fletcherJanuary 10, 2010 at 8:18 PM

    Steven, you don't think the Chinese government has the right to the same thing we do under FARA?

    ReplyDelete
  4. StevenJanuary 11, 2010 at 7:57 AM

    Dear Mr. Fletcher--

    So, you are saying that Liu Xiaobo is a spy and acting as an agent for the United States in China.

    I would say rather that the United States supports Liu Xiaobo because he is an internal representative of the ideals that we would like to see adopted to the extent possible everywhere. I doubt seriously that this "foreign agent" spends much time funneling secrets out of China into American hands.

    However, I could be wrong in my understanding--I have written as I see it now. But I respect your disagreement with the position I have taken and thank you for clarifying your previous comment.

    shalom,

    Steven

    ReplyDelete

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