Former PEN Canada president Charles Foran presents the award to Liu Xiaobo. We had hoped to get his reaction but we were unable to make contact with him in prison. Activist and former national president of the Chinese Canadian National Council Gloria Fung accepted the award on his behalf and gave this speech:
Dear friends of Pen Canada,
I would like to thank PEN Canada for giving me this opportunity to receive this award on behalf of Liu Xiaobo who cannot be here tonight as he’s serving an 11-year prison sentence in China. Liu Xiaobo has been in prison for exercising freedom of expression and launching Charter 08 calling for peaceful political reform, human rights and democracy in China.
This One Humanity Award not only honours his contribution in transcending the boundaries of national divide and inspiring connections across cultures, it also recognizes the great efforts of people around the world in the struggle to maintain the spirit of freedom of expression.
He lives in a small prison while all Chinese live in a bigger prison without walls, in a society where computers, phones and all whereabouts are under the constant surveillance of the public security bureau.
Writing freely and publishing without censorship is crucial to social development. Without these freedoms, China cannot progress and the world will not be so great as it is now without the contribution that free Chinese people can make to humanity. For this Liu Xiaobo calls upon all writers, governments and NGO’s all over the world to continue to support the Chinese people in the struggle for freedom of expression, democracy and human rights in China.
Thank you very much.
Past winners include Zarganar, Jiang Weiping, Lydia Cacho, Parvez Sayed Kambaksh, and Nasrin Sotoudeh.
On the opening night of the International Festival of Authors on October 24, 2013, we were honoured to present the 2013 One Humanity Award to Vietnamese blogger Nguyễn Văn Hải, better known by his pen name Dieu Cay.
