2010 Nobel Peace Prize Award Presentation to China's Liu Xiaobo
-acceptance speech given by Thorbjorn Jagland of the Nobel Committee on 12-10-201 because of Liu Xiaobo's political imprisonment in China.
"We regret that the Laureate is not present here today. He is in isolation in a prison in north-east China. Nor can the Laureate’s wife Liu Xia or his closest relatives be here with us. No medal or diploma will therefore be presented here today. This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropriate. We congratulate Liu Xiaobo on this year’s Peace Prize."
"Liu has said that "The greatness of non-violent resistance is that even as man is faced with forceful tyranny and the resulting suffering, the victim responds to hate with love, to prejudice with tolerance, to arrogance with humility, to humiliation with dignity, and to violence with reason."
"Liu Xiaobo is an optimist, despite his many years in prison. In his closing appeal to the court on the 23rd of December 2009, he said: "I, filled with optimism, look forward to the advent of a future free China. For there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will in the end become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme."
Thank you, Liu Xiaobo for exhibiting the courage to stand up for what is right. The great people of China deserve the freedoms promised in their constitution. Each citizen deserves to enjoy a life blessed with the fundamental human rights. They deserve to express themselves in thought, word and action. China is a great country. The Chinese people a great people. Liu Xiaobo is considered a dangerous dissident of the highest level by the Chinese government for the simple belief in freedom. I hope in my lifetime, I am able to witness Xiaobo's China, a free China, a great China. His story, his non-violent resistance and his love and patience should be an inspiration to us all. Thank you, Liu Xiaobo, for standing up for what is right and for the ideals you embrace.
"For there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom"
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