Australian Values Alliance （AVA） 13/07/2017
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (28/12/1955 – 13/07/2017), who was China’s most prominent human rights and democracy advocate died on 13 July 2017. Liu Xiaobo played a significant role in the Tiananmen Square student protests of June 1989 which ended in bloodshed when they were quashed by Chinese Government troops. In 2008, Liu compiled with other intellectuals the Charter 08 manifesto, in which called for an end to one-party rule and the introduction of multi-party democracy. Liu was sentenced 11-year jail term as consequence of Charter 08 which was deemed “trying to overthrow the state”. After Liu was diagnosed late stage terminal liver cancer, the Chinese authority “released” Liu for medical treatment in late June 2017. Liu was in custody did not have his freedom until his death. The Chinese authorities refused Liu’s dying request to be allowed to travel abroad for treatment. Instead he died as he had lived under the close watch of the one-party state.
In 2010, Liu Xiaobo won Nobel Peace Prize for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”, but he was not permitted to travel to Norway to accept it. Liu is the second person to receive Nobel Peace Prize while in prison. The other was the German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who won in 1935 while incarcerated in a Nazi concentration camp.
Freedom, democracy, equality, and dignity are the core Australian values we believe and embrace. As Australians, we are grateful that we are able to enjoy freedom and live in dignity, but that’s unaffordable luxury for many people around the world. Liu paid a heavy price to exercise his basic human rights, freedom of expression. His final words were “live on well”.
Chinese Consulate in Sydney occupies a large complex at the narrow Dunblane Street Camperdown. This is the only foreign consulate with high wall and barbwires in Sydney which looks like a prison. The significances to rename the street to Liu Xiaobo Street are:
-To commemorate Liu Xiaobo as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate died under state captivity
-To remind all visitors to the Chinese Consulate in Sydney about Liu Xiaobo and how he was treated by his government
-To reinstate that the freedom we enjoy in Australia and it is our duty to standby and embrace Australian values.
We urge you to sign this petition.
Australian Values Alliance （AVA）
John Hugh 0414 816 751; JP Chen 0434 479 416; Chongyi Feng 0417 676 389
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