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China will be listening

I've just signed a petition urging the Chinese government to release Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo and his wife. Please check out the link below and join me in signing:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/china_nobel_prize/98.php?CLICKTF

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Dear friends,

Days from now, Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit French President Sarkozy to sign a trade partnership. While they congratulate one another on their economic triumphs, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo still languishes in prison. Chinese authorities will carefully monitor press attention to this visit -- creating an opportunity for a global call for political freedom in China to reach the ears of decision-makers.

This moment is arriving amidst unprecedented momentum for democratic change in China. An increasingly bold movement of retired senior party officials, intellectuals and activists is calling for political reforms and free press, and the governing Communist Party is beginning to split between hardliners and pro-reform moderates.

If the pressure grows within China and internationally, we can strengthen the hand of Chinese reformers to free Liu Xiaobo and other activists and ease press restrictions. Let's remind President Hu that the world supports a strong China that defends human rights. Sign the petition below for Liu's release and an end to censorship – if we reach 250,000 signers, we will take out ads in prominent French papers during the Chinese President's visit to Paris:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/china_nobel_prize/98.php?CLICKTF

Liu Xiaobo co-authored Charter '08, an online petition signed by hundreds of Chinese academics, lawyers and even government officials that called for democracy, freedom of expression and human rights to be placed at the core of the Chinese political system. The Chinese authorities responded by sentencing Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power”, and have used arbitrary detention to silence independent voices, including Liu Xiaobo's wife, isolated under house arrest since the Nobel Prize announcement.

But the government is under pressure at home and abroad and can't keep a lid on Chinese citizens indefinitely. The Nobel Peace Prize announcement has reinvigorated activists clamoring for greater freedom of speech, and an unprecedented spectrum of global leaders from President Obama to Archbishop Desmond Tutu to French Foreign Minister Kouchner has voiced support for Liu Xiaobo and democratic reform in China.

Democratic reformers within the Chinese Communist Party could be emboldened by the Nobel Committee’s announcement. But anti-democratic forces in the government hope to use powerful economic and political leverage the world over to mute the call for reform – even French President Sarkozy was cowed into silence, putting business interests above principles.

Together with our friends at Reporters Without Borders, let’s build a massive public outcry to demand that Liu Xiaobo, his wife and other brave activists be freed and that press restrictions come to an end in China. Sign here and forward the petition - together we can make our call for human rights and democracy unmissable when President Jintao visits France.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/china_nobel_prize/98.php?CLICKTF

Liu Xiaobo's wife wrote in a statement, “I hope that the international community will take this opportunity to call on the Chinese government to press for my husband’s release. As the (Nobel) Committee recognized, China’s new status in the world comes with increased responsibility. China should embrace this responsibility, have pride in his selection, and release him from prison.”

People power is awakening across China, where hundreds of millions yearn to build a nation whose global leadership comes not from the strength of its prisons but from the power of its vision and ingenuity. At this moment, let's join hands with them and show our solidarity for that brightest vision for China--and for the world.

With hope,

Stephanie, Luis, Benjamin, Alice, Ben, Paula, Pascal, and the rest of the Avaaz team.

PS: The China-France meeting is to seal a contract for hundreds of Airbus airplanes, a sale worth billions to France -- and a key goal of China's. With so much at stake, the world's reaction has a rare chance to break through and influence Chinese leadership -- but only if enough of us join in. Click to join the call:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/china_nobel_prize/98.php?CLICKTF

Sources:

Reporters Without Borders - Free Liu Xiaobo: 
http://en.rsf.org/liu-xiaobo.html

Washington Post - If China frees Nobel winner, it will show its strength:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102105090.html

National Public Radio - China Slams Nobel Peace Prize For Dissident: 
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130435549

BBC - China vents fury at dissident's Nobel award:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11507381

LIU XIAOBO'S NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WIN PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON CHINA RIGHTS VIOLATIONS:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/liu-xiaobos-nobel-peace-prize-win-puts-spotlight-china-rights-violations-2010-10-08

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China: Release Nobel Peace Prize Winner

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