Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1166-W795
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1166-W795
Release
Date: December 19, 2018
发布日：2018年12月19日
Topic:
Tribute to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and Wei Jingsheng -- Carl Gershman
标题：向美国国会女众议员马西·卡普图尔和魏京生致敬 -- 美国国家民主基金会主席卡尔·格许曼
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Tribute
to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and Wei Jingsheng
--
Carl Gershman, President, National Endowment for Democracy
Published
on December 11, 2018
The
United States Congress, December 10, 2018
I
want to congratulate Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur for receiving the Human Rights
and Freedom Defender Award from the Wei Jingsheng Foundation. This is a very significant time to
receive such an award, since we are now commemorating the 40th anniversary of
the posting on the Democracy Wall in Beijing of Wei's path-breaking essay
famously entitled The Fifth Modernization.
He
raised the democracy issue in the immediate aftermath of Mao's death and the
new reform opening under Deng Xiaoping - pointing out the danger of pursuing
the other 4 modernizations (agriculture, industry, national defense, and
science and technology) without democracy.
Without
the 5th modernization, Wei said, all the others are merely another promise -
and worse, because as LXB said much later, if China rose as a dictatorship,
without democracy, it would be a disaster for China and for future of liberal
democracy in the world.
The
5th Modernization is a prescient, powerful call for democracy and a statement
about why it's the only way people can pursue the first goal of happiness,
which is freedom.
He
appealed to people not to believe the promises of modernization without freedom
and democracy. We should not
believe "such political swindlers anymore," he said. We are being deceived.
Communist
ideology has said that "A cake in the picture can appease hunger" and
'Watching the plums can quench the thirst." These are lies, Wei said.
He
spoke directly to the people of China, saying that for 30 years people were
like "monkeys reaching out for the moon and feeling only
emptiness." We should
implicitly believe ourselves, not the swindlers, be practical, and seek truth
from facts. We should not trust
the autocrats' talk about 'stability and unity.' Fascist totalitarianism can
only bring us disaster. We have
been tempered by the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and must not be
ignorant any longer. Let us find
out for ourselves what should be done."
Wei
called for modernization not just of the social system but of the people as
well. This can only be done, he
said, if the Chinese people first practice democracy and, by so doing,
modernize China's social system.
If the people don't practice democracy, he said, the society will become
stagnant.
Here
Wei was brilliantly anticipating the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's idea that
democracy has a constructive value, meaning that through democratic
participation, people "learn from one another" and become more
experienced citizens who can help society form its values and priorities. Democracy, in other words,
is not just a set of institutions or a finished product, but a process by which
people express their dignity as human beings, defend their interests, and
mature as citizens and members of a political community. That's why, as Wei said, "a
democratic social system is the major premise or the prerequisite for all
developments - or modernizations."
In
1978, twelve years after the Cultural Revolution, Wei said that "the
people have finally learned where their goal lies. They have a real leader, and this leader is the democratic
banner, which has now taken on new significance. Xidan Democracy Wall - this was the long brick wall on Xidan
Street where he posted The Fifth Modernization, has become the first
battlefield in the people's fight against reactionaries. The struggle will be victorious if we
unite under this great and real banner."
The
struggle reached a climax with the Tiananmen massacre on June 4, 1989. But the battle is not over. As we approach the 30th anniversary of
the Tiananmen massacre, let us unite internationally and show solidarity for
the people in China who are defending their rights. As a friend in China, a writer and an intellectual, wrote to
me last week: "We will continue to labor for the coming transition in
Greater China."
The
coming transition: that's a hopeful goal.
Our friends in China have not given up, and nor should we. Our goal should be to support them,
because in so doing we support our own future and the prospect for a more
democratic and peaceful world.
Original
link of this speech:
https://www.ned.org/tribute-to-congresswoman-marcy-kaptur-and-wei-jingsheng/
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1166-W795
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1166-W795
Release
Date: December 19, 2018
发布日：2018年12月19日
Topic:
Tribute to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and Wei Jingsheng -- Carl Gershman
标题：向美国国会女众议员马西·卡普图尔和魏京生致敬 -- 美国国家民主基金会主席卡尔·格许曼
Original
Language Version: English (Chinese version at the end)
此号以英文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2018/report2018-12/GershmanCspeech181219atHRWB4thA1166-W795.htm
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向美国国会女众议员马西·卡普图尔（Marcy Kaptur）和魏京生致敬
-- 美国国家民主基金会主席：卡尔·格许曼（Carl
Gershman）
美国国会，2018年12月10日
我要祝贺美国国会女议员马西·卡普图尔(Marcy Kaptur)荣获魏京生基金会颁发的第四届“人权自由卫士奖”。此时获得这个殊荣极有意义，因为我们正在纪念魏京生在北京的民主墙上发表开拓性"第五个现代化"的文章40周年。
他在毛泽东死后，邓小平领导下进行新的改革之时立即指出在没有民主的情况下追求其它4个现代化（农业、工业、国防、科技）的危险。
魏京生说：“没有这第五个现代化，一切现代化不过是一个新的诺言。”甚至更糟糕，因为如同刘晓波后来说的，如果中国没有民主的独裁统治崛起，那对中国和世界自由民主的未来将构成灾难。
第五次现代化是一种有先见之明的、强有力的民主呼吁，它还说明了为什么人们可以追求幸福的第一个目标，也就是自由。
魏京生呼吁人们不要相信没有自由和民主的现代化。我们不应该再相信"这样的政治骗子了，"他说。我们都被欺骗了。
共产主义意识形态不过是"画饼充饥"和"望梅止渴"。魏京生说，这些都是谎言。
他直接对中国人民说，30年来人们就像"猴子捞月亮一样，怎么能不一场空呢？"。我们应该默默地相信自己，而不是骗子，我们应当务实和实事求是。我们不应该相信独裁者"稳定与团结"之谈。法西斯极权主义只能给我们带来灾难。我们受到了文化大革命的恐怖磨砺，不能再一无所知了。让我们自己找出应该做的事情。
魏京生呼吁的现代化不仅仅是社会制度，也是人民。他说，只有当中国人民先实行了民主，中国的社会制度才能现代化。否则，社会就会陷入停滞。
在此，魏京生卓越地期待到诺贝尔奖得主阿马蒂亚·森的观点，即民主具有建设性价值，也就是意味着通过民主参与，人们"相互学习"并成为能够帮助社会形成价值与优先权的更有经验的公民。换句话说，民主不仅仅是一套制度或成品，而是一个人们尊重彼此，捍卫自己的利益，并成熟为公民和政治团体成员的过程。这就是为什么，如同魏京生所述："民主的社会制度是一切发达——或叫现代化——的前提和先决条件。"
1978年，也就是文化大革命十二年后，魏京生说"人民终于认识到了目标的所在，认清了斗争的真正方向，认出了他们真正领袖——民主的旗帜。西单民主墙成为他们向一切反动势力所作斗争的第一个阵地。当我们团结在这一伟大而真实的旗帜下，斗争就会取得胜利。”
这场斗争在1989年6月4日的天安门大屠杀中达到了高潮。但战斗还没有结束。在天安门大屠杀30周年接近之际，让全球的我们团结起来，一致为正在捍卫自己权利的中国人民声援。一位在中国的朋友，作家兼知识分子，上周给我写道："我们将继续为大中华即将到来的转型而努力。"
即将到来的转型是一个充满希望的目标。我们在中国的朋友没有放弃，我们也不应放弃。我们的目标应该是支持他们，因为我们这样做也是支持我们自己的未来并得以建立一个更加民主与和平的世界。
讲话的原始链接：
https://www.ned.org/tribute-to-congresswoman-marcy-kaptur-and-wei-jingsheng/
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