Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1201-W825
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1201-W825
Release
Date: March 26, 2019
发布日：2019年3月26日
Topic:
Do We Want Democracy, or a New Dictatorship? After 40 Years, the Question Is Still There (Voice of America
report)
标题：要民主还是新独裁，40年后，叩问犹在（美国之音报道）
Original
Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
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Do
We Want Democracy, or a New Dictatorship?
After 40 Years, the Question Is Still There
March
26, 2019 08:43
-- By
Xiao Yu, Voice of America
Washington
-
On
March 25, 1979, a large-character poster "Do We Want Democracy, or a New
Dictatorship?" appeared on the Xidan Democracy Wall in Beijing. The author was Wei Jingsheng, a
28-year-old electrician working in the Beijing Zoo.
"If
the people do not have the right to freely express their opinions -- there is
no freedom of speech, where would be democracy?"
"Any
individual who wants to get the unlimited trust from the people, is a person of
ambition without exception."
"People
must be wary of Deng Xiaoping becoming a dictator."
This
3,000-word essay was sharp and full of disrespect to Deng Xiaoping, whom it
argued was a person who was taking a dictatorial path.
Four
days later, Wei Jingsheng was arrested.
Forty
years later, this famous Chinese dissident in exile in the USA accepted an
exclusive interview with the Voice of America at his home in the suburbs of
Washington. Wei Jingsheng said
that before he wrote the article, he had already received internal news that
Deng Xiaoping intended to suppress the Democracy Wall.
"At
that time, I got the information in advance. The news from the children of the Ministry of Public
Security said that the Ministry of Public Security had made two lists for Deng
Xiaoping to review. The larger
list was more than 80 people, and the smaller list was 36 people." He said, "When 36 people were
arrested, this Democracy Wall will be gone. They were all the leaders. The Communist Party knows this very well, to put down the
movement one should arrest the leaders."
Wei
Jingsheng told the Voice of America that he was ready to die at that time. His only hope then was that after his
arrest, the rebound of various parties could delay the further suppression by
the authorities and allow the Democracy Wall to survive a little longer.
As
a result, he and his companions who founded the underground publication
"Exploration" made a decision -- to attract the deadly fire in the
way to spare the others.
Wei
Jingsheng said: "Because I knew Deng Xiaoping's character. Many of my father's old comrades had
some relationships with Deng Xiaoping (Wei Jingsheng was born in a high-ranking
Communist official's family in Beijing).
I heard about Deng Xiaoping from an early age. Deng Xiaoping was a person with a natural born sense of
inferiority. So he reacted very
quickly and very strongly especially when he was criticized and insulted. So I thought of this strategy of
tricking the snake out of his den."
"Deng
Xiaoping reacted exactly as I expected.
I wrote an article and named him and warned that he wanted to be a
dictator. That article stimulated
Deng Xiaoping, and also warned the old Communist cadres as they were just
released from prisons. They were
very disgusted with the lawlessness during the Mao Zedong era. The first thing they wanted to do was
establish a legal system. The
second idea was that they wanted no more dictators, otherwise everyone will
suffer."
"As
soon as I named Deng Xiaoping, there were also many people within the Communist
Party who opposed him. The
reaction of these old cadres, the reaction of the international community, and
the reaction of the Chinese people put a lot of pressure on Deng Xiaoping. In the end, my life was saved, although
I was convicted with a very heavy sentence."
In
October 1979, the Intermediate People's Court in Beijing sentenced Wei
Jingsheng to 15 years in prison for "counterrevolutionary crimes."
Wei
Jingsheng recalled that when the judge pronounced his sentence, his body swayed
a little, and the nearby policeman quickly took hold of him and said: "Old
Wei, hold on."
"They
did not know, that I was happy, I survived," Wei Jingsheng said it
happily.
Wei
Jingsheng said that his case has become a watershed incident in the Chinese
judicial community. Since then,
political prisoners in China have not been sentenced to death.
Speaking
of political prisoners, Wei Jingsheng thought of a dialogue that he had in
prison, with a criminal who was arranged to monitor him:
"He
was a rapist of a young girl from a rural area, without any education. Once he talked to me about how police
were polite to political prisoners.
I asked, do you know what being a political prisoner means? He could not read because of lacking
education. But he said: I know --
we the criminals hurt others for our own gain, while you political prisoners
hurt yourselves for others' benefits."
Wei
Jingsheng said that this is "the most standard definition of 'political
prisoner' in the world" he ever heard.
In
1979, Robert Suettinger, a scholar who studied Chinese issues in Washington DC,
went to China for the first time.
"Western
sinologists have a saying that China's reforms progress smoothly in even years
and go backwards in odd years. I
went to China in odd years," he said.
A
few months earlier, at the 40th anniversary of the Democracy Wall Movement
Commemoration sponsored by the Wei Jingsheng Foundation, Mr. Suettinger
recalled that in June 1979, as an analyst at the CIA, he was sent to the US
Embassy in China. Shortly after he
arrived in Beijing, the US Embassy asked him to go check on the Democracy Wall.
The
impression Mr. Suettinger had of the Beijing city at that time was very large
and with a backward transportation system. He rode a "Flying Pigeon" brand through the dusty
streets and went all the way to Xidan.
"That
was the starting point for me to truly understand the people of Beijing,"
Mr. Suettinger commented on the Democracy Wall movement this way.
He
said that the people in Beijing were very curious about the foreigner who
appeared at the Democracy Wall and wanted to see what he wrote on his notebook. There were also some people in the
crowd who look very different from the ordinary people. They wore well-ironed white shirts, in
black trousers and brown glasses with silver trim.
"I
knew who they were," said Mr. Suettinger. These security officials of the Communist Party not only
came to read his notes, but also followed him all the way back to the US
Embassy.
"For
me, all this was very exciting.
Even though I knew that the Communist Party wanted to destroy the
Democracy Wall and want to discourage the Chinese people, the Chinese were not
afraid to express their opinions and were not afraid to be discovered," he
said. The light of democracy was
receding, but it was still shining."
By
the end of 1979, the space of the Democracy Wall was almost completely crushed
by the authorities.
Mr.
Suettinger said that at that time, he and some people who were concerned about
the Chinese democracy movement still hoped that the democratic and free views
expressed by people like Wei Jingsheng could continue. In the era of Hu Yaobang and Zhao
Ziyang, it seemed that such hopes had blinked, but obviously that was not the
reform Deng Xiaoping wanted.
"So
although Deng Xiaoping is hailed as a reformer in the United States today, in
fact, he has done more harm than good to reforms in China," he said.
Mr.
Suettinger said that today's Beijing is full of wealth, success and
modernity. Going back to Beijing
again, he would not be able to find his way to Xidan from the US Embassy
anymore.
But
some things have not changed. He
said that the Communist Party that Wei Jingsheng and his friends called to
change 40 years ago has not changed.
It still has not become a political party that listens to the voices and
needs of the people.
In
1979, Mr. Suettinger went to China for the first time. He said that it was the most impressive
China trip he ever had. After
that, China has become an even more undemocratic and non-free place.
"I
miss the Democracy Wall," he said.
Original
link of this report:
https://www.voachinese.com/a/anniversary-wei-jingsheng-publishing-democracy-20190325/4848144.html
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1201-W825
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1201-W825
Release
Date: March 26, 2019
发布日：2019年3月26日
Topic:
Do We Want Democracy, or a New Dictatorship? After 40 Years, the Question Is Still There (Voice of America
report)
标题：要民主还是新独裁，40年后，叩问犹在（美国之音报道）
Original
Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（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/report2019/report2019-03/WeiJSessay40anniversary190326VOAexclusiveA1201-W825.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------
要民主还是新独裁，40年后，叩问犹在
2019年3月26日
08:43
-- 美国之音萧雨
华盛顿 -
1979年3月25日，北京西单民主墙上出现一张大字报《要民主还是要新的独裁》。作者是时年28岁的北京动物园电工魏京生。
"如果人民连自由发表意见的权利--言论自由都没有，哪里还谈得上什么民主？"
"任何想换取人民无限信任的个人，无一例外地都是野心家。"
"人民必须警惕邓小平蜕化为独裁者。"
这篇3000多字的檄文用词尖锐，充满不敬，指名道姓地批评邓小平正在走一条独裁道路。
四天后，魏京生被捕。
40年后，这位流亡美国的中国知名异见人士在华盛顿市郊的家中接受了美国之音的专访。魏京生说，当年写那篇文章前，他已经得到内部消息，邓小平打算镇压民主墙。
"那时候我事先得到消息了。公安部那帮孩子传来的消息，说公安部制定了两个名单，送邓小平去批，大的名单是80多个人，小的名单是36个人，"他说，"
36个人一抓，这民主墙也就没了，抓的都是头儿嘛。共产党很懂这个，擒贼先擒王。"
魏京生告诉美国之音，当时他做好了掉脑袋的准备。唯一的希望是，自己被捕后，各方的反弹能够延缓当局进一步镇压，让民主墙多存活一些时日。
于是，他和一起创办地下刊物《探索》的几位同伴做了一个决定--引火烧身。
魏京生说："因为我知道邓小平的性格。我父亲很多老战友都是跟邓小平有这关系、那关系的（魏京生出生于北京一个共产党高级干部家庭），从小我就听说很多邓小平的事情。邓小平这个人有天生的自卑感。所以他对于批评他的事、侮辱他的事，反应特别快而且特别强烈。
所以我就想到这个，咱们也来个引蛇出洞。"
"邓小平果然上钩了。我写了一篇文章点他的名，说邓小平要独裁。那篇文章一个是刺激了邓小平，一个是提醒了党内的老干部，因为当时很多的老干部是刚刚从监狱出来不久，他们对中共毛泽东时代的无法无天非常反感。他们第一是要建立法制，第二个想法就是不能再有一个独裁者了，否则大家谁也受不了。"
"我一点他名，党内也有很多人反对他。这些老干部的反应、国际社会的反应、国内老百姓的反应，对邓小平构成了很大的压力，最后我这命还是保下来了，虽然判得很重。"
1979年10月，北京市中级人民法院以"反革命罪"判处魏京生15年徒刑。
魏京生回忆说，法官宣判时，他的身子摇晃了一下，旁边的法警赶紧过来扶住他，对他说："老魏，挺住。"
"他们不知道，我那是高兴啊，我活下来了，"魏京生乐了。
魏京生说，他的案子成为中国司法界一个分水岭的事件，从那以后，中国的政治犯没有判过死刑。
说到政治犯，魏京生想到在监狱里，他曾和一位当局派来监视他的刑事犯有过这样一段对话：
"那是个强奸幼女犯，农村的，没什么文化。有一次他跟我叨叨，你们这些政治犯，警察怎么都对你们那么客气。我说，你知道什么叫政治犯啊？他没读过书，不认字。他说，我知道，我们刑事犯都是为了自己得好处伤害别人，你们政治犯都是为了别人得好处伤害自己。"
魏京生说，这是他听到过的"全世界最标准的政治犯定义"。
1979年，华盛顿研究中国问题的学者苏葆立（Robert
Suettinger）第一次来到中国。
"西方汉学家们有个说法，中国的改革在偶数年顺畅，奇数年倒退。我是在奇数年来到中国的，"他说。
几个月前，在魏京生基金会主办的一场纪念民主墙运动40周年的活动上， 苏葆立回忆说，1979年6月，在中央情报局做分析员的他被派驻美国驻华使馆。刚到北京不久，大使馆就让他去民主墙看看。
在苏葆立的印象里，那时的北京城很大，交通落后。他蹬着一辆飞鸽牌自行车，穿过灰尘弥漫的街巷，一路骑到西单。
"那是我真正认识北京老百姓的起点，"苏葆立这样评价民主墙运动。
他说，北京的老百姓对这位出现在民主墙的外国人很好奇，都想凑过来看看他在本子上记什么。人群中也有一些看起来和老百姓很不一样，穿着浆得笔挺的白衬衫、黑裤子，戴着镶银边的茶色眼镜。
"我知道他们是谁，"苏葆立说，这些共产党的安全官员不仅凑过来看他的笔记，还尾随他一路回到美国大使馆。
"对我来说，这一切都非常激动人心，尽管我知道共产党想要消灭民主墙，想要让人们气馁，但是人们并不害怕表达他们的观点，不害怕被人发现，"
他说，"民主之光在退去，但还在闪耀。"
到了1979年底，民主墙的生存空间几乎被当局碾压殆尽。
苏葆立说，那时候，他和一些关注中国民主运动的人依然希望，魏京生们所表达的民主、自由观点能持续下去。在胡耀邦、赵紫阳时代，似乎曾闪现过这样的希望，但显然，这并非邓小平心中的改革。
"因此尽管今天邓小平在美国被誉为一位改革者，事实上，他给中国改革造成的弊大于利，"他说。
苏葆立说，今天的北京处处透着富有、成功、现代。再回北京，他一定找不到当年从美国大使馆骑车去西单的路了。
但是有些东西没有变，他说，40年前魏京生和他的朋友们呼吁改变的那个政党没有变，它依然没有成为一个倾听人民心声和需求的政党。
1979年苏葆立第一次去中国。他说，那是让他印象最深刻的一次中国之行。在那之后，中国变成了一个更加不民主、不自由的地方。
"我怀念民主墙，"他说。
报道的原始链接：
https://www.voachinese.com/a/anniversary-wei-jingsheng-publishing-democracy-20190325/4848144.html
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