海外的左派 （Oversea leftists)

有一位我许久未联系的中学同学，我曾经十分佩服他的博学和对中国问题的关注。当他在国内时，他长篇大论地讨论社会不公。记得近十多年前我在美国，在信中他提到警匪勾结，认为是社会一大黑瘤。后来他又提到中国网络警察的数目胜过街上维护治安的警察。多年后我发现他的观察远远早于社会报道，很佩服他的洞见。大约9年前，我这个同学带妻儿来到美国，先是作访问学者，后来找了份正式研究工作留了下来。因为他的工作不再是他过去的尖端研究项目，挑战性不大，业余时间他成为活跃的网上中文论坛的参与者，写了不少长篇的 政论文。7年前我稍稍浏览了他的文章，觉得他十分爱国，大谈中国应如何与美进行军事对抗，当时觉得他的论点偏激，没有太在意。

昨天去到他的网页，看到他最近这两个月的博客，不禁无比震惊。关于刘晓波的得奖，国内国外的声音我听到的都是认同的。问到在国内的朋友，有人说不同意他的政治观点，但还是支持他要求言论自由的理念。国内自由派的博客网上，更是充满激动和受鼓舞，为刘晓波得奖而热泪盈眶。没想到我的这个同学在博客里说，刘晓波是卖国，是让中国分裂的罪人，应该关到刑满（10年后）为止再放出来。他进而说，中共让中国人民翻了身，现在又在经济上迅速追上英美发达国家，这证明了中共领导的正确。一切反对中共的人都是分裂主义者。因为一旦中共不当政，西藏、新疆、内蒙都会闹独立。反中共的实际上就是民族罪人，所以他完全支持政府打压这些人。读着这些文章，我感到目瞪口呆。现政权的蛮横和暴戾，在我这个同学的博客中口若悬河地表达出来，其理由似乎绝对正确。而我这个同学是个优秀的科学家（国内一流研究所的骨干），算是中国的精英知识分子。他的思想必然代表了不少人。再看看他的博客发表的地方：mitbbs. 这是一个在美国的亲共网站，所以他的博客在那里发表倒不奇怪。但我也知道mitbbs的网流巨大（在美国排1004名，根据Alexa.com），仅次于另一个中文网站“文学城”（wenxuecity.com）(在美国网流量排684名)。支持中国现政权的看来还真人数不少。

以爱国的名义而崇尚暴力、践踏言论，以爱国的名义而无条件地支持一个集权，反对任何少数民族的基本诉求（其实中国现在也设民族自治区），这是怎样一种理念和教育传统？一个在海外的中国知识分子尚且如此想，在中国上层的利益集团和军人中，这种观念岂不是更深？

看来普世价值的教育在中国任重道远，而民主的路仍然漫长。

The long and hard fight

No dictator is willing to voluntarily give up his throne. No dominating party, especially the one that enjoys unprecedentedly monopoly of power for the last 60 years, is going to relinquish its power without a fight.  This means using secret police, harassing and jailing people. This may mean lying blatantly on major news media and to the world. This may mean suppressing any information that challenges its rule.  If we have any hope for the Chinese communist party to automatically change and reform itself, we are facing a cold reality.

Today when we observe the outrageous house arrest of Liu Xiaobo's wife -- Liu Xia, when we hear about the arbitrary detention of dissidents who merely have dinner to celebrate Liu's awards, we are face to face with that cold reality. The communist government is fighting to the teeth to preserve the status quo. This suggest that road to a free China is going to be a long and hard struggle.
  
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle." After he was put in Birmingham jail for his protest, he wrote the famous Letter from Birmingham Jail to answer the conservative and "well-meaning" people's accusation that he was not patient enough to wait. King said, "Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was 'well timed' in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that 'justice too long delayed is justice denied.'"

Answering the question: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" King said, "You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word 'tension.' I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood."

He pointed out "We have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily."

Change does not come automatically. It comes through people's struggle and tireless push. As King said, "Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."

As we are walking toward the dawn of a democratic China, we must be prepared for a long and hard fight.