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美国笔会将一项最高荣誉——美国笔会暨芭芭拉·戈德史密斯自由写作奖颁发给至今仍处于秘密监禁中的中国著名作家刘晓波。4月28日星期二晚上，美国笔会在纽约自然历史博物馆召开的盛大晚宴上，芭芭拉·戈德史密斯女士亲自宣读颁奖词，独立中文笔会会长郑义和副秘书长李江琳代表刘晓波接受了奖项，并由李江琳宣读了刘晓波妻子的答词。刘霞在答词中写道：“我觉得刘晓波正是以诗人的激情在推动中国的民主，以诗人的激情一再对独裁者说不！不！不！”（刘霞答词另发。）与会者对刘霞的答词报以热烈的掌声。
刘晓波是国际笔会重要的活动家，现任独立中文笔会理事，曾任独立中文笔会两届会长。去年底，刘晓波因参与起草要求实现民主与人权的《零八宪章》并发起联署活动，被中国警方秘密关押。消息传出，全世界众多作家极为震惊，纷纷致电发言，表示强烈抗议。西方各国政要也表示严重关切，呼吁中国政府尽快释放。据刘霞透露，刘晓波被关押在一个没有窗户的小房间里，不允许放风，身体状况欠佳。
美国笔会新任会长克瓦米·安东尼·阿皮亚说：“让我们大家生活有意义的自由，一直总依赖于那些像刘晓波一样愿意把自己的自由置于险境的人……每当我读到有关他所做的那些不寻常的事，我充满钦佩，事实上还有崇敬。”美国笔会自由写作和国际项目主任拉里·赛姆斯还敦促奥巴马政府积极争取刘晓波的释放，以澄清美国对中国人权问题的立场。
出席晚宴的有600多名美国作家和社会名流。在自然历史博物馆前厅举行了鸡尾酒会，随后在大展厅举行了高规格的颁奖仪式。颁奖前，播放了一部新近制作的介绍刘晓波的视频短片。
美国笔会芭芭拉自由写作奖在国际上享有崇高声誉。自1987年设立此奖以来，已有44位人士获奖。去年获奖者是独立中文笔会系狱作家杨天水。34位在获奖时仍在狱中的自由写作奖得主，有31位随后获释。
独立中文笔会新闻稿
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（2008年4月29日纽约讯）在聚焦中国人权纪录之夜，美国笔会于星期二将2009年笔会暨芭芭拉·戈德史密斯自由写作奖，授予中国最杰出的异议作家兼活动家之一、国际笔会运动重要领导人刘晓波。刘晓波因合写了一份关于政治和人权改革的呼吁书，于 2008年12月8日被关押，未予诉罪或审判而“监视居住”在北京一未知地点。
知识分子和文学评论家刘晓波的成年生活，大部分是作为中国政府的打击目标而渡过的。他在八九民主运动中起了重要作用，到天安门广场进行绝食支持学生，并带头呼吁一个真正具有广泛基础的可持续的民主运动。他通过支持和推动呼吁学生非暴力，防止了广场上更进一步的流血。即使在为此系狱两年后，刘晓波仍继续为言论自由和民主说和写。从1996年起，他又在劳教所中渡过了 三年，此后经常遭到关押、骚扰和监视，直到他最近这次被拘捕。
刘晓波昨晚因其生平贡献获奖，包括他一直担任独立中文笔会领导人。独立中文笔会是一个在中国勇敢进行脚踏实地倡导工作的国际文学和人权组织，尽管遭到中国当局持续打压。刘晓波在2003-2007年担任该会会长，现任理事。
昨晚，独立中文笔会副秘书长李江琳宣读了刘晓波妻子刘霞的感人致辞。她说：“我知道，这个奖并不是要鼓励作为诗人的刘晓波，而是要激励作为政论家和《零八宪章》起草者的刘晓波。我要向每个人提醒他这两种身份之间的紧密联系。我觉得，晓波是在用他作为诗人的深度和激情在推进中国民主运动。他以诗人的“不！不！不！”向专制者们激昂高喊。”
“在私下，他向至今还未获得伸张的六四死者的灵魂、向我、向他所有亲朋爱友喃喃低语：‘是的，是的’ ！”她最后说。
2008年12月8日，刘晓波以涉嫌“煽动颠覆国家政权”被拘捕。拘捕发生在《零八宪章》公布的前夕，这份他合写的不寻常的声明呼吁政治改革、更多人权和终止一党专制。警方于晚上9时到达他家， 11时将其拘禁，并抄家没收了电脑和其他物品。自他被拘押以来，几乎所有《零八宪章》首批签署者都遭到传讯，以收集对付他的证据。尽管有这种打压，《零八宪章》目前已经得到中国各地超过8500各界人士联署。
笔会会员爱德华•阿尔比在晚会上说：“艺术能改变事物，抗议真的造成很大差别。我要对刘说得话很简单，‘谢谢你在做的一切。请继续下去，我们与你同在！’”
美国笔会是国际笔会在全世界的145个分会之一。国际笔会致力推进世界各地作家间的友谊和理性合作，为言论自由奋斗，代表世界文学的良知。美国笔会和独立中文笔会一直共同合作，抗议中国当局对作家和新闻工作者的监禁、骚扰、监控，致力于结束中国对互联网的监控和对自由写作的种种限制。更多信息请访问：www.pen.org/china.
联系人： 美国笔会拉里·赛姆斯（Larry Siems），(212) 334-1660 ext. 111, lsiems@pen.org
（独立中文笔会翻译）
Prominent Writer Liu Xiaobo Honored in New York
New York City, April 29, 2009—On a night that held the spotlight on China’s human rights record, PEN American Center on Tuesday honored Liu Xiaobo, one of China’s preeminent dissident writers and activists and a leading figure in the PEN movement internationally, with the 2009 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Liu, who was detained on December 8, 2008 for co-authoring a declaration for political and human rights reforms, is being held without charge or trial under “residential surveillance” at an unknown location in Beijing.
An intellectual and literary critic, Liu Xiaobo has spent much of his adult life as a target of the Chinese government. He played a crucial role in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, staging a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square in support of the students and leading calls for a truly broad-based, sustainable democratic movement. He was instrumental in preventing even further bloodshed in the Square by supporting and advancing a call for non-violence on the part of the students. Even after spending two years in prison for his role, Liu Xiaobo continued to speak and write in favor of freedom of expression and democracy. He spent an additional three years in a reeducation-through-labor camp beginning in 1996, and was regularly detained, harassed, and surveilled until his most recent arrest.
Liu Xiaobo was honored last night for his life’s work, during which he has also been a leading figure in the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC), a center of the international literary and human rights organization that is doing courageous, on-the-ground advocacy work in China despite constant pressure from Chinese authorities. Liu served as President of ICPC from 2003 to 2007 and currently holds a seat on its Board.
Last night, in a moving statement prepared in Beijing and read by ICPC Deputy Secretary-General Li Jianglin, Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo’s wife, said, “I understand that this award is not meant to encourage Liu Xiaobo, the poet, but rather to encourage Liu Xiaobo, the political commentator and initiator of Charter 08. I would like to remind everyone of the close connection between these two identities. I feel that Xiaobo is using his intensity and passion as a poet to push the democracy movement forward in China. He shouts passionately as a poet ‘no, no, no!’ to the dictators.”
“[But] in private, he whispers gently to the dead souls of June 4th, who, to this day, have not received justice, as well as to me and to all his dear friends: ‘yes, yes,’” Ms. Liu concluded.
On December 8, 2008, Liu Xiaobo was arrested on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” The arrest came on the eve of the release of Charter 08, an extraordinary declaration that Liu had co-authored calling for political reform, greater human rights, and an end to one-party rule in China. Police arrived at his home just after 9:00 p.m., and at 11:00 p.m., they took him into custody and searched his home, confiscating computers and other materials. Since his arrest, nearly all of the original signatories of Charter 08 have been interrogated in a push to gather evidence on Liu. Despite this crackdown, the document has now been signed by more than 8,500 people from all walks of life throughout China.
“Art can change things, and protest really makes a big difference,” said PEN Member Edward Albee during the event. “What I would say to Liu is, very simply, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing. Please keep it up. We are with you.’”
PEN American Center is among the 145 worldwide centers of International PEN, an organization that works to promote friendship and intellectual cooperation among writers everywhere, to fight for freedom of expression, and represent the conscience of world literature. It has been working together with the Independent Chinese PEN Center to protest China’s imprisonment, harassment, and surveillance of writers and journalists and to seek an end to Internet censorship and other restrictions on the freedom to write in that country. For more information, please visit www.pen.org/china.
独立中文笔会副秘书长李江琳代刘霞致答词
2009年美国笔会芭芭拉自由写作奖颁奖会会场
左起美国笔会自由写作与国际项目主任拉里•赛姆斯、独立中文笔会会长郑义、芭芭拉•戈德史密斯女士、独立中文笔会副秘书长李江琳
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