BERLIN—As China’s Wen Jiabao dined with Germany’s chancellor on the evening of June 27, across town a Nobel laureate took part in a reading from the blogs of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, while not far from the state dinner a group of Falun Gong practitioners silently meditated.
Herta Mueller, a German novelist known for depicting how life under communism displaces all sources of meaning, won the Nobel Prize in 2009, which was the twentieth anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.
She and the painter Norbert Bisky and the poet Uwe Kolbe together read from Ai’s blog texts at an ad hoc event held at Literaturhaus in Fasanenstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg, to support dissidents in China. That the event took place at the same time as Wen Jiabao’s dinner with Angela Merkel was not a coincidence.
A translated German version of the blog texts will appear in book format at July 25, 2011, under the title Don’t Resort to False Hopes About Me—The Banned Blog, published by Galiani Berlin.
Ms. Mueller was clearly moved by the passages from Ai’s blog that had been read and spoke of his situation without mincing words, comparing his arrest for “economic crimes” to her own experience. Ms. Mueller grew up in Ceausescu’s Romania.
“All of us who are familiar with living under a dictatorship are familiar with industrial espionage and the crimes associated with it. I was never arrested, but had always feared being accused of trumped-up charges,” said Ms. Mueller. “I was frequently interrogated and accused of concocted crimes—like black market activities, prostitution or currency smuggling. No one ever put literature into the mix.”
“Such immense cowardice—to concoct anything and all things, merely to stifle opinions about the party, or to prevent someone from commenting on the state of affairs in society,” Ms. Mueller said, referring to behavior of both the Romanian and Chinese communists.
Ai was unexpectedly released from prison on June 22—some believe the release was done in order to smooth Wen’s visit to Europe, but he has been silenced. He is not allowed to talk to press or public as a condition for his release.
Dinner in the Liebermann Villa
Whether the German government’s choice of location for the dinner for Wen was meant to be significant is not known. But the supporters of Ai gathered in Charlottenburg could not help noting the irony of the setting for the state dinner.
Max Liebermann was a painter who spent many a summer’s day with his palette at the villa that bears his name. He resigned from all his public duties on May 11, 1933, the day after the Nazis burned 25,000 books in Opera Square in Berlin.
He declared to the press, “All my life long I have endeavored to be a champion for the arts in Germany. As far as I am concerned, art has nothing to do with politics, nor one’s origins. That is why I can no longer in good conscience remain a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts, since my world view is [in their eyes] no longer valid.”
He died in Berlin in 1935. His wife Martha, also like him of Jewish origin, committed suicide on March 10, 1943 in Berlin, after she had received deportation orders to the concentration camp Theresienstad.
Outside the Dinner
The practitioners of Falun Gong in China could easily understand the sentiments of the Liebermanns. They have seen the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) burn their books and hundreds of thousands of them have been detained inside forced labor camps. In July 1999, the CCP, fearing that the popularity of this spiritual practice competed with the Party’s hold on the Chinese people, set out to “eradicate” it.
Falun Gong involves doing 5 sets of meditative exercises and living according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Since 1995 it has spread from its native China to over 100 countries, including Germany.
German and Chinese practitioners of Falun Gong gathered in the neighborhood where the state dinner was held for a peaceful demonstration. They displayed banners demanding an end to the murder of Falun Gong adherents in China and court proceedings for those responsible. Some sat in the lotus position and meditated.
The Berlin police granted them a respectful, supportive space. Ms. Waltraud Ng, the group’s spokesperson, told The Epoch Times, “We once again plead with Chancellor Merkel, to use all her means to do her best to end the persecution of Falun Gong.”
Friends Read Free