Freedom Cage

Across that yellow sun
A place I used to call home
So few will try to overcome
When the cage begins to dump us all

Freedom is dying
Fading as time change the way we think

We live in denial
It doesn't get smart
When you don't belong
And some see it as big enough to live

Hidden here to stay
Regret those words and pay
You just can't pray it away
When the cage begins to dump us all

Freedom is dying
The mystery is bigger than we know
We live in denial
In rooms of dirt
We look at monitors
So the work is left undone

My name is Chang Ping. Ten years ago I had been fired for critical reporting.  Now the government of Hong Kong denies me permission to work there.  My family and I now live in exile.

This exchange it's never fair
In this freedom cage.....we are stuck in this freedom cage.

Read full article

IN CHINA, JOURNALISTS OFTEN FACE REPRISALS. BUT THE EDITOR IN THE MIND PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN THE LACK OF CRITICAL REPORTING

When I was young, I read Kafka's "Hunger Artist." At the end of the story, when, following the death of the hunger artist, a young panther is locked in a cage, Kafka wrote: "…it didn't even appear to miss its freedom. This noble body, equipped with everything it needed, almost to the point of rupture, even appeared to carry freedom around with it. It seemed to keep it somewhere in its teeth…" Drawn by his words, I decided back then to learn from the panther and carry my freedom around with me.

Initially I used that freedom to write poetry and novels, then later I moved into journalism. I soon discovered a secret. Unlike the cage in which the young panther seemed to enjoy living, the one in which we are locked, is constantly changing. Ever present around us, it is growing more constrictive without our even noticing.

Ten years ago the Internet was used a tool to fight against the restriction of freedom, now it is used by the state to, allegedly, ensure stability. Ten years ago, although press freedom, civil society, Tibet and Xinjiang were sensitive subjects, "mainstream" media was still at liberty to discuss them. Now that space has gone.

Ten years ago, I had been fired once for critical reporting, but a short while thereafter I had the chance to publish two political weekly magazines and to write many commentaries as a result. Since then, I have been stripped of the opportunity to work as a journalist and write articles on mainland China, and even the government of Hong Kong denies me permission to work there. Against that backdrop, my family and I now live in exile.

Meanwhile the cage continues to contract, fooling many who live within its confines. Some see it as big enough to allow them and their friends to live and work in peace as long as they do not come up against its edges. Others believe the cage is getting bigger by the day, and their freedom with it. Then there are those who have recognized the truth, but who fool themselves and others, or people who blame the conditions of the cage on those locked inside, saying it is becoming more restrictive as a result of their own disobedience.

This thinking results in the cage becoming ever smaller. But the most monstrous thing is that such thoughts were spawned from within its bounds. The cage doesn't only restrict freedom through imprisonment, but by changing thinking. It leads people to believe that life inside it is full of freedom, prosperity and happiness.

While those in the cage have to accept the brainwashing, those on the outside are happy not to be locked in, to have avoided that fate. But what they don't recognize is that the cage is constantly changing, swallowing more pieces of the world.

Caged China doesn't only lack freedom, but resistance to the restraints upon it. And the world outside is threatened by this narrowing of liberties and weakening of the very spirit of freedom.

I used to see opinion pieces as missions more than acts of writing. Akin to shouting loudly on the streets. I would dream, having fought for my freedom, of returning to my study to read and write in peace. Now I finally understand that such freedom doesn't exist in this world. The fight for freedom is an eternal battle.

Chang Ping is a Chinese journalist and political commentator with many years of media experience. He currently lives in Germany. Read full lyrics

Speech Is Freedom

Well, I’m honored.
But I can’t say that I’m happy
They say foreign awards are sugar-coated poison
Which should be firmly rejected

They say it’s all part of a plot
But time goes by, and it’s not, it’s not

Freedom, peace, human rights, democracy, civil society
Constitutionalism, independence, these things that take your breath away
Are frightening words that back in my place have sent people to their death

They say it’s all part of a plot
But time goes by, and it’s not, it’s not

Speech is freedom itself
Don’t let it be an old book on your shelf

In China political prisoners are made criminals for their speeches
Convicted of various trumped up crimes, like in a dictatorship

They say the world is forming a plot
But time goes by, and it’s not, and it’s not

I have been fighting for speaking out, that’s why I’m here, that’s for sure
Without freedom of speech, nothing will be left in the civilized world

They say the world is forming a plot
But time goes by, and it’s not, it’s not

Speech is freedom itself
Don’t let it be an old book on your shelf

We can’t return to China.
Where people can’t say what they want to say

I don’t get to see my mother
Or my relatives or talk to my father

Read full article

Thank you, thank you, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression — and thank you everyone!

I am honored and certainly very happy to be here — but at the same time, I can’t really say that I am. When a Chinese citizen receives an award outside China, I don’t know whether he or she should be happy or worried. It could bring punishment to the recipient and his or her family. In China, a foreign award is often described as sugar-coated poison which should be firmly rejected, because the foreigners always have an agenda, usually a plot to overthrow the Chinese government.
What’s maddening is that it’s been so long and the foreigners still haven’t succeeded in implementing this plot.
Freedom, peace, human rights, democracy, constitutionalism, independence, civil society… these are frightening words that have sent some of China’s most courageous men and women to jail: Wang Bingzhang (王炳章), Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), Ilham Tohti, Liu Xianbin (刘贤斌), Yao Wentian (姚文田), Dolma Kyab, Gulmira Imin, Kunchok Tsephel, Gheyret Niyaz, Hada (哈达), Liao Yiwu (廖亦武), Shi Tao (师涛), Hu Jia (胡佳), Xu Zhiyong (许志永), Tan Zuoren (谭作人), Chen Xi (陈西), Chen Wei (陈卫), Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄), Liu Yuandong (刘远东), Wang Mo (王默), Liu Ping (刘萍), Zhou Shifeng (周世锋), Hu Shigen (胡石根), Tang Jingling (唐荆陵), Wu Gan (吴淦), Wang Quanzhang (王全璋), Xie Yanyi (谢燕益), Li Heping (李和平)…
…and sent some of the most ardent advocates of these values to their deaths: Wang Shiwei (王实味), Chu Anping (储安平), Lin Zhao (林昭), Yu Luoke (遇罗克), Zhang Zhixin (张志新), Li Wangyang (李旺阳), Cao Shunli (曹顺利)…

Tonight, we gather to celebrate freedom of speech. So why did I read the names of so many of China’s political prisoners? That is because most of China’s political prisoners are made criminals for their speech. They might have been convicted of various trumped up crimes, but all they have done is nothing more than express dissent.
China’s political space is very narrow, and getting narrower. Citizens have almost no way of engaging in opposition activities other than speech. Meanwhile, speech is the beginning of everything. Dictators often realize the power of speech more than anyone else.
That’s why they brutally suppress every independent voice in China. That’s why they hate the demonstrations in Hong Kong. That’s why they are buying up news media in Taiwan. That’s why they are pushing their propaganda on the world, especially in Western democracies.
They demand that all Chinese media must toe the Party line; they build partnership with newspapers in Australia and radio stations in the United States; they deny visas to foreign journalists; and they are forcing Facebook to build a wall and pay for it.
Mr. Trump, who also wants to build a wall, will have to learn from China’s leaders, or he’ll have no chance to be praised by Prime Minister Trudeau as a “remarkable leader.”
If you are a slow learner, don’t worry. The Chinese government will be tireless in teaching you. Lesson one: For Whom the Bell Tolls. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, clearly taught you this here in Canada in June: “You have no right to speak about our human rights. Only the Chinese people have the right to speak about this issue.” But the truth is that the Chinese people are actually never allowed to speak out.
I have been fighting for speaking out. People often ask me: Why are you willing to make such sacrifices for freedom of speech? I have never hesitated in answering: Without freedom of speech, nothing will be left in the civilized world. Speech is freedom itself. If we don’t fight for it, our freedom will be completely lost.

My seven-year-old daughter loves museums. She once said to me, “Daddy, don’t become more handsome, or you will be locked in a museum.” What she meant to say is that, Daddy is capable of everything except speaking German as well as she does. But she doesn’t know that I’m unable even to explain to her why we can’t return to China. How do I tell her that, in many places where human beings live, people don’t even have the freedom to say what they want to say?

To my mother and my father in Sichuan, China, I wish you could be here with me to share this beautiful night. You have always been proud of me, but I can’t even tell you about this prize I’m receiving. All my loved ones in China, I have stopped contacting you, precisely because I love each one of you.
Thank you everyone! Read full lyrics