——在國際筆會和平委員會亞太地區會議上的發言
歐洲之聲按語：2026年7月28日，國際筆會和平委員會舉行亞太地區會議，廖天琪作為和平委員會諮詢委員會成員受邀發表了演講。
親愛的筆會同仁們：
當今世界正處於極度動蕩之中。戰爭、暴力以及對言論自由的壓制正在多個地區蔓延。同時，我們也生活在一個充斥著假新聞、虛假信息和商業操控的時代。即使是成熟且經驗豐富的成年人，也難以辨認真相，更遑論成長於人工智能信息洪流中的兒童與青年。
國際政治格局同樣令人憂慮。美國、中國和俄羅斯是當今世界最具影響力的政治、經濟和軍事大國，也是聯合國安理會常任理事國。遺憾的是，它們並未真正成為世界和平最可靠的保障。相反，其中兩國在歐洲和中東發動侵略戰爭，另一國則不斷以武力威脅亞洲的和平，使世界陷入更深的不安與對立。
面對這樣的局勢，手無寸鐵的普通民眾能夠做什麽？沒有權力的作家又能夠做什麽？答案似乎令人沮喪。然而，人類歷史告訴我們，改變往往始於微弱的聲音。我們都熟知《聖經》中大衛戰勝歌利亞的故事：只要懷抱信念、勇氣和堅定的信心，弱者也能夠戰勝強者。真正渴望和平與自由的人，永遠比發動戰爭和制造恐懼的人更多。
作為作家，我們或許無法阻止坦克前進，也無法命令炮火停止，但我們能夠堅持記錄真相、捍衛自由、守護人的尊嚴。每一次真實的書寫，每一次勇敢的發聲，都是對謊言與暴力的抵抗，也是通向和平不可或缺的力量。
中國就是一個值得關註的例子。中國共產黨掌控著軍隊、警察和宣傳機器，持續打壓異議人士、作家、律師和記者，壓制不同聲音。在香港，自由派報紙和書店被迫關閉，民主人士相繼入獄，甚至書店從業者也因所謂對黨“不忠”而受到迫害。與此同時，所謂「中國人民解放軍」幾乎每日派遣軍機和軍艦在台灣周邊活動，使台灣海峽持續成為世界最危險的地區之一。
然而，抗爭從未停止。盡管網絡空間受到嚴密監控，審查無處不在，中國仍有無數博客作者、自媒體人和公民記者不斷揭露社會不公，為弱勢勞動者爭取權利，為遭受人口販運的婦女和兒童發聲。一個個網站被關閉，一篇篇文章被刪除，但新的平台、新的聲音依然不斷出現。
與此同時，各地針對腐敗、不公正司法和權力濫用的草根維權行動從未完全沈寂。流亡海外的香港人持續組織起來，支持仍然留在香港的民主人士和媒體工作者；海外的藏人和維吾爾人不斷向國際社會呼籲，抗議家鄉所遭受的文化壓迫與人權侵害。世界各地的華人民主團體也努力團結海內外力量，為中國人民爭取自由、民主與人權。
諾貝爾和平獎得主劉曉波便是這種精神最具代表性的象征。雖然他於2017年7月13日在獄中離世，他的名字、思想和著作至今仍在中國大陸遭到封禁，但他的精神遺產卻在世界各地繼續流傳。總部設於德國的華語媒體「歐洲之聲」（Sino Euro Voices）每年都會舉辦紀念活動；並與總部位於倫敦的「中國研究」（China Studies）共同設立「劉曉波人權獎」，表彰那些堅持追求自由與人權的人士。
今年，最早向世界披露武漢新冠疫情、先後兩次被判刑的上海公民記者張展，成為該獎項兩位獲獎者之一。這不僅是對她個人勇氣的肯定，也是國際社會對中國境內所有堅持真相、堅持良知者的支持。海外民主力量雖然無法替代中國人民爭取自由，卻能夠讓那些被噤聲的人知道，他們並不孤單，他們的聲音仍然能夠傳向世界。
中國有一句古老的諺語：「星星之火，可以燎原。」
每一篇真實的文字，每一次勇敢的發聲，每一位拒絕沈默的作者，都是黑暗中的一點火光。和平不會憑空降臨，它建立在真實、自由、勇氣和良知之上。
讓我們共同守護這些微弱卻堅定的光亮，讓它們彼此匯聚，終將照亮黑暗，照亮和平的未來。
Speech at the online meeting
of the Asia and Pacific Region held by PEN International, Writers of Peace Committee on 28.07.2026
Tienchi Martin-Liao
Dear Colleagues of PEN,
Our world is in a tremendous turbulent status, war, violence, suppression of freedom of expression are in all continents. We are surrounded with fake news, false information and commercial allure. It is difficult to find out the truth even for a mature and experienced adult, not to mention the children and youth, who are newcomers to the AI-information jungles.
The United States is the world’s strongest political,economic and military power,followed by global competitors like China and Russia. These three countries, which are also permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Unfortunately, these countries are not the guarantee of the security in the world, on the country, 2 of them started the aggressive wars in Europe and Middle East, one threated to launch the war in Asia.
What can the powerless people, powerless writers do to turn the tide，halt the war and create peace? It seems impossible. But we all know the story of David and Goliath, with faith, courage and inner conviction, the weaker can defeat the storonger. The people are the majority, the longing for peace and prosperity are stronger than the illusive ambition of a few politicians.
Take China as example, the Chinese Communist Party controls the military, police and propaganda machines of the country, it throws dissidents, lawyers, journalists into jail, strangles the voices of the disence. In HongKong, it shut down the liberal newspapers and closed the bookstore and detained the democratic personalities, even the employees in the bookstore are accused for their disloyalty to the Party. The so-called People Liberation Army sends dozens of military aircraft and warships daily circling around Taiwan, so that Taiwan Strait becomes the most dangerous spot in the World.
Yet, the resistance never stops. Online activities are recorded all the time. Despite the censorship Chinese bloggers disclose cases of social injustice, advocate human rights for the disprivileged workers, against human trafficing of women and childred. Thousands of blogs are shut down daily, it reappears again and again like bamboo shoots after the rain. Grassroots protests against the local corruption, unfair legal cases and abuse of power. The exile Hong Kongers are organized overseas to support the left behind democrats and media people in Hong Kong. The Tibetan and Uigurs outside China protest loudly against the cultural genocide in their hometown.
The exile organizations of the Chinese tried to unite the democratic forces inside and outside China to appeal for freedom, democracy and human rights for the country fellows.
For example, the Nobel Peace prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo, who died in prison on July 13 in 2017. His name, his thoughts and works are tabu in China, but his heritage has been upheld outside China.The Sino Euro Voices, a Chinese media based in Germany has organized yearly the commemoration for him. Together with the London basetd China Studies, they created a Liu Xiaobo human rights Award and Zhang Zhan, the Shanghai journalist who reported the outbreak of Covid 19 and was imprisoned for 4 years and now again sentenced for 4 years, becomes one of the two awardees this year.
Overseas democratic forces will consistently stand in solidarity with those facing suppression within China and speak up for them on the international stage.
A Chinese proverb says: „a single spark can start a prairie fire“. Let’s try to enlarge the spark and illuminate the darkness in the world.
