沒有人權，就沒有全人 Without Human rights, no human can do anything right ─ 第一屆劉曉波人權獎開幕致詞 謝志偉 中華民國台灣駐歐盟代表 各位敬愛的朋友，大家好！ 今天我很榮幸能以台灣駐歐盟代表的身分受邀出席第一屆劉曉波人權獎的頒獎典禮。作為開幕致詞來賓之一，我想以台灣的用語「人格者」來形容我對劉曉波這位當代中國的知識分子的敬仰，因為他的思想及行動是當今世界受到各種極權迫害的人類之典範。在台灣，「人格者」指的是擁有高貴情操，為了一個崇高的理念而犧牲小我，完成大我的人。 作為一位「人格者」，劉曉波的理想是要讓所有不幸被中國共產黨統治的中國人、圖博人、維吾爾人、南蒙人、香港人等有機緣成為「全人」。而我所謂的「全人」，指的是享有「天賦人權」的人。反過來說，「沒有人權，就沒有全人」。而中共謊稱「中國文化與西方的人權價值體系無法相容」來剝奪所有被他統治的人之「天賦人權」，唯有臣服於這個專制獨裁政權的人才算是完整的人，而，那不是完人，那應該是整人。 對此，容我指出，所謂西方的人權價值其實是普世價值，因為當初的歐美民族也必須透過契而不捨的努力、甚至各種犧牲才能使「天賦人權」成為顛撲不破的真理。也就是說，雖然叫「天賦人權」，但是它不會從天上掉下來——天上掉下來的只有雨滴和鳥屎。當年的美國內戰就是一個例子。 今年是美國獨立建國250週年，我在此以他們第16任總統林肯先生那篇於內戰中所發表的一篇至今仍膾炙人口的蓋茲堡演講的開端和結尾作為我致詞的基礎。1863年11月19日，美國內戰仍在進行中，林肯總統在賓夕法尼亞州的蓋茲堡悼念那些犧牲了寶貴生命的軍人做了一場至今仍然膾炙人口的短講。 演講的開頭是「八十七年前，我們的先人於這片大陸建立了一個新國家，它孕育於自由之中，並奉行一個信念：人人生而平等。」 人人生而平等、那是美國於1776年7月4日建國精神裡最簡潔而神聖的宣言。這篇演講稿的結語則是「吾人務必不能讓『民有、民治、民享』的政府自地球上消失。」各位朋友，人人生而平等是天賦人權的基礎，而民有、民治、民享的政府則是天賦人權的保障。 「民有」，代表國家屬於人民，而非某個政黨；「民治」，代表權力來自人民，而非暴力或特權；「民享」，代表一切施政，最終都是以人民的福祉為依歸。中共政權的所作所為剛好相反，叫「倒行逆施」。光拿《孟子》說的：「民為貴，社稷次之，君為輕。」，我們就可以安中共一個「倒行逆施」的罪名。 各為敬愛的朋友們，1863年11月19日的整整127年之後，也就是1989年的11月19日，柏林圍牆正式倒塌，布拉格的天鵝絨革命爆發，最後整個東歐共產鐵幕風消雲散，而我們不能忽略掉之前5個月前中國天安們的人民和平集會及中共的殘暴屠殺對歐洲這場人民團結起來推倒鐵幕高牆所扮演的意義。 在此，我要對所有中共政權的犧牲者，尤其天安門的母親們，還有所有為因堅持理念而流亡在外的朋友們以及承辦這次劉曉波人權獎的所有朋友，特別是天琪，永忠， 表達我的最高敬意。 最後，讓我以一句話作為結語：中共政權對所有要求天賦人權的人民都有「明文處罰」，然而這些其實不是「明文處罰」，而是「處罰文明。」因此，中國共產黨是中國文明的不幸。而要是有人說，中國共產黨不會倒，我也同樣不信。團結力量大！祝福各位，平安健康、萬事順利！
Opening Remarks at the First Liu Xiaobo Human Rights Award Ceremony
Shieh Jhy-Wey
Representative of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the European Union
Dear friends,
It is a great honor to be invited, in my capacity as Taiwan’s Representative to the European Union, to attend the presentation ceremony of the First Liu Xiaobo Human Rights Award.
As one of the opening speakers, I would like to describe my admiration for Liu Xiaobo, one of contemporary China’s greatest intellectuals, with a uniquely Taiwanese expression: a person of noble character. His ideas and his actions have become an inspiration to all those around the world who suffer persecution under totalitarian regimes. In Taiwan, a person of noble character is someone who possesses moral integrity and who is willing to sacrifice personal interests for a higher ideal and for the greater good.
As such a person, Liu Xiaobo devoted himself to enabling all those unfortunate enough to live under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party—including Chinese, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Southern Mongolians, Hong Kongers, and others—to become what I would call whole human beings.
By a whole human being, I mean a person who enjoys the inalienable rights with which all human beings are endowed by nature. Put differently:
Without human rights, there can be no whole human being.
The Chinese Communist Party falsely claims that Chinese culture is incompatible with the Western concept of human rights, using this argument to deprive everyone under its rule of their natural and inalienable rights. Under its system, only those who submit to authoritarian rule are regarded as complete persons. But such people are not truly fulfilled human beings; they are merely people who have been molded and manipulated by the regime.
Allow me to make one point clear: what are often called “Western values” of human rights are, in reality, universal values. The peoples of Europe and North America did not receive these rights effortlessly. They secured them only through persistent struggle and tremendous sacrifice before the principle of inalienable human rights became an enduring truth.
In other words, although we call them “natural rights,” they do not simply fall from the sky. The only things that fall from the sky are raindrops—and bird droppings. The American Civil War is one example of the sacrifices required to make those rights a reality.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. I would therefore like to base my remarks on the opening and closing passages of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered during the Civil War.
On November 19, 1863, while the war was still raging, President Lincoln honored those who had given their lives at Gettysburg with a speech that remains one of the greatest in history.
He began:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
“All men are created equal” is perhaps the clearest and most sacred expression of the spirit upon which the United States was founded on July 4, 1776.
Lincoln concluded his address by expressing the hope
“…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Dear friends,
The belief that all people are created equal forms the foundation of inalienable human rights. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people is what safeguards those rights.
“Of the people” means that the state belongs to its citizens—not to a political party.
“By the people” means that political power derives from the people—not from violence or privilege.
“For the people” means that every policy and every act of government should ultimately serve the well-being of the people.
The Chinese Communist Party does precisely the opposite. It governs in complete contradiction to these principles.
Even Mencius, over two thousand years ago, declared:
“The people are of supreme importance; the state comes next; the ruler is of the least importance.”
Measured against this standard alone, the Chinese Communist Party stands condemned for governing in direct opposition to this fundamental principle.
Dear friends,
Exactly 127 years after November 19, 1863—on November 19, 1989—the Berlin Wall officially fell. The Velvet Revolution erupted in Prague, and soon afterward the Communist Iron Curtain across Eastern Europe disappeared.
Yet we should never overlook the significance of what had happened five months earlier: the peaceful demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and the brutal massacre carried out by the Chinese Communist regime. The courage and sacrifice of those demonstrators became an important source of inspiration for the peoples of Europe as they united to bring down the Iron Curtain.
Today, I pay my deepest respects to all the victims of the Chinese Communist regime, especially the Tiananmen Mothers; to all those forced into exile because they refused to abandon their principles; and to everyone who made this inaugural Liu Xiaobo Human Rights Award possible—especially Tianqi and Yongzhong.
Allow me to conclude with one final thought.
The Chinese Communist regime imposes legal punishment upon those who demand their natural human rights. But what it punishes is not merely people; it punishes civilization itself.
For that reason, the Chinese Communist Party is a tragedy for Chinese civilization.
And if anyone says that the Chinese Communist Party will never fall, I do not believe that either.
Unity is strength.
Thank you all.
