The courage to stand alone
Introduction
This site was originally created to help draw attention to “The Courage to Stand Alone,” a collection of the prison writings of Wei Jingsheng which was published in the summer of 1997 and mostly ignored by the U.S. news media. Wei was released from prison on November 16, 1997.
If you’d like to read selections of Wei’s book, you can do so on this site (see below.)
If you’d like to track Wei’s adventures in the United States and hear what he has to say since being released, you can follow him here.
“In a society where self-censorship has been the norm, almost alone Wei Jingsheng has continued to speak out against the suppression of free expression with lucidity and forthrightness. Even the full weight of the Party’s persecutory powers and a decade and a half in prison have failed to silence his distinctive voice of conscience.”
– Orville Schell
Wei Jingsheng, the winner of the Olof Palme Peace Prize in 1995, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1996, and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize was imprisoned by the Chinese government for nearly two decades, the last few of which he was kept from communicating with his friends and family.
Though not mentioned in the news accounts I’ve read so far, Wei was subjected to brutal physical and psychological torture during his imprisonment.
Wei’s crime? He called for democracy in China in 1979 – and he would not change his mind even in exchange for his freedom.
Update: Chinese officials told Wei he would be denied medical care if he remained in China and the only way he could receive treatment was to leave the country.
The Courage to Stand Alone published earlier this year by Viking is a collection of Wei’s letters from prison and other writings.
