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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > General
In 2009 the Chinese government put Liu Xiaobo, a celebrated poet,
essayist, critic, activist, and thinker, into a cage. He was
labeled as "an enemy of the state," charged with "inciting
subversion of state power," and sentenced to 11 years'
imprisonment. His insistence on individual liberty in his own 1000+
essays and 18 books, his relentless pursuit of ideas, and his last
statement to the Chinese court: "I have no enemies, no hatred," had
threatened the Chinese Communist Party and government in a way few
other citizens had. The Journey of Liu Xiaobo explores, analyzes,
and celebrates the life and legacy of Liu Xiaobo. The book presents
a unique portrait of Liu Xiaobo from many who knew him during his
life, from childhood to his final days. This collection of over
eighty short essays and reflections are likely the largest
gathering of writers from the Chinese Democracy Movement in one
volume, and contribute basic texts to understanding the man who has
been compared to Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, and Aung San Sui Kyi
in his importance to the development and progress of China toward a
free society. These rich offerings from leading Chinese writers and
intellectuals within and outside the mainland as well as from noted
China scholars and journalists and political leaders around the
globe present a personal as well as an intellectual portrait. Most
of the texts were written at a seminal moment - in the days, weeks
and months right after the death of Liu Xiaobo. The essays in the
book are arranged by chronological focus: Youth and University
Days, Tiananmen Square, Prison, Independent Chinese PEN Center,
Charter 08, Nobel Peace Prize, Death ... and Beyond. The reader is
treated to a trove of original and poignant memories as well as
insightful analyses of China's history and the period in which Liu
lived and an evaluation of Liu's impact on his times.
![A Democracy Divided (Paperback): Ralph J Long](//media.loot.co.za/images/x80/167527089297179215.jpg) |
A Democracy Divided
(Paperback)
Ralph J Long; Cover design or artwork by Robert R. Sanders; Edited by Shawn Aveningo Sanders
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R296
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If, as many cultural critics have asserted, the world is becoming
more like the Caribbean, then the task of charting what we mean by
"the Caribbean" is an urgent one. This careful study of the British
Virgin Islands (BVI) calls attention to the ways in which ideas
about nature and choice have come to justify a social order in
which half the population is deemed not to belong and is denied
legal rights.
The BVI, one of Britain's few remaining colonial possessions, has
become an important destination point for Caribbean migrants and a
center for international financial services. Bill Maurer traces how
the BVI came to be defined, legally and popularly, as a territorial
entity, and how BVIslanders came to define themselves as a "people"
sharing a "culture." He argues that law has been central to the
construction of ethnic, racial, and cultural differences that
create boundaries between peoples and places and that facilitate
the exploitation of labor, the exclusion of people from the
political process, and the globalization of capital.
"Recharting the Caribbean" will be important reading for
anthropologist, legal scholars, and historians of colonial
discourse.
Bill Maurer is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of
California at Irvine.
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