Liu Xiaobo’s deeply depressing death coincides with the long, slow demise of the cause he so bravely championed: Chinese liberalism.
Liu was a bona fide hero. An intellectual of unimaginable courage, he was arrested four times for political reasons. Yet he never stopped writing, never stopped agitating for his cause. Each year, Liu wrote a poem to coincide with the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre—that is to say, he never stopped reminding people of what the Chinese regime wanted them so desperately to forget.
But in the end, Liu lost. China is today arguably more politically repressive than it has been in decades. There were hints of an opening under Jiang Zemin’s and later Hu Jintao’s presidencies; but any embers of hope for political liberalization have been stomped out by Xi Jinping, who will shortly be confirmed for another five year term as Chinese president.
The Chinese regime has succeeded in demonstrating to its people that political engagement just isn’t worth it. You can try to fight them, but they can take your house, kick you off the land your family has tilled for generations. You can try to speak, but the Internet censors will shut you up. Indeed, you can try to simply Google something—try searching “Chinese human rights” next time you’re in China—but no results will turn up.
Today, political apathy rules. And why shouldn’t it? The 1989 generation failed; many in the movement ended up dead or imprisoned. And the system endured.
Of course, there are still liberals in China. I know some of them. But they’ve gone into political deep freeze. The people you would expect to be agitating for political reform today—the college educated professional class, the intellectuals—are instead more likely to be working for marketing companies or tech firms. They won’t be marching at Tiananmen anytime soon.
That’s not entirely a bad thing, of course. China today is, materially speaking, light years ahead of where it was just a couple of short decades ago. That Chinese people can even work in tech firms at all is something worth celebrating.
But not today. Because today is a day to mourn Liu Xiabo, and the demise of his righteous cause.
