From jail, Xu Zhiyong asks ‘Whither China?’

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium

Appendix LVI

向何處去

 

‘Where to from here?’ 向何處去, ‘Exploring every avenue’ 上下求索, ‘What’s to be done? 怎麼辦, ‘What is to be avoided and what is to be followed?’ 何去何從, ‘Who holds fate in their hands?’ 誰主沉浮 — these ancient questions are asked with ever greater urgency in China today.

‘Whither China?’中國向何處去？, a letter of appeal composed by Xu Zhiyong 許志永, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers who had been sentenced to fourteen years in prison in April 2023, was an interrogation aimed at China’s party-state and a limpid reminder to people throughout the People’s Republic of the high stakes begged by that question.

Long before Xi Jinping’s rise to power in late 2012, we began to record China’s ‘seeds of fire’ 火種, the voices of conscience and resistance that spoke out against one-party rule, arbitrary legal processes, social injustices and the regime of censorship that bedevilled writers, thinkers, academics and students. In recent years, China Heritage has also featured the work of outspoken figures such as Xu Zhangrun 許章潤 and Chen Qiushi 陳秋實.

With the support of Yaxue Cao of China Change, we offer our readers Xu Zhiyong’s unflinching analysis of China’s ongoing socio-political crisis and his answer to the eternal question ‘where to from here?’ Or, as he puts it:

Whither China? Market economy or planned economy? Democracy and freedom, or authoritarian dictatorship? America or North Korea? A broad avenue or a cliff? Flourish along with the tide of history or die trying to hold it back?

中國向何處去？是市場經濟還是計劃經濟？是民主自由還是獨裁專制？是美國還是北朝鮮？是康莊大道還是懸崖絕壁？是順潮而興還是逆流而亡？

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This is Appendix LVI in the series Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium.

— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
8 December 2023

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Material Related to Xu Zhiyong:

Material in Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium related to the protests from October to December 2022:

It Is What It is

All those past hopes, scudding by like clouds and mist
All the scenes that no one can ever see clearly
Can’t let go, never feel fulfilled

過往的執念 過往如雲煙
太多的風景 沒人全看清
放不下 怎圓滿

If life is just one Big Dream
What can be done?

如果生命 只是大夢一場
你會怎麼辦

Sure, I see the blossoming flowers
Hear the birdsong
See the busy crowds
The clouds overhead
I hear the bubbling streams and
See people out there slowly making their way

我看到花兒在綻放 我聽到鳥兒在歌唱
我看到人們匆匆忙忙 我看到雲朵在天上
我聽到小河在流淌 我看到人們漫步在路上

— from the song ‘Outsize Dreams’

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求 qíu, seek, yearn for, in the hand of Huang Tingjian (黃庭堅, 1045-1105 CE)

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Whither China? — Xu Zhiyong’s Letter of Appeal

Translated by China Change

30 November 2023

 

In August, while waiting for appeal, Dr. Xu Zhiyong wrote the following statement (Chinese original), not so much to the court as to his compatriots. In June, he and Ding Jiaxi were sentenced to 14 years and 12 years in prison respectively on subversion charges, ostensibly for an informal two-day gathering in Xiamen in December 2019. The real reason of course is clear: under Xi Jinping, the suppression of dissent has become harsher than ever, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) simply wants to throw dissidents in prison, with longer sentences for civil society leaders such as Xu and Ding. On November 24, both Xu and Ding’s sentences were upheld by a higher court in Shandong. Deprived of a pen and paper since his detention in February 2020, Xu Zhiyong managed to find a pen from an inmate and wrote the following statement on the back of another inmate’s court verdict.

— The Editors of China Change

Xu Zhiyong (left) and Ding Jiaxi.

You put us on trial, but it is you who will be tried and judged by the people. The real appeal I make here is not to the Shandong High Court, a minion of the regime, but to the people and to history. In the wake of the pandemic, as the world economy flourishes, why is China sliding downward? After a short-lived rebound, consumption has shrunk, investment has been weak, exports have fallen off, people have had trouble finding work, and the economy has entered an overall state of decline. What is the root cause of all this? What is the way out?

The root cause lies in a decade of regression, and along with it, the collapse of national confidence.

Our economic woes are fundamentally a political issue.

The state grows stronger while the people become weaker. State-owned enterprises have been expanded and strengthened, while private enterprises have been squeezed and depressed. Privately run tech companies have been taken over by the state, and outstanding private entrepreneurs have been forced into retirement. State capital dominates, competing with the people for profits everywhere. Profitable industries, including natural resources, energy, communications, electricity, and even tourism and transportation, are all run by state-owned enterprises (SOEs). They talk about fair competition, but the very ideology of the Communist Party is to eliminate private ownership. They talk about equal standing, but when there is no democracy, how can there be equal footing between the government and the people?

The market is distorted. When the state provides exorbitant subsidies for electric vehicles, aggressively promotes 5G telecommunications, makes decisions for banks, and manipulates the stock market. When the state exercises power arbitrarily, what space is there for the market to play a decisive role?

The vitality of the people is depleted. Because of the state monopoly on land ownership, real estate prices are inflated, turning people into slaves to their mortgages. The state monopoly on petroleum likewise results in unnaturally high prices of gas, making people slaves to their vehicles. When a trucker spends 1,000 yuan a day on gas and another 1,000 yuan on highway tolls, the cost of logistics is among the highest in the world. From the SOEs at the top to the local government financing vehicles below, the state monopolizes all the key sectors that feed on the blood of the people. Saddled in debt, what’s left for the people to consume?

Adverse effects of artificial stimulus. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package was the right thing to do. But from then onward, China should have respected the market, opened up the society, and slowed down growth to a sustainable rate to become a developed country. But economic growth and the pursuit of GDP has been the foundation of legitimacy for the CCP’s rule. Each year, far more than 4 trillion yuan have been poured into building infrastructure such as high-speed trains, highways, or sea bridges, regardless of whether they will actually be used or turn a profit. After 15 years of accelerated growth, China is hollowed out, banks are in the red, and the debt is being transferred to the people.

The three years of “zero-Covid.” On the New Year’s Day of 2020, CCTV condemned rumors of a contagious epidemic no less than eight times, while the totalitarian regime did its utmost to suppress information about the Wuhan pneumonia that soon spread to the entire world. In the three years that followed, the state gave orders to lock down cities, villages, and the whole country.  Even giving the radical initial response the benefit of the doubt, why was China locked down for three years when, six months into the pandemic, the death rate from the pandemic proved lower than feared and the world economy started picking up? Again, a catastrophe of dictatorship. As tens of thousands of businesses have closed and millions of people lost jobs, the country found itself in a full-blown crisis. Perhaps Covid-19 is destined to be the last nail in the coffin of the communist regime.

In short, without checks and balances, the power does whatever it pleases. Should Hitler have lived 40 years, his Reich would have collapsed too, for it is the inevitable fate of any dictatorship.

The fundamental problem China faces is the direction of the country.

China rescued itself from the abyss of planned economics by reform and opening up, a turn toward modern civilization, private property, and free market, resulting in 30 years of growth and prosperity. But over the past ten years, China has again held high the banner of Marxism and reversed the progresses it had made, taking on an ever greater North Korea-esque flavor. The citizenry is at a loss and has no confidence in the future.

Whither China? Market economy or planned economy? Democracy and freedom, or authoritarian dictatorship? America or North Korea? A broad avenue or a cliff? Flourish along with the tide of history or die trying to hold it back?

A clear future beckons: It is one in which China has a true democracy with multiple parties competing for power, votes for every eligible voter, an independent judiciary, and free speech, where a real market economy determines the allocation of resources with the underlying foundation of private property ownership. China will not be an exception to the universal tides of human civilization.

Like any other country, China has its own characteristics. While the U.S. has a president, Japan an emperor, or India a prime minister, all democracies share four principles: A democracy is either real or fake, not defined by this or that -ism. In a real democracy, parties compete, and the people choose with votes. A “democracy” can’t be real when there is only one candidate, and that candidate receives 100% of the votes. What we oppose is not the so-called “socialist democracy,” but fake democracy. What we pursue is not the so-called “capitalist democracy,” but real democracy.

A modern civilization of the Chinese nation will not be a combination of the worst of the West and the worst of China, namely, Marxism and dynastic politics, but the fusion of democracy and science with the ancient Chinese virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom — the best of the West and the East. In a free and democratic China that has left dictatorship behind, 1.4 billion Chinese will be revitalized to create the most advanced technology, the most prosperous economy, and the most splendid culture. A beautiful China will lead humanity into a new epoch.

Their direction used to be correct when they started privatizing SOEs, took steps for the party to back out of the market, and gradually allowed grassroots elections. People felt inspired, hopeful, and confident about the country’s prospects.

Two decades ago, I made sincere recommendations; ten years ago, I also cried out for change. But we’ve all witnessed how China has veered further and further in the wrong direction. I was sentenced to four years in prison for calling upon Chinese to be real citizens who shoulder their civic responsibilities, and one of the charges against me was calling on people to compete in the elections of people’s representatives. Buds of democracy have been snipped, and space for reform has been blocked up. Xi Jinping  is destined to be the last generation of this totalitarian reign, no one can stop him from hurtling off the cliff.

The economy is withering due to a series of wrong decisions. The treasury has bled out, the Xiong’an New District (雄安新区) is a half-baked vanity project, the BRI is not what was envisioned, and the three-year “zero-Covid” was pure tyranny. At its wits’ end in the face of these challenges, the Party presses on with failed policies, drinking poison to quench its thirst.

Political regression on full display. At the village level, democracy has fallen back to one-person-decides-all. Separation of Party and government has been scrapped. At the top, the Party’s collective rule has given way to one-man’s rule. With the regression of political reform, tyranny has expanded, the stability maintenance apparatus inflated, turning into a mountain crushing the country under its weight.

Cultural life is dying. A blossoming culture is not defined by digging up ancient tombs or refurbishing historical sites, but by creating an outstanding culture to be shared by all humanity. The lifeline for such a culture is freedom. But freedom is the number one enemy of the Communist Party.  This European specter of communism has [in the past] taken upon itself to destroy Chinese culture, demolishing Emperor Yan’s Mausoleum and digging up the grave of Confucius. Today, film, TV, art, and cultural life in general are dying by a thousand cuts of omnipresent censorship.

Society is suffocating. Fear of elections is a sign of insecurity. As the end draws closer, there are more taboos. The nation is losing vitality and turning into a land of zombies as everyone, from actors and internet influencers to writers and singers, is afraid of being shut out.

Embracing Marxism. It is a specter that has no place to haunt in Europe, but like a virulent disease, it spread to China via Soviet Russia, bringing with it unprecedented disasters that killed more than 30 million in famine and obliterated Chinese culture during the Cultural Revolution in the 20th century. It continues today to bring slavery, hunger, and suffering to the Chinese people. Is it a show of force to the rest of humanity to uphold such an absurd theory, a total failure?

We survived the Cultural Revolution, but the party seems nostalgic to go back to those days. What a tragedy for the Chinese nation!

Altering the constitution.  What virtue and competence does Xi Jinping have to thrust himself forward for lifetime rule? When the fate of the country and its people is tied to one man, it would be worrisome even if he were a sage, let alone when he’s anything but. With the change of helm every ten years, people have been able to hold onto some hope even under the one-party rule, now even that faint hopefulness is diminished. In the last ten years we have witnessed a negation of what has been gained. As a result, resentment has risen throughout society. The country is in peril as a dictator leads China down the wrong path.

China needs a revolution.

Revolution will inevitably break out. Only revolution will dismantle dictatorship; only revolution will save China; only revolution will bring about democracy and freedom and, along with it, fairness and justice. Only revolution will instill a sense of dignity in people; and only revolution will bring the rebirth of the Chinese nation. Only without the Communist Party will there be a new China.

I’m not proposing a violent revolution. The people have no arms, nor would violence yield the fruit of freedom. The communist regimes of the USSR and Eastern European collapsed as the result of peaceful civic revolution without violence.

In August 1991, the reactionary forces of the communist USSR staged a coup d’état, with soldiers deployed on the streets of Moscow. However, as the ruling clique had no strongman, the military idled and looked on. Three days later, the Communist Party fell, and the democratic faction won. When the communist regime reaches its final moment, the only role for the military is to take no action.

Anger is the fuel of revolution. But the color of the flames will not be hatred but love. The revolution aims at exorcizing Marxism and Leninism, redeeming every Chinese, not hating or attacking any individual, not destroying properties, and not giving reasons for brutal crackdown. Love is a more powerful force than hate.

China will not be divided. The interior provinces will be highly integrated in recognition of a national identity. But deep-seated resentment has built up in peripheral regions. Our idea of a political and social transformation is clear and firm: liberty is the direction with democratic autonomy for each region; justice must be defended without any violence; and we will negotiate the future peacefully, using love to heal the wounds.

Chaos will not befall China. When the USSR changed politically, the society and the economy was hardly prepared for the upheaval. China, on the other hand, has had 40 years of experience with market economics as well as a gradually maturing force aspiring for freedom and democracy. Large-scale protests will erupt and drive out the Communist Party, and within months after that, China will hold a referendum to amend the constitution and hold elections.

The 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement failed, largely because the ruling elite had a charismatic strongman followed by most of the military, while the democracy camp had no apparent leader and lacked direction and rhythm. Also, the international community still held high hope for reform and opening up in China. Domestically, the social conditions for change were not ripe, and ordinary people could still enjoy the dividends of reform.

Today, the ruling class has no charismatic strongman, and when history’s turning point comes, the military will hesitate to follow him. That will be enough. The democratic camp has already had a mature leadership team, a clear direction, and a viable path. The international community has seen through the CCP, and a new cold war has begun. With China plagued by unemployment, poverty, despair, and widespread discontent, the social conditions for change are in place.

Compatriots, day is about to break on the eastern horizon, the volcanoes are seething, lava flows are converging. The Chinese nation must no longer lie dying in stillness; it shall erupt from the silence.

The most honorable quality is courage. The courage to speak the truth, the courage to defend freedom, the courage of not fearing prison, and the courage to come out on the streets.

We owe our gratitude to Peng Lifa (彭立发), the lone warrior who stood out and lit up a beam of bright light at the darkest moment of the night on Sitong Bridge. He’s not alone. Tens of thousands of people have been awakened. He is not just one man.

We owe our gratitude to the youth. Thirty-three years after the Tiananmen Movement, the country has heard your cries again. The blank papers you held up will become a tide of change. I thank you, the girl who stood in front of the student canteen with a sign at Peking University. As an alumnus of that school, I’m proud of you. You are the hope of our nation’s future. May your spirit return, Peking University!

We owe our gratitude to the forbearers of the democracy movement. From the Democracy Wall in 1979, to Tiananmen Square in 1989, to members of the Democratic Party in 1998. Generation after generation, courageous people cried out for democracy and freedom. More courage was needed to do what they did. Wei Jingsheng (魏京生), Qin Yongmin (秦永敏), Liu Xianbin (刘贤斌) … altogether, their prison terms total a thousand years. How much a price Chinese must pay for the nation’s rebirth? I’m honored to join your ranks.

We owe our gratitude to the Christians. For decades, they’ve quietly spread the message of love of Jesus Christ in China, a land of suffering, injustice, and angst. I witnessed how members of Beijing Shouwang Church (守望教会) prayed in the driving snow at the gate of Haidian Park after their church was shut down. I believe that the God of Heaven that the Chinese worship and Jehovah are the one and only God of humanity.

We owe our gratitude to the Falun Gong practitioners. In December 2021, because of his hunger strike, Mr. Liu Jinguo (刘金果) in the cell next to mine was shackled to a bed plank for a month. For over twenty years, adherents of Falun Gong have suffered unspeakable torture that weighs heavily in the annals of the Chinese nation.

We owe our gratitude to all who have struggled for freedom, democracy, justice, and dignity. Under the heel of dictatorship, while most people endure humiliation in silence, tens of thousands of brave Chinese have stood up and said no to power. They have been censored, detained, or imprisoned. They are the backbone of our people.

We owe our gratitude to citizens who have accompanied me on our journey over the last twenty years. They have the courage to fight and the wisdom to build, all for a beautiful China that’s free, just, and loving. There will be a day when each and every Chinese is a real citizen, enjoying free speech, the right to elections, and the rest of the universal freedoms. Our lifelong dream and struggle is for a China that truly belongs to the people.

Compatriots, 112 years ago, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China, the first republic in Asia. Unfortunately, following decades of strife, both at home and abroad, the ROC was defeated, and dictatorship came back in force. Another 70 years have passed during which the world’s geopolitics have seen dramatic shifts. Democracy has been on the march while dictatorships are coming to an end. Even Africa has had general elections for years, but my country is still under one-party rule and one-man dictatorship. This is the worst disgrace of the Chinese nation and people.

The Chinese have lived through too much fear and absurdity.

During the Great Leap Forward, we were made to throw pans and woks into furnaces to make steel and iron, leaving farmland barren. Thirty million died of hunger during three years of good weather, but in history books, the famine was summed up as “three years of natural disasters.” Then we were given the Cultural Revolution, when cultural relics were destroyed, and the whole country was whipped into a frenzy, dancing the loyalty dance, raising “loyalty pigs,” and asking for orders from Chairman Mao in the mornings and making reports to Chairman Mao in the evenings.

In the not-too-distant past, “guerrillas hunting birth-control violators” roamed the countryside. A late-term pregnant woman was dragged to a county hospital where her baby was given an injection to the head, and when born alive, the baby was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water. Over the span of 40 years, tens of thousands of heartbroken Chinese mothers wailed, watching their babies murdered barbarically.

When the government campaigned to flatten graves to create more farmland, ancestral graves were bulldozed, the dead were dug up, cremated, and placed into thousands of little grid cells with no dignity whatsoever.

When they campaigned for environmental protection, they took people’s coal stoves by force on the coldest days of winter. Thousands of businesses were forced to shut down, losing everything they had worked so hard to build up, without any way to seek legal recourse.

When the pandemic hit, doctors were ordered to shut up, and CCTV “quashed rumors.” Another order from above locked down cities, villages, and the entire country, shattering everything — work, life, dreams.

Yet another order suddenly lifted lockdowns with no prior preparation. Millions upon millions found themselves bereft of basic medication, and long lines queued in funeral houses.

When a plane crashed, the public was not allowed to know the truth or reflect on it. When a flood struck, the public was denied information about the real death toll. When donating to earthquake relief efforts, people could only give money to government-run organizations, including the Red Cross, and couldn’t verify the use of their donations. Discussing national affairs is a punishable crime. Everyone is required to sing the praises of the emperor’s new clothes, despite knowing that he has none. Having no other recourse, victims of injustice go to Beijing to petition their cases, evading surveillance by shutting off their phones and avoid taking trains like guerrilla fighters, only to be apprehended at the gate of the National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration.

Human beings are political animals. But we Chinese have yet to have the right to live normal human lives, because we don’t have the vote, because the state does not belong to the people, but to the CCP. We are still on our knees. Many among us found comfort in the fact that, for a few decades or so, there was plenty of fodder to go around. But for how long we are going to put up with our subhuman conditions, now that livelihood is increasingly becoming a problem?

What kind of China do we leave to our children, grandchildren and their children? Do we let them continue to be on their knees, or we, the current generation, rise up and put up a fight?

Today we live in a China of absurdity, shame, unchecked power, and dehumanization, where a dictator perches at the top and people live like hapless ants at the bottom. Such is my motherland, sad, numb, desperate, plunging into an abyss. I will continue to dedicate my life to save her and save my people, for a rebirth of the Chinese civilization.

The curtains of a great era have risen. We are at the darkest hour, but the day is about to break. We will not give up and “lie flat”; instead, we are inspired and revitalized. This will be our era, a citizens’ era, a people’s era. We will dispel forever the specter of communism, bid goodbye to thousands of years of despotism, and open our arms to a revolution of citizens, a splendid chapter in human history. My compatriots, are you ready?

Citizen Xu Zhiyong

August, 2023

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Related:

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Source:

  • Xu Zhiyong, Whither China?, China Change, 30 November 2023, with minor revisions

Chinese text:

中國向何處去？——許志永上訴書

发表于 2023年11月24日 编辑 凌江峰

你們審判我們，人民審判你們。真正的上訴，不是面向卑微的山東高院，而是面向人民，面向歷史。疫情過後，世界經濟欣欣向榮之際，為何中國百業凋敝一片蕭條？短暫反彈之後，消費萎縮，投資乏力，出口下降，就業艱難，衰竭式經濟危機，根源何在？出路何在？

根源就在十年倒車，國民信心崩塌。

經濟問題本質是政治問題。

國進民退。做大做強國有企業，壓縮民企生存空間，高科技民企被國有，優秀民營企業家被退休。官僚資本，一家獨大，處處與民爭利。資源、能源、通訊、電力、甚至旅遊、出行，凡賺錢行業均有國企。官僚資本一家獨大處處與民爭利。口口聲聲公平競爭，可共產之黨的意識形態，是要消滅私有制的。口口聲聲主體平等，可沒有民主，官民何曾平等？

扭曲市場。電動汽車高額補貼，5G通信強硬推廣，銀行被權力牽著鼻子，股市被黑手操縱致死。權力之手呼風喚雨為所欲為，市場到哪裡起決定作用？

耗竭民力。壟斷土地，推高房價，淪國民為房奴。壟斷石油，抬高油價，淪國民為車奴。一輛貨車一天汽油費千元，過路費千元，物流成本世所罕見。上有央企，下有城投，國計民生皆被壟斷，皆成吸血工具，人民負債累累，何以消費？

拔苗助長。2008年金融危機四萬億恰逢其時。如果之後尊重市場，開放社會，中國經濟增速降格，更為持久，直到成為發達國家。可經濟增速是共產黨執政合法性的唯一基礎。過於在意GDP數字，高鐵、高速公路、跨海大橋，不管是否重復，不管多大價值，每年遠超四萬億。十五年拔苗助長掏空了中國，財政透支，銀行虧空，轉嫁到人民頭上，負債累累。

三年防控。2020年元旦，央視一天八遍辟謠，極權體製成功封鎖了消息致疫情爆發禍及全球。又是極權體制，一聲令下，封城、封村、封國。起初過激反應尚可理解，可半年後全球死亡率很低，世界經濟開始復蘇，為何中國一封三年？獨裁之禍。萬千企業倒閉，億萬國民失業，至今日全面危機。天意吧，新冠給共產極權最後一擊。

一言蔽之，沒有制約，權力任性，假如希特勒多活四十年，他的帝國也一定衰竭而亡，極權體制的必然宿命。

根本問題是方向問題。

改革開放，中國走出公有制計劃經濟深淵，朝向現代文明方向，私有產權和自由市場，帶來了三十多年的繁榮進步。可過去十年，倒行逆施，高舉馬克思，看齊金三胖。國民一片迷茫，信心崩塌。

中國向何處去？是市場經濟還是計劃經濟？是民主自由還是獨裁專制？是美國還是北朝鮮？是康莊大道還是懸崖絕壁？是順潮而興還是逆流而亡？

中國有清楚的未來，真正的民主，多黨競爭，全民普選，司法獨立，言論自由。真正的市場經濟，私有產權為主體，市場決定資源配置。人類文明普世潮流，中國不可能例外。

中國當然有自己的特色，各國皆有。美國有總統，日本有天皇，印度有總理。但民主制度根本四原則，天下大同。民主不分主義，不分東西，只分真假。多黨有競爭，人民有選擇，是真民主。一個候選人，得票百分百，是假民主。我們反對的，不是所謂社會主義民主，而是假民主。我們追求的，不是所謂資本主義民主，而是真民主。

中華民族現代文明，絕不是馬列主義同流帝王權術，西方糟粕合污中華糟粕，而是民主科學相輔仁義禮信，西方文明相成中華文明。專制結束之後，自由民主的中國，十四億人迸發出激情活力，創造出世界上最發達的科技，最繁榮的經濟，最燦爛的文化。美好中國，引領人類新文明時代。

本來他們有正確的方向，與民爭利的國有企業私有化，權力逐步退出市場，逐漸開放民主選舉。大方向對了，人民重見希望，重拾信心。

二十年前，我曾真誠建言，十年前也曾大聲疾呼。可眼看中國在錯誤方向上越走越遠。倡導國民做真正的公民被判重刑，號召積極參選人大代表也能成罪證。所有民主萌芽都被扼殺，所有改良空間都被堵死。他的天命和角色就是極權末代，無人阻止其奔向斷崖。

經濟衰竭。國有企業壟斷民生，權力之手扭曲市場，拔苗助長掏空國庫，雄安新區騎虎難下，一帶一路不見收穫，疫情防控苛政三年，一系列重大的持續的錯誤決策使經濟衰竭。而他們束手無策，繼續拔苗助長，飲鴆止渴。

政治倒退。村級民主退到「一肩挑」，政黨分開退到全面領導，集體領導退到一人獨裁。政治全面倒退，極權全面擴張，維穩不斷膨脹，一座大山壓垮中國。

文化凋殘。文化繁盛不是挖古墓建古蹟，而是創造燦爛的文化為人類分享。自由是文化的生命線。而共產黨視自由為大敵。曾經這個西方邪靈以毀滅中華文化為己任，毀炎帝陵，挖孔子墓，掘中華祖墳。如今，它的層層審查宛如凌遲，電影、電視、藝術、文化奄奄一息了。

社會窒息。沒有民選，極不自信。大限將至，愈加敏感，愈多禁忌。演員、網紅、作家、歌手等等，一不留神就被封殺，人人自危，萬馬齊喑，華夏民族漸失生機活力，幾近僵屍矣。

高舉馬克思主義。一個幽靈，一個在歐陸無處徘徊的幽靈，一種烈性傳染病，經蘇俄傳染到中國，帶來了三千多萬人餓死的巨大悲劇，毀滅中華文化的十年浩劫，帶給人類二十世紀空前的災難，至今仍給北朝鮮人民無止盡的奴役、飢荒與苦難。一個荒誕的主義，徹底失敗的主義，高舉此赤旗向全人類示威乎？

從文革中來，念念不忘回到文革中去，哀哉中華！

修改憲法。何德何能妄獨裁終身。國家民族命運繫於一人，聖賢尚憂，草包何堪？過去每十年換人，雖是一黨，總還抱有一線希望。如今黑暗無盡徹底絕望。一人獨裁，十年倒車，百業凋敝，千重困局。馬列邪靈，荼毒華夏，倒行逆施，人怨天怒。帝再登基，黃沙漫天。河北京津，火熱水深，率扼眾力，民生多艱。昏憂天下，長夜無邊。獨裁誤國，中華危矣！

中國需要革命。

中國必將爆發革命。惟革命才能滅專制，惟革命才能救中國，惟革命才有民主自由，惟革命才有公平正義，惟革命才有人的尊嚴，惟革命才有中華重生。沒有共產黨，才有新中國。

不是暴力革命。人民沒有武裝，暴力也很難結出自由的果實。蘇聯、東歐共產黨政權垮台，沒有暴力革命，無一例外都是和平的市民革命。

1991年8月，蘇共保守勢力發動政變，陳兵莫斯科街頭。然統治集團沒有強人，軍人猶豫觀望，三天後共產黨垮台，民主派勝利。共產極權終結的最後時刻，軍人唯一的使命和角色就是猶豫觀望。

革命為憤怒點燃。但熊熊烈焰的顏色，不是仇恨而是愛。驅馬列邪靈，救中華同胞，救贖每一個中國人，不仇恨任何個體，不攻擊他人，不破壞財產，不給野蠻暴力打壓的藉口。更強大的力量屬於我們的力量，不是仇恨而是愛。

中國不會四分五裂。內地各省高度融合，國家認同根深蒂固，但個別邊疆地區積怨太深。轉型中，我們的理念清晰而堅定：自由是方向，各地區都會民主自治；公義必須捍衛，絕不允許任何暴力；和平協商未來，用愛撫平創傷。

中國不會動蕩失序。蘇俄政治轉型，經濟社會幾乎沒有準備。中國有四十年市場經濟，有逐漸成熟的嚮往自由民主的力量。大規模集會遊行，共產黨煙消霧散，幾個月內全民公決憲法大選。

1989年天安門民主運動失敗了。當時統治集團有魅力型強人，絕大多數軍人服命。民主派沒有領袖，缺少方向和節奏。國際社會對中國改革開放還抱有希望。社會條件還不成熟，人民尚能分享改革開放的紅利。

今天，統治集團已沒有強人，歷史轉折時刻，軍人會猶豫觀望，跟他行嗎？猶豫觀望就夠了。民主派已有成熟的領導團隊，有清楚的方向，有可行的道路，國際社會已看清中共本質，冷戰再起。社會條件已經成熟，極權末世蕭條失業、貧困、絕望，民怨沸騰，遍地乾柴。沒有人知道何時何地哪個火星引爆革命，但那個火星一定會出現。

同胞們，東方黎明即將划破長空，地火在奔突，熔岩在匯聚，華夏不在沈默中滅亡，必在沈默中爆發。
最可貴的是勇氣。

說真話的勇氣，捍衛自由的勇氣，不怕坐牢的勇氣，走上街頭的勇氣。

感謝孤勇者彭立發挺身而出。黎明前的至暗時刻，四通橋上的煙柱是一束耀眼的光。萬千國民已被喚醒，你絕不孤單。

感謝青春學子們。三十三年後，華夏民族再次聽到了你們的吶喊。你們舉起的白紙，終將匯成浩瀚歷史。北大食堂門口那個舉標語的女孩，謝謝你，我為有你這樣的學妹而驕傲。三十四年後，華夏民族再次寄望於你們。北大，魂兮歸來！

感謝民主前輩們，79民主牆到89天安門再到98民主黨。一代一代志士仁人高舉民主、自由的旗幟。那個年代你們更需要勇氣。魏京生、秦永敏、劉賢斌……千年刑期啊，華夏要多少代價才得新生？我很榮幸加入你們的行列。

感謝基督徒們。數十年來，你們在這苦難、不義、焦灼的土地上，默默傳揚基督的愛。我曾見證守望教會遭逼迫時，海淀公園門口漫天大雪中的祈禱。我信仰華夏祖先信仰的昊天上帝和耶和華一樣，都是人類唯一的神。

感謝真善和忍耐的修煉者。2021年12月，隔壁監室劉金果先生因為絕食，被鐐銬固定四肢於床板上長達一個月。二十多年來，你們承受的苦難驚天地鬼神，厚重了華夏民族的歷史。

感謝所有為自由、民主、公正和尊嚴抗爭的人們。專制之下，無論多少屈辱，沈默的是大多數。可還是有千千萬萬勇敢的中國人站起來了，向強權說不，被刪帖、被封號、被黑監獄、被拘留、被判刑，正是這些勇敢的人鑄就了華夏不屈的脊梁。

感謝二十年來陪我一起走過的公民們。有勇氣反抗，有智慧建設，一個自由、公義、愛的美好中國。有一天，每一個中國人都會成為真正的公民，享有言論自由、選舉權等普世的自由權利。那是真正屬於人民的中國，我們一生的夢想和奮鬥。

同胞們，

一百一十二年前，辛亥革命推翻滿清王朝，建立中華民國，亞洲第一個共和國。不幸的是，數十年內憂外患之後，民國淪陷，專制重來。又七十多年了。世界政治版圖天翻地覆，民主大潮席捲全球，獨裁政權紛紛落幕，連非洲也已普選多年，可我的祖國依然在一黨專制、一人獨裁之下，實為華夏民族最大恥辱。

中國人活得太憋屈。

曾經，把鍋碗瓢盆拿去大煉鋼鐵，任田地荒蕪，風調雨順的三年里，三千多萬人餓死，亙古未有的大飢荒，被教科書一句「三年自然災害」輕輕帶過。大革中國文化之命，無數文物亦慘遭浩劫。早請示、晚彙報，跳忠字舞，養忠字豬，巨大恐怖中，舉國癲狂。

曾經，「超生游擊隊」遍布天南地北，懷孕七八個月了被幾個男人強行按倒拖到縣醫院後院給孩子頭上打毒針，生下來還活著，扔進旁邊的大開水鍋里。四十年，千千萬萬中國母親、眼看自己的孩子被殘忍殺死，欲哭無淚，哀嚎無聲。

扒墳運動來了，祖墳被推平，入土為安的逝者被強行扒出，除了高官，人人的歸宿都是一個半米見方的小格子，密密麻麻，毫無尊嚴。

環保風暴來了，寒冬臘月，取暖的爐子被強行拖走，千千萬萬民營企業被勒令關停，大半生奮鬥血本無歸，狀告無門。

疫情來了，一聲令下，醫生封口，央視「辟謠」，舉國啞然，又一聲令下，封城、封村、封國，工作、生活、夢想，一切的一切都被這愚蠢至極的禁令破碎。

再一聲令下，毫無準備，突然放開，十億國民求藥無門，殯儀館前，排起長龍。

一場空難，沒有資格知道真相，更沒有資格反思。一場洪水，沒有資格知道多少人失去了生命。想給地震災區捐款，只能捐給十字會等少數幾個官辦機構，沒有資格查詢善款去向。談論國家大事，就已經到了違法犯罪的邊緣，高聲贊美皇帝的新裝如何華麗，其實所有人都知道他沒穿衣服。遭遇不公忍無可忍去上訪，關閉手機不坐火車，像游擊隊員潛到帝都，結果還是在國家信訪局門前被抓獲。

人是政治性動物。可我們沒有資格過正常人類的生活，因為沒有選票，國家不是人民的，是共產黨的。我們至今依然雙膝著地腦後留著辮子。如果說過去一些年能吃飽飯，還能像豬一樣聊以自慰，如今連飯碗也成問題了。我們還要忍耐到何時？

給子孫後代一個什麼樣的中國？讓他們繼續跪地為奴，還是今天的我們挺身而出？

這荒誕的國度，這恥辱的國度，這強權橫行的國度，這泯滅人性的國度，這獨裁者高高在上人民卑微如螻蟻的國度，這悲哀麻木絕望沈淪墜向地獄深淵的國度，就是我的祖國。我以畢生所有拯救她，拯救我的華夏民族，迎中華文明輝煌重生。

大時代已拉開序幕。至暗時刻，黎明將至。絕望躺平，必將激情飛揚。這是我們的時代，公民的時代，人民的時代，永別共產幽靈，永別千年專制，迎接公民革命，人類歷史上最恢弘壯麗的篇章，同胞們，準備好了嗎？

公民 許志永
2023年8月

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