Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1165-W794
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1165-W794
Release
Date: December 18, 2018
发布日：2018年12月18日
Topic:
The Democracy Wall Movement Has Changed the Course of the History (Radio Free
Asia report)
标题：民主墙运动改变了历史进程（自由亚洲电台报道）
Original
Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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The
Democracy Wall Movement Has Changed the Course of the History
--
by Wang Yun of Radio Free Asia
2018-12-11
This
year is the 40th year of "reform and opening up" in China, and it is
also the 40th year of the "Xidan Democracy Wall Movement". After forty years, how do the people
who experienced it define this movement?
What impact has this movement had on China's democratic process in the
forty years? A recent symposium in
the US Congress provided some inspiring answers.
The
Xidan Democracy Wall was a wide wall on the West Chang'an Street in
Beijing. During the period from
1978 to 1979, people from all walks of life frequently posted posters
expressing political dissent, which was regarded as the beginning of the
contemporary democracy movement in China.
This
conference commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Democracy Wall was
organized by the Wei Jingsheng Foundation on World Human Rights Day, December
10th. Wei Jingsheng, the chairman
of the foundation and known by the outside world as the "Father of
Democracy" in modern China, used plain language to define the purpose of
this movement.
"We
had to put new ideas into the heads of the people: that is, without human
rights, without democracy and freedom, there will be no good lives. The purpose of their four
modernizations was to strengthen their authoritarian rule, instead of letting
the people live well. Thus, our
fight for democracy and freedom is the fight for our own rights."
The
new idea that Wei Jingsheng spoke of refers to the "Fifth
Modernization" that he proposed at the time. At the end of 1978, Deng Xiaoping, the actual leader of the
Chinese Communist regime at that time, wanted to suppress the spreading of the
Xidan Democracy Wall movement and had already signaled so. In order to express indignation, Wei
Jingsheng, a young worker, posted his own article "The Fifth Modernization
-- Democracy and Others" on the Democracy Wall.
The
"Fifth Modernization" argument clearly challenged the "four
modernizations" of the Communist authorities. It spread rapidly among the Chinese people, and pushed the
"Democracy Wall Movement" to a climax. Under the trend of the people looking forward to democratic
reform, for a while the Xidan Democracy Wall became the center of political
public opinion, and its influence spread rapidly.
Reminiscing
of this movement forty years later, Wei Jingsheng summarized the situation in
the world: "After the rise of the Democracy Wall in Beijing, soon there
was a democracy wall in Moscow, as well as Warsaw and Prague, even in
Paris. The most important thing
was that there was also a democracy wall in Taiwan. From the Democracy Wall to Tiananmen Square Protest in 1989,
the movement actually influenced the changes in the whole world structure, and
resulted in the collapse of the more than half of the Communist camp."
At
the symposium, Professor Yeau-tarn Lee of National Chengchi University in
Taiwan recognized the important influence of the Democracy Wall Movement on
Taiwan's modern democratic movement.
He also pointed out the importance of democratization from the
experience of democracy in Taiwan.
"Clearly
speaking, there is no way to achieve political modernization without
democratization. Until now, we
have not found a better system than democracy. The democratic system has been described as "the Least
worst", which is the least of the unscrupulous systems. That is to say, we still cannot find a
political system that is more appropriate than democracy."
Among
the participants were many dissidents who participated in the Chinese democracy
movement from the time of the Democracy Wall, including Huang Xiang, the
founder of the Enlightenment Society; Yan Jiaqi, former director of the
Political Science Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and Wang
Juntao, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese Democratic
Party. They talked more about the
impact of the Democracy Wall Movement on the democratic movement in China in
the forty years since.
Wang
Juntao believes that the influence of the Democracy Wall Movement was prominent
in the 1980s.
"In
the 1980s, it should be said that the entire civil society movement in China
was pushed by these people from the Democracy Wall. From the election campaign in 1980 to the emergence of many
salons and publications in China, they were all the extension of the Democracy
Wall."
In
particular, he mentioned the impact of the Democracy Wall Movement on the 1989
Student Movement in China.
"In
1989, when China had a politically decisive battle and the June 4th massacre,
the significance of the Democracy Wall became very clear for the first
time. Overnight, Mr. Wei Jingsheng
was recognized as the leader of the Chinese democracy movement."
Wang
Juntao has been organizing members of the Chinese Democratic Party for many
years. Every week, they went to
Times Square in New York to protest against the autocratic rule of the
Communist Party and called it the Jasmine Action. On the evening of the symposium, members of the Chinese
Democratic Party who stayed in New York held the 408th Jasmine Action. Wang Juntao said that this is an
important form of street revolution.
At
the symposium, Wang Juntao said that an important revelation of the Democracy
Wall movement is the importance of civil power.
"What
power really pushed the reform and opening up, as well as the political
progress in China? Is it by the
government, by the Chinese Communist Party, or by the civil movement in China? The Democracy Wall proposed that it was
by the civil movement."
On
the evening of the symposium, the Wei Jingsheng Foundation also held the 4th
Human Rights Without Borders Exhibition, jointly with the Independent
Federation of the Chinese Students and Scholars and the European Parliament
Office in Washington DC. At the
opening ceremony of the exhibition, Wei Jingsheng presented US Democratic Party
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur with the "Human Rights and Freedom Defender
Prize". On June 4 this year,
Rep. Kaptur and other members of the House of Representatives jointly proposed
the "Countering the Chinese Government and Communist Party's Political
Influence Operations Act" in the House of Representatives.
(Reporter:
Wang Yun; Editor: Shen Hua; Network: Hong Wei)
Original
link of this report:
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/wy-12112018101254.html
Related
photos taken by Radio Free Asia:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2018/newsletters2018-4/DemocracyWall40th181210RFAreport-2.jpg
http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2018/newsletters2018-4/HRWB4th181210RFAreport-2.jpg
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1165-W794
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1165-W794
Release
Date: December 18, 2018
发布日：2018年12月18日
Topic:
The Democracy Wall Movement Has Changed the Course of the History (Radio Free
Asia report)
标题：民主墙运动改变了历史进程（自由亚洲电台报道）
Original
Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2018/report2018-12/DemocracyWall40th181218RFAreportA1165-W794.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------
民主墙运动改变了历史进程
-- 自由亚洲电台王允报道
2018-12-11
今年是中国改革开放四十年，也是"西单民主墙运动"四十年。四十年后，当事人如何定义这场运动？这场运动对此后四十年中国的民主进程有何影响？最近在美国国会召开的一场研讨会为此提供了一些富有启示的答案。
西单民主墙是北京西长安街上的一道宽阔围墙，1978年-1979年期间，各方民众经常在上面张贴表达政治异议的大字报，被视为中国当代民主运动的开端。
本次会议是由魏京生基金会，在12月10日世界人权日当天主办的"纪念民主墙40周年"研讨会。会场上，基金会主席、被外界称为中国当代"民主之父"的魏京生用朴素的语言来定义这场运动的目的，
"我们要在老百姓的脑袋里放一个新的思想，就是，没有人权，没有民主和自由，就没有好日子过。他们搞四个现代化的目的是加强他们的专制统治，并不是让老百姓有好日子过。那么，我们争取民主和自由，就是争取我们自己的权利。"
魏京生所说的新的想法，就是指他当时提出的"第五个现代化"。1978年底，当时的中共实际最高领导人邓小平想镇压正在蔓延的西单民主墙运动，并且已经放出了信号。为了表示愤慨，作为青年工人的魏京生在民主墙贴上了自己的文章《第五个现代化：民主及其他》。
"第五个现代化"的说法明显挑战了中共执政者的"四个现代化"，在中国民间迅速传播，并且推动"民主墙运动"走向了高潮。在民众盼望民主改革的风潮下，西单民主墙一时成为政治舆论的中心，其影响力也很快扩散。
四十年后回想这场运动，魏京生结合世界的局势进行了概括：
"北京民主墙一起来之后，马上莫斯科也有民主墙，华沙、布拉格也有民主墙，巴黎也有民主墙，最重要的是，台湾也有民主墙。从民主墙，到天安门，一直到89年，实际上影响了整个世界格局的变化，使得共产党阵营一下垮掉了一大半。"
台湾政治大学教授李酉潭在会议上认可了民主墙运动对台湾现代民主运动的重要影响。他也从台湾实行民主的经验指出了民主化的重要性，
"明确地讲，政治现代化，没有民主化，没有办法现代化。到现在为止，我们还没有找到比民主更好的制度。民主制度被形容为"The
Least worst"，就是最不坏的制度，也就是说，我们还找不到比民主更恰当的政体。"
与会者中有不少从民主墙时期就参与中国民主运动的异议人士，包括"启蒙社"发起人黄翔、中国社科院政治学所前所长严家祺、中国民主党全国委员会主席王军涛等，他们更多地谈到了民主墙运动对中国此后四十年民主运动的影响。
王军涛认为，民主墙运动的影响力突出表现在80年代，
"到80年代，应该说，中国整个民间运动就是民主墙的这批人在推动，从80年竞选，到后来中国出现了很多沙龙和刊物，都是民主墙在延续。"
他尤其提到了民主墙运动对89学运的影响，
"到了1989年，中国出现了一场政治决战和六四大屠杀的时候，民主墙的意义第一次非常鲜明地显现出来，魏京生先生一夜之间就被人们公认为中国民主运动的领袖。"
王军涛多年来一直组织中国民主党的成员，每周到美国纽约的时代广场示威抗议中国共产党的专制统治，并称之为茉莉花行动。就在这次会议的当天晚上，留在纽约的中国民主党成员还举行了第408次茉莉花行动。王军涛说过，这是街头革命的重要形式。
在会议现场，王军涛说，民主墙运动的一个重要启示就是民间力量的重要性，
"中国的改革开放和中国的政治进步，究竟由什么力量来推动？是靠政府呢，靠中国共产党呢，还是靠中国的民间运动？民主墙的主张就是民间运动本位。"
这次会议当晚，魏京生基金会还与全美学自联、欧盟华盛顿办公室在国会联合举办了第四届人权无疆界图片展。魏京生在展览开幕式上，向美国民主党籍联邦众议员马西·卡普图尔（Marcy Kaptur）颁发了人权自由卫士奖。今年6月4日，卡普图尔议员与其他议员在众议院联合提出了"反制中共影响力法案"。
（记者：王允 编辑：申铧 网编：洪伟）
报道的原始链接：
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/wy-12112018101254.html
相关图片（自由亚洲电台拍摄）：
http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2018/newsletters2018-4/DemocracyWall40th181210RFAreport-2.jpg
http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2018/newsletters2018-4/HRWB4th181210RFAreport-2.jpg
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