Today is International Human Rights Day and YouTube has profiled Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo, one of the most outspoken critics of the Chinese government, spent a year and a half in prison after the 1989 Tiananmen Square peaceful protests, and in 1996 was imprisoned for three years for criticizing China’s policy toward Taiwan and the Dalai Lama. Last year, he was sentenced to a further 11 years for co-authoring Charter 08, a petition to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A former university professor, Liu Xiaobo won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Human Rights Watch honors Liu Xiaobo for his fearless commitment to freedom of expression and assembly in China.

Liu Xiaobo remains in prison on an 11 year charge for subversion and now the Chinese government have arrested his wife. In this, Liu Xiaobo’s most recent interview, the man about to claim the Nobel peace prize discusses life under China’s authoritarian regime. This interview of Liu Xiaobo was before he was sent to jail here.

“The driving force for positive change within the Chinese political system does not come from the top. It comes from the ordinary people and it’s unstoppable”. Xiaobo discusses humanitarian issues in Tibet and China, the Chinese governments harassment of his family, and the possibilities for democracy in China. “I’m the one who has brought fear into their hearts. So deep down I feel guilt but sometimes that can turn into fear”. He also speaks about what he sees as the growing number of dissidents, like himself, willing to speak out against the Chinese government. “Doing the pro-democracy work I do, the fear of being sent to prison at any time. Doesn’t actually scare me too much. If it did I wouldn’t have been doing this work for the last 19 years”.

Liu Xiaobo – Nobel Peace Laureate