Nobel laureate says dictatorship made her write

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By Sarah Marsh

BERLIN (Reuters) - The 2009 Nobel laureate for literature, Herta Mueller, said on Thursday she had been compelled to write about how dictators are able to dominate a country by her life growing up in communist Romania.

The Swedish Academy paid tribute earlier in the day to Mueller "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed", when announcing the 10 million Swedish crown ($1.4 million) award.

Mueller, a Romanian-born ethnic German, is known for works such as "The Land of Green Plums" which she dedicated to friends killed during Nicolae Ceausescu's two-decade long Communist rule of Romania, and "The Appointment" in which a Romanian woman sews notes saying "Marry Me" into suits of men bound for Italy.

"My writing was always about how a dictatorship arises, how a situation is able to occur where a handful of powerful people dominate a country and the country disappears, and there is only the state left," Mueller said.

"I think literature always emerges from things that have damaged someone, and there is a kind of literature, where the authors don't chose their subject, but deal with one that was thrust upon them -- I'm not the only writer like that."

Mueller told reporters in Berlin she was certain she would never win the award.

"I am not the winner, it's my books, and they are finished works and not me, not me personally," the 56-year-old said.

"I still can't believe it, it still hasn't hit home. I didn't expect it, I was certain that it wouldn't happen. I still can't talk about it, it's too early, I think I still need time to realise what it means."

Her sensitive and insightful works reflect the intolerance and harshness of life under Ceausescu, who was overthrown and executed in 1989. She left Romania with her husband Richard Wagner in 1987 and now lives in Berlin.

"This country saved me. When I arrived in 1987, I could finally breathe," said Mueller. "And when the dictatorship collapsed I felt I was no longer threatened."

"I feel free in the present, the things that happened are not cancelled out though, they're in my head. I only have one head -- the one I am carrying around -- and it has everything in it with which I arrived in this country."

(Editing by Jon Hemming)

People Power\'s Philippine Saint: Corazon Aquino

People Power\'s Philippine Saint: Corazon Aquino

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Cory Aquino remembered

I just found out that Cory Aquino died today, and felt compelled to write a little about her as I admire her greatly. The former Philippine president was one of the few principled political leaders that the country has ever known, and is still highly regarded today among Filipinos. She led the People Power Revolution in 1986 (a.k.a. EDSA I, a shorthand for the country's highway Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, where millions of people demonstrated during the February Revolution) that braved the offensive of Marcos's loyalist troops and, in a matter of four days, forced the exodus of Ferdinand Marcos, his wife Imelda and a handful of cronies to Hawaii, ushering in Asia's first chapter of democratisation. She had also been a longstanding champion of human rights and democracy, having overseen the redemocratisation of nearly all spheres of the country's political life, including the ratification by plebiscite of a progressive 1987 Constitution, the restoration of civil liberties, and the introduction of free and fair elections--arguably the freest since elections were first introduced by the Americans under colonial rule.

Cory's global influence cannot be overstated. A mere 7 months after People Power, Taiwan saw the formation of the island's first opposition party, Democratic Progressive Party, in its postwar history. The L-sign flashed by Cory's supporters became a standard scene in Taiwanese opposition rallies that year. Soon afterwards, in 1987 the dictator Chiang Ching-kuo was forced to end the 38-year martial rule in response to massive societal pressures. In South Korea, too, the slogan 'people's power' reverberated on the streets of Seoul, and in 1987 forced the military regime to hold the country's first democratic elections in decades. It is also well-known that Cory's example had influenced Pakistan's late pro-democracy leader, Benazir Bhutto, who drew considerable inspiration from People Power during her own struggles with the military in the 1980s. Scholars have also noted the spread of People Power--nonviolent active resistance by ordinary civilians--as a term to describe the events of the 1989 velvet revolutions across East-Central Europe and the Tian'anmen student uprising in the PRC.

Although her life has ended, history will remember Cory as an inspirational and influential revolutionary for generations to come. And quite unlike the despised Marcoses, whose autocratic rule and plunder of the country have left a devastating political as well as economic legacy in the Philippines, Cory will be remembered as a democracy fighter who stood among the people and for the people during the worst of times.

Somewhat frustrated

Lately, I'm not sure why some scholars have been particularly critical of me. Most of these critics have been Taiwanese, and are ones--who for some bizarre reason--criticise me apparently for my "naive" view of the world. They brushed aside my questions and suggestions, as if to suggest my thoughts were somehow unimportant. Their response to my question goes something like this: "Face reality, this is an unequal world where 'the market' rules." It is ironic that part of this discipline's goals is commitment to tackling social inequality, yet Taiwanese sociology appears to prefer legitimating that social structure rather than deconstructing it.

Nevertheless, I've also received praises from women and men, primarily from other cultures and countries, for my willingness to express myself and to ask important questions.

I've always thought that one of academia's missions is to foster an independent state of mind. "Thinking outside the box" is our chief concern, and certainly constructive criticism is part of our responsibilities as well. Still, it does become frustrating when those who enjoy being critical are the ones who tend to be the most unwilling to be self-reflexive. I think I'm beginning to acquire a cynical view of this discipline as it is practised in Taiwan.

(Postscript: I may be overreacting to or misunderstanding these comments. I hope this is the case, rather than the scenario that I've described thus far)

Lessons

The BBC's news article on 27 February 2009, "Despair and Rage among Gaza's Youths," is an extremely depressing account of Gazan life, and something that one cannot easily digest without being overwhelmed by the depths of sorrow of a forgotten people.

For those who unconditionally condone Israeli revenge, their "right to exist," and denigrate people who stand behind Palestinians as "anti-Semites," all the while distorting the meaning of the Holocaust, I really have nothing to say to them. Nonetheless, their hatred is a lesson for those of us who still believe in the possibilities of peace and a universal humanity.