 |
鮑彤近影 |
一個瘦弱的老者，79歲，身穿灰褐色襯衫，剪著短平頭，坐在快餐店裡，他就是鮑彤，毫不起眼。但眼中有一種光芒，顯出男子漢的自信和無畏。
"現在，我就是我，"他說，"過去有黨紀約束。他們把我開除出黨，我的腦子就解放了。"
鮑曾經是前中共領導人趙紫陽的秘書，1989年同情示威者，現在正在軟禁中度其餘生。那一年，發生了天安門事件，他坐牢7年，1996年刑滿，但至今離自由人還很遙遠。
"出獄後，我一天二十四小時被監視，"他泰然介紹道，"今天也有人盯梢。天天如此。有時就坐在附近。有時可能給咱們錄音。"
"我適應了，"他補充了一句，"一旦沒有人盯梢，反而會有失落感。"
作為一個外國記者，我在中國已經習慣於和異議人士在快餐店裡進行緊張而短暫的會面，每逢這種場合，大家坐立不安，輕聲低語，還得東張西望，提防有人監視。
但鮑彤不同。他安詳，不驚不慌，即使在伴奏樂澹出的時候，他繼續侃侃而談。
"趙紫陽健在時，我還不可能完全放開，"他說，"因為有顧慮，怕株連他。"
現在，這位八旬老人終於輕鬆了。他語帶調侃，吃吃而笑："我告訴當局：要是你們認為劉曉波有罪應該坐牢，那你們也應該把我抓去坐牢。坐牢也是一件好事情，可以幫助人民認識政府!"
鮑彤尖銳地批評現在的領導人。他這樣評價當局："這個黨沒有綱領，無所謂社會主義，無所謂共產主義。他們一味追逐權力。"
他說，共產黨織造了能夠控制全民的"最嚴密的網"。
"這個黨比皇帝厲害。沒有一個皇帝擁有八千萬有生力量，共產黨有。每個公司，每個法院，都有黨支部。黨領導一切，領導律師，領導記者。哪個皇帝比得上共產黨?"他問。
他說，國家沒有法治，腐敗在黨員中蔓延滋長。
"今天我要是當官，一定腐敗。人家會叫我兒子去當董事長。要是我說他不行，別人就會說，'我兒子行，爲什麼你兒子不行?'如果我拒絕，他們就說我不同舟共濟，就會把我拋出船外。"他說。
但對未來習近平主席領導的新政府，鮑仍然抱有希望。他相信，當局如能主動變革，也許可以挽回某些合法性。
"當局應該爭取主動，"他說，"如果他們承認過去犯過錯誤，老百姓是會原諒他們的。"
至於未來，鮑認為中國共產黨無疑還能維持下去，但不會永遠。"我不知道什麼時候會發生什麼事情，但沒有一種極權制度是會永世長存的。"
NPR.socialMedia.
Morning Edition
November 2, 2012
Latest NPR Newscast
World >
Asia >
China: Change Or Crisis
At 79, Ex-Party Official Lambastes Chinese Leaders
by Louisa Lim/NPR
Once a top Communist Party figure, 79-year-old Bao Tong was kicked out after he
sympathized with the student protesters in 1989.
text size AAA
October 29, 2012
The frail 79-year-old in a pale brown shirt with close-cropped hair sitting at a
fast-food restaurant table looks absolutely unremarkable. But Bao Tong has a
lightness in his eyes, a confidence that speaks of a man whose conscience is
clear, a man with nothing to fear.
"I have become my own person," he says. "When I was a Communist Party member, I
had to follow party discipline. When they threw me out of the party, my brain
was set free."
Bao was once secretary to Zhao Ziyang, the reformist Communist Party leader who
sympathized with protesters in 1989 and spent the rest of his life under house
arrest. In the aftermath of Tiananmen Square events that year, Bao spent seven
years in prison. He was released in 1996, but his life is hardly that of a free
man.
"After leaving prison, I was followed 24 hours a day," he says, with an airy
lack of concern. "Some people came with me today. They always come with me. They
sit near me. They might record."
"I'm totally used to it," he adds. "If they're not with me, I feel lost."
As a foreign journalist in China, I'm used to tense, truncated meetings with
dissidents in noisy fast-food restaurants, where we sit nervously, communicating
in low voices, constantly scanning for signs of surveillance.
With Bao, it's totally different. He's calm and unflustered, speaking loudly
even when the music dips.
"I couldn't speak so freely when Zhao Ziyang was alive," he admits. "I was
scared I might draw him in."
But now, this octogenarian is relaxed, chuckling gently as he describes goading
his security agents.
"I say to them, 'If you think [jailed Nobel peace laureate] Liu Xiaobo should be
in prison, then you can send me to prison with him.' There are advantages to
being in prison. It makes people realize how cruel this government is," he says.
There's no ideology, there's no socialism, there's no communism. All that's left
is power.
- Bao Tong, on the current leadership in China
Harsh Criticism For Current Leaders
Bao is damning in his assessment of the current administration: "There's no
ideology, there's no socialism, there's no communism. All that's left is power."
He describes the Communist Party as having "the tightest net" of control over
the population.
"The party is more powerful than an emperor. No emperor could mobilize and
organize 80 million people. Every company and every law court has a party
branch. They're all under the party's control, including lawyers and newspapers.
What emperor could do that?" he asks.
He decries the explosion of corruption among party members, blaming the absolute
lack of respect for the rule of law.
"If I were an official, I'd definitely be corrupt. People would say, 'How about
your son becoming the chairman of the board in a state-owned company?' If I
refused, they would say, 'If my son can become one, why can't your son?' If I
still said he wouldn't do it, then they wouldn't consider me as being in the
same boat as them. So they would push me out of the boat," he says.
But Bao still has hopes for the new administration that will be headed by a new
president, Xi Jinping. He believes that if the administration can act fast in
pushing through reforms, it may be able to claw back some legitimacy.
"They need to be pro-active," he says. "If they admit that many mistakes were
made in the past, the people would immediately forgive them."
As for the future, Bao has no doubt that China's Communist Party can postpone
its demise, but not indefinitely, "I don't know if it will happen soon, but it
will definitely end one day. No totalitarian system can last for long."
