Guest Comments by Jens Galschiot

Editor's Note: Galschiot, a well-known Danish sculptor, often addresses human-rights issues.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Recently big public commemorations took place in Hong Kong. Thousands of Chinese participated to honor and remember Szeto Wah, a 79-year-old poet, Legislative Council member and democracy activist who died on January 2.

A large number of Chinese dissidents tried to go to Hong Kong to attend the events. Sadly, many were forbidden from entering the city due to the Beijing government's growing influence, despite the promise of regional autonomy and “one-country, two systems”.

Along with Szeto Wah's regional impact, he influenced non-Asian people, even European art- and grassroots-movements. As president of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, he received my eight-metre-tall sculpture, the Pillar of Shame, which was placed in Hong Kong in 1997 as a permanent memorial to victims of the 1989 Beijing Massacre. Today, the sculpture also symbolizes the Chinese threat to freedom of speech and human rights in Hong Kong.

Erection of this sculpture caused so much anger in Beijing that I've been blacklisted in China and several times denied entrance to Hong Kong, despite an agreement on visa-free travel for Europeans. For that reason, I could not travel to join the January 29 funeral services for Szeto Wah.

Several times, I had the honor to work with Szeto Wah. I witnessed his skills as he mastered the symbolic language and used creativity to generate debate and interest in the fight for a more humanistic society. For example, he knew how to use western art to internationalize the struggle for a democratic Hong Kong and to maintain that Beijing has no right to restrict freedom of expression there.

In 2008, I was denied entrance into Hong Kong when taking part in an art event, The Color Orange, which focused on human rights during the Beijing Olympics. But Szeto Wah turned defeat into victory as he and other democracy advocates themselves painted The Pillar of Shame orange, thereby drawing attention to the lack of freedom of speech in China.

I remember Szeto Wah as a friend and comrade in the struggle for a better world, a battle far from won. All sorts of fellow-advocates recall him with immense respect. His visions and use of symbolic language will be eternally inspiring for us and for future democracy advocates to continue the fight.

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