代为“武汉吹哨人”领奖的致辞
华盛顿奥希勇气奖
2020年10月28日，美国首都华盛顿
各位中国同胞和武汉老乡们，我非常荣幸地在美国华盛顿接受由“华盛顿奥希日基金会”颁给“武汉吹哨医生”的“奥希勇气奖“。 “奥希”在希腊文里是“不”的意思。这个奖项是纪念希腊人在第二次世界大战爆发的时候对法西斯德国说“不”并勇敢战斗的精神。
今天这个“说不”的勇气奖授予武汉的新冠病毒疫情的吹哨人。我们知道这些吹哨人是谁，他们就是战斗在抗击疫情第一线的医生们。一个去世了，他是李文亮医生，另一些还在继续战斗。这些吹哨医生不仅无私地奉献自己，挽救别人的生命，同时冒着丧失自由和职业的风险对新闻审查说“不”，对独裁专制说“不”。这就是“奥希勇气奖”所追求和鼓励的全部精神所在。
武汉是一座英雄的城市，也是在推翻清王朝中打响第一枪的地方。“武汉吹哨人”继承了同专制斗争的传统。我今天代表他们接受这个勇气奖，就是要跟随他们的步伐，学习他们的精神，不仅敢于对自然界病毒而且对“社会病毒”，包括言论审查等，“到处说‘不’” 。“管它批评不批评，老子到处说，是不是？” （武汉话。）
谢谢2020年“奥希勇气奖”颁给“武汉吹哨医生”。
It is a great honor for me to accept the Oxi Courage Award on behalf of the Whistleblower Doctors in Wuhan, the Chinese central city where I was born, raised, and had worked.
While the whole world remembers Wuhan as the ground zero of this global pandemic, few know that the city was the site for the uprising that toppled China’s two thousand-year imperial rule in October 1911, and ushered in the Republic of China, the first republic in Asia.
Eighty years ago, today, when the Greek people courageously stood up to the seemingly invincible Nazi forces, the city of Wuhan also put up fierce resistance against the foreign invaders.
Knowing Wuhan’s glorious past, one is not surprised by what the Wuhan whistleblower doctors did early in this year. From the first day of this global outbreak, the doctors began their daily battle on the front lines courageously and selflessly to save others More importantly, when the government suppressed and censored the information about the coronavirus outbreak, they risked their careers and well being in exposing the Communist Party’s cover-ups, and alerted the rest of the world against the deadly potential of this threat.
One of those whistleblowers, Dr. Li Wenliang, died from Covid-19, but the others continued to fight and refuse to be silenced. “I AM a big mouth. No matter what pressures are, I’m going to talk about the virus to whoever and wherever I could,” said a doctor to her suppressor.
Just as the Greeks said OXI to the Nazis, the Wuhan whistleblowers not only said OXI! to COVID but also OXI! to disinformation, censorship, and political suppression. They are the true heroes. By recognizing them, the Oxi Courage Award inspires all of us io follow their footsteps and say Oxi to any virus and evils from nature and human society.
Thank you very much.
李进进
