Hanging on the wall in the room where I sit as I write is a framed copy of the first email Dr. Wang sent me some years ago. She, more than most, has the right and the moral authority to reject Song Binbin's apology. She has good reasons for it also.
I did not know that Song did not apologize to Mr. Wang Jinyao and, we learn, she did apologize to the other victims at the school, presumably still alive. If this foreigner had any right to express his opinion on that matter, he might say to Song, "DAMN you, God DAMN YOU." But he doesn't do that because of his Iron Will. He can say that that is good reason for Dr. Wang to do so, which she does.
"What is to be done?," the topic of my lunch with Professor Xu over five years ago. Truth and reconciliation is out for Dr. Wang. Trial in an international court for crimes against humanity is the special of the day.
As a foreign low-down attorney, toiling in the fields of American criminal law, I do not know positively if that is realistic as I do not know international law, but my strong belief is that it is not. I do not believe anyone, not even Mao Zedong were he alive, could be charged in an international court of law for crimes against humanity for the murders of the Cultural Revolution. I can say that it is not only my strong belief, it is my belief "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Song Binbin could not be charged with the murders of the Cultural Revolution. Perhaps I am wrong (but I don't think so). This option of preference for Dr. Wang is put forth in the last paragraph of the article. I do not see the legal theory for such a prosecution there unless it is that Song is to be tried for the entire 30,000,000* killed during the CR, for which, if that is the theory, there is no "evidence" justifying Song's legal responsibility for 30,000,000* murders. None.
So, an international court trial is out. So is a trial in the only country that could try Song, China. That leaves us with...what exactly? I would commend to Chinese the French philosopher Voltaire who wrote, "The perfect is the enemy of the good," for in my opinion, that leaves... them, not "us," them, Egads, that leaves them Chinese people with this truth and reconciliation process in which they don't have to reconcile even if they do get the truth. Which as I...my friend Chow!...as Chow said they haven't gotten from Song. The whole truth, that is.
*There is no scholarly consensus on the number killed during the CR. The first I knew of this 30,000,000 figure was a few months ago when somebody told me about it. When I was most intensely reading up on this several years ago the number was nowhere near that. From memory, 1,000,000 to 3,000,000. I googled both a few months ago and now "cultural revolution deaths" and got figures ranging from 1,800 to 80,000,000. I believe that significantly less than 30,000,000 were killed but my confidence level there is shaky.
I did not know that Song did not apologize to Mr. Wang Jinyao and, we learn, she did apologize to the other victims at the school, presumably still alive. If this foreigner had any right to express his opinion on that matter, he might say to Song, "DAMN you, God DAMN YOU." But he doesn't do that because of his Iron Will. He can say that that is good reason for Dr. Wang to do so, which she does.
"What is to be done?," the topic of my lunch with Professor Xu over five years ago. Truth and reconciliation is out for Dr. Wang. Trial in an international court for crimes against humanity is the special of the day.
As a foreign low-down attorney, toiling in the fields of American criminal law, I do not know positively if that is realistic as I do not know international law, but my strong belief is that it is not. I do not believe anyone, not even Mao Zedong were he alive, could be charged in an international court of law for crimes against humanity for the murders of the Cultural Revolution. I can say that it is not only my strong belief, it is my belief "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Song Binbin could not be charged with the murders of the Cultural Revolution. Perhaps I am wrong (but I don't think so). This option of preference for Dr. Wang is put forth in the last paragraph of the article. I do not see the legal theory for such a prosecution there unless it is that Song is to be tried for the entire 30,000,000* killed during the CR, for which, if that is the theory, there is no "evidence" justifying Song's legal responsibility for 30,000,000* murders. None.
So, an international court trial is out. So is a trial in the only country that could try Song, China. That leaves us with...what exactly? I would commend to Chinese the French philosopher Voltaire who wrote, "The perfect is the enemy of the good," for in my opinion, that leaves... them, not "us," them, Egads, that leaves them Chinese people with this truth and reconciliation process in which they don't have to reconcile even if they do get the truth. Which as I...my friend Chow!...as Chow said they haven't gotten from Song. The whole truth, that is.
*There is no scholarly consensus on the number killed during the CR. The first I knew of this 30,000,000 figure was a few months ago when somebody told me about it. When I was most intensely reading up on this several years ago the number was nowhere near that. From memory, 1,000,000 to 3,000,000. I googled both a few months ago and now "cultural revolution deaths" and got figures ranging from 1,800 to 80,000,000. I believe that significantly less than 30,000,000 were killed but my confidence level there is shaky.
