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| Sarah Stovall |
By Sarah Stovall, Class of 2014
Every couple of months, the Oxford Dictionaries Online is updated to include new words, a process of formalizing elements that have already seen widespread informal adoption. These words typically reflect recent trends in popular culture. In a way, these additions into the common vocabulary, these new words we create to describe our surroundings and situations, reflect what the culture currently recognizes as significant in a unique way.
Harry Wu understands the significance of this process and knows that nominal recognition can be a major step towards real understanding. In Mr. Wu’s case, he hopes that by putting a name to the human rights violations of the forced-labor prison camps in China, he will get one step closer to putting an end to them.
The word “laogai” is an abbreviation of the slogan belonging to China’s forced labor prison system, which translated means “reform through labor.” In the laogai system, Chinese criminals (including many who are considered political prisoners for crimes against the Communist party) are forced to complete hours and hours of intense manual labor. The jobs assigned to the prisoners are often generally those which are considered unsafe or unhealthy, such as working with dangerous chemicals, or enduring conditions that are way below normal standards.
Because of the nature of the forced labor, and the lack consideration for any real application of due process, the laogai are a serious violation of human rights of the Chinese people. Despite the fact that the laogai are a known violation of human rights, the United States and other international powers have not made any real progress in shutting down the Chinese prison labor system. We ought to more seriously question why this is the case? Why are we not doing all we can to end this form of injustice?
Earlier, I suggested that to see what is considered important by the culture to look at the language it adopts. What was one of the phrases adopted into the Oxford Dictionaries Online this past November? “First World problem.” The definition of a “First World problem:” “a relatively trivial or minor problem or frustration (implying a contrast with serious problems such as those that may be experienced in the developing world).”
When you compare the word Harry Wu wants added to the dictionary, “laogai,” to the one of the phrases most commonly used in current popular culture, “First World problem,” the problem is clear. We cannot help others escape oppression and restore their human rights, if we are distracted by the trivial frustrations of our lives as a relatively wealthy and free people. Harry Wu’s activism against the oppression of the laogai system, which he survived, exhibits his incredible resilience and courage. We should aspire to reflect the same quality of character with our actions.
Sarah Stovall, of Bowling Green, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is studying political science and English.