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Ai WeiWei shows media his $2.4 million tax bill
JISHOU, HUNAN — Despite a lengthy detention, a crushing tax bill and continued harassment by Chinese authorities, dissident artist Ai WeiWei remains undaunted.
Ai was arrested in April for “economic crimes” and held in an undisclosed location for more than two months. Authorities claim Ai owes $2.4 million in back taxes, an accusation he disputes but is paying with the help of his fans. Now, he says one of his associates is being investigated on child pornography charges. Technically, Ai and his wife are under house arrest; he cannot leave Beijing, cannot write anything critical of the government and cannot talk to the media.
But he did anyway. Newsweek magazine carries an essay by Ai in which he describes Beijing as a “prison,” without referring specifically to his own quasi-imprisonment. We know what he means, though.
Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. I see people on public buses, and I see their eyes, and I see they hold no hope. They can’t even imagine that they’ll be able to buy a house. They come from very poor villages where they’ve never seen electricity or toilet paper.
Every year millions come to Beijing to build its bridges, roads, and houses. Each year they build a Beijing equal to the size of the city in 1949. They are Beijing’s slaves. They squat in illegal structures, which Beijing destroys as it keeps expanding. Who owns houses? Those who belong to the government, the coal bosses, the heads of big enterprises. They come to Beijing to give gifts—and the restaurants and karaoke
Continue reading Released from detention, Ai WeiWei still fights authority
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JISHOU, CHINA — What a coincidence. Days before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited British Prime Minister David Cameron to sign trade deals worth $2.2 billion, Chinese officials released two prominent dissidents, Ai WeiWei and Hu Jia.
Cameron, pro forma, gave some lip service to preserving human rights as he signed the trade agreements worth £1.4 billion, while Wen gave the usual Chinese reply — “MYOB” — though somewhat more diplomatically than my shorter version.
Last week, Ai, an internationally known artist, was finally released on bail after being picked up in a Hong Kong airport three months ago and kept virtually incognito. He was charged officially with tax evasion, but he also has been a vocal political gadfly in China. Ai has been publicizing the names of students who died when their “tofu-construction” schools collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
The state news agency reported Ai, 54, was released because he had confessed to his crimes and because he was in poor health. Prior to his arrest, Ai, his family and his associates denied any tax evasion.
Hu, 37, was also released at the end of his a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence on Sunday, which apparently was his official release date. He had been put away for “inciting subversion” for his sharp criticism of the government’s human rights record preceding the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In an open letter published in 2007, Hu wrote:
The Olympics will be held in a country where there are no elections, no freedom of religion… where torture and discrimination are supported by a sophisticated system of secret police.
Hu and his wife documented their lives under police surveillance in a video that went viral later that year. He was tried and imprisoned in 2008.
Both men are under a form of house arrest. Hu’s house is under constant surveillance, and he cannot talk to
Continue reading Dissidents released just before Chinese premier visits the UK
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JISHOU, HUNAN — Take this news with a grain of salt, since it comes from official sources via The AP. Dissident artist Ai WeiWei, who has been detained for the last two weeks, has been charged with tax evasion, destroying evidence and bigamy.
No figures were given regarding how much tax Ai owes (if any), and his family has denied the charges, anyway.
“He has made the government unhappy by speaking up for ordinary people,” Ai’s sister Gao Ge told The Associated Press. “Now the government wants to get him back.”
Ai has been openly critical of government officials, challenging them through China’s own legal system to uphold constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and equal protection under the law. He was a public supporter of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who is serving a 11-year sentence in China for “inciting subversion of state power.” (As in co-authoring Charter ’08, a call for more democracy in China. Very subversive. Yeah.)
The government newspaper Wen Wei Po, which is published in Hong Kong, has been smearing Ai as part of the government’s efforts to discredit him. In addition to the tax evasion charge, he is being held for allegedly destroying papers about his taxes, for bigamy and for spreading pornography over the Internet.
Ai is married, but has a child from a previous relationship. Everybody in his family is cool with it, and the whole situation is public knowledge. The New Yorker‘s readers even know about it. As for the porn, well, he’s an artist. According to The AP, Ai photographed himself in the nude with a stuffed animal covering his privates. Considering Ai’s portly physique, the photo is more art than porn, but maybe China’s politicos get off on that sort of thing.
(Incidentally, the stuffed animal was a “grass mud horse,” a mythical llama-like
Continue reading Chinese authorities charge Ai WeiWei with tax evasion, bigamy
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JISHOU, HUNAN — The BBC reports that Chinese authorities have confirmed they picked up dissident artist Ai WeiWei and are holding him for “economic crimes,” without providing any other details.
Ai, the co-designer of the Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium, has had several run-ins with Chinese authorities in the past, who don’t like his persistent questioning of the status quo. They reportedly arrested him Sunday at the Hong Kong airport, where he was planning to take a flight abroad. An exhibit of Ai’s work is at the Tate modern gallery in London.
Foreign governments have protested the arrest and detention, but Beijing has basically said, as it always has, “MYOB.” Here’s a quote from the BBC report, so you can see what I mean.
“China is a country ruled by law and will act according to law. We hope that the countries concerned will respect China’s decision,” [foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei] said.
Since I know nothing about Ai’s supposed “economic crimes,” (a bogus charge, in my view) I can’t say if he broke any applicable laws. As for his dissidence, Ai has apparently been very careful to follow the strict letter of the law, as spelled out in the Chinese Constitution. He told a reporter for The New Yorker once that he wanted to test the “system” to see how committed the government is to its own laws.
Only when it suits them, it seems.
The BBC article also highlights another arrest, of a man who investigated the 2008 Chinese milk scandal. Zhao Lianhai’s son died after drinking milk tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical. Zhao was picked up by police after he tried to organize a parents’ group and demand compensation for the kids made ill by the tainted milk. He finished a prison sentence last month.
In an interview with the South China Morning
Continue reading China charges Ai WeiWei with ‘economic crimes’
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JISHOU, HUNAN — Chinese authorities have apparently detained artist Ai WeiWei, after they prevented him from flying overseas from Hong Kong’s airport on Sunday. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Artist Ai WeiWei (AP file photo)
Following the public protests in several Middle Eastern and North African countries, China’s political bosses have been rounding up dissidents left and right, in an effort to quell any similar movements here.
Ai has had several run-ins with authorities already. He was blocked from attending the ceremony awarding Liu Xiaobo (who is in prison) the Nobel Peace Prize, one of his art studios near Shanghai was bulldozed, and in recent weeks, the cops have visited his offices and studios several times.
The artist, who designed the Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium, had been keeping a running tally of dissident detentions on a Twitter feed that had 70,000 followers. I guess the politicos didn’t like that many people knowing what they’re up to.
The AP has the story, though The Guardian has a more detailed one.
Incidentally, the Chinese constitution guarantees freedom of the press and freedom of expression. It’s just applied
Continue reading Prominent Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei “disappears”
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JISHOU, HUNAN — Beijing artist Ai WeiWei is a vocal critic of China’s Communist Party. While party officials have not arrested him (yet), they seem to take special glee in making his life miserable.
On Tuesday, government officials authorized the demolition of Ai’s newly built artists’ studio in a village outside Shanghai.
The link above will take you the complete article at The New York
Continue reading Chinese government tears down dissident artist’s studio
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