AFTER being detained without explanation for three months last year, the
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was the subject of an international solidarity
campaign. Posters with his picture and the inscription “free Ai Weiwei”
became widespread whenever members of the Chinese government attended
meetings outside the country. Beijing’s uneasiness dealing in with this
case was almost similar to when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the
2010 Nobel Peace Prize, which he was prevented from receiving personally
in Oslo.
The solidarity campaign towards Ai Weiwei was not only
international. After Ai’s design company Fake Cultural Development Ltd.
was accused of tax evasion – a charge that was interpreted by many as
retaliation against his activism – many Chinese supporters sent him
money so that he could submit a financial guarantee of USD1.3 million in
order to get a review of his case.
He did so, but last week
Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate Court rejected a second and final appeal,
ruling that the artist will have to pay over 15 million yuan (USD2.4
million) demanded by tax officials. The artist said he doesn’t intend to
pay the fine. Surrounded by journalists outside the court, he made some
bold, blatant statements about China’s judicial system. It’s was good
to see a man who speaks his mind, although probably what he said was not
broadcast in the mainland.
“What surprises me is that this society,
which is developing at such a rapid rate today, still has the most
barbaric and backward legal system. I think it’s a bad omen,” he said,
adding that the authorities denied him his legal rights and failed to
follow basic procedures.
Despite having no passport and being barred
from leaving the country, Ai Weiwei’s notoriety seems to have gained him
the right to speak what he thinks. That’s more than many of his fellow
citizens can claim.
Son of Ai Qing, regarded as one of the best
Chinese modern poets, the young Ai Weiwei knew the barbaric consequences
of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. His father was forbidden to write and
exiled to the remote Xinjiang province. That’s where he spent his youth,
while Ai Qing was given tasks like cleaning public toilets and had to
burn “all his books because he could have got into trouble”. Back in
Beijing, he learnt how to draw with some of his father’s friends and
immersed himself in Beijing’s repressed art scene. In 1982 he had the
opportunity to move to New York, where he befriended artists and poets
like the great Allen Ginsberg.
When he returned to China, in 1993,
because of his father’s ill health, he was not the same person. He had
absorbed the influences of the New York art scene and became one of
China’s freest voices. Working with several media, he saw the Internet
as a means to artistic expression and opened a popular and short-lived
blog where he wrote about everything. Commenting on the English
translation of the blog, the art critic Hans Ulrich Obrist says, “It is a
book about life and culture in China. It is about love, sex, identity,
interviews, food, the tension between history and modernity, Olympics,
music, TV, shopping, death, the government, religion, etc. Ai Weiwei has
weaved an unbelievable net of thoughts and words.” There are no taboos
with Ai Weiwei, that’s why he is a precious thinker and artist.
Here
are some ideas on his blog and China, that he shared with Hans Ulrich
Obrist, published in the book ‘Ai Weiwei Speaks’: “I’ve already
published over two hundred articles, interviews and writings,
commentaries about art, politics, newspaper cuttings, etc., on it. I
find that it is the most interesting gift to me, because we live in a
society where self-expression is not encouraged and can even damage you,
as it has two generations of writers. People are afraid to write
anything down; any words put on paper can be used as evidence of a
crime.”
(PB,
Macau Daily Times)
Etiquetas: China, Crónica
