The exiled Chinese artist spoke to Sky's Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips about the cancellation of his exhibition by a gallery in London.
    • wurzelgummidge@lemmy.worldEnglish
      163·
      10 months ago

      You’ve clearly never been to China. Winnie the Pooh mugs, t-shirts and the other usual shit are all available in China. Most of it is made there.

      You can’t believe all you read in western media. When it comes to coverage of places the US doesn’t like, you can’t believe very much at all.

      • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
        213·
        10 months ago

        There is an entire universe of difference between the government telling you you can’t say something and arresting and/or disappearing you if you ignore them, and privately owned museums, exhibit halls, or online platforms refusing to do business with you if you say something stupid in public that harms people’s perceptions of you. You’re absolutely free to spout every hot take and conspiracy theory you want (there’s certainly no shortage of people who do), but nobody is obligated to respect you or do business with you if you do. What’s not going to happen is an FBI agent or cop coming around to “have a chat” and if you refuse to publicly retract your statements then quietly sending you off to some gulag without telling anyone where you’ll be worked to death and then your organs harvested and sold. That’s the difference between “the West” and China.

      • PugJesus@kbin.social
        123·
        10 months ago

        Yeah, a guy comparing getting his art exhibit canceled over a poorly worded tweet to Maoist China, where people were imprisoned, exiled, murdered, and worked to death for having wrong opinions, or wrong parents, or wrong possessions.

  • dubyakay@lemmy.caEnglish
    101·
    10 months ago

    While a bit over the top, I respect his opinion. Watch any of the documentaries made about him or attend any of his exhibitions and you’ll see this guy is the real deal. He’s been through shit with the CCP and has always been pushing boundaries with his criticism on repressive politics, policies and social issues for as long and he’s been alive.

  • Deceptichum@kbin.social
    92·
    10 months ago

    Dude discovered that you can’t criticise Israel and says it’s the same as people being locked up or executed under Mao.

    Yeah it’s fucked that anyone critical of Israel is shutdown by pressure from various associations and lobbying groups, but it’s a massive reach to say this is the same as under Mao.

    • Tarte@kbin.social
      2·
      10 months ago

      You can. He is not being imprisoned or even punished. But other people are not obligated to do business with him, either. That is their freedom.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    3·
    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Political censorship in the West today is “exactly the same” as it was in China under its ruthless communist leader Mao Zedong, exiled artist Ai Weiwei has told Sky News.

    The 66-year-old dissident told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that “society becomes so timid, to really avoid any kind of questioning or argument”.

    He was responding to a question about the cancellation of his exhibition by the Lisson Gallery in London in November following comments on social media referencing the Israel-Hamas conflict.

    He also argued the Jewish community had a significant influence in the media, finance and culture in the US, and that America’s $3bn (£2.45bn) annual military aid to Israel meant the two countries had a “shared destiny”.

    Criticising the suspension of two New York University professors for comments related to Gaza, Ai said: "This is really like a cultural revolution, which is really trying to destroy anybody who have different attitudes, not even a clear opinion.

    Read more from Sky News:US and UK launch fresh strikes against Houthi targets in YemenFacebook turns 20Indian model fakes death in cancer publicity stunt

    The original article contains 552 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!