I'm not sure we are in the position to judge AWW from here. As for disrespect - I have a disrespect for the English aristocracy and all it stands for and would be very happy to see all their palaces burn to the ground and see them hanging from the lamp posts along the Mall. I support what the student demonstrators did in Regent Street and elsewhere and think it wrong they are being pursued by the Police and taken through the courts. They were heroically silly, at worst.
However, at least their treatment is carried out in the public eye and through legal routes. Nobody has been made to disappear. The way the Chinese authorities operate is totally beyond the pale. No matter what you have done (and I don't think AWW has done anything that bad) no authority can make you disappear. That's what the paramilitaries did in Argentina and Chile. Having friends who went through those times in those places I know they would not tolerate such actions. I don't think China wants to be equated with that. I think we, and our elected representatives (for what they are worth), should be making it extremely clear to the Chinese that they cannot treat people like that anymore. If they do then they will not gain the respect they otherwise likely deserve and will be treated as pariahs. There wonderful history will then be worth shit - which is the point I think AWW was trying to make. Best Simon On 11/05/2011 16:29, "martin mitchell" <[email protected]> wrote: > What about the issue of human rights and freedom of expression? > > martin. > > On 11 May 2011, at 15:28, Andreas Maria Jacobs wrote: > >> I cannot afford to waste my energy to get involved in >> a power political game i.e. AW vs. China government >> >> i think both sides are to blame and I think >> it is a bit naive to fight for either of them >> >> Ai Weiwei showed a grave disrespect for the >> traditional chinese cultural values, smashing >> age old artifacts to barrels to express his >> conceptual megamalomaniac - Andy Warhol like - attitude. >> >> It is not strange that he will be in a conflictual situation >> >> And... he is NOT a victim!!! >> >> He is at best a selfchosen chinese multimilloniaire >> who cleverly used the Western attention for >> his extremistic and insane scaled 'artworks' to become >> a well sought and extremely well paid, super >> commercial 'artdealer', exploiting the rich chinese >> culture for his own - and western artdealers - sake >> >> Let's say he got what he deserved, do not be fooled >> by the media hypes! >> >> Andreas Maria Jacobs >> >> w: http://www.nictoglobe.com >> w: http://burgerwaanzin.nl >> >> On May 11, 2011, at 15:54, Michael Szpakowski <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> Hi >>> I made a 'free Ai Weiwei' banner. I put it on my site and linked it to >>> >>> http://www.freeaiweiwei.org/ >>> >>> There's a larger image, too, here: >>> >>> http://www.somedancersandmusicians.com/freeAiWeiwei/ >>> >>> Please feel free to use it, remix it or make your own. >>> >>> cheers >>> michael >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour Simon Biggs [email protected] http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ [email protected] http://www.elmcip.net/ http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
