Ai weiwei interviewed on CNN's Amanpour part 3

http://twitter.com/asianhiphop

(CNN) -- Leading Chinese activist and artist Ai Weiwei declared that China's government has no humanity -- and that the Communist Party is trying to silence anyone who disagrees with it.

"They crack down on everybody who has different opinions -- not even different opinions, just different attitudes," Ai told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

"Simply to have different opinions can cost (dissidents) their life; they can be put in jail, can be silenced, and can be disappeared," he said.

Ai is no stranger to controversy or danger. He helped design the iconic Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but then called for a boycott of the games because in his opinion China was using them as propaganda.

He also faced a barrage of official criticism in 2008 when he assembled activists to collect the names of thousands of unidentified students who were killed in the massive Sichuan earthquake. He also slammed local governments for allowing the construction of shoddy schools that collapsed.

Ai has paid a heavy price for his dissent. He says he was beaten in a hotel room by Chinese police and later needed emergency brain surgery for injuries he suffered in the assault.

Even as Ai spoke to CNN, Google appeared to be moving closer to leaving China in a showdown over Internet censorship and hacking from inside the communist nation.
Simply to have different opinions can cost (dissidents) their life
--Ai Weiwei, Chinese activist and artist
RELATED TOPICS * China * Chinese Politics

Popular Western social networking sites are already banned from China. "There's no Twitter in China, there's no YouTube in China, now we'll have no Google in China," Ai said.

"They shut down three of my blogs in seven minutes, so you can see how fearful (Chinese officials are) about somebody speaking out their mind."

He said 12 million people were reading his blog posts until they were closed.

Ai though said there are new technologies that can help people overcome what he called the Great Firewall, but it's available to only a small number of people.

"Now we have about 50,000 people -- writers, editors, journalists -- who can get the information. And they can get whatever we say in the West," he added.

"It has a great effect on the government. Young people see what we are talking about on Twitter and blogs (and) they would speak the words to different kinds of media. So that can have great potential, if millions of people read them."

Ai said he believes new technology is the only way to bring change to China and he's convinced it will happen one day.

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• Ai
• weiwei
• 艾未未
• china
• government
• PRC
• activist
• CNN
• Amanpour

[politivoldinorge]

NORWAY AND ITS TORTURE.....I was about to shoot your little boy, the police officer told the mother; see video

[charles789789]

it is not about goverment it is fight b/w rich and poor, there are too many force to make rich to win because it control everything, in this world everybody have to obey rule there are different rule for rich and poor, if there is no poor people who will do low job for you, how can country make thing cheap without low wage worker so china is on mission there building army worker, army builder and army soldier to balance rich and poor not only on china around world

[xhymansiz]

No one can really understand what he is talking about without experiencing all those that he and his generation had suffered in China.

[redfox1997]

Ai WeiWei T-shirts, etc. for sale: Search "Who's Afraid of Ai WeiWei" with Google, and enter the fb album that displays the products.

[cgseggal]

/watch?v=enhf81_sI1M

[ABlackbirdOnline]

@cgseggal That's fine, I'm not insistent that Ai Weiwei's methods are good/effective, though I support his aims. Fortunately there are many NGOs and other people/bodies working to facilitate positive change in China in less controversial ways :) perhaps if there were more open and legal forums in China for expressing views which are critical of the government, fewer people would resort to destructive methods to express themselves?

[cgseggal]

@ABlackbirdOnline Well I think that if anybody wants to make real progress in facilitating positive change in China, supporting Ai Weiwei is not the way to go. How would you like it if somebody destroyed one of your precious family heirlooms and posted youtube videos that said fuck your mother because they disagreed with your values and traditions?

[ABlackbirdOnline]

@cuttlefishgem You don't have to like or support Ai Weiwei, but should recognise that there are people from both eastern (including Chinese) AND western backgrounds who do, just as there are people all over the world who disagree with him. Like I said, the 'east vs west' concept is fabricated and manipulated by political and media bodies in both China and the US, so I would be wary of making a geographical generalisation like saying 'the west is... condoning highly destructive behaviour.'

[cuttlefishgem]

@ABlackbirdOnline This guy has vandalised and destroyed priceless ancient chinese cultural treasures from 400 BC. Imagine an Englishman went and blew up a piece of Stonehenge and vandalised other bits of it to register his dissatisfaction with the English government. He would be in jail, quite rightly. The West is hypocritically, tacitly condoning highly desrtructive behaviour by supporting this guy.

[ABlackbirdOnline]

@cuttlefishgem I do agree that the US/China dichotomy is exaggerated and manipulated, by both sides, I would say. Media on both sides certainly have their own interests. Even if CNN have their own agenda in promoting Ai Weiwei's views, though, I do think that these are views which are genuinely held by himself and a significant proportion of Chinese people, from what I have seen and heard, rather than this entire thing being an American conspiracy. However, I take your point about CNN bias :)