World-Renowned Artist Ai Weiwei on His Childhood in a Labor Camp, Art, Activism, Prison & Freedom

democracynow.org - Ai Weiwei has been called the most powerful artist in the world-and the most dangerous man in China. Born in 1957 in Beijing, he spent his childhood and youth in a hard labor camp in the Gobi Desert in remote northwest China. As a student at Beijing Film Academy, he first became involved in art and activism. He spent his twenties in New York City and then returned to China. In 2008, after a massive earthquake in Sichuan, China, Ai Weiwei launched a citizen investigation to collect the names of the more than 5,000 schoolchildren who died, partially as a result of the highly shoddy government construction of the schools. While his citizen investigation catapulted him to international fame, it also enraged Chinese government officials. In 2009, his popular blog was shut down. A few months later, police broke into his hotel room and attacked him, punching him in the face and causing cerebral hemorrhaging. In 2010, Ai Weiwei was placed under house arrest, after the Chinese government demolished his studio. Then, in 2011, he was arrested at the Beijing airport and held for 81 days, without any charges. Chinese authorities seized his passport and refused to return it until 2015. For more on the remarkable life of this world-renowned dissident and artist, we speak with Ai Weiwei.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: democracynow.org
Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today: democracynow.org/donate
FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:
Facebook: / democracynow
Twitter: / democracynow
KZbin: / democracynow
SoundCloud: / democracynow
Daily Email: democracynow.org/subscribe
Google+: plus.google.com/+DemocracyNow
Instagram: / democracynow
Tumblr: / democracynow
Pinterest: / democracynow
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/podcast/demo...
TuneIn: tunein.com/radio/Democracy-Now...
Stitcher Radio: www.stitcher.com/podcast/democ...

[@sirtoby4939]

Weiwei is one of the most impressive human beings of his generation. Nice to see him get some airtime in America.

[@NellieKAdaba]

Yes!

[@artraygalleryart1159]

Great interview. True international artist. China & the world benefit from his talent.

[@bonjouritsizzy3405]

Ai Weiwei, a hero.

[@JoeCiliberto]

Let me add how we in the U take every freedom we have, not only for granted, but desecrate them through our lack of responsibility. We abuse our rights, and treat them like liberties, never caring to understand the significant differences.

[@xwatson3431]

Joe Ciliberto Thanks for the free world of helping Muslin.I really appreciate it，I called my another 23 family members to go to France，there really is a paradise of Muslin.I love France

[@JoeCiliberto]

X Watson - All we have, all we do, all we produce is from Grace. For me, a Catholic, Grace comes for God. For an atheist, he or she may believe we create our graces through an effort to establish the highest quality of life we can afford ourselves. No matter what you believe - the grace of freedom can leveraged, or squandered. Perhaps the worst personal sacrilege, which has the greatest adverse impact on the public, is to squander our freedom. Conversely, the noblest personal effort is to exercise freedom where their is the greatest public oppression of it. The argument of our time, as China rises and the West settles in, is should personal freedom exist.

[@NellieKAdaba]

Interesting

[@TribeWilloughby]

@Ai Weiwei ... They've run Them through a Wine Press ... business model: sell them books, squeeze the juice ... ref: Aaron Swartz

[@mymatemartin]

Trump prefers artists who didn't spend their childhood in captivity.

[@sebastianmelmoth685]

And now they are doing the same to the Uyghurs and the Tibetans at "re-education camps".

[@tonyfat2458]

Trump is a great American and president

[@Nakashi555]

Hey you dropped this: /s