MCLC: Ai Weiwei on self-censorship

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Ai Weiwei on self-censorship
***********************************************************

Source: Huffington Post (6/19/14):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/19/ai-weiwei-self-censorship-ullens_n
_5509225.html

An Exclusive Essay By Ai Weiwei: 'On Self-Censorship'The Huffington Post
By Mallika Rao 

It's been a bad month for critics of the Chinese government, starting with
the flood of arrests ahead of the Tiananmen Square anniversary. Now
officials are battling a single man: their longtime opponent, the
world-famous artist Ai Weiwei.

This month, Ai withdrew his work from a show at Beijing's influential
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, a tribute to the late scholar Hans Van
Dijk <http://www.aaa.org.hk/Diaaalogue/Details/442>, with whom he worked
closely. It was a move made in protest: In a series of correspondences
<http://ucca.org.cn/en/exhibition/hans-van-dijk-5000-names/> that surfaced
online, UCCA chief Xue Mei admitted to removing Ai's name from a press
release, bowing to pressure from the Propaganda Department of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China. The incident follows a similar
one this spring, when Ai's name and work were "wiped" from a retrospective
<http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/29/ai-weiwei-erased-from-show-in
-shanghai/> in Shanghai to placate the government.

In an email to the Huffington Post, Ai analyzed the culture of
"self-censorship" at play in China's art world, drawing a line between the
government's actions and an old Chinese saying, which translates to
"killing the chicken to scare the monkey." The essay is reprinted in full
below.

The sculpture 'Surveillance Camera' made of marble in 2010 by Chinese
artist Ai Weiwei. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

On Self-Censorship
By Ai Weiwei

Censorship in China is enforced 24 hours a day, and operates in every
channel of communication. Its impact resounds in all forms of individual
expression related to the public, be it a publication, an art show, or a
website. For over 60 years, policies of censorship have been a pervasive
part of society throughout the nation.

Within a month, my name has been omitted from two exhibitions in China.
Most recently, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing
was showing three of my pieces in an exhibition commemorating an old
friend and colleague, but were afraid to mention my name and my
relationship with the institution that my friend and I built together --
the first Chinese contemporary art institution ever created.

When these incidents are observed as part of a bigger picture, the
severity of the issue can be clearly understood. This strict censorship of
information and expression affects not only myself, but the artist
community and the whole of society. For mixed reasons, institutions are
self-censoring in order to survive, some even to reap benefits.

In a conversation with Philip Tinari, director of the UCCA, he mentioned
“threats” from above that led to the omission of my name in the
exhibition. In China, party policies may not affect you as an individual,
but work through your organization, your landlord, your relatives and your
associates. Even if you act independently, the power influences those
around you.

Intimidation is the most efficient tool for those in power to scare away
people’s sense of independence. Not only can they successfully expunge
ideas from the public sphere and purge those who dare to express these
ideas and attitudes, they can also brainwash anyone who simply wants to
function as a part of society. In order to gain financial and personal
security, people need to conform to behavioral standards without asking
any questions or attempting to tell right from wrong. Censorship is a
system that creates absolute power and paralyses society, removing the
people’s courage to make judgments or bear social responsibility.

Censorship and self-censorship act together in this society to ensure that
independent thinking and creativity cannot exist without bowing to
authority. More often than not, self-censoring and the so-called threats
related to it, are based on a memory or a vague sense of danger, and not
necessarily a direct instruction from high officials. The Chinese saying
sha ji jing hou puts it succinctly: killing the chicken to scare the
monkey. Punishing an individual as an example to others again incites this
policy of intimidation that can resound for lifetimes and even generations.

Unlike most parts of the world, China’s internet is based on local area
networks (LAN), but even this limited information flow is already making
the authorities extremely nervous. Not only does online censorship go
against the essential character of the Internet, it has already led to
many arrests and sentences in persecution of freedom of expression. As a
result, self-censorship is on the rise, while the demand for freedom grows
at an equally rapid pace. These are parallel challenges facing us in the
materialistic world in which we live.