FREE AI WEIWEI

Please join me in writing periodically to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., to ask them to free Ai Weiwei, the famous dissident artist.
Chinese Embassy: chinaembpress_us@mfa.gov.cn

I sent the following e-mail to them this morning. Feel free to copy it:

Why is the Chinese government so afraid of Ai Weiwei?

Is it so fragile that it can't stand a little criticism?

Such great leaders of such a great country should not be so full of fear.

They should welcome Ai Weiwei's art and his statements and listen to him a little bit.

The country would be better for it.

Respectfully,

Roger R. Angle

Culver City, CA

FREE AI WEIWEI - PLEASE

Don't forget to send e-mails to the Chinese Embassy in D.C. to ask them to free Ai Weiwei, the famous dissident artist:

chinaembpress_us@mfa.gov.cn

Please be polite.

This is the most recent article I could find:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703509104576326201214051990.html

It says the authorities allowed Ai Weiwei to meet for about 20 minutes with his wife last Sunday afternoon. She said he seems to be in good health.

I guess the Chinese government doesn't believe in freedom of speech.

Thanks

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

FREE AI WEIWEI

Don't forget to write to the Chinese embassy and ask them to free the famous and widely admired dissident artist Ai Weiwei.

Here is the address again:

chinaembpress_us@mfa.gov.cn

I'm trying to e-mail them once a day, so they don't forget.

Thanks.

-- Roger, aka, "Ai Weiwei in the USA"

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

I'M AI WEIWEI

Remember that scene in "Spartacus," the 1960 movie starring Kirk Douglas, where the vicious Roman general says he will spare hundreds of slaves if they will give up Spartacus, leader of the slave revolt?

Of course, we know they are going to kill him.

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) stands up and says, "I'm Spartacus."

Another man stands up and says,  "I'm Spartacus." And another. And another. Pretty soon all 200 of them are shouting the same thing.

Here is a link to the scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8h_v_our_Q

Every time I watch it, it makes me cry.

Well, that's what I think every artist and writer in the world should do.

I'm Ai Weiwei.

If you are Ai Weiwei, or if you have seen him, or if you think he should be released, please report your sightings or plead for his release by sending an e-mail to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.:

chinaembpress_us@mfa.gov.cn

Please be respectful.

Thank you.

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

WHO IS AFRAID OF AI WEIWEI?

I think I spotted the famous Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei today in downtown Culver City, at Ford's Filling Station, a chi-chi restaurant near the Kirk Douglas Theater.

Or at least I saw someone who looked very much like him. I was sure it was he, even though I had never seen him before in person.

Then I saw this same person later at the old Culver Hotel, and later yet on the 405 Freeway headed south toward Orange County.

He was riding the biggest Harley Davidson motorcycle I had ever seen. He looked a bit like Santa Claus.

It was amazing to me. He must have escaped from Chinese detention, where he has not been seen in public since April 3.

He must have gotten out. Perhaps he escaped. Or more likely he is capable of transporting himself through time and space.

I think that explains it. These artists can do almost anything. Once they set their mind to it.

I would guess that Ai Weiwei is everywhere, and there is more than one Ai Weiwei out there. Maybe they are clones or even identical twins.

My guess is that he can replicate himself, perhaps using a giant holographic photocopy machine in 3-D.

I would suggest that everyone keep an eye out for Ai Weiwei and report your sightings of him.

I hope we will all be lucky enough to see an Ai Weiwei soon.

Here's to Ai Weiwei. Bless him and protect him. May he live long and prosper.

I look forward to seeing him again. He seems like a kind and lovable person. 

Why would the Chinese detain him? Who is afraid of Ai Weiwei?

-- Roger

(Watch this:)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ai-wei-wei/

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

AI WEIWEI, REDS & TEA PARTY

I just finished reading an article in Newsweek -- which is getting better, by the way -- about the famed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, (which I guess is pronounced "Eye Way-way," rather than "I Wee-wee"): 
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/04/10/a-provocateur-finds-out-just-how-far-he-can-go.html

Here is a photo of Ai Weiwei, from the AP:

 Weiwei says his political actions are works of art. Reminds me of my old argument over whether serving a bowl of soup is a work of art. Well, I just made a work of "art" in the bathroom, if you get my drift. Getting my drift is another work of art, BTW. 

Anyway, my question is this: Which is worse, the brutal repression the Communists do in China or the ruthless capitalism the Tea Party wants to effect in the good old USA? 

Both are forms of social engineering, and I think they are both pretty bad.

It seems to me the Communists and the Tea Party are a lot alike. Both care more about their ideology than they do about people.

Both want to protect their own interests. In China, those are the Party leaders and apparatchiks. In the USA, the Tea Party wants to protect the rich.

Is either one good for their country? No.

Political activists in the USA divide themselves into two camps: those who care more about people, and those who care more about money. In this country, the USA, the former are liberals and the latter are conservatives. 

Pretty neat division, huh? That's so you can tell the good guys from the bad guys. Obviously, the good guys want to help people, more or less unselfishly, and the bad guys want to screw poor people out of their money and help the rich get richer.

In the USA, our right wingers think it's OK to screw the poor, but they don't want to screw the rich, who they think are more valuable, for some reason that I can't fathom.

In China, there are those who follow the party line and those who want to speak for themselves. The Communists think it's OK to screw anyone whom they can't control or who won't kow-tow to the party line.

Communism was supposed to help the poor, but it doesn't really do that. What it has done, in China and in the former Soviet Union, is create a social system that is just as bad as rampant capitalism. Those who rise to the top screw those on the bottom, in both systems.

So there are bad guys on both sides. Which kind of bad guy do you prefer? 

But I think both sides need reform. We need to do more to help the working poor rise up out of poverty. The Chinese need to level their playing field, too, I think.

In this country, the poor carry the capitalists on their backs, it seems to me. I wouldn't mind screwing the rich a little bit; that would help the poor a lot.

In China, the working people carry the apparatus of the state on their backs. Both systems are equally at fault, I think.

I prefer this country, of course, because we can speak our mind. Now if we could just get rid of those Tea Party jerks.

Weiwei's family was repressed, in 1958, because of his father, a poet. Today, Weiwei is similarly treated. 

Meanwhile, Weiwei is nowhere to be found. We don't know if he is in prison or what. Here is a recent update:
http://preview.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-24/detained-ai-weiwei-s-supporters-march-in-hong-kong-scmp-says.html

About China, there are two issues here:

1. Are Weiwei's political statements art? No, they are not.
2. Is the Chinese government in the right to suppress Weiwei and people like him? No, it is not.

So what should we do about all this? We should do whatever we can, short of going to war, to support Weiwei and his "art." It's about freedom of speech. We should always support that.

What should we do about the Tea Party people? Maybe if we ignore them long enough, they will go away. Or grow up.  

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

(Ai Weiwei links:)
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/heads-up-ai-weiwei-2274341.html