China is wasting international goodwill with an Olympic security operation that makes the country look like a police state, the artist behind Beijing’s new stadium said.
Ai Weiwei (艾未未), one of China’s most influential intellectuals, says the government is using the “terrorist threat” as an excuse to strengthen its power.
“With the use of modern technology, the control is tighter than China ever had before,” he said. “This is an exercise of state power. People’s rights are heavily violated. Is this an Olympics or some kind of warfare?”
PHOTO: EPA
Since the completion of the landmark “Bird’s Nest” stadium, Ai has distanced himself from the state and the Olympics, refusing to attend the opening ceremony and becoming an increasingly outspoken advocate of political reform.
He feels China is spoiling the atmosphere of the Games with an overzealous security operation. According to domestic media, the authorities have mobilized 100,000 police, installed 300,000 surveillance cameras and put anti-aircraft missiles next to the stadium. There are three rings of checkpoints on roads into the city and ID inspections have been stepped up.
“I think it is a shame. It’s a loss,” said Ai. “The original idea was to invite the international community to China, share the same values, celebrate humanity and goodwill, to speak about peace and social harmony. But today, you see police everywhere, in every neighborhood there is tight security, not just in Beijing, but everywhere in China. People really live in a police state.”
Ai is unusually outspoken in a country where several critics of the Communist authorities have been imprisoned and public support for the Olympics is high.
In part, this is explained by his background. He spent his early years in remote Xinjiang, where his father, Ai Qing (艾青), one of China’s greatest modern poets, was exiled and forced to clean toilets.
“My father’s generation fought and lost for ideology. Many of them lost their lives because they wanted a just society. But now we put up with shit like this,” he says. “To me it is not a choice of whether or not to speak out, it is a matter of dignity of life.”
Ai conceived the Olympic stadium’s steel lattice design with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. Its mixture of chaos and order, he says with pride, is a model for society. The most important feature of the stadium, he says, is transparency. It is intended to invoke an atmosphere of openness and freedom.
“From whatever direction you look at it, you share the power. There is no decoration. It is very rare. The concept looks simple, but it provides the best watching experience for everybody because there are no pillars,” Ai said.
He dismisses claims that he has turned against the structure he helped to design. “I don’t criticize the stadium. I criticize the government’s use of the Olympics for propaganda. I am disappointed that the system is not able to turn this historical event into political reform.”
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