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THOUSANDS OF people have sent more than €600,000 to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, some tossing cash folded into airplanes over his gate, to help him pay a tax bill they see as government harassment, he said today.
A state-run newspaper criticised the outpouring and warned it could be illegal.
The donation campaign — also in the form of wire transfers and cash stuffed in envelopes or wrapped around fruit that is thrown into his yard — is rare for Chinese dissidents because of the threat of retaliation that comes with supporting high-profile government critics.
Nearly 20,000 people have sent more than 5.3 million yuan (€607,000) since he announced a week ago that the Beijing tax bureau was demanding that he pay 15 million yuan (€1.7m) in back taxes and fines, Ai said.
“This shows that a group of people who want to express their views are using their money to cast their votes,” Ai told The Associated Press. “It shows that in the Internet age, society will have its own judgment and its own values. People are using these methods to re-examine the accusation that I evaded taxes.”
Ai, an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist, was detained for nearly three months earlier this year amid an overall crackdown on dissent, setting off concern well beyond the arts circles and civil rights community in which he is well known. The detention and subsequent claims of tax evasion have been interpreted by activists as a way to punish him for his often-outspoken criticism of the authoritarian government.
Ai said that he would not treat the money from supporters as donations, but as loans that he would repay.
Sunflower seed receipts
On Monday, staff and volunteers at Ai’s Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd design company were sorting through hundreds of wire transfer receipts and sending off packets of sunflower seeds in return, a reference to Ai’s past installation involving 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds at London’s Tate Modern. Some donated bank notes were rolled into balls and others were folded into paper airplanes.
Volunteer Liu Yanping said many of the donations have been accompanied by messages of support, including “Brother, let me be your creditor,” and “The whole family has been mobilised, everyone will be creditors,” Liu said. Other messages were poetic: “Walk toward the light, the darkness will pass,” wrote one supporter.
One person, feminist scholar Ai Xiaoming, described her donation as “a form of support as well as an appeal.” She declined to reveal the size of her contribution.
“Everyone can clearly see how the whole process of accusing Ai Weiwei of tax evasion has not been transparent or fair,” said Ai, who is based in the southern city of Guangzhou.
Ai the artist has demanded that police return the account books they seized from his studio when they detained him and that they allow him to meet with his former office manager and accountant.
Calls to the local tax bureau rang unanswered. In a commentary Monday, the state-run Global Times cited unnamed experts as saying Ai could be suspected of “illegal fundraising.” It also said the movement did not represent the larger Chinese population.
“It is absolutely normal for a certain number of people to show their support for him with donations. But these people are an extremely small number when compared with China’s total population,” the commentary said. “Ai’s political preference along with his supporters’ cannot stand for the mainstream public, which is opposed to radical and confrontational political stances.”
The newspaper also asked if Ai really needed to borrow money to pay off the tax bill. Ai has shown his work in London, New York and Berlin and has earned large sums selling his work at auctions and through galleries.
“Yes, I am very wealthy, but this is a separate issue,” Ai said of the newspaper’s criticism. “I have said that I will repay every cent of the loans. One person’s innocence is tied together to a country’s innocence. I’m not doing this to profit myself.”
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Whatever about Status Yellow, don’t forget Operation Green on Friday week. Get them yokes gone for good this time!
@Finian McG: No doubt you’ll be voting far-right. I prefer the Greens and other decent parties, thanks.
@Finian McG: anyone but the greens and SF
@Brendan O’Brien: adding to the problem
@Brendan O’Brien:
LOL ! Delusions of grandeur…
@Shane O Mac: By not voting far-right? Seriously?
@Brendan O’Brien: 1mm to the right is “far right” apparently.
@Kieran Menon: No, that would be the centre or, at most, the centre right.
@Brendan O’Brien: Is Anyone except the greens far right Brendan.
@Finian McG: it’s not like any of you were voting for my beloved greens in the first place. They’ve delivered much of their manifesto so green voters like myself are pleased with their performance.
@eoin fitzpatrick: tool
@Brendan O’Brien: I wonder why I’m not surprised!
@eoin fitzpatrick: Go sell your lettuce somewhere else, we are all stocked up.
@Brendan O’Brien: Greens and decent don’t go together.
@Brendan O’Brien: the greens like piling on useless carbon taxes on you and all how decent is that?? Brenden B.
@eoin fitzpatrick: did Duffy no just stop 300 homes being built because “it overlooks my kitchen”
Feck the greens
@Brendan O’Brien: Far right…you don’t even know what it means, clearly.
@damien leen: tell us then, Damien, what does far right mean to you?
@Kevin Kerr: We don’t have any far right parties.
As usual, …..an article about some chilly weather a-coming & it’s hijacked into political mud slinging & juvenile reamblings
@Kevvy kerrr: No surprise at all. The kids are using mummy’s mobile. I wish she would keep them away from it.
Israel condemned last night by all political parties for their attack on Palestinians. There was little mention of the Hamas and Hezbollah attacks that started the conflict. Although I think Martin did condemn Hezbollah / Hamas. Anyway, most people label Israel right wing.
Israel formed after the holocaust. Nazi’ are considered right wing. Nazi’s were supported during the war by the Palestinians.
It can get very confusing when people are labelled right wing.
@AnthonyK: Israel had a plan hatched long before the holocaust. Chaim Weizmann had the ear of British parliament via his acetone, and he pushed Herzrl’s Der Judenstaat relentlessly. The idea that Hammas started the conflict last October is ignorant and insulting. The Jews are aware of the awful nature of the atrocities they’re committing. It’s a moral price they’re prepared to pay to ensure they’re survival as peoples.
@Pól Pot: *their survival….
@AnthonyK: You can be bloody sure they’re right wing. No confusion.
@Pól Pot: You correctly point that Hamas didn’t start the conflict last October. NO, it would be more correct to say they started it in 2005, after Israel withdrew from Gaza and left them with a modern & well developed region on a prime Mediterranean coast. But such was their obsession to destroy Israel that they have ended being destroyed themselves. (And don’t mention walls, blockades, etc. – this all happened after their suicide campaign against Israeli civilians).
@Thomas Sheridan: Ye know nought.
@Thomas Sheridan: Deir Yassin massacre?
@Thomas Sheridan: I’m sure you’re wrong. Was it not the day before my 20th birthday? Either that or at the signing of the Balfour agreement which robbed generations of Palestinian people of their land and homes, in favour of Jews. Either way it goes back a bit. The only certainty is that Israel stole the land.
@AnthonyK: you seem to be under the illusion that the Hamas attacks started the conflict. Let me clarify for you and hopefully ease your confusion. The conflict started in well before October 7th and dates back to 1949. 2023 was the most deadly year on record for Palestinian children since records began. Up until the 7th October that was. It was one of the bloodiest years in the history of Gaza for Palestinian civilians. Then October 7th happened. Everyone and condemned October 7th. Everyone who supports Palestine condemned October 7th. It shouldn’t happen. Why can you not condemn Israel’s actions? Maybe learn more than “WhAt AbOuT oCtObEr 7Th” before commenting on the matter?
@Eoin Jackson: I also struggle to believe October 7th happened without Israel’s blessing. This is a state that spends trillions on defence. Has an incredible intelligence agency in the Mossad that had Hamas infiltrated on nearly every level. But you’d have us believe that it was a complete surprise attack and the Israeli leadership had absolutely no idea it was brewing. Yeah, I have a bridge to sell you and it’s going at a great price, a special discount for you…
@AnthonyK: Hamas was formed in 1987. Explain the Nakba and genocidal ethnic cleaning for 40 years prior to that.
@Paul Whitehead: Take that up with the Turks that owned it before the Jews returned, or the Arabs that abandoned their land at the behest of their invading Arab neighbours
@Thomas Sheridan: Was never abandoned. Not ever. Consistently populated.
@Paul Whitehead: no such thing as Palestine. Never existed.
@Pól Pot: it wasn’t, it has been colonised by Arabs rats.
Great weather for a trip to the Sally Gap
@Ronan Mc: And no doubt, people will try to get there!
@Brian Hunt: let Darwin look after it, people should be left too it don’t bother saving dumbos lol
I’m just waiting for the hired hacks to ambush anyone who suggests Climate Change is a scam cooked up by government to increase taxes!
@Brian Hunt: Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
Published: 17th October 2024
Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance —nearly 40 percent of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years— is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices, reveals a new Oxfam report published today ahead of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C.
@Brian Hunt: Plants the world over are absorbing about 31% more carbon dioxide than previously thought, according to a new assessment developed by scientists. The research, detailed in the journal Nature, is expected to improve Earth system simulations that scientists use to predict the future climate, and spotlights the importance of natural carbon sequestration for greenhouse gas mitigation.
@Finian McG: Oxfam has its own governance and accountability issues to deal with.
Ireland’s top scorer, Robbie Herzl.
@Pól Pot: one of Ireland’s best ever players and started his.career as a manager very well
I wonder what Gom will need rescuing off a mountain over the next few days,
Has LIDL got any bread left??
@Paul Whitehead: time to get the jcb out
@Paul Whitehead: Yes, but running low on bog roll!
@Paul Whitehead: they have their ski gear on offer
@P. V. Aglue: We may need it with this appalling weather alert. It’s terrifying. I can see white on the roof of my neighbour house.
@Marco Ilariuzzi: Things are bad but surely we cannot go down that road again.
Jesus it’s cold out there.
@Phillip Smyth: baby its warm in here.
@Willie Marty: give it over.
Those lovely high energy bills, highest in Europe gonna come in real handy now…What am I talking about, forgot about the couple of €125 payments towards energy bills from this wonderful government, that’ll get us through the winter!
Did sleepy cycle to cop meeting and eat bugs? he did in me b olocks
There’s all them IPA’S in nice comfy hotels paid for by us tax payers whilst our own Irish women and children and men sleep on the freezing streets. It’s Sickening. I’ve two girls if I didn’t I would take one or two homeless people in it’s shameful what this current government has done
@Kevin Daly: And I guarantee you Kevin that the same government (more or less) will be back in power in a few weeks. The electorate are thick.
@Kevin Daly: They also live in tents. Nobody cares what you think Kevin because you would never take any rough sleeping people.
Drill baby drill is it so? Where will these climate change deniers find an Irish Trump to vote for ?
Someone with a huge jet and a cavalcade of limos to move him around and of course who would to speak up for the “people ” and be besties wurh criminals and abusers of all sorts like himself ?
@Margaret Gallagher: give it a rest and go and do some housework
FFS it’s only frost
@Paul Doheny: it’s not only frost. It”s cold enough that the water on the ground will freeze. Could be quite dangerous for people walking/ driving early tomorrow.
@Tomas Barrett: well bring out the gritters hardly any out last time we had bad weather were the County Councils asleep at wheel. No accountability like!!
Change from the typical.
Storm coming Saturday.
@P. V. Aglue: bigger one Friday week-Hurricane Simon.
@Willie Marty: light breeze Simon.
This is dreadful news
have your say