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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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Affordable housing for young working adults is the great failure of our time.
@Argus Romsworth: the Gov should relax/ban planning rules for modular houses like they did for the Ukrainians. I know the gov got rode on the price, but you could get a decent 3 bed modular from Steeltech for 40 to 50 grand.
@Finn Barr: yes but you still need to build roads, put water and electrical systems into place for them. You can’t just drop them anywhere and magically have these. These requirements drastically drove up the price of modular housing.
@Niall English: ….and bigotry.
@Niall English: Doesn’t even register on the list imo.
@The facts: Stop talking sense it’s The Journal people don’t like it.
@Niall English: Jog on racist
@The facts: theres lots of young people in rural areas could get a cheap roadside site from a relative willing to pay for electricity connection and any other cost can’t get planning permission thanks to the restriction on one off housing. Not everyone wants to live in a concrete jungle!
@Argus Romsworth: working , that’s where you went wrong if you want a house now.
@Finn Barr: bs well over a ton now , riding like everyone else now
@Argus Romsworth: isn’t it well for you in your million euro mansion
@Pork Hunt: if your on about the price of sites- my cousin got a site for free off her granduncle and she can’t get planning cos she “isn’t from the area”.Lots more in same boat..
@Thesaltyurchin: you don’t think 100k Ukrainians and 35k Africans et al has an impact on housing supply?
@Finn Barr: that’s completely true only for local needs and that needs to be abolished. This is Ireland It belongs to everybody. And y I would solve the housing crisis instantly. The government can pull out the strings for the Ukrainians but it “ chooses “not too pull any strings for the people who pay taxes and live here this needs to be drastically changed
@Finn Barr: 3 bed modular home not a site
@Lance Taylor: I live in a 4 bed detached house in an estate. Hardly a mansion. But might be considered so by todays working youth who can barely afford to live in a shoebox
@Anthony Curran: can’t be a racist if I hate everyone equally the same. but I’m only speaking from experience of what I’ve witnessed first hand, theft, sexually assaulting young school girls, verbally assaulting women working.
@Niall English: That’s called anecdotal evidence. Plus, there’s plenty of Irish people guilty of everything that you listed and worse!
@Pork Hunt: “housing supply”… I have every politician of the last 20 years on the line for you? Nothing in contemporary society is making housing supply easier, you’re just hyper-fixated on the bleeting of the loudest sheep
@Niall English: the two are connected
@The facts: those have very little impact on the price of the modular house, they are site related costs. Modular house were been sold for about 100k , before government went n said it was going to build them for Ukrainians, then the price jumped to 225k, then nearly 500k
@Anthony Curran: that’s not racism.
@Argus Romsworth: Greed, greed, greed. We are truly a great country.
Been I loved in trying to buy house for last year. In midlands. Pure lie. Gone for 6 . Each one went for over 30% of asking. Bidding now on asking 265. Bidding as of today at 345. Ha e to pull out as not enough money. Snakes of auctioneers have a lot to answer for . And yes they are partly responsible but not totally. Promoting bidding wars. I am dealing with them nearly two years. I have had all the bad experiences.
@Seosamh O Muiri: Alot of developers are snapping up everything around us..
@Seosamh O Muiri: an auctioneer isn’t there to get you a deal, it’s to get the best deal for the seller (they’re the ones paying them). It’s tough when you are losing out on bidding wars but if I was selling I’d want to get the best price I can.
@Seosamh O Muiri: just moved before Xmas,the house we bought,paid 47,000 over the asking price,the ones we bid on before that,all 60,000 above the asking price.
@Chutes Idiot: Thank you.
@J B: More people should behave like this. Everyone complains about the housing situation etc , but few are willing to make any personal sacrifice
@Chutes Idiot: My house made more money than I did last year! Whaaa?
Nice to see this country learned nothing from 2006……and then the same people will be like but how is it happening again lads!
@Patrick Newell: Basic Demand and Supply, the last crash wasn’t a Supply issue, 90000 were built in 2006 , but loose lending and people buying 2/3 houses and of course an apartment in Portugal or Bulgaria…….the banks gave out money and people took it ……now people need mortgages and it’s hellish what they need to do…..
@Paul O’Mahoney: And are people financial experts? Any excuse to let the banks off tye hook but as you know, the recession hit because in America banks were betting on price housing increasing non-stop and of course tye rest of the world did the same so don’t blame the ordibary person, where was their mortgage write-down?
@Brian D’Arcy: So you agree with those who bought houses for speculation and profit. You agree with people buying more than one property and more in Europe. You agree that banks acted prudently for all the debt that was taken on.
Why should they get a mortgage write down ? , you appear to be agreeing, that speculation, etc, was OK?
America was way behind in this and only caught up after the .com bubble burst and money needed to made from somewhere ….and housing was next….
That’s hilarious
@Brian D’Arcy: And people don’t need to be financial experts to under basic adding and subtraction. What they might lack financially they certainly made up for in Greed.
House by me has been thrown up twice for subsidence issues. The prospective buyers weren’t allowed to bring their own engineer in to inspect unless they went sale agreed. Is this the new normal now!
@Jamie Hinch: they can go sale agreed,if the engineer report is not favourable they can withdraw the offer.
@Deano74: The house went up for 230k and went sale agreed but they walked when they saw major issues with it so now it’s back down to 180k and they’re contacting original interested buyers now..
@Jamie Hinch: they cannot do that, completely illegal forcing people to buy defective properties. Have you reported them? Garda I
@Lance Taylor: no one is forcing them
@Pork Hunt: yes they are being forced to sale agreed, false pretences
@Lance Taylor: not really,going sale agreed obligates neither side,only when contracts are signed is the vendor legally bound to sell,if you sale agreed and pay your deposit you are at risk of loosing this if you withdraw,I just went through both scenarios before Xmas, absolute nightmare and then some.
@Deano74: Booking deposit is 100% refundable if contracts aren’t signed most would give 10% on signing contracts but if there was a fundamental issue like the above and insufficient planning then the contract can be voided and all deposits returned. Experienced the latter last year.
No good complaining after only 50% turning out to vote at last general election it gives the same FFG government who created this homeless situation another five year to line the pockets and help the super rich vultures to buy up more property for expensive rents for those who can afford it.
@5aeex4zc: 50% of register. The people that emigrated in 2010 still on the register as it suits the county councils for money from the govt
@John Riley:
There has always being a housing waiting list.
Up to 10 years in some cases.
That was when the applacant was made up of a couple and kids.
Nowadays the list is expanded due to high numbers of single applicants, younkies, drunks, and wife beaters, plus single mothers, and the loss of bedsits due to over regulation.
A life of debt and servitude so the wealthy can get wealthier. For what died the sons of Roisin? Was it greed?
@Anthony Curran: What you want it for free?
@Trump24: like a refugee
@Trump24: where did he say for free you gowl? God forbid people demand better for themselves than being conned by another greedy rich wetwipe
Most young people i know have a long term goal of emigration, if we export a huge % of our young people who is gonna service the debt in the future?
@bruce banner: what a bs comment 3 of the 5 people you talk to say they would like to emigrate, but it’s a lot of hassle? Where Australia? More expensive than here with less free houses in cities……
Is it the governments fault? OR are they simply a representation of who the Irish people are? Do we understand or value quality? imo we are trained from 100s of years of subservience to prefer lower standards.
@Thesaltyurchin: Yes it’s the govts fault, and in part the banks fault. 2008 crash followed by no FG housing policy….. Oh, they did let the REITS go to town!!!
@Thesaltyurchin: I think it’s a mixture, we as a country are obsessed with owning land/house, and that’s probably a result of 800 yrs of occupation type nonsense. We are the outliner in Europe when it comes to renting, I will say though our rental market is a shambles and needs a total reform, renting is seen as a waste of money, but most western countries have a huge swath of renters many who will rent for life….with appropriate controls. Buying a house is a sure way of struggling financially until your in your 50s and everyone is much closer to death by then.
I can’t see it changing either but if it doesn’t what’s going on now will continue.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: There was no capital available to build, banks were essentially taken over by the Government, the bonds were at 11% yield at one stage, our income collapsed and we ran huge deficits . How could anything be done irrespective of what party was in power?
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: there was no money to build a sandcastle, unless you were expecting the IMF to keep pumping money into a property bubble
@Thesaltyurchin:
Yet to hear a seller instruct an Estate rodent to sell their house at a fair price to a deserving family.
@Paul O’Mahoney: renting in other countries comes with lifetime security of tenure which is almost as good as owning.
@Pat Redmond: Yes I know and it needs to be the same here, with fairness to both tenant and landlords
@Paul O’Mahoney: you plan, train workers, make deals with developers, figure out some finance arrangements. Nothing was done by govt until 2018/19 to really address it!!! It was highlighted as an issue in 2011, for nothing to be done for over half a decade is a scandal in itself. Look at the place now!….. in your opinion could nothing have been done to promote housing development in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017?!?!?….. Sub 10k completions until 2017, around 20k in 2019/20….. These peoples jobs are to manage this country and set policy!!!!
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: Ah here train workers when they’re were hundreds of thousands on the dole, and no one knew if things would get better, personal bankruptcy at it’s highest ever, thousands of houses in ” ghost estates ” all taken over by Nama which was a deal , banks on the brink , house prices 50% lower with plenty of half built houses that nobody wanted or could even complete…….and your view was to build more?
Surely you can see the flaw in your analysis it wasn’t until 2015 when non construction jobs began to tick up a bit and probably 2017 when Nama started selling assets to anyone who wanted them.
It simply wasn’t viable.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec:
FG were not short on ideas,
They were short of money.
And nobody would loan us cash as we were bankrupt.
The curse of this generation.
@Paddy Ryan: €1000 month interest at 4.24% is more affordable than renting a starter home. Do they still teach maths in schools or just political debates and snowflakeism
The post war decades were a blip, the rich robbing everyone else was always the norm. Taxing them out of existence is the only defence against the robbing b’s
@Ronan Mc:
So how come living standards for the average worker have increased dramatically from the war years till now?
Ask a 70 year old.
@H Woo: Oh my, the lack of knowledge continues, from a woman in her 90′s that had no money but plenty of food and a house, now it’s a choice of either or. Same old from you, clueless.
@Brian D’Arcy:
?
3.5 times their salaries,. But. Cost of living has soared since celtic tiger. So surely puts people in a more vulnerable state, is this the banks telling porkies again. Car prices have doubled. What happened to the stricter lending rules. People are going to really fall in next recession, esp those who only deal in credit. There won’t be a guarantee like last time.
@Colette Byrne: Wages have also increased the banks are stricter now and the guarantee is in place still and will be forever probably. 158bn in savings, 145bn in pensions, approximately 200bn in other financial assets like ETFs, 20bn of the Government debt is owned by citizens and 17bn in Credit Union savings which I don’t know if included in savings figures…..Totally different now and with essentially full employment and interest rates coming down….people are buying homes with a lot more than those in 2006/7/8…
Economic slavery.
Surely buying a home is no problem on the so called average wage I hear almost everyone is seemingly on?
@Paddy C: The average wage, hmm, slightly telling
Scrap the Help to Buy Scheme, repeal all zoning laws like Tokyo did for single-use and multi-use zoning and repeal the rent control legislation that the government passed in 2015 that is now continuously spreading to more areas of the country like a plague. Oh wait, this is Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil we’re talking about, so of course they are going to continually double down on the same left-wing policies that got us into this mess in the first place! Expect more government intervention and distortion of the market.
@Frank O’Hara:
Sinn Fein want to bring back Landlordism, by owning the land your house is build
Very little future ahead for younger generations unless they come from a wealthy family or earn high salaries they will struggle just to pay basic bills working flat out to do so we should be ashamed that weve all allowedthis ro come about. That’s not a future just an existence.
GREED
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