FREEDOM OF SPEECH, DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS – CHINA IN RELATION TO THE REST OF THE WORLD
The conversation took place at ABF, Zetasalen, in Stockholm, March 27, 2012.
In English.
View the filmed conversation here:
For larger image, start the film and click on the symbol in the lower right corner of the video frame.
Ai Weiwei has devoted his life and art to the issues of freedom of speech, democracy and human rights in China. What significance do these issues have in China today, both historically and for the future? Although free speech is limited, the boundaries are extended by internet access, micro-blogs and lively internet debates between citizens about the Chinese leaders. Are these forces that Chinese authorities will struggle to contain? How should we in the West relate to a country that denies human rights while also providing a large part of our manufacturing industry? The panel will also discuss the relationship between the dissidents in China and those that live abroad.
Panel:
Börje Ljunggren, Swedish diplomat and expert on Asia, the former ambassador in China.
Andrew J. Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, New York, teaching and research on Chinese politics and human rights.
Malin Oud, sinologist with a focus on human rights and sustainable development.
Moderator: Dominic Ziegler, London-based Asia editor of The Economist and the magazine’s former China correspondent.
Börje Ljunggren was during the years 2002-06 Swedish Ambassador to China and Mongolia, ten years earlier Ambassador to Vietnam and the 1970′s aid chief in Laos and Bangladesh. He has been director of the Foreign Ministry’s and Sida’s Asia units. Parallel, Börje Ljunggren has engaged in research on Asia and a PhD in political science with a dissertation on the reforms in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He is now the Foreign Ministry’s coordinator of the Stockholm China Forum, Chairman of SEB’s Asia advisory council, a member of the Board of Lund University and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, advisor to the Sweden-China Trade Council, writer, lecturer, and tied to the China Center at the Stockholm School of Economics, Harvard University Asia Center and Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. In autumn 2009, a second edition of his acclaimed book “China – Contemporary Drama” was released. Börje Ljunggren, is perhaps the person in Sweden who has the broadest knowledge of developments in China and Asia.
Andrew J. Nathan is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, New York. His teaching and research interests include Chinese politics and foreign policy, the comparative study of political participation and political culture, and human rights. He is engaged in longterm research and writing on Chinese foreign policy and on sources of political legitimacy in Asia, the latter research based on data from the Asian Barometer Survey, a multi-national collaborative survey research project active in eighteen countries in Asia. Nathan is chair of the administrative committee of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and chair of the Morningside Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Columbia. He served as chair of the Department of Political Science, 2003-2006, chair of the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2002-2003, and director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, 1991-1995. Off campus, he is co-chair of the board, Human Rights in China, a member of the boards of Freedom House and of the National Endowment for Democracy, and a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch, Asia, which he chaired, 1995-2000. He is a member of the steering committee of the Asian Barometer Surveys; the regular Asia and Pacific book reviewer for Foreign Affairs magazine; and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Democracy, The China Quarterly, The Journal of Contemporary China, China Information, and others. He does frequent interviews for the print and electronic media, has advised on several film documentaries on China, has consulted for business and government. Andrew Nathan received his degrees from Harvard University: the B.A. in history, summa cum laude, in 1963; the M.A. in East Asian Regional Studies in 1965; and the Ph.D. in Political Science in 1971. He taught at the University of Michigan in 1970-71 and has been at Columbia University since 1971. He has published numerous books and articles on China and Chinese politics.
Malin Oud is Founder of Track II, a consultancy specialised in dialogue and partnerships for human rights and sustainable development, with a focus on China. She previously worked at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in China for nine years in 2001-2009, and has also at worked at Sida in Stockholm and as a consultant to the UNDP and the OHCHR in China. Malin Oud has a Master in International Development from Melbourne University and a BA in Chinese language and Social Anthropology from Lund University. She studied international human rights law and Chinese law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and is author of several reports and articles on food safety, freedom of expression and human rights education in China.
Dominic Ziegler has spent over two decades with The Economist, and is currently its Asia Editor, based in London. Before that, he was the inaugural writer of the Banyan column, launched in 2009. He has also served in Washington DC, Beijing and Tokyo.

My meeting with Ai Weiwei in Beijing in the fall of 2010 was the starting point for our work on this exhibition. At the time Ai Weiwei had been under house arrest for a few days. He was calm but already then keenly aware of how precarious and unsafe his situation was. A lot has happened since then. In April 2011 Ai Weiwei was arrested on unclear charges and detained for three months in an undisclosed location. During the past year his situation has made him well-known far beyond the art world.
Ai Weiwei talks with curator Tessa Praun,
January 31, 2012.
For larger image, start the film and click on the symbol in the lower right corner of the video frame.
In connection with the exhibition Magasin 3 has organized a series of events in collaboration with ABF, Bio Rio, Goethe-Institut, Moderna Museet and Swedish PEN/Kulturhuset, Hotade ord. With the generous support of Kulturrådet and Svenska PostkodLotteriet. Special thanks to the Culture Without Borders Foundation.
All talks were filmed and can be seen here on this page. © Magasin 3. Films may not be reproduced without permission.
For more information, contact program coordinator Sara Källström, Curator Program & Education, kallstrom@magasin3.com, 08-545 680 52
Last year, Ai Weiwei dissapeared for 81 days.
Here is a timeline of the events from the organization Free Ai Weiwei.
Download Aram Bartholl’s Free Ai Weiwei-glasses here.
Submit a nude photo to the online project ‘Ai Wei Fans Nudity’ and show the Chinese government that nudity is not pornography.
We have just reached 13 000 followers! Thanks for all the support!
@xmlucia 嗯
@xmlucia 嗯
还要等 RT @PacoGoGoGo: @aiww @Junelight 嬸兒,還沒收到T恤呢,脖子都長了
呵呵。可以打给我呀 RT @wenyunchao 何杨:敬告国宝,不要再给我老婆打电话,这种侧面迂回对我没有用,此事已突破了我的底线,遂以网上公布。我接受强制措施,但不接受家庭骚扰。
奥 RT @iamhudi: 是想问他何时回到推上来的。 RT @aiww: 从哪回来了呀 RT @iamhudi: 何杨呢?几时回? @aiww: RT @Suyutong: 天天回来了!RT @leewua99 原来的推号 @leewua 找不回来了, 请重新加我一下。谢谢!
In June 2008, Yang Jia carried a knife, a hammer, a gas mask, pepper spray, gloves and Molotov coctails to the Zhabei Public Security Branch Bureau and killed six police officers, injuring another police officer and a guard. He was arrested on the scene, and was subsequently charged with intentional homicide. In the following six months, while Yang Jia was detained and trials were held, his mother has mysteriously disappeared.
One Recluse is a documentary that traces the reasons and motivations behind the tragedy and investigates into a trial process filled with shady cover-ups and questionable decisions. The film provides a glimpse into the realities of a government-controlled judicial system and it’s impact on the citizens’ lives.
Ordos 100 is a construction project curated by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. In January 2008, the 100 architects from 27 countries gathered in Ordos for a site visit. They were chosen to participate and design 100 000 square meter villas to be built in a new community in Inner Mongolia of China.
Ai Weiwei – Katie Hill Interview
Tate Modern
For larger image, start the film and click on the symbol in the lower right corner of the video frame.
Listen to personal accounts of encounters with or reflections about Ai Weiwei. Additional voices will be added to the archive throughout the exhibition.

“Voices about Ai Weiwei” created for Magasin 3 on the occasion of the exhibition with Ai Weiwei is produced by Tomas Rajnai, curator and student at Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts (Radio Production).
Meeting with Ai Qing – famous Chinese poet (1910-1996); Ai Weiwei’s father.
Sequence from KINA BERÄTTAR (China Tells)
Documentary by Lars Helander
© Sveriges Television 1988, 2012
Language: Chinese, Swedish
Subtitles: Swedish
For larger image, start the film and click on the symbol in the lower right corner of the video frame.

A reading of the names of schoolchildren who died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Ai Weiwei and human rights activists investigated and criticized how officials handled information about the victims. It was suspected that corruption led to substandard building construction. The list of names of the students was first posted on Ai Weiwei¹s blog, but was repeatedly deleted in an act of internet censorship by the government.
Listen to the reading of names here:
Haus der Kunst
On the occasion Ai Weiwei:
Art, Dissidence and Resistance
Panel Discussion
Haus Der Kunst, Munich, July 27, 2011
Journalist Anna Maria Höglund meets Ai Weiwei at his residence in Beijing.
During the half-hour interview Ai Weiwei talks about how he manages to be
both an artist and an activist, the catastrophic Sichuan earthquake in 2008
and how the image of modern Chinese society is a scam.
The filmed conversation between Tessa Praun and Ulrich Wilmes,
Bio Rio, February 21, 2012
Ladda ned vårens lärarmaterial här:
Lärarmaterial VT 2012

Four years after designing the spectacular Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing, the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei are to reunite for a London 2012 project.

Ai Weiwei’s 10 years in East Village.