As you might have heard, China accused Ai Weiwei, artist of Olympic “bird’s nest” stadium fame and other internationally-known projects, of economic crimes and has held him in police custody since April 7. This happened right after I saw a fantastic PBS documentary on the artist, Who’s Afriad of Ai Weiwei, available here, which gives some nice background on the Chinese government’s treatment of the artist.
There have been protests across the world, and this weekend NYC joined in with 1,000 Chairs for Ai Weiwei. It has been suggested that the Chinese government wanted to send the message that no one is immune to the “rule of law”–or the government’s censorship–but let us hope that is not so.
Yes, let us all hope for the best for Ai Weiwei!
I can’t believe he is still being held in the face of so much international criticism.