The famous and famously jailed artist
writes column for
The Guardian.
Even though we know governments do all kinds of things I was shocked by the information about the US surveillance operation, Prism.
To me, it's abusively using government powers to interfere in
individuals' privacy. This is an important moment for international
society to reconsider and protect individual rights.
I lived in
the United States for 12 years. This abuse of state power goes totally
against my understanding of what it means to be a civilised society, and
it will be shocking for me if American citizens allow this to continue.
The US has a great tradition of individualism and privacy and has long
been a centre for free thinking and creativity as a result.
In our
experience in China, basically there is no privacy at all – that is why
China is far behind the world in important respects: even though it has
become so rich, it trails behind in terms of passion, imagination and
creativity.
Glenn Greenwald plays a pivotal role in my book (with Kevin Gosztola) on the Bradley Manning case, just published in an updated edition.
1 comment:
Ai Weiwei's "shock" shows he really knows very little about USA. His 12 years were long enough for him to soak up the propaganda, but apparently not enough to get a clue about the truth. I have lived in the USA for 65 years and I see PRISM as par for the course.
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