'Germany is not an open society': Chinese artist Ai Weiwei on leaving Berlin

The Guardian - Ai Weiwei: 'The mood is like Germany in the 1930s'. Excerpt:

That morning, the argument was with a Berlin taxi driver on the way to taking his son to school, who told Ai to shut off his mobile phone – he was listening to a message from his mother – because it interfered with the music he was playing on his radio. “He told me to get out of the car, and when I said I wouldn’t he slammed on the brakes and we all fell forward. My son hit his head. He used his vehicle on a public street to express his anger”.

“So you see I am fighting battles wherever I go – including with German people who say I should be grateful to them because I am a refugee, and they paid for my life. This is the mood in Germany right now, the posters I see in the streets saying: ‘We can make our own babies, we don’t need foreigners.’ It’s the mood in much of Europe, including the UK. It’s very scary because this kind of moment is a reflection of the 1930s.”

He is angry and confused about experiencing this sort of hostility in Germany, the country that gave him refuge. He took the first available opportunity to thank its chancellor, Angela Merkel, for her involvement in his release.

Connecting this personal encounter to the state of public discourse and political policy in Germany as a whole, Ai continued:

So you see I am fighting battles wherever I go – including with German people who say I should be grateful to them because I am a refugee, and they paid for my life. This is the mood in Germany right now, the posters I see in the streets saying: “We can make our own babies, we don’t need foreigners.” It’s the mood in much of Europe, including the UK. It’s very scary because this kind of moment is a reflection of the 1930s. (Connolly, 2018)

Here the German THE LOCAL.

'Germany is not an open society': Chinese artist Ai Weiwei on leaving Berlin.

Small wonder, he plans to leave for America.

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese activist and artist, has lived in self-imposed exile in Berlin since 2015. But he plans to leave Germany because he believes it is too intolerant.

In an interview with the German daily Welt published Friday, Ai said: “Germany is not an open society. It is a society that wants to be open, but above all it protects itself. German culture is so strong that it doesn't really accept other ideas and arguments.”

Ai, 61, added that there is “hardly any room for open debate”.

The artist, who is an outspoken critic of China's government, moved to Berlin in July 2015 after spending four years under house arrest in China.

The artist said he had reported experiences of discrimination to authorities while living in Berlin, such as being thrown out of taxis. However, the office investigating them had come to the conclusion the incidents involved “cultural differences” rather than discriminatory offences, he said.

Ai added: “This sounds to me like the Chinese government justifying its violations of human rights with 'cultural differences' to the West."

Ai also slammed German politicians and cultural institutions for not denouncing Chinese human rights violations.

“My family and I enjoyed living here very much, but I am leaving Berlin," he said. "This country doesn't need me because it's so self-centered." 

Full article here. I have nothing to add as his account fully reflects my feelings and experiences in this country of people that suck up to everything. A press and media that is the worst and lowest of any Western country. Free speech is a privilege of the upper crust. Germans still live in their Schrebergarten culture. How is this for example (in German)?

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