Ai Weiwei: In Many Ways, The United States Is Already An Authoritarian State

REAL CLEAR POLITICS | By Tim Hains | November 15, 2021

Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, who grew up in a Xinjiang labor camp, issued a chilling warning for civil libertarians in the U.S. during an interview this week with Margaret Hoover on “Firing Line.”

“In many ways, you are already in the authoritarian state. You just don’t know it,” he said. “Certainly the United States, with today’s condition, you can easily have an authoritarian.”

He also said President Trump, whose tweets he compared to nightly messages from Mao Zedong, was not an authoritarian. He said: “If you are authoritarian, you have to have a system supporting you. You cannot just be an authoritarian by yourself.”

“Many things happening today in U.S. can be compared to the Cultural Revolution in China,” he explained. “Like people trying to be unified in a certain political correctness. That is very dangerous.”

“It’s very philosophical. With today’s technology, we know so much more than we really understand. The information become jammed. But we don’t really — and really have the knowledge, because you don’t work. You don’t — You don’t have to act on anything. You just think you’re purified by certain ideas that you agree with it. That is posing dangers to society, to an extreme divided society.”

“In China, we have a wisdom — to deal with anything, you have to be strong yourself.
I don’t think West is strong themself enough to deal with China,” he said. “I don’t think the U.S. has the ability to really examine the situation of its own moral and start behaving.”

Watch the full interview below:

MARGARET HOOVER, PBS: You received your passport back in 2015, and you left China, perhaps permanently.

AI WEIWEI: I wouldn’t say permanently. My life would be too short for any permanently. But I have a chance to leave and ask them — They said, ‘You have freedom now. You can leave to anywhere you’d like to.’

MARGARET HOOVER: When was the last time you were in China?

AI WEIWEI: That’s five, six years ago.

MARGARET HOOVER: So is it only time that has kept you away, or?

AI WEIWEI: No. And, also, the situation in China become more extreme, in terms of censorship, in terms of their tolerance to dissidents. And many, many dissident has been put in jail. Almost — Most of my friends still serving in jail now.

MARGARET HOOVER: Do you think they would honor their commitment to you that you are free if you returned to China today?

AI WEIWEI: I always trust people, till I cannot trust. So I would think they would let me be free, as they should keep their words, but it has been proved they — they never keep their words, so…

MARGARET HOOVER: Are you hopeful about the future of China?

AI WEIWEI: I’m hopeful for… I would not say future for China. China is changing, and nobody can know what exactly the future is going to be.

MARGARET HOOVER: I wonder if that was a way of being careful to not say something. Are you — Do you think about how your words are heard in China when you answer questions like that?

AI WEIWEI: I’m sure they’re monitoring every words — every sentence I talk. But that will not affect me. But only when I’m trying to predict what is going to happen, there’s many possibilities, and I don’t think we can easily talk about it in my interview.

MARGARET HOOVER: But are any of them hopeful?

AI WEIWEI: I don’t think so. Not in a short time.

MARGARET HOOVER: You know, your father was sent for reform through labor in Xinjiang?
You were with him there. And, of course, that is the site that today, is a place where Uyghurs are sent for forced re-education and labor camps. What is the West’s responsibility with respect to human rights in China?

AI WEIWEI: What’s the responsibility? I would think, if you just talk a lot, it would be empty words.
Morally and practically, if the West are not demanding the very basic values such as human rights, freedom of speech, then the West won’t be totally corrupted before China got away. So this is at least a serious problem.

MARGARET HOOVER: In your book, you were describing the directives of Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution that would be distributed publicly every night. And then you write — this is your quote — “They served a function similar to Donald Trump’s midnight tweets in office. They were the direct communication of a leader’s thoughts to his devoted followers, enhancing the sanctity of his authority.”

So do you see Donald Trump as an authoritarian?

AI WEIWEI: I — Well, I don’t — You know, he — If you are authoritarian, you have to have a system supporting you.

You cannot just be an authoritarian by yourself.

But certainly, in the United States, with today’s condition, you can easily have an authoritarian.

In many ways, you’re already in the authoritarian state. You just don’t know it.

MARGARET HOOVER: How so?

AI WEIWEI: Many things happening today in U.S. can be compared to the Cultural Revolution in China.

MARGARET HOOVER: Like what?

AI WEIWEI: Like people trying to be unified in a certain political correctness. That is very dangerous. You want to go deeper?

MARGARET HOOVER: Actually, that was the next thing I was going to ask you about it. So what kind of political correct extremism?

AI WEIWEI: It’s very philosophical. With today’s technology, we know so much more than we really understand. The information become jammed. But we don’t really — and really have the knowledge, because you don’t work. You don’t — You don’t have to act on anything. You just think you’re purified by certain ideas that you agree with it. That is posing dangers to society, to an extreme divided society.

MARGARET HOOVER: Why do you think that’s happened here?

AI WEIWEI: I think, for a long time, the West is material. We have much more than we needed.
And we are not caring about global situation. But, eventually, all the policies and the politics we play has to be examined under the global situation, such as China become a very powerful state. And how the West should deal with it.

MARGARET HOOVER: How should the West deal with Chinese increased influence?

AI WEIWEI: In China, we have a wisdom — to deal with anything, you have to be strong yourself.
I don’t think West is strong themself enough to deal with China.

MARGARET HOOVER: In what sense, is the West not strong enough?

AI WEIWEI: In many, many ways, if you can’t sense how — what a failure the West by lacking of vision or lacking of compassion in dealing with refugee situation, climate change, and also the war in Afghanistan, Iraq.

MARGARET HOOVER: Yeah.

AI WEIWEI: So I don’t think the U.S. has the ability to really examine the situation of its own moral and start behaving.