INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Homes on the steep hillside in the village of Kuopo in Longxi township, Sichuan province (AFP)Berlin, Germany:
A decade since the devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan province that left more than 87,000 people dead or missing, activist artist Ai
Weiwei concedes that Beijing will never provide a full reckoning of the disaster."We will never get a straight answer
Since the communist government was set up, the truth behind all major historical events has never been officially revealed," the conceptual
artist told AFP at his studio in Berlin.Ai was among the volunteers and rescuers who rushed to Sichuan in the immediate aftermath of the 7.9
magnitude earthquake that devastated the region on May 12, 2008, flattening entire villages.An outpouring of grief soon turned into fury as
it emerged that thousands of children were killed in 7,000 schools that collapsed entirely, sparking allegations that corruption had led to
shoddy building work.But as bereaved parents pressed for answers from authorities, they were met with a stony silence, while Ai said he was
detained and beaten by police who blocked him from testifying at the trial of an activist investigating the school collapses. Only in May
2009 did the government say that 5,335 children were killed in school collapses -- a number that was in fact far below figures given by
No official list of the victims was released.Only in May 2009 did the government say that 5,335 children were killed in school collapses --
a number that was in fact far below figures given by state media previously
No official list of the victims was released. An official investigation into construction standards for schools was promised but the
results have not been published.Ten years on, Ai is still enraged by the government's stonewalling."Of course I'm still furious
Nothing has changed in this matter
It concerns people's rights and dignity, the government's responsibilities, lies and corruption," he said.'Shock is too mild'In the
aftermath of the earthquake Ai began investigating the so-called "tofu schools" -- a term likening their structural instability to the
popular soft bean curd dish.The probe sought to determine how much of the damage was wrought by natural disaster and how much was
exacerbated by to human error, as well as to uncover "how this government that calls itself the people's party deals with the people's
suffering".But his activism came at a high personal price.Once the artist commissioned to help design Beijing's Bird's Nest Olympic stadium,
Ai found himself at the receiving end of the state's wrath.He was beaten by police who blocked him from testifying at the trial of another
activist, Tan Zuoren, who had separately investigated the school collapses
Ai was detained in 2011 for 81 days and had his passport confiscated for four years."All that has to do with our insistence on finding out
the truth, insistence on investigating the list of dead students
Insistence on getting the government to tell us how these buildings were constructed."In 2010, Ai underwent surgery in Germany to relieve
pressure on his brain from a blood clot which he said was the result of the police beating in Chengdu.The operation happened just ahead of
an exhibition in Munich, where Ai produced an installation using 9,000 backpacks writing out in Chinese: "She lived happily for seven years
in this world" -- a sentence from the letter of a mother of a schoolgirl killed in the quake. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake devastated the
region on May 12, 2008, flattening entire villages (AFP)"The government has the duty to provide information because it is a servant who
You can't say your servant doesn't tell you what he's used your money to buy, or how many chairs are in your house or where your bed is."If
he doesn't tell you anything, then he's no longer your servant
He's even tougher than the boss
If you ask these questions, he can beat you and even lock you up
How can you not be shocked More than shocked
Furious."'Government won't change'Despite the uproar over the school collapses then, Ai said the government hasn't changed its approach.If a
new disaster were to strike, "the government wouldn't do anything differently," he said."It can't change
The moment it tells the whole truth, it would no longer exist Covering up the truth is a basic condition for the existence of an
authoritarian regime."But Ai rejects any notion that his efforts were in vain."I didn't make any sacrifices, I did what I should and, in
fact it is what I think everyone should do
It is an individual's responsibility to ask questions that have a bearing on their lives."The question of whether it's worth it or not
therefore does not exist."Ai eventually moved to Berlin after Beijing returned his passport in July 2015.For now, Ai does not see himself
returning to China even in the case of another similar disaster."My work now is on global refugees
There are lots of issues and they are all linked Any place where human rights are harmed is a disaster for everyone's human rights."I'm not
(in China) now, I'm in Europe, where I'm faced with the refugee problem
So I'm facing it and making my voice heard on this problem."(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
