Brush With Censorship At GW Reveals America’s Vulnerability To Beijing’s Soft PowerIn China, the government polices speech, but in America, it’s private institutions beholden to leftists and financial benefactors in Beijing.
By Emily Jashinsky
February 07, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the request of outraged students, George Washington University cleansed the campus of art by a Chinese dissident, even going so far as to mount an investigation into who hung his posters. While GW reversed its decision, this case courtesy of my alma mater highlights a stark and depressing reality: In China, the government polices speech, but in America, it’s private institutions beholden to fragile leftists and financial benefactors in Beijing.
Badiucao uses his work to criticize the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses with the grace of an artist, attracting coverage from international media like CBS News and The New York Times. He’s a respected practitioner of his craft, so much so that when an Italian museum displayed his art in 2021, the president told the Times, “We never thought for a moment about canceling the exhibit…We believe in the role that contemporary art has as a powerful and inspiring instrument channeling themes that affirm freedom of expression.”
She added, “We didn’t invite Badiucao because he was a dissident Chinese man, we invited him because he is an artist who shows us how art can be used as a critical tool.”
https://twitter.com/badiucao/status/1490505728049643523Why, of all places, would an American institution of higher learning disagree, let alone one that claims it “embodies the spirit of artistic exploration”?
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Source:
https://thefederalist.com/2022/02/07/brush-with-censorship-at-gw-reveals-americas-vulnerability-to-beijings-soft-power/
