181. Ai Weiwei: China, Censorship, and Dissidence Through Art
The Rest Is Politics: Leading
Goalhanger
4.6 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 68 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for listening to The Restis Politics. Sign up to the Restis Politics Plus. |
| 0:03.6 | To enjoy ad-free listening, receive a weekly newsletter, join our members' chat room and gain early access to live show tickets. |
| 0:09.4 | Just go to therestispolities.com. That's the restispolics.com. |
| 0:16.8 | Welcome to the Restis Politics leading with me, Rory Stewart. |
| 0:23.6 | And with me, Alastair Campbell, and we're very pleased to have Iowawayway. |
| 0:28.6 | He's an artist, an activist, a prolific writer and filmmaker, and an important voice in some of the most complex and important debates of our time. |
| 0:39.7 | The Rise of China, it was rolled in the world, corruption in public life, |
| 0:44.2 | attitudes to refugees, a big theme, and also censorship and free speech. |
| 0:50.4 | And indeed, whether we even have free speech, including in the West. |
| 0:54.6 | He's 68. |
| 0:55.4 | He's the son of a poet who was imprisoned, tortured and exiled in 1950s, China, which made |
| 1:01.7 | for a pretty extraordinary childhood for him. |
| 1:04.0 | And he himself has known what it's like to be on the receiving end of harsh treatment |
| 1:07.9 | from the authorities and has therefore spent much of his life in the US and |
| 1:12.5 | Europe, but which he's also got considerable criticism. Recently returned to China after around a |
| 1:18.8 | decade away to visit his elderly mother with his son, and it would be fascinating to hear his views on |
| 1:24.3 | China today as opposed to China when he was growing up there as a child. |
| 1:30.3 | So Iwo-way, thank you for being here. |
| 1:32.3 | It's so nice to be your studio. |
| 1:35.3 | Can we begin a little bit with your childhood and your father? |
| 1:38.3 | Who was your father? |
| 1:40.3 | And what was your experience when you were a child with your father? |
... |
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