“In the United States, with today’s condition, you can easily have an authoritarian,” Weiwei said. “In many ways, you’re already in the authoritarian state. You just don’t know it.”
Famed Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei warned Americans during an interview with PBS last week that the United States is already under authoritarian control and called out "wokeness" as similar to Mao's Cultural Revolution.
"In the United States, with today's condition, you can easily have an authoritarian," Weiwei said. "In many ways, you're already in the authoritarian state. You just don't know it."
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PBS host Margaret Hoover attempted to get the Chinese dissident to denounce former President Trump as an authoritarian but Weiwei rejected that notion. He said those that align with "political correctness" are the authoritarians.
"Many things happening today in US can be compared to Cultural Revolution in China," Weiwei explained. "Like people trying to be unified in a certain political correctness. That is very dangerous."
"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," Weiwei added.
Weiwei said that the current political state of China has become "more extreme in terms of censorship" and in terms of "their tolerance to dissidents."
The activist and artist warned that he doesn't believe the West—in its current state—is strong enough to take on China.
"I think, for a long time, the West's 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," Weiwei continued.
"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," Weiwei added.
Ai Weiwei is the son of a poet persecuted during Mao's revolution and now a Chinese dissident. He is also the bestselling author of a memoir titled 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows.
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