Quote:
Artist Who Filmed Beijing krackdown Is Missing, Friends Say
By Austin Ramzy Dec. 18, 2017
Friends of an artist who fled Beijing after documenting mass expulsions of migrant workers from the Chinese capital say he has gone missing after being detained by the police.
The painter, Hua Yong, posted dozens of short videos in recent weeks recording how the authorities had forced tens of thousands of people to leave Beijing and demolished vast swaths of neighborhoods.
The police came for him after he filmed residents protesting by blocking a roadway in the Daxing district of Beijing, and he fled the city.
On Friday, he posted a series of short videos that he said were filmed in an apartment in Tianjin, a large city near Beijing. In some of the videos, someone can be heard pounding on the apartment’s door and telling him to come out.
Mr. Hua, 48, who had shaved his beard and shorn his dreadlocks, said his arrest was imminent. As he waited, he recorded himself singing “Happy Birthday” to his daughter, who turns 3 this month.
“Everything I do is so your generation won’t have to go through what I and your grandfathers’ generation experienced,” he said in the video to his daughter. “I want to make our country better. To be just, fair, free, democratic and have freedom of speech.”
Ji Feng, a friend, said Mr. Hua’s arrest had been “confirmed.”
“But we haven’t been able to figure out anything else. We and his family are trying to make contact with him,” he said.
Mr. Ji said friends and relatives of Mr. Hua did not know where he was being held or what he might be charged with.
Reached by phone, the police in the Daxing district declined to answer questions about Mr. Hua.
Mr. Hua’s work documenting the evictions of migrant workers touched a nerve with the authorities, said Patrick Poon, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Amnesty International.
“His videos became important evidence about the human rights violations during the evictions,” Mr. Poon said. “His detention makes him become like a symbol about how grass-roots people are treated by the Chinese government.”
Mr. Hua has been incarcerated over speech issues in China before. In 2012, he was sentenced to 15 months in a labor camp after a performance in Tiananmen Square in which he punched himself in the face, then used his blood to write the date of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protesters.
In the videos recorded Friday, Mr. Hua repeated his desire to remain in China rather than leave for someplace where he would be able to speak more freely about political issues.
“The People’s Republic of China constitution provides for freedom of speech, freedom of the press,” he said. “All I did was take and post a few videos online. There’s nothing wrong with this. So I will stay in China. Even if I die, I die in my country.”
Jadi begini ceritanya gan ..
Sudah beberapa minggu ini pemerintah kota Beijing rajin menggusur perkampungan kumuh, tapi beda dengan di Jakarta yang dipindah ke rumah susun, kalo yang di Beijing cuma disuruh minggat. Alasannya adalah penghuni perkampungan itu gak punya KTP Beijing.
Tapi masalah timbul karena penduduk Beijing dari yang paling kaya sampe yang paling miskin banyak yang protes karena .. penduduk perkampungan kumuh itu bukan pengangguran tapi bekerja di berbagai perusahaan. Banyak tempat usaha yang kehilangan pegawainya.
Jadi video dan gambar penggusuran sedang ngetrend di Beijing sehingga partai komunes menerapkan tangan besi, melarang orang menyebarkan dan ngomong tentang penggusuran kampung kumuh. Nah, Hua Yong di berita di atas itu, adalah salah satu yang paling banyak mengambil film dari lokasi penggusuran, sehingga seperti biasanya di negara diktator, harus dibungkam.
Kasihan gan, waktu akan ditangkap dia masih menyempatkan diri membuat video pesan ulang tahun untuk anaknya. Kayaknya dia yakin gak bakal bisa kembali lagi ke keluarganya.
