China has attacked art symbol of Tiananmen Square crackdown. We won the first two battles - but everything is uncertain!
 
Dear
 
We are under attack from China in Hong Kong. In a letter the democracy movement was given a deadline of 4 days to move the 9 m high sculpture, which is a memorial to the Tiananmen square crackdown in 1989, otherwise China would destroy the sculpture that has beeb standing at Hong Kong University for 24 years.

We are quite pressed for time, so we just send this short newsletter.
 
 Everything has been chaos since, and we have mobilized our networks all over the world to prevent the sculpture from being destroyed. And it's been successful so far.
 
Thousands of NGOs, artists, activists, politicians and other good people have joined the fight to preserve the sculpture, and we have succeeded to postpone the destruction of the artwork.
 
At the same time, it has succeeded in setting a new standard for what U.S. law firms can allow themselves to do to help the Chinese goverment. Part of the pressure to prevent the destruction of the artwork has been directed at getting the law firm Mayer Brown to withdraw from helping Hong Kong University destroy and remove the sculpture. And we succeeded on the 15th of October.
 
So 2 battles have been won, but it is still uncertain whether we can get the opportunity to get the sculpture out of Hong Kong.
 
So we need all the help we can get, by informing about China's attacks on art and freedom of speech. If necessary,  Forward this email to a friend or create one yourself.
 
All the activities have been continuously described by a huge press campaign. We have made a selection of the articles here - good reading - you can probably find something from your own country as well.
 
We have posted our own press releases and all documents in the on Galschiot's website.
 
Although we have worked ourselves to death, this struggle for art and the Chinese's right to remember their own history is also a very life-affirming experience. The whole process shows that it is possible for ordinary people to enact a little influence on the global stage.
 
7.380.000 link: A quick Google search word combination "Pillar of Shame" (a word that comes specifically from this sculpture, as we created it ourselves) today gives 7.380.000 links.
 
"We are still alive". We have written history and shown that there are limits to what the world will allow.
 
All the best
Jens Galschiøt - The artist behind The Piller of Shame
and his hard-working staff
 
Denmark 17 Oct 2021
Email:  Jens @galschiot.com
Tlf: +45 60018 4058
 
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Collection of link to newspaper article about the move
and the destruction memorial the memorial for Tiananmen Square crackdown
Update: 16 Oct. local time(dk) 12:00- OBS- Not complete OBS
 
The Standard.
Hong Kong free press
BBC:
CNN:

Bloomberg:
 
Fox News:

The Guardian:
 
Germany:
 
Spain:

France:
 
Italy:

Australia:
Portugal:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Denmark presse:

Others:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Twitter:
 
 
 
 
The monument in Hong Kong
 
 
In 1997, I erected an 8 meter tall monument in Hong Kong in memorial of the massacre. This monument is so far still the only memorial about the Tiananmen Square massacre on Chinese soil. 
 
Placing this sculpture in Hong Kong cost me a permanent expulsion from China and two expulsions from Hong Kong. I think it's important that artists, cultural groups, and others that defend human rights use their freedom of speech to tell the story of the massacre. I hope that you will help in doing this. 
 
32 years after the massacre history seems to be tragically repeating itself. Now with Hong Kong as the epicenter for youth demanding their basic Human Rights and the Chinese Government forcefully fighting down the youth. China has passed landmark legislation to force national security laws in Hong Kong, effectively crushing the city's autonomy, removing pro-democratic forces from the parliament and sending pro-democrats in jail.
 
In February 2020 I erected ‘A Pillar of Shame’ sculpture in front of the Danish parliament, as a protest against that China is once again using extreme force against youth people demonstrating for their democracy rights, this time in Hong Kong.
 
The China's National People's Congress are now directly interfering with the justice system and the freedom of speech in Hong Kong, which is an unprecedented violation of the agreement between England and China for the handover of Hong Kong. China has fundamentally changed the status of Hong Kong and basic Human and Democracy rights are no longer respected as they used to be. 
I hereby encourage everyone to protest against China’s assault on Hong Kong citizens.
Let us remeber the youth that lost their life at Tiananmen Square and let us support the youth in Hong Kong, so we will not see the same tragic outcome once again.     
  
Kind regards,
Jens Galschiøt
 
 
 
 
 About Hong Kong at the moment
 
China’s supression of free speech is spreading to Hong Kong. Galschiot is just one of many critics who have been denied entry. So the city is deprived of a cultural exchange that is taken for granted in all open democratic societies. The expulsions are a blatant violation of the principle of ‘One country – Two systems’ that was guaranteed as part of Hong Kong’s reunion with China in ‘97.

In 2013 Galschiøt managed to enter Hong Kong to repair ‘The Pillar of Shame’. In these very years Hong Kong stands on the precipice of realizing the 1997 agreements with China, to develop a real democracy in Hong Kong. But they are under a lot of pressure from non-democratic forces. The results of these negotiations are crucial for the future of Hong Kong.
 
Throughout 2019 and 2020 massive demonstrations in Hong Kong took place. They fought for their basic human rights that China promised Hong Kong's citizens when they took over the country in 1997, But the peaceful demonstrations have been met with comprehensive violent force from Hong Kong's police.
 
Today China has passed landmark legislation to force national security laws in Hong Kong, effectively crushing the city's autonomy, removing pro-democratic forces from the parliament and sending pro-democrats in jail.
 
A functioning democracy on Chinese ground, even though only in Hong Kong, is an extremely important symbol for the more than one billion living in mainland China.
 
Useful links:  
Download the documents about Tiananmen 1989
 
The democracy movement in Hong Kong:
  
Phone: +852 2782 6111

Contact Jens Galschiot: E-mail: aidoh@aidoh.dk, Internet: www.aidoh.dk, tel. +45 6618 4058, Banevaenget 22, DK-5270 Odense N
 
 
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About Jens Galschiøt:
 
Danish artist Jens Galschiøt has created many socio-critical sculptures and installations through the years. Most often they are placed in public spaces around the world – as needle-sticks and silent reminders of a world that, in his opinion, is out of balance, and where exploitation of the world’s resources, inequality and migration are a constant part of the picture.
 
 
 
General information about Galschiøt can be found at:
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Pillar of shame in Hong Kong Galschiot 2013

 Jens Galachiøt and people from China's democracy movementGalschiot refugees sculpture

 

Galschiot sculpture mask

 

 

 

 
This mail has been sent from the sculptor Jens Galschiøt's workshhop.
Contact to the workshop:
Galleri Galschiøt
Banevænget 22
5270 Odense N

Tlf : (+45) 6618 4058

Fax:(+45) 6618 4158portrait of Jens Galschiot 2012
E-mail: aidoh@aidoh.dk

websider:
To Gallery Galschiot
To Galschot webside
to "The Children of Abraham’projekt
Overview over Galschiøt sculptures
Portrait of a sculptor Jens Galschiøt (PDF)
 
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