Ai Weiwei guest-edits the New Statesman, which pirates itself to evade the Great Firewall of China

Cory Doctorow 4:47 am Thu Oct 18, 2012

Helen from the UK newspaper the New Statesman writes,

Today, the New Statesman is publishing an issue of the magazine guest-edited by the Chinese rebel artist Ai Weiwei.

In the issue, Ai interviews the "blind dissident" Chen Guangcheng about the forced abortions and sterilisations required to enforce the one-child policy. He also speaks to a member of the "50 Cent party" – China's "paid trolls", given half a dollar every time they derail an online conversation. There are also pieces by human rights lawyers, activists, film makers and artists – as well as Ai's 170,000 Twitter followers giving their thoughts on the future of China.

We're expecting the NS website to be banned in China – and deleted from search results – after doing this, so it's vital to get the issue out by other means. We've created a PDF version in Mandarin, and uploaded it to PirateBay, and other torrent sites. That way, people on VPNs in China, can get it, and pass it around. The page I'm sending has information on how to do that.

China wants to restrict its people from telling the truth about their lives. We hope the internet can set them free.

Taking on the "Great Firewall of China"

(Thanks, Helen!)

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