CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Ex-Wirecard CEO Goes On Trial Over 'Unparalleled' Fraud

By Michelle FITZPATRICK
12/05/22 

Markus Braun, who claims he's innocent, faces several years in prison if found guilty

Ex-Wirecard CEO Markus Braun goes on trial in Munich this week for his role in the collapse of the once celebrated payments firm, brought down by the biggest accounting fraud scandal in German corporate history.


Austrian-born Braun and two other former Wirecard executives will appear in the dock from Thursday on charges of commercial gang fraud, breach of trust, market manipulation and accounting manipulation.

The Munich district court has scheduled 100 court dates for the mammoth trial.

Wirecard, once hailed as a standard-bearer for the German tech industry, imploded spectacularly in 2020 after admitting that 1.9 billon euros ($2 billion) missing from its accounts probably didn't exist.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was finance minister at the time, described the scandal as "unparalleled" in post-war Germany.

Braun, who has been in custody for over two years, denies any wrongdoing.

The 53-year-old has pointed the finger at Wirecard's fugitive former chief operating officer, Jan Marsalek, a shadowy figure with alleged ties to foreign intelligence agencies.

Marsalek was reported earlier this year to be hiding out in Russia.

A senior Wirecard employee, however, told a German parliamentary inquiry last year that nothing happened at Wirecard without Braun's knowledge.

"The group was shaped by Markus Braun, and so was the corporate culture. He decided everything, he dictated everything," Rainer Wexeler told lawmakers.

On trial alongside Braun are Oliver Bellenhaus, the former head of Wirecard's Dubai subsidiary, and ex-accounting boss Stephan von Erffa.

They face several years in prison if convicted.

Bellenhaus has admitted wrongdoing and will serve as a key witness for the prosecution.

It took German investigators more than 20 months to unravel the complex web of fraudulent transactions implicating Wirecard subsidiaries and third-party companies across the globe.

Prosecutors say the accused presented "incorrect" financial results from 2015 to 2018, by including fabricated revenues and profits from partner companies in Dubai, the Philippines and Singapore, and using forged documents to make Wirecard appear more successful than it was.

Among the victims of the fraud were banks that had provided credit of 1.7 billion euros to Wirecard. Bonds worth 1.4 billion euros were also issued and are unlikely to be repaid.

Founded in 1999, the Bavarian start-up Wirecard started out processing payments for porn and gambling sites and grew into a respectable electronic payments provider that edged traditional lender Commerzbank out of the blue-chip DAX index.

Rumours about possible cheating at Wirecard surfaced now and again over the years, including from shortsellers doing research on companies they suspected might be overvalued.

But Wirecard's problems began in earnest with a series of Financial Times articles in 2019 alleging irregularities in its Asian division, based on revelations from former employees and leaked documents.

The company was initially able to fend off the claims, with the FT's journalists themselves coming under investigation from German regulators.

But the scam finally unravelled in June 2020 when long-time auditor EY said it had discovered a 1.9-billion-euro hole in Wirecard's accounts.

The sum, which made up a quarter of the balance sheet, was meant to be sitting in trustee accounts at two Filippino banks.

But the Philippines' central bank has said the cash never entered its monetary system and both Asian banks, BDO and BPI, denied having a relationship with Wirecard.

Wirecard filed for insolvency soon after, becoming the first DAX company to fail.

Wirecard's dramatic downfall sent shockwaves through Germany and prompted an overhaul of the country's finance watchdog Bafin, heavily criticised for ignoring early warning signs about Wirecard.

The fallout also embarrassed Germany's political establishment, with former chancellor Angela Merkel coming under fire for promoting Wirecard during a 2019 trip to China -- when journalists were already raising doubts about the company.

In a grilling last year by lawmakers, Merkel said there was "no reason at that time" to believe there were "serious irregularities at Wirecard".

The mammoth trial in Munich is expected to run into 2024

Instead of looking into the FT's Wirecard revelations, Germany's regulator filed a complaint against the journalists



© Copyright AFP 2022. All rights reserved.

Climate change supercharges threat from forest-eating bug

Trees scarred by the spruce bark beetle in Kampu, Finland.

Deep in the Finnish woods, the moss and blueberry shrubs hide a deadly threat to the boreal forests that are as important to the planet as the Amazon rainforest

With chunks of their bark peeling off and needles falling from dying branches, more and more trees are being killed by the spruce bark beetle, which is venturing further and further north with climate change.

The tiny brown insects attack the Picea abies, one of Finland's most common tree species, and can cause massive damage to forests.

Burrowing through the bark to lay their eggs, the beetles eat their way around the spruce and kill it by stopping water and nutrients reaching the higher branches.

"The species has caused huge damage across Central and Eastern Europe, especially since 2018," Markus Melin, a scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland, told AFP.

With climate change, the risk of the beetle spreading is a "lot higher now", Melin added.

"We have to accept it and adapt to it. Things are changing fast up here."

Forests in Finnish Lapland are being more and more hit by beetle infestations.

While the threat is greatest in southern Finland, the sweltering summer of 2021 saw bark beetle damage "unusually high up north" in the Kainuu region of northern Finland.

'Nasty loop'

"It is well known that the spruce bark beetle is one of the species that benefit most from global warming," Melin said.

The beetles kill the trees by cutting nutrients to the higher branches.

The beetles thrive on weakened trees. Hot summers mean there are more water-starved spruce, while warm winters mean there is no frozen ground to brace the trees against storms.

Warm weather also speeds up the life cycle of the beetles, meaning they can reproduce faster.

"Extreme warm summers benefit the bark beetle directly. They have less mortality, reproduction is faster," Melin said.

One stand of healthy trees is all that is left in one stretch of forest near Kumpu, Finland.

While the beetles normally go for weak trees, once their numbers reach a tipping point they can start attacking healthy ones.

"It becomes a nasty loop," Melin said.

If foresters do not react in time by removing weakened spruce, "suddenly there are so many beetles that they can attack healthy trees" further speeding the "cycle of destruction", Melin said.

© 2022 AFP

Tree species diversity is no protection against bark beetle infestation

 

EU agrees to ban imports of products that drive deforestation

Issued on: 06/12/2022 - 

Greenpeace activists stage a protest against deforestation outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg on September 13, 2022. © Jean-Francois Badias, AP

The European Union reached an agreement Tuesday to ban the import of products including coffee, cocoa and soy in cases where they are deemed to contribute to deforestation. FRANCE 24's correspondent in Brussels Dave Keating tells us more. 

The Southern Hemisphere is stormier than the north. Now, scientists think they know why

A new study led by a University of Chicago climate scientist has revealed new theories about the relationship between storms and hemispheres.

Story by Eleanor Noyce • Yesterday 

For centuries, sailors have understood that the Southern hemisphere has threatened the most severe storms but with little to no scientific explanation behind it. Now, we have fresh confirmation that the Southern hemisphere is 24% stormier than the Northern.

Tiffany Shaw, climate scientist at the University of Chicago, has coined the world’s first tangible explanation. The study cites ocean circulation and the large mountain ranges in the Northern hemisphere as the dominant factors, further finding that this asymmetry has increased since the dawn of the satellite era in the 1980s.

The findings concluded that this increase was consistent with climate change forecasts developed by physics-based models.

“You can’t put the Earth in a jar”, Shaw told EurekaAlert.org. “So instead we use climate models built on the laws of physics and run experiments to test hypotheses.”

Testing topography – or the forms and features of land surfaces – the study found that large mountain ranges interrupt airflow, thereby reducing storms. The Northern hemisphere has a higher quantity of these mountain ranges, so when Shaw’s study flattened all the world’s mountains roughly half the difference in storminess between the two hemispheres disappeared.

Ocean circulation was also tested. Varying processes between the two hemispheres create an energy imbalance, so water sinks in the Arctic, moving along the bottom of the ocean and eventually rising – carrying energy with it – in Antarctica. The second part of the experiment removed this so-called conveyer belt system, eliminating the remaining half of the difference in storminess in the process.

Notably, the study concluded that the storminess asymmetry has increased since the 1980s, with the Southern hemisphere becoming increasingly stormier. By contrast, there’s been little to no change in the Northern hemisphere.

So, why did it take so long to answer this question? Weather and climate physics are relatively young fields of study, as scientists only began to investigate this question mark after World War II. With these concrete answers, climate scientists will now be empowered to make vital predictions as climate change accelerates.

“By laying this foundation of understanding, we increase confidence in climate change projections and thereby help society better prepare for the impacts of climate change”, Shaw explained to EurekaAlert.org. “The stakes are high and it’s important to get the right answer for the right reason.”

New eruption of Stromboli volcano raises alert level in Italy

Italy's Civil Protection Department has raised the alert level on Monday because of a new eruption of the Strómboli volcano, which is located on the island of the same name in the south of the country.


Archive - Archive image of the Strómboli volcano. - Europa Press/Contacto/Meridioness/Ropi© Provided by News 360

The alert level, which is now orange, allows experts to monitor the situation around the volcano more closely, while authorities have urged the local population to follow relevant safety instructions, according to a brief statement from Civil Protection.

On Sunday, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology recorded an earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale south of the volcano, in the Mediterranean Sea. The earthquake would have triggered a new volcanic activity in the area, where the active volcano is located.

The Department of Civil Protection has also warned that this has caused a small tsunami with waves 1.5 meters high, so that the warning alarms have sounded on the island. Mount Stromboli is about 920 meters high and often erupts.

6.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesia’s Java and Bali islands


An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 on the open Richter scale has shaken the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali on Tuesday, with no reports of casualties or material damage for the moment.


Earthquake of magnitude 6.2 in Indonesia - USGS© Provided by News 360

The Indonesian National Meteorological, Geophysical and Climatological Agency (BMKG) has detailed through its website that the epicenter of the earthquake was located south of the island of Java and added that the hypocenter was located at a depth of ten kilometers.

Related video: Volcano erupts on Java island, Indonesia raises alert to highest level | Semeru volcano | DNA India
Duration 1:39
View on Watch

Indonesia volcano erupts, evacuations underway






Indonesia Hit by Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake

The earthquake was followed by several aftershocks, including several of magnitude greater than 4 on the open Richter scale, according to the agency. Authorities have not activated a tsunami warning at this time.

In November, more than 300 people were killed by an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the open Richter scale, with its epicenter ten kilometers south of Cianjur. The earthquake shook the capital, Jakarta, without causing casualties in the city.

Indonesia's Mt. Semeru unleashes lava river in new eruption

Yesterday 

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s highest volcano on its most densely populated island released searing gas clouds and rivers of lava Sunday in its latest eruption.

Monsoon rains eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) Mount Semeru, causing the eruption, according to National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari.

Several villages were blanketed with falling ash, blocking out the sun, but no casualties have been reported. Several hundred residents, their faces smeared with volcanic dust and rain, fled to temporary shelters or left for other safe areas.

Thick columns of ash were blasted more than 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) into the sky while searing gas and lava flowed down Semeru’s slopes toward a nearby river.

Increased activities of the volcano on Sunday afternoon prompted authorities to widen the danger zone to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater, said Hendra Gunawan, who heads the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.

He said scientists raised the volcano's alert level to the highest and people were advised to keep off the southeastern sector along the Besuk Kobokan River, which is in the path of the lava flow.

Semeru’s last major eruption was in December last year, when it blew up with fury that left 51 people dead in villages that were buried in layers of mud. Several hundred others suffered serious burns and the eruption forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. The government moved about 2,970 houses out of the danger zone.

Semeru, also known as Mahameru, has erupted numerous times in the past 200 years. Still, as is the case with many of the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, tens of thousands of people continue to live on its fertile slopes.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

The Associated Press

Eruption of Indonesia's tallest volcano prompts evacuations for thousands

Yesterday 

Several villages surrounding Mount Semeru, Indonesia's tallest volcano, have been blanketed in ash and soot following its latest eruption.

Evacuations were announced Sunday as the 12,060-foot volcano, located in East Java in Indonesia, about 300 miles southeast of the capital Jakarta, began to spew lava and ash into the densely populated island on Sunday just before 3 a.m. local time, according to local authorities.MORE: Yellowstone supervolcano has a lot more magma than previously thought: Scientists

Thick ash was blasted more than 4,000 feet into the air while lava flowed down the slopes toward the Besuk Kobokan river, about 8 miles from the crater, the country's National Disaster Management Agency announced.


People are seen as Mount Semeru continues to spew volcanic ash after its eruption, Dec. 5, 2022, in Lumajang Regency, Indonesia.

© Suryanto/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

At one point, the volcanic activity level had been raised to Level 4, the highest status, according to Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.MORE: Lava oozing out of Mauna Loa inching closer to main highway on Hawaii's Big Island

While monsoon rains eventually eroded and collapsed the lava dome on top of Mount Semeru, nearby villages were advised to stay more than 3 miles away from the crater's mouth and prompted evacuations for thousands of people, officials said.



Smoke rises from Mount Semeru, Dec. 5, 2022, in Lumajang Regency, Indonesia.

© JUNI KRISWANTO/AFP via Getty Images

Hundreds of people were moved to temporary shelters or evacuated the area, The Associated Press reported, citing the disaster management agency in Lumajang in the East Java province.

Prior to Sunday, Mount Semeru erupted from Nov. 23 to Nov. 29, with daily explosions at the summit that sent ash plumes nearly 3,000 feet into the sky, according to the Global Volcanism Program at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History.

MORE: A recent history of volcanic eruptions and their impact, as Mauna Loa erupts

The last major eruption occurred in December 2021, which killed 51 people in nearby villages, according to the AP. More than 10,000 villagers were evacuated, and hundreds of people were severely burned by the hot ash and lava expelled from the volcano.



People stand before Mount Semeru following a volcanic eruption at Kajar Kuning village, Dec. 5, 2022, in Lumajang Regency, Indonesia.

There are 129 active volcanoes within the Indonesian archipelago, and tens of thousands of people continue to live downslope from the summits.

Indonesia sits along the "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific, a series of fault lines prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

FOTOS  JUNI KRISWANTO/AFP via Getty Images

AFP

Volcano erupts on Java island, Indonesia raises alert to highest level | Semeru volcano | DNA India | Watch (msn.com)

More people flee after eruption of Indonesia's Mount Semeru

Mount Semeru spews smoke and ash in Lumajang, Indonesia, on Monday.

Rescuers evacuated more people Monday from nearby villages after the eruption of Indonesia's Mount Semeru, with officials warning of danger from cooling lava despite less activity from the volcano

More than 2,400 villagers have now fled their homes and taken shelter in 11 evacuation centers after the highest mountain on the country's main island of Java erupted early morning Sunday.

"The military, police, local disaster and village officials keep evacuating people in Curah Kobokan where the hot ash cloud and cold lava might travel," Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency, told local television.

"So far the total number of evacuees is 2,489."

Officials have announced a state of emergency for the next two weeks and authorities have been distributing free masks to protect against ash in the air while setting up public kitchens for evacuees.

On Monday morning, dozens of evacuees in Lumajang district where Semeru is located ventured back to their ash-covered homes to retrieve important belongings, before returning to shelters, according to an AFP journalist.

Some shepherded livestock while others carried appliances such as TVs and refrigerators as the volcano spewed ash in the background.

Damaged houses inundated with mud in the village of Kajar Kuning following the eruption of Mount Semeru.

Muhari said visual observation of Semeru on Monday morning indicated less intense volcanic activity but he warned of potential danger from lava flows that had cooled after heavy rain.

"What we worry about is economic activities such as sand mining. We want to make sure the route where the hot ash cloud and the cold lava might travel is completely free of activity," he said.

The government's alert status indicating danger from the volcano was raised to its highest level Sunday. It had previously been at its second-highest level since a major eruption last December.

Last year's eruption killed 51 people and damaged more than 5,000 homes while forcing nearly 10,000 people to seek refuge.

Kajar Kuning village in Lumajang has been covered in a mix of ash and mud.

Many of the victims from that disaster were sand miners working high on the slopes of the volcano.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where the meeting of continental plates causes substantial volcanic and seismic activity. The Southeast Asian archipelago nation has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

© 2022 AFP

Indonesia villagers race to escape eruption as sky turns black

More magma found below Yellowstone Caldera than expected

 Phys.org

Yellowstone Volcano. Credit: Unsplash, public domain

A team of researchers with members affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. and one in Australia reports evidence that there is much more magma below the Yellowstone Caldera than previously thought.

In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes analyzing years of seismic data from the site and building supercomputing models. Kari Cooper with the University of California Davis has published a Perspective piece on the work done by the team on this new effort and also outlines the tools that geologists use to predict when a volcano might erupt.

The Yellowstone Caldera is located in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, and prior research has shown its last major eruption was approximately 640,000 years ago. Prior research has also shown that there are two large magma reservoirs below the caldera—one just below the surface, the other a few kilometers down.

The ratio of melted rock to crystals in the top reservoir is a reliable indicator of how close a volcano is to erupting. Previous estimates showed the ratio of rock to crystal in the top reservoir was approximately 9%, suggesting the volcano was nowhere near an eruption point. In this new effort, however, the researchers have taken a closer look at the ratio and have found it is much higher than earlier estimates showed.

Yellowstone’s Super Volcano Has More Magma Bubbling Under the Surface Than Previously Thought   View on Watch

To learn more about the ratio in the reservoir, the researchers analyzed 20 years of seismic data for the area with a supercomputer, which created a model that simulated the reservoir, showing both the size of the reservoir and its ratios of rock to crystal.

They found that the ratio of rock to crystal was much higher than previous estimates—they found it to be 16% to 20%. They also found that the reservoir was approximately twice as large as previously thought, at approximately 1,600 cubic kilometers. They note that their findings do not indicate that an eruption is imminent; the ratio is still well below the threshold believed to be necessary to set off an explosion.

More information: Ross Maguire et al, Magma accumulation at depths of prior rhyolite storage beneath Yellowstone Caldera, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.ade0347

Kari M. Cooper, What lies beneath Yellowstone?, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.ade8435

Journal information: Science 

© 2022 Science X Network

Degassing data suggests Mt. Etna began showing signs of pressure buildup months before 2018 eruption

B.C.'s Julia Levy is Canada's first trans woman Rhodes Scholar


British Columbia’s newest Rhodes Scholar will pursue a master’s degree in computational chemistry, but she says it’s also an “incredible opportunity” as a trans woman to give back to her community.


B.C.'s Julia Levy is Canada's first trans woman Rhodes Scholar© Provided by The Canadian Press

University of Victoria graduate Julia Levy said she was "blown away" when she learned she was among 11 Canadians selected for this year's Rhodes Scholarship, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious such awards.

Levy, 24, will head to Oxford University in England next October for the fully funded scholarship, a prize she said carries a special meaning because she is the country’s first trans woman Rhodes Scholar.

“I feel I am very, very proud being the first trans woman in Canada (to become a Rhodes Scholar),” said Levy, who made the transition from he to she three years ago.

While thetransitionwas a tough journey, Levy said she is aware of the many advantages she's had.

“I think it’s really interesting to note that I am privileged in literally every other way, like my parents being supportive of my transition. I have always had financial stability and I grew up in a good part of Vancouver … maybe that’s the advantages that you need to equal out the trans part of it,” said Levy.

Levy, who graduated from the University of Victoria with a chemistry major and a minor in visual arts, described the scholarship as an “incredible opportunity and a gift,” equipping her with more knowledge and power to give back to the trans community.

“I feel my experiences of being trans and the ways that I have had to navigate the world being trans ... has given me a lot of empathy for people in crisis and people who have difficulties in their lives,” said Levy.

“I know what it is to be at the bottom in some ways and my interest in harm reduction and trans care really all comes from that place of knowing what it's like and wanting to reach out and help out where that’s possible.”

Levy is also a scientist, artist, activist, programmer, friend and daughter, she said.


"There are many parts of me that are equally important to who I am."

University of Victoria chemistry professor Jeremy Wulff supervised Levy and said she was “destined for greatness,” bringing insights to projects that led to their success.

“I'm always excited when my students are recognized with awards and fellowships, but the Rhodes award is at a whole other level," he said. "Julia is in excellent company amongst this group, and it's absolutely where she belongs."

Levy said magic can happen when you mix computation with chemistry.

In her second year at the University of Victoria, she found some classmates were struggling to picture molecules in their heads while doing peer teaching.

To help them visualize complex molecules, Levy created an augmented-reality app.

The app is a QR code in the workbook and allows the learner to see the molecule on their phone in three dimensions.

“You can work it with your phone and spin it around and zoom in and out,” said Levy.

She also worked as a technician with the university's Vancouver Island Drug-Checking Project, a drop-in service where people can bring street drugs in for chemical analysis.

Levy said the experience used her chemistry skills in a “practical and socially active way” to help more people.

“It’s an excellent example of the social use of chemistry,” said Levy.

Levy, who was travelling in Germany during the interview, said she looks forward to being surrounded by the Rhodes community and "being challenged and pushed to new heights."

“I hope I bring what makes me unique to Oxford, and that I am able to find a group of people, both personally and professionally, that celebrate that uniqueness,” said Levy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2022.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press

FREEDOM OF SPEECH CHINA

Ai Weiwei on China's protests

Stefan Dege
12/02/2022

December 2, 2022

DW spoke to Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei about the protests in China against extreme pandemic lockdowns.

Renowned Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, who currently lives in Portugal with his Chinese wife and their child, sees China's reaction to the pandemic over the past three years as the "most stringent constraints on human behavior in Chinese history and in human history," which are restricting human rights and personal autonomy, he told DW in an email interview.

Ai added that the protests in many Chinese cities against the strict lockdowns were "gatherings of resistance" where protest slogans were chanted. "People mostly want to be released from confinement," the artist said, "and go back to their normal life."

Protests in Guangzhou against China's "zero-COVID" restrictions

Image: REUTERS

Though there has been a careful easing of "zero-COVID" pandemic measures in the city of Guangzhou, the artist does not believe the protests will have a lasting effect. "Any type of protests in China can hardly be successful because the Party [the country's sole ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party] considers themselves as representative of the interests of people," Ai wrote, "so for them there is no such thing as people's protests against them."
Sheet of paper as the most important expression of protest

Ai wrote that the protesters do not yet have any leaders, nor are they supported by any organizations. They also have no agenda, according to Ai: "As we say in a Chinese idiom, it is like a plate of loose sand."

The white sheets of paper held by protesters serve as their most important ideological expression, according to Ai, who sees the blank signs as "a very strong symbol" representing the protesters' desire to express themselves freely.

Blank papers have become a popular way to protest China's zero-COVID policyImage: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

A blank page aimed at the global public

According to Berlin-based art historian and political iconography expert Michael Diers, the blank sheet of paper is a "relatively new invention" and also an "admirably brave and imaginative" means of protest.

Among the first to go viral, the photo of an Russian anti-war protester in Nizhny Novgorod who was holding a blank sheet of paper and subsequently detained by police made international headlines in March this year. "A symbol like the blank placard arises when all other attempts at protest have previously failed," Diers told DW. The action is always aimed at the cameras, he says, and is always addressed towards the global public. "It's about the power of images."

 

Michael Diers, art historian and media expert

Image: privat

According to Ai, the blank sheet of paper stands for wordlessness and resistance against the restricting of freedom of expression.

Ai is not surprised by the absence of representatives from the cultural sector alongside the Chinese protesters. "Usually, artists and writers are all advocates of liberalism," who would be on the side of the demonstrators "by default," he wrote. "But, as the regime in China muzzles freedom of expression, no matter who stands next to protesters," Ai wrote, "they cannot be seen."

This article was originally written in German.