Bob Dylan's 'hypocritical' China concert

The legendary folk singer visits Beijing, and critics slam his failure to speak out against Chinese human rights abuses

A Bob Dylan fan on opening night of the artist's first-ever China concert: Despite a lifetime of activism, Dylan kept quiet about the communist country's recent crackdown.
(Image credit: Corbis)

Bob Dylan was the voice of protest in the '60s, but now he's facing harsh criticism from human rights activists for failing to speak up for freedom during a performance in China. Dylan went ahead with the Beijing leg of his Far Eastern tour, even though Chinese authorities told him he couldn't sing his civil rights-era anthems "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times, They Are a-Changin'." Dylan also failed to say anything about the arrest of a dissident artist — Ai Weiwei. Was it Dylan's duty to make a stand?

Dylan's silence was a hypocritical disgrace: "Times are indeed a-changing," says Azar Nafisi in The New Republic. Dylan "became an American icon by 'speaking truth to power,'" and in Beijing he had a golden opportunity to make his life's work really count, by calling out "one of the most repressive countries in the world." Instead he seemed perfectly happy "morphing into Barry Manilow in Beijing," sparing Chinese authorities his words of protest, and singing love songs instead. What "a disappointing and hypocritical show."

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