In fact, who is unsatisfied with abdollahi’s bank statement?

          “It would be a lie if i say I didn’t get upset. I had planned for it for months. They have given very ridiculous reasons for rejecting the visa despite me having provided all the necessary documents” Said Ehsan Abdollahi while responding to the news of British government denying him the visa to attend the Edinburg International book festival.

           Ehsan Abdollahi, described by the festival’s director as a “highly respected, award winning Iranian illustrator of kids’ books”, was due to arrive in the UK early August, but he has received a visa refusal letter, issued by the British embassy in Dubai. It states that he has “no right of appeal or right to administrative review”.

          Abdollahi has illustrated a number of children’s books published in English by Tiny Owl. DelaramGahnimifirad of Tiny Owl, said she was incredibly disappointed that Abdollahi’s visa had been denied, saying it was the third consecutive year that Iranian authors and illustrators of children’s books had been denied UK entry to attend book festivals. London and Tehran have already improved their bilateral ties but UK has tightened up its visa issuance to Iranians. It looks like the Muslim ban Trump has introduced in the US. 

         Nick barley, the director of the Edinburg international book festival and chair of the Man Booker international prize 2017, took to Twitter to express his outrage at the decision. “Why is UK government denying @edbookfest visas to Iranian authors for 3rd year in a row?” he said in a series of tweets protesting about the decision.

         Abdollahi’s visa refusal letter says that “You have submitted a bank balance statement from Tejarat bank with a latest balance of IRR 679,529,024 (16,124 euros). However it is not clear where these funds originate from. As such, without evidence of the origin of this money, I am not satisfied that it is genuinely yours and available to fund the proposed visit. I note you are divorced and no one is dependent on you”.

         Abdollahi has submitted all the necessary details like pay slip and work contract but the government went on rejecting him the visa.

         But Why? The UK government doesn’t want Iranians to enter into their nation. But he is an artist. There are lot many people in UK itself who loves the work of Abdollahi. After all, he is not coming there for partying; he has to attend the Book Fest. Book Fests are meant for artists like him. It is not the right place to show your power, UK government. If you want to deny him, then give him some valuable reasons. The reasons now they are saying are lame excuses. There are people in UK itself who don’t have a source to point at from, the money flows into their account. Such a nation is pointing her finger on an artist. Shame!

 Why Bieber banned from China?

         Looks like pop singer Justin Bieber has a very bad time now. After a flop concert in India, now the Chinese has imposed a ban over him from entering their country.

        Its culture bureau has banned the “Love Yourself” singer from performing in the country citing his ‘controversial nature and bad behavior’, both foreign and domestic, as inappropriate imports.

         Bieber’s Purpose tour has been called a “World Apology Tour” intended to show a more mature side of the pop singer. But in the eyes of Chinese officials, the young heart throb still has some growing up. That’s why they banned him over bad behavior. Responding to the news, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture said “Justin Bieber is a gifted singer, but he is also a controversial young foreign singer. In order to maintain order in the Chinese market and purify the Chinese performance environment, it is not suitable to bring in badly behaved entertainers”.

        “We hope that as Justin Bieber matures, he can continue to improve his own words and actions, and truly become a singer beloved by the public” they said.
His offensive behavior during his last Chinese tour created national outrage in the country. Along with being carried up by the Great Wall of China by his bodyguards, an image of which resulted in a bombardment of international mockery. Bieber was also filmed skate boarding through the streets of Beijing while being pursued by his entourage.

        With this ban, Bieber joins his contemporary lady Gaga.

       Gaga has in fact been banned twice from china. Her music was placed on a govt. blacklist in 2011 for its “vulgar lyrics”, before the ban was lifted in 2014.
Unfortunately, she had to face another ban in 2016 after she met with Dalai Lama, to discuss topics like meditation and finding inner peace.

        But the question is, for a musician, what matters more is his music. It should be enjoyable for the people. Not with whom they are talking or how they are carrying themselves. Of course, people enjoy Bieber’s music. Then why Chinese government is imposing a ban for his behavior. He didn’t do anything offensive like hurting the nation’s culture, religion or their emotions. Since art has no boundaries, why should we create boundaries for an artist?

       People are enjoying his music, not him. If he is doing something wrong, people know that they don’t need to follow that thing. See, what happened in India. His concert was a flop and people expressed their disappointment openly. They never said that, ‘Bieber is our favorite celeb, so we should encourage his immaturity’.

      So Chinese government, kindly change your mentality. Move on from this old fashioned thinking process..!!