#Tiananmen30: A reflection and call to action

In memory of those who stood up for their rights, lost their lives and for those still unjustly imprisoned today in China.

Students peacefully demonstrating in Beijing in 1989

Thirty years ago tonight it began.

The Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989. By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators had been shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called People's Liberation Army.

Thousands more would be rounded up, arrested and sentenced to prison in show trials. As many as a thousand received death sentences that were carried out.

The response of the West and the United States at the forefront?  Pro forma protests to satisfy the outrage of their citizens while secretly meeting with the men who had ordered the mass killing to let them know that what was important was their economic relationship.

Two weeks prior to the Tiananmen Square massacre then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping observed: “Two hundred dead could bring 20 years of peace to China.” 

Tiananmen Square in June of 1989 prior to the crackdown

Thirty years ago I was an undergraduate at Florida International University studying biology. The first months of 1989 filled one with hope as events began to unfold favorably in Poland and in the rest of the Eastern bloc. In April mass demonstrations by Chinese students demanding accountability, an end to corruption, and democratic reforms began and seemed to be part of a worldwide democratic wave. In Eastern Europe, with the exception of Romania, the autocrats refused to fire on large gatherings of nonviolent protesters, and in relatively short order they were free. 

This was not to be the case in China. The communist Chinese leadership had attempted to order their troops to crackdown on the Chinese students on May 20, 1989 only to have their orders rejected.

In May, first wave of soldiers who had come to enforce martial law turned back.Credit Jian Liu

The Chinese communist leadership regrouped and sought out troops who would obey their criminal orders and on June 2, 1989 approve the decision to crackdown on the protesters in what became a massacre.

Bodies at Shuili hospital mortuary. All died from bullet wounds. Credit Jian Liu

Still remember the scenes from television broadcasting images of the crackdown over the two days that followed and then seeing the image of an outraged Chinese citizen staring down a column of tanks, and for several long moments blocking their passage. Thirty years later we do not know who he was or what became of him.

Memorial banner for those martyred in China in June 1989

At Florida International University (FIU) members of the FIU Chinese Student Association made a memorial banner for their fallen brothers and sisters that read in Chinese, Spanish and English the following: "We mourn in deep grief for the numerous martyrs who have given their lives for democracy and freedom in China."

Chinese students from Florida International University (FIU), the University of Miami (UM) and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) organized and carried out a protest march in downtown Miami in the days following the massacre.

Chinese students march in downtown Miami protesting the June 4th crackdown

 The Cuban government was one of the very few that publicly supported the June 4th crackdown on Chinese protesters. The Cuban foreign minister commended Chinese authorities for“defeating the counter revolutionary acts.” Later we would learn that these scenes played out in 20 other cities in China along with the huge massacre in Beijing, the terror inflicted on the Chinese people over those days began to be placed in context, despite the full number of dead still not being known.

A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that "at least 10,000 people were killed in the Chinese army's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989."


The failure of the Western Democracies to side with China’s democratic forces due to narrow economic interests to trade and subsidize a murderous communist dictatorship was a sobering realization that prepared me for what has been taking place in Cuba.

The behavior of Western tech firms in China, who collaborated with the secret police in identifying dissidents who were rounded up, jailed, tortured and in some cases killed and censoring information on the internet to erase the crimes of Tiananmen, the Cultural Revolution, and the mass famines of the Mao era was a wake up call and prepared us to have a more critical eye when they signed agreements with the Castro regime.

Those days in June of 1989 marked me and impacted the course my life would take. In the years that followed we engaged in acts of remembrance with Chinese students, protested and burned a Chinese flag when a Chinese official spoke at FIU in 1991 and hosted Chinese dissident Harry Wu at FIU.

Elie Wiesel at his Nobel Lecture in 1986 observed: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Bearing witness and taking action continues to be necessary to avoid forgetting. Wiesel in the same lecture explained the consequences of not remembering: "To forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death."

Monday, June 3, 2019 
Candlelight Vigil
8:30 PM Victims of Communism Memorial
Corner of New Jersey and Massachusetts Avenues NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

Please join us for a candlelight vigil and ceremony of remembrance commemorating the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Speakers will include witnesses of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019  Rally of Remembrance 1:30 PM United States Capitol South Lawn First Street SE Washington, D.C. 20004

Please join us at the US Capitol for a rally to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre and to highlight the continued suppression of the Chinese people by the Chinese Communist Party. Speakers will include witnesses of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, activists, and policymakers, including VOC Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA).

Tiananmen Square Crackdown & June 4, 1989 Beijing Massacre: It was 25 years ago today

In memory of those who stood up for their rights, lost their lives and for those still unjustly imprisoned today in China.

Students peacefully demonstrating

Twenty five years ago today the Communist leadership of China opened fire on the Chinese people. The Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989. By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators had been shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called People's Liberation Army. and the blood of students and workers splattered and flowed in the streets of Beijing. The Chinese Red Cross had initially counted 2,600 dead when they were pressured to stop by Chinese officials and silenced on this matter. Following the massacre an additional 1,000 were sentenced to death and executed. Scores of Chinese who participated in the Tiananmen protests would spend years and decades in prison. The British Broadcast Corporation reporter Julia Hatton identified Miao Deshun, a humble worker, as possibly being Tiananmen's last prisoner.

Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace laureate, who is also a prisoner of conscience currently imprisoned for his continued non-violent activism had already served a prison sentence for his participation in the Tiananmen student protest in 1989. He was again jailed in 2008 for his human rights activism and sentenced to 11 years in prison on December 25, 2009.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger persuaded the Bush Administration in the immediate aftermath to downplay the human rights considerations surrounding the Beijing Massacre and to focus on the economic and strategic relationship.  Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) published a October 1, 1989 article revealing Kissinger's direct business ties to Communist China and his defense of the regime and justification of the massacre. FAIR reported how on August 1, 1989 this business consultant who also heads "China Ventures" [that engages China's state bank in joint ventures] wrote a column that appeared in a Washington Post/L.A. Times ("The Caricature of Deng as a Tyrant Is Unfair", 8/1/89). In it Kissinger argued against sanctions: "China remains too important for America's national security to risk the relationship on the emotions of the moment." He asserted: "No government in the world would have tolerated having the main square of its capital occupied for eight weeks by tens of thousands of demonstrators." Kissinger's reputation according to Umair Khan who reviewed his 2011 book, On China, describes him as a man whose "reputation is based on his career as a diplomat turned business consultant." This business relationship was not mentioned back in 1989 by those publishing the former Secretary of State's case against sanctions on China.

Incidentally over the course of six weeks in 1989 beginning on November 17, the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia although engaging in acts of repression did not commit a huge massacre against tens of thousands of demonstrators in the main square of its capital. The demonstrations grew to Tiananmen Square levels of 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators in Prague.  The end result was the Velvet Revolution and 25 years of peace and prosperity. Kissinger's argument did not hold up under the light of events.

Unfortunately, the downplaying of the human rights situation in China has had consequences over the long term. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dictum "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" has special resonance.

In 2011 Muammar Gaddafi believed that he could get away with mass murder because the world looked the other way in June of 1989 in Beijing and said it plainly: "The unity of China was more important than those people on Tiananmen Square." Its not the first time impunity in one bloody deed has encouraged another. Between 1915 and 1917 the Ottoman Turks murdered more than 1.5 million Armenians and like the Chinese communists in 1989 got away with it. This inspired Adolph Hitler to carry out his own holocaust stating in 1939: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel has denounced indifference and silence before injustice stating that: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

Unfortunately, the United States government and much of the Western world failed sacrificing human rights and decency for the sake of economic interests. Leaving it to civil society, the press and non-governmental organizations to take up the slack. The outcome has been a steady deterioration of human rights and freedoms around the world. China is now a rising superpower with a regime that has blood on its hands and refuses to recognize, apologize or repent for its past crimes. The Chinese diplomat in London who shoved two women to the ground as they tried to leave red roses in memory of the June 4, 1989 Beijing Massacre victims demonstrates the regime's violent contempt for human rights. The regime has also sought to censor communication detaining activists prior to the anniversary and blocking Google and messaging apps.


Twenty five years later in 2,000 free Chinese in Senado Square in Macau, another 2,000 free Chinese in Taipei's Liberty Square and over a 180,000 Chinese in Hong Kong  held vigils in memory of their compatriots massacred in Beijing on June 4, 1989. Around the world Chinese diasporas, human rights groups, and members of civil society organized events to remember and continue the call for justice, repentance and reconciliation.   

Prayer vigil at Florida International University in 2014

In Miami at Florida International University members of the university community gathered for a prayer and candlelight vigil taking part in a call to action by Initiatives for China and read their recommended prayer. Below is an excerpt:

Let us give thanks for the courage of the young people of Tiananmen Square who 25 years ago showed the world that the Chinese people desire freedom and justice above all earthly goods, and who were willing to give their lives in their brave witness. May all be strengthened by their bravery. May all be blessed by their memory.

All: Let us remember with gratitude the martyrs of Tiananmen Square.

In this anniversary of China’s young martyrs let us pray that the Chinese leaders of today would turn their hearts away from fear and defensiveness, that they would reach out to the victims and victims’ families, and repent of the massacre of China’s youth. May repentance be the first step toward reconciliation and be a promise to history to never again turn on their own people in murder.

It is in that spirit that this blog post is published today along with the time line below.

Abbreviated Time line of the June 4, 1989 massacre
 
30 May 1989 - Goddess of Democracy is unveiled: During the previous night, students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts assemble the 37-foot-high statue of the Goddess of Democracy, built in two days out of plaster and styrofoam. It stands opposite the giant portrait of Mao Zedong.
 
2 June 1989 - Hunger strike by Capital Joint Liaison Group: The Liaison Group, now composed solely of intellectuals, decides to stage a series of 72-hour hunger strikes to show the students that others too are ready to put their lives at risk. Literary critic Liu Xiaobo, rock star Hou Dejian, and economist Zhou Duo are among the first to start fasting.

- Communist party elders approve plan to put down the protests by force

The Goddess of Democracy

3 June 1989 - Troops are ordered to reclaim Tiananmen Square at all cost. They begin to open fire upon people blocking the advancement of the army and also on people who are just shouting at the troops. Tanks and armored vehicles move towards the center of the city. An unknown number of Beijing citizens die, succumbing to gun shots—sometimes at point blank—or crushed by tanks and armored personnel carriers. In angry retaliation, civilians throw stones at the soldiers, who shoot back. Some soldiers are attacked and beaten up. Buses and cars are set on fire.

Victims of the massacre

4 June 1989 1:00 a.m. The troops have blocked off all approaches to Tiananmen Square. Various people who witnessed the killings of civilians report to the BWAF and to the students’ Command Headquarters, urging them to withdraw.
3:00 a.m. Liu Xiaobo, Hou Dejian, Zhou Duo and a fourth men who began the second hunger strike negotiate with the troops to allow the students to leave the Square.
4:00 a.m. On the square the lights go off. The statue of the Goddess of Democracy is toppled by a tank.
4:30 a.m. The tanks and the troops stationed in the north corner of the Square begin to move forward. Students vote and eventually agree to leave. The soldiers shoot out the students’ loud speakers. Led by the Command Headquarters, the students walk away from the Monument to the People’s Heroes toward the southeast part of the square. A row of armored vehicles moves slowly toward the monument. Other troops arrive from the west, squeezing the crowd. As the students leave, army tanks crush tents on their way. The student guards are the last to leave, with soldiers about 18 feet behind them firing warning shots.
5:00 a.m. As the students pass Qianmen, residents line the streets and applaud. The army throws tear gas and shoots at students and citizens near the square and in other areas of the capital. Some people are crushed under tanks. The number of victims is not known.
6:20 a.m. Tanks crush retreating students.

5 June 1989 - Final act of defiance. An unarmed men blocks a column of tanks as they rolled towards Tiananmen Square. He's taken away by men in plainclothes. 22 years later his identity remains unknown.

Tankman

  

23 years after the Tiananmen Square Crackdown in China

Human Rights are still nonexistent in China

Residents of Hong Kong remember June 4, 1989 victims

Twenty three years later the men who committed a slaughter of nonviolent demonstrators remain free with impunity and some of those who peacefully demonstrated are still in prison today. Requests by the United States and France for these prisoners of conscience to be released are rejected. Another after unjustly serving 22 years in prison and one year out of prison has been found dead under suspicious circumstances.


The events of that day are systematically censored and scrubbed from publications and the internet.  Internet censorship by the Chinese communist regime does everything possible to erase the hope of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and the brutal crackdown that began on June 4, 1989. The numbers 6, 4, and 89 have been censored along with "today."


Despite that cracks of light break through exposing the fear of the dictatorship. The Shanghai stock index fell 64.89 points on the anniversary of the massacre. On top of that the Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2346.98 on the this the 23rd anniversary.


These are two creative examples of nonviolent resistance that break through the censorship and remember the victims of an atrocious crime. In Hong Kong, tens of thousands turned out to remember the thousands of victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.

Li Wangyang, labor activist and former prisoner of conscience found dead

At the same time an ominous death underlined the observance of this grave injustice, Li Wangyang, 62, a labor activist from Hunan province who led workers in sympathy protests during the 1989 student demonstrations in 1989 and served 22 years in prison. He was found early Wednesday morning hanging by a bedsheet from security bars over  a window. Officials said it was suicide. The evidence indicates otherwise.

Li, who was  blind and mostly deaf, could not and would not have killed himself. According to a family member: "He could barely hold a bowl without his hands shaking. I can’t imagine how he could have tied his sheets into a knot," said Zhao. He noted that there were guards assigned to the hospital to watch Li.  "How could this happen when there were security guards watching him? We have many questions."

Family members are asking questions and looking for answers and an online petition has been set up making  “An Urgent Appeal for a Serious Investigation into Li Wangyang’s Death.”

Like the Ladies in White in Cuba the Tiananmen Mothers are working for justice for their loved ones and homeland while seeking freedom for those unjustly imprisoned. Below is their letter on the 23rd anniversary of that horrible day.

Never Forget.

Commemorating the 23rd Anniversary
of the Passing of the Victims of the 1989 June Fourth Crackdown

The Tiananmen Mothers

May 31, 2012

[Translation by Human Rights in China]

This year marks the 23rd anniversary of the passing of the victims of the 1989 June Fourth crackdown. This autumn, the Communist Party of China (CPC) will hold its 18th National Congress.

We recall that 10 years ago, the new administration of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao was established during the 16th Party Congress. At that time, we, the Tiananmen Mothers, solemnly issued the following appeal to the new session of the CPC Central Committee:

We sincerely appeal to the Party’s new Central Committee to take the opportunity of resolving the June Fourth issue to allay the people's discontent, defuse a crisis, achieve reconciliation between the government and the people, and systemically prevent large-scale social unrest from occurring.

If the Party acknowledges not in words but in practice that democracy and human rights are the universal values pursued by modern, civilized people, and are the only way in which China can modernize, then we as Chinese citizens would have reason to look forward to this: that the new Central Committee will use the courage and vision responsible for the long-term interests of the country and people to re-evaluate June Fourth and put a decisive end to the obsolete one-party dictatorship system, thereby promoting and proceeding in comprehensive reform politically, economically, and socially.

A pity! These ten years passed like a dream.

Ten years ago, the Party and country's leaders at least verbally acknowledged that democracy and human rights were universal human values. But today, the mainstream media and the Internet in mainland China have swept “universal values” into the garbage heap, not to mention the idea that democracy and human rights are the only way for China to modernize. A just resolution of the June Fourth issue remains far off as well. When looking to the future, people feel utterly helpless and confused.

People also notice that the problems raised by the Tiananmen Mothers in those early years have not lessened; rather, they have increased and intensified at a rapid pace. China's violations of human and civil rights have reached an extreme level, the gap between rich and poor has widened dramatically, systemic corruption is out of control, the moral bottom line is near collapse, sudden mass incidents keep occurring again and again.... Maintaining stability has become China's top priority in order to preserve the firmness of the ruling party’s power. The massive institutional damage to the Chinese nation over this past decade is incalculable.

China has experienced rapid economic development during Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao’s term. This could have provided a golden opportunity to initiate systemic political reform and a just resolution to the problems that have remained after June Fourth. However, the ossified bureaucrats, with Hu Jintao at the helm, kept to the beaten path and let the historic opportunity for a peaceful transformation over these ten years slip by for nothing.

In this oppressive and stagnant political climate, Wen Jiabao alone has repeatedly called for political reform, saying that there is no other choice but to move forward with reform and that stagnation and decline provide no prospects for the future. He went so far as to echo Deng Xiaoping on his Southern Tour in 1992: “To not pursue reform and opening up will lead only to a dead end.” During the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sessions earlier this year, Wen also said, “Without successful political reform, the gains we have made in our economic reform may be lost, and such historical tragedies as the Cultural Revolution may happen again in China.” His words sounded truthful, and his tone was earnest. But even as our fellow countrymen admired what he said, it also made us feel that it was more talk than promise.

As if this were a deliberate recitation, a March 20 article in the Financial Times reported that in recent years, Wen Jiabao has proposed redressing June Fourth on three separate occasions in secret meetings with the CPC leadership. Each time, his proposal was blocked by his colleagues. This kind of rumor also makes people wonder.

While Wen Jiabao’s discussion about redressing June Fourth cannot be verified, we hope that his calls for political reform are genuine. But even if they were, what can be done in reality?

China's current political system is convoluted, and the slightest change in any one part can affect the entire system. In China today, the special interest group cannot be destabilized by any one influential person. Its interests have been maximized and solidified and are well networked. The group resembles the four great clans shielded by the “Official’s Protective Charm” in the classic novel A Dream of the Red Chamber. Under the Charm, these clans “were closely connected, all got hurt when any one of them got hurt, all received honor when any one of them was honored, helped one another to conceal things, and looked after one other.” In the eyes of the people, even if Wen Jiabao were genuinely proposing to redress June Fourth, he would still have to retreat when he runs into this “Official’s Protective Charm.” At best, his would be nothing more than an effort to secure a decent reputation posthumously.

As could be expected, Wen Jiabao lamented the difficulties of reform in a press conference during the NPC and CPPCC sessions: “Reform will not be able to succeed without the consciousness, the support, the enthusiasm, and the creativity of our people.” This is tantamount to telling the people that they cannot rely on the CPC leadership, or the few uncorrupt leaders within the Party, to implement reform. Rather, they can only rely on the vast power of the people and the pressure from them. Historical experience has made clear for a long time that Chinese people experienced an awakening through the violent storm of 1989. The unprecedented enthusiasm and creative spirit demonstrated by the millions of people in Tiananmen Square have long been entered into the annals of history. Scenes of that storm are still fresh in the mind of every eyewitness. The fact is that the people's awakening, enthusiasm, and creative spirit were crushed to pieces by the tanks and machine guns of those with might. Not long after, people were forced to forget, to gradually erase the events from their memory. We believe that the only way forward for China's rulers is to atone and make up for the sins of their past. There is no other way. It is never too late to salvage the situation.

Our demands are the same as always. So long as the Tiananmen Mothers exist, our struggle for justice will not cease. So long as we can protest, our three demands—for truth, compensation, and accountability—will remain. We will not give up, and we will not change.

May the souls of the victims of June Fourth soon rest in peace!

[Full list of signers available here]