#Tiananmen32: A reflection and a 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 two 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.

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

 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 that murdered more than 45 million of its own people has cost much both materially and spiritually.

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 laid the groundwork for silencing and censoring courageous Chinese scientists, and journalists who tried to warn the world of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is shocking to think that the 3.7 million dead worldwide in the COVID-19 pandemic is not even 10% of the number killed in the People's Republic of China by the Communists. Estimates range in the 45 million range.

Tiananmen Square in June of 1989 prior to the crackdown

In 1989 the struggle for freedom was occurring in Beijing, today it is happening in Hong Kong, with communist repression being visited on Hong Kong residents, Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, and the Tibetan people who live under a communist occupation of their homeland Tibet.  Now we witness American actors and athletes kowtowing to Beijing and apologizing for correctly referring to Taiwan as a country.

We must not remain passive before this avalanche of injustice and genocide.

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."

We owe it both to the dead and the living to remember, and continue to seek justice. The last year of death and disease should be a wake up call for the high price of being complicit with Communist China.  

Tonight in a candlelight vigil in Washington, DC listened to the wise counsel of Chinese dissidents Yang Jianli, Sean Lin, and Chen Guangcheng. May the world listen to them, and repent.

Two events to observe the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in solidarity with Chinese Democrats

"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." - Elie Wiesel explained in his 1986 Nobel Lecture

At least 10,000 killed during the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The Cuban government was one of the very few that publicly supported the June 4th crackdown on Chinese protesters in 1989. The Cuban foreign minister commended Chinese authorities for“defeating the counter revolutionary acts.

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."

We must also remember the courage of the late Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo who saved the lives of many young Chinese in Tiananmen Square in June of 1989 obtaining safe passage for them and persuaded these students to leave before the massacre unfolded.  This courageous and nonviolent human rights defender was jailed in 2008 and died on July 13, 2017.

Free Cubans need to reject the position of the Castro regime, and demonstrate their solidarity with China's courageous pro-democracy activists. There are two opportunities today and tomorrow. Please share with others.

Tiananmen Square Massacre Candlelight Vigil

When: June 3, 2021 at 8:00 pm

Where: Virtual over social media

On June 3 at 8:00 pm EST, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation will hold 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.

Due to D.C. COVID-19 gathering restrictions, in-person event attendance will be limited to event speakers. The event will be live-streamed to VOC’s YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages for those interested in joining live.

[More information here]  

2021 Tiananmen Remembrance

A Virtual Commemoration Featuring Wang Xilin‘s Symphony No.3

勿忘天安门：王西麟第三交响曲在线音乐会

 

Introduction and broadcast of renowned composer Wang Xilin’s Symphony No.3

written in 1989 for remembering the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre.

9:00-11:30 EDT – June 4th, 2021 | 2021年6月4日 美东时间上午9:00-11:30

Register here

More information here

Reflection on the final day of the Week of Prayer for the Church in China and the peoples of China

Say a prayer for China and her people.

Prayer to our Lady of China

 

Today is the final day of the Week of Prayer for the Church in China and the peoples of China that is being held from Sunday May 23rd until today, Sunday May 30th.

The GlobalPrayerforChina.org was created by an informal coalition of lay Christians from six continents who have joined together to facilitate a response to Cardinal Bo’s Global Call for Prayer for the Church and Peoples of China.

14 years ago, in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI published his letter to the Church in the People’s Republic of China, and designated May 24th, the Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, a Worldwide Day of Prayer for the Church in China. Cardinal Charles Bo extended it in 2021 to a week of prayer.

This past week has been an opportunity to focus prayers on China, but also to observe events unfolding that are cause for great concern. The Center for a Free Cuba on Monday announced that it had joined in the Global Prayer for China. 

Praying for the Church in China and the peoples of China from May 23rd to May 30th and will highlight ongoing religious repression there. https://t.co/aH4d0IC2ks https://t.co/vWnMJO0ut6 pic.twitter.com/Qt47MC3bXU

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) May 24, 2021

Through these days of prayer, signs have also appeared on the consequences of bending the knee to the Chinese dictatorship. On May 24, 2021 two events occurred that demonstrate the increasing international power of the People's Republic of China and the negative consequences for not only the Chinese people, but the world at large.

On May 24, 2021 the actor and wrestler John Cena made an abject apology in Mandarin for having correctly identified Taiwan as a country. Communist China does not recognize Taiwan, a free and sovereign country with 23.57 million inhabitants living in a representative democracy. 

Proof that physical strength does not equal moral courage: @JohnCena grovels in public apology to CCP after **correctly** referring to Taiwan as a country. https://t.co/MM6IfCaWNA

— Marion Smith (@smithmarion) May 25, 2021

A more egregious action was revealed the same day when Taiwan's Foreign Minister and Health and Welfare Minister expressed their "deep displeasure at Taiwan’s exclusion from the virtual 74th World Health Assembly." 

Taiwan is a free and democratic country with a free and prosperous people. #STANDWITHTAIWAN pic.twitter.com/ndZByGkxLR

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) May 26, 2021

In a time of a global pandemic to play politics to exclude the participation of a country that early on successfully contained the outbreak, and today needs help with vaccinating their entire population is an outrage against global public health.

On May 26, 2021 the City of Vienna's Mayor, Dr. Michael Ludwig, gave the Ambassador of Communist China "the Great Gold Medal for Services to the State of Vienna" in a public ceremony. 

Vienna award for Chinese ambassador sparks international criticism https://t.co/ggPtJ8LoCQ

— Uyghur Bulletin (@UyghurBulletin) May 28, 2021

Dr. Yang Jianli, Tiananmen Square massacre survivor, former political prisoner, and founder of Citizen Power Initiatives for China responded, along with others in a press release from the Forum for Religious Freedom Europe: 

It is a great shame for Vienna to honor Chinese Ambassador Li Xiaosi, because Li does not represent himself, but a government that opposes values that the people of Vienna cherish. The Chinese government responded to the COVID-19 epidemic by covering up its outbreak, cracking down on whistleblowers, falsifying casualty data, and misleading the world. Furthermore, the Chinese government has erected all kinds of barriers to prevent independent experts from investigating the origins of the coronavirus, placing all of humanity, including the people of Vienna, at risk for a future crisis.  The Great Gold Medal for Services to the State of Vienna awarded to a representative of such a dictatorial government not only disregards the dignity of the direct victims of this repressive regime, but also insults the integrity of the people of Vienna.   I hope this deplorable episode serves as a wake-up call to Vienna, Europe and the free world.

Finally on May 29, 2021 was dismayed to learn that after 31 years of nonviolent protests in Hong Kong to observe the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre that Hong Kong’s Security Bureau "warned Hongkongers not to take part in this year’s Tiananmen Massacre vigil on June 4, or commemorative long-distance run this Sunday." If one promotes these acts of remembrance they are subject to a year in prison, and if they attend - they face a five year prison sentence.

For three decades, this event took place peacefully and lawfully, a moderate yet solemn expression of resistance and dissent. https://t.co/M2OpOIy2Bq

— Yuen Chan (@xinwenxiaojie) May 29, 2021

Today, on this final day of this Week of Prayer for the Church in China and the peoples of China I pray for the end of communism in China, and the freedom of the Chinese peoples from genocide and totalitarian rule.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

Cuba's Competing Processes are Succession vs Transition: A conversation with Professors Jaime Suchlicki and Carlos Eire on May 27, 2021

Will Cuba's dictatorship be the first communist regime to not survive beyond the founding generation?

A conversation with Professors Jaime Suchlicki and Carlos Eire

• Transition is understood as the gradual replacement of an autocratic regime by a democratic political order.
  
• Succession denotes changes of power within the boundaries of a given regime.
• Communist Cuba is still ruled by leadership of the founding generation of the Castro dictatorship.
• Communist regimes around the world have continued beyond first generation leadership. Will Cuba's regime be different? 
  

Professor Carlos Eire 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Yale University scholar, writes often about Cuban politics and culture. His memoir Waiting for Snow in Havana received the National Book Award for Nonfiction. He is the author of several other books, including A Very Brief History of Eternity (Princeton University Press, 2010), and Reformations: The Early Modern World (Yale University Press, 2016).  

Professor Jaime Suchlicki  

The Director of the Cuban Studies Institute. Has written many articles and several books, including Cuba: From Columbus to Castro and Beyond (Potomac Books). Dr. Suchlicki is often interviewed by TV, radio, and printed media on Cuba and Latin American politics. One of his latest reports is Doing Business in Cuba: Investors Beware. 

Below is a copy of the advertisement circulated for the May 27, 2021 event with these two scholars.

 

Amnesty International at 60: Are they staying the course or has mission creep led them astray from their founder?

 We remember

On the 28th of May 1961 an article appeared in The Observer that captured the imagination of people around the world. This text was taken from an Amnesty statement on the 50th anniversary and adapted for the 60th.

Written by London lawyer Peter Benenson, The Forgotten Prisoners called for an international campaign for the release of thousands of people who had been jailed because of their political or religious beliefs. They were given the name ‘prisoners of conscience.’That call for justice a six decades ago was the birth of Amnesty International, a human rights group which has since grown into a global organization with over three million supporters in 150 countries. In recognition of their human rights campaigning, in 1977 they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

[...]

Peter Benenson said that the impetus for The Forgotten Prisoners was a newspaper article he read about two students jailed for seven years in dictator Antonio Salazar’s Portugal simply for raising their glasses and toasting freedom. At the time he said he wanted to “mobilise world opinion” about the human rights abuses being committed by governments around the world against those citizens whose opinions differed to theirs.

Amnesty International's first meeting where it came into existence in London in July 1961 with Peter Benenson and six other men that included a Conservative, a Liberal, and a Labour Member of Parliament. It was an initiative that had a broad consensus, but that has changed over the past six decades.

The Left's take over of human rights discourse over the past decades to advance its own agenda has benefited it but at the expense of the pre-existing international human rights consensus. For example, Amnesty International's campaign beginning in 2007 to conflate the right to an abortion with its worldwide campaign to stop violence against women alienated many Catholic supporters, and has been described as anti-Catholic. 

Catholic bishops, who had been members of Amnesty International, resigned over the abortion issue because the human rights group had become an abortion lobby group. Catholics generally have been encouraged to boycott the organization. Independent Catholic News reported:

Cardinal Martino, who served as the Holy See's permanent observer at the United Nations, says that this change of position is part of the "pro-death" agenda in modern culture. The cardinal said that Amnesty International's decision means Catholics and Catholic organizations should no longer financially support the group. "The promotion of abortion opens the door to the slippery slope of evil and death, where human rights are taken away from the most innocent and vulnerable children of God," he said. "I believe that, if in fact Amnesty International persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support."

Furthermore Article Three of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to life, and this is not accidental. This is because this human rights document drafted and signed on December 10, 1948 was not a compromise between liberalism and socialism but lobbied for and drafted by Christian Democrats with the active support of the Catholic Church and all the world's great faith traditions.

Jacques Maritain

Catholic roots of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Pope John Paul II recalled the Roman Catholic Church's role in 1991 in the Papal Encyclical Centesimus Annus published on the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum:

...[A]fter the Second World War, and in reaction to its horrors, there arose a more lively sense of human rights, which found recognition in a number of International Documents⁵² and, one might say, in the drawing up of a new "right of nations", to which the Holy See has constantly contributed. The focal point of this evolution has been the United Nations Organization.

One of the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was Jacques Maritain, a French philosopher who was a profound Catholic and anti-modernist inspired by Christian humanism:

There is but one solution for the history of the world, I mean in a Christian regime, however it may be otherwise. It is that the creature be truly respected in its connection with God and because receiving everything from Him: humanism but theocentric humanism, rooted where man has his roots, integral humanism, humanism of the incarnation.

The formation of the United Nations was an opportunity for Latin Americans to push for international human rights standards. The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man was the first international human rights instrument signed into existence in Bogota, Colombia on May 2, 1948 eight months prior to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December of 1948 where Latin Americans played a major and crucial role, among them the Cuban delegation. The first draft of the Declaration was fashioned from various models collected by the UN Secretariat among them "a model based on a Cuban-sponsored proposal at the San Francisco conference, a proposed first draft offered by the Chilean delegation, and the earlier Panamanian draft."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is heavily informed and influenced by Catholic social doctrine found in the 1891 Papal Encyclical Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII. The Catholic Church in its social teaching rejects both liberalism and communism embracing a defense of the dignity of human beings grounded in its own metaphysical vision of personhood that began to be formulated in the Middle Ages, and developed into a universal concept in the 1500s.

Bishop Bartolomé De Las Casas

The holistic approach to human rights that embraces both civil/political and social/economic rights was not found in a compromise between the liberal Anglosphere and the socialist Soviet sphere but was the initiative of Catholic thinkers, states and the Holy See that shaped this important document that was embraced by the major faiths around the world that shared its common truths achieving a unanimous human rights consensus with that document.

This is all the more ironic because the founder of Amnesty, Peter Benenson, "in 1958, he underwent a conversion to Roman Catholicism, and his new faith became a dominant influence in his life. He ceased to look to politics for a solution to the world's problems, and concluded that the answers lay in individual regeneration", reported The Guardian on his passing in February 2005.