Who Died in Beijing, And Why (1990) [pdf]
docs.law.gwu.edu
docs.law.gwu.edu
I find this passage strangely familiar with Egypt, Syria, Ukraine or the early becoming of the Romanian revolution with whom I was very familiar. So this is pretty much about the Blood Boulevard than Tienanmen Square. Even the 1,400 soldiers 'shed their weapons and ran away' paragraph has recent echos.
After fifty days of occupation by the pro-democracy movement, the square had finally been "returned to the people." That would make Occupy Wall Street blush.
And last passage could serve as TL;DR
They exploit the fact that no one died during the clearing of Tiananmen Square to conceal the truth that some deaths and injuries did occur there earlier. And they use the fact that there was no bloodbath in Tiananmen Square to cover up the truth about the bloodbaths in Muxidi, Nanchizi and Liubukou. Why do we give them such an opportunity?"
Interesting read.
Also, sic isn't an abbreviation.
What's more, It is very hard to figure out what happened exactly because although many articles like this provide some limited information, many of the statements have no hard backing evidence and are not persuasive.
But I think the action GFW blocks google every year about this time contribute conversely to making many young people with high education get to know the Tiananmen because many of them would like to know why the government is doing this.
Now I live in Canada and have stayed outside of the Chinese censorship for almost 6 years now. My opinion have changed quite a lot. I used to believe the idea of communism brainwashing, but now I have a feeling that this sort of brainwashing and censorship goes both ways. Remember the famous tank man? It's one of the important icon of this event and was marked as a symbol of the Chinese government's oppression and brutality. That image/video was widely spread in the western medias. The majority of the public believe he was rolled over by the tank, because you know, Chinese government are evil. The full video was posted earlier on Reddit. Many was shocked to find out that the tank tried to drive around him and eventually stopped until the tank man was pulled away by someone else. Why the mainstream media never showed the full video to the public? Because it contradicted with the brutal image of Chinese government/military that they were trying to portrait to the public. Propaganda is a funny thing. Bearing stereotype and ignorance, both side will hold a strong belief that they are right.
I am by no means saying Chinese government is innocent. They pretty evil imo. I am just trying to say is that it is very hard to figure out what really happened now that both sides are extremely biased and ignorant towards the other end. I personally believe there were students killed and injured during the military intervention, but I am strongly skeptical against the massacre claim as there was no solid evidence so far. The truth probably lies somewhere in between the stories.
But concerning the example you bring up, I remember having watched the video with the tank stopping and trying to go around the man several years ago (I believe in '89 but I can't be sure). In particular, I don't remember that there was even a period when I thought that the tank went over the man - the video of the tank's attempted maneuver is still very vivid in my memory. On the other hand, I never believed that the people pulling the man away were helping him. I have always assumed that they were arresting him. Of course I could be wrong.
Luckily for the Chinese, all this warmongering ended five months later when the guy who the US armed to overthrow Afghanistan's secular government crashed into the Pentagon etc. because he opposed US bases on Saudi soil.
In all the mawkish tributes to the dead in the Pentagon and changed focus to Afghanistan and the Middle East, the Chinese got about a decade's breathing room from US imperialism. Of course the US is now redeploying to the Philippines and so forth, so that is changing again.
The best part of this whole story is that the day the infamous "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" photo was taken, the US was complying with the terrorists' key demand and pulling all troops out of Saudi Arabia. Someone's mission was definitely accomplished that day.
Regardless of your opinion on the motives of the rioters, their 'tactics', the actions of the thousands of others who followed in their wake, and the geography involved (the riots covered over 32 miles in an area with several million residents) set the stage for a government response that included military forces. This was not the case in Tiananmen square where the demonstrators were a)peaceful and b)located in a relatively small area.
Your comparison shames the bravery of the '89 demonstrators, while at the same time drastically minimizing the horror of the response (both that day and after) by the Chinese military.
As far as being "peaceful" in Tiananmen Square, policemen and soldiers were killed, vehicles were set on fire injuring and killing the occupants - there are plenty of pictures and videos of the violence the police and military faced when they tried to peacefully clear the square, as well as in other parts of the city.
http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bi... http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bi... http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/china060412/s_t29_...
"It is absolutely horrifying that you would compare the violent rioting, looting, arson, rape, and general mayhem of the '92 LA riots with the peaceful demonstration in Tiananmen Square."
"I was living in Los Angeles during the riots"
did you live in Beijing during the Tiananmen event?
In fact, I wonder if there's some sort of perverse lesson here in the fact that this information is freely available in the US and yet still few people know about it.
I try to be hopeful and positive about the fact that we have unprecedented access to information. But both the behavior of those around me and, sadly, that of myself, indicates that more information does not make us more informed.
I try to counter my tendency to consume news from sources that I already agree with, for example, but it's a constant battle, because most of my news sources either use technology to filter for me (Zite, etc.), or rely on group processes where the group is very similar to myself (Hacker News, to a degree).
"Can't we all get along?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sONfxPCTU0 "four dead in Ohio": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvg4n8Txgdc Perhaps Japanese internment is less well known, but I feel like I see it referenced at least once every 8 months or so. Also, have a rap song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BJjo0BCbGo&feature=kp
[1] http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.yc...
Usually, actions such as signing an online petition or posing a graphic mean little, but it could help solve this specific problem.
The participating websites wouldn't have to post much information; they only need to prompt people to ask questions and find answers. If the Chinese government blocked all the websites posting the commemoration, it would attract more attention and legitimize the issue's importance (otherwise why would the government make such an effort).
(It would be interesting to see which companies and people with business in China would participate.)
http://www.thenation.com/article/remembering-tiananmen-squar...
Not so much news, as history; but why this history, here, now? Yes, China is not a politically free country and employs a substantial amount of violence to keep things that way. So do a lot of places. There are more recent examples from China if you care to look carefully for them.