Morning,
Today is June 4th.
I'd like to start off today with remembering the Chinese Student's protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 (known also as the June Fourth Movement). I was employed by a large telecommunications company that had a huge Asian population; Tiananmen Square became very personal to me. To quote Wikipedia:
…The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, widely known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in China referred to as the June Fourth Incident to avoid confusion with the two other Tiananmen Square protests, were a series of demonstrations led by labor activists, students, and intellectuals in the People's Republic of China (PRC) between April 15 and June 4, 1989. While the protests lacked a unified cause or leadership, participants were generally against the authoritarianism and economic policies of the ruling Chinese Communist Party and voiced calls for democratic reform within the structure of the government. The demonstrations centered on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, but large-scale protests also occurred in cities throughout China, including Shanghai, which stayed peaceful throughout the protests. In Beijing, the resulting military crackdown on the protesters by the PRC government left many civilians dead or injured. The reported tolls ranged from 200–300 (PRC government figures), to 300–800 (The New York Times), and to 2,000–3,000 (Chinese student associations and Chinese Red Cross).
Following the violence, the government conducted widespread arrests to suppress protesters and their supporters, cracked down on other protests around China, banned the foreign press from the country and strictly controlled coverage of the events in the PRC press. Members of the Party who had publicly sympathized with the protesters were purged, with several high-ranking members placed under house arrest, such as General Secretary Zhao Ziyang. The violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protest caused widespread international condemnation of the PRC government ….MORE….
Now, you have to remember that back then, the Internet wasn't at all what you see today. The most popular social networking groups was Usenet, the scattered collection of thousands of special interest groups that used the Netnews protocol. There was no WWW, no browsers, no Twitter, nothing even remotely resembling what you have today.
But…there WAS soc.culture.china. And within that group, messages were posted daily that brought the fledgling hope of democracy face-first to the readers…and then the utter horror and tragedy that followed after the government brutally cracked down and massacred the students. Prior to news being cut off, we watched on TV the following footage of one individual stopping a tank:
and here's a compilation:
Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you can read those messages that were sent 21 years ago over at
Remembering it now breaks my heart.
Tiananmen Square was widely known back then as the first war fought via email and fax. Daily, news would trickle (or sometimes steam) out from China until communications were limited. And every day over at my telecommunications company, we'd huddle around faxes that came in or emails that arrived to see just what was the latest atrocity committed.
You can learn more about Tiananmen Square at
- Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
- Both China and the West have distorted the truth about Tiananmen Square
- Tiananmen Square: 21 Years Later Still No Justice or Freedom
- Tank Man
- Tiananmen Square Massacre Videos
- Goddess of Democracy
- Standoff At Tiananmen
- PBS Tiananmen Square Timeline
- Tiananmen Mothers
- Experiencing Tiananmen Square Lesson Plan
Take some time today to remember those brave yet naive Chinese students who actually thought they could compel those in power…to give in.
I certainly am.
Barbara
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