Tiananmen Square at 34

“People just couldn’t understand why this country and its army, the People’s Army would slaughter its own people, the Beijing citizens.”- Zhou Fengsuo, Former Student Leader. China clearly wants the international community to forget about the Tiananmen Square Massacre which took place in June of 1989. However, there are some global events which we should never forget and this ranks high on that list. China thrives on a diet of censorship, but even so the truth cannot be erased. Perhaps we will never know how many people were murdered by the Chinese Government in Tiananmen Square in 1989 but we must now be the voice of those students who were silenced. It is always fascinating that a country as powerful as China is afraid to grant its own people freedom to express their views and opinions. Origins of the Protest. In spring 1989, there was a visible increase in protests in China as the protestors demanded greater political freedom. Protesters were spurred on by the death of a leading politician, Hu Yaobang, who had overseen some of the economic and political changes. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that he had been pushed out of a top position in the party by political opponents two years earlier. Tens of thousands gathered on the day of Hu's funeral, in April, calling for greater freedom of speech and less censorship. In the following weeks, protesters gathered in Tiananmen Square, with numbers estimated to be up to one million at their largest. At first, the government took no direct action against the protesters. The Communist Party officials disagreed on how to respond, some backing concessions, others wanting to take a harder line. The hardliners won the debate, and in the last two weeks of May, martial law was declared in Beijing. On 3 to 4 June, troops began to move towards Tiananmen Square, opening fire, crushing and arresting protesters to regain control of the area. At the end of June 1989, the Chinese government said 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel had died. Other estimates have ranged from hundreds to many thousands. In 2017, newly released UK documents revealed that a diplomatic cable from then British Ambassador to China, Sir Alan Donald, had said that 10,000 had died. The Chinese government continues to monitor the internet for news stories relating to the massacres; such posts are regularly removed from the internet. It is therefore difficult for younger generation of Chinese who did not live through the protests to acquire any information concerning the atrocities which were committed by the Chinese government against their own people. Violations of Human Rights. As the world reflects on this dark period of history world powers should hold the Chinese government accountable for their past actions. However, not much hope resides there as China has become a bully against her neighours as it relates to access to both the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea and especially on the subject of Taiwan. Sadly, the United Nations appears to have lost its voice concerning the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The United Nations Human Rights Council should immediately launch an investigation of the gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms committed by the Chinese government during its military assault on peaceful protests. It should be noted that China enjoys strong support among developing countries at the Human Rights Council. As a result many of these developing countries are indebted to China and therefore their leaders will not utter a word against China out of fear of losing financial and technical assistance. In fact, in 2019 a group of more than 20 Chinese activists who took part in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement called on the United Nations’ top human rights body to investigate Beijing’s deadly crackdown 30 years ago. In the words of MaJian, in 1989, I was on Tiananmen Square with the students, living in their makeshift tents and joining their jubilant singing of the Internationale. In the two decades since, each time that I have gone back, visions from those days seem to return with increasing persistence. Now that China has positioned herself as a global power it is important that she confronts her violent and vicious past and move towards a culture which embraces diversity of opinions in this new world order. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo © #TiananmenSquareMassacre #China #democracy #UN