On June 4, nineteen years after the massacre in Beijing and other Chinese cities, The NY Times published an op-ed piece by Ma Jian, author of the new book "Beijing Coma". Ma writes...
"For three days last month, China's national flag flew at half-staff in Tiananmen Square to honor the victims of the devastating earthquake in Sichuan. It was the first time in memory that China has publicly commemorated the deaths of ordinary civilians.
..."The Chinese people have rushed to donate blood and money and join the rescue efforts. They have rediscovered their civic responsibility and compassion.
"Their grief, shock and confused solidarity recall the hours that followed the Beijing massacre 19 years ago today, when the Communist Party sent army tanks into Beijing to crush a pro-democracy movement organized by unarmed, peaceful students.
"...College students had camped out in the square - the symbolic heart of the nation - to demand freedom, democracy and an end to government corruption. There theey fell in love, danced to Bob Dylan tapes and discussed Thomas Paine's 'Rights of Man'.
"The city had come out to support the protesters: workers, entrepreneurs, writers, petty theives.
"...But even as doctors were caring for students hurt in the melee, the party was rewriting history. It branded the peaceful democracy movement a 'counterrevolutionary riot' and maintained that the brutal crackdown was the only way of restoring order....
"Realizing that their much-vaunted mandate to rule had been nullified by the massacre, the party focused on economic growth to quell demands for political change. Thanks to its cheap, industrious and non-unionized labor force, China has since become a world economic power, while the Communist Party has become the world's best friend.
"...The Chinese people have been reminded by the earthquake that lives are not expendable and that deaths cannot go unmourned. Now they have to extend that understanding to the victims of Tiananmen."
READ THE WHOLE PIECE, you will be glad you did!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/opinion/04ma.html?pagewanted
michael[Edit by="mwhittemore on Jun 12, 2:23:01 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="mwhittemore on Jun 12, 2:24:34 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="mwhittemore on Jun 12, 2:50:33 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="mwhittemore on Jun 12, 2:51:03 PM"][/Edit]
.
