h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We are rapidly approaching the fifteenth anniversary of the 1989
Tiananmen Square massacre ( June 3rd-4th). Not only has the Beijing regime never yet acknowledged, still less apologised for the slaughtering of their own people, but Beijing has been actively attempting to prevent any discussion of those events. The enclosed Reuters report shows that the Chinese authorities have already started rounding up possible protesters in view of the forthcoming anniversary.

This is not surprising given the recent aggressive stance of the Chinese on a number of fronts, including their hostile reaction to Taiwan's presidential overtures, and their totally dismissive "White Paper on Tibet", summarily rejecting any suggestion of negotiations for genuine autonomy in that tormented country.

Here is the Reuters report of the pre- Tiananmen clamp-down.




China gags Tiananmen dissidents ahead of anniversary
27 May 2004 11:46:54 GMT

By Juliana Liu

BEIJING, May 27 (Reuters) - Police in China have placed prominent dissidents under house arrest to prevent them from publicly commemorating the 15th anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown, they said on Thursday.

Police started to surrounded the residences of known dissidents in the past week, preventing them from meeting journalists or carrying out rituals to honour the dead, the activists said.

Liu Xiaobo, a former university lecturer who supported the protests and helped negotiate safe passage for some students out of the square in 1989, cannot leave his home in northern Beijing, he told Reuters.

"I can't go anywhere. There are five or six young men guarding me all the time," he said before his telephone line was cut off.

On the night of June 3-4, 1989, the People's Liberation Army stormed central Beijing in tanks, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pro-democracy demonstrators and bystanders.

Hu Jia, a 30-year-old activist for AIDS and environmental issues, has been under house arrest for nearly a week and has tried in vain to fight his way out.

"I was no match for the six of them," he said by mobile phone. Calls to his home telephone have been repeatedly cut off, though Hu said he could surf the Internet.

He was detained by police three times in April for trying to place flowers on Tiananmen Square in honour of the fallen students and Hu Yaobang, the reformist Communist Party chief whose death in 1989 sparked the democracy protests.

Police said Hu would be freed on May 29 as long as he leaves Beijing with his 68-year-old mother and two police officers on a "vacation", he said. Hu was told he would be allowed to return to the capital on June 10.

"My mother is there as a hostage. They know I won't try to escape without her. This is despicable. She has heart problems and is afraid for me," he said.

Ding Zilin, an outspoken 67-year-old leader of the "Tiananmen Mothers" group, has also been placed under house arrest. She is allowed to leave, accompanied by police, only to buy food and take her ailing husband to see doctors.

Ding's teenage son was killed during the massacre.

"They have treated me like this nearly every year since 1994," she said by telephone. "I protest the illegal action. They are trampling on citizen's rights."

Ding, spokeswoman for a campaign that urges the government to take responsibility for the killings and re-assess the protests it still deems a "counter-revolutionary rebellion", said police refused to say which high-ranking official had ordered the detention.

Gosh, fifteen years ago already? I remember that happening like it was just yesterday, it left such an impression on me at the time.

It's sad that more recent atrocities have pushed this ongoing one out of the public eye. What hope to these people have?

az

Yes, there were some very powerful images. The fact that the Chinese authorities are trying to suppress stuff shows how defensive and therefore guilty they feel.

Hmm, maybe fearful would have been a better choice of word. If you want to suppress something, you must be frightened of the effects of shoting whatever it is you want to suppress.

Feeling guilty or ashamed is at least a bit more humane than simply feeling fear about getting caught out.

I know this is a bit off-topic, but somehow isn't. Given that other supposedly more important issues are keeping this issue off the front pages. A totally irreverent Eric Idle song about the state of the world at the moment.

http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/FCCSong.mp3

I love the last sarcastic bit about 'saving the great white males'.

Chai, what sort of global 'awareness' stuff is going to happen on the 15th anniversary, if any? Do you know?

az

Hi Az,

I don't know what kind of "global awareness" Tiananmen will generate this anniversary. The western powers are entirely preoccupied with Iraq, oil, and now trouble in Saudi Arabia. But I noticed this morning in the South China Morning Post ( which I get emailed ) that Hong Kong yesterday had their biggest pre-June 4th demo for years, no doubt motivated by Beijing's recent announcement that it would not allow Hong Kong to elect its own leadership in the forseeable future.

Cheers,

Chaiwallah

It seems South China Morning Post exaggerated the size of the demo in Hong Kong, but it was still numbered in thousands. Here's a link to an article on Tiananmen from CNN today.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/05/31/china.chinoy.square/index.html

"Sars doctor joins 'disappeared' on Tiananmen anniversary"

"The Chinese doctor who exposed the country's Sars cover-up last year has disappeared in what is believed to be part of a government crackdown on potential dissidents before today's 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1231128,00.html

"But at Beijing University few people were aware of today's anniversary. "Most young students don't know about Tiananmen because the media never raises the topic," a postgraduate said."

"We don't need to dwell on that," one young man said. "People are more focused now on making money."






az

Hi Az,

Thanks for that. I was just about to post ( and indeed will post ) that news which I received this a.m. from the TSG network.

Chai