A combination of censorship, sufficiently strict laws and anti-drug measures. This is a recipe that, after thirty years of efforts, has enabled China to effectively silence public events to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre. Hundreds to thousands of victims of the events of 1989 will be remembered by people only from their homes. Or prison cells.
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The period of approaching summer is a hectic period for Chinese censors every year. The list of inadmissible and censored characters alone is about 3,340 items, among which resonate, for example, the names of representatives of the events of 1989, the numbers 4, 6, 8 and 9, mentions of student and pro-democracy movements, the tank man or the square itself.
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A view of Tiananmen Square today and 32 years ago, when riots culminated. (Video: AP)
This year, according to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, the Chinese authorities pokoušely to censor commemorative events beyond China’s borders. At China’s request, Zoom suspended online meetings of vigil organizers and suspended accounts for activists living outside China. As the incident erupted in public, Zoom apologized for influencing users outside China, but not for censoring China.
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In the afternoon before June 4 this year, the Hong Kong government officially asked the Israeli company Wix, which operates the website, to deactivate the website of Hong Kong people living around the world – 2021 Hong Kong Charter. Israelis have been given 72 hours to remove sites that “violate Chinese law and threaten national security,” or the company will be prosecuted. According to webmasters, this only proves that freedom of speech is not protected outside of China and Hong Kong.
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Thousands of Chinese police officers are still watching the vigil this year. As in previous years, the authorities restrict and prevent communication from the Tiananmen Mothers’ group, which brings together the victims of the massacre. Police have ordered several prominent activists and academics to leave their residences and move “for holidays under supervision.” They are also forbidden to speak to the media.
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On the night of June 4, 1989, the Chinese military sent tanks against protesters who had been calling for democratic reforms in protests in central Beijing for weeks. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students, activists and other citizens died. Authorities subsequently arrested more than 1,600 people across the country on suspicion of demonstration crimes. The official victim balance sheet has never been released by the Chinese authorities, and references to the events in China continue to be strictly censored.
A man dressed in a white shirt with a shopping bag in his hand, who stood in the path of a long column of tanks and armored vehicles in Beijing the day after the massacre, became a symbol of peace resistance. His picture was taken by the American photographer Jeff Widener from the balcony of a nearby hotel. The identity of the man is not yet known, nor is the name of the tank driver who refused to knock him down.
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Last time
Every year, Hong Kong’s Victoria Park serves to honor the memory of the dead, but also as an open history classroom for younger students and a space for local pro-democracy groups. The commemoration of the Tiananmen Menu massacre has become one of the most important events for pro-democracy groups meeting on June 4 to light candles.
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For last year It was said among the locals that, given the escalation of events in Hong Kong, 2020 was likely to be the last for a long time to be commemorated together by Tiananmen. And they were right.
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Anti-antidote measures serve to rationally justify the abolition of the vigil from last year. Last year, however, thousands of candlelit faces gathered under the silent watch of the police.
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This year, Hong Kong police reminded on Twitter that non-compliance will not be tolerated. “A law banning the gathering of more than four people still applies. The public should NOT participate in or promote unauthorized rallies. ”In response, the Hong Kong Alliance issued a statement on Twitter confirming that it was forced to cancel the vigil. However, she added that “despite this, the alliance continues to believe that no matter how much the regime participates in the oppression, the candlelight will never disappear as long as people remember it.”
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Memories of prison
The Pandemic Laws have been joined in full by the National Security Act, the violation of which involves severe penalties. This year’s anniversary is all the more sensitive for Hong Kong citizens. He sees no difference between a government that violently suppressed protests 32 years ago and one that is sinking Hong Kong democracy with one bizarre law after another.
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While the last individual known to have been imprisoned for participating in pro-democracy protests in 1989 has been at large since 2016, many other participants in a pro-democracy mission are in prison today. Among them is Chuang Chi, a prominent activist and founder of the 64-year-old human rights website, Tianwang, who is serving a 12-year sentence for “illegally revealing a state secret abroad.” Dozens of activists are detained for organizing unwarranted protests two years ago. Many are also awaiting trial for alleged violations of national security law, which are punishable by life imprisonment.
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On May 31, 2021, police arrested a 65-year-old activist known as “Grandma Wong” for “illegal gathering” and holding a private protest against the massacre. Other protesters this year were fined 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 13,500 crowns) for handing out electric candles and matchboxes with “never give up” signs.
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Hong Kong police also forced the closure of the only museum of its kind in China commemorating the scale of the crackdown on students 32 years ago – the June 4 Museum. Among the most popular exhibitions so far were personal memorabilia such as a Beijing University T-shirt signed by activists, a bullet pulled from the protest organizer’s leg, a camera of a student who was shot while filming events around. After the death of his son, his parents also added shots taken by him.
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On June 1, Hong Kong officials from the Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene (FEHD) visited the museum and accused the organizers of illegally operating a “public entertainment venue.”
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Last year, museum operator Lee Cheuk-yan expressed concern in front of the media that the authorities might close the museum for good. “They’re like a knife swinging around your neck,” Lee said. “You don’t know when he’ll actually cut you.”
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Lee also celebrates behind bars this year on June 4th. In April, he was sentenced to 18 months for organizing and participating in unauthorized government protests in 2019. He told his friends that he would send smoke signals with a lighted cigarette from his prison cell and go on a one-day hunger strike.
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Excuse me
To date, China has not apologized for forcibly suppressing demonstrations and killing thousands. But organizations and nations say it’s time to fix it. Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on the Chinese government to accept responsibility for the massacre of countless peaceful protesters, to stop monitoring the families of victims and activists, and to lift censorship of the event. “The ban on the Hong Kong candlelight vigil speaks of the Chinese government’s human rights: that 32 years after the Tiananmen massacre, it has only deepened repression,” said Yaqiu Wang, a Chinese HRW researcher.
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejects any criticism, explaining that it does not make sense. “China has come to clear conclusions about the political unrest in the late 1980s,” he said. “The great results since the founding of the new China fully prove that the path taken by China is the right one,” he added. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe also said the bloody military crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 30 years ago was a “right” decision, pointing to the country’s subsequent “stability.”
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