A lone hero confronts tanks with refusal to submit, and bequeaths to humankind a legacy of moral vision and the unconquerable human dream of liberty; today we celebrate the anniversary of Tiananmen Square and the stand of its iconic Tank Man against tyranny and state terror.
I greet you from the belly of the beast, for Hong Kong has been swallowed whole by an abomination, a shining beacon of hope lost to despair and dehumanization among endless fathoms of darkness; yet hope and the dream of liberty endure, and a people dehumanized and disempowered by an amoral colonial occupation cry their defiance and refuse to be subjugated with a wave of resistance and revolutionary struggle through legions of figures of democracy as a goddess.
Here the people of Hong Kong and of China in solidarity of action honor the iconic Tank Man and the Tiananmen Revolt of 1989, and in refusal to submit become Unconquered and free.
Tyrannies of force and control find their limit in disobedience and disbelief; our freedom and autonomy are conferred by our refusal of consent to be governed by those who would enslave us, and like Dorothy’s magic ruby slippers cannot be taken from us, and have the power to send us home and return to us our true selves.
Under the tyranny and terror of the Chinese Communist Party’s imperial dominion, the imposed conditions of struggle have left us only symbolic acts of resistance as mass action, and our duty to the future and to our possibilities of becoming human to bring a Reckoning to those who would enslave us and steal our souls.
Resistance is always war to the knife.
Who respects no laws and no limits may hide behind none.
There will be no mass action in China today in recognition of the solidarity and courage of the democracy movement of 1989, nor of that which propagates throughout China today, for the long shadow of the Chinese Communist Party’s iron fist has cast the nation under a spell of fear, darkness, and silence like that of a fairytale wicked witch.
Such are the legacies of history and the powers of abjection from which we must awaken.
But in Hong Kong today, a people unite in subversion of their conqueror’s laws and find subtle ways to signal solidarity in revolutionary struggle. The brutal repression of the CCP’s regime has galvanized, not subjugated, the democracy movement of the Chinese peoples. Like the Rape of Nanking, the terrors of Xi Jinping’s regime have failed to drive the people of China into abject submission through learned helplessness, and like the thuggery of the British Empire’s reply to Gandhi’s Salt Tax Protest has sacrificed any pretense of legitimacy for its hegemony of power.
It is a triumph of the human spirit that the hope of freedom and democracy still lives and is an indestructible part of the Chinese national character, for the peoples of China must struggle in a vast laboratory of pervasive and endemic surveillance and thought control, like rats trapped in a maze by demented captors whose bizarre experiments and crimes against humanity, which echo those of Mengele but on an industrial scale, are designed to falsify and dehumanize their own citizens.
And this is nothing compared to the imperial conquest of Hong Kong now underway, the threat of imperial conquest and dominion of the Pacific Rim, the genocide of Islamic minorities in Xinjiang, and the horrors of their client states like Myanmar which enact a Nietzschean eternal recurrence of Pol Pot’s abattoir of Cambodia, spectacles of terror and brutal repression perpetrated with the arrogance of power of an authoritarian state bereft of all moral values, wherein only violence, force, and power have meaning.
Yet the peoples of China resist and yield not, and abandon not their fellows, as the Oath of the Resistance challenges us all to do, and we who love liberty must stand in solidarity with them.
A wave of vigils, protests, mass actions, and forlorn hopes commences this week throughout the world, as peoples of all nationalities unite as one humankind, inheritors of our universal human rights and the principles of freedom, equality, truth, and justice which democracy is designed to uphold and which none of us may deny any other.
As the lyrics of the Chinese national anthem teach us; “Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves.”
As written by Chris Lau in CNN, in an article entitled Overseas Hong Kongers carry Tiananmen’s torch as vigils to remember massacre victims are snuffed out back home; “Hong Kongers living overseas are helping to keep the flame of remembrance alive for the victims of China’s Tiananmen massacre as authorities in a city that once hosted huge annual vigils continue to stamp out dissent.
Until recently Hong Kong was the only place within China where large-scale gatherings each June 4 were tolerated to remember the moment in 1989 when the Communist Party sent tanks in to violently quell peaceful student-led democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
But the annual candlelight vigils have been silenced the last three years in the wake of pandemic restrictions and Beijing’s ongoing political crackdown in Hong Kong, which was upended by its own huge democracy protests in 2019.
This year is set to be no different.
As a result, it is overseas where the most concerted commemorations were taking place for the 34th anniversary.
Protests, vigils and exhibitions are planned in multiple cities around the world including in Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, the United States and Canada bolstered by a growing cohort of Hong Kongers who have chosen to move overseas.
“I think it’s sad to say that what Beijing and Hong Kong are doing is trying to erase history and the memory,” said Kevin Yam, a former lawyer in Hong Kong, who will be attending a ceremony in Melbourne, Australia, where he now resides.
“For those who can still remember, we have the obligation to let the world know that we have not forgotten,” he told CNN.
A new museum in New York is a vivid example of how Tiananmen commemorations are going global.
On Friday, Zhou Fengsuo and Wang Dan, two former student leaders who took part in the 1989 Tiananmen protests and now live in the United States, unveiled a June 4th Memorial Exhibit on 6th Avenue
The display includes items collected from those who survived the massacre including newspapers chronicling the event, a blood-stained shirt from a former journalist and a decades-old printer used by protesters that was sneaked out of China.
Zhou said the idea to create a New York exhibition began five years ago but the closure of Hong Kong’s own June 4 museum by authorities in 2021 “added to the urgency”.
“Hong Kong has been carrying the torch for commemorating the Tiananmen massacre, keeping the legacy alive. When the museum was shut down, with the Hong Kong alliance’s leaders in prison, we knew it was a critical moment,” he said.
“We have to continue here in the United States.”
The 2,200-square-feet venue in New York can host up to 100 guests at a time, with schools and universities already reaching to request for a tour, Zhou said, adding they have raised enough funding to keep it running for “many years”.
A censored massacre
Thirty four years ago, Beijing sent in People’s Liberation Army troops armed with rifles and accompanied by tanks to forcibly clear the square where students were protesting for greater democracy.
No official death toll is available, but estimates range from several hundred to thousands, with many more injured.
Authorities in mainland China have always done their best to erase all memory of the Tiananmen massacre: Censoring news reports, scrubbing all mentions from the internet, arresting and chasing into exile the organizers of the protests, and keeping the relatives of those who died under tight surveillance.
The censorship has meant generations of mainland Chinese have grown up without knowledge of the events of June 4.
But Hong Kong was different.
Somber and defiant vigils were an annual political cornerstone, first under colonial British rule and then after the city’s 1997 handover to China. Every June 4, come rain or shine, tens of thousands of people would descend on Victoria Park with speakers demanding accountability from the Chinese Communist Party for ordering the bloody military crackdown.
But Hong Kong’s political culture has changed drastically in the aftermath in 2019’s huge and sometimes violent democracy protests.
Beijing responded with a sweeping national security law that outlawed most dissent. Leading democracy activists, including key Tiananmen vigil figures, have been jailed, critical newspapers shuttered and the political system overhauled to ensure only “patriots” are allowed.
Authorities banned the vigil in 2020 and 2021 citing coronavirus health restrictions – though many Hongkongers believe that was just an excuse to clamp down on shows of public dissent.
Last year, the park remained in darkness again, barricaded off on all sides with police stopping and searching passersby to “prevent any unauthorized assemblies which affect public safety and public order, and to prevent the risk of virus transmission due to such gatherings,” according to a government statement.
The Hong Kong Alliance, the group behind the past vigils, has disbanded with three leading figures in jail facing national security charges.
This year the park is again open after three years of coronavirus pandemic closures. But it is hosting a fair put on by patriotic pro-government associations to celebrate Hong Kong’s handover to China – an anniversary that is more than three weeks away.
In the run up to this Sunday’s anniversary, authorities made clear commemorating Tiananmen this year would not be tolerated.
Security secretary Chris Tang – a former police chief – said he expected some might use “this very special day” to advocate Hong Kong independence and subvert state power, acts banned by the new national security law.
“But I want to tell these people that if you carry out these acts, we will definitely take decisive action,” he warned, adding: “You will not be lucky.”
Hong Kong police maintained a heavy police presence around the park on the anniversary’s eve, deploying multiple police coaches and even an armored vehicle at one point.
A handful of artists and activists defied warnings and turned up either at the park or surrounding streets on Saturday evening to make private commemorations with floral tributes and banners, only to be quickly intercepted and taken away by officers.
A police spokesman said four people were arrested on suspicion of disorderly behavior in public or carrying out acts with seditious intent as of Saturday. Police said some individuals had protest props bearing allegedly “seditious” wording. Four others were brought in for further investigation, police added.
Private mourning
Richard Tsoi, former secretary for the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, said he planned to commemorate the event either at home or at a private location.
“Definitely there will be not be large-scale commemoration activities. Whether one can mourn in public without breaking the law is also a question,” said the ex-organizer, who used attend every vigil in the past.
Throughout Hong Kong physical reminders of the Tiananmen massacre, including a famous “Pillar of Shame” statue that used to stand in the city’s oldest university, have been dismantled in recent years.
Yet last month a replica of the “Pillar of Shame” was erected in Berlin, with the help of its original Danish artist Jens Galschiot and a prominent Hong Kong activist now living in Germany. The artist also provided more than 40 giant banners printed with an image of the pillar to 18 cities for their commemoration events, including Los Angeles and Boston.
Another pillar was unveiled in Norway last year.
“It is true that the commemorations around June 4th have expanded and become more global since it has become impossible to do anything in Hong Kong,” he told CNN.
Hong Kongers, Zhou says, are playing a key role in keeping Tiananmen remembrance alive overseas,
“Since last year, many places have seen record numbers in attendance largely because of Hong Kong immigrants,” he said.
Many Hong Kongers have left for overseas with the city’s population dropping from 7.41 million to 7.29 million last year.
In Britain – where more than 100,000 Hongkongers have since settled after London offered an easier pathway to citizenship two years ago – about a dozen marches and vigils are slated to take place throughout June 4 across the country, from Nottingham and Manchester, a popular destination for Hong Kong immigrants.
In London, marchers will gather at Trafalgar Square before marching to the Chinese embassies, where a vigil will be held.”
BBC On Tiananmen
Thousands mark Tiananmen anniversary in Hong Kong
Timeline: What Led to the Tiananmen Square Massacre | PBS FRONTLINE
35 Years On: China’s Aggressive War On Freedom From Tiananmen To Hong Kong – View from the Wing
35 Years Later: A Retrospective of Our Work on the 1989 Tiananmen Protests and Crackdown | ChinaFile
Hong Kongers light up Lion Rock on Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary
China and Hong Kong dominated by heavy security on 35th anniversary of Tiananmen crackdown
What is the Tiananmen crackdown? – Amnesty International
‘Hong Kong 47’ trial: 14 activists found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion
China and Hong Kong reportedly detain dissidents before Tiananmen Square anniversary
China: Closing Off Memory of Tiananmen Massacre | Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/06/02/china-closing-memory-tiananmen-massacre
Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary: vigils go global as authorities in China and Hong Kong stamp out remembrance | CNN
Hong Kong police arrest pro-democracy figures on Tiananmen Square anniversary/ The Guardian
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-61679435
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53718901
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-57225142
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57649442
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-195216
Chinese
2024 年 6 月 4 日 拒絕屈服於暴政和國家恐怖的遺產：天安門廣場週年紀念
一個孤獨的英雄面對坦克拒絕屈服，並為人類留下了道德遠見和不可征服的人類自由夢想的遺產；今天，我們慶祝天安門廣場及其標誌性坦克人反對暴政和國家恐怖的立場週年紀念。
我從野獸的肚子裡向你致意，因為香港已經被一個可憎的東西吞沒了，這是一盞閃亮的希望燈塔，在無盡的黑暗中失去了絕望和非人化；然而，希望和自由的夢想依然存在，一個因不道德的殖民佔領而被剝奪人性和權力的民族大聲蔑視，拒絕被作為女神的民主形象軍團的反抗和革命鬥爭浪潮所征服。
在這裡，香港和中國人民團結一致，向標誌性的坦克人和 1989 年的天安門起義致敬，並在拒絕屈服的情況下成為不可征服和自由的人。
武力和控制的暴政在不服從和不相信中找到了極限；我們的自由和自主權來自於我們拒絕接受那些奴役我們的人的統治，就像多蘿西的魔法紅寶石拖鞋一樣，我們不能被奪走，它有能力把我們送回家，讓我們回歸真正的自我。
在中國共產黨帝國統治的暴政和恐怖之下，強加的鬥爭條件只留給我們作為群眾行動的象徵性抵抗行動，以及我們對未來和成為人類的可能性的責任，為那些會奴役我們，偷走我們的靈魂。
抵抗永遠是對刀的戰爭。
今天的中國不會有群眾行動，以表彰1989年民主運動的團結和勇氣，也不會表彰今天在全中國傳播的民主運動，因為中國共產黨鐵腕的長長陰影已經將這個國家置於魔咒之下恐懼、黑暗和沈默，就像童話中的邪惡女巫一樣。
但在今天的香港，一個民族團結起來推翻征服者的法律，並在革命鬥爭中找到微妙的方式來表示團結。中共政權的殘酷鎮壓激發了而不是征服了中國人民的民主運動。就像南京大屠殺一樣，習近平政權的恐怖並沒有讓中國人民因習得的無奈而屈服，就像大英帝國對甘地鹽稅抗議的回應一樣，為了霸權而犧牲了任何合法性的幌子的權力。
自由民主的希望依然存在，是中國民族性格中堅不可摧的一部分，這是人類精神的勝利，因為中國人民必須像老鼠一樣在一個無處不在的地方性監視和思想控制的巨大實驗室中奮鬥被瘋狂的俘虜困在迷宮中，他們的奇異實驗和反人類罪行旨在偽造和非人化他們自己的公民。
這與現在正在進行的對香港的帝國征服、對環太平洋地區的帝國征服和統治的威脅、新疆伊斯蘭少數民族的種族滅絕、恐怖和殘酷鎮壓的景象相比，是毫無意義的。威權國家喪失了所有道德價值觀，其中只有暴力、武力和權力才有意義。
然而，中國人民抵抗、不屈服、不拋棄他們的同胞，正如抵抗誓言向我們所有人發出的挑戰一樣，我們熱愛自由的人必須與他們站在一起。
本週，世界各地開始掀起一波守夜、抗議、群眾行動和絕望的希望，各國人民團結為一個人類，繼承了我們普遍的人權和民主所倡導的自由、平等、真理和正義的原則旨在維護，我們任何人都不得否認其他任何人。
正如中國國歌的歌詞所教導的那樣； “起來，拒絕做奴隸的你們。”
My China, a retrospective
August 29 2023 Anniversary of the UN Bachelet Report on China’s Genocide of Minorities in Xinjiang
July 7 2023 This July, the 26th Anniversary of the Abandonment of Hong Kong to China and of Democracy to Tyranny
April 15 2023 Pax Sinica and the Case of China’s Secret Police Station in New York: Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party Disguise Imperial Conquest, the Silencing and Repression of Dissent, and the Theft of Liberty as Peace and Prosperity
February 10 2024 This Chinese New Year, Let Us Bring the Chaos
November 28 2022 Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death; Mass Protests Become a Democracy Revolution in China
February 6 2022 The Genocide Games: China’s Glorification of State Terror and Tyranny
January 4 2022 State Terror and Tyranny in China
May 26 2021 Biden Investigates the Role of China in the Origins of the Pandemic
February 19 2021 China Genocide Slavery Sexual Terror
August 19 2020 China’s Holocaust: the Genocide of the Uighurs of Xinjiang and the Colonization of Hong Kong
October 1 2019 China’s Bloody Day: the liberation of Hong Kong has its first martyr in Tsang Chi-kin
Torch of Liberty 
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