Let a hundred flowers bloom! Brave voices that are bringing change

New Internationalist, Sept, 2004

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Lights shine on Tian'anmen Square

Following economic reform and more political openness during the 1980s, demonstrations of workers and students demanding a move to greater democracy appeared in many cities in the spring of 1989. Most were dispelled without incident, except in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, which in 1989 held perhaps a million protesters at the height of its demonstrations. After negotiations failed to reach a compromise, tanks rolled into the Square on 4 June. Hundreds of civilians lost their lives in the streets nearby. Tens of thousands were arrested across the country in the aftermath. Amnesty International has records of more than 50 people who are still imprisoned for their part in the protests: an amount that it believes is a fraction of the true figure. Then there are the unmarked graves ...

Fifteen years later, people are still being arrested and imprisoned for their links with the 1989 protests. Dr Jiang Yanyong--who exposed the Government's cover-up of last year's SARS epidemic--was detained in June this year after publicly calling for a re-examination of the events surrounding the massacre. HIV and environmental activist, Hu Jia, was briefly detained in April after appealing for justice. And three women, Ding Zilin, Zhang Xianling and Huang Jinping, were detained for several days in March in an apparent attempt to stop them commemorating the 15th anniversary. Zilin and Xianling lost their sons at Tian'anmen Square; Jinping her husband. All are now members of the Tian'anmen Mothers, a group of victims' relatives who campaign for accountability and justice over the crackdown in June 1989. None themselves dissident at the time their loved ones lost their lives, they have helped hundreds whose daughter, son or spouse failed to return from the Square. They search through graves and prisons to find the living and dead. And, dangerous as this is, they continue publicly to hold the Government to account. (4)

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1 'A Friend of Nature' in Beijing Review, Vol 46 No 52, 25 December 2003; US Embassy, Beijing, Chinese Environmentalist Liang Congjie on NGO life, February 2000; 2 Physicians for Human Rights letter to China's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tang Jiaxuan Buzhang on behalf of Dr Wan Yanhai, 17 September 2002; J Gittings, 'China stops AIDS hero speaking out in the US' in The Guardian, 31 May 2001; A Chen, 'The Limits of Official Tolerance: The Case of Aizhixing' in China Rights Forum, No 3, 2003; 'China frees the founder of an AIDS information website' in Reporters Without Borders website: www.rsf.org, 20 September 2002; 3 Wang Al, 'Art from the latrines of the great northern wilderness' in China Rights Forum, No 4, 2003; 4 Amnesty International Press Release dated 3 June 2004; Human Rights Watch, 'China: Release Whistleblowing Doctor', in Human Rights News, 10 June 2004; Human Rights in China special edition on Tian'anmen Square in China Rights Forum, No 2, 2004.