Just before the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre on Friday, I received an e-mail from a person in Hong Kong.
The writer said that even after 21 years, victims of the massacre have still not been rehabilitated and expressed hopes that on one beautiful Sunday in the future, hundreds and maybe thousands of people will be able to gather around the Monument to the People’s Heroes and loudly sing Bloodstained Glory together.
The letter also expressed hopes that this day would come before he was an old man.
If I had to write about how I feel about the 20th anniversary of the massacre, I would rather write this piece in its entirety because the feelings expressed in it are an accurate portrayal of the feelings that have been felt by Chinese people in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places around the world since the crackdown occurred.
This piece expresses far better the pain and long-lasting memories of the crackdown than me talking about the event from the perspective of somebody who was there.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not dealing with the pain accumulated during the development of the Chinese nation and it is also attempting to erase history.
The result is that instead of relieving the pain, it is becoming more deeply embedded.
This is without a doubt a crime against the Chinese people.
Will history really disappear into the past by covering up the truth? Can the pain be made to disappear by suppressing freedom of expression?
The CCP practices self-deception and it is extremely irresponsible toward both the people and the country.
Some say China has seen great change in the past 21 years and that we should forget the past and look to the future.
My answer to this is that while 21 years have gone by since the massacre and while China has indeed experienced great change, we must also see that many things have not changed.
We have seen human rights activist Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) receive a heavy sentence for exercising his right to freedom of expression — I would like to ask how that is any different from the time of the Cultural Revolution.
We have seen how the judicial system is unable to function independently and fulfill its social function and how people who feel they have suffered injustices can only seek redress by petitioning the government, while having to suffer abuse and persecution in the process.
How is this any different from the end of the 1970s?
We have seen how the gap between the rich and poor has widened along with continuously increasing levels of social dissatisfaction. Is this any more advanced than the China of the 1980s?
How can any person with a conscience cover their own eyes and only look at the things that have changed, but ignore the things that have not changed?
With so many of the problems that compelled students and their supporters to take to the streets in protest in 1989 still in existence, how can we afford to forget?
Wang Dan is a prominent figure in China’s democracy movement and holds a PhD in history from Harvard University.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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