More than 100 relatives of people killed in the Tiananmen massacre have called on the government to apologize as the 16th anniversary of the tragedy approaches.
In an open letter by 125 relatives to President Hu Jintao (
"You and your predecessors have wiped the memory of the June 4 massacre from the books and have covered up this despicable event from history," the letter said. "In this you have been very successful. You have been more thorough than those Japanese right-wing plotters who have tried to erase the history of the Nanjing massacre."
Hundreds, if not thousands, of unarmed protesters and citizens were gunned down in the streets of Beijing when the People's Liberation Army moved in to quell the six week-long democracy protests in 1989.
While Chinese leaders have angrily criticized Japan for refusing to face up to its militaristic past in China, they have refused to apologize for the party's disastrous polices like the "Great Leap Forward" and the "Cultural Revolution" that left millions dead or victimized, the letter said.
"Today you up hold as Gods Mao Zedong (毛澤東), Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) and others whose hands are stained with the blood of the people and who brought untold calamity to our nation," it said.
"Until this day you have refused to apologize to the tens of millions of victims and their families."
The top signatory on the letter was Ding Zilin (
The government has insisted to this day that the heavy-handed response to quell what it called "the counter-revolutionary rebellion" paved the way for 16 years of robust economic growth.
The letter also alluded to Hu's vow to build a "harmonious society" in China, a political platform seen as central to his three-year old presidency and an effort to move away from the ruling party's political persecution campaigns of the past.
"The family members call on the Chinese government to act in accordance with its policies of `people first' and 'harmonious society' by resolving the controversy over June 4th with appropriate action against those responsible, and restitution to the victims and their family members," it said.
Foreign rights groups, like the New York-based Human Rights in China (HRIC), voiced support for the letter and urged the government to come to a more just conclusion to the massacre.
"We fully support the open letter by the family members of June 4th victims," HRIC president Liu Qing (
"China cannot hope for a harmonious society until it achieves resolution on nagging issues such as June 4th, which will remain a thorn in public consciousness until justice is served," the statement added.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
RSS