Twenty-six years
ago Thursday in China, the protests by students and other ordinary citizens
calling for democracy, liberty and an end to corruption were crushed by the
Chinese Communist Party.
The People's
Liberation Army, acting on the orders of the Communist Party, aimed their guns
and tanks at the unarmed protesters, killing hundreds, if not thousands. At a
crossroads that might have led to a bright future of democracy and rule of law,
the party chose instead to turn on its citizens. People the world over were
left heartbroken. But we have not forgotten.
I was not yet 18
then. I would have liked to have been part of the "Tiananmen
generation" of students speaking out for justice. But because I am blind
and lived in the countryside, I had little access to education. I learned what
was happening in cities far beyond my village on TV and radio - early on,
Chinese media reported on the protests - and I discussed the current issues
with other villagers. Ordinary people overwhelmingly supported the
demonstrators.
After the June 4
crackdown, the live broadcasts of the demonstrations ended. The only voices
that remained in the media offered the party line, all of them strongly
critical of the students.
Now, a
quarter-century later, fantastical tales of China's economic might and rapid
development dazzle the world. But these stories obscure a cruder reality:
Connection, corruption and fraud have funnelled most of the nation's wealth
into the hands of the elite. The government issues reports of increased GDP
(though it has a propensity to manipulate its statistics), while the country's
natural environment has been devastated, the rule of law has deteriorated and
human rights have been trampled under an iron heel. For many people, life in
the countryside is more difficult than ever.
To this day, the
Communist Party does not dare admit the truth of 1989. It doesn't want the
Chinese people to know what really happened in that year - because it still
doesn't want to take China down a normal track of democracy, rule of law and
liberty.
In later years,
people began seeking ways to describe the change in the authorities after 1989.
"The furtive thief became a swaggering robber" is a phrase that took
root, meaning corruption accelerated and morals degenerated following the
Tiananmen Square massacre. By authorising the violence, the message from the
Communist Party to those of privilege was: "Don't worry - enjoy the corruption!
We have the guns and the state power. Whoever opposes us will be
repressed."
And indeed, compared
with the 1980s, corruption has become much more blatant and common.
Since I arrived in
the United States in 2012, many journalists have asked what I think about the
future of China: Will it reform gradually, or will change come via revolution?
They want to know if I think China will experience a bloody confrontation
between the people and those in power. But the blood of Chinese citizens is
already being shed. The detention and surveillance of people such as human
rights activist Gao Zhisheng, artist Ai Weiwei, scholar Guo Yushan,
anti-corruption activist Liu Ping, human rights lawyer Guo Feixiong and Nobel
Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo are well known, but all over there are forms
of brutality being inflicted on the people without the world's notice.
On May 2, at a train
station in Heilongjiang province, petitioner Xu Chunhe was shot and killed in
front of his family by a police officer. Instead of conducting a proper
investigation in search of the truth, the police warned witnesses against
speaking out, forced a student who took video at the scene to destroy it and
detained Xu's mother at a health-care facility. This series of events was
similar to so many other shocking and heart-wrenching incidents that go
unnoticed outside of China.
The Chinese
authorities are very effective at hiding the truth. The investigation of the
killing of Zhou Xiuyun by police in the city of Taiyuan remains a black box.
Cao Shunli died in custody after being abducted at the airport because of her
request to participate in drafting China's Universal Periodic Review, a
national human rights report required by the United Nations. Dissident trade
unionist Li Wangyang was found hanged at a hospital shortly after vowing in
interviews to keep campaigning against one-party rule. I myself am a survivor
of their brutality; the party spent millions to persecute me and my family. The
list goes on and on, but more and more such incidents are being exposed by
citizens.
Twenty-six years
after the Tiananmen crackdown, there still has been no justice, and the
Communist Party continues its crimes. The root cause of the injustice in China
is the dictatorship; there can be no freedom or rule of law under totalitarian
control. To defend our human rights and establish a just society, we need to
end the tyranny. As long as the Chinese Communist Party rules over the people,
the country and the law with impunity, as long as it can snatch away the country's
wealth in the name of governing the country, the people will struggle and
suffer.
Global attention is
critical if there is ever to be change. I call on the people of the free world
to stand with the Chinese people. I implore the international media to focus
more on everyday people instead of those in power. I know from experience that
in China such media attention can be like lightning splitting the darkness. It
will afflict the Communist Party and encourage the people. Dear friends, let us
persevere to achieve justice.
Chen Guangcheng is the author of The
Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man's Fight for Justice and Freedom in China.
The Washington Post
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