tagged w/ Tank Man
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His Holiness's Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square
Published: Wednesday, 3 June, 2009
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square students’ democracy movement, along with others who take an interest in Chinese affairs, I respectfully honour those who died expressing the popular demand for the government to be more accountable to its people.
The students involved in the Tiananmen Square movement were neither anti-communist nor anti-socialist. Their speaking out in defence of the Chinese people’s constitutional rights, in favour of democracy, and taking a stand against corruption, truly conformed to the underlying beliefs of the Chinese Communist government. This was confidently stated by the then Party chief Zhao Ziyang. Therefore, the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China presents a great opportunity to review the events of June 4,1989.
Great changes have taken place in the People’s Republic of China since 1989. Today, it is a global economic power poised to become a superpower. It is my hope that the Chinese leaders have the courage and far-sightedness to embrace more truly egalitarian principles and pursue a policy of greater accommodation and tolerance of diverse views. A policy of openness and realism can lead to greater trust and harmony within China and enhance its international standing as a truly great nation.
THE DALAI LAMA
June 4, 2009His Holiness's Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square... more
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Twenty years ago he was the ultimate symbol of a peaceful democratic protest that went terribly, fatally wrong: a lone Chinese man in a simple white button-down shirt, carrying two plastic shopping bags, staring down a column of tanks.
"Who was he? He was Edmond Dantes. And he was my father and my mother... my brother... my friend. He was you... and me. He was all of us."
Be A Hero!Twenty years ago he was the ultimate symbol of a peaceful democratic protest that went... more
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Free Cuba Foundation co-president Julio Menache reads out text of the statement
June 3, 2009
20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE STATEMENT
We honor the victims, many of them students, who sacrificed their lives for freedom, democracy, and reform twenty years ago in China.
We join with our Cuban brothers and sisters who one year ago paid tribute to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre at the monument to the Chinese fallen in the Cuban War of Independence in Havana on June 4, 2008.
Like our counterparts on the island as students we feel a connection to those Chinese students who exercised their fundamental rights to associate and speak freely in defense of democracy and human rights. Many paid the highest price for freedom with their very lives.
On June 3-4, 1989 the Chinese military extrajudicially executed thousands of unarmed students and workers violently crushing the non-violent student initiated mass demonstrations. We will never forget this heinous crime.
Twenty years later China remains one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. Christians, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and people of other faiths are systematically persecuted. Freedom of expression and association are systematically denied and censorship is ever present.
We repudiate the brutal actions of the government of communist China and call on the civilized world to hold accountable all those responsible for this atrocity, that a full investigation with the participation of international human rights organizations be carried out, and that justice be provided for the Chinese people slaughtered twenty years ago inside and outside of Tiananmen Square and their families.
We call on the democracies of the world to stand with the Chinese people in their desire to be free and have their human rights respected recognizing that the advancement of Chinese relations with the democracies of the world depends on the advancement of human rights in China.
Finally, we call for the immediate release of all Chinese prisoners of conscience and in particular those still imprisoned for taking part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations that remain imprisoned twenty years later such as Li Yujun, Zhu Gengsheng, Shi Xuezhi, Li Zhixin, Chang Jingqiang, Wu Chunqi, Yang Pu and Miao Deshun.
Miami, Florida June 3, 2009
1. Julio A. Menache, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2011
2. Juan Carlos Sanchez, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 2011
3. Pedro Ross, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 2009
4. Susana Navajas, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 2010
5. Jennifer Grau, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 2009
6. John Suarez, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 1996
7. Neri Ann Martinez, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 2005
8. Rebecca Martinez-Arguello, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 2007
9. Isaac Martinez, Free Cuba Foundation, FIU 2006
10. CAUSA: Students United for a Free Cuba, University of Miami
11. Silvia Sarasua, Miami Friends of Tibet
12. Jian Hu, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
13. Sherwood Liu, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
14. Linda Li, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
15. Nancy Xia, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
16. Victoria Wu, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
17. Yanling Zhang , Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
18. Edie Bassen, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
19. Regina Finnegan, PhD, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
20. Marcus Green, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
21. Kay Harmon, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
22. Diana Crouch, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
23. Kent McKinney, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
24. David W. Lee, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
25. Paulene Jasurek, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of FL
27. Prof. Antonio Romero Piriz Red Uruguaya por Democracia para Cuba
28. Aramis L. Perez, Young Cubans in Action
29. Belkis Landa-Gonzalez, Ed.D, OTR/L Miami, FL
30. Tina Giamei-Valera Florida Tech Univ.Free Cuba Foundation co-president Julio Menache reads out text of the statement... more
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Yesterday at the University of Miami, Tenzin Gayden, Students for a Free Tibet expressed his "solidarity and understand your feeling for the Chinese brothers and sisters who went through all this trouble twenty years ago. I am third generation
Tibetan and I speak freely in front of you, but in Tibet there voices are being suppressed - they do not have the right to speak they do not have any human rights."
The Free Cuba Foundation FIU, FIU Students for a Free Tibet, and UM CAUSA: Students United for a Free Cuba, presented the documentary "Tank Man" at the Whitten Learning Center Room 192 at the University of Miami on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 holding a discussion on human rights in China which called for a human rights centered not commerce centered approach. This followed a candlelight vigil which began playing two songs (Nothing to my name and Piece of red cloth) that were played in Tiananmen Square days prior to the massacre by Chinese rocker Cui Jian while a partial list of the names of the victims were read off and a moment of silence coinciding with the start of the military assault on the square at 10:30pm..Yesterday at the University of Miami, Tenzin Gayden, Students for a Free Tibet... more
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Twenty years after the massacre China's human rights record leave a lot to be desired.
If there is anything to be learned by the events of that year is that the world was able to see the true face of communism.
May the victims rest in peace........Twenty years after the massacre China's human rights record leave a lot to be... more
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Zurama
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added this
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3 years ago
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A unique call to action:
TANK MAN TANGO
June 4 is the 20th anniversary of the massacre of protestors at Tiananmen Square. You are invited to participate in a memorial made of dancing bodies in cities around the world.
Tank Man Tango will be an echo across time and space, multiplied against forgetting; an image, a public participatory performance; an enduring archive.
On 4 June 2009, forget to forget. Do the Tank Man Tango.
http://www.forget2forget.com/here/A unique call to action:
TANK MAN TANGO
June 4 is the 20th anniversary of the... more
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