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Fighting For Victims Of Tiananmen

From Toronto Star:

His portrait hangs on the living room wall, where he is forever smiling, sturdy – and 17.

His ashes are kept in a wooden cabinet just below.

On it, his father has inscribed: “In these short 17 years, you lived like a real man. Your humanitarian nobility and integrity will be kept in the undying memory of history. Your forever loving father and mother.”

It has been 20 years since high school student Jiang Jielian was shot dead during the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 1989.

His mother and father, Ding Zilin and Jiang Peikun, will never forget.

Nor will they let the Communist party forget.
» Read more
- March 3, 2009 9:33 PM
It Could Have Been Me

From New Statesman:

Fifteen years ago my son Stephen was murdered. To lose one’s child is a devastating blow from which a mother can never fully recover. And to lose one’s child as a result of a violent attack – in the case of my son Stephen, a racist attack – leaves an even deeper wound. But it is the failure to get justice that stops that wound from ever truly healing.

Stephen was only 18 when his life was cut short on a south-east London street. Jiang Jielian was 17 when, on the night of 3 June 1989, he was shot through the heart by Chinese riot police on their way to Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Like Stephen, he was left to bleed to death. He was one of the first to be killed when troops “cleared” the pro-democracy protests.

Like me, his mother Ding Zilin wanted to know why her son had been murdered and who had taken the life of an unarmed teenager; and she wanted justice. In August 1989, she met another bereaved mother, Zhang Xianling. Others joined, and the group became the Tiananmen Mothers.

Read also “Tiananmen Mothers” Publish Maps Including Locations of June Fourth Victims’ Deaths from Human Rights in China.
» Read more
- June 1, 2008 1:07 AM
Chinese Mothers Remember Crackdown

From Reuters, via Yahoo News:

Mothers of those killed in China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests have joined the list of groups invoking this summer’s Beijing Olympics to draw attention to their causes.

In an open letter released Thursday, the Tiananmen Mothers warned the Games would be dogged by lingering guilt and mistrust unless China confronts the truth about the crackdown.

“Is it really possible that, as the host of the 2008 Olympic Games, the government can be at ease allowing athletes from all over the world to tread on this piece of bloodstained soil and participate in the Olympics?” the letter said.
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- February 28, 2008 10:25 AM
‘One World, One Dream’ – Washington Post editorial

From Washington Post:

On Wednesday, China celebrated the beginning of its one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics. Festivities and fireworks animated Tiananmen Square, a gathering place known also for its bloody memories. A band onstage guided the crowd through the proud new Beijing pop anthem “We Are Ready.”

Human rights activists, with less pomp but considerable courage, also observed the Olympics pre-anniversary.

On Tuesday, 40 well-known scholars, lawyers and writers released an open letter to Chinese and world leaders. The letter expressed, respectfully, deep concerns over China’s human rights policies, particularly in light of the Beijing Olympic Committee’s stated objectives of hosting an open, green, and humane Olympics. [Full Text]

Read also “One World, One Dream” and Universal Human Rights: An Open Letter to Chinese and World Leaders on the 2008 Beijing Olympics from Chinese Human Rights Defenders:
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- August 10, 2007 8:33 AM
China’s Gaping Wound – Jonathan Mirsky

From New Statesman:

The Tiananmen Square killings of 3-4 June 1989 remain the most sensitive political issue in China and the Chinese government never lets the population forget it. According to Amnesty International, at least 200 Tiananmen demonstrators detained in June 1989 remain behind bars, and even to mention the name “Tiananmen” on China’s tightly censored internet can bring a knock on the door from the police.

The Tiananmen Mothers are, therefore, among the bravest and most tenacious women in China. Formed immediately after the 1989 killings and the uprisings in 400 other Chinese cities, the 126 surviving members of this campaigning group are regularly detained and threatened, and are removed from Beijing whenever foreign statesmen concerned with human rights are visiting. [Full Text]

See also Tiananmen Mothers Roundtable Calls for Official Accountability by Human Rights in China:
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- June 2, 2007 2:54 AM
Mothers of Tianamen Square demand justice – VOA

From VOA News: Tianamen Mothers demand truth of the 1989 massacre in Beijing: an open letter to the Chinese government asks for an open debate on the subject at next week’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.

In an open letter released by Human Rights in China the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of relatives of victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on the anti-corruption and pro-democracy protests, have urged the government to allow an open debate on the subject at next week’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress and “reveal the truth” about the protests and their bloody conclusion.

“A just and reasonable resolution of the June 4 question is an inevitable trend, and is what the people desire,” said the letter. “It has been nearly 18 years” and “the real story has yet to see the light of day,” it added.

The ‘Tiananmen Mothers’ are a group that includes 128 relatives of the victims of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre. On that day Chinese troops, backed by tanks, slaughtered defenceless protesters who had been in the streets of the Chinese capital for over a month demanding democracy and an end to corruption. [Full Text]
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- March 7, 2007 11:10 AM