Between Heaven and Earth: Letter: Remembering Tiananmen

Tiananmen anniversary has come and gone--in a blink of an eye--but its spirit will never die.

National Post: Silent no longer 17 years after Tiananmen

Lu Decheng, recipient of the 'Spirit of Freedom award', speaks out:

"We need to keep the memory [of June 4] alive and keep pushing for a democratic China," Mr. Lu said. "Our action, throwing paint on a portrait of a dead person, was nothing in world terms," he said. "But it cost us inhuman treatment and massive human rights abuses that are indicative of the system that rules China. The treatment we received is a testimonial to the inhumanity of this authoritarian government."

Many young people in China haven't even heard of the Tiananmen protests, Mr. Lu said.

"Still, I live in hope that this time next year, we will be able to hold the commemoration in Tiananmen Square itself." (full report)

Robert Fulford takes a look at the past...

(National Post)...When others in the government rejected his opinion and decided to use the army against the protesters, Zhao (Ziyang) went into the square and, with tears in his eyes, vainly urged the young people to go home and avoid bloodshed…. Those same bullets drove the pro-democracy movement underground and drove Zhao out of government.

(National Post)...A 45-year-old poet and journalist in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, Liao has been in trouble with the authorities for 15 years but nevertheless maintains a devoted audience in China. In 1990 his long poem about the Tiananmen Square killings circulated in manuscript and on a cassette. The authorities tolerated that but didn't like the sound of the film he started working on, to be called The Massacre. They sent him to prison for four years…One of Liao's foreign supporters and translators, a Vancouver-born journalist named Michael Day…

Listen to some awsome tunes by No Man Zero:

Remember Tiananmen here and Bye Bye CCP here.

Watch two videos:

And our letters were published in a few more papers besides these two.

Ottawa Citizen: Ruthless beast

by Joan

With all the fuss over China's burgeoning powerhouse economy, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that this is the same regime that ordered the army to mow down thousands of peaceful pro-democracy students on Tiananman Square 17 years ago. Lu Decheng, one of the students who threw paint on Mao's picture during the protest, now lives in Canada after serving six years in a labour camp. He says the West's policy of appeasing Communist China is akin to "drinking poison to quench thirst."

He should know. Let's not forget the ruthless nature of the beast we're dealing with.

Taipei Times: Remembering Tiananmen

by Makina

Monday, Jun 05, 2006,Page 8 - People still tremble when they recall the dark night of June 4, 1989 -- especially those who witnessed the truth about the bloody massacre on Tiananmen Square. We've all heard the popular saying: "The People's Liberation Army is an army for the people."

A quick reality check sure blows that theory to shreds after thousands of pro-democracy students were killed, hundreds of peasants mowed down by paramilitary police over land seizures, not to mention countless liberal scholars, human-rights activists and members of religious groups thrown in jail and tortured. Seventeen years later Christians have peacefully taken back the night, attempting to free themselves from the grip of the regime with more than 10 million people quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

It is no surprise that the CCP is no longer worshipped as more Chinese recognize the oppressive ways of the Party, the benevolent law of heaven and earth and the value of freedom.

We wish them well as they slowly progress towards a new free China.

BTW, have you joined the Free China Movement lately? Do so by visiting China Support Network!