Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited

I'm going to back away from my continuing post on Thomas Paine's Common Sense for a couple weeks. Instead, as we approach the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre... I decided to take a look at America's bankers. It seems relevant to me to understand the people with whom Bush and Obama have chosen to make their bed.

PBS published a piece in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link. It begins here:

April 17, 1989

Tens of thousands of university students begin gathering spontaneously in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, the nation's symbolic central space. They come to mourn the death of Hu Yoabang, former General Secretary of the Communist Party. Hu had been a symbol to them of anti-corruption and political reform. In his name, the students call for press freedom and other reforms.

June 5, 1989




And these are the people with whom HRC and Obama suggest human rights are NBD? Unreal.

Don't get me wrong though. I lived in Vietnam for three years. And I saw people get kicked and clubbed by police for no apparent reason. Nonetheless, I'd love to visit China... even live there and meet the people, learn the language, etc. But I consider that to be a far cry from US policymakers kowtowing to China's Political Class.

Tim White

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't let us hold you back