Tank Man

Introduction

Twenty years is a slippery amount of time. For many young people like myself, the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 happened within our lifetimes but remains just out of the scope of our memories. Looking at photographs from China's pro-democracy protests and the massacre that followed, we have the strange sensation of an event removed from us in both space and time but somehow not yet part of a distant historical past.

Discussion

Photographs of those days contribute to make it seem both nearer and further away. They restore a vivid reality to what happened - the series of demonstrations, the military response by the PRC government that left many dead and injured in its wake - while also firmly lodging that unfolding saga in another time and place.

"Tank Man" was an exceptional program. I was struck by 2 things. It was fascinating to see that the Chinese Communist Party was creating a situation that Communism was suppoused to eradicate. Marx saw the poor working proleteriat rising up against those who controlled industry. He saw this class warfare leading to an equal distribution of wealth, at first insured by a people's government. Of course we know the Communist experiment failed. And in China it is clear why. These totalitarian governments were (and in China is) more concerned about holding on to power than distributing wealth. It is ironic that the Chinese "Communists" are creating the very conditions Marx wrote of. I wonder if the poor linen workers will lead a second Chinese Revolution, and if so if it will lead to Democracy or another repressive regime.

The second issue that struck me was how willing American corporations are to pursue profits, even if it means knowingly curtailing Chinese Human Rights. As I write this, I realize I used Google to search ...