It would seem that history never really goes away. Just ask the Chinese censors on the Great Firewall (GFW) who spent a good part of June 4, 2012 trying to erase the anomaly from the Chinese stock exchange that dropped 64.89 points on that particular day. For those who are unaware, June 4, 1989 was the date of the violent crackdown by the Chinese government on (largely peaceful) protesters in Tiananmen Square. And it's often referred to as 6 4 in Chinese so the numbers hold some significance. So, when the Shanghai stock exchange dropped 64.89 points exactly 23 years after 6/4/89, it certainly prompted some effort on the part of the GFW to ensure that people would not be disharmonized (and yes, I use that term on purpose) by such a coincidence. Indeed, in a country where so much effort is put into erasing this event from history, this is not surprising. However, what may be somewhat surprising is how many people in China unofficially realize this and will not let it go no matter how much pressure is applied to enforce the erasure - as evidenced by the commentary on Weibo (the Chinese Twitter, if you will). Equally surprising, perhaps, is that the Chinese government continues to wear blinders on this subject and refuses to realize that the only way that it will ever truly go away is to open the history books and try to deal with it as honestly as possible. Of course, the fact that the government has not dealt openly with any other incident in its short history (including the Long March, the Shanghai massacre of communist partisans in 1927, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution or any other incidents regarding the corruption of its members - mot notably Mao himself) does not make this an isolated incident.
As an aside, this is not to suggest that other governments deal honestly with their own history, including various democracies. They are often similarly dishonest. The difference, if not always true, is that most of them (particularly in democracies) can and are held to account for their mistakes and misdeeds and there can be open discussion among those citizens (for the most part). It is quite clear that this is not the case in China.
And, while we're on the topic of the Chinese government looking, um, well, foolish, how about the fact that it is again calling for the US government (namely, the US embassy in Beijing) to stop producing data on the environmental pollution issues that plague China (and Beijing specifically). After all, it's making China look bad. Heaven forbid that honestly reporting on environmental pollution that is legitimately dangerous to the citizens should make someone look bad and want to encourage them to remedy the situation! No, the entire point is to maintain the power structure which is obviously hard to do when those idiot Americans are telling people what they already know because they see it everyday - the pollution where they live is dangerous to them. While the Chinese government makes some valid points about a single site making a statement about the overall pollution level in the area, this just obscures the fact that the government is simply wanting to hide facts from its citizens for fear it may be held to account - as, quite frankly, it should. Instead of trying to find reasonable solutions, the government spends more time and effort seeking to assign and avoid blame for issues. Unfortunately, this will probably only make it more likely that it will inevitably fail to last in the same fashion that it continues to fail those it alleges to represent.
Showing posts with label 1989. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1989. Show all posts
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Random Thoughts
Some interesting things have been happening lately both in my world personally as well as the world at large. Since I don't often comment on my own life here, we'll work on the world at large.
I found this story to be interesting along with some of the views of people who both supported and opposed Byron Thomas's view on hanging the Confederate flag from his dorm room at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. What truly piqued my interest was one quote from a story on CNN relating to this (can't find it right now or I'd post it here) that quoted an activist (who is black) saying that while he didn't support Mr. Thomas's views he did support his right to hang the flag if he felt so inclined (which Mr. Thomas now says he won't do). I wonder if that same activist would support whites who wanted to hang the flag from their dorm rooms at the university - or anywhere else, for that matter. If not, I then wonder if he (or anyone else, for that matter) would interpret that as being racist? Somehow, I doubt it. After all, hanging the flag (if you're white) is racist but opposing it is virtuous. And for the record, I'm not stating my views on his hanging the flag or not, merely pointing out both an irony and what I perceive as a hypocritical point of view by some on this issue.
Next, while listening to NPR (National Public Radio) the other morning and they were discussing the Arab Spring that has spread across several nations in the Middle East, I started to wonder about the impact of GW Bush's presidency and the impact of his actions in Iraq, in particular, and whether there was some relation to the Arab Spring. Seeing as how US combat troops (you'll note that many news media will omit the term "combat" and simply imply all US troops) will be removed from Iraq by the end of the year and people have seen how Iraq went through a very rough time but is progressing along the front of independence, sovereignty and nascent forms of democracy - not to mention the fact that it has all been broadcast in bright, vivid colors by Al-Jazeera - did those activists who stood up and overthrew several regimes feel that the time for change had come now that the US had precipitated it in Iraq with their 2003 invasion? Was there any inspiration by US actions that spurred young people (who make up a large majority of those countries where the Arab Spring occurred) to take to the streets and overthrow dictators who, in some cases, dominated their countries for much of my own lifetime? Did they take heart in the fact once the first one fell, the others could be similarly dislodged as a sort of domino effect (ah, the old domino effect from the halcyon days of the Cold War)? For that matter, if the US had not gone into Iraq to "establish" democracy, would the uprisings still have occurred? Yes, I know that this is pure conjecture and mostly useless in the real world, but it is still interesting to ponder for those who have the time to do so.
And speaking of uprisings, what about the situation in Wukan (in Guangdong, China)? It has been ongoing for a little while, though the West only recently caught wind of it and started reporting upon the situation. Unlike some who feel this may be a turning point in China that could lead to a greater uprising with those unhappy with the government, rampant corruption and growing economic and social inequality, I do not feel this is the likely outcome. Instead, I think that pressure will slowly be pushed until the people are left with no food or medicine and will likely surrender. Then, the government will quickly round up the leaders, punish them severely and put their followers into a situation that will appease their most immediate concerns for the time being until they can be dealt with later (after the Western media has gone onto the next story elsewhere). Local government officials will suffer no more than a wrist slap - if that - and any news relating to it will continue to be kept away from the rest of China. The one curious thing that I wonder is whether the people will follow that same script. Thus far, they have held together and stood firm in the face of the local government (not to mention they have barred the local government from the area - something that I do not immediately recall occurring in similar situations) pressure, mainly because they hope for a reprieve from the national authorities. While this is a misplaced hope (see the stories of those who have suffered in black jails after attempting to petition the federal government), could it spur the people to realize that they cannot afford to be split apart because they know that, once divided, they will all fail? And if so, will it result in a situation similar to the spring of 1989 in Tiananmen Square and a massacre that could truly explode nationwide? Again, I do not think so but the thing about the future is that people and situations evolve and only time will truly tell. Heroes and villians are never apparent at the outset and a bad ending today can result in a good ending tomorrow. I only hope that the situation is resolved in the most positive manner possible. An impossible hope, I know, but still...
I found this story to be interesting along with some of the views of people who both supported and opposed Byron Thomas's view on hanging the Confederate flag from his dorm room at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. What truly piqued my interest was one quote from a story on CNN relating to this (can't find it right now or I'd post it here) that quoted an activist (who is black) saying that while he didn't support Mr. Thomas's views he did support his right to hang the flag if he felt so inclined (which Mr. Thomas now says he won't do). I wonder if that same activist would support whites who wanted to hang the flag from their dorm rooms at the university - or anywhere else, for that matter. If not, I then wonder if he (or anyone else, for that matter) would interpret that as being racist? Somehow, I doubt it. After all, hanging the flag (if you're white) is racist but opposing it is virtuous. And for the record, I'm not stating my views on his hanging the flag or not, merely pointing out both an irony and what I perceive as a hypocritical point of view by some on this issue.
Next, while listening to NPR (National Public Radio) the other morning and they were discussing the Arab Spring that has spread across several nations in the Middle East, I started to wonder about the impact of GW Bush's presidency and the impact of his actions in Iraq, in particular, and whether there was some relation to the Arab Spring. Seeing as how US combat troops (you'll note that many news media will omit the term "combat" and simply imply all US troops) will be removed from Iraq by the end of the year and people have seen how Iraq went through a very rough time but is progressing along the front of independence, sovereignty and nascent forms of democracy - not to mention the fact that it has all been broadcast in bright, vivid colors by Al-Jazeera - did those activists who stood up and overthrew several regimes feel that the time for change had come now that the US had precipitated it in Iraq with their 2003 invasion? Was there any inspiration by US actions that spurred young people (who make up a large majority of those countries where the Arab Spring occurred) to take to the streets and overthrow dictators who, in some cases, dominated their countries for much of my own lifetime? Did they take heart in the fact once the first one fell, the others could be similarly dislodged as a sort of domino effect (ah, the old domino effect from the halcyon days of the Cold War)? For that matter, if the US had not gone into Iraq to "establish" democracy, would the uprisings still have occurred? Yes, I know that this is pure conjecture and mostly useless in the real world, but it is still interesting to ponder for those who have the time to do so.
And speaking of uprisings, what about the situation in Wukan (in Guangdong, China)? It has been ongoing for a little while, though the West only recently caught wind of it and started reporting upon the situation. Unlike some who feel this may be a turning point in China that could lead to a greater uprising with those unhappy with the government, rampant corruption and growing economic and social inequality, I do not feel this is the likely outcome. Instead, I think that pressure will slowly be pushed until the people are left with no food or medicine and will likely surrender. Then, the government will quickly round up the leaders, punish them severely and put their followers into a situation that will appease their most immediate concerns for the time being until they can be dealt with later (after the Western media has gone onto the next story elsewhere). Local government officials will suffer no more than a wrist slap - if that - and any news relating to it will continue to be kept away from the rest of China. The one curious thing that I wonder is whether the people will follow that same script. Thus far, they have held together and stood firm in the face of the local government (not to mention they have barred the local government from the area - something that I do not immediately recall occurring in similar situations) pressure, mainly because they hope for a reprieve from the national authorities. While this is a misplaced hope (see the stories of those who have suffered in black jails after attempting to petition the federal government), could it spur the people to realize that they cannot afford to be split apart because they know that, once divided, they will all fail? And if so, will it result in a situation similar to the spring of 1989 in Tiananmen Square and a massacre that could truly explode nationwide? Again, I do not think so but the thing about the future is that people and situations evolve and only time will truly tell. Heroes and villians are never apparent at the outset and a bad ending today can result in a good ending tomorrow. I only hope that the situation is resolved in the most positive manner possible. An impossible hope, I know, but still...
Saturday, May 28, 2011
The Tank Man
Last night, we watched The Tank Man. I had never seen it and recently found it was on Netflix so I ordered it. While several years old, I still found it to be very enlightening in some regards and it certainly was news to my better half (who lived in China at the time and was completely unaware of many of the things that were shown in the documentary) as well as Mini-Me (who was exposed to something that he ordinarily would not have seen).
The events of the spring of 1989 in China, as I have pointed out in this blog previously regarding the similarly egregious Cultural Revolution, remain unexamined in China as a result of explicit refusal by the government to permit it. This inability to examine the events of that time have allowed for only the perspective of Westerners who were able to both videotape and write about their experiences and it certainly colored an entire generation both in and outside of China. In China, that generation remains unable to articulate their experiences unless they leave (with no intention of returning). In the West, that generation views China today through a lens that is still colored by the actions of a tyrannical government that willingly sacrificed its legitimacy (and I use that term loosely) through the use of battlefield weapons against its own people in order to preserve its rule.
The actions of a single man, defying the might of the state, is a defining image and has imbued many who have seen it with a strong sense of purpose and strength in terms of the relationship with the state. His willful defiance stands in contrast to the weakness of those few in power in China who chose to brutally murder their citizens instead of working to create a better society for everyone. Their fear of their own people is what precipitated the tragic events that June 3 night and, while the actions of a single man (who remains unidentified to this day) have helped to restore some pride to China, that fear continues to haunt the nation. A fear of looking in the mirror and seeing the ugliness and finding a way to address it so that the future can be made to look prettier. The reality is that China can fix the bullet holes in the buildings, repair the tire tracks from the tanks on Changan Avenue and show the world a wonderful Olympics a mere 19 years later but all of that will be a mere facade built upon a fragile framework that will threaten to collapse until it is reviewed and truly repaired. Hopefully, all Chinese will one day be able to learn the entire story of that spring as well as the truth behind the Tank Man.
The events of the spring of 1989 in China, as I have pointed out in this blog previously regarding the similarly egregious Cultural Revolution, remain unexamined in China as a result of explicit refusal by the government to permit it. This inability to examine the events of that time have allowed for only the perspective of Westerners who were able to both videotape and write about their experiences and it certainly colored an entire generation both in and outside of China. In China, that generation remains unable to articulate their experiences unless they leave (with no intention of returning). In the West, that generation views China today through a lens that is still colored by the actions of a tyrannical government that willingly sacrificed its legitimacy (and I use that term loosely) through the use of battlefield weapons against its own people in order to preserve its rule.
The actions of a single man, defying the might of the state, is a defining image and has imbued many who have seen it with a strong sense of purpose and strength in terms of the relationship with the state. His willful defiance stands in contrast to the weakness of those few in power in China who chose to brutally murder their citizens instead of working to create a better society for everyone. Their fear of their own people is what precipitated the tragic events that June 3 night and, while the actions of a single man (who remains unidentified to this day) have helped to restore some pride to China, that fear continues to haunt the nation. A fear of looking in the mirror and seeing the ugliness and finding a way to address it so that the future can be made to look prettier. The reality is that China can fix the bullet holes in the buildings, repair the tire tracks from the tanks on Changan Avenue and show the world a wonderful Olympics a mere 19 years later but all of that will be a mere facade built upon a fragile framework that will threaten to collapse until it is reviewed and truly repaired. Hopefully, all Chinese will one day be able to learn the entire story of that spring as well as the truth behind the Tank Man.
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