Wear White Day : "six-four"

Only a couple of days from today, on Thursday June the 4th falls the 20th anniversary of one of the most important events in modern Chinese history - the military suppression of the Chinese young people's call for change in 1989. The government ordered the army to open fire, and crush unarmed civilians with tanks. It doesn't matter exactly how many where killed, hundreds or thousands. What matters is that they were killed by their government. The same government that rules today and uses much more subtle ways to suppress the dissent views, variety of ideas, discussion, critique, doubt or wish for political and social change.



The events that ended in the massacre on the eve of the 4th of June 20 years ago were called "counter-revolutionary rebellion" and for most Chinese today are successfully pushed into obscurity. Obscurity caused by fear or by apathy.On the other hand, the Government "understands" the (Han)Chinese people very well. The Chinese are possibly the most utilitarian, materialistic people of the world. There was a very smart way to rule the masses that the Roman empire invented two thousand of years ago and the Party uses well - "bread and spectacle".The Party has also added one more ingredient - nationalism.So the tactic for the masses is improve the economy and put as much incredibly debilitating and low-quality programs and adds as possible on TV, etc.Make people become consumers and not citizens.The (fake) Marxist materialist communist ideology helps too."But the tradeoff has been that young Chinese have no real role in shaping their country’s future — and may not be very interested in having one."
Actually as a matter of fact, Chinese people en masse do NOT want freedom of vote, expression and religion. For one reason or another, as a matter of fact for the HUGE majority these are non-existing problems, since most believe that "religion is superstition", they have actually no opinion and as a matter of fact really have nothing to say...So all the above are redundant then right?
The expectations of the West that Chinese actually want freedom do not correspond to the overall situation.The majority of Chinese have no idea what "freedom" of this or that is, and they really don't care.I don't know if this is a successful result of the evil genius Party plan and policies, or it is the "natural" state of events. I see and understand that very well.
But still it is terribly disappointing to see what most of the young Chinese are today. Is this China's future? Materialist, empty, utilitarian, apathetic, mediocre...and/or nationalistic.When I see those pictures from 1989 I'm thinking, is it possible that this is the same country?!

WEAR WHITE

For commemorating this 20th anniversary some have come up with the idea to wear white that day.I think it is a very smart idea.
I find it hard to believe that someone can get arrested for simply wearing white, right?!
Maybe wearing black clothes might also do. Both are concidered colours of mourning.

20 years ago the Berlin Wall fell and this fact changed the world. It is time that the Great Wall of China also falls sometime soon.

China needs to change. For it's own sake.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xqyvg-2sQ30/Sh8_STgcJOI/AAAAAAAAAPA/3s3dazljEFY/s800/capt_photo_1241753377246-1-0.jpg


Tiananmen dissident calls for 'white China' day (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) – Wang Dan, a key figure in the 1989 pro-democracy protests in
China, said Thursday he hoped the nation would be "covered in white" to mark the
anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen crackdown."We are promoting a campaign
called 'White Clothes Day,'" Wang, who was jailed for years in China before
being exiled, told AFP from Taiwan, where he was staying temporarily to continue
his fight for democracy."That means we appeal to Chinese people to wear white
clothes (the colour of mourning in China) on June 4 to remember June 4, and we
hope that on that day, we can witness a China covered in white," he
explained.Studying at Peking University in 1989, Wang was first on a list of 21
most wanted students in China after the army cracked down on the Tiananmen
demonstrations, killing hundreds, and possibly thousands.After being arrested,
Wang was sentenced to four years in prison in 1991 and freed in 1993. He was
re-arrested in 1995 after continuing to campaign for human rights and democracy
and sentenced the following year to a further 11 years in jail.

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Western media have published some interesting articles recently days before the anniversary.I find those comparing the generation of young people 20 years ago and those of today the most interesting, here are some articles, that if you have time you may read:

Apathy of China's Young GenerationTiananmen anniversary unimportant to China's youth
(LA Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-youth22-2009may22,0,1381,full.story
Tiananmen protests hold little interest for China's youth (Reuters)http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090528/wl_nm/us_china_tiananmen_youth_2
China faces dark memory of Tiananmen (AFP)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090531/ts_afp/chinapoliticsrightstiananmen_20090531052350Activist groups have called on citizens simply to wear white -- the traditional colour of mourning -- to honour those killed in the mayhem that erupted when tanks and troops rolled in to crush the protests.
Web-savvy & cynical: China's youth since Tiananmen (AP)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090530/ap_on_re_as/china_born_on_the_fourth

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

("1989" George Orwell )