發信人: wangdan (王丹﹒孤獨的旅行者), 信區: HotSpot
標 題: 15 Years After the Massacre (WANG DAN)
發信站: Unknown Space - 未名空間 (Thu Jun 3 12:25:18 2004) WWW-POST
Fifteen Years After the Massacre
By WANG DAN
June 2, 2004; Page A14
During the six years I spent in prison after the Tiananmen massacre, much of
it in solitary confinement, I had ample time to reflect on whether we -- the
leaders of China's 1989 democracy movement -- made a mistake in encouraging
the protests that culminated in the tragic events of June 4.
Again and again I have asked myself if there was another path that could have
avoided the bloodshed? Whether, by bringing students and other ordinary
citizens on to the streets to confront the Communist leadership, we frustrated
the plans of reformist leaders -- such as former Communist Party General
Secretary Zhao Ziyang -- to engineer a peaceful transition to a democratic
China. It's a question I've also often been asked during my public appearances
in the U.S., since I was forced into exile in April 1998.m
Now, reflecting on the events of 15 years ago, it is clear to me as never
before that the Tiananmen massacre was an unavoidable step in the long path to
a free China, and that true political reform can never come from within the
Communist Party. Indeed one of the real tragedies of 1989 was not that we
jeopardized the efforts of so-called reformist leaders. Rather it is that they
never had the vision or political will to lead China toward democracy.
* * *
The events of June 4 were a turning point for me and other members of what we
call "The 1989 Generation." Encouraged by the brief relaxation in the
political environment in Beijing in the months before the killings, which had
even made it possible for me to hold workshops on democracy, we harbored false
hopes that change could come from within the Communist Party.
It was this fantasy that emboldened us to take to the streets, calling on the
government to fight corruption and take steps toward a free society. We
petitioned the leadership in the hope of triggering a top-down reform. Yet the
response of "reformists" in the leadership was disappointing, to say the
least. Had their hearts been with us, they would have surely seized this
unique opportunity to publicly support our calls for democratization. Instead
they continued to hide behind closed doors. Only after he had already been
outvoted in the Politburo Standing Committee did Mr. Zhao finally come and
visit us in Tiananmen Square. And when our modest demands were answered with
gunshots on the night of June 4 it shattered any remaining illusions.
The experience of the 15 years since then has confirmed what we failed to
understand in 1989. Namely that Communist leaders, be they conservatives or
reformists, are all wedded to retaining the current political system, complete
with its problems such as corruption and lack of accountability. Look for
instance at how even relatively enlightened officials such as Premier Wen
Jiabao -- who visited us in Tiananmen Square in 1989 -- and President Hu
Jintao have shied away from political reform since taking office. Instead the
issue remains a taboo subject in Beijing. And far from easing its iron grip on
all forms of political dissent, the new leadership now seems intent on
extending it to Hong Kong.
In the past, the Communist Party has reversed its official verdict on several
other major political events in modern Chinese history. The Cultural
Revolution, hailed by Mao Tse-tung as a great proletarian movement, has long
since been repudiated. Another popular protest that also led to violent scenes
in Tiananmen Square, the April 5, 1976, demonstration against the leftist
leaders known as the "Gang of Four," was also initially suppressed and labeled
as counterrevolutionary. Within two years that verdict had been reversed and
it was recognized as a legitimate public protest.
Yet when it comes to June 4, there has been no change even after 15 years.
That's because Messrs. Wen and Hu realize that re-evaluating the official
description of the 1989 movement as counterrevolutionary would shake the
foundations of the Communists' grip on power.
But avoiding the issue will not make it go away. On the contrary, the cries
for justice are getting ever louder. In recent months, the group of parents
and relatives of those killed in 1989 known as the Tiananmen Mothers have been
gaining increasing domestic and international support in their fight to
reverse the official verdict on the 1989 movement. They have been joined by
Jiang Yanyong, the heroic doctor who blew the lid on China's initial cover up
of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome last year. In an open
letter to the Chinese leadership, Dr. Jiang recounted what he witnessed on the
night of the killings and called on the government to revisit what he called
the worst Communist crimes since the Cultural Revolution.
The continued failure of the Chinese leadership to address the issue only
increases the risk of further violent eruptions in the future, especially at a
time of growing social discontent. With unemployed workers struggling to
survive without any form of welfare benefits, residents forced from their
homes without proper compensation and farmers living in extreme poverty as
they shoulder unfair tax burdens, China is a tinder box which could be set on
fire by the slightest spark. Worse still, until the leadership confronts the
past and re-evaluates the official verdict on the 1989 movement, there is
always the danger that it could resort to such violent methods again to
suppress any future protests.
However one positive development is that, since the early 1990s, shoots of
civil society have begun to sprout within China. As more Chinese enter the
private sector, the state is no longer able to control every aspect of daily
life in the way it used to. On the contrary, people are starting to recognize
the importance of monitoring the state and making government more accountable.
And as the Internet and modern telecommunications have become part of everyday
life, it's become easier to break through the government's control of news and
information and to organize campaigns for basic rights, be they the right to
private property or freedom of speech. This provides a stronger basis for
continuing the fight for democracy in China.
* * *
Fifteen years after the massacre, the 1989 democracy movement remains as much
a part of my emotional present as my past. The movement and its aftermath have
consumed the idealism and passion of my youth, and the fight for a reversal of
the official verdict has become a goal which I can never abandon.
The 1989 student movement played an invaluable role in pointing out the path
to democracy in China. Without it, we would still be clinging to the myth that
a small group of enlightened Communist officials could rescue China from
totalitarian rule. Instead we have learned from our mistakes that year, and
realized that China's democratization must be a bottom-up process, driven by
forces outside the Communist system. And when that happens, as it inevitably
will, I will be able proudly to say that we, the 1989 Generation, were part of
the process that brought freedom to my home country.
Mr. Wang, one of the leaders of the 1989 democracy movement in China, is a
doctoral candidate in history at Harvard.
--
在北國的燕園
我願做一片悔恨的融血
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