Today's continued protests surrounding the Olympic torch marathon reminded me of a different set of protests that made the news a couple decades ago. In the spring of 1989, several hundred Chinese citizens held marches and demonstrations urging democratic reform. The protests lasted from 15 April to 4 June 1989. They began as memorial marches for fallen leader Hu Yaobang, a popular reformist, later gaining momentum and becoming a protest against Communist rule. Although the students in Tiananmen were the most visible, other demonstrations were held throughout China. On 3 June 1989, the army opened fire on demonstrators that had taken control of Tiananmen Square in Beiging. Death toll reports vary from two or three hundred to two or three thousand, depending on the source.
The protests are summed up in the image of a Chinese student standing before a column of tanks.
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1 comment:
What do we think about such protests as agents for change? Do they work, and are there historical examples? Are they appropriate, or do they unfairly mix "politics" with "sports"?
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