Thursday, June 04, 2009

warning graphic contents..Tiananmen Square

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The Chinese government claims the total number of people killed was 291. The actual real figure is unknown - it could be thousands. They were killed because they wanted democracy- basic human rights we all enjoy on a daily basis like freedom of speech and the right to criticize the government publicly.


Our then Prime Minister Bob Hawke cried openly as he read an account of what took place on that day... "Tanks ran back and fourth over the bodies of the slain as until they were reduced to pulp after which bulldozers moved in to push the remains into piles which were incinerated by soldiers with flamethrowers" This description has stayed with me for 20 years - as a teenager at the time of the massacre I couldn't comprehend that the government did this to people at a protest- I still can't.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing Cath, I don't know what to say as the whole thing still makes me sick, I can remember watching it as I breastfed my baby and crying all over him at the senselessness of it all and the world we lived in...I just posted my thoughts a while ago too xo

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  2. thank you for paying tribute... it's truly insane what people can do to one another. the good and the bad.

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what a nice person you are- taking the time to comment in this busy hectic world...Thank you!!