As the June Fourth government crackdown on the 1989 Democracy Movement continues to recede into the past, and as victims’ families age and pass away, broad and more effective international actions are increasingly critical to support the families’ appeals for justice.
With complete impunity for the military violence against unarmed civilians and the resulting deaths, Chinese government authorities have continued, since 1989, to try to distort and bury the truth, forcing a nation to forget and its younger generations to become ignorant of that history. The authorities have not only banned public June Fourth commemorations, but also detained and criminally charged those marking the anniversary in private.
The authorities have employed lawless and abusive tactics—kidnapping, intimidation, surveillance, restriction of movement, communication blockade, to name a few—to try to rip the memories of the victims from their surviving families and undermine a community of spirit support and solidarity.
“For us . . . it has been 27 years of white terror and suffocation,” said the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of families of June Fourth victims, in a recent statement.
For more than two decades, HRIC has supported the efforts by the families of June Fourth victims and others to fight against government enforced amnesia and press for official accountability. We have helped to preserve and disseminate a rich historical archive of documentary evidence, testimonies, and oral histories—an archive critical for a future accounting
You can contribute to keeping this history alive and supporting Chinese citizens’ call for justice. Be a witness for justice:
Your expressions of solidarity and support will bring small rays of light into the darkness of loss and repression that the victims’ families have endured for nearly three decades.
HRIC June Fourth Resources
Remembering Lives Lost
A Soldier’s Voice
Statements by Tiananmen Mothers (translated by HRIC)
HRIC June Fourth Dedicated Webpages
China Rights Forum: Special June Fourth Issues
Select Essays and Reflections
Background
Hong Kong Voices
See all HRIC June Fourth Related Items