Tiananmen Square Demonstrations: 'Massacre' or 'Incident'? (11/10/00)

Due to late cancellation by our speaker, it was suggested in the Department that we show two documentaries of the Tiananmen Square Demonstrations (4/6/89). The two documentaries were both originally screened on BBC2 and are entitled "Awaiting Our Executioners", and "Tiananmen Square -A Stage for History".

The first documentary showed graphic footage filmed on a hand-held video recorder on the night of June 4th. Protestors occupying the Square, erecting a Statue of Democracy, the enforcement of martial law, gunshots, tents being rolled over by tanks, beatings by soldiers, injured being stretchered away...over all these came the tearful voice of Chai Ling, one of the leaders of the student movement, as she narrated a written statement made in the aftermath of the massacre. All in all, a powerful and moving documentary. The room was absolutely silent.

I couldn't help wondering if this was a rather depressing start to the year's activities. In between this video and the next, Phil , EARS' joint -president, mentioned that Chai Ling, along with other former student democracy leaders, has been somewhat discredited as a die-hard revolutionary, now that she has settled down to life in the States. Perhaps she wanted a quiet life.

The second documentary was rather more objective in its content. "Tiananmen Square - A Stage for History" , was admittedly filmed a year after the event. It focused on a group of dissidents, who had been implicated in the uprisings and had, like Chai Ling, been granted political asylum. They were based in France, and the documentary was based around their experiences and their ongoing work to promote democracy in China. The interviews were harrowing - one teacher described how one of her students was shot beside her on Chang'an Avenue, a worker described the screams that went up when the tanks actually crushed sleeping students in their tents. People couldn't believe that government troops would go that far. The scene of the group sitting round, chain-smoking, trying to make some sense of the situation, made me wonder whether China's previous free thinkers had discussed the saving of China in the same way. I almost expected to see Sun Yatsen, (founder of the Three Democratic Principles and instigator of China's first revolution) and Lu Xun, the great protest writer of the 30's tucked in there with them, cigarette smoke curling about them. This documentary at least gave me a little hope that some kind of reckoning might come to those who caused this catastrophe, in that people are determined to keep the memory of it alive, and turn the sacrifice of lives into positive change.

Over ten years have gone past. People have not forgotten. The government kept a severe grip on any potential forms of protest for the 10th anniversary, and maintains the line that the 'incident' was caused by anti -government protesters whose destabilising actions threatened economic and social security.

The implications of the massacre have perhaps not yet been fully realised. Will the memories disappear in a surge of economic prosperity, or will they rankle at the back of people's minds to explode in stronger revolution? Tiananmen demands a corollary, a justification. You cannot perpetrate such an insult to your people and get away with it. Or can you?

It would have been a good idea in retrospect to have a discussion after the videos, to gauge people's responses. If anyone wants to put their views forward on the EARS webpage on this issue, then please do and let's have that discussion belatedly!

summary by Kate Mulrenan