Nothing To See Here, Move Along

“Hong Kong June 4 candlelight vigil 2009” by Lok Cheung is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Until today I’ve tried to avoid commenting too much on the anniversary of the events which happened 20 years ago in Beijing because I don’t really feel qualified and not being Chinese am not sure if it’s really my place to do so either. That said I do have very strong feelings about the current issues which have become starkly oblique in the light of the Internet crackdown we are currently experiencing. To me, this is all the more staggering considering it’s 2009 and despite the most advanced and pervasive communication networks available to man we are still facing some extremely dark realities within hidden truths.

I think the Chinese artist and designer Ai Weiwei put this best in his recent blog post (translated):

Without freedom of speech, without freedom of news, without freedom of elections, we are not people, we do not need to remember. Lacking the right to remember, we choose to forget. [continued]

Unless the Chinese people speak out in unison there is little hope for change in the future and with a generation of single-child offspring who are almost totally apolitical, this seems very unlikely.

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David avatar
Originally from the UK, David is product manager and wanderer currently based in Munich. Prior to this, he lived in Japan and China for over 15 years. He started Randomwire in 2003 to chronicle his travels and occasional musings. Feel free to drop him a line.

5 responses

  1. Joy avatar
    Joy

    I should’ve comment here instead of posting on that website I told u.I understand they want me to stop because their website have been blocked and warned before.
    I’m still sad that I have to use some techniques to get my news access which indicates my freedom of speech and right to know the truth.Also sad that all my Chinese friends don’t care about this or let’s just say they don’t even know what it is.

    Reply
  2. Aku avatar
    Aku

    If no-one does anything, it’s called evolution. If a successful government means that you can’t vote, that’s progress. In some direction at least. For us in the West, it feels like the wrong direction. Only time will tell if we’re right.

    Reply
    1. David avatar
      David

      China has clearly done very well in the past 20 years but I’d say progress and freedom are very different things. Imagine how China could be if people were given an education which gave them the freedom to think for themselves outside of the box which the government currently put them in. To me that would be real progress.

      Reply
  3. Joseph avatar
    Joseph

    I’m a HongKonger and I want to say something for the June 4 Crackdown.
    The government in China has done a lot to prevent people from knowing anything about the crackdown because the leaders are afraid of that so no one in China knows the incident even the students studying in the universities.
    Some of them come to Hong Kong and they don’t believe us when they realise the incident.
    They try to speak for the government instead and condemn us.
    Even in Hong Kong, there are many people who want us to forget the incident.
    But this year in HK, there were still 200000 people joining the vigil in the Victoria Park and they broke the record.

    Reply
    1. David avatar
      David

      Thanks for your insight Joseph. It’s heartening to see that Hong Kongers are on the right side of history. Knowing and admitting the truth is the first step to dealing with it.

      Reply

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