As many as 180,000 people would gather to light candles in #Victoria#Park to remember June 4th 1989,
when China’s army brought a bloody end to weeks of peaceful pro-democracy protests in Beijing.
(China has never put a figure on the number who died in what it terms a counter-revolutionary incident.)
Hong Kong’s vigils became a symbol of #defiance of mainland authority
and an ardent evocation of the city’s #independence.
“It was magnificent,” says one resident. “We wanted to make [the massacre] known, not just in Hong Kong, but throughout the world.”
🔥 Organising such a vigil would be unthinkable now.
The commemoration was #banned in 2020, ostensibly because of covid-19.
Some 20,000 people gathered anyway.
The following month the central government in Beijing imposed a draconian national-security law on the territory,
a response to large pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The authorities have since snuffed out memories of Tiananmen.
Memorials have been removed.
The commemoration’s organisers have been jailed;
-- in March they lost a bid to overturn their conviction.
Wearing black or lighting candles near Victoria Park on June 4th may now be considered criminal activity.
This year, like the last, the park is filled with food trucks instead of candles.
Pro-Beijing groups have organised a carnival in the vigil’s stead.
US backed MASSACRE: ‘Nothing justifies what we have witnessed here’: the doctors returning home from #Gaza
"It is apocalyptic"
British doctors Mohammed Tahir and Omar El-Taji thought they were mentally prepared to help treat people in Rafah. But what they and other foreign volunteers faced was beyond anything they could imagine.
with all the reminders that today is the 54th anniversary of the #KentState#massacre, and what with the Biden approved state violence unleashed on students protesting #genocide; now is as good a time to remember:
STUDENTS AND THE UNEMPLOYED ARE PART OF THE WORKING CLASSES
i've always felt we need a #labor#union for the unemployed: students, stay-at-home parents and caregivers (married and otherwise) all fall in that category but aren't counted.
President Biden, joined by other members of his administration, on Saturday
marked the 25th anniversary of the #Columbine#High#School#Massacre and attempted bombing.
On April 20, 1999, two twelfth-grade students murdered 12 students and one teacher, and injured over 20 people,
in what became the deadliest mass shooting in Colorado
Entre avril 1994 et juillet 1994, au moins 800 000 #Tutsis et des #Hutus modérés ont été violemment massacrés par des mouvements Hutus #extrémistes suite à la mort du président Hutu #Juvénal#Habyarimana le 6 avril 1994. Paul #Kagame, le président #rwandais, qui avait mis fin au #génocide, a longtemps accusé la #France de complicité avec les génocidaires, notamment parce qu'elle avait formé l' #armée rwandaise puis retiré ses troupes du territoire en décembre 1993. En 2021, la Commission #Duclert avait conclut à "un ensemble de responsabilités lourdes et accablantes" de la France au #Rwanda. Aussi, le devoir de #mémoire envers la population rwandaise est un enjeu crucial pour la France, qui a multiplié, à commencé par Nicolas #Sarkozy, les tentatives de réconciliation avec Paul Kagame, toujours au pouvoir. À l'occasion du 30e anniversaire du début du génocide, E. #Macron, qui avait déjà fait un pas vers la reconnaissance de la responsabilité de la France, devait évoquer le manque de volonté de la France de mettre fin au #massacre. Il n'aura finalement pas prononcé ces mots. S'il existe un devoir de mémoire pour les #victimes passées, il existe aussi un devoir d'empêcher et de prévenir les crimes de génocide lorsque ces risques apparaissent. Pour autant, c'est une réponse a posteriori qui semble être privilégiée par la communauté internationale, celle des discours de commémoration des victimes. iris-france.org/185426-genocid…
"Pro-Palestine protesters disrupted the largest one-night fundraiser in presidential campaign history on Thursday" featuring Biden, Obama and Clinton, moderated by Stephen Colbert & "with tickets costing up to half a million dollars each".
Biden must stop US complicity in genocide. Netanyahu has been called the Israeli Trump. Why bother voting Democrats if that's the outcome. Any unconditional support must stop now.
“Following nearly six months of unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza, it is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of and to present my finding, 'The Anatomy of a Genocide.'"
The news is filled with talk of the #massacre in #Russia. It is of course a horrible crime.
Why are not the daily massacres of #Ukrainians by Russia called "massacres". Russia is perpetrating horrendous war crimes daily by massacring innocents and should be decried as such.
Today in Labor History March 12, 1967: Suharto took power from Sukarno in Indonesia. He ruled Indonesia as an authoritarian, kleptocratic dictator for 31 years, and is widely considered one of the most brutal and corrupt dictators of the 20th century. During that time, he amassed a fortune worth $38 billion. Suharto rose to power under Sukarno during the 1965-1966 genocide. During that ostensibly anti-Communist purge, Suharto’s troops murdered 1-3 million communists, labor activists, peasants and ethnic minorities. During that genocide, he received support military and economic from both the U.S. and the U.K. In 1974, the Suharto regime, with approval of U.S. president Gerald Ford, invaded East Timor, killing over 200,000 Timorese. Another 75,000-200,000 died from starvation and disease. The current Indonesian government is considering awarding him the posthumous honor of National Hero.
Today in Labor History March 11, 1858: The Great Indian Mutiny, also known as the Sepoy Rebellion, ended with massacres by the British. 6,000 British troops died in the fighting. However, at least 800,000 Indians died in the fighting and from the famines and epidemics that resulted.
Today in Labor History March 7, 1932: Over 3,000 people, led by the United Auto Workers, marched on the main Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Workers on the Ford Hunger March were demanding that laid off colleagues be rehired. They also demanded a slow-down of the assembly lines and an end to the evictions of unemployed workers from their homes. Marchers carried banners saying "Give Us Work," "We Want Bread Not Crumbs," and "Tax the Rich and Feed the Poor." During the protests, police opened fire with machine guns, killing 4 and injuring 60. A fifth worker died later from his wounds. The Unemployed Council (part of the Communist Party) also supported the march.
Today in Labor History February 27, 1973: 300 Oglala Sioux activists from the American Indian Movement (AIM) liberated and occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This was the site of the infamous Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890). They occupied the site to protest a campaign of terror against them by the FBI, and corrupt tribal officials, and the tribal thugs knowns as GOONs (Guardians of Oglala Nation). The occupation lasted over 2 months, before being quashed by the U.S. government. 3 Native activists were killed. Dennis Banks and Russell Means were indicted for their roll, but charges were later dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Today in Labor History February 25, 1986: As a result of ongoing protests, Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos begged President Ronald Reagan for advice. Reagan told him to “cut and cut cleanly.” That evening, Marcos and his wife Imelda fled the nation aboard a U.S. air force plane, after 20 years of rule. He and his family, and an entourage of 90 people (mostly servants), arrived in Hawaii the next day. They brought 22 crates of cash valued at $717 million, 300 crates of jewelry of unknown value, $4 million worth of unset precious gems, $200,000 in gold bullion, $1 million in Philippine pesos and deposit slips for $124 million in banks in the Cayman Islands. Plus, countless crates of shoes. The Marcos’s hold the Guinness record for the largest ever theft from a government. Their son, Bong Bong Marcos, is the current president of the Philippines. His vice president is Sara Duterte, daughter of the Philippines last president, the violently repressive Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw the assassinations of well over 1,000 street children and alleged drug dealers. Under Ferdinand Marcos, there were over 3,000 documented extrajudicial murders, 35,000 documented victims of torture and tens of thousands of people imprisoned.
Today in Labor History February 24, 1912: The cops beat up women and children during the IWW-led Bread and Roses textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Three people died during the strike. Unknown numbers were injured. The police arrested nearly 300 workers during the two-and-a-half-month strike. The authorities framed and arrested IWW organizers Joseph Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti for murder.
From Brasil: Netanyahu's plan this week is to carry out a massacre in the #Rafah region of #Gaza. The White House attempted to engage in dialogue with him, but he remained adamant. The President of France called Netanyahu, but he ignored the call. Lula's statement aimed to prevent this #massacre.