VIGIL FOR THE VICTIMS OF TIANANMEN

The night of June 3-4, 1989, saw the People's Liberation Army move in on the students and other civilians demonstrating in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killings thousands of innocent people.  As recently as two years ago, you could still see the bullet holes in the Monument to the People's Heroes just north of Mao's mausoleum.

Although there have been brief glimpses of the Communist government relaxing their controls on their citizens (i.e., providing important medical information during the SARS pandemic of 2003), overall the Chinese people are severely repressed and the government continues violating basic human rights of it's citizens.  This goes on not just in Tibet — but throughout mainland China.

I've never been a very political person, but I've come to care deeply about the Chinese people.  As I continue to learn more about the nation, it's government, and it's people the more I want to participate in spreading awareness of the situation there.

In commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen, numerous rallies and other events are planned all over the world on June 4th.  Tonight, June 3, at 8:00pm (your own local time) everyone is encouraged to place a light in their window.  The idea is to "create a rolling light of hope around the world, expressing our solidarity for the oppressed people in China".

More information on this global vigil is available at tiananmenvigil.org.  This is one step in bringing awareness of China's human rights violations prior to the 2008 Olympics to be held in Beijing.

Predictably, there's no mention at all of the anniversary in People's Daily, the Communist government's "official" newspaper.