Remembrance and Resistance：the 26th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre (Beijing Massacre 1989)

On Thursday the 4th of June, 7pm-9pm, around 110 people gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in London to commemorate victims of the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. Commemorators read out the names of known victims of the massacre, and mark their names on a street map of Beijing showing the places where most of these victims were killed or the hospitals to which their bodies were taken.

While there are Tiananmen prisoners including Miao Deshun, who have been kept in prison all these years since they were locked up immediately after the Massacre, there are over two dozen Tiananmen participants who have been imprisoned in recent years, activist Chen Yunfei, lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and journalist Gao Yu. Twenty commemorators participated in interactive street theatre – to recount their stories.

Gao Yu: "This is my third jail sentence, and I’m 71 now, but I want to say to the Chinese authorities: 'You have a gun. I have a pen’. I’m proud that history has given me the choice of a pen.”

高瑜：“这是我第三次牢狱之灾。我71岁了，但是我要对中国当局说：‘你有枪，我有笔’­­，历史让我选择了笔，我以此为荣。”

Pu Zhiqiang: “Tanks rolled towards us, gunshots sounded like fireworks. I made a promise to myself: ”If I survived this massacre, I'd come back to Tiananmen every year on June 4.“

浦志强: “坦克开过来，枪声听着像炮竹。我对自己发誓：”如果屠杀过后我还活着，我会每年六四重­返天安门。”

Chen Yunfei: “Some people call me a human rights activist, because I’ve been campaigning for children’s rights, petitioners’ rights, civil rights etc. etc. for years. But I’d prefer to call myself a “beast tamer”, because I see myself as a performance artist who wants to lock the authoritarian power in a cage.”

陈云飞: “有人称我是人权活动家，因为我多年倡导儿童权利、访民权利、公民权利等等。但我更喜欢­称自己为“驯兽师”，因为我把自己看成行为艺术家，想要把专制权力锁进笼子。”

Video:

Street action I Am #GaoYu (ep1/4) performed by London #June4 commemorators 伦敦 #六四 纪念者街头合演《我是》#高瑜 (四幕之一)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qq5LKt7CYA&spfreload=10  #TAM26

Street action I Am #PuZhiqiang (ep2/4) performed by London #June4 commemorators 伦敦 #六四 纪念者街头合演《我是》#浦志强 (四幕之二) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00rwJtMO68 #TAM26

Street action I Am #ChenYunfei (ep3/4) performed by London #June4 commemorators 伦敦 #六四 纪念者街头合演《我是》#陈云飞(四幕之三) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTx7az9KAHE #TAM26

Street action I Am #MiaoDeshun (ep4/4) performed by London #June4 commemorators 伦敦 #六四 纪念者街头合演《我是》#苗德顺 (四幕之四) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srXZw7-xqz0 … #TAM26

Images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29598846@N02/sets/72157654097679525#
 

See also: Remembrance and Resistance – 26th Anniversary of Tiananmen, https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/countdown-china/remembrance-and-resistance-%E2%80%93-26th-anniversary-tiananmen