The ending photos of the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong are chilling. Never forget that we failed to learn our lesson and allowed democracy to die there
I remember the video from the next day and a lot of people were run over. All of the acts of that part of history get conflated in memory. That's why it's good to have video and good to have professional historians.
At 0530 a column of about 50 APCs, tanks and trucks entered Tiananmen from the East. Demonstrators shouted angrily at the convoy and PLA troops in Tiananmen opened a barrage of rifle and machine gun fire. When this gunfire ended at 0545, a number of casualties remained lying on the ground. A second column of about 40 APCs, tanks and trucks entered Tiananmen by the same route and the students again moved into the road. PLA troops in Tiananmen opened fire with rifles and machine guns, once more causing a large number of casualties.
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/docs/doc14.pdf
That's a common tool of propaganda. If you lie outright, you can get caught, and the audience may not believe you in the first place. The real trick is to leave gaps for the audience to fill in with their imagination, and if you're doing it skillfully, they'll end up not only believing what you want them to, but also thinking it was their idea all along. I've even seen the video cut to show the tank moving in the man's direction, and then cut away before it stops, creating the impression that the full video would show him getting run over and is not included because it would be too graphic - for example, 3:14 in this bizarre psyop recruitment ad.
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone imply that he’s important because he’s a martyr, it’s the fact he believes in his cause strongly enough and he was brave enough to stare down inevitable death and force the other guy to blink that’s so memorable about that image (at least for me and those I’ve spoken to about it)
The psyops propaganda you posted is definitely cringe af but it seems to clearly show the tank turning in the clip, calling it a clear example of misleading people into thinking he was killed is a pretty big stretch imo
What a brave dude and a terrible thing. At least all 42 000 Chinese students were granted full asylum in a unilateral decision by Bob Hawke, our PM at the time.
At least the CCP is open to criticism and debate about their actions back then.
If you go to Tiananmen today, you will see and hear a lot of discussion of this troubling time in China's recent history. Sure, sometimes the debate about one party authoritarian rule vs the colonial nature of Western-style democracy can get heated, but there are police around in clearly marked uniforms to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Never again!
At least the CCP is open to criticism and debate about their actions back then. If you go to Tiananmen today, you will see and hear a lot of discussion of this troubling time in China’s recent history.