SPEAKING
FREELY Lessons from Tiananmen to Wall
Street By Dallas Darling
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
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Most governments
fear popular sovereignty, something that was
observed by the world when hundreds of thousands
of Chinese workers and student hunger strikers
packed Tiananmen Square demanding a more
democratic and open society. On that day, June 5
1989, some even dared to think and imagine that
Communism had reached the end of its rope and a
"people" government could be achieved. For this
reason, Deng Xiaoping sent tanks and the army into
the square, crushing the protesters
and smashing their
bicycles and tents, the Goddess of Liberty, and
makeshift barricades.
Dozens of rows of
mangled bodies were left lying in pools of blood.
Changing and democratizing authoritarian
political, economic, social, and historical
regimes and institutions will require many
"Known-" and "Unknown Rebels," many "Known-" and
"Unknown Martyrs," who are willing to commit great
sacrifices, even sometimes shedding their own
blood.
In the mid-17th century, Lu
Liu-liang's words and ideas had resonated with
millions of Chinese people. Lu Liu-liang, a
popular sage and philosopher, believed the common
man and the emperor were rooted in the same
nature, that democratic governments must always
originate with the people, and that "Heaven's
order and Heaven's justice were not things rulers
and ministers can take and make their own."
But much like the West, including the
United States, where Republics always maintained
their oligarchy- and authoritarian- and
dictatorial-like statuses, the development of
popular sovereignty in China, including numerous
peasant rebellions, seemed to merely renew the
Chinese Empire and replace dynasties with other
autocratic systems. Democratic and popular
movements must always guard against internalizing
mythical histories and ideologies and popular
myths that allow for pseudo and bogus democracies.
The blood barely dry in Tiananmen Square,
Henry Kissinger, a former US Secretary of State
turned corporate multi-millionaire after serving
in the Nixon administration, wrote: "The
caricature of Deng … as a tyrant is unfair."
Kissinger failed to mention that he owned a
consulting firm representing US companies with
major investments in China. In visiting Beijing,
he lauds Deng and assures the Chinese leader that,
"You will never be without great influence." Deng
inquires if Kissinger was against the use of
military force. "I was for it," replies Kissinger.
US media conglomerates and their electronic
pundits and news "experts," ones that also have
invested monies in China's economy, practice
collective censorship as they tone-down their
criticisms of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, move
to the next Hollywood celebrity scandal, or fail
to report the carnage. Occupy movements will have
to unite globally and be well informed to be
effective. [1]
Pro-democracy
demonstrations actually started in Tiananmen
Square after Hu Yaobang died suddenly on April 15.
Hu was a member of the powerful Standing Committee
of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP). He had been a major reformer, introducing
new laws to protect workers and students rights
and too modernize China. He criticized the wealth
and power of the ultra-conservatives entrenched in
the CCP's Central Committee. In 1987, when
students, workers, and intellectuals across China
demanded free elections, free speech, and freedom
of assembly and press, Hu refused to denounce
them, unlike hardliners. He was demoted and
replaced. When he died, students placed wreaths in
Tiananmen Square to commemorate him. Occupy Wall
Street (OWS) should also support and mobilize for
government officials that support workers and
student rights.
OWS must also learn to
grieve and lament regarding the injustices and
inequalities, along with the lack of opportunities
and loss of life, inherit in America's abusive
capitalistic, militaristic, and corporate power
structures. In truth, such grievances, or
emotional distresses and anguishes, helped lead to
the formulation of the Declaration of
Independence, a document that justified a
revolution by listing a series of major grievances
and complaints. Political and economic grief
acknowledges "human suffering" and is reality
based. It emphasizes local and communal social and
relational bonds, instead of electronically
entertaining and celebrity bonds. Grief is an
internal and emotional dialogue that is extremely
"human." It is also "aware" and "critical" of
destructive agents and deadly institutions. Grief
is necessary before hope can be acted upon, before
collective happiness can be realized, for grief
always considers others.
Grief is never
momentary. Neither is it illusionary, like
fundamental market economies and their material
fetishes. It is uncomfortable and in some cases,
it can even lead to long-term political
self-immolations. This just happened again in
China, when a father, 73-year-old Ya Weilin,
reminded the world again of his slain son who was
killed when government security forces cleared
Tiananmen Square. For 20 years, Ya Weilin carried
a note that detailed his son's death and declared
that he would die in protest because the issue had
not been addressed. What would happened if
supporters and members of OWS had this same kind
of grief and pain, specifically when OWS
demonstrators are beaten, caged, and imprisoned.
How much better would America be if moral and
emotional indignation were practiced over false
arrests, the use of tasers and pepper spray,
manipulative, FBI stings, and long and languishing
prison sentences for OWS leaders?
The
Tiananmen Square sit-in not only pertained to more
rights and equality of education, but it demanded
an end to corporate and government corruption. For
six weeks, student protesters waved banners and
flags demanding democracy and economic fairness.
Many residents and workers supported the student
demonstrators, bringing them food and drink. Other
residents and workers across China made banners,
similar to student protesters, and marched. When a
foreign dignitary planned to visit Tiananmen
Square, Chinese leaders did not want to be
embarrassed. Therefore, a violent spectacle
crushed a peaceful spectacle, so that another more
entertaining spectacle could occur. Oppressive
leaders and their security forces adhere to the
Theater of the Absurd. They rule not with
legitimacy or popular sovereignty, but by martial
law and military force. Military and material
relations are more important justice, equality,
and people.
America's OWS must also be
prepared for martial law and abusive security
forces, which have already happened. In order to
be successful, it will have to build support with
residents and workers throughout the US It will
have to combat stereotypical images, ones that are
fueled by a virulent militarized and corporate
media. Just before the Tiananmen Square massacre,
soldiers and security forces of the People's
Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police
declared they would never open fire on the student
demonstrators. But they did, for they were
socially engineered to believe student protesters
were "counter-revolutionaries." They even beat and
arrested and fired upon workers and residents who
rushed to the aid of Tiananmen Square occupiers.
Because of a lack of support and complicit
behavior by security forces, Chinese hardliners
continued a policy of strict repression. Political
and economic reforms have been extremely slow.
More important than what OWS can learn
from OTS, is what Americans can acquire in
general. Do not be dismayed if in the future, a
rogue government and its reactionaries topples the
Statue of Liberty. Do not be surprised to wake-up
and see a swarm of security forces tackling and
arresting a demonstrator on a bicycle, or to
witness a lone OWS protester standing in front of
a column of tanks. Before the Occupy Wall Street
Massacre, Theaters of the Real will have to
develop across America and "End Two-Party Rule."
Residents and workers will have to assist the OWS
in dismantling an abusive and violent
corporate-military-government welfare state. They
must not allow "the ruler's self-interest" to
"take the place of the common good," nor tolerate
when rulers "take the very marrow from peoples
bones," as Lu Liu-Hang wrote centuries ago. [3]
Above all, do not leave in the darkness before
dawn! [3]
Notes: 1.
Smith, Michael K, Portraits Of Empire:
Unmasking Imperial Illusions from the "America
Century" to the "War on Terror." Monroe,
Maine: Common Courage Press, 2003., p. 266. 2.
See Lu Liu-Bang, Commentaries on the Four
Books, 1670s. 3. This quote is from a
Chinese dissident who appeared in front of the
White House and Capitol to address the carnage
resulting from Tiananmen Square Massacre and
inaction of world leaders.
Dallas
Darling is the author of Politics 501: An
A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and
Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly
Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism,
And Consumerism in the Context of John's
Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of
Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics,
Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a
correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read
more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com
and wn.com//dallasdarling.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online
feature that allows guest writers to have their
say.Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing. Articles submitted for this section
allow our readers to express their opinions and do
not necessarily meet the same editorial standards
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