China is observed to be suffering from amnesia regarding the massacre that occurred at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 20 years ago. Some attribute this to state-enforced erasure of collective memory. The communist regime in China ‘tolerates no mention of the massacre.’

On June 3 and 4, 1989, students and mostly Chinese elite and intellectuals filled the tragic square with a massive rally that is said to be the ‘largest peaceful protest in history.’ The protesters demanded political and economic reform, as well as dialogue with the communist leaders. What they wanted, ultimately, were freedom and democracy.

Today, windows of taxicabs that pass by Tiananmen Square must be closed. It’s a new rule. The square has been declared a ‘politically sensitive area.’

There is an obvious attempt to shut out the massacre from a people’s memory – the memory of how scores of people at that fateful protest were ‘crushed by tanks’ and shot to death by the Chinese army. There were reports that 2,500 people died and 7,000-10,000 people were wounded according to the Red Cross.

The Chinese government is ‘desperate to erase all memories of the thousands of innocent lives lost.’ In China, one cannot find anything written about the Tiananmen Square massacre. Neither can anyone find any accurate account of any atrocity that the communist regime has committed against the people over the 60 years of communist rule.

Via guardian.co.uk