Date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, with government using increasingly sophisticated tools to censor its discussion

Date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, with government using increasingly sophisticated tools to censor its discussion

There is no official death toll but activists believe hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed by China’s People’s Liberation Army in the streets around Tiananmen Square, Beijing’s central plaza, on 4 June 1989.

The date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, and the Chinese government employs extensive and increasingly sophisticated resources to censor any discussion or acknowledgment of it inside China. Internet censors scrub even the most obscure references to the date from online spaces, and activists in China are often put under increased surveillance or sent on enforced “holidays” away from Beijing.

New research from human rights workers has found that the sensitive date also sees heightened transnational repression of Chinese government critics overseas by the government and its proxies.

  • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5521·
    2 days ago

    Things the US will forget:

    Korean War (3mil civilian dead)

    Vietnam War (2mil civilian dead)

    Iraqi War (1mil civilian dead)

    Imagine thinking that the US has forgotten any of these when they’re a constantly pressure on the cultural zeitgeist even literal decades later. Or, for that matter, that the Korean War is in any way comparable.

    Violent overthrow of Afghanistan (twice, over 1 mil dead)

    Twice? Christ, tell me you aren’t talking about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Not to mention that the ‘overthrow’ of ‘Afghanistan’ the second time would rely on recognizing the Taliban, and not the democratically-oriented Northern Alliance which was fighting them at the time, as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

    • Cataphract@lemmy.mlEnglish
      8·
      1 day ago

      Not trying to be confrontational or pedantic (there’s enough bickering in here) but it’s important to state that the Korean War is quite literally called “The Forgotten War”. In fact, it’s more important to point out that it wasn’t even a War, but considered a “police action” that claimed the lives of up to 3 million civilians (link).

      Council on Foreign Affairs

      Truman acted without seeking congressional authorization either in advance or in retrospect. He instead justified his decision on his authority as commander in chief. The move dramatically expanded presidential power at the expense of Congress, which eagerly cooperated in the sacrifice of its constitutional prerogatives.

      Robert A. Taft of Ohio, one of the leading Republicans on Capitol Hill at the time, took to the Senate floor on June 28 to argue that “there is no legal authority for what he [Truman] has done.” Nor could Truman argue that the Korean conflict didn’t constitute war in a constitutional sense, even if he did downplay the significance of his decision. (At a press conference on June 29, Truman denied the country was at war, prompting a journalist to ask, “would it be correct…to call this a police action?” Truman answered simply, “Yes.”

      Truman in the end acted because he believed, contrary to what the framers envisioned and the historical record showed, that as commander-in-chief he had the authority to order U.S. troops into combat… Truman was able to establish the precedent that presidents can take the country to war, though, because members of Congress were unwilling, Taft’s complaints notwithstanding, to defend their constitutional power from executive encroachment.

      You can’t look at those statements and not make parallels to what’s going on in America today with the executive branch trying to sequester even more power. Ironically just recently saw a pretty decent video on the war by Mr. Beat

      The War Americans Forgot About

      edit: forgot an S

    • Spzi@lemm.eeEnglish
      228·
      2 days ago

      Yeah, just recently I rewatched Apocalypse Now. And I’ve never been to the U.S. or Vietnam. I agree, this is pretty much alive in cultural memory, not forgotten.

    • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
      611·
      2 days ago

      and not the democratically-oriented Northern Alliance which was fighting them at the time, as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

      You’re joking right

      Please tell me this is sarcasm bruh

      • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        96·
        2 days ago

        You’re joking right

        Sorry, do you not remember who the de-facto leader of the Northern Alliance was?

    • Krono@lemmy.todayEnglish
      89·
      2 days ago

      The “pressure on the cultural zeitgeist” you speak of is just “shoot, then cry”. The victims are forgotten.