Gu Yi did not imagine the impact that his initiative would have. Along with ten other Chinese who study in the US, He wrote last month an open letter in which they lamented the ignorance to which he submitted to the current youth about The tiananmen slaughter he 4 June 1989, The bloody repression of the student movement. (video)
The young chemistry student at the University of Georgia had to get to the US to begin to know what had happened. "This part of the story has been edited and has been so carefully that many of us today know very little about that.", The letter points. “Some say that China's Communist Party has learned lessons from the 4 June and we should not worry more, And yet repression continues: The truth is still hiding; The victims are still humiliated ".
The letter is unusual because, Although younger and younger Chinese travel to study the US, In general, during their stay, political issues of their country in academic terms often in academic terms. But the document would have gone relatively unnoticed, At least in China, where silence is the official norm around Tiananmen.
But surprisingly, The newspaper Global Times, that usually exercises in the voice of the hard line of the Chinese government, attacked the letter in an editorial of the 25 May entitled "Hostile forces are aimed at the youngest generation". The opinion article, that had a wide echo on social networks, He announced throughout the country the existence of the students' letter. The editorial disappeared from the Internet two days later. But, even for a moment, Official amnesia had dissipated.
Gu believes that it will take time to return to China, given the attention that the letter has received. In some of his first statements, to the newspaperThe Chronicle of Higher Education, revealed that he has suffered threats. But also several more dozens have joined the letter. "We have lived with this fear for decades, If we are still silent and nobody gets up, We and our friends will continue to live in fear ".
Arrests and surveillance
And before attitudes like those, The Chinese government continues the apparent official amnesia, that conceals a hardening of security measures on the eve of the anniversary and arrests of genuine activists or suspected of being. Dissidents like Bao Tong, Secretary of what was Secretary General of the Communist Party, They have been transferred out of Beijing, According to Radio Free Asia International. And groups, Like Tiananmen's mothers, They denounce that surveillance has multiplied.
Through the organization Human Rights in China, The parents issued a complaint of complaint: "Before the authorities mainly pricked our phones. Since the beginning of this year, They have managed to install microphones in the houses ”, They have recorded "sensitive" conversations. They add that these recordings have been used to intimidate them.
