Posted on 04/02/2005 10:30:40 AM PST by billorites
Almost nobody knew his name. Nobody outside his immediate neighborhood had read his words or heard him speak. Nobody knows what happened to him even one hour after his moment in the world's living rooms. But the man who stood before a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square June 5, 1989 may have impressed his image on the global memory more vividly, more intimately than even Sun Yat-sen did. Almost certainly he was seen in his moment of self-transcendence by more people than ever laid eyes on Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and James Joyce combined.
The meaning of his moment — it was no more than that — was instantly decipherable in any tongue, to any age: even the billions who cannot read and those who have never heard of Mao Zedong could follow what the "tank man" did. A small, unexceptional figure in slacks and white shirt, carrying what looks to be his shopping, posts himself before an approaching tank, with a line of 17 more tanks behind it. The tank swerves right; he moves left. The tank swerves left; he moves right. Then this anonymous bystander clambers up onto the vehicle of war and says something to its driver, which comes down to us as: "Why are you here? My city is in chaos because of you." One lone Everyman standing up to machinery, to force, to all the massed weight of the People's Republic — the largest nation in the world, comprising more than 1 billion people — while its all powerful leaders remain, as ever, in hiding somewhere within the bowels of the Great Hall of the People.
Occasionally, unexpectedly, history consents to disguise itself as allegory, and China, which traffics in grand impersonals, has often led the world in mass-producing symbols in block capitals...
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
It's no coincidence that within months of this picture being taken, Eastern Europe attained her freedom from the Soviet empire.
I still can't believe he got away. Best of luck to him. Perhaps some day he can come forward freely.
Then my sister-in-law told me that I was being stupid. "The man who stood up to those tanks was Chinese!"
(She's American, Irish ancestry. She does not have a dog in that fight, except for loving liberty.)
With his courage, he honored us all.
If she's Irish, she's got a dog in every fight. I'm American by way of Ireland and Scotland as well. Fighting is in the genes.
;^)
Because someday, perhaps sooner rather than later, we will need to do so again.
Yes, and no.
The soviet was broke, bankrupt. Even under that twisted system they could not make income meet the bills.
The PRC (People's Republic of China, for those who are late to this discussion.) is a brutal dictatorship. It is NOT soviet style as they do business with us (any U.S. products at WalMart?), but it is still a slaveocracy.
G-d bless him and his children and grandchildren.
It was a great moment. It may have been one reason why fellow travelers and apologists for Mao have never quite been able to explain Tienanmen Square away, the way they have done with so many other murderous Communist episodes.
Only a week ago the French and their friends backed down on their plans to violate the weapons embargo on China. Part of the reason was that Bush leaned on them. But also important was embarassment about being seen to deal with the unrepentant murderers of Tienanmen Square, which provoked the embargo in the first place.
"Only a week ago the French and their friends backed down on their plans to violate the weapons embargo on China. Part of the reason was that Bush leaned on them. But also important was embarassment about being seen to deal with the unrepentant murderers of Tienanmen Square, which provoked the embargo in the first place."
The "ingenious" and "inscrutable" Chicoms gave W fresh persuasive ammo with the obstreperous "law" they passed threatening Taiwan. That was a really dumb move they made, totally trashing their potemkin propaganda image.
I've been thinking of Taiwan since that History Channel program about the Falkland's War and the search for the wreck of the General Belgrano. The brutal argentine dictatorship was in dire straits and was looking to drum up some patriotic enthusiasm with a military adventure over some worthless real estate.
I agree. Clinton came dangerously close, and we face the prospect of another clinton in 2008. Not only that, we got the UN to deal with too.
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