历史的回响:35年后六四的纪念与中共的镇压
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2024 年是64天安门大屠杀事件的第35周年 ,中国和香港在沉默和高度戒备中度过。北京天安门广场部署了警车和检查站,严密监控一切纪念活动。除北京之外的其他主要城市的可纪念场所也有多名警察和特警执勤,比如南京的长江大桥,上海各高架桥等。香港警方逮捕了多名试图纪念六四的活动人士,包括身穿“8964”T恤的女子和举海报的老人。天安门母亲群体再次呼吁公布遇难者名单及赔偿。海外的纪念活动不断增加,以回应中港的压制行为。
海外著名的推特账号“李老师不是你老师”在五月开始发布了大量由中国人权和人道中国提供的六四当年的照片和视频,至今已经有超过2000万的浏览量,并且还在持续上升。六月四日当天的推文就超过了三百万。而就在几个月前,李老师在推特上公开提醒他的粉丝,关注他可能会面临的危险。许多证据表明,中国的很多网友因为关注了李老师而被警方带走调查和家访,并签下“保证不查看虚假信息”的保证书。而李老师本人的推特每天都会收到大量来自中共的恐怖信息和死亡威胁,他在中国的家人更是遭受了无休止的骚扰和恐吓。
尽管如此,李老师的纪念六四推特依然引起了极大的关注度和曝光率,证明这一事件对中国自由网络社区和海内外华人的巨大意义。尽管中共用各种暴力谎言方式迫使人们忘记,但是血写的历史不容改变。中共无法强行删除人们的记忆和良知。
可惜的是,35年后,中共政权仍然对参与悼念和纪念活动的人士进行严厉的压迫和跨国镇压。而香港因为《国家安全法》的全面实施,也不再是一个可以公开纪念六四的城市。这些压迫在大陆和香港涵盖多起网络案件以及其他值得关注的事件。
6月1日,香港《时代论坛》网站首页在最新一期(右下)和社评(上中)的地方留白(亦称“开天窗”)。社评强调面对历史的重要性,呼吁社会正视事实,避免重蹈覆辙。
6月3日,香港艺术家陈式森(又名陈三木)因纪念六四被警方抓捕。他在铜锣湾的一条街道上模仿喝酒和在空中写字或画画的动作时被警方拘留。去年,陈式森也在同一天被拘留,当时他高呼“香港人,不要怕。不忘六四”。
近年来,香港因《港版国安法》面临严厉言论限制。5月28日,港警首次根据《维护国家安全条例》拘捕6人,包括前支联会副主席邹幸彤,她因组织六四纪念活动多次被捕。自2020年《国家安全法》实施以来,香港的六四纪念活动被大幅限制,维多利亚公园的年度守夜活动被取消。
在大陆境内,八九民运的亲历者、湖南省怀化公民唐浩铭(曾用名:唐隆兵)因六四35周年期间,通过推特转发美国加州自由雕塑公园的六四纪念活动航拍视频,而被怀化公安局鹤城分局以“寻衅滋事”的罪名行政拘留5天。他随后于6月10日中午获释。怀化市公安局鹤城分局的公安行政处罚决定书显示:唐浩铭在6月3日通过翻墙软件登录推特,并转发了网名为Philip Fan的一条长27秒的短视频,配文“每年纪念活动我都会来,今年还帮忙当个义工做航拍……”。决定书称,视频内容“有损党和国家形象,造成不良社会影响”,并根据治安管理处罚法有关规定(即“寻衅滋事行为”),决定对唐浩铭行政拘留5日。
曾被以“颠覆国家政权罪”判刑入狱的原云南省委中共党校教师子肃,近日因在网上直播间里参加六四纪念活动,也遭当局行政拘留5天。子肃原为云南省委党校经济学教师,曾挂职任副县长。但他因长期在课堂上直言抨击中国社会及政府的问题,多次遭到云南当局的传唤和警告威胁,并于2014年被迫提早退休。退休以后因多次公开发布自己对当局做法的反对言论而被刑拘和判刑。
6月18日,来自辽宁的一名高中生因浏览并转发了李老师推特 “六月四日,北京最黑的黑夜” 而被警方带走,并现场写下保证书“保证以后不再浏览不健康的网页,不再转发不当言论,保证做一名合格的青少年,不再给各级部门添麻烦”。类似案件在大陆数不胜数。
在当下言论和思想日益封闭的环境中,中国依然有许多不愿屈服于暴政的有良知的人们。在今年纪念六四前后,为了躲避审查和监控,越来越多的人采取了不同寻常的办法试图扩散六四真相。6月4日凌晨,一款名为《新热血英豪》的游戏中,玩家们更改房间名和昵称悼念六四35周年。当天凌晨五点,游戏紧急关闭了相关改名功能。
而在大陆某小区内,一名网友在他的小区附近看到了一个二维码,上面显示“扫码,拿现金大奖”,扫码进去后,是宣传六四的内容并且可以用微信直接扫二维码查看。
甚至有人在公共厕所的隔间墙板上写下了自己的心声。白纸运动之后,墙内的“厕所革命”再次上演,“35周年,勿忘六四天安门,勿忘彭载舟,勿忘白纸运动!!祝习维尼毙下71岁寿日!蝗上万碎万碎万万碎!”
北京某大学区的门上也同时出现了“勿忘历史,八九六四”的小型标语。
6月20日,有用户发现动漫花园网站疑似被攻击,当时在搜索栏中随意输入搜索内容,都会跳转到六四屠杀遇难者肖杰的广场遗书。
如今,这些方式成为了在中共独裁统治下为数不多的安全表达自己的途径之一,它用了最小的代价实现了传播。受到了无数年轻人的采用。
“中国人权”现任执行主任、原八九学运领袖周锋锁表示:“八九民运参与者非常多,它留下的信息特别多,文字、照片、视频,这些都和中共洗脑下的中国情况非常不一样。人们要想感受到另外一种中国人的精神状态,那最集中的就是六四。35年是很长的一段历史,但它的震撼力一直存在。”周锋锁表示,一旦人们接触到真相,中国当局的宣传洗脑就会失效,而这也是当局最为恐惧的事情。而现在年轻一代利用游戏和二维码等新型方式传播恰恰给了中共最直接的反击。尽管 35 年来中国政府对历史的封杀和对真相的掩盖没有任何解释,可人们永远有办法获得真相,
六四屠杀35周年的纪念不仅是对过去的缅怀,更是对现实的审视和对未来的期盼。在海内外华人的共同努力下,六四的记忆将永不磨灭。正如周锋锁所言,一旦人们接触到真相,宣传洗脑就会失效。我们坚信,追求自由与民主的努力终将获得回报,中国的未来将由那些不畏强权、坚持真理的人们书写。
Reverberations of History: 35 Years Later, Commemorations of June 4th and the CCP's Suppression
2024 marks the 35th anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre, a day China and Hong Kong have passed in silence and under tight security. Beijing's Tiananmen Square was patrolled by police cars and checkpoints, closely monitoring any commemorative activities. Other major cities had increased police and special forces presence at key locations, such as the Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing and various overpasses in Shanghai. In Hong Kong, police arrested several individuals attempting to commemorate June 4th, including a woman wearing a "8964" T-shirt and an elderly man holding a poster. The Tiananmen Mothers group once again called for the publication of the victims' names and compensation. Overseas commemorative activities have increased in response to the suppression in China and Hong Kong.
The prominent Twitter account "Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher" began posting numerous videos and photos from June Fourth, provided by Human Rights in China and Humanitarian China, which has garnered over 20 million views and counting. On June 4th alone, their tweets received over three million views. Just a few months earlier, Teacher Li publicly warned his followers on Twitter about the potential dangers he might face. Evidence shows that many Chinese netizens who followed Teacher Li were taken in for questioning, subjected to home visits by the police, and made to sign statements promising not to view "false information." Teacher Li himself receives numerous terrorizing messages and death threats from the CCP daily, and his family in China has been continuously harassed and threatened. Despite this, Teacher Li's commemorative tweets have attracted significant attention and exposure, demonstrating the immense importance of this event to China's free online community and overseas Chinese. Although the CCP uses various violent and deceitful methods to force people to forget, history written in blood cannot be altered. The CCP cannot forcibly erase people's memories and consciences.
Regrettably, 35 years later, the CCP regime still severely oppresses those who participate in mourning and commemorative activities, even engaging in transnational repression. With the full implementation of the National Security Law, Hong Kong is no longer a city where June 4th can be openly commemorated. This oppression covers numerous online cases and other notable incidents in both mainland China and Hong Kong.
On June 1st, the front page of Hong Kong's "Epoch Times" left blank spaces in the latest issue (bottom right) and editorial (top center). The editorial emphasized the importance of facing history, urging society to confront the facts to avoid repeating mistakes.
On June 3rd, Hong Kong artist Chen Shishen (also known as Chen Sanku) was arrested by the police for commemorating June 4th. He was detained while mimicking drinking and writing or drawing in the air on a street in Causeway Bay. Last year, on the same day, Chen was also detained for shouting, "Hongkongers, don't be afraid. Don't forget June 4th."
In recent years, Hong Kong has faced severe restrictions on free speech due to the National Security Law. On May 28th, for the first time under the National Security Ordinance, Hong Kong police arrested six people, including former vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Chow Hang-tung, who has been arrested multiple times for organizing June 4th commemorative activities. Since the implementation of the National Security Law in 2020, June 4th commemorative activities in Hong Kong have been significantly restricted, and the annual vigil in Victoria Park has been canceled.
In mainland China, Tang Haoming (formerly known as Tang Longbing), a participant in the 1989 Democracy Movement from Hunan Province, was administratively detained for five days by the Hecheng Branch of the Huaihua Public Security Bureau for reposting a drone video of the June 4th commemorative activities at the Liberty Sculpture Park in California on Twitter during the 35th anniversary of June 4th. He was released at noon on June 10th. The public security administrative penalty decision issued by the Hecheng Branch of the Huaihua Public Security Bureau stated that Tang Haoming used a VPN to log into Twitter on June 3rd and reposted a 27-second video by a user named Philip Fan with the caption, "I attend every year, this year I even helped as a volunteer doing drone shots...". The decision stated that the video content "damaged the party and national image and caused adverse social impacts," and decided to administratively detain Tang Haoming for five days according to relevant provisions of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law (i.e., "picking quarrels and provoking trouble").
Zi Su, a former lecturer at the Communist Party School of Yunnan Province, who was previously imprisoned for "subverting state power," was also administratively detained for five days for participating in an online live stream commemorating June 4th. Zi Su was an economics teacher at the Yunnan Provincial Party School and had served as deputy county head. However, due to his long-term outspoken criticism of Chinese society and government in his lectures, he was repeatedly summoned and threatened by Yunnan authorities and was forced to retire early in 2014. After retirement, he was detained and sentenced multiple times for publicly expressing his opposition to government actions.
On June 18th, a high school student from Liaoning was taken away by police for browsing and reposting Teacher Li's tweet "June 4th, Beijing's Darkest Night," and was made to write a statement on the spot promising "not to browse unhealthy websites, not to repost inappropriate remarks, and to be a qualified teenager who does not cause trouble for various departments." There have been numerous similar cases in mainland China.
In this increasingly closed speech and thought environment, there are still many conscientious people in China who refuse to succumb to tyranny. Around this year's June 4th commemoration, to evade censorship and surveillance, more and more people adopted unusual methods to spread the truth about June 4th. In the early hours of June 4th, in a game called "New Hot Blood Heroes," players changed their room names and nicknames to commemorate the 35th anniversary of June 4th. At five in the morning that day, the game urgently disabled the renaming function.
In a certain community in mainland China, a netizen saw a QR code near their neighborhood displaying "Scan to win cash prizes." Scanning the code revealed content about June 4th and allowed users to view it directly through WeChat.
Some people even wrote their heartfelt messages on the walls of public restroom stalls. After the White Paper Movement, the "toilet revolution" is happening again, with messages like "35th anniversary, never forget June 4th Tiananmen, never forget Peng Zai Zhou, never forget the White Paper Movement!! Wishing Xi Winnie a quick death on his 71st birthday! Long live the locusts!"
At the entrance of a university district in Beijing, small slogans reading "Never forget history, 8964" also appeared.
On June 20th, users found that the Anime Garden website was suspected of being hacked. At the time, entering any search term in the search bar would redirect to the farewell letter of Xiao Jie, a victim of the June 4th massacre.
These methods have now become one of the few safe ways to express oneself under CCP dictatorship, achieving dissemination with minimal cost. They have been adopted by countless young people.
Zhou Fengsuo, current executive director of "Human Rights in China" and a leader of the 1989 student movement, stated, "The 1989 Democracy Movement had many participants, leaving behind a wealth of information, texts, photos, and videos that are vastly different from the brainwashed state of China today. If people want to experience a different Chinese spirit, June 4th is the most concentrated expression of that. Thirty-five years is a long period, but its impact remains." Zhou Fengsuo said that once people are exposed to the truth, the CCP's propaganda brainwashing will fail, which is what the authorities fear most. Now, the younger generation using new methods like games and QR codes to spread information is giving the CCP a direct counterattack. Despite 35 years of government cover-up and lack of explanation, people will always find ways to access the truth.
The 35th anniversary of the June 4th incident is not only a remembrance of the past but also an examination of the present and a hope for the future. With the joint efforts of Chinese people at home and abroad, the memory of June 4th will never be erased. As Zhou Fengsuo said, once people are exposed to the truth, propaganda brainwashing will fail. We firmly believe that the pursuit of freedom and democracy will eventually be rewarded, and China's future will be written by those who stand up to tyranny and uphold the truth.