Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

Communist China blocks Twitter, Flickr, message boards — alternate link
— “Beijing tightens grip over dissident community ahead of Tiananmen event”
— “Chinese authorities blocked popular Web sites like Twitter and Flickr on Tuesday after forcing dissidents from Beijing in a clampdown ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.”
— “Exiled former student leader Chai Ling, meanwhile, issued a rare public statement before Thursday’s anniversary of the bloody crackdown, calling for the release of political prisoners, an independent investigation into the events and permission for former student leaders to return home.”
— “‘The current generation of leaders who bear no responsibility should have the courage to overturn the verdicts’ on the protests, said Chai, in a statement distributed by the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.”

Communist China blocking Twitter, websites: RSF
— “China blocked access to Twitter, Flickr and other websites Tuesday, two days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said, expressing ‘outrage’ at the move”
— “Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the blockage of a dozen websites such as Twitter, YouTube, Bing, Flickr, Opera, Live, WordPress and Blogger in China”

Twitter, Bing banned in Beijing

China begins internet ‘blackout’ ahead of Tiananmen anniversary

Hong Kong: Eight Thousand March in Hong Kong
— Epoch Times: “March Commemorates June 4 Democratic Movement’s 20th Anniversary”

— “The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China held a grand march to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the June 4 Democratic Movement. Over 8,000 people joined the march on May 31, 2009.”
— “Szeto Wah, Chair of the Alliance, said that the number of participants reached an all time high. He believed it had something to do with HK’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen public misrepresentation of the Movement in a speech.”
— “The subject of the march on May 31 was ‘To inherit the will of the heroes and never forget June 4; to continue democracy that will be passed down for generations.’ At 3:30 p.m. the march started from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The march was led by dozens of 20-year-old young men who were born in 1989. It symbolized passing down the tradition of democracy.”
— “Those who joined the march included Szeto, founding chairman of the Democratic Party Martin Lee Chu-Ming, and former student democratic movement activist Xiong Yan. Xiong was sentenced to two years for joining the student movement in 1989 and exiled to the United States. Xiong became a lawyer and came back to HK with an U.S. passport.”
— “Xiong said he was very moved when seeing so many people support redressing the June 4 Movement. It reminded him of the student movement on Tiananmen in 1989. ‘When the Liberation Army fired at civilians early in the morning on June 4, 1989, I was there. I helped move the dead bodies. It was something I can not forget. It was horrific.’ Xiong believes the political system in China has not improved in the past 20 years.”
— “Li Lanju came from the United States to support this activity. He said, ‘Twenty years ago, I was a representative from the HK Federation of Students who went to Beijing to support the democratic movement. I was a student in Shue Yan College at that time. I was at Tiananmen on June 3 and 4. I witnessed the bloody suppression on Chang’an Boulevard. Many people I know also witnessed how tanks rolled over unarmed civilians and how soldiers shot students from behind.'”
— original article in Chinese

US Treasury Secretary calls for China to have greater say in world economic affairs
— “China must be given a seat at the top-table of world economic affairs, the US treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, said yesterday as he moved to reassure China that its investments in the US dollar were safe”

Wang Dan on Tiananmen in 1989: I’m proud
— “‘We lost a lot but we gained a lot too… I’m proud every time I think about it,’ Wang told AFP in an interview from Taiwan.”
— “Twenty years on he has no regrets over the tumultuous period that transformed him from a college student to a counter-revolutionary.”
— “Along with other student leaders like Chai Ling and Wu’er Kaixi, Wang led six weeks of peaceful protests from makeshift tents on Tiananmen Square, turning the movement into the biggest threat ever to Communist Party rule.”
— “‘We did not make sufficient preparation at the time,’ Wang said of his eventual capture and nearly seven years of imprisonment.”
— “A photo of Wang in Tiananmen Square epitomises youth in revolt. Microphone in hand, long floppy hair brushed away from big, round glasses, Wang thoughtfully harangues the crowd with a tense look on his face.”
— “At the time he was 20 years old.”
— “‘We are going to take back the powers of democracy and freedom from the hands of that gang of old men who have grabbed those powers away from us,’ Wang said in his first speech at the end of April 1989.”

(Communist China) Tiananmen mothers won’t let memory of their dead fade
— Reuters: “Twenty years after her teenage son was shot by troops near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Zhang Xianling is still trying to work out how many others died with him.”
— “‘China is on the road to democracy and the rule of law, but we don’t know how long that road will be … Before, I thought I would see the day, now I am not so sure,’ Zhang said in an interview in her comfortable living room, filled with books and her husband’s musical instruments.”
— “‘Now the economy is more developed. A lot of people just chase economic advancement, and don’t worry about politics.'”
— “Zhang’s son, Wang Nan, was a cheerful, bespectacled 19-year-old when he left a note on the night of June 3 to say he was going to join friends on Tiananmen Square.”
— “It took 10 days before his disinterred body was returned to his parents. His glasses were still on his face.”
— “Zhang founded Tiananmen Mothers with another woman, Ding Zilin, whose 17-year-old son was also killed. The group is trying to make a list of the dead and urge for a reassessment of the verdict that the movement was a ‘counter-revolutionary’ plot.”
— “They recently confirmed one more name, bringing their list of victims to 195. Zhang believes they have only identified about one-tenth of those killed.”
— “‘Our greatest hope is to be able to openly say it was wrong for the army to fire on people. Civil society should be able to participate in an investigation,’ Zhang said.”
— “Their quest is impeded by police surveillance, the mistrust of families of the dead and the demolition of Beijing’s traditional alleyways, which has scattered neighbors and made families harder to track down.”
— “The group issued a statement in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the crackdown calling for an investigation, compensation and prosecution of those responsible.”