Before The Gate of Heavenly Peace

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Chinese died in and around Tiananmen Square and in cities across China as the Chinese military abruptly ended weeks of popular protests demanding democratic participation and accountability from the regime.

Today, China has made the transition from ruthless communism to ruthless capitalism with the regime intact. Like all regimes intent on retaining power, it cynically counts on the citizens' capacity to forget. The regime will do every thing in its power to push the uprising and the massacre down the memory hole into oblivion.

That's why we are remembering today.