20 Years Ago Today

On June 4th, 1989, thousands of Chinese students, workers, and citizens marched in peace in Tiananmen Square. They raised the Goddess of Democracy in the image of our own Statue of Liberty. They quoted America's Founding Fathers. They called for democratic reform, freedom of speech and assembly, and an end to corruption. Then, the People's Liberation Army was used against them -- crushing demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, killing thousands, and crushing dissent throughout China.

This afternoon, Speaker Pelosi, Members of Congress, and human rights activists participated in an event on the West Front of the Capitol to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Speaker Pelosi:

I have said over and over again: if we do not support human rights in China and in Tibet, we lose all moral authority to speak about human rights any place in the world. So here we are in front of the Capitol, a building symbolic of the core values of our American independence and our Constitution, in solidarity with those who, using our words, modeling the Goddess of Democracy after the Statue of Liberty, having those aspirations -- people carrying those aspirations crushed in Tiananmen Square.

Twenty years later, the spirit is still alive. In Hong Kong in the observance of Tiananmen Square, over 150,000 people turned out last night. 150,000 people -- the biggest crowd since the one-year anniversary of Tiananmen Square. So I know that the long arm of the Chinese government will be reaching out to the media all over the world to suppress reporting on what's happened in China, and also restricting communication from China through the Internet and the rest, but the fact is that here we are at the Capitol, there they were in Hong Kong, a drumbeat of activity across the world, an echo of the voices of the heroes of Tiananmen. We will never forget. We want a record of what happened, and we will continue to work for more openness and improvements in human rights in China and Tibet.

Thank you for your courage to turn out here today, to stand in front of the Capitol, to hold us accountable to our own values, and to continue to work together to remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre, to get a public accounting of it.

And let me say just one thing in closing that was shocking to me. On the way there -- perhaps you've seen the Frontline documentary on Tiananmen Square? And they have a picture of the man before the tank, this picture, an icon that is seared in the minds of people throughout the world. And they had in this documentary that they showed it to some students at Beijing University just a couple of years ago and those students had no idea what the photo was. They said, 'What is that? Is that art? Did you put that together?' This is an indication of how the Chinese government has suppressed what happened on June 4th and the days leading up to it.

Whatever our roles in whatever stage of our involvement, we have to use everything at our disposal so that they know that we have not forgotten, and that we will not rest until there is freedom of speech and expression and assembly and openness in China and in Tibet. Continue reading>>

Learn about the Resolution the House passed earlier this week on Tiananmen Square>>

Read Speaker Pelosi's reflections on today at the Huffington Post>>