On June 4, 2020, the Human Rights Foundation will host a live online event with survivors and eyewitnesses of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, on the 31st anniversary of these protests taking place back in 1989, where the Chinese government ordered the People’s Liberation Army to turn its weapons and tanks on unarmed students in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, in order to crush their peaceful pro-democracy protest movement.
This event is part of Dissidents and Dictators, HRF’s new series of conversations dedicated to exposing and challenging authoritarianism around the world. It will feature Chinese human rights advocates, top regional journalists, and pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong as they put historical events in context of today’s actions of Xi Jinping’s authoritarian regime.
Speakers include American investigative journalist and editor Claudia Rosett, Chinese human rights activist Anastasia Lin, Tiananmen Massacre survivor Yang Jianli, Buzzfeed News world correspondent Megha Rajagopalan, Hong Kong-based activist journalist Frances Hui, and founding and managing director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council Samuel M. Chu.
Despite the Chinese Communist Party’s best efforts to erase the truth of the Tiananmen Massacre, what happened on June 4, 1989 forever changed the relationship between the Chinese people and a regime that chose brute violence over dialogue.
What lessons does the Tiananmen Massacre hold for a global audience today, as China’s reach extends far beyond its borders? And how should the world respond as China threatens a similar outcome for Hong Kong?
Join us on Thursday to find out more.
Looking Back On The Tiananmen Massacre
10:00 a.m. – noon ET // 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. PT
June 4, 2020
To request an interview with one of the speakers or to learn more about this event, please contact media@hrf.org.