Who remembers this?

[Bouncy Ball]

Almost nobody knew his name. Nobody outside his immediate neighborhood had read his words or heard him speak. Nobody knows what happened to him even one hour after his moment in the world's living rooms. But the man who stood before a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square — June 5, 1989 — may have impressed his image on the global memory more vividly, more intimately than even Sun Yat-sen did. Almost certainly he was seen in his moment of self-transcendence by more people than ever laid eyes on Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and James Joyce combined.

The meaning of his moment — it was no more than that — was instantly decipherable in any tongue, to any age: even the billions who cannot read and those who have never heard of Mao Zedong could follow what the "tank man" did. A small, unexceptional figure in slacks and white shirt, carrying what looks to be his shopping, posts himself before an approaching tank, with a line of 17 more tanks behind it. The tank swerves right; he, to block it, moves left. The tank swerves left; he moves right. Then this anonymous bystander clambers up onto the vehicle of war and says something to its driver, which comes down to us as: "Why are you here? My city is in chaos because of you." One lone Everyman standing up to machinery, to force, to all the massed weight of the People's Republic — the largest nation in the world, comprising more than 1 billion people — while its all powerful leaders remain, as ever, in hiding somewhere within the bowels of the Great Hall of the People.

When American newsmen asked Chinese leader Jiang Zemin a year later what had happened to the symbol of Chinese freedom — caught by foreign cameramen and broadcast around the world — he replied, not very ringingly, "I think never killed."


From http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/rebel.html

Remember.

[redqueen]

1. Me.

I do... how could anyone ever forget?

[saltpoint]

2. Bouncy Ball -- I think we needed to see this picture today.

It puts the trivial disgraces of Dubya's Inaugural in perspective.

This photo walloped me when I first saw it and it hasn't lost an iota of its power to wallop me this afternoon, either.

Thanks for elevating this day.

[Bouncy Ball]

6. I'm humbled by your comments.

Thank you....

[sistersofmercy]

3. I remember...

but my guess is the guy was executed! During those protests two young men threw eggs at a mural of Dong Xao Ping (however the heck his name is spelled) they were executed.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. Like it was yesterday.

I was twelve, and saw that happen on live TV at my grandparents' house.

A display of courage like that is humbling...can't help but wonder "Could I do that?"

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I remember it, but at the time I really didn't get it...

------------------------------------
Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/

[Bouncy Ball]

7. I got it, but it flew past my radar pretty fast

because I was 19 and too busy having fun to concern myself with such things.

Today that picture just gives me goosebumps.

[Dr.Phool]

8. It proves

That all it takes is one person.

Who's willing to be that person?

[Bouncy Ball]

9. Me.

[wicket]

10. I still get choked up every time I see that picture

Courage. Courage.

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. You too, huh?

I'm easily affected by some things...and that brought a tear to my eye.

If it comes to it, I hope I have that much strength.

[Bouncy Ball]

12. You will.

I will. We all will. We have to.

[wicket]

17. I don't know what I'd do

But I'd like to think I'd be able to have his courage. That picture just blows me away.

[Bouncy Ball]

13. Courage. Courage.

In a sense, that's all it takes. Courage. No cooperation with injustice.

I will offer no cooperation with injustice.

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. No surrender.

Nail the colours to the mast.

[Gruenemann]

14. I know for a fact he was NOT executed.

Because he was me. Not some Chinese dissident taking on the State, just a lost tourist with a bag of souvenirs asking for directions. I figured anyone who could navigate the city in a tank would know how I could get back to my hotel. Obviously, he wasn't very helpful, even when I climbed up there and talked real slow and loud.

Okay, enough with the bullshit. I remember this whole thing very well. That poor guy is a real hero. I've had no use for the Chinese government since then. And ours is getting more like theirs all the time. So who knows, maybe it WILL be me in front of a tank someday.

[Bouncy Ball]

15. You won't be alone, though.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

16. I was 8 years old when that happened ...

and I too remember .

[wadestock]

19. It was a tense time.....

An age in which military suppression was pitted against freedom.

The Soviets grew up...realizing that the expense of an army which drained their economy wasn't worth it. Pity that we haven't befriended them more and used the resources that were used to fight them for so many years to help bring them to a more stable democracy.

China grew up...realizing they could effectively capitalize off existing technology with a limited free enterprise system. Funny, today are crack business leaders are literally giving them the store and our inept administration feels we're still coming out on the winning end.

Ironic...in all these years, it is the US that has gone backwards, with the worst elements of our free society coming to abuse the majority....yielding a "Marxist" type of capitalism which is ever increasingly stratified between the rich and poor.

Worse yet, these bad businessmen who are now in charge and their neocon coolaid drinking friends unfortunately found an interesting "business opportunity" in a highly trained volunteer army.

The world could be sitting back and just waiting for the day that we go completely broke from this war, the increasing debt, and interest payments on the debt that are soon to become unaffordable.

WAR....in any form....is unaffordable.

[Bouncy Ball]

20. I agree...

the US is going BACKWARDS.

[katinmn]

21. Remember it well. Very brave.

I wonder what happened to him.