June 6th, 1989 is the day when Chinese authorities brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrations, killing anywhere between one and ten thousand people in the process. Today, the Chinese authorities are anxious that we forget the terrible events of 30 years ago. Not forgetting them is a punishable offence inside China itself. Now, as those same authorities intern at least a million Muslims in Xinjiang, it is important that we remember what happened, and why.

At the time, China experienced a firestorm of global condemnation. But it has learned how to weather the storm. Then, the authorities could not control the flow of information out of Beijing and that proved crucial. Today, China and other authoritarian governments are doing a much better job of controlling the outwards flow of information about their human rights abuse and of using “fake news” to cast just enough doubt on their sources to dissuade governments and activists from condemning abuses and imposing costs.

China’s government would rather we forget what happened 34 years ago. As the very notion of human rights comes under threat from around the world, it is imperative that we do not.

4June.org is an information project aimed at raising public awareness about this tragedy.

4June.org is a FreedomBlogs.org campaign.

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