Blogging the AGM 2008 #9 (Tiananmen campaign action)

This afternoon we campaigned for justice for the 'Tiananmen Mothers', who lost their sons and daughters to the guns and tanks of the Chinese security forces on June 4 1989 and the days that followed. After the massacre, the mothers started a ritual whereby they attempt to lay a bouquet of roses in the Square to publicly commemorate the Tiananmen victims. They have never been able to carry out their commemoration.

500 of us walked solemnly, holding red roses and laying them down on the ground to spell out the words 'Human Rights for China'. The action was videoed and will go online and around the world.

After the ceremony, Kate Allen and her AI Hong Kong director counterpart, Milabel Cristobal, addressed the crowd. Dan Jones (by the way, well done to Dan and team, yet again, for a great action) finished the campaigning action by reading a most beautiful poem by James Fenton, Tiananmen.

Tiananmen
Is broad and clean
And you can't tell
Where the dead have been
And you can't tell
What happened then
And you can't speak
Of Tiananmen

You must not speak.
You must not think.
You must not dip
Your brush in ink.
You must not say
What happened then,
What happened there
In Tiananmen

The cruel men
Are old and deaf
Ready to kill
But short of breath
And they will die
Like other men
And they'll lie in state
In Tiananmen. They lie in state.
They lie in style.
Another lie's
Thrown on the pile,
Thrown on the pile
By the cruel men
To cleanse the blood
From Tiananmen.

Truth is a secret.
Keep it dark.
Keep it dark
In your heart of hearts.
Keep it dark
Till you know when
Truth may return
To Tiananmen.

Tiananmen
Is broad and clean
And you can't tell
Where the dead have been
And you can't tell
When they'll come again.
They'll come again
To Tiananmen.

 Thanks to blogmonster for the grabbed pic above, by the way.

Link to post #10