Tomorrow’s event in Rome stands as a crucial symbol for the entire world. Bitter Winter will be there
by Marco Respinti
Tomorrow, June 4, 2020, marks the 31th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when an estimated 10,000 people were crushed under the tanks of the Chinese Communist regime. Tiananmen came after a “reformist” policy had been adopted by the CCP following Chairman Mao’s death and the demise of the internal hardliners. We now know that the Tiananmen massacre was the point of no return for the Chinese regime, and the way it chose to avoid the fate of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries in Central and Eastern Europe. We also know that religions were specifically targeted by the CCP as conspiratorial forces against the Communist state, and hereafter harshly persecuted, hoping for their extinction. Finally, we know that from that moment the CCP rulers have been officially trained to treat religions as their no.1 enemies. President Xi Jinping, in his delirium of neo-post-communist omnipotence, is the most mature representative of the post-Tiananmen ruling elite.
Last year, on the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen, Bitter Winter was celebrating the memory of the fallen and denouncing the still staggering Chinese current situation in Washington, D.C, as one of the several organizations and testimonials gathering at the call of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for a rally at the Washington Capitol.
Tomorrow Bitter Winter ‒ represented by this present writer as one of the featured speakers ‒ will be as well among the several organizations and testimonials gathering at the call of the Tibetan Community in Italy, the Tibetan Women Association of Italy and the Italy-Tibet Association for the event called China: The Fourth Reich of the New Millenium?, starting at 3 pm in Piazza del Popolo, Rome, Italy.
It will be a peaceful demonstration (one of the first allowed by public authorities in the country after the coronavirus lockdown) to remember the victims of yesterday (Tiananmen) and today (dissidents, ethnic minorities, members of persecuted religions), as well as to “protest against the imperialistic politics carried by the Chinese government which now constitutes a threat for Italy too,” the organizers say. “In particular,” they continue, “we challenge the Chinese handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subservience shown by the Italian government towards Beijing.”
The event will take place while China is trying to strike its final blow to Hong Kong’s liberty with the passing of the new security law. Hong Kong citizens are now reacting in a last stand, calling for the world to come to their side in the defense of this “new West Berlin” of Asia, while China is trying to justify its repression through ideological and ridicule lies. I collected first-hand testimonies from sources in Hong Kong, who prefer to remain unnamed for security reasons. They express fear for what seems improbable to many in the West but not in Hong Kong, i.e. an epilogue Tiananmen-style. The same idea was voiced by prominent leaders among the dissidents, such as Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan, a former well-known Hong Kong politician and now human rights activist, himself a Tiananmen survivor, who labels the CCP as “incorrigible”.
This makes tomorrow’s public demonstration in Rome even more timely. For the first time, the besieged democratic citizens of Honk Kong will not be allowed to hold their traditional Tiananmen memorial demonstration. As the organizers of the Rome event underline, “the menacing attitude of Beijing towards the peaceful independentist demonstrations of Hong Kong citizens and the permanent threat of invasion against the Republic of China (Taiwan)” remains a major reason for continuous international concern, and transforms an Italian event in a crucial symbol for the entire world.
Supporting groups present tomorrow in Rome in person or through recorded messages are: Aref International Onlus, The Heritage of Tibet, Società Libera, Istituto Samantabhadra, Associazione Nodo Infinito, Campaign for Uyghurs, La Chiesa di Dio onnipotente, Italy for Tibet, Arcipelago Laogai. In memoria di Harry Wu, Associazione Tso Pema Non-Profit, Associazione Giamse’ Jhien Pen onlus, Associazione A’DHI di promozione sociale, Associazione La Casa del Tibet Roma, La casa del Tibet Onlus, Thuk Je Che’ Tibet, Tibet House Foundation, Anno del Dalai Lama, World Action Tibet, La bottega del Tibet and 100% Free Tibet.
No one will be left behind.
