Lee Cheuk-yan, one of Hong Kong’s most important unionists and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (the small local Parliament) representing the New Territories West, told AsiaNews about the meaning of the annual Tiananmen vigil to take place at Victoria Park. He warns: "Never before has Beijing chosen to use violence against those demanding democracy and freedom like this year."

 

Tomorrow night, in the Territory, we will have a candlelight vigil for the victims of the massacre. There are three main meanings for this event. The first is to remember: in particular the young people, of Hong Kong and China, need to know what happened on 4 June when the regime washed the call for democracy in China with blood. The second is to demonstrate against the huge wave of repression and arrests against those who defend human rights in the country. This year is one of the worst ever seen in this regard: an era of darkness seems to have fallen across the country. The situation is similar to that which followed the suppression of 1989, all free and democratic voices were silenced by violence. Just think of Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace winner, or Ai Weiwei. We want Beijing to know that we do not forget and we will remain vigilant. The third significance is historical: this year we celebrate the centenary since the revolution which expelled the Qing dynasty. The dream of our grandparents, seeing the empire overtaken by democracy, has been betrayed in the worst possible way. When we look at China, we see tremendous economic growth. But democracy and human rights are still ‘butcher’s meat.’

 

I do not think there is a direct link. In reality the situation is worse: we are witnessing the birth of a new ideology, almost worse than Maoism. The Party wants to maintain absolute control and wants to remain the only instrument of power in China: to silence the majority to keep control of business and politics. The return of Maoist ideology is characteristic of a faction of the party, but it does not apply to all. In a sense, these "new Maoists" want to rebuild their presence using the "purity" of the Long March and, in this way, cover their choices. But all the leaders together, they have chosen to use violence to stay where they are. That, to me, is worse.

 

As I said before, the Party is terrified of losing power. They know that if they were to become ordinary citizens, they would have to pay for all the evil they have done and continue to do. In this sense, they can not tolerate the existence of non-political entities that have a following among the population. The Catholic Church, in particular, scares them: they use the excuse of the “external power" of the Vatican to hide their fear of the Christian message, that could potentially wipe them out. It is always just a fight for money and power: they do not even have the excuse of ideology.

 

I believe that the Chinese government is very concerned about the memory - still present and widespread - of what happened in 1989. With their crude attitude, think they can solve everything like they always have: with money. But the Mothers have made it clear from the beginning that they do not want material rewards: they want the truth. It is this that Beijing does not understand. Also, in my opinion, the Party wants to divide the movement and seek, through corruption, to pull out its representative. But it will not to able to do so: the Mothers have already made clear that these efforts will fall on deaf ears. We, with our vigil, also want to demonstrate that it has all the support we can give.