A hundred flowers crushed

This year is the tenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Chinese Communist Party still hasn't and will never learn about the consequences of crushing the pro-democracy movement on the night of June 3, 1989, killing thousands.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party says that only 200 were killed. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, there was only a six-month period in 1957 of relaxed censorship during the 100 flowers campaign when the dissidents were urged to " Let a hundred flowers bloom, and a hundred schools of thought contend."

This was a plot by Chairman Mao Zedong to have his enemies speak out and after the campaign was over in June of 1957, those who spoke out against Mao were arrested and either sent for labor reform in Jiangxi province, or they were executed. Since the crackdown on dissent in 1957, any type of revolt against the Chinese Communist Party is put down by the People's Liberation Army.

A couple of months ago, thousands of farmers went on strike and the People's Liberation went to crush the strike, killing hundreds. Censorship in China is at a ten-year peak.

What we should do is to remember those that have been victimized by this terrible regime.

Gregory Schneider
Political science and history senior