Activists in Canada Carry the Torch of Hong Kong’s Silenced Tiananmen Vigil

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Some members of Canada’s Chinese diaspora are feeling the pressure to carry the torch as Hong Kong’s famous vigil commemorating the June 4, 1989 massacre in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square falls silent.

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Sunday marks the 34th anniversary of China’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, in which tanks rolled into the heart of Beijing and hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed.

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Hong Kong’s Victoria Park had for decades been the only place on Chinese soil where large numbers of people gathered annually to commemorate those killed.

But on Sunday, Victoria Park will be occupied by a carnival organized by pro-Beijing groups to celebrate Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese rule in 1997.

The vote by Hong Kong vigil organizers to disband in 2021, prompted by Chinese government law enforcement cracking down on public opposition demonstrations, has prompted many overseas Chinese communities to step up their own efforts, including here in Canada.

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Mabel Tung, president of the society hosting the Vancouver vigil at David Lam Park on Sunday, said organizers began organizing the event a month earlier because activists feel an added responsibility to carry on the work of Hong Kong’s vigil. Kong.

“This year we started in March to plan ahead and work with other organizations across Canada in Toronto and also in Calgary so that those who went to Victoria Park every year have the feeling that we still remember the massacre and the people of Hong Kong”, Tung. saying.

The location of David Lam Park, an urban waterfront park similar to Victoria Park, was chosen in part to echo the spirit of the Hong Kong protests.

For some members of the diaspora, the June 4 vigil has taken on new meaning due to China’s national security law crackdown on Hong Kong since 2020, where Tiananmen-related statues were removed from universities and books removed about the public library event. shelves.

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Winnie Ng, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, said Sunday’s vigil and its message may be more relevant than ever given Hong Kong’s slide toward authoritarianism, as well as recent controversies over potential interference. China in Canadian politics and the intimidation of dissidents abroad.

“In a way, Hong Kong has now become a police state before our eyes,” Ng said. “The very fabric of a civil society, a proud tradition of a rule of law system has now been decimated,” Ng said.

“So this year we feel it is important to both express our outrage and recommit to saying the lights in Victoria Park may have dimmed, but the light for human rights, justice, freedom and democracy will continue around the world. . .”

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Last year, Ng said, organizers began to see people who had left Hong Kong and resettled in Canada attending the vigil in large numbers. There were also some members of the mainland Chinese community who denounced China’s rigid zero-COVID policies during the pandemic.

The Toronto vigil will be held on Sunday at Mel Lastman Square.

With protests and commemorative gatherings effectively quelled in Hong Kong, residents will have to mark June 4 in private. But large gatherings are planned in other cities around the world this weekend, including New York, London and Taipei.

Vancouver activist Thekla Lit, president of the British Columbia Association for Learning and Preserving World War II History in Asia, recently visited Taipei and said the responsibility to raise awareness of the June 4 event What the diaspora feels in Canada is echoed in other major cities with large overseas Chinese communities.

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“I would say that what happened on June 4, 1989, even though it happened 34 years ago, is actually living history,” Lit said. “So, we have to learn from this history that we have to be very vigilant and defend ourselves, our own liberties democracies of these regimes”.

The key, Ng said, is to keep memories of events like June 4 alive so the next generation won’t forget what happened, even if they didn’t experience the protests firsthand.

“I may not see the result that we want in my life,” Ng said. “But I think it’s important that we all take that responsibility, because what we’re doing is not just saying what’s wrong in China and elsewhere, but also saying, as Canadians, how we use our voice to safeguard our democratic system. within Canada?

— With archives from The Associated Press