Another Profile in Extraordinary Courage

What Patrick said here:

TIAN'ANMEN SQUARE, 3-4 JUNE, 1989: We shall never forget.

Nor should we.

Comments

[James R MacLean]

The crackdown was inexcusable, and I absolutely carry no brief for the Zhongnanghai; but ths photo shows not merely the Chinese spirit of honorable dissent, but the strong sense of civility and reluctance to use brutality (on the part of PLA rank & file). I wonder why this photo became the icon of the crackdown? It's dramatic, but it also shows the decency of the PLA tank crew.

[Michael J. Totten]

In an amazing moment in David Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire" the military attempts to mount a putsch to save the totalitarian state while old and middle-aged women place flowers in tank turrets and carry signs that say "Children of Russia, do not shoot your mothers." They didn't shoot, and it was the end of the Soviet Union.

Maybe the Chinese regime will go the same way. Maybe that's what the nameless hero hoped for.

[Randy Paul]

James,

They probably had orders to wait until nightfall.

[Michael J. Totten]

Randy,

The Russians tank drivers had orders to shoot (in the scene I mentioned above). Yet they did not.

You're probably right about the Chinese, but they are only human so who knows?

[Randy Paul]

I agree, nothing on this is certain, but if my memory serves me correctly, the violent crackdown took place at night.

[akaky]

i think that guy is one of the great heroes of the 20th century.