University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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x of whose withheld ' China, pe r . 81 i Chinese vo- w l islanding a performance REMEMBRANCE: At a Candlelight Vigil on September 12, Barry Brents, liberal arts fresh- man, and Li-Ching You, graduate student in psychology, gathered with other students on the West Mall to commemorate the Beijing massacre. RALLY FOR FREEDOM: Stu- dents express their support for democracy in China during the September 12th Tiananmen Square rally on the West Mall. Tiananmen Week 1 7

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The Price of Picture a darkened movie screen. Fade in to a wide shot of a crowded city square. It is evening; flickering fires cast red light over the students who flee in every direction or attempt to stand their ground. Bodies lie in scattered heaps amid crushed bicycles and charred buses. At the east end of the square, tanks lumber slowly but relent- lessly toward the crowd. Fade to black. Fade in to another square, 100 days later. It is evening; the fragile glow of many candles lights the faces of stu- dents who sit silently, wearing black armbands. The three-quarter moon ' s silver light and the glaring white eyes of TV cameras give an unnatural bright- ness to the solemn scene. Sound of a high, sweet girl ' s voice singing, Light a little candle, hold it close to your heart .... Sound of many voices joining soft- ly in the singing. The first scene was Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where on June 4, 1989, Chinese government troops killed thousands of pro-democracy ac- tivists, mostly students, who had been protesting in the square for several weeks. The second was the West Mall, where on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 1989, both Chinese and American students, faculty members and Austinites gathered for a Candlelight Vigil meant, organizers said, to keep June 4 ' s events from fad- ing out of memory. The 100th day for me is like an anniversary, Ying Tang, public affairs graduate student, said earlier Tuesday at a West Mall rally. I think we want to bring some reminiscence to campus, to bring the memory back. Tang was a member of the Associ- ation for Freedom and Democracy in China, formed in summer 1989 imme- diately after Tiananmen Square. When the massacre occurred, a story by Robin Mayhall photos by Hannes Hacker and John David Phelps group of Chinese students gathered to- gether on this campus to talk about what they could do to express their an- ger, AFDC member Pat Wong, pro- fessor of public affairs and a Tiananmen Week organizer, said. The success of the group ' s July 2 sym- posium generated the idea for a me- morial on the 100-day anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings, as the 100th day is a traditional day of re- membrance in China. As members came up with more and more ideas, the proposed one-day event grew into a week filled with lectures, rallies and benefit concerts, Wong said. Former U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright and Ruan Ming, former Chi- nese Communist party official, spoke at the Monday opening ceremony. Tues- day, the actual 100th day after Tiananmen Square, was marked by sev- eral events, including a rally, the Can- dlelight Vigil and a memorial rock con- cert in the Texas Union Ballroom. The noon rally on the West Mall drew both interested Chinese and American stu- dents and passersby. Lisa Ayala, a broadcast journalism senior who stopped to listen to a speak- er as she was walking by, said she was interested because she had followed the summer ' s events in China. When the massacre in Tiananmen Square and in Beijing started, I was pretty much glued to the TV set, Ayala said. I think most of America was interested, as well as the Chinese students. I think it ' s something that cer- tainly won ' t be forgotten soon. Wong said the interest displayed by non-Chinese students was an encour- aging result of the week. I was very encouraged by the number of Amer- ican students who showed up, he said. In addition, Chinese students from three traditionally disparate areas Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland Chi- na worked together for the first time in organizing the event, Wong said. On Saturday, the group held a ben- efit classical concert in Bates Recital Hall. Chinese musicians, some of whose names and backgrounds were withheld to protect their families in China, per- formed both Western and Chinese vo- cal and instrumental pieces. Lin Zongti, who was chief musician with the Beijing Opera for 20 years, received a standing ovation for his passionate performance of the Chinese folk song Lantern Fes- tival on the banhu, a two-stringed fid- dle. Throughout the week, students could examine an exhibit outside the Flawn Academic Center. Pictures from Tiananmen Square, transcribed eyewit- ness accounts and stories from various newspapers worldwide were mounted on large stands. Visitors viewed the ex- hibit and left their own comments on a poster board provided at the end. Wong said he believed Tiananmen Week was a success. I was really happy with the outcome. In addition, the week when con- sidered along with similar memorials worldwide could have an influence beyond just reminding UT students of June 4 ' s events. When you look at the entire picture, when you look at what happened all over the world on Sept. 12, it sends a very strong signal to the Chinese gov- ernment, Wong said. I think we are in this for the long haul. Nobody ex- pects China to be transformed into a democratic nation tomorrow. I think we are looking at a 20- to 30-year ex- perience here. People need to be con- cerned about this because . . . human rights and human dignity are the con- cerns of humanity. Wong said the Association for Free- dom and Democracy in China plans to hold other events to promote awareness and support of the pro-democracy movement among both Chinese and American students. As the speaker who ended Tuesday ' s lOOth-day rally said, The only way to remember them is to fight on. The only way to live is to be free. Robin Mayhall 16 Tiananmen Week

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U SAY YOU WANNA 1 With a single action that of ripping apart a poster of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet communist system a pro-democracy protester in Moscow summed up a year of stunning change. AP Photo 2,3 Supporters all over the world celebrated as Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, walked free on Feb. 1 1 after 27 years in a South African detention cell. But anti-apartheid activists insisted that Mandela would never be truly free until the oppressive regime was abol- ished. Two weeks earlier, 45 anti-apartheid pro- testers were arrested in a clash with riot police. AP Photo 4 One hundred days after Chinese troops moved into Tiananmen Square and killed as many as 1,000 pro-democracy protesters, the Association for Freedom and Democracy in China held a week of commemorative events. Angie Parish, art junior, examines a display outside the UGL of news stories and photos from around the world. photo by Hannes Hacker 5 The country which best symbolized the dem- ocratic fervor in Eastern Europe was Germany. In September, the barriers separating two halves of one nation began to fall, as thousands of East Germans like this couple flowed into West Ger- many via Hungary and other neighboring coun- tries. AP Photo 6 To many students, the March 8 election of Toni Luckett, African African-American studies jun- ior, to the SA presidency was another step in the revolution of 89. Luckett made student em- powerment a major focus of her campaign. Here, she accepts congratulations at a victory party. photo by KirkJ. Crippens 7 U.S. officials were surprised when Violeta Bar- rios de Chamorro, candidate of the United Na- tional Opposition party of Nicaragua, was elected president, defeating Sandinista incumbent Daniel Ortega. Her victory represented the downfall of a regime the U.S. had opposed for years through funding for the contras. Chamorro, shown here campaigning in Managua, was elected fairly, ac- cording to international observers that included former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. AP Photo 8 In June, Lech Walesa, leader of Poland ' s Sol- idarity Union, cast his vote in the country ' s first free election in more than 40 years. The par- liamentary election also represented the first time that Solidarity was allowed to participate as an opposition party. AP Photo 9 Once a dissident poet in an oppressive regime, now president of Czekoslovakia, Vaclav Havel shown here at the grave of Andrei Sakarov made his first official visit to the Soviet Union in February. AP Photo Robin Mayhall 18 Revolution of ' 89