Tiananmen Square, + 20


Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices has been tweeting a number of noteworthy items related to today marking the 20th year since the massacre at Tiananmen Square in China.

Among them: Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's statement, calling for prisoner release. And this article by James Fallows in the Atlantic on the hordes of plainclothes cops in the square today, whose presence is intended to block any photography or video coverage that would remind people of the incident. Also, this piece in the Financial Times, in which a reporter who was there 20 years ago says that Western news misrepresented the protesters and got the narrative wrong.

In related items, do read this New York Times piece about the exiled Tibetan poet Woeser, featured among "China's New Rebels." You may also want to read this earlier profile about the blogger/poet/dissident in the Times (Thanks, Laird).

And one of the principal student leaders in exile flew to China this week, attempting to surrender to the Chinese government in a final act of protest.