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"A strong signal to China": Model of the "Pillar of Shame," a memorial to the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, was unveiled outside the European Parliament in Brussels (edition.cnn.com)

submitted 8 months ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/europe@feddit.de

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Depicting a heap of contorted bodies and screaming faces, the statue was unveiled Tuesday as part of an exhibition of “forbidden art” that organizers said had been censored or “deemed subversive” by Hong Kong and mainland China.

The exhibition was hosted by Jens Galschiøt, the Danish artist behind the famous sculpture, and Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, a member of the European Parliament (MEP). A further six MEPs, including representatives from each of the parliament’s five largest political coalitions, were listed as co-hosts.

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[+] turkishdelight@lemmy.ml -13 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Is there also a pillar of shame for the genocide Belgians did in Congo?. Europeans love moralizing, but never like to think about their own sins.

[–] SevenOfWine@startrek.website 13 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

What happened in Congo is taught in Belgian schools and widely known in Europe. Belgium was widely derided for it even at the time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casement_Report

Judging by your username, you're Turkish. Are you taught about the Armenian genocide in school?

Or is that one whataboutism too far?

[–] turkishdelight@lemmy.ml -2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

whataboutism is a healthy response to hypocrites.

[–] SevenOfWine@startrek.website 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is it?

What about the Armenian genocide? Does it get taught in Turkish schools? Is there a statue?

What about Holodomor? Does that get taught in Russian schools? Is there a statue?

What about the up to 50 million who died as a consequence of the Great Leap Forward? Is there a statue commemorating them?

[–] turkishdelight@lemmy.ml -2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Building a statue does not let you off the hook from mass murder.

[–] 0x815@feddit.de 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

@turkishdelight @Stockente

In addition to what @SevenOfWine said, we must note that you can openly discuss Belgian colonial history and atrocities in the public space. You can't discuss the Tiananmen Square massacre publicly in China, though, and the government in Beijing has been trying to hide this and other historical (and contemporary) atrocities committed by China for a long time now. Younger generations who didn't live through the events of 1989, for example, might not know what happened.

[Edit typo.]

[–] turkishdelight@lemmy.ml -3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes we did genocide and killed millions of people. But it's okay because we can openly talk about it. No big deal.

This seems to be the core of your argument. Not very convincing if you ask me.

[–] 0x815@feddit.de 2 points 8 months ago

@turkishdelight

Chinese censors remove video showing off Tiananmen massacre medal

In the video posted March 18 to the official account of the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force on the video-sharing platform Bilibili, a woman clad in a camouflage uniform holds up a medal she said was presented to her father after he was among the troops that entered Beijing in early June 1989 to put down weeks of peaceful, student-led protests in Tiananmen Square.

“My father is a retired soldier," she says, according to subtitles on screenshots published by several media outlets including Taiwan's Liberty Times newspaper, Radio Taiwan International, and the citizen journalist X account "Mr Li is not your teacher."

The "Defender of the Capital" honor was handed out to soldiers and other enforcers of martial law in Beijing, which was ordered by late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping on May 20 and defied by protesters and hunger strikers, who remained on Tiananmen Square.

The video soon started to garner comments referencing the killing of civilians by the People's Liberation Army on the night of June 3-4, 1989.

"You're bragging about how the People's Liberation Army killed our compatriots?" said one comment, while another said the medal was fit for a "butcher," according to screenshots of the now-deleted video.

"A 'medal of honor' won for massacring unarmed students on behalf of a dictator," wrote another.

[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 months ago

You can't compare these things whatsoever. Comparing these events is uneducated and simply stupid. This happened over a century ago, it was a very different time in Belgium and all of Europe. The massacre of Tiananmen Square happened less than 40 years ago. Also, the government in China didn't change since the 1940s, it's the exact same party that was in power when Tiananmen Square happened, that is also in power right now, still torturing and killing innocent people.