Tiananmen: The Massacre that Wasn’t

By Brian Becker, June 01, 2020

Liberation News is republishing the following article originally posted in 2014 to answer the lies spread by the U.S. government and its loyal corporate media outlets about China on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the 1989 events in Tiananmen Square. While the mythology around this incident has always been promoted as part of the U.S. ruling class’s hostility to the Chinese revolution led by the Communist Party, the distortion now takes on renewed significance as the United States has declared “great power competition” primarily with China to be the defining feature of its military and foreign policy. We hope this article will equip progressive people with the information needed to resist the demonization campaign targeting China that is a necessary precursor to deadly confrontation.

Twenty-five years ago today, every U.S. media outlet, along with then President Bush and the U.S. Congress were whipping up a full scale frenzied hysteria and attack against the Chinese government for what was described as the cold-blooded massacre of many thousands of non-violent “pro-democracy” students who had occupied Tiananmen Square for seven weeks.

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