Tank Man

Posted by Seth Kramer on Thursday, June 5th 2008 at 10:57pm



I've seen innumerable posts about RFK's assassination today, and he was certainly a man whose memory ought to be preserved, but I want to remember another event from our recent history: a nameless man who had indescribable courage and became a symbol for freedom's cause.

Let me first make clear this is not an anti-China screed. China has done, and continues to do, a lot of things wrong, but they've undeniably made significant progress in the last 20 years. This post is not about China as much as the power of a single man to affect change the world over. It is meant to empower those who feel that "one person can't make a difference".

By early June 1989 unrest began to foment in the People's Republic of China, resulting in students, labor leaders, intellectuals, and others flooding into the streets to protest the authoritarian response to earlier protests in April and May. Soldiers were trucked in to stop these protests, and the first wave of soldiers was overwhelmed by the people. Seas of men, women and children blocked the roads, and showered every kindness upon these soldiers.

When first efforts failed, the Chinese goverment ordered martial law and new troops were ordered into the city, blocking major exits, and fighting their way to the city center. Combat troops, with live ammunition, heavy artillery and orders to clear Tiananmen Square by the morning. These troops ordered the protesters out of the streets, and eventually when they failed to do so, opened fire.

As innocent civilian protestors were gunned down, student leaders were cornered and eventually decided to leave the square, but they would be back. Parents frantic to find missing children went running in and out of the square looking for the dead and injured, medical personnel trying to clear the square of bodies, were fired upon.

By June 5th it was clear the government had used it's firepower effectively, cowing the protesters into submission.

It was in this atmosphere that one man, known only to the world as Tank Man stood before a column of tanks on the road into the Forbidden City (Ironically named the Great Avenue of Everlasting Peace), waving them away.

As horrified students and journalists anticipated his sudden death beneath the tank treads, he climbed onto the tank and shouted at the driver. Surely he would be killed, the crowd thought. The tank had attempted to go around him, but he jumped in front of it again. This man was determined to stop the destruction of his city and his people. He would eventually be carted away by unknown persons.

What is also unknown what happened to Tank Man. He is an enigma. Perhaps he was imprisoned by the subsequent crackdown on resistance leaders. Perhaps he's living quietly in Beijing today. What is known is the effect this image would have on other resistance movements the world over. The Velvet Revolution later that year, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and so on. People the world over site this picture, this act, as inspiration for their acts of civil disobedience. This man's single act changed the world. Think about that next time someone tells you that "you can't make a difference".

Remember the power of one man, one woman, one student, one worker today, the 19th anniversary of Tank Man.