In 1989 as the tanks of the Chinese army rolled over protesters in Tienanmen Square I was working as a research assistant for a law professor upgrading teaching materials in Public International Law that embraced non-western interpretations of the law.
As the violence in China escalated, I was researching a professor of law originally from Argentina who was (and still is) very well known in the area of humanitarian intervention, and of the moral imperative of nations to intervene in the domestic affairs of countries when international human rights are being violated. I found myself, almost involuntarily, writing to him and saying that his entire theory broke down when it came to the atrocities in China. Western governments did not impose trade sanctions in the aftermath of this tragedy; in fact, their "tut-tut's" were barely heard over the sound of the clamor on the trading floors as they reached out greedily to access the markets of this (then) sleeping giant...while children died pleading for democracy. These images still haunt me.
Shame on those who remained silent!
It is almost as though the ghosts of these children are now appearing in the streets of Hong Kong, giving China a second chance to redeem herself, to show the world that she is finally ready to enter the arena of civilized nations.
All the world watches to see how they will respond.
As the violence in China escalated, I was researching a professor of law originally from Argentina who was (and still is) very well known in the area of humanitarian intervention, and of the moral imperative of nations to intervene in the domestic affairs of countries when international human rights are being violated. I found myself, almost involuntarily, writing to him and saying that his entire theory broke down when it came to the atrocities in China. Western governments did not impose trade sanctions in the aftermath of this tragedy; in fact, their "tut-tut's" were barely heard over the sound of the clamor on the trading floors as they reached out greedily to access the markets of this (then) sleeping giant...while children died pleading for democracy. These images still haunt me.
Shame on those who remained silent!
It is almost as though the ghosts of these children are now appearing in the streets of Hong Kong, giving China a second chance to redeem herself, to show the world that she is finally ready to enter the arena of civilized nations.
All the world watches to see how they will respond.