poodleposts

Gilbert Baker added a 9th stripe shortly before his death, with the new stripe representing diversity. He added this stripe in reaction to the 2016 US election. It’s unfortunately not as well known as the 8 and 6 striped versions.

Here’s an image of him sewing together the 9 striped rainbow flag.

"if you're queer, stay alive purely to spite the ones who want you dead this pride month, if you're an ally, stay alive to support"

-anonymous

So what happened? I’m gonna give the TL;DR version:

April 15, 1989. Hu Yaobang, a former Communist Party Chief dies.

Many people, including  workers, laborer, students and some officials come to mourn. You see, those protestors were originally there to mourn, not protest.

Time passed and there were some hunger strikes, and protests, and a call for accountability and reform from the government.

Eventually, things went south, because the communist party doesn’t have time to deal with these sorts of “demands” and grievances.

Keep in mind, the people wanted not the end of the Communist Party, but for the party to stop with the official corruption, rule of law, and the gross monopoly of information and power.

Incidentally, China still suffers from all of these SAME problems to this day…

June 3, 1989. The massacre started at night to disperse the crowd. Many were shot, wounded, and killed.

June 4, 1989. Some of the parents of the protestors who never came home went looking for them. It was still total mayhem.

June 5, 1989. The iconic image of the tank man was taken. To this day, no one knows what became of this person.

Content Warning for video: blood

“Tell the world…”

I cannot stress how important it is that people remember and know about this event. Do you know how China responded? With lies and censorship.

Even now, in 2016, we do not have an official death toll on the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Chinese government doesn’t even acknowledge the event as a “massacre”. And they weaves these cover stories of “counter revolutionaries trying to overthrow the government”. Therefore, the violence was necessary to ~protect~ the people. (Or some bullshit like that)

The amount of lying and censorship in China is, quite frankly, scary amazing. Tumblr, which somehow managed to fly under their radar, found itself being blocked in that country.

After all, tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.

And those who remember the incident in China? …………well, you tell me.

What the fucking hell.

I just remember thinking it was a happy event, because all these people were out on the street, and at first the army were interacting with these people. And it almost looked like a festival because people were singing and talking, and hopeful. And then tv coverage for the events got cut off.

The blocking of the live coverage had all the adults anxious, nobody said anything for ages, I just remember my grandmother saying, “Just be glad your father isn’t in China, now.”

And that stuck with me to this day. Because yeah, if dad had been in China then he would have been in Beijing studying, he would have been on those streets with those other students.

It was the first time I knew that something horrible had happened to all those people I saw on the television. I don’t even remember how I knew that the army must have shot at the civilians, I just knew. Because when you grow up in China, especially in the 80s you knew there were things you don’t say, that you can’t express in a public forum, because that can get you and your family in trouble. You just knew, and it didn’t fucking matter if your were a child or an adult.

To this day I don’t remember how I found out what happened in Tiananmen Square, because the news covered it up, but people found out. My grandparents knew, my uncles and aunts knew. Extended family visited my grandparents, I remember people telling my mother not to mention my father’s name because my father was a Chinese Beijing University graduate, who had gone overseas. Because there were people who died in the protests that my dad knew.

And it was all just so frightening because nobody was telling me directly what was happening, but I just knew that all the people on the streets was probably dead.

Looking back on it, Tiananmen Square instilled in a me a life long distrust of governments, but especially the Chinese government. I’m ethnically Chinese but I never want to return to China, not even for a holiday, and this has been my attitude even before Xi Jinping took power. Because Tiananmen Square was a peaceful protest that ended up with the army using heavy artillery against their own people. How can you trust in a system, in a government like that? Because if my dad had delayed further studies overseas by two years he would have been one of those students, one of those fucking kids on the streets that would have died.

And you know, when the Umbrella movement was happening in Hong Kong I was deeply panicked and just anxious because I kept on thinking all those people, all those kids are going to be killed. And when that didn’t happen it was such a relief.

When I found out years later that Chinese people a few years younger than me didn’t know what happened in Tiananmen Square I was so fucking angry. I can’t even articulate the rage and the sheer tiredness of it all.

That night, and in the upcoming months, Hong Kong was in perpetual tears, and in literal shock.

2012

Sveta is in Boston for the weekend. They don't fuck on Friday because she has a boyfriend; by Saturday morning, this is no longer the case.

"He was pissing me off," Sveta says, sipping on her coffee. "Texting me every forty fucking minutes to make sure I wasn't cheating on him with you."

"It is only natural to be jealous of me," Ilya says humbly.

Sveta gives him an unamused look. "He was being insecure. I don't put up with insecure men."

"There is a lot you don't put up with," Ilya remarks.

"I know my worth."

It was her third short-lived relationship of the year. Sveta suffers from an unfortunate combination of high standards and terrible taste in men. It makes Ilya think of Hollander, who has the same trash taste but none of Sveta's good judgment.

Maybe Ilya could use her advice.

"I have a..." Ilya struggles to find the next word. Colleague? Rival? He settles on, "Friend. Jane. Who has a terrible boyfriend. But she refuses to see it."

"Terrible how?" Sveta asks, leaning in. Always eager for gossip, much as she tries to deny it. "Tell me."

Ilya does. It feels a little bit wrong, sharing Hollander's secret with someone who is a stranger to him, but it's not like Sveta is going to put the pieces together. None of the ones Ilya has handed to her fit.

By the time Ilya has told her everything, Sveta's expression has turned stormy.

"What do you think?" Ilya asks.

Sveta purses her lips. "I think I need to hunt Jane's boyfriend for sport."

Vindication! "I told you he was terrible."

"But," Sveta says, "if she doesn't want to see it, she won't."

"How do I make her see it?"

Sveta shrugs helplessly and Ilya groans, slumping against the kitchen counter.

"What the hell did I tell you all this for, then?" he grouses.

"Is he another player?" Sveta asks and for one terrifying moment, Ilya thinks she means Jane. But of course, she doesn't. "If he is, you could break his jaw next time you play. He needs it wired shut, can't eat her out for a few weeks, Jane becomes sexually frustrated and you swoop in and seduce her."

"You are joking," Ilya says flatly. "This is a joke to you?"

Sveta frowns, looking genuinely insulted. "Well, sexual chemistry is important in a relationship!" She takes a long sip of her coffee. "Whatever. You should break his jaw anyway."

Ilya can't argue with that.