Please Help Gain the Truth about the "Tiananmen Tank Men"

June 7, 2017 by admin

Dear Friends:

I am writing to ask for your help on our signature campaign to gain the truth about the "Tiananmen Tank Men."

The iconic image of the "Tank Man" on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, bravely confronting PLA tanks vividly represents the moral courage of ordinary citizens confronting State violence. The image was recently selected by Times as one of 100 Most Influential Photographs of All Time (http://www.initiativesforchina.org/?p=2560).

For nearly three decades, the whole world has been asking: Where is the tank man? As of today, the background of the tank man and his subsequent fate are still unknown to the world.

At the same time, we must not forget the other hero of Tiananmen. Despite the Communist regime's massacre order, the lead tank commander chose not to shoot or run over his compatriot. The most logical explanation is that his conscience made him disobey the order. This soldier is equally a hero. As Time magazine pointed out: "[T]he heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot. " (Please refer to The Two Tank Men http://www.initiativesforchina.org/?p=2116).

Nobody knows the fate of the two heroes, but it is our responsibility to know and to find them. For together, they symbolize that timeless truth that moral courage will triumph over cowardly cruelty.

Over a year ago, on Dec. 10, 2015, the International Human Rights Day, we launched the initiative of collecting signatures across the world to petition China's leader Xi Jinping for the identities and the whereabouts of the two tank men. Our goal is to reach 20,000 signatures on the first anniversary of its launching.
Please add your voice in seeking the truth about this historic stand for principle. Sign your signature and encourage others to sign. There is no deadline for this project, and we will continue to collect signatures until the truth is obtained.

How to sign
(1). Go to http://tinyurl.com/finding2tankmen
(2). Enter First Name, Last Name, Email, Country, City or Zip code.
(3). If a street address is asked, and privacy is a concern, please enter N/A.
(4). Click sign
Note: When more than one people want to use one same device to sign, the previous signer must click the small arrow beside the signer's name and then click Log Out before the following one to enter through the link.

Thank you so much for your support.

Dr. Jianli YANG

Survivor of the Tiananmen Massacre, Former Political Prisoner of China, Recipient of Multiple International Human Rights Awards