Thank you Sandy for posting that video.

One of the most powerful images, that I don't think I'd seen before, is at 1:47 in the video.

The student with the words in English on his back.

I love life
I need food
but I'd rather
die without
Democracy

Sadly, we probably will never know if he lived or died, but the message comes through strong and clear.

The seeds have already been planted, and democracy most likely will rise in China. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen from within. This is how democracy spreads, not at the end of a gun barrel like Bush seems to think.

We can't give up on the fight here though, saying the fight is over there. The fight is right here, in the US and the UK, as the corporations that encourage these practices are based right here in our back yards.

That is the thing with global economics. What we do here can greatly affect what happens in the far corners of the world, after all it created the problem. It can also create the solution.

Democracy is not a spectator sport, it requires action. As we can see in the videos and stories of Tiananmen Square, many Chinese understand this, and the news reports are already coming in about planned events for the 20th annniversary this year. Maybe we should be planning to support them.

A lot of people seem to think the US gained it's independence on it's own, but we had a lot of help from other countries, most notably France, but others as well, including forces from within England. If China is to obtain freedom, it will require help from all of us.

BHSC