Tiananmen Square Massacre

This picture is of a lone man standing front of a parade of tanks in a feeble attempt to stop the oncoming tanks; reports say that this act was his desire to stop the violence against civilians in light of the student demonstrations at Tiananmen Square.

The Tiananmen Square Massacre, or the milder June Fourth Incident as dubbed in China, was a student lead response to the corruption of the Chinese government, along with other injustices students felt that the government had imposed upon them. What began as simple gatherings in remembrance of the General Secretary Hu Yaobang, an advocate for the student cause, soon escalated to a hunger strike at Tiananmen Square, and then the clearing of the square as ordered by the party elders.

The Chinese government maintains that nobody was killed the day of the massacre at the square, and that much of the massacre occurred near or around the square.

This photograph exactly depicts the essence of the protest: the people versus the government. Unfortunately, this picture also depicts the unavoidable outcome of a single person standing against four tanks and the resolution of the protests.

 However, the man in the photograph displays an outstanding amount of conviction and steadfastness in his beliefs that the violence of the massacres should stop. It represents that a single person fighting for his beliefs is better than none at all. To me, it shows that one should fiercely defend their beliefs, even in the face of certain destruction.