On the eve of the 37th anniversary of the June Fourth Incident, former Vice Chairman of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Rani Chow, published an article titled “Our Story is Not Over” in both Chinese and English on the Patreon platform. Currently imprisoned, Rani Chow revealed in the article that she will be on a 37-hour hunger strike in prison this year to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the June Fourth Incident.
She emphasized that in the struggle between memory and rewriting memory, forgetting is the root cause of democracy’s decline and called on the public to collectively guard memories.
In the article, Rani mentioned that on May 19th, upon returning to prison after completing her court statement, she learned that a Starbucks in South Korea had caused public outrage and led to the resignation of the group’s chairman and CEO for using a massacre event that happened 46 years ago for promotional purposes. Contrasting this incident with the current situation in her city, she pointed out the double standard where commemorating the crackdown is deemed “sinful,” yet organizing markets and showcasing “joyous celebrations” and “shameless behavior” on the anniversary of the massacre receives significant government funding without consequences, demonstrating the difference between “civilization and barbarism.”
Addressing the current social situation, Rani Chow believes that losing freedom of speech may not only mean losing articles or activities but could also lead to the loss of one’s soul. She stated, “Ethics are born in the human heart, die in power; born in choices, die in being singular; born in questioning, die in obedience.” When the will of power becomes the highest criterion for action, societal decadence becomes inevitable.
She advocated that to cage power, one must start by safeguarding the “bottom line of being human” and gradually reclaim humanity from the grip of power.
Regarding the legal litigation she is facing, Rani described it as an attempt to demand oneself to “not say what one doesn’t believe, not do what one shouldn’t do,” without caring about success or failure. Excessive concentration of power distorts human nature, hence “checking power to end tyranny” is an uncompromising and unavoidable goal.
In the concluding paragraphs of her article, Rani urged the public to stand firm on the matter of the June Fourth Incident, a “major right-or-wrong issue,” to cultivate “antibodies against power corrosion,” emphasizing that this capability is a reliable defense against the worship of power. She expressed that behind the aura of power and dictatorship lies “the blood and shattered dreams of ordinary people,” hoping that the public will continue to commemorate, record, and journey together to become a “better and more authentic self.”
She concluded by emphasizing that while the story of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China may have come to a formal end, she hopes the public will continue to pass on the stories and conclude them with “Our Story ~ Is ~ Not ~ Over!”