六四二十一周年祭

一九八九年，我人在北京。

六月四日的早晨，我很早醒来。半夜时分开始的枪声把整个北京城置入恐慌之中。早晨的西土城路上一拨一拨的学生，步行往西直门，或许是城里火车站的方向走去。大概是早晨八点多，一辆小卡车开进政法大学，随后开始有人在主楼前排队。我也跟随人们排队进了主楼，上楼梯。那是我第一次进政法大学的教室，周围一片沉默，没有人出声。 进入一间教室，地上放了三具尸体，血似乎已经基本干了，但是浑身的血迹尚在，三者的头部都盖住了，似乎有人说三人的头都被辗没了。随着人流我慢慢地离开了那间教室，在走廊上我点了三支香烟，放在了墙边。

五年前，我写了一篇短文，记录了基本与上面一样的所见。五年过去，我得承认当时所看见的，在细节上今天又模糊了一些，但是那天的情形我想不会忘记，除非我失去所有的记忆。

二十一年过去，北京，整个中国都发生了巨大的变化，经济发展如此，民主制度虽然仍然不可企及，但是对于民主的追求和思考却从未停止。这是每一位中国人个人的进步，尽管河蟹依然横行，五毛党仍然猖獗，奸商与贪官还在一张床上做着春秋大梦，今日中国人的民主意识比当年已经不可同日而语。

前天看到冯正虎的《毋忘六四，推进政改》，跟着有 harry young 的评论：“有些话没有说出来，实际上，民运才是陷入到困境中了”。

于我而言，民主不是运动，至少不是国人六十余年来经历的种种运动，民运的处境于中国的民主只是一个历史长河里的一浪。我比较同意 Zuola 周曙光的民主定义：“民主就是独立的个体和独立的组织，在文明社会中使用除暴力外的透明手段，争取利益最大化的过程中逐渐完善的游戏规则。”不过，那样的民主是理想的民主，相对来说，世间尚没有绝对意义的民主社会，但是那并不妨世人把民主社会当作理想，为之奋斗，甚至牺牲。民主不是运动，而是过程；不是革命，而是协议；民主不需要领袖，民主呼唤公民；民主不是“精英”的游戏，民主需要每个人的参与。

我不相信民主的光辉永远不能穿透天朝的烟霾。

以此祭六四二十一周年！

The 29th Olympiad Closed

The games have ended. The closing ceremony is done. I have just done watching the closing ceremony thanks to the monopoly of NBC on the TV broadcasting rights in this country. I believe it when the NBC host said the Beijing Olympics was the most memorable among the many Olympics he had been involved -- at least it should be as memorable as any one of them.

All in all, it has been a very successful Olympiad. I didn't realize that Ann Arbor, this small mid-western college town, had so much to do with the Olympics. There are many memorable moments even for me who don't care much about sports. Particularly, Michael Phelps will be remembered for his 8 gold medals in swimming. Usain Bolt will be remembered as the fastest running man. The US has won the most number of medals, while China has won the most number of gold medals. As some NBC commentator said on the screen, everybody won.

Then of course, not everybody has won. I hope that people would also remember Liu Xiang. He is a hero who went down on his battleground. Beijing and its people have endured a lot to make the whole event a success. Then there are those who got swept aside by the enormous force pushing the Beijing Olympiad. It's one big world, but people definitely still have different dreams.

I believe people with the kind of patriotic opinions like Nie Weiping are in the minorities. In that respect, I admire what Lang Ping has been able to do after her career as a player.

China has impressed the world. But on the other hand, the effort to impress has been obvious -- that may or may not be the intension. Also impressive is that China has tried too hard. Especially their effort to project an image of torleration is silly: They tell the world that they allow protest but then make sure no one is capable to follow through with the registration.