In news- The University of Hong Kong has ordered the removal of the 8-metre high Tiananmen Square massacre statue placed within Haking Wong Building inside the University since 1997.
About the sculpture-
- Danish Sculptor Jens Galschiøt had gifted the statue to the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China in 1997.
- It was made in remembrance of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
- The People’s Liberation Army had opened fire on student protestors who had been protesting since mid-April in 1989 against corruption, unemployment, inflation, etc.
- The statue shows 50 bodies with anguish-ridden faces piled up together commemorating unarmed student protestors who were killed as Chinese troops opened fire on them.
- The sculptures remind people of a shameful event which must never recur.
- The Hong Kong Alliance has been responsible for cleaning and maintaining the statue every year since it was installed.
- In 2008, the Alliance painted the statue orange during their “The Color Orange” campaign as it “was a mixture of red, representing the dictatorship of China, and yellow, representing freedom and human rights”.
Other Pillars of Shame-
- Ostiense Air Terminal, Rome, Italy, 1996, during the FAO Summit, depicting the deaths caused worldwide by hunger due to the uneven distribution of the world’s resources.
- Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico in 1999, to mark the site of the December 1997 massacre of 45 members of the civil society group Las Abejas.
- Brasilia, Brazil in 2000 in homage to the victims of the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre which occurred in 1996.
- A fourth Pillar of Shame was planned in Berlin, Germany, in homage to the victims of the Nazi regime but due to various problems, the artist had to cancel the project
Source: Indian Express
