Chapter 23 Communism

China has been a communist country since 1948. In 1989 in Tiananmen Square in China, one million students from various universities gathered against the communist regime. The student protest was held to try to change the Chinese government to a democracy, get freedom of the press, and achieve economic reform. The protest which lasted from April to June started as a peaceful hunger strike. On June 14th, 1989 military tanks came into the square to attempt to force the protesters out of the square. The soldiers shot qurifine into the crowd and many were injured or killed. After the protests China continued to be a communist nation and the protests accomplished nothing.

Recently another protest in the United States had tried to change the economic crisis. This protest was called Occupy Wall Street. The protests began in September of 2011. The main issues of the protest were social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the influence of corporations on government. The protesters wanted better jobs, more jobs, more equal distribution of money, forgiveness of student loans, bank reform and less influence of corporations on politics. Protesters got violent when the police came into their occupied area. The protesters jumped over barriers, pushed over police scooters and blocked traffic. Some of the protesters were arrested but none were killed like in Tiananmen Square in China. This protest in the United States may not be about changing government from a communist nation to a democracy but it does demonstrate how no change in either case occurred in the government’s political structure.