Today’s anniversary of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre is being marked in Beijing by repressive silence, around the world by scattered memorials, and in Hong Kong by the steadfast concern for human rights and democracy that for years has been a signature identity.

Yesterday afternoon I attended a campus screening of Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice, filmed by the Tiananmen Mothers and produced by Human Rights in China. The 22-minute video is interspersed with footage from a remarkable 50-day democracy movement, when up to one million people gathered in Tiananmen Square to press for political reform. Mainly, though, it focuses on ordinary, unarmed citizens caught up in the events of June 3-4, and that night killed by soldiers in or around Tiananmen: a truck driver aged 33, a chef aged 20, a trainee in international trade aged 19, a mechanic aged 20, an engineer aged 30. It promotes the Tiananmen Mothers’ cause of truth, compensation and accountability.

Linked to the video are five new interviews with victims’ families recently uploaded to the HRiC website. Running to about 5 to 10 minutes each, they bear further witness to the callousness of official action, and reinforce the call for international society to support demands for justice in China.

As usual, I will this evening attend Hong Kong’s annual June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay – a fabulous world city at its very best. In the long run, Hong Kong’s greatest contribution to China will hopefully come from torch-bearing activism of this kind.