The 18th anniversary of the June 4 Massacre in Beijing is upon us. Along with other co-sponsoring organizations, the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the USA (IFCSS) and the China Support Network (CSN) will hold a candlelight vigil at the Chinese embassy in Washington DC.

The time is from 7pm to 8:45pm on Saturday, June 2, 2006. The place is in front of the Chinese embassy in the U.S., located at 2300 Connecticut Ave. NW, in Washington, DC. The candlelight vigil this year marks the 18th continuous year that this memorial event is held.

During the candlelight vigil, IFCSS will announce the winners of this year's Spirit of Freedom Award. The award recognizes Chinese who do not surrender themselves to dictatorship; who maintain independent thought and dignity; and who display human conscience and the spirit of freedom. Past awardees include Song ZhongQiu, who criticized Chinese Communism from his death bed, suffering terminal cancer; Hu ShiGen, organizer of the PFDC (Party for Freedom and Democracy in China) in 1991 in the wake of Tiananmen Square's Massacre; Jiang QiSheng, a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy uprising who has continued his fight to push for democracy in China; and last year's awardees, Yang TianShui and the three heroic workers who challenged Mao ZeDong during the 1989 uprising by splattering paint on the huge Mao portrait in Tiananmen Square.

Also during this year's vigil, CSN's President John Kusumi will (rhetorically) remove the gloves and take the fight to the U.S. President, with a speech very unforgiving of the faulty United States policy towards Communist China. Kusumi has a new appellation for the U.S. Presidents ever since Tiananmen Square's Massacre. In his formulation, they are "wuss bunnies of moral cowardice." It has taken 18 years of that cowardice to work up to the frothy state of frustration that drives Kusumi to also note that the U.S. President "lacks situational awareness." According to Kusumi, "This is just like the first days after Hurricane Katrina. There is carnage, and the U.S. President just doesn't display situational awareness ('doesn't get it'). On China, he has continued his predecessors' tradition of a blind eye for all of China's carnage. There is a reason why I am pointing the finger, and saying 'Here is a wuss bunny of moral cowardice.' Ditto for the AP (Associated Press) and the IOC (International Olympic Committee), who don't want to admit that carnage is taking place."

Members of IFCSS, CSN, and more co-sponsors will gather in Washington to attend this memorial activity. The CSN will also commemorate the massacre in New York on June 3 and in Providence on June 4.

The candlelight vigil this year marks the 18th continuous year that this movement has been commemorating Tiananmen Square's Massacre. We believe this annual event is not just a memorial to martyrs -- who sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy in that troubled land called China -- but moreover, is a continuation of the Chinese Democracy Movement. This event expresses the Movement's firm belief in, and effort to achieve, freedom and democracy in China. We hope all friends of freedom, who support the Chinese Democracy Movement, will not forget about June 4. We invite active involvement and participation in the Chinese Democracy Movement. And, if you cannot be at one of these commemorative events, please light a candle and put it in your window to remember the June 4 Massacre. As ever, we thank you for your support.