Tank man lives on

Twenty years ago today the Chinese army moved into Beijing's Tiananmen Square to break up the democracy demonstrations that had been going on for six weeks and involved up to a million protesters, many of them college students. Between a few hundred and a few thousand were killed, with many more wounded.

Today police and soldiers squashed any attempts to mark the anniversary in the square, but the world will not forget the massive expression of yearning for freedom and justice, and we cannot forget the individual who stood before a line of tanks and refused to move.

Hub of the Hub

Did you know that one of the world's leading political activists works out of his home here in East Boston? Or that a foreign country has its local consulate in this neighborhood? I recently started taking note of some of the regional, national and even international organizations located in Eastie and here is what I found:

*The Albert Einstein Institution, led by Dr. Gene Sharp, advises political movements around the world from his office in Eastie. The mailing address for the organization is AEI, P.O. Box 455, East Boston, MA, 02128.

*The El Salvadoran Consulate for New England is located at 143 Border Street.

*Project Bread, the group that organizes the annual Walk for Hunger, has its headquarters at 145 Border Street.

*Hip hop record label Amalgam Digital operates out of 2 Neptune Road.

*The New England Gallery of Latin American Art opened last year at 184 Cottage Street.

*The Militant Labor Forum Hall hosts speakers and films on workers' issues and human rights on the second floor at 13 Bennington Street.

Those of us who live here, of course, have always known that Eastie is the center of the world.

Choosing profit over human rights

Far be it for some to allow the distractions of genocide to get in the way of making money. Shareholders for several mutual funds managed by Boston-based Fidelity Investments voted down proposals that would have prohibited investment in companies linked to genocide or human rights violations.

Fidelity's rationale is that the company is "obligated to achieve the best returns for shareholders." Wait a second -- How about your obligations as human beings?