IFCSS Manifesto

The First Convention of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the US

July 30, 1989, Chicago

We are students and scholars from the People's Republic of China, residing in all parts of the United States of America. We love the scientific studies we are engaged in, and we are determined to become future scientists, artists, engineers, and experts in various social and humanity sciences. We uphold the spirit of science and reason. We respect and cherish the basic human rights. We are committed to the advancement of civilization, and we seek a peaceful, free, and democratic society and political system.

The bloody events that occurred on June 4th, 1989, in Beijing, the capital of China, however, made us painfully aware that in China, our motherland, science and reason have been decimated, civilization has been devastated, young buds of peace, liberty and democracy have been crushed, and the basic rights of the people have been trampled upon by power and violence.

At this historical moment, we, forty thousand overseas Chinese students and scholars in the US, having come together in answer to the call of our conscience and sense of justice, solemnly declare the founding of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars. We strongly condemn the bloody crackdown on peaceful civilians by the current Chinese government. We express profound grieve over the death of our fellow countrymen, and we express heartfelt sympathy for the families of the victims. The people's blood shall not be shed in vain. The day is bound to come when those arch-criminals responsible for slaying the people are finally tried by history and by the people!