Some Week, the one ending on June 11th in 1989. The Pro-Democracy Protests in Beijing and the 5th Annual International Conference on AIDS held in Canada. Both yielding pessimistic results.
On the AIDS front, the statistics were grim and getting grimmer, with awareness just starting to spread. Although in many places and in many communities, the awareness came a bit late. Still, the statistics were sobering.
Dr. Jonathan Mann (WHO): “The number of people with AIDS is rising sharply. From about 70,000 from 1980 to 1985, to about 300,000 from 1986 through 1988. To an estimated 700,000 people developing AIDS in the three year period 1989 to 1991. Thus the cumulative total of AIDS is expected to double from today to the end of 1991 to over 1.1 million.”
And in China the race was on to rewrite history. With the crackdown and massacre at Tiananmen Square the government of Deng Xiao Peng claimed it never happened. There were no protests, no students, no activists. Nothing. The coverup only magnified the awful truth. As much as China was attempting a benign face, the ugly little secrets and the human rights violations were all in plain view.
All in seven days, that June of '89. Here is a recap of the week via the CBS News Program Newsmark, as it was first heard on Sunday, June 11, 1989.
