It was Hank Paulson that recently said “”When the situation changes you better be ready to change”. This image should be a reminder that the desire for freedom of individuals is far more powerful that governments believe. The idea that one person can stand up to a row of tanks blows my mind. It sends shivers down my neck.
This image was indeed the inflection point that turned Chinese communism upside down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man
Tank Man, or the Unknown Rebel, is the nickname of an anonymous man who achieved fame and widespread international recognition as a heroic figure when he was videotaped and photographed during the protests at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. Several photographs were taken of the man, who stood in front of a column of Chinese Type 59 tanks, preventing their advance.
Charlie Cole, working for Newsweek and on the same balcony with Stuart Franklin, hid his roll of film containing Tank Man in a Bejing Hotel toilet, sacrificing an unused roll of film and undeveloped images of wounded protesters after PSB raided his room and forced him to sign a confession. Cole was able to retrieve the roll and have it sent to Newsweek. He won a World Press Award for a similar photo. It was featured in Life’s “100 Photographs That Changed the World” in 2003.