Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars

The Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) was founded on August 1, 1989, when over 1000 Chinese student representatives from more than 200 Chinese Students and Scholars Association in major U.S. universities held their First Congress of Chinese Students and Scholars in the United States at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The mission of IFCSS was to promote democracy in China and to protect the interests of the Chinese students and scholars studying in the United States, as a response to Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Since its birth, IFCSS had become one of the most influential overseas Chinese students groups in history. It had lobbied successfully in U.S. Congress for many bills including the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992, organized the well-known "Washington March for Chinese Democracy" in 1989, and united tens of thousands of Chinese students together for many years since 1989. However, its relevance and importance have been declining for years, even though some of its members continues to organize Memorials for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Washington, D.C.

The IFCSS was credited as to have started using the Internet for social mobilization and congressional lobby, for which a lot of research has been completed and resulted many published books and articles. Also, IFCSS is widely considered as a pioneer in utilizing modern technologies (electronic gadgets) like fax machines and emails to spread truth in totalitarian countries, and to coordinate social protests.

In October 2018, IFCSS become a special topic again, as the Chinese Students and Scholars Association that IFCSS used to represent became a subject in vice president Mike Pence's Oct 2018 policy speech on China.[1][2]

References

• NY Times Report on IFCSS 1st Congress
• Washington Post Report on IFCSS's Forming 1989
• Chinese Students Unite for Democracy 1989
• Los Angeles Times Report on IFCSS's Congressional Lobby 1989
• Washington Post Report on IFCSS 1990
• New York Times Report on IFCSS 1990
• Los Angeles Times Report on President Bush's Order for IFCSS 1990
• Los Angeles Times Report on IFCSS's work
• Political Networking by Norman Matloff 1997
• Politics, control, and computer networks: the Chinese Student Lobby of 1989 by David Alan Grier ACM 1998
• Subscribing to Democracy through the Internet by Fenghua Wang 1999
• Report on IFCSS's influence to US-China relationship
• Mediating a Polyarchal Public Sphere in China Mr Michael J. Barker 2008
• IFCSS Report on Religious Freedom to the White House
• Revolt of the Gadgets by Robert S. Eshelman 2012
• Chinese Activism of a Different Kind by Dr. Jia Gao 2013

References

1. "Remarks by Vice President Pence on the Administration's Policy Toward China". October 4, 2018.
2. "Directive on Policy Toward Chinese Students and Scholars in the United States and Canada, March 1990", in Nicholas Eftimiades, Chinese Intelligence Operations, (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press 1994): 117-39.