Jalan

On the origins of anti-Asian racism and how we have fought back

by the Editors

Introduction

In the United States, racist views of Asian- Americans are promiscuous and self-contradictory. On the one hand, we are told that we are model minorities, hard working citizens living out the classic American story of immigration and upward mobility. On the other hand, we are painted as perpetual foreigners, never quite American even after multiple generations of citizenship. On the one hand, we are supposed to be passive, docile, and submissive, while on the other hand they fear we are the yellow peril, a rising, ruthless, and aggressive empire that will someday destroy the white race.

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by the Editors

Over the past decade, Korea has been at the forefront of conflicts over U.S. presence in Asia, the independence and integrity of Asian nations, and what types of economic systems can lead to modernization and prosperity. Many everyday Koreans are asking themselves, why is the US army still present in Korea half a century after the end of the Korean War?

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by Lauren Ray

Over the past three years, a whirlwind of reports have circulated in newspapers and the hums of disgruntled conservative news pundits have filled airwaves. This latest cause of controversy, the latest so-called “threat” to American civilization is the uproar of an incipient, Latina/o-led immigrant rights movement that has organized in schools, neighborhoods and workplaces across the country. Policy analysts and rightwing forces complain that this movement represents the “Hispanic challenge” and signals the “clash of civilizations.” Some others discuss the immigrant rights movement as “awakening a sleeping giant,” bringing to the surface repressed memories of immigrant radicalism that have defined workplace struggles in this country for centuries. As participants in the 8-hour workday movement in the late 19th century, members of the early Industrial Workers of the World, rabble rousing miners, striking railroad workers, and insurgent laundry and garment workers in the 19th and 20th centuries; immigrants of all colors have organized and fought both the U.S. state and employers, long ago disproving the stereotype of immigrant workers as helpless, frightened victims of American capital.

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by Jane Mee Wong

[Author's note: This piece has been published in the Spring 2008 issue of Amerasia Journal]

I may be old and lonely, but I have resisted in wars, agitated in movements, and marched numerous times to where the crowd gathered.

Ray Jones 1968

Contrary to racist beliefs of Asian passivity and apathy, Asian Americans have historically contributed to revolutionary traditions in American politics. Read the rest of this entry »

by Shemon Salam

This is a sketch. All the foundations have not been laid. The contours are beginning to take shape. Many of the details are still missing. Tasks lie ahead.

What will happen in the future is bound by what has happened in the past. What will happen in the future is also free of what has happened in the past. This is not a play of words or a typo, but a profound duality that is integrated into one total movement of the future. It is the interplay of human agency, historical facts and forces. None of these can be determined precisely. Even history at times turns into speculation and possibilities. Human agency is complicated and at times, speculative. That is its beauty and terror, all at the same time.

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by Jason Schultz

Arif Dirlik. Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. 326p.

Introduction

The place of anarchism in the foundation and development of the many revolutions in 20th century China is largely unknown or forgotten in China and the world over. Philosophers and organizers of numerous groups under the umbrella of anarchism helped lay the cornerstones for political, social, economic, and cultural struggles in China. Their work culminated in the capture of state power in 1949 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From the first decade of the 20th century to the early 1930s, anarchist ideas had much currency among those individuals seeking to construct a modern Chinese nation free from the influence of the flags of the rising sun, Union Jack, Stars and Stripes, and the modern Chinese state.

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