It is not for nothing that Alexandra Kollontai, Clara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg and others were suspicious of the suffragettes – that upper middle class movement that bolstered the bourgeois project in the late nineteenth century. An eerily similar situation applies to the suffragettes of our own day – Pussy Riot. Something has to be amiss when they move from meeting with members of the US Congress to being a cause célèbre for the sinister project of the EU. And something is decidedly problematic when the likes of Judith Butler and Rosi Braidotti join the chorus. Then again, Butler has always been a champion for the liberal project.
17 May, 2014
Pussy Riot, or ideologues for the liberal project (Butler, Braidotti et al)
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17 May, 2014
One of a series of papers inspired by my gradual immersion into local questions: ‘Is China Communist?’ The article is available over at Philosophers for Change.
13 May, 2014
Breakthrough: my first effort at writing recognisable Chinese characters
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Yesterday I went to my favourite restaurant in these parts (cheap and wonderful food). However, you need to order the food by writing down the items on a piece of paper, which they collect and take to the kitchen. Previously, I have relied on others to do so, but this time I was on my own. What was to de done? I simply transferred my daily practice onto the piece of paper.
My first order was leek and egg dumplings, so I wrote 韭菜鸡蛋饺.
Next was home-made tofu: 家常豆腐
I also wanted a bowl of rice: 米饭
Mind you, my script was a little stilted and not at all like the cursive script people use here. So I waited with some trepidation. Would I receive the bowl of shiny frogs, or perhaps tofu intestines, or congealed duck’s blood? Lo and behold, my order came out as I had requested.
9 May, 2014
A love song by Mao
Posted by stalinsmoustache under Mao Zedong | Tags: love poem, Yang Kaihui |Leave a Comment
This poem was penned (or brushed) by Mao after an argument with his first wife, Yang Kaihui.
A wave of the hand, and the moment of parting has come.
Harder to bear is facing each other dolefully,
Bitter feelings voiced once more.
Wrath looks out of your eyes and brows,
On the verge of tears, you hold them back.
We know our misunderstanding sprang from that last letter.
Let it roll away like clouds and mist,
For who in this world is as close as you and I?
Can Heaven fathom our human maladies?
I wonder.
This morning frost lies heavy on the road to East Gate,
The waning moon lights up the pond’ and half the sky
How cold, how desolate!
One wail of the steam whistle has shattered my heart,
Now I shall roam alone to the uttermost ends of the earth.
Let us strive to sever those threads of grief and anger,
Let it be as though the sheer cliffs of Mount Kunlun collapsed,
And as though a typhoon swept through the whole universe.
Let us be once again two birds flying side by side,
Soaring high as the clouds.
Revolutionary Writings, 1912-1949, Volume 2, pp. 195-96
5 May, 2014
I’ve got to hand it to the students at Renmin, who have come up with this great poster for my public lecture here on 13 May at 19:00. The lecture series is organised by the students and I am the first one to hold forth. Shameless self-promotion, I know …
3 May, 2014
A song for my grandson: Hop, Paardje, Hop
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On a recent visit to Beijing with his parents, my grandson took quite a liking to a Dutch children’s song. I bounced him vigorously on my knee and sang a chorus, ‘Hop, paardje, hop; hop, paardje, hop’. When I stopped, he dug his heels in and jumped up and down for more:
For some reason, I remember my maternal grandfather doing the same thing, with a final gallop in which the rider is lifted up and then down to the floor with a huge ‘wheeee’.
Next time I will sing him the whole song in Dutch, which I have now found goes as follows:
‘k Heb mijn wagen volgeladen vol met oude wijven
Toen ze op de markt kwamen begonnen zij te kijven
Nu neem ik van mijn levensdagen
Geen oude wijven op mijn wagen
Hop paardje hop, Hop paardje hop
‘k Heb mijn wagen volgeladen vol met oude mannen
Toen ze op de markt kwamen gingen ze samenspannen
Nu neem ik van mijn levensdagen
Geen oude mannen op mijn wagen
Hop paardje hop, Hop paardje hop
‘k Heb mijn wagen volgeladen vol met jonge meisjes
Toen ze op de markt kwamen zongen zij als sijsjes
Nu neem ik van mijn levensdagen
Steeds jonge meisjes op mijn wagen
Hop paardje hop, Hop paardje hop
The translation of the this delightful song goes roughly as follows:
I have loaded my wagon full with old wives
When they came to the market they started to scold
Now I will never in my life
take old wives on my wagon
Go horsey, go. Go horsey, go
I have loaded my wagon full with old men
When we came to the market they started to conspire
Now I will never in my life
take old men on my wagon
Go horsey, go. Go horsey, go
I have loaded my wagon full with young girls
When we came to the market they started to sing like birds
Now I will take all my life
only young girls on my wagon
Go horsey, go. Go horsey, go
(ht cp for the great photos)
3 May, 2014
Every country should have one of these: Academy of Marxism
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And I have the lingering pleasure of having given a paper at this very academy, which is linked with the Academy of Social Science.
