Even at Jinan railway station, Shandong province (the birthplace of Confucius):
13 June, 2014
10 June, 2014
The return of Stalingrad?
Posted by stalinsmoustache under Stalin | Tags: Putin, Stalingrad, Volgograd |[7] Comments
Will Stalingrad get its name back? Putin may well have given his tacit support for the restoration of the name ‘Stalingrad’ to the town of Volgograd. Stalingrad was its name between 1925 and 1961, until the irresponsible Khrushchev dumped the name in his effort at de-Stalinisation. Yet Stalingrad is forever etched in history as one of two battles (the other was Kursk) that turned the Second War against Nazi Germany. When asked by a veteran at the recent D-Day celebrations in Paris, Putin is reported to have said, ‘In this case residents should hold a referendum where they will decide on it … It wasn’t me who changed the name … we’ll mull over how it can be done’. While some places began to get excited (here, here and here), Russian news outlets were somewhat low-key.
10 June, 2014
Australia: you’re standing in it
Posted by stalinsmoustache under Australia, weird | Tags: hunter-gatherers, no books, no culture |[8] Comments
The other night some of us were telling stories of the more risible impressions of Australia that we have encountered in our travels, and even at home. A few items:
1. No books? I remember a review of a book written by one of my teachers at Sydney University. The review was dismissive, ending with the comment, ‘what would one expect, for they do not have many books in Australia’.
2. Hunter-gatherers? Recently, at an international food gathering, a chef from these parts was introduced as doing wonders with items found in the bush. The MC went on to say that the chef in question had developed these skills while growing up in rural Australia. Since there was little ‘normal’ food, he had to forage about, looking for things to eat – much like a hunter-gatherer.
3. Culture? This one is quite common, especially from elitists. ‘Australia has no culture’ it is stated, as though it is a well-known ‘fact.’ This one is particularly bamboozling, not merely because it misspells ‘kulcha,’ but above all since it breezily dismisses the oldest culture in the world.
No books, culture, or civilised food – as we laughed at yet more examples, we agreed that we do rather well given the circumstances.
9 June, 2014
Idols of Nations endorsements
Posted by stalinsmoustache under Idols of Nations | Tags: Fredric Jameson, James Crossley, Ken Surin, shameless self-promotion |[7] Comments
Idols of Nations: Biblical Myth at the Origins of Capitalism, published by Fortress press, should be out any day now (here and here).
So in yet another moment of shameless promotion, a few endorsements:
A fascinating study unearthing the biblical elements that unexpectedly underpin the classic apologias for capitalism from Grotius to Malthus and Adam Smith, with reference to the Fall, original sin, predestination and freedom, all deeper narratives that sometimes even unconsciously seem to legitimize the emergence of this new and incomprehensible system.
Fredric Jameson, Duke University
The early philosophical promoters of capitalism as an ideology had a profound interest in theological questions. This is the first detailed study of the intersection between their philosophies, economic theories, and theological convictions. Boer and Petterson have given us a simply indispensable text.
Kenneth J. Surin, Duke University
Nicely done,
fuckinggreat etc. Very interesting stuff (and Adam Smith is madder than I thought, though I will be retelling the fable of the dogs to explain human society, commerce and exchange). What was particularly striking was the use of the Fall and Genesis … Anyway, it is a great book and I reckon you’ve got a topic here of central importance in the Bible and the development of capitalism. Piss off.
Sorry: the cleaned-up version will appear on the book:
In Idols of Nations, Roland Boer and Christina Petterson have produced a superbly argued book, which will be of central importance to anyone wishing to understand the interaction between the use of the Bible, theology and religion, and economics. They expertly show how discussion of the Fall casts a long shadow over the emergence of capitalism and related issues of liberalism and ethnocentrism, all of which persist in economic thinking to this day. Enjoyable, provocative, and learned.
James Crossley, University of Sheffield
Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Hugo Grotius: Rewriting the Narrative of the Fall
Chapter 2: John Locke and the Trouble with Adam
Chapter 3: Adam Smith the StoryTeller
Chapter 4: The Lust and Hunger of Thomas Malthus
Conclusion
Bibliography
7 June, 2014
Everyday life during the civil war in Ukraine
Posted by stalinsmoustache under politics, total depravity | Tags: civil war, everyday life, Ukraine |[2] Comments
What is it like to live in a country torn apart by civil war – at an everyday level? A few glimpses from correspondence with some friends in different parts of Ukraine:
You caught me just at the moment when I am thinking about what is happening and how to “tell” you about it, trying again and again to understand what is happening. In place of the period when people could not tear themselves away from the TV, not to “miss” the truth, we have come to the period of non-news (TV, talking to each other). Many have not slept for some time and continue to take tranquilizers. Unfortunately, intolerance increases and therefore it is dangerous to express an opinion different from the one imposed. “Searches” happen, for anyone supporting a separatist-federalist position; nationalism appears even at the household level … I never could have imagined that people could turn into animals so quickly.
Suspicion and fear are gaining momentum, manifested in everyday life. Some of it is still non-systemic and can be perceived as misunderstanding. But wiretapping of telephone conversations now happens, and among the population, even among friends, are many informants. They ask supposedly random questions: “Were you there? And you do not want to leave?” … Many are worried about their relatives who participated in the referenda in the south-east. My aunt [who lives there] said that, despite the threat to life, she had not seen so many people come out for a vote in recent years.
But who is who? Today I witnessed a scene: two young men were talking near a car with its doors and windows open. The driver of the car shouted that they were Muscovites (Russian) and do not speak the language. So one of the young men leapt upon the driver and hit him several times.
It does not surprise me what is happening. This has been “brewing” since the 1990s. Then they “crushed” Crimea and the Donbass, but the problem is by no means solved. What do we have now? Accumulation of Capital; revival of impoverishment; a nation based on Russophobia; an aggressive minority insolent through the support of its foreign backers. The blind worship of everything foreign, kowtowing to the so-called Americans and Europeans has always irritated and annoyed me. I think that this worship has a long history, going back at least to the time of Peter the Great. And so, today’s oligarchs live in Western Europe, and come here only to earn money … But what does merging with Europe mean? Perhaps all we are allowed is to “merge in ecstasy” with Euro-Atlantic values. Then arguments are irrelevant.
7 June, 2014
Stalin for today: what do the capitalists want?
Posted by stalinsmoustache under Stalin | Tags: capitalists |Leave a Comment
Do you want to know what the capitalists want?
All power to the capitalists—that is what they want.Do you want to know what the capitalists want?
The triumph of the interests of their purses, even if it
means the doom of Russia—that is what they want.
6 August, 1917, Collected Works, vol. 3, pp. 203 and 206. (It is worth noting that by this stage Stalin already had a rather highly developed sentence production.)
6 June, 2014
Portraits from socialist China
Posted by stalinsmoustache under China, socialism | Tags: portraits |[2] Comments
