Blog Archives
Revisiting Alleged 30 Million Famine Deaths During China’s Great Leap
Mao: intentional starver of millions?
Thirty years ago, a highly successful vilification campaign was launched against Mao Zedong, saying that a massive famine in which 27 to 30 million people died in China took place during the Great Leap period, 1958 to 1961, which marked the formation of the people’s communes under his leadership. The main basis of this assertion was, first, the population deficit in China during 1958 to 1961 and, second, the work of two North American demographers, A J Coale (Rapid Population Change in China 1952-1982, 1982) and Judith Banister (China’s Changing Population, 1987). No one bothered to look at the highly dubious method through which these demographers had arrived at their apocalyptic figures.
The ‘estimate’ was later widely publicised by Amartya K Sen, who built an entire theory saying that democratic freedom, especially press freedom, in India meant that famine was avoided while its absence in China explains why the world did not know that such a massive famine had taken place until as much as a quarter century later when the North American demographers painstakingly uncovered it. Read the rest of this entry
Tiananmen ’89 & The Rebellion of the Chinese Working Class
Beijing workers arrive at Tiananmen Square May 18, 1989
This appeared on the website of the Kasama Project and was written by Hong Huar. Note that posting this is not an endorsement of the Kasama Project, rather it is posted out of interest and to stimulate discussion.
There is a section of the left that offers an account of the 1989 Tiananmen movement, according to which the movement was comprised overwhelmingly of students (in terms of its sociological composition), and advanced a set of objectives accused of potentially accelerating the process of capitalist restoration in China and, by undermining if not ultimately overthrowing the Chinese government, created an opening for the United States to enhance its strategic position in the region.
These arguments are supported through multiple forms of evidence such as comments made by individual student leaders both during and after the demonstrations, as well as particular decisions made by certain groups of demonstrators, such as the decision to construct a replica of the State of Liberty and to present banners and signs written in English. Read the rest of this entry
Great Scenes in Chinese Nationalist Gong Fu Cinema
As a practitioner of Gong Fu* (Chinese martial arts) I’ve always been a great fan of gong fu cinema, not only for the great action sequences, but also because I deeply appreciate the skill involved (yes, I do realize that films are full of cinematic flourishes). However, as many films of the genre are set during the late Qing period or during the first half of the 20th century and involve the portrayal of folk heroes like Wong Fei-Hung, Huo Yuanjia and others I also have long appreciated the portrayal of national struggles of the Chinese people within the films.
Whether corrupt Qing Dynasty officials, oppressive feudal lords or Western and Japanese imperialists these struggles often portrayed in the films. So in celebration of my finishing up my last real course work based term in my MA program, I am posting some of my favourite scenes from gong fu cinema that express the desire of the people for self-determination.
From Ip Man
Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth
It was in the international news last night and this morning that the current Dalai Lama has decided to move towards stepping down from his political role in leading the Tibetan “government-in-exile,” saying that Tibetans need an elected government. In light of this and Westerner’s views on Tibet (which read like some kind of Far Eastern work of mythology) I am posting Michael Parenti’s well known article on Tibet under the Lamaist theocracy, to remind people of just what type of government the Dalai Lama did oversee, both in this life and in his previous ones.
I. For Lords and Lamas
A long with the blood drenched landscape of religious conflict there is the experience of inner peace and solace that every religion promises, none more so than Buddhism. Standing in marked contrast to the intolerant savagery of other religions, Buddhism is neither fanatical nor dogmatic–so say its adherents. For many of them Buddhism is less a theology and more a meditative and investigative discipline intended to promote an inner harmony and enlightenment while directing us to a path of right living. Generally, the spiritual focus is not only on oneself but on the welfare of others. One tries to put aside egoistic pursuits and gain a deeper understanding of one’s connection to all people and things. “Socially engaged Buddhism” tries to blend individual liberation with responsible social action in order to build an enlightened society. Read the rest of this entry
Mao’s Birthday Celebrated
Fight Back! News Service is circulating the following article from the New China News Agency on the celebrations marking the 117th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth.
CHINESE MARK 117TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHAIRMAN MAO’S BIRTH
CHANGSHA, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) — People across China marked the 117th anniversary of the birth of late leader Mao Zedong on Sunday with various activities in his hometown in central Hunan Province as well as in other parts of the nation.
In Mao’s birthplace, Shaoshan village, villagers and visitors arrived in the early morning to observe a local tradition in celebration of Mao’s birthday — eating a bowl of noodles.
“Today is Chairman Mao’s 117th anniversary and many tourists came from afar on this special day just to have a bowl of ‘long-life noodles’ to show their respect towards the chairman,” said village official Mao Yushi.
Noodles are a traditional Chinese food to celebrate birthdays, as people believe long noodles stand for longevity.
The villagers and tourists then came to Mao Zedong Square where they paid tribute to the “Great Helmsman” by leaving behind bouquets at Mao’s bronze statue and singing the famous tune “The East is Red”, a song in tribute of Mao.
Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 citizens in Shaoshan – known as one of China’s “red tourism” sites – marked the date with a 5,000-meter foot race that started from Mao’s former residence and ended at the square in front of the Shaoshan Railway Station. Read the rest of this entry
Korea Crisis: Basic Facts and Historical Context
From the National Campaign to End the Korean War. It can be downloaded as a PDF here.
Facts on the Recent Artillery Duel:
• On Tuesday, November 23rd, 70,000 South Korean and American military troops engaged in an annual military drill, called “Hoguk [Defend the State],” involving 50 warships, 90 helicopters, 500 warplanes, and 600 tanks mobilized for war simulation exercises scheduled for a period of 9 days, until Nov. 30th.
• The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) criticized the mobilization, stating that they were provocative, and demanded that South Korea halt the drill.
• South Korean artillery units fired toward DPRK from a battery close to the DPRK coast, within a disputed maritime region called the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The disputed border on the west coast between North and South Korea was drawn unilaterally by the U.S. Navy in 1953; it was never recognized by the North. Read the rest of this entry
Korea ‘Crisis’ Made in Washington
By Deirdre Griswold for the International Action Center.
When a “crisis” regarding Korea suddenly appears in the U.S. corporate media, their take is always that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (socialist north Korea) has done something totally irrational to cause it.
They totally disregard the facts of what happened and, of equal importance, what led up to it.
Yes, the DPRK shelled the island of Yeonpyeong on Nov. 23. According to south Korean officials, two of their soldiers were killed. But the shelling occurred at 2:34 p.m. Korean time. What had happened earlier?
Some 70,000 south Korean military personnel had been mobilized for war “exercises” right off the sea borderline between the north and the south — which is disputed territory. The south Koreans admit to having fired shells into waters that the DPRK considers its territory at 1:00 p.m. — more than an hour before the north’s response. Read the rest of this entry
Emergency Protests Say: No New Korean War!
From the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. Some of these protests have already happened, but others are to take place tomorrow.
Actions in Washington D.C, San Francisco, Los Angeles and around the country
The anti-war movement and all progressive people and organizations should stand against any new war, and demand an end to the U.S.-South Korean provocations.
Washington, DC Saturday, Nov. 27, 12 Noon White House
Albuquerque, NM Saturday, Nov. 27, 1pm UNM (Central and Harvard)
San Francisco, CA Monday, Nov. 29, 5pm Powell and Market Sts.
Los Angeles, CA Monday, Nov. 29, 5pm Wilshire and Western metro stop
New York, NY Monday, Nov. 29, 5pm Times Square (43rd St. & 7th Ave.) in front of the Military Recruitment Center
No New Korean War! Stop the Provocations – U.S. Military Out of Asia Now! Read the rest of this entry
Li Minqi on Recent Chinese Strikes
Paul Jay of the Real News Network interviews Li Minqi of the University of Utah about Chinese workers’ strikes and the changing political economy of China.
For a review of Li’s book The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy, seeComments on The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy by Li Minqi.
Maoist Communist Party of China on 2nd Socialist Revolution
Thousands of working class and farmer struggles have been erupting in China - including this confrontation at Honda
This interesting piece is from a supposedly underground party in the People’s Republic of China calling itself the Maoist Communist Party of China. I can’t speak for its validity, but it is interesting nonetheless, which is why I am reposting it here. The party stands in the tradition of Mao Zedong and considers the post-Mao leaders of the PRC – Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao – to all be counter-revolutionary revisionists
Thanks go to Iseul for making it available.
The Ten Declarations of the Maoist Communist Party of China (MCPC)
22 March 2009
一、强烈抗议中国共产党修正主义叛徒统治集团对我党实行秘密追剿的声明！
1. We strongly condemn the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc of the Chinese Communist Party and its policy of secretive suppression of our party!
2008年12月26日， 我党分别在北京、上海等大城市闹市区散发了“宣告中国人民对中国共产党修正主义叛徒统治集团造 反有理”的《 告全国人民书》，在“老虎”的屁股上狠狠地摸了 一把！随后在网络上和其它一些城市也进行了宣传。我党的这次革命行动，对中国共产党修正主义叛 徒统治集团造 成了强烈的政治冲击，有力地打击了中国共产党修 正主义叛徒统治集团的嚣张气焰。我党的《告全国人民书》是号召人民起来推翻中国共产党修正主义 叛徒统治集团 、开展一场中国无产阶级反复辟大革命运动的号 角；是号召人民共同声讨中国共产党修正主义叛徒统治集团的罪行、剥去中国共产党修正主义叛徒统 治集团的伪装 、打一场文攻武卫的人民革命理论战争的信号弹。
On 26 December 2008, our party gave out the pamphlet “To all the people of China” that declares that “the peoples of China have the right to rise up against the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc of the Chinese Communist Party” in the central districts of cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. By doing this we have “dared to touch the tiger’s ass”!
Afterwards we engaged in more propaganda online and in other cities. This revolutionary action of our party has resulted in a strong political wave against the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc of the Chinese Communist Party, and managed to beat down the arrogant air of the revisionist ruling bloc.
This is the clarion call for a great revolutionary movement among the Chinese proletariat against capitalist restoration; this is the signal flare to mobilise the people to strike against the crimes conducted by the traitorous revisionist ruling bloc; to peel away the false skin of the revisionists, and to engage in a people’s revolutionary war through both words and actions. Read the rest of this entry
America’s Head Servant?
From New Left Review.
The PRC’s Dilemma in the Global Crisis
The subprime mortgage crisis and ensuing global downturn led many to speculate whether any challenger might emerge to replace the us as the dominant player in the capitalist world economy. [1] Because the financial crisis in the us and global North had originated in high indebtedness, low productivity and overconsumption, it seemed natural to look to their polar opposites—the East Asian exporters’ huge holdings of us debt, productive capacity and high savings rates—to identify likely candidates. Immediately after last year’s collapse of Lehman Brothers lifted the curtain on the global recession, there were proclamations of the final triumph of the East Asian, and above all Chinese, model of development; American establishment commentators concluded that the Great Crash of 2008 would be the catalyst for a shift of the centre of global capitalism from the us to China. [2]
But by the spring of 2009, many had realized that the East Asian economies were not as formidable as appearances had suggested. While the sharp contraction in demand for imports in the global North had led to crash landings for Asia’s exporters, the prospect of either the us Treasuries market or the dollar bottoming out presented them with the difficult dilemma of either ditching American assets, and hence triggering a dollar collapse, or buying more, preventing an immediate crash but increasing their exposure to one in future. State-directed investment, rolled out late last year under the prc’s mega-stimulus programme, fostered a significant recovery for China as well as its Asian trading partners, but the growth generated is unlikely to be self-sustaining. Chinese economists and policy advisers have been worrying that the prc will falter again once the stimulus effect fades, as it is unlikely that American consumers will be picking up the slack any time soon. Despite all the talk of China’s capacity to destroy the dollar’s reserve-currency status and construct a new global financial order, the prc and its neighbours have few choices in the short term other than to sustain American economic dominance by extending more credit.
Prisoners of a White God
A documentary film about a mountain ethnic group in South East Asia, Prisoners of a White God investigates the activities of christian missionaries and international development among the Akha peoples in Thailand and Laos.
Prisoners of a White God was produced by Czech anthropologist Tomas Ryska. Through undercover work, Ryska discovers “the enactment of a hell on Earth”— the sickening truth of Evangelical missionaries, arriving with their gospel and the promise of aid, kidnapping Akha children from their villages to work in tea plantations and to sell them into the sex trade. Many of the children are also sexually abused by the missionaries.
“It is a picture of hell on earth despite the coming of so-called Good News, and it is enactment and creation of hell on earth for these tribal people”, comments the Akha Heritage Foundation. “Kidnapped from their villages, children become’ orphans’ though they have families. They become the employees on the Christian Missionary tea plantations. ‘There are no employees,’ says one man,’we have children.’ In one place, 60 children take the role of laborer on the boarding school grounds.”
“Ryska does an excellent job presenting the contrast of hypocricy and wealth of the missionary, aid, food and clothing, the underworld of child trafficking versus the appearance of cleanliness and holiness, worship done the ‘right’ way, versus the ‘pagan way…’ He uncovers the fear of eternal punishment versus the joys of heaven, fear of death threats for those who dare expose evil that dwells in the fundamentalist Christian missionary centers, corruption versus holiness, forced relocation, illness, depression, malaria, and prison camps in the lowlands for the unfortunate mountain people. It is colonization all over again.”
Ryska himself was eventually forced to leave Thailand, barely escaping “capture and murder at the hands of angry missionaries he deceived.”
Prisoners of a White God received the Grand Prixes at RAFF Film Festival, at Ecofilm Festival, at Festival of the Mountain Films, at “It’s Up To You” Film Festival and the Main Prize at Ekotopfilm in 2008.
The film is Copyright www.uwip.org c/o fPcN interCultural under a Creative Commons – Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
