Some words from a Mao supporter in modern China / Beberapa kata daripada seorang penyokong Mao di Cina moden

[quotes below from "An Interview with Yan Yuanzhang" by Stephen Philion in Monthly Review 13.03.06; click here for entire thing]

...
Q: Now, why would the Chinese government, a socialist government in name, be concerned about a website run by leftists discussing the kinds of things that were discussed on the China Workers Website?
A: Well, because the government is not making socialism.
Q: Of course. I'm asking because outside China there are still some leftists who see China as a socialist country.
A: Well, hearing such nonsense would reduce a pig to tearful fits of laughter!
...
Q: Do liberals show up to participate in the discussions often?
A: Rarely, very rarely.
Q: Why?
A: Well, when liberals encounter Chinese workers and their problems, they suddenly have difficulty expressing themselves. They have little to contribute. They can express sympathy for workers, but the thing is that the Chinese workers on these lists generally are against capitalism. Also, workers in these discussions express nostalgia for the Maoist period, which liberals naturally don't share. Of course, liberals believe that today's economic problems are a product of economic policies pursued by Mao.
Also, workers have conflicting feelings about the Communist Party. Today's Chinese workers in discussions express the belief that the Party is dictatorial and is their enemy. Liberals' main slogan is "Down with the Communist Party." But workers differentiate between the Communist Party of the Maoist period and today's Party, which further puts them at odds with liberals.
At the same time, a fair proportion of workers in the discussions also have considerable illusions about capitalist democracy. So, ideologically, Chinese workers are all over the map. They have contradictory feelings about the CCP and about capitalist democracy.
But this is to be expected, since so much of what happened during the Maoist period has been completely repudiated by the media.
...

---

[petik-petik di bawah diambil dari "Temuduga dengan Yan Yuanzhang" oleh Stephen Philion dalam Monthly Review 13.03.06; terjemahan tak rasmi oleh saya (dari bahasa inggeris, walau asal ini sangat mungkin bahasa cina...)]

...
SP: Jadi kenapa kerajaan Cina, yang punya nama sosialis, mempedulikan laman web diurusi orang-orang sayap kiri membicara hal-hal terbicara di Laman Web Pekerja-pekerja Cina?
YYz: Kerana kerajaan tak menjadikan sosialisme lah.
SP: Tentulah. Saya bertanya kerana di luar Cina masih ada beberapa orang sayap kiri yang melihat Cina sebagai negeri sosialis.
YYz: Mendengar bukan-bukan begitu akan biar seekor babi ketawa penuh tak tahan tangis lah!
...
SP: Liberal-liberal seringkali ambil bahagian dalam pembicaraan ke?
YYz: Jaranglah, amat jarang.
SP: Kenapa?
YYz: Begini, ketika liberal-liberal bertemu pekerja Cina dan masalah-masalahnya, mereka tiba-tiba dapat susahan merangkan diri. Sumbangannya sangat sedikit. Mereka boleh menyatakan simpati untuk pekerja-pekerja, tapi ada putus, iaitu pekerja-pekerja di semua e-list ini pada umumnya melawan kapitalisme. Ada juga, pekerja-pekerja dalam bicara-bicara ini menyatakan nostalgia perasaan rindu untuk zaman Mao, yang liberal-liberal tentu tak ada.
Ada juga, pekerja-pekerja merasa dengan berbeza tentang Parti Komunis. Pekerja-pekerja Cina sekarang dalam pembicaraan menyatakan kepercayaan Parti berdiktatur dan jadi musuh mereka. Cogankata utama liberal-liberal "Punuh Parti Komunis". Tapi pekerja-pekerja memperbezakan Parti Komunis zaman Mao dan Parti sekarang, ini berselisih mereka lagi.
Sementara itu, bahagian bahantara pekerja dalam pembicaraan pun ada khayalan-khayalan benar mengenai demokrasi kapitalis. Jadi, pekerja-pekerja Cina duduk pelbagai tempat seluruh peta ideoloji. Mereka merasa saling berbeza mengenai PKC dan mengenai demokrasi kapitalis.
Tapi ini hanya disangka, kerana betapa banyak yang terjadi sewaktu zaman Mao sudah selengkapnya dibuangkan oleh media.
...

Random kick-ass lyric of the week #7

Revolution, the only solution,
The armed response of an entire nation,
Revolution, the only solution,
We've taken all your shit, now it's time for restitution.

System Of A Down
"P.L.U.C.K. (Politically Lying Unholy Cowardly Killers)"
1998

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

"V FOR VENDETTA"

Best movie ever.

See it now.

Random kick-ass lyric of the week #6

Ven, vas a conocer nuestra civilización
la presunción de igualdad con aires de libertad
qué hipocresía moral, producto del bienestar
qué bonito es vivir si has nacido aquí*

Ska-P
"Planeta Eskoria"
2000
*“aquí”: Ska-P es de España

_________ english translation by me _________

Come on, I'll introduce you to our civilisation
the presumption of equality with airs of freedom
what moral hipocrisy, product of well-being
how beautiful it is to be alive if you were born here*

Ska-P
"Cancer Planet"
2000
*“here”: Ska-P is from Spain

Don't forget about AFGHANISTAN!

It's always the war in Iraq on the news (incl. leftist/progressive news). Which is very important. But don't forget, folks in Afghanistan are still getting mowed down by US troops (AND Canadian troops, German troops, UK troops, etc etc), & the ones who ain't killed yet being forced to choke down poisonous Shariah+Poverty cocktails.

Reprinted below is the statement of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) on occasion of 8 March (International Women's Day) 2006.

Let’s rise united and resolute for liberation and against the fundamentalism!

Another Eighth of March has arrived but still the Afghan women are hostage to the fundamentalists’ claws. The continuation of traitor-loving policies of Mr. Karzai and his sympathetic friends by the indication of US government is still like spears entering deeper and deeper into the injured face of our unfortunate people. Whenever the criminal “Emirs” and their commanders commit another heinous crime, instead of being sued, they are rewarded and receive higher posts.

Murder, robbery, kidnapping and the rape of women and children has become the routine. There is a high rate of women committing suicide and an ever expanding cultivation and trafficking of narcotics, all while billions of dollars of foreign aid and public resources are squandered away. Unemployment and homelessness is on the rise. Opening of Kabul Serina Hotel and other hotels of this type in a country with the lowest rate of income per capita in the world doesn’t mean development but it is indeed providing sensual environment for criminals and mocking about the miserable life condition of majority of our nation. The compromising government is unable even to solve smallest of these issues. The country is in chaos.

The last four years of experience in our Afghan nation has confirmed the point that for the government of Karzai, the will of our oppressed nation is not the priority but it is the interests of criminals. Mr. Karzai doesn’t want to and can’t destroy the band of criminals from Afghanistan because the interests of both parties are intertwined.

In the presidential elections the majority of our people gave their votes to Mr. Karzai in the hope that he will prosecute and punish all the criminal fundamentalists for their crimes and atrocities. But he betrayed the vote of the people. That is why in the parliamentary elections, our deceived and hopeless people knew whether they vote or not, the composition of parliament will be made behind the scenes. Jehadi executioners were placed into parliament in order to guarantee the ability to pass and enforce laws that oppress the common people and the country, legitimize the signing of the "Strategic treaty between USA and Afghanistan" and other similar oppressive treaties.

RAWA has stated several times that the government, the court and parliament under the domination of the criminal “Northern Alliance”, the Taliban, Gulbuddini, Parchami and Khaliqi traitors, will never do any good for our bereaved people. Against the unsubstantiated accusations of collaborators that RAWA’s criticisms and attacks on government are always from a negative point of view, treacherousness and corruption has meshed around the roots of government so deeply that its nasty smell has not only been published in the world’s most respected publications; but even Habibullah Qaderi the so called minister of anti-narcotics and Ali Ahmad Jalali, former interior minister, have been forced to confirm that the government is dominated by the mafia.

It is clear in these circumstances, that the grant of more than 10 billion dollars promised during the London Conference will not be used for the masses, but instead like the previous 12 billion dollars, will fill the pockets of the “Northern Alliance” to buy their loyalty to the US.

In the situation when, by the support of criminals the innocent blood of Rahimas, Aminas, Nadias, Gulbers, Saimas and … pours on the ground, the presence of pro-fundamentalist women in the cabinet is nothing but a tool in the hand of government to say to the world and people, “Look at Afghanistan, Women have gained so much freedom!” The mentioned women, like most of the women in the parliament, are as much indifferent to the plight of Afghan people as Sayyaf, Rabbani, Qanonni, Gulbuddin, Mullah Omar and their partners.

The “Northern Alliance”, who gave shelter to Assadullah Sarwari until now, today they want that by punishing him to death, the Afghan peoples’ desire to prosecute the filthier criminals than him, will willow in despair and vanish forever.

Our people and especially the mournful women will not abandon the pursuit of the trial and punishment of religious fascist and Soviet puppets for any price or condition, because they have realized this now more than ever before, that until these unchaste felons are thrown off the throne, they will not be witness to the dawn of freedom, democracy and prosperity in their Afghanistan.

We are not alone in our difficult and tumultuous struggle against the “Northern Alliance” and their Gulbuddini, Talibi and Al-Qaeda brothers. Women of Iran, Kurdistan, Palestine, Turkey, Latin America and other countries are in combat for democracy and against the plague of fundamentalism and war. We sympathize with them and we must assist the movement of women in rest of the world by intensifying our decisive struggle against fundamentalism and their supporters in the region.

Regards to the imprisoned freedom-loving women in Iran and all over the world!

Long live the solidarity between the resilient women of Afghanistan and other countries!

Down with all fundamentalists, the most evil enemies of Afghanistan and human beings!

Hold high the glorious flag of RAWA and all organizations and persons supporting democracy against criminal fundamentalists!

read this statement in Farsi
read this statement in Japanese
read this statement in Pashto
read this statement in Portuguese
read this statement in Spanish
(translations by RAWA)