I remember June 1989 during the national protest at Tiananmen Square in Beijing when the People's Liberation Army and tanks rolled into the square to stop protests for democratic reforms. About 2600 civilians were killed and about 7,000 to 10,000 injured that June 4th night.

Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) was the China's leader and George Bush senior was President at that time and I figured such an anticommunist administration would pull out all the stops protesting such an outrageous act committed partly on television for all the world to see. After all, the students were asking for Democracy and elections, right?

Wrong. Just a few days after the massacre, George Bush Sr. assured Deng Xiaoping that business as usual would continue. Bush Senior said,

quote:

"I don't think we ought to judge the whole People's Liberation Army by that terrible incident,"

and then sent two aides to again reassure the leader.

My problem was that I actually believed our government's propaganda about freedom, democracy, and human rights. Well, the United States is constantly waving the flag and other symbols of democracy and after a time it all creeps into your head-- especially if you see sacrifice for such patriotic rhetoric.

The reasoning presented to the American people from the first Bush administration was that keeping relations with Communist China and encouraging free markets in China would eventually bring them democracy because of exposure to Western culture and American values.

Deng Xiaoping was advocating capitalism in China, but at the same time keeping its authoritarian government. He said,

quote:

"Whether a cat is black or white makes no difference. As long as it catches mice, it is a good cat."

I read "catching mice" as keeping power and if capitalism achieved that end, well fine. He was a real American pragmatist ("pragmatos" is a Greek word that means "business," or "fact").

But what if the opposite actually happened? That is to say what if the leaders of the United States were the real William Jamesean pragmatists and reasoned, "We have Capitalism, but it�s this Liberal Democracy that keeps causing us problems." You know what I mean-- all that fair play, Welfare, New Deal crap that really keeps Lasse Faire Capitalism from advancing.

So instead of America influencing China, it was China that really impressed the American leaders with its Mussolini style Fascism (German Fascism is too socialistic) where Business and Government merge--the ultimate Corporate merger. They just saw before their very eyes hundreds of liberal democrats getting mowed down and all China did was turn off the television and in a few months everything was back to "business as usual."

In fact, I think China really impressed Corporate American. They envy, desire, and even lusted for that emerging economic model: authoritarianism and controlled monopolistic Capitalism. Deng Xiaoping was right. It really doesn't matter if the cat is black or white--or gray. It's keeping power that is the goal.

Now, could there be other fascist governments that appeal to Corporate America--like in the Middle East? I never thought about it until I ran across something Osama Bin Laden said in his latest threat against America before the 2004 general election. Oh, the media only showed us 20 seconds of a 15-minute speech. I was curious about what else he might have said since our State ran television media tends to slop over details (except, of course, when it comes to Scott Peterson's sex life).

This is what caught my eye:

quote:

"...we have found it difficult to deal with the Bush administration in light of the resemblance it bears to the regimes in our countries, half of which are ruled by the military and the other half which are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents.
Our experience with them is lengthy, and both types are replete with those who are characterized by pride, arrogance, greed and misappropriation of wealth. This resemblance began after the visits of Bush Sr to the region.

At a time when some of our compatriots were dazzled by America and hoping that these visits would have an effect on our countries, all of a sudden he was affected by those monarchies and military regimes, and became envious of their remaining decades in their positions, to embezzle the public wealth of the nation without supervision or accounting.
So he took dictatorship and suppression of freedoms to his son and they named it the Patriot Act, under the pretence of fighting terrorism. In addition, Bush sanctioned the installing of sons as state governors, and didn't forget to import expertise in election fraud from the region's presidents to Florida to be made use of in moments of difficulty. "

He is saying that the Bush clan and their business partners were impressed and even "envious" of the wealth and power held by Middle Eastern fascist governments.

I hate to say it, but I came to the same conclusion independently. Saudi Arabia, like China, is a fascist government and I believe that Corporate America is dazzled by the possibilities and is seeking to emulate those forms of government.


"The House of Saud has transferred an astonishing sum of money to the House of Bush in deals involving dozens of companies. The total? At least $1.4 billion in investments and contracts have gone to companies in which the Bushes and their allies held prominent positions."

Good Ol' Boys! NOW YOU KNOW WHY THEY CALL IT CHUMP CHANGE.

Good post, I think you are onto something here. Is the real problem our government or is that all of our citizens could care less about creeping Facism - as long as they can save $5 on a pair of Blue Jeans at Wal-Mart?

I wrote this thread last Nov. 2005. I think it is still true.

Interesting essay, Anti. I missed it earlier. I'm puzzling it in the context of the comments Johnny X has been making about the misguided thinking he sees in those who look for, and dream for, democracy.

Johnny has asserted elsewhere:

quote:

We have become a gigantic welfare-warfare state, thanks to this notion that "We the People" can democratically demand whatever it is we want, and that government exists to do our democratic bidding. It is toxic.

The only solution in my opinion is to recognize this truth and fight to return government to its strictly minimalist role as night watchman, protector of (negative) rights. The free market and a minarchist government may not bring you the kind of "social justice" you wish to see, however it is the only way that rights can be guarded and fascism or some other brand of authoritarian socialism can be avoided. What this means is a market free of infernal planning and compulsory interventionist controls - where individuals' property rights are sacred and they are free to trade with each other as each sees fit. The role of government is simply to ensure that acts of fraud and aggression are prevented or punished, disputes are resolved peaceably, and the nation is defended from foreign powers.

Richest are leaving even the Rich far behind

I find Johnny's vision of government ... daunting, frightening, and dangerous.

Kate,

I think you are seeing some interesting correlations here. Can you find ways to connect your fears about Johnny's vision of government to what Anti has said? What kinds of similarities are you seeing? How would you describe them? I think it's worth the effort to try to bring these things out, they are complex and murky because our minds don't always work their best at the rational, logical level when it comes to connecting things at different levels. But if it (the mind) senses a similarity, usually it's structural, it tells us, though sometimes in ways that feel like fear.

Thanks for the challenge, Ren. The central part of the problem, for me, is the elevation of "property rights" over "human rights" and the bald assertion that property rights reign supreme.

Tracing the ownership of property is interesting business. I'm not sure how fair those Manifest Destiny trades were, or how the fruits of those trades become a "natural right" that deserves the full protection of the strict constructionist free market idealogues.

The idea that the Chinese government's famous abuse of "human rights" and its ability to crush a democratic revolution appears to be a model our leaders have used to lead our country to a "new sans democratic reality ... is what drew me to pull the JohnnyX diatribe into this thread. A master plan for a totalitarian state, where the only truth is the truth of Power and Acquisition. Human connection and messiness eliminated.

The price of Power is a lost and Soul-less world, driven by a lost and Soul-less worldview.

Well. It may be inevitable, given the Truth of the matter, but it's very human, and Alive, to resist, ... and Dream.

Interesting thoughts, Kate.

I was especially in synch with your correlations with human rights and property rights, because I have been puzzling about those issues for some time now. I read most of the book Johnny suggested, since I found it last night on the internet, chapter by chapter, and one of the fundamentals of the theory being put forth was this issue of property. It's interesting because the vision, seen through a "non" aggressive approach to ownership and trading of property in the idealized world of free markets, is the route to the perfect setting for a world in which individual freedom and protection of those "other" rights can survive. The argument also seems genuine, in other words, it's not a plot to take away any human rights, and it seems seriously interested in grappling with the problem of monopolistic control, either in the form of a socialistic government hierarchy or otherwise. Now, "what's wrong with the picture?" I've been asking myself over and over, for years now, since coming across this philosophy, and I've found all sorts of interesting possibilities in the process.

My overall inclination for "what's wrong" seems to go in a very similar direction to yours expressed here.

consitutional change in china didn't get much press...or else i missed it.

quote:

China's parliament has agreed landmark changes to the constitution that will protect private property for the first time since the 1949 revolution.
Sunday's endorsement came on the final day of the National People's Congress annual meeting in Beijing.

The BBC's Beijing correspondent says with this vote, China is abandoning one of the key pillars of communism.

The vote to amend the 1982 constitution was passed with 2,863 in favour to 10 against, with 17 abstentions.

china in flux?

perhaps paralells between nineteenth century united states and twenty-first century china exsist in a theoretical world. in reality, china is not a "melting pot' dealing with massive immigration and ethnical diversity, as is the united states.. minorities exsist in china; i don't know if their lives are integated into the economy.

government controls on privacy like the one child policy can lead to unforseen consequences: too many boys not enough girls, which could lead to sabine raids on neighboring countries with attractive women.

likewise, the microsoft capitulation of internet censorship might lead to innovations which circumvent the current web and migrate to new systems of connectivity.

china is robust and growing; the united states is not. anyone who aspires to leadership ASPIRES TO LEADERSHIP in this country must recognize the realities of the american labor force, aging infrastructure and addiction to consumer based quality of life. china can afford to do that at the expense of the environment. i think they assume that the nation will be able to re-stabalize the environment. we don't have the capital(it is all in china) to continue a consumer based, housing driven market like china does with its recently privatized housing market.

our response to the robust expansion of the chinese economy is imperialism. this was the british answer to american growth. but this mercantilist solution, where we import energy for domestic consumption, as opposed to Britain's importing raw material for manufacture,
like the self-iimmolating pheonix.

quote:

the self-iimmolating pheonix

Interesting image, Ebba, and pouring expensive gasoline on it at the same time.

A couple of points from your linked article.

quote:

The wording "A citizen's lawful private property is inviolable" reflects a further endorsement by the Communist Party of its policy of capitalist economics with socialist characteristics.

The amendment should help stop state officials from requisitioning property and private possessions.

Almost a definition of fascism. But, that aside, the requisitioning of property will occur no matter what gang is in charge, note the recent eminent domain case on another thread. And then, what happened to the property the Native Americans inhabited when the Europeans arrived.

...Always focused on the root hairs, never the forest.

quote:

The mention of human rights reads: "The state respects and preserves human rights."

And that's it. The definition of what those rights might be are left completely undefined. Which is a bit more honest, I suppose, than redefining them through the tennuous and lengthy process of getting the right judge in the right place to interpret the wording. Corporate personhood anyone?

Kate wrote:

quote:

Thanks for the challenge, Ren. The central part of the problem, for me, is the elevation of "property rights" over "human rights" and the bald assertion that property rights reign supreme.

Chomsky has a great article that deals with this issue at Socioeconomic Sovereignty

Thanks, Anti. I'll read it.

quote:

...daunting, frightening, and dangerous.

Kate, I think the above pretty well describes 'government' in principle.

quote:

The central part of the problem, for me, is the elevation of "property rights" over "human rights" and the bald assertion that property rights reign supreme.

I would say this is a false dichotomy, though I'm not really sure what you would include under the category 'human rights'...everybody seems to have a different opinion on the matter. It seems to me that the right to property is the fundamental and primary right from which all others follow. Take away property rights and the others are rendered meaningless. Property rights begin with a belief in self-ownership. Whose property are you? Only sovereign beings can assert a right after all. Without (secondary) property, rights become difficult if not impossible to exercise. Property rights and human rights are not at odds...they are corollaries.

Property rights flow from human rights ... no chicken/egg controversy here folks ... move along now.

Without life no property - PERIOD. Without a true democratic underpinning for government no social capacity to assure property rights. Without good health no physical and/or mental ability to acquire health. Without education no ability to use the tools around one to acquire property.

The ability to own property is entirely dependent upon the above precursors and more. Simple fact.

quote:

The long-simmering conflict in Dongzhou arose over disputed confiscations and what farmers here said were inadequate compensation payments. Authorities exercising the equivalent of eminent domain seized farmers' fields to build a wind-driven electric generating plant on a hillside overlooking the village. The plant would be part of a $700 million electricity development project to supply the growing power needs of Shanwei and surrounding towns and villages.

Villagers, contacted by telephone, complained that the compensation was inadequate. Moreover, they charged, the power plant would also spoil fishing in Baisha Lake, a tidal inlet just below the hill, on which villagers rely heavily for food.

The confrontation was typical of the tension between the drive for economic development in China -- which has a growth rate of 9 percent a year-- and farmers' desire to retain the land that they regard as security for their families. Land disputes have been a prime reason for popular explosions of violence, which the Public Security Ministry estimates involved 3.76 million people in 74,000 incidents during 2004.

WaPo

Thanks a lot for the link Kate.
But I wondered why you didn't post it on the China thread web page.

In any way, keep up the good links.

WAR IS A HELLISH FORCE OF NATURE IGNORE�ANTZ...IN MY PANTZ

The rules of engagement:
1. these rules will only apply if the ignore�antz operatives {known 2 have committed human rights violations and crimes against humanity post, present and in all times past} do abide by these civilized standards.
2. each of the �forums� in the theater will be allowed 1 DMZ thread which must be marked as such in the subject heading, this will provide a safe heaven 4 conversation refugees and tending to the miles of wounded.
3. the battle field is no place 4 innocent women and children, unless you are an ignore�ant insurgent please stay safely in the DMZoned threads.
4. these rules of engagement will apply unless and until Thomass The HartlessMan
does prepare the treaty of peace and present it to me, god, the defender of trolls
and all other life forms under the oppressive rule of the ignore�antz armies of separation segregation assimilation and doom.
5. 123456789 10 iluvu!!! but I am the walrus and here is the root cause of engagement and the perfect representation of the kind of ignore�antz that have plagued and oppressed human and other life for all the miles of history you can cover:

Author Topic: Ignoring bad manners on a BBS
Thom Hartmann

Administrator
Member # 3

�So what we're left with is the same solution that works best with children who are engaging in attention-getting behavior on a schoolyard. Ignore them. Literally - do not mention them, their behavior, or their names. Act as if they totally don't exist.
This is the only solution that consistently works. When ignored, such people eventually go away (usually after a short-term burst of escalated bad behavior, going for the most emotionally hard-hitting stuff they can find to beat up well-behaved members with). �


So many of my friends and relatives young� and oldMan� that lived in the BIG HARD�
were ignored in every way by the ignore�antz 4 soooooo many impoverished and painfully naked years, then they were ignored again and the problem children and Supertramps 4 miles� who were not killed by the perfect #s cleansing storm were shot down by the perfect #s cleansing dirty deads blacktwater powderfingered shoot to kill death squads of the ignore�antz.
Like the principles of Nature and the laws of such, like Newmans� apple, you can
Call me Katrina�...and like this year�o ourselves 2005, you can consider me the most Franti�C hurricane season on record 4 miles� of work�nKlaus�heroboneheadedmen� like the hartless� thom�s Andger� and all the Ignore�antz that have been in all our pants for thousands of years...
Before the flood I think it not odd to point out what you did miles in your parting nodd,
Miles of posts telling me WHAT TO DO and declaring a WAR, I offer away to make
WAR no more, then you say for miles �DON�T TELL ME WHAT TO DO� while you
Close the door on the all for the few...how sad for me and you and all the rest to...
You fire the first shot hartlessman, and it rang 4 miles who then came at my styles...
Look out, mama, there�s a white boat comin� up the river
With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail
I think you�d better call john,
�cause it don�t look like they�re here to deliver the mail
And it�s less than a mile away
I hope they didn�t come to stay
It�s got numbers on the side and a gun
And it�s makin� big waves.
Daddy�s gone, my brother�s out hunting in the mountains
Big john�s been drinking since the river took emmy-lou
So the powers that be left me here to do the thinkin�
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin� what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelings grew.
Daddy�s rifle in my hand felt reassurin�
He told me, red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin�
But when the first shot hit the docks I saw it comin�
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why.
Then I saw black,
And my face splashed in the sky.
Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Think of me as one you�d never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love,
I know I�ll miss her.
Heres a little song to make you feel good
Put a little light in your day
These are crazy times
And its all been getting pretty serious
Heres a little song to make you feel right
Send the blues away
Well its a crazy game
Tell me whos to blame, Im kind of curious.
Right if you win, wrong if you lose
Nobody listens when youre singing the blues
Well somethings the matter, but nothing gets done
Oh everyones waiting for a place in the sun
Well something is wrong now
Can something be wrong with me
Oh brother, whys it got to be so crazy...
Gimme little left, gimme little right
Gimme little black, gimme little white
Gimme little peace, gimme little hope
Gimme little light
cause you know it seems that the situations getting serious.
Right if you win, wrong if you lose
Nobody listens when youre singing the blues
Well somethings the matter, but nothing gets done
Theres no use in waiting for a place in the sun
cause something is wrong now
Can something be wrong with me
Oh brother, whys it got to be so crazy...
Oh something is wrong with me
Oh brother, whys it got to be this crazy...
What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline
The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tyrin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has done
To this poor crackers land."
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Six foot six above sea level
I grab the mic because I take you to another mental level
low power frequency radio modulation
the big sound from the underground another pirate radio station
we bring the truth to places truth is never heard before
we bring the sound communication of our tribal war
dark vision fly by helicopters in the night
attempt triangulation of our station in the fight
straight from the bass the deep down low precision
high crime treason we broadcastin' sedission
like the wall street mornin' afternoon edition
commandeering airwaves from unknown positions
(chorus)
Live and direct we comin' never pre-recorded
with information that will never be reported
disregard the mainstream media distorted
whoop! whoop!
we comin' listener supported
Don't take no prisoners if can't afford to feed none
don't start no fights if you can't predict the outcome
don't make donations where you cannot get your dough back
**** the apathetic bullshittas send em' all your prozac
I will not climb into your telephone tree
and "hell no you can't put me on hold!"
it's the same recorded message you'd been singin' all along
keep handin' us the bible while you walkin' off with all the gold
the bureaucratic office sends you merry-go-rounding
while the KKK police the streets by blood hounding
interest on the credit card just keeps on compounding
but the FCC can neva shut this pirate sound down
Six foot six above sea level
I grab the mic because I take you to another mental level
low power frequency radio modulation
the big sound from the underground another pirate radio station
we bring the truth to places truth is never heard before
we bring the sound communication of our tribal war
Aurora borealis
The icy sky at night
Paddles cut the water
In a long and hurried flight
From the white man to the fields of green
And the homeland we�ve never seen.
They killed us in our tepee
And they cut our women down
They might have left some babies
Cryin� on the ground
But the firesticks and the wagons come
And the night falls on the setting sun.
They massacred the buffalo
Kitty corner from the bank
The taxis run across my feet
And my eyes have turned to blanks
In my little box at the top of the stairs
With my indian rug and a pipe to share.
I wish a was a trapper
I would give thousand pelts
To sleep with pocahontas
And find out how she felt
In the mornin� on the fields of green
In the homeland we�ve never seen.
And maybe marlon brando
Will be there by the fire
We�ll sit and talk of hollywood
And the good things there for hire
And the astrodome and the first tepee
Marlon brando, pocahontas and me
Marlon brando, pocahontas and me
Pocahontas.
There�s colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin� their feet
People sleepin� in their shoes
But there�s a warnin� sign on the road ahead
There�s a lot of people sayin� we�d be better off dead
Don�t feel like satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget it, any way I can.
Keep on rockin� in the free world,
Keep on rockin� in the free world
Keep on rockin� in the free world,
Keep on rockin� in the free world.
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away, and she�s gone to get a hit
She hates her life, and what she�s done to it
There�s one more kid that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin� in the free world,
Keep on rockin� in the free world
Keep on rockin� in the free world,
Keep on rockin� in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin� in the free world,
Keep on rockin� in the free world
Keep on rockin� in the free world,
Keep on rockin� in the free world.
(chorus)
Starvation is the creation of the devil, a rebel
I'm bringin' food to the people like a widow
bringin' flowers to a grave in the middle
of the city isolation is a riddle
to be surrounded by a million other people
but to feel alone like a tree in a desert
dried up like the skin of a lizard
but full of colour like the spots of a leopard
drum and bass pull me in like a shepherd
scratch my itch like a needle on a record
full of life like a man gone to Mecca
sky high like an eagle up soaring
I speak low but I'm like a lion roaring
baritone like a Robeson recordin'
I'm givin' thanks for bein' human every morning
(chorus)
Because the streets are alive with the sound of Boom Bap
can I hear it once again
Boom Bap tell your neighbour tell afriend
every box gotta right to be bomin'
because the streets are alive with the sound of Boom Bap
can I hear it once again
Boom Bap tell your neighbour tell a friend
Every flower got a right to be boomin'
Be resistant
the negativity we keep it at a distance
call for backup and I'll give you some assistance
like a lifesaver deep in the ocean
stay afloat here upon the funky motion
rock and roll upon the waves of the season
hold your breath and your underwater breathin'
To be rhymin' without a real reason
is to claim but not to practice a religon
if television is the drug of the nation
satellite is immaculate reception
beaming in they can look and they can listen
so you see don't believe in the system
to legalize you or give you your freedom
you want rights ask em', they'll read em'
but every flower got a right to be bloomin'
stay human
(chorus)
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world
You see Y2K ya know is a moment
in time we find that we can open
up a heart that's locked or been broken
by the pain of words not spoken
or shot by guns a still smokin'
Cartwrights out on the Ponderosa
or drive by bang in Testarossa
we need to heed the words of Dalai Lama
or at least the words of yo mama
take a mental trip to the Bahamas
steam your body in a stereo sauna, sauna, comma
Seems like everyday gets a little bit longer
seems like yesterday I was a little but stronger
but there ain't nothin'
nothin' I can't do
but to hold my ground
try not to come unwound
don't wanna be let down
but it ain't easy
doin' hard time
for somebody else's crime
(chorus)
Hate is what got me here
but I know that love sweet love is gonna set me free
all the hatred in the world is what got me here today
but I know that love is gonna set me free
Man I been away for so long now
I ain't seen no daylight for God knows how long now
I come out fightin' when I hear that bell ring
I always hear my name
but I'd love to feel the rain come down one mo time
wash away my pain
love like a hurricane
Know who you are
Theres a world wants to know you
Know where to go...
Theres a world wants to touch you
Feel all you can...
Let your heart speak and guide you
Dont be afraid...
Of the love deep inside you.
Bring it out for everyone
When you smile we can see the sun
Bring it out for all to hear
Because youve so much to give
And theres so much to know
But if you wait for your moment
Well, it may never show.
Know who you are...
Theres a new song inside you.
Weep if you can...
Let the tears fall behind you.
Bring it out for everyone.
When you smile we can see the sun,
Sing it out for all to hear
Because youve so much to say
And youve so much to do
And everyones waiting,
Yes, its all up to you.
Know who you are...
Theres a world deep inside you,
Trust me if you can...
Theres a friend to guide you.
I was born botanical
the soul of an animal
deep beneath the layers, I sink my roots
no need for mechanical
I come strictly organical
when I need to feast, I look to the East
that's why I'm never scared of the beast
even though they try to prey upon me
I'm protected by the one always greater than me
so now I reveal to thee
because you wanna see
the contour of my mystery
the strength of my arches
the colour of my conscience
and the way that I process my diction
some fact some diction some mystery
some future fantasy
I'm the trunk that holds the branches
the leaves who do the dances
my flowers romantic
my love gigantic
from Africa, transplanted transatlantic
in the heat of the sun
I bring shade for everyone
like the beat on the one
I'm the skin on the drum
(chorus)
I keep on living with the fullness of the one
like the heat of the sun or the skin on the drum
I'm fully marinated and now I'm ready for the fire
so you can fire one
fire one
fire two
See I've been fully marinated
and now I'm ready for the fire
see I'm beginning to perspire
from deep within to the skin
yo, the feminine and the masculine
the pieces of the puzzle
see my reflections in the puddle
after the storm the purple of the sky
brings to mind another time
when we resided
below the water line
life was fine there human divine
but in the years following
evil men came swallowing
everything in sight
some learned to run, some stayed to fight
I kneeled at the tomb of the soldier
said I would love to behold her
the magic in store there
she touched me on the shoulder
she said, "in time all is revealed, box of light be unsealed
now listen to me son, be like the skin on the drum"
(chorus)
And as the pepper gas clears
and police and protestors go home
just as the morning dew are tear drops of the night
my emotions are always there for you
and will never leave you dry
bless
We need help, we need love
We need a revolution
We need food, we need homes
We need a revolution
We need a say in how the whole thing goes
We need a revolution
We need truth, we need peace
We need a revolution
We�ve got to stand up off our bloody knees
We need a revolution YEAH!...
We�ve come a million years
With our sticks in our hands
Some are fighting bloody wars
Some are bangin� with the band
We�re rock n roll soldiers here to tell the truth
It�s love we need, let us give some to you
And I�m just going crazy when I see you there
Cause I just want to tell you I care
We�ve used up most of what there used to be
Not much left for baby and me
So you know we�ve stopped eating what you call meat
We�re gonna stop cutting down all our precious trees
We�re gonna live as clean and green as we can
Or we might be the end of man!
It�s all for a cause, we do it because
It�s all for the children, we do it because
It�s all for the people, we do it because
It�s all for the world so we can keep rockin on
Keep on rockin it will be alright
Effect everyone and everything in your sight
There�s a cause man haven�t you heard
You�ve got to do your best to help save the world!...{last som of my own pen,1990}
Repeat over and over and over 4 miles...the war has begun...fire 1 from the somz of the attacked , fire 2 is come�n so watch out yo bak...
They harder you hit us, the louder we become...
Just like the skin on a drum...

Chinese Torture Methods on FalunInfo.net. Caution: Graphic photos. Welcome to the new frontiers of employee management in the New Global economy.

quote:

Low Prices, Widespread Torture
Our new system of global production
by HAROLD MEYERSON
Powerlines

Whatever its virtues, the United Nations isn�t the first place you�d turn to if you wanted to expose some nefarious internal practices of its more powerful member states. So it came as no small surprise when a U.N. investigator last week documented the �widespread� use of torture in China. Manfred Nowak, who is the special rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, noted that electric shock, sleep deprivation and submersion in water or sewage are still common practices in China when the state seeks to obtain confessions and suppress the political dissent it delicately terms �deviant behavior.�

This is hardly the image of the new, improved capitalist China that the neo-Communist regime and American business have teamed up to convey. As they depict it, China is a bustling, modern society that offers everything a company could possibly want to do business. They�re right � and that�s just the problem.

Because if China offers anything to the corporations of the world, it�s a diligent, skilled � and intimidated � work force. Nowak noted the prevalence of torture in China�s labor camps, where the inmates have been imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs and activities. The ultimate crime in China, after all, is to seek to establish autonomous centers of power � churches, parties, unions � not under the control of the Communist Party. Workers who have led strikes or tried to organize unions are still jailed and tortured in the new-model China, as democracy advocate and union activist Harry Wu � a veteran of the state�s gulags � can attest.

This is a story that implicates all of us. Torture, and fear of torture, are factors in holding costs down in our new-age globalized production system. Take just-in-time delivery, add a touch of submersion in shit, fear of beating, fear of drowning, and voil�! You get Wal-Mart�s everyday low prices.

That�s not quite how the story gets conveyed in the business press, however. When American economists and executives opine about China, you don�t hear about the jailing and abuse of workers who seek decent living standards. There�s nothing new in this: Our guys in the oil business have never said word one about the repressive Saudi regime, and United Fruit was always the Latin American banana-republic dictator�s best friend. But China is different. It�s not just one benighted sector of American capitalism that�s made its accommodations there. Virtually every major U.S. firm involved in manufacturing and marketing is beating a path to China�s door � and surrendering there any political principles they may have brought with them. Rupert Murdoch�s agreement not to air any officially disapproved broadcasts over his satellite TV system is just one, albeit egregious, example.

So the next time China has a Tian An Men Square�like convulsion, don�t count on American business to support the Chinese democrats trying to stop the tanks. A more democratic China means workers with more rights and higher wages. For which reason the U.S. government is likely to be conflicted as well. Even now, while the Defense Department views China as a threat, the Commerce Department views it as a trading partner, or even an extension of the American system of production. Nor is it a given that a Democratic administration would be less immune than the Bush administration is to this political schizophrenia. It was the Clinton White House, after all, that promoted China�s no-questions-asked admission to the World Trade Organization.

Suppress unions and you get violence: The Middle Kingdom is home to more labor unrest than any other place � actually, than every other place � on the planet. In the factory zones, workers riot and disrupt when their pay is withheld or their co-workers perish doing dangerous jobs that no one in power cared to make safer. In the West, the riot was the normal form of worker protest before unions were legalized in the 19th and 20th centuries. And destabilizing and destructive as riots may be, they pose less of a threat to a quasi-totalitarian regime like China than an orderly strike led by an autonomous workers� organization.

China may be the most nominal of socialist states, but its claim to legitimacy is still rooted in mumbled phrases about empowering workers. Accordingly, it has its own government-run unions, which aren�t really unions at all. Controlled by the Communist Party, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions features locals whose leaders are often selected by the employer. These unions do not strike � that would be against the law, and disruptive of the social harmony and political control that the powers that be seek to maintain. They cannot bargain aggressively.


It should shock no one, then, that Wal-Mart � a company that closed down all its meat departments in the U.S. when butchers in one store voted to unionize � has embraced the government union in China. �Should associates [the Wal-Mart term for employees] request the formation of a union,� the company said in a statement released late last year, �the company would respect their wishes.� In Bentonville and Beijing, the only good union is a sham union.

What�s curious is why some of America�s most brilliant and dedicated union leaders should be cozying up to the same sham unionists. At the first organizing conference of the new Change To Win Federation, which convened last month in Las Vegas, delegates welcomed invited guests from the All-China Federation. Ninety-nine times out of 100, the leaders of the Service Employees International Union (the Change To Win union most predisposed to the All-China Federation) can smell a company union a mile away. This time, their noses � well, their strategic and moral sense � failed them.

But they�re hardly alone. American companies and consumers count on China; it�s the producer of choice for a nation � ours � where incomes, on average, no longer rise. Only a spoilsport from the United Nations would have the gall to disturb us with the news that our spiffy, 21st-century, integrated global economic system is built on the barbarism of despots and thugs.

This is an insightful history of the China communist revolution and helps answer the question, "Is China really communist or captialist?"

It is difficult to do the simplest study of Russia and China because of all the political interests involved in keeping the official stories straight and slanted to ideologies.

quote:

1984, Chapter 13, George Orwell
He tried to make her understand. 'This was an exceptional case. It wasn't just a question of somebody being killed. Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished? If it survives anywhere, it's in a few solid objects with no words attached to them, like that lump of glass there. Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the falsification myself. After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains. The only evidence is inside my own mind, and I don't know with any certainty that any other human being shares my memories. Just in that one instance, in my whole life, I did possess actual concrete evidence after the event -- years after it.'

quote:

The death of China’s “red capitalist” and the 1949 revolution
By John Chan
29 November 2005
WSWS.org

On October 26, Rong Yiren, a prominent member of the pre-1949 Chinese capitalist elite who supported the Communist Party government established by Mao Zedong, died in Beijing at the age of 89. Better known as the “red capitalist”, Rong’s life epitomised the close relations that existed from the outset between the Stalinist regime and sections of the Chinese bourgeoisie.

The official obituary by the Xinhua news agency hailed Rong as a “leading representative of modern Chinese national industrialists, an outstanding national leader, a great patriot and a communist champion”. His farewell ceremony was held at Beijing’s Babao Hill, the burial site of senior leaders. Dozens of prominent Chinese figures, headed by Premier Wen Jiaobao, attended the event.

By the time he died, the so-called “communist champion” was one of China’s richest individuals. In the years following the introduction of market reforms in 1979, Rong used his connections to amass a fortune far in excess of what his family possessed before the Chinese Revolution.

Rong was selected in 1979 to head the China International Trust and Investment Corporation. From 1993 to 1998, he was a vice president of China and occupied an executive position in the National People’s Congress. In 2000, the US-based Forbes magazine estimated his personal wealth at $US1.9 billion.

Rong Yiren was born in 1916 in eastern Jiangsu province and graduated from St John’s University in Shanghai. The son of a wealthy bourgeois family, he had a privileged upbringing, living in a luxury mansion and driving a British-made sports car.

On the eve of the 1949 Revolution, Rong took over control of the family business, which by then consisted o