Roland Boer's Blog, page 54

The Oils are back!

With a low key announcement on their website, Midnight Oil tells they are back after a fifteen year break. It looks like there will be a world tour in 2017. This is one the great bands, full of passion and politics and powerful music.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTcwNjU5Nzgw.html?from=s1.8-1-1.2

You know China is becoming a second home when …

Usually these sorts of comments begin with ‘you you’ve been too long in [place name] name when …’, but I prefer, ‘you know [place name] is becoming a second home when …’ So: China. You know it is becoming a second home when:

You think that paying more than 5 dollars for a meal is a rip-off. You do not bat an eyelid when the country woman with whom you are speaking spits on the footpath. You think nothing of going for a run outside when the air quality index registers ‘hazardous’ (PMI 2.5 300...

China Road conference: Call for papers deadline extended to 15 May

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

CALL FOR PAPERS: DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 15 MAY

The China Road conference is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the University of Newcastle, Australia.

When 13 to 15 August 2016

Where Noah’s on the Beach Hotel, Cnr Shortland Esplanade & Zaara Street, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Contact chinaroad2016@newcastle.edu.au

Panel and paper proposal deadline 15 May 2016

We invite paper and panel proposals for the first China Road international conference in th...

Golden gift from the sky: Chinese good luck

It all depends on cultural interpretation. This morning, as I was enjoying a walk in a small park under some trees, I felt a spatter of something on my head and shoulders. Is it raining? I wondered. The sky was clear, or as clear as it gets in spring in Beijing. The squawk of a bird above me told me otherwise. It had crapped on me.

Back to my apartment I went, washing my shirt and head, before heading out again. I had arranged to meet some Chinese students on our way to the opening of the Bei...

Chinese Freedom in new journal: Continental Thought and Theory

The energetic people at Canterbury University in New Zealand/Aotearoa, Cindy Zeiher and Mike Grimshaw, have launched a new journal call ‘Continental Thought and Theory‘. The first bumper issue contains more than thirty contributions on the question of what intellectual freedom means today. My contribution concerns ‘Chinese Freedom‘.

A Theory of the Socialist State

Is there a theory of the socialist state? We can draw together a theory from a careful study of the experiences and statements of the Soviet Union and China, the two places where a socialist state has begun to emerge. Why? They are the two largest countries where socialism has been and is in power, after a successful revolution. Let me put the proposal in a series of theses, premised on the point that a socialist state is not a federation, not a nation-state, not an empire, not a colonising p...

Why the Trotsky Debate is Irrelevant in China

I have recently participated in a Marxist conference in China (in Shanghai – not the one in Beijing mentioned in an earlier post). Many are such conferences in this part of the world, and they are increasing. But this one was a little different, for it involved a group of visitors who may be described as international Trotskyites. Some, but not all, appeared to feel that they were coming here to teach the Chinese a lesson or two about Marxism. They might be called ‘chauvinistic Marxists’, wit...

What is the annual number of rides on the Beijing metro?

About 3.5 billion. That is, half of the world’s population travels annually on the Beijing metro system. And within 5 years they wish to double to length of the system.

Trending in China today: International Conference on Chinese Marxism

I continue to be impressed by the efficiency of Chinese ways of doing things. There is a long history of managing to get things done in the country with the largest population in the world. Today was no exception. By lunchtime, news was already doing the rounds about our conference on ‘The International Horizon of Chinese Marxist Discourse’, a project funded by the wise people at the Centre for Studies of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

A detailed report can be found on The Chinese So...

New article on contradiction in Chinese Social Sciences Today

This always gives me a thrill, breaking into new areas for publishing ideas. Earlier, the People’s Dailyin China published an article on the decline of bourgeois democracy in the United States. A few days ago, Chinese Social Sciences Today published an article called ‘Contradiction: The Key to Understanding the Sinification of Marxism’. It has now appeared on a number of websites in China (here, here, here and here). This is a short version of my paper to be delivered at the Chinese Marxism c...