Roland Boer's Blog, page 57

Tim Minchin’s Come Home (Cardinal Pell)

This song is doing the rounds, picking up the great tradition of protest songs with a perfect balance. You can find it here, since I don’t have access to youtube in China: http://v.yinyuetai.com/video/h5/2503749

Come Home (Cardinal Pell) – Tim Minchin
v.yinyuetai.com
Come Home (Cardinal Pell) – Tim Minchin

Dreaming in Chinese

They say it marks a significant stage in learning a new language – when you begin to dream in that language. In my case, I have been studying Chinese for almost two years, with up to 4 hours a day at times. Last night, I found myself engaged in a dream conversation in which I responded to my interlocutor clearly in Chinese. Can’t remember exactly what I said, of course, but I woke up quite conscious of the fact that I had done so.

The miners of Chiatura

Things only get worse in Geogia for the miners. After a series of strikes at the Chiatura manganese mine, many have been sacked. Comrades in Georgia, which I plan to visit later this year, are organising a campaign. My small contribution:

The three ‘twos’ of Chinese Marxism

This is the material I really enjoy: the turning of Marx’s thought into Chinese idiom. In this case I mean the three twos: the ‘two inevitabilities’, the’two ruptures’ and the ‘two impossibilities’.

The ‘two inevitabilities’ refer to the inevitable fall of bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat and peasantry.

The ‘two ruptures’ concern the communist revolution’s radical rupture with traditional property relations and the rupture with traditional ideas.

And the ‘two impossibilities’ re...

Why did women slaves not work ancient fields?

As we work our way through material forTime of Troubles, we are struck by many things, such as the rampant economics imperialism of the last couple of decades, or the assumption that the ‘economy’ refers only to commercial activity and that agriculture is for some strange reason not an economic activity. But the other day, I was struck by another question: why did female slaves not tend to work the fields in ancient Greece and Rome? It may have something to do with the following assumptions,...

If you must get a tattoo …

(ht sb)

Vietnam: Images from the winners

The book is now out of print, which is a shame, butAnother Vietnam is a stunning collection of photographs from Vietcong photographers of their side of a long, long war they won. It makes you wonder what the situation would be like if the DPRK had won their revolutionary war against the USA. The images may be found here, along with descriptions (ht: cp).

People of the DPRK (North Korea)

Some photographs, taken by me and Aina Skoland (who was in our group). As you can see, people like to dress well and go about their daily lives as one might expect.

Three wise communists

Idle People Stop

Yes, indeed. This is from the train that took me last year from Pyongyang to Beijing. A preparation for a series of photographs on the DPRK (North Korea) – which I have at last finished processing:

It reads: xian ren zhibu, which would be better translated as ‘no loitering’.