asiapacificresearch--2020-10-05--Borneo – Not Just Nature, But Also Great Ancient Culture Has Been Destroyed

We repost this article from the late Andre Vltchek who , as a passionate activist and internationalist , stood up for justice , in defense of the poor , the persecuted and the oppressed .
This was originally published in 2018 .
Click here to go to Andre ’ s archive on APR .
Would you ever think of the third largest island on Earth – Borneo ( known as Kalimantan in Indonesia ) – as one of the cradles of the world ’ s democracy ?
Perhaps you wouldn ’ t , but you should .
While Europe was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as expansionist wars , in the once lush , tropical Borneo , people who belonged to the ancient local cultures , used to decide things communally , by consensus , or should we use the Western term , “ democratically ” .
Judged by today ’ s standards , they were also living the lives of determined ‘ environmentalists ’ , showing great respect for the nature around them – for all living creatures , plants , deep forests , wide rivers as well as humble creeks .
True , local people – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ headhunters ” , at least by the European Orientalists .
But that was only one of many features of their culture .
Dayaks spoke at least 170 languages and dialects , enjoying complex fabric of cultures , customs and laws .
The bottom line is : in many ways and for many centuries , traditional Dayaks were able to co-exist perfectly well with their island and with the surrounding environment .
If left alone , that is what they would still be doing now – living their own lives , in their own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well .
Unfortunately , that was not meant to be .
Borneo was attacked , colonized and devastated by European invaders .
For a short period , the Japanese occupied the island , and then the Europeans came back again , before “ independence ” saw the island divided between three sovereign countries : Indonesia , Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam .
Things did not get much better .
The brutality – almost madness – of the Indonesian plunder which took place after the 1965 Western-orchestrated military coup ( backed by foreign mining and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the natural resources of Kalimantan , has been legendary .
For Jakarta and for its foreign handlers , the so-called transmigration made looting much easier , while turning local people into a minority and into serfs on their own land .
Dayak culture is now only truly ‘ alive and well ’ in a few untouched pockets in the deep interior .
There , people still remember and know how Borneo used to be .
They also understand what should and could be done in order to save it .
But no one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them , or even to listen .
Travelling through the so-called Heart of Borneo ( HOB ) is not easy .
But it is possible , and while collecting footage for our documentary films and for the book , we managed to visit , in May 2018 , several remote communities located between the Indonesian city of Putussibau , and the border with Malaysia .
A couple that lost the house in Patussibau Putussibau lies on the shores of the mighty Kapuas River – on its upper stream .
Unlike other major cities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mainly surrounded by untouched primary forests , as it lies inside the protected areas .
After the almost absolute devastation of Kalimantan that we have been witnessing in western and southern parts of the island for months , the HOB appeared to be remarkably pristine .
The inhabitants of various traditional ‘ longhouses ’ located tens of kilometers outside the city appeared to be very well-informed about the present state of Borneo , and even willing to fearlessly comment on the situation .
They were also knowledgeable about the history and traditional cultures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the island in general .
Borneo native , Paulus Tulung Daun ( image below ) , an old Dayak man who is the head of a traditional longhouse , explained : “ We , especially the Dayak Taman ( the name of one Dayak sub-ethnic community living in the interior of Borneo ) , have wisdom and traditions from our ancestors .
We know how to live in harmony with the nature .
That ’ s why here we don ’ t destroy the environment .
Without nature , there is no life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to keep this essential value in their daily existence , and we tell our children not to be easily influenced by the immigrants from other part of the country and from abroad ; from those who are coming here and keep devastating Kalimantan .
We will also continue to live in this longhouse because we believe that there is wisdom in living in a longhouse , compared to conventional houses .
Here we live in harmony with the entire community ; we help each other and share our possessions .
All important decisions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members of our community .
Palm oil companies came to us on many occasions , offering to buy our lands , but we always refuse because we know that palm oil would bring harm to the nature and to our lives .
In other places , I think people are lured by money and promises from the companies , so they sell all they have , and as a result lose their forest.
” A younger man , Hendri , joins the conversation .
He is very enthusiastic ; dreaming about working in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his community .
It is soon clear that both generations are on a very similar wave : “ Selling land to the businesses is not a good idea .
First , there is never a clear MoU between the companies/government and the local people , so we do not trust them .
Second , the palm oil could maybe bring some benefits , but only for the short-term period .
But what about our future generations ?
We don ’ t want our water to be contaminated , we don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rob our children and grandchildren of their future .
“ What about the gold mining ?
” We ask .
It is clear than in other parts of Kalimantan , the ‘ illegal ’ ( although in reality fully protected and even sponsored by the government , police and the military ) extraction of gold from the rivers and shores has already poisoned entire communities and waterways with mercury and other highly toxic substances .
Hendri ( known only by his first name ) does not hesitate : We want to know about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been governing the local communities and dwellings ( like longhouses ) for decades and centuries .
Democracy .
‘ Rule of the people ’ in Greek .
It is officially promoted by the West , but in reality , it disappears , is immediately blocked from being practiced in the places that are conquered and colonized by the Europeans and their offspring .
In Borneo , there was the LanFang Republic ( Chinese : 蘭芳共和國 ) .
According to the Lan Fang Chronicles ( a multi-faceted project inspired by the histories and investigations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which was founded by Hakka Chinese in West Borneo ) : As quoted by various sources , including ( Sarawak Museum Journal , Volume 19 ” 1971 ) : While I discussed this impressive republic , in Nagasaki , Japan , with a leading Australian historian Geoffrey Gunn , he expressed great admiration for its achievements : Prof. Mira Sophia Lubis , a native of Kalimantan , who has been researching the island for many years , explained : We drove with Mr. Hendri all the way to Ensanak Village , some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again , oil palm plantations are covering enormous sprawls of land .
“ Protected areas ” are far away from here .
As everywhere else in the Indonesian Kalimantan , the creeks passing through these plantations are dark red or black from the carcinogenic chemicals that are used by the companies .
Mr. Hendri wanted us to talk to his relative , Mr. Mawan , who used to be a true firebrand activist , fighting against the oil palm plantations .
He even used to block the company trucks and to initiate legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But after the long and arduous journey , Mr. Mawan was unwilling to speak about the terrible ordeal of the local people .
His tiny village was fully encircled by the plantations .
There was no tiniest piece of pristine land left , in a radius of tens of kilometers .
Yet he spoke about the benefits of the oil palm plantations , not about their devastating effects on the people .
Putussibau may be in a somehow better state than other provincial cities of Kalimantan , such as Sintang ( a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
But even here , the situation for the local people is pitiful .
The collapsing giant – Indonesia – is still somehow surviving because of the unbridled extraction of natural resources from Papua , Sumatra and Kalimantan , but it gives very little ( or close to nothing ) back to the people inhabiting these islands .
Indonesia is now the world ’ s largest producer of palm oil in the world ( over 21 million tons ) , Malaysia being close second .
This business generates incomes of tens of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ population in Indonesian Kalimantan remains dirt-poor .
In the evening , before leaving Patussibau , we crossed the river from the city center , to the area which was recently devastate by a landslide – Kedamin .
There we saw a parcel of land which literally broke in half , one part remined standing on the hill , while the other one collapsed and fell down to the river .
The house was gone .
There were only some debris left .
The owners of the house – a man and his wife @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bench shaded by what was left of a tarpaulin roof .
Dispassionately first , they recounted what happened to them two weeks ago : At one point , the woman began to cry .
Now she and her family have to rely on the help of neighbors and relatives .
One of the neighbors had offered them a temporary shelter .
As always in such situations , the government did close to zero .
It did not asses the danger before the tragedy occurred , it did nothing to reinforce the shore .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ only offered one-time ‘ relief ’ – a blanket !
Local people can count on nothing .
There is no place they can turn to when they need help .
Everything has been taken away from Kalimantan , but nothing is being given back , with the exception of some “ infrastructure ” – meaning roads , which are built in order to facilitate even the greater extraction of the natural resources .
Not far from where Ms. Yeni was sitting , a man was defecating into the water , crouching on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meters down the stream , someone was washing clothes , and then bathing .
Clearly , in the cities , not much is left of the former glory of Borneo , and of the deep and proud Dayak culture !
Had it not been attacked , colonized and enslaved by the Dutch , British and Japanese invaders , had it not later been taken over by tremendous greed and Machiavellian politics streaming from Java , the island of Borneo would have most likely developed into one of the most traditional and at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Southeast Asia .
Here , when left alone , both Dayak and Chinese people were co-existed peacefully .
Both cultures had their own , democratic ways of governing .
Both respected the nature .
But both were too weak to fight the superior weapons and unbridled greed of the invaders .
They were defeated , humiliated and forced into submission .
We know what followed .
It is clearly visible all over the island : almost everything is burned , mined out and destroyed .
The misery in which the people are forced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the old longhouses , deep inside the forest , people still resist , by living their lives as they did before the occupation .
Inside those splendid longhouses , can be found the secrets of Borneo , as well as the answers to those countless questions , including the most burning of all : “ why the disaster has taken place ” .
There , in the minds and hearts of the local people – those people who are still able to resist the mainstream ‘ education ’ imposed from Jakarta and from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way forward and the salvation for this once most beautiful island on Earth .
To support Borneo films and book , click here .
This article was originally published on New Eastern Outlook .
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher , novelist , filmmaker and investigative journalist .
He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries .
Three of his latest books are his tribute to “ The Great October Socialist Revolution ” a revolutionary novel “ Aurora ” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction : “ Exposing Lies Of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ books here .
Watch Rwanda Gambit , his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “ On Western Terrorism ” .
Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East , and continues to work around the world .
He can be reached through his website and his Twitter .
Mira Lubis is a lecturer and researcher in urban studies , Tanjungpura University , West Kalimantan .
All images in this article are from the authors ; Featured image : Near Malaysian border , total destruction

We repost this article from the late Andre Vltchek who, as a passionate activist and internationalist, stood up for justice, in defense of the poor, the persecuted and the oppressed. This was originally published in 2018.
Click here to go to Andre’s archive on APR.
***
Would you ever think of the third largest island on Earth – Borneo (known as Kalimantan in Indonesia) – as one of the cradles of the world’s democracy? Perhaps you wouldn’t, but you should.
While Europe was engaged in myriads of internal as well as expansionist wars, in the once lush, tropical Borneo, people who belonged to the ancient local cultures, used to decide things communally, by consensus, or should we use the Western term, “democratically”. Judged by today’s standards, they were also living the lives of determined ‘environmentalists’, showing great respect for the nature around them – for all living creatures, plants, deep forests, wide rivers as well as humble creeks.
True, local people – Dayaks – were often marked as “headhunters”, at least by the European Orientalists. But that was only one of many features of their culture. Dayaks spoke at least 170 languages and dialects, enjoying complex fabric of cultures, customs and laws.
The bottom line is: in many ways and for many centuries, traditional Dayaks were able to co-exist perfectly well with their island and with the surrounding environment.
Dayak people surrounded by their nature
If left alone, that is what they would still be doing now – living their own lives, in their own place, and most likely, living well.
Unfortunately, that was not meant to be.
Borneo was attacked, colonized and devastated by European invaders. For a short period, the Japanese occupied the island, and then the Europeans came back again, before “independence” saw the island divided between three sovereign countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.
Things did not get much better. The brutality – almost madness – of the Indonesian plunder which took place after the 1965 Western-orchestrated military coup (backed by foreign mining and logging interests); the plunder of the natural resources of Kalimantan, has been legendary. For Jakarta and for its foreign handlers, the so-called transmigration made looting much easier, while turning local people into a minority and into serfs on their own land.
Dayak culture is now only truly ‘alive and well’ in a few untouched pockets in the deep interior.
There, people still remember and know how Borneo used to be. They also understand what should and could be done in order to save it. But no one seems to be willing to learn from them, or even to listen.
*
Travelling through the so-called Heart of Borneo (HOB) is not easy. But it is possible, and while collecting footage for our documentary films and for the book, we managed to visit, in May 2018, several remote communities located between the Indonesian city of Putussibau, and the border with Malaysia.
A couple that lost the house in Patussibau
Putussibau lies on the shores of the mighty Kapuas River – on its upper stream. Unlike other major cities in Indonesian Kalimantan, it is still mainly surrounded by untouched primary forests, as it lies inside the protected areas.
After the almost absolute devastation of Kalimantan that we have been witnessing in western and southern parts of the island for months, the HOB appeared to be remarkably pristine.
The inhabitants of various traditional ‘longhouses’ located tens of kilometers outside the city appeared to be very well-informed about the present state of Borneo, and even willing to fearlessly comment on the situation. They were also knowledgeable about the history and traditional cultures of their geographical area, and of the island in general.
Borneo native, Paulus Tulung Daun (image below), an old Dayak man who is the head of a traditional longhouse, explained:
“We, especially the Dayak Taman (the name of one Dayak sub-ethnic community living in the interior of Borneo), have wisdom and traditions from our ancestors. We know how to live in harmony with the nature. That’s why here we don’t destroy the environment. Without nature, there is no life. We teach our young people, to keep this essential value in their daily existence, and we tell our children not to be easily influenced by the immigrants from other part of the country and from abroad; from those who are coming here and keep devastating Kalimantan. We will also continue to live in this longhouse because we believe that there is wisdom in living in a longhouse, compared to conventional houses. Here we live in harmony with the entire community; we help each other and share our possessions. All important decisions are made after the consultations with the members of our community. Palm oil companies came to us on many occasions, offering to buy our lands, but we always refuse because we know that palm oil would bring harm to the nature and to our lives. In other places, I think people are lured by money and promises from the companies, so they sell all they have, and as a result lose their forest.” A younger man, Hendri, joins the conversation. He is very enthusiastic; dreaming about working in the health sector and improving the lives of his community. It is soon clear that both generations are on a very similar wave: “Selling land to the businesses is not a good idea. First, there is never a clear MoU between the companies/government and the local people, so we do not trust them. Second, the palm oil could maybe bring some benefits, but only for the short-term period. But what about our future generations? We don’t want our water to be contaminated, we don’t want to lose our forests – to rob our children and grandchildren of their future.
“What about the gold mining?” We ask. It is clear than in other parts of Kalimantan, the ‘illegal’ (although in reality fully protected and even sponsored by the government, police and the military) extraction of gold from the rivers and shores has already poisoned entire communities and waterways with mercury and other highly toxic substances.
Hendri (known only by his first name) does not hesitate:
We do now allow any gold mining here. In this traditional area, even when people cut down one single tree, without the permission of our leader, we will punish them using our customary law. So, we do not allow gold mining here at all, because we know how bad the devastation caused by the gold mining can get.”
We want to know about the “democratic principles” that have been governing the local communities and dwellings (like longhouses) for decades and centuries.
“Yes, in a way we live our own form of democracy, for many years and decades. But for us, it is just a natural form of life.”
*
Democracy. ‘Rule of the people’ in Greek. It is officially promoted by the West, but in reality, it disappears, is immediately blocked from being practiced in the places that are conquered and colonized by the Europeans and their offspring.
In Borneo, there was the LanFang Republic (Chinese: 蘭芳共和國).
According to the Lan Fang Chronicles (a multi-faceted project inspired by the histories and investigations of the 18th century Lan Fang Republic, which was founded by Hakka Chinese in West Borneo):
“The Lan Fang Republic was the first democratic republic in South East Asia, set up by the Hakka Chinese in West Borneo. Founded by Luo Fang Bo in 1777, the Republic existed for 107 years with 10 presidents until its reigns came to an end with the Dutch Occupation in 1884.The Chinese first came to Borneo as gold miners and formed various clans grouped by the area of their origins. Originally known as Lan Fang Kongsi (Company), Luo Fang Bo united all the Hakkas in the area to form the Lan Fang Republic. After the Dutch invasion, the descendants fled across the region to Sumatra, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Many scholars believe that one of the descendants later became the founding father of Singapore. While the Hakkas are a minority in Singapore, it is the Hakkas who played an important part in the establishment of Singapore as a cosmopolitan city-state today.”
As quoted by various sources, including (Sarawak Museum Journal, Volume 19” 1971):
“As Dutch imperialism encroached upon modern-day Indonesia, Luo established the Lanfang Republic in 1777 (with its capital in East Wanjin) to protect the Chinese settlers from Dutch oppression… The settlers subsequently elected Luo as their inaugural president. Luo implemented many democratic principles, including the idea that all matters of state must involve the consultation of the republic’s citizenry. He also created a comprehensive set of executive, legislative, and judicial agencies. The Republic did not have a standing military but had a defense ministry that administered a national militia based on conscription…”
While I discussed this impressive republic, in Nagasaki, Japan, with a leading Australian historian Geoffrey Gunn, he expressed great admiration for its achievements:
“Yes, it was enormously advanced. Not only politically, but also technologically – in terms of hydraulics, building dykes…”
Prof. Mira Sophia Lubis, a native of Kalimantan, who has been researching the island for many years, explained:
“In Jakarta and elsewhere, many people believe that the inhabitants of Kalimantan are too simple, lacking knowledge and intellectualism. But let’s face what really happened here: the great and progressive Lanfang Republic was destroyed by the Dutch colonialists. The Japanese then murdered almost all educated people in West Kalimantan, many of whom were of Chinese descent. And then, in many ways, Kalimantan has been marginalized by the government in Jakarta, especially during Suharto era.”
*
We drove with Mr. Hendri all the way to Ensanak Village, some 200 kilometers from Putussibau. There, again, oil palm plantations are covering enormous sprawls of land. “Protected areas” are far away from here. As everywhere else in the Indonesian Kalimantan, the creeks passing through these plantations are dark red or black from the carcinogenic chemicals that are used by the companies.
Mr. Hendri wanted us to talk to his relative, Mr. Mawan, who used to be a true firebrand activist, fighting against the oil palm plantations. He even used to block the company trucks and to initiate legal cases on behalf of the local communities.
But after the long and arduous journey, Mr. Mawan was unwilling to speak about the terrible ordeal of the local people.
His tiny village was fully encircled by the plantations. There was no tiniest piece of pristine land left, in a radius of tens of kilometers. Yet he spoke about the benefits of the oil palm plantations, not about their devastating effects on the people.
“They bought him!”, shouted Hendri in the car, on the way back. “They keep buying our people.”
Back in Bali Gundi longhouse, chief Paulus Tulung Daun floated his important theory:
“People who go to schools in Indonesia, they think they are getting smarter, but in fact they end up working for the government and private companies, and they do nothing to help their villages and hometowns. As long as they get money they do not care anymore. In brief: The more “educated” people are, here, the more they support corporations. They return from schools and begin promoting destructive activities. Political system here, too – is clearly destructive.”
*
Putussibau may be in a somehow better state than other provincial cities of Kalimantan, such as Sintang (a city badly devastated by nearby gold mining). But even here, the situation for the local people is pitiful. The collapsing giant – Indonesia – is still somehow surviving because of the unbridled extraction of natural resources from Papua, Sumatra and Kalimantan, but it gives very little (or close to nothing) back to the people inhabiting these islands.
According to Greenpeace:
“Indonesia’s rainforests are a biodiversity hotspot, rich in endemic species, and vital in regulating the Earth’s climate. But these forests are being torn down for palm oil, pulp and paper plantations – making Indonesia the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter and threatening endangered species such as orang-utans with extinction.”
Indonesia is now the world’s largest producer of palm oil in the world (over 21 million tons), Malaysia being close second. This business generates incomes of tens of billions of dollars. Yet the native population in Indonesian Kalimantan remains dirt-poor.
In the evening, before leaving Patussibau, we crossed the river from the city center, to the area which was recently devastate by a landslide – Kedamin.
There we saw a parcel of land which literally broke in half, one part remined standing on the hill, while the other one collapsed and fell down to the river. The house was gone. There were only some debris left.
The owners of the house – a man and his wife Yeni – were sitting on a makeshift bench shaded by what was left of a tarpaulin roof.
Dispassionately first, they recounted what happened to them two weeks ago:
“The water of Kapuas River kept rising and it was moving with great speed. Suddenly it hit our house, at 3 am. Land facing the bank of the river suddenly cracked and fell down. Part of the house – the kitchen and the dining room – disappeared in the troubled waters. The remaining part of the house was reduced to rubble.”
At one point, the woman began to cry. Now she and her family have to rely on the help of neighbors and relatives. One of the neighbors had offered them a temporary shelter.
As always in such situations, the government did close to zero. It did not asses the danger before the tragedy occurred, it did nothing to reinforce the shore. After the family became homeless, it only offered one-time ‘relief’ – a blanket!
Local people can count on nothing. There is no place they can turn to when they need help. Everything has been taken away from Kalimantan, but nothing is being given back, with the exception of some “infrastructure” – meaning roads, which are built in order to facilitate even the greater extraction of the natural resources.
Not far from where Ms. Yeni was sitting, a man was defecating into the water, crouching on the jetty behind his house. A few meters down the stream, someone was washing clothes, and then bathing.
Clearly, in the cities, not much is left of the former glory of Borneo, and of the deep and proud Dayak culture!
*
Had it not been attacked, colonized and enslaved by the Dutch, British and Japanese invaders, had it not later been taken over by tremendous greed and Machiavellian politics streaming from Java, the island of Borneo would have most likely developed into one of the most traditional and at the same time, prosperous parts of the Southeast Asia.
Here, when left alone, both Dayak and Chinese people were co-existed peacefully. Both cultures had their own, democratic ways of governing. Both respected the nature. But both were too weak to fight the superior weapons and unbridled greed of the invaders. They were defeated, humiliated and forced into submission.
We know what followed. It is clearly visible all over the island: almost everything is burned, mined out and destroyed. The misery in which the people are forced to live, is appalling.
In the old longhouses, deep inside the forest, people still resist, by living their lives as they did before the occupation.
Inside those splendid longhouses, can be found the secrets of Borneo, as well as the answers to those countless questions, including the most burning of all: “why the disaster has taken place”.
There, in the minds and hearts of the local people – those people who are still able to resist the mainstream ‘education’ imposed from Jakarta and from abroad – may also lie solutions, the way forward and the salvation for this once most beautiful island on Earth.
To support Borneo films and book, click here.
*
This article was originally published on New Eastern Outlook.
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are his tribute to “The Great October Socialist Revolution” a revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter.
Mira Lubis is a lecturer and researcher in urban studies, Tanjungpura University, West Kalimantan.
All images in this article are from the authors; Featured image: Near Malaysian border, total destruction


asiapacificresearch--2020-10-05--Hong Kong’s Paradoxical “Independence” Movement

In line with the ongoing crisis in Hong Kong , we repost this article that was originally published on APR in 2018 .
Prominent Hong Kong opposition leader Edward Leung was sentenced to 6 years in prison for assaulting police and his role in leading riots in 2016 .
The Guardian in its article “ Hong Kong jails independence leader Edward Leung for six years , ” would report : Western pundits decried the jail sentence as the breakdown of the “ rule of law ” in Hong Kong .
Yet the riots were violent and destructive , and most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kong not to jail Leung for his role in criminal activity would constitute an actual breakdown of the rule of law .
Edward Leung had been serving as spokesman and by-election candidate for the Hong Kong Indigenous political group .
The group seeks the unrealistic goal of stopping influence from mainland China as part of a wider Western-sponsored political movement to maintain Hong Kong as a pressure point vis-a-vis Beijing .
The movement also attempts to hold Beijing to the parting demands made by British occupiers in 1997 including the “ One Country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the legal framework Western-sponsored agitators use to justify their activities and notions of “ independence.
” And while the Hong Kong “ independence movement ” claims to represent the “ indigenous ” people of Hong Kong and its autonomy – it is in reality a creation of Washington and in no way represents the people of Hong Kong or the concept of “ independence ” in any way .
Other groups among Hong Kong ’ s opposition have already been exposed as US-sponsored agitators .
This includes the entire core leadership of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protests , also known as the “ Umbrella Revolution.
” The Western media has attempted to dismiss this .
The New York Times in an article titled , “ Some Chinese Leaders Claim U.S. and Britain Are Behind Hong Kong Protests , ” would claim : Yet what the protest leaders claim , and what is documented fact are two different things .
Accusations of US interference are based on evidence – some of which recipients of US funding have attempted to erase or hide .
But even the New York Times article @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York Times and Hong Kong opposition deny this funding has gone to protesters specifically , annual reports from organizations opposition members belong to reveal that it has .
Joshua Wong : “ Occupy Central ” leader and secretary general of the “ Demosisto ” party .
While Wong and other have attempted to deny any links to Washington , Wong would literally travel to Washington once the protests concluded to pick up an award for his efforts from NED subsidiary , Freedom House .
Audrey Eu Yuet-mee : the Civic Party chairwoman , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ functions side-by-side with Benny Tai , is entwined with the US State Department and its NDI elsewhere .
She regularly attends forums sponsored by NED and its subsidiary NDI .
In 2009 she was a featured speaker at an NDI sponsored public policy forum hosted by “ SynergyNet , ” also funded by NDI .
In 2012 she was a guest speaker at the NDI-funded Women ’ s Centre “ International Women ’ s Day ” event , hosted by the Hong Kong Council of Women ( HKCW ) which is also annually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , much of the evidence was first exposed by independent bloggers .
Evidence that was picked up by larger media networks was admitted to .
Other evidence that was not , has since been deleted .
One wonders if the evidence had not contradicted denials by “ Occupy Central ” leaders regarding US funding , why would they have systematically deleted entire webpages and even annual reports from the Internet .
In terms of foreign ties , Edward Leung is no exception .
He and his associates have also been implicated with maintaining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Edward Leung and other “ Independents ” Caught Meeting US Diplomats In one South China Morning Post article titled , “ ‘ Not some kind of secret meeting ’ : Hong Kong Indigenous leaders meet with American diplomats , ” the Post , Edward Leung and fellow “ Hong Kong Indigenous ” member Ray Wong would attempt to explain why they were caught secretly meeting with the US consulate in Hong Kong .
And of course , foreign forces – specifically Washington – is confirmed to have been funding and backing virtually every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked if he had been approached by other consulates apart from the US , he replied while laughing : Virtually every comment Ray Wong made was untrue .
Had photos of his and Edward Leung ’ s meeting not been leaked online , he and the rest of Hong Kong Indigenous would have categorically denied any ties or meetings with the US government – just as many other Occupy Central groups have attempted to do .
It is also unlikely that Leung and Wong were simply informing the US of their “ beliefs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been underwriting their movement and the rest of Occupy Central for years now .
What would Leung and Wong have told the US consulate that Martin Lee and Anson Chan hadn ’ t already told representatives of the US government during their over one-hour talk in front of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C. in 2014 ?
Or during numerous other meetings stretching back for years and documented within Wikileak ’ s archive of US diplomatic cables ?
Ray Wong ’ s final answer about not being able to discuss other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – indicating impropriety that only additional documentation and evidence will be able to force an acknowledgement of – along with excuses – regarding an “ independence ” movement apparently and completely dependent on Washington .
As Beijing dismantled and diminishes this foreign-funded network in Hong Kong , it is important to not only keep the above facts in mind , but keep them in mind in regards to the intentional and repetitious lies told by the Western media to portray individuals like Edward Leung and organizations like Hong Kong Indigenous as “ pro-democracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ truly are .
Tony Cartalucci is Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer , especially for the online magazine “ New Eastern Outlook ” where this article was originally published .
He is a frequent contributor to Global Research .
All images in this article are from the author .

In line with the ongoing crisis in Hong Kong, we repost this article that was originally published on APR in 2018.
Prominent Hong Kong opposition leader Edward Leung was sentenced to 6 years in prison for assaulting police and his role in leading riots in 2016.
The Guardian in its article “Hong Kong jails independence leader Edward Leung for six years,” would report:
Hong Kong’s leading independence activist has been jailed for six years for his involvement in some of the city’s worst protest violence for decades. Edward Leung was convicted in May of rioting over the 2016 running battles with police, when demonstrators hurled bricks torn up from pavements and set rubbish alight in the commercial district of Mong Kok.
Western pundits decried the jail sentence as the breakdown of the “rule of law” in Hong Kong. Yet the riots were violent and destructive, and most certainly against the law. For Hong Kong not to jail Leung for his role in criminal activity would constitute an actual breakdown of the rule of law.
Edward Leung had been serving as spokesman and by-election candidate for the Hong Kong Indigenous political group. The group seeks the unrealistic goal of stopping influence from mainland China as part of a wider Western-sponsored political movement to maintain Hong Kong as a pressure point vis-a-vis Beijing.
The movement also attempts to hold Beijing to the parting demands made by British occupiers in 1997 including the “One Country, Two Systems” principle which serves as the legal framework Western-sponsored agitators use to justify their activities and notions of “independence.”
Hong Kong “Independence” = Dependence on Washington
And while the Hong Kong “independence movement” claims to represent the “indigenous” people of Hong Kong and its autonomy – it is in reality a creation of Washington and in no way represents the people of Hong Kong or the concept of “independence” in any way.
Other groups among Hong Kong’s opposition have already been exposed as US-sponsored agitators. This includes the entire core leadership of the 2014 so-called “Occupy Central” protests, also known as the “Umbrella Revolution.”
The Western media has attempted to dismiss this. The New York Times in an article titled, “Some Chinese Leaders Claim U.S. and Britain Are Behind Hong Kong Protests,” would claim:
Protest leaders said they had not received any funding from the United States government or nonprofit groups affiliated with it. Chinese officials choose to blame hidden foreign forces, they argued, in part because they find it difficult to accept that so many ordinary people in Hong Kong want democracy.
Yet what the protest leaders claim, and what is documented fact are two different things. Accusations of US interference are based on evidence – some of which recipients of US funding have attempted to erase or hide. But even the New York Times article itself admits that:
…the National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit directly supported by Washington, distributed $755,000 in grants in Hong Kong in 2012, and an additional $695,000 last year, to encourage the development of democratic institutions. Some of that money was earmarked “to develop the capacity of citizens — particularly university students — to more effectively participate in the public debate on political reform.”
While the New York Times and Hong Kong opposition deny this funding has gone to protesters specifically, annual reports from organizations opposition members belong to reveal that it has.
“Occupy Central” leaders and organizations receiving US support include:
Benny Tai: a law professor at the University of Hong Kong and a regular collaborator with the US NED and NDI-funded Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL) also of the University of Hong Kong. In the CCPL’s 2006-2007 annual report, (PDF, since deleted) he was named as a board member – a position he has held until at least as recently as last year. In CCPL’s 2011-2013 annual report (PDF, since deleted), NED subsidiary, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) is listed as having provided funding to the organization to “design and implement an online Models of Universal Suffrage portal where the general public can discuss and provide feedback and ideas on which method of universal suffrage is most suitable for Hong Kong.”
In CCPL’s annual report for 2013-2014 (PDF, since deleted), Tai is not listed as a board member but is listed as participating in at least 3 conferences organized by CCPL, and as heading at least one of CCPL’s projects. At least one conference has him speaking side-by-side another prominent “Occupy Central” figure, Audrey Eu. The 2013-2014 annual report also lists NDI as funding CCPL’s “Design Democracy Hong Kong” website.
Martin Lee: a senior leader of the Occupy Central movement. Lee organized and physically led protest marches. He also regularly delivered speeches according to the South China Morning Post. But before leading the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong, he and Anson Chan were in Washington D.C. before the NED soliciting US assistance (video).
During a talk in Washington titled, “Why Democracy in Hong Kong Matters,” Lee and Chan would lay out the entire “Occupy Central” narrative about independence from Beijing and a desire for self-governance before an American audience representing a foreign government Lee, Chan, and their entire opposition are ironically very much dependent on. NED would eventually release a statement claiming that it has never aided Lee or Chan, nor were Lee or Chan leaders of the “Occupy Central” movement.
But by 2015, after “Occupy Central” was over, NED subsidiary Freedom House would not only invite Benny Tai and Joshua Wong to Washington, but also Martin Lee in an event acknowledging the three as “Hong Kong democracy leaders.” All three would take to the stage with their signature yellow umbrellas, representing their roles in the “Occupy Central” protests, and of course – exposing NED’s lie denying Lee’s leadership role in the protests. Additionally, multiple leaked US diplomatic cables (here, here, and here) indicate that Martin Lee has been in close contact with the US government for years, and regularly asked for and received various forms of aid.
Interestingly enough, much of the evidence was first exposed by independent bloggers. Evidence that was picked up by larger media networks was admitted to. Other evidence that was not, has since been deleted. One wonders if the evidence had not contradicted denials by “Occupy Central” leaders regarding US funding, why would they have systematically deleted entire webpages and even annual reports from the Internet.
In terms of foreign ties, Edward Leung is no exception. He and his associates have also been implicated with maintaining inappropriate relations with the US government.
Edward Leung and other “Independents” Caught Meeting US Diplomats
In one South China Morning Post article titled, “‘Not some kind of secret meeting’: Hong Kong Indigenous leaders meet with American diplomats,” the Post, Edward Leung and fellow “Hong Kong Indigenous” member Ray Wong would attempt to explain why they were caught secretly meeting with the US consulate in Hong Kong.
The article would claim:
The photos, published by news website Bastille Post on Wednesday night, showed three members of the group – including Edward Leung Tin-kei and Ray Wong Toi-yeung – meeting two consulate staffers. The quintet reportedly chatted for around an hour and a half, speaking in Putonghua at times, before going their separate ways.
Some mainland media and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying have both claimed that there were foreign forces behind the city’s pro-democracy protests of 2014.
And of course, foreign forces – specifically Washington – is confirmed to have been funding and backing virtually every aspect of the 2014 protests.
Ray Wong would claim:
I think it’s perfectly normal to meet with consulates of different countries. I know it is a practice for consulates of different countries to meet and communicate with civil organizers and politicians. Our meeting with the US consulate was not private. It took place at a rather public setting.
In the past, for them to understand localists and us, they did it through foreign media and (other) media. But most of the media have established views, or are bias in order to create news value. I guess the most direct way is for us to tell them our beliefs and stances.
When asked if he had been approached by other consulates apart from the US, he replied while laughing:
Yes, but I cannot discuss that.
Virtually every comment Ray Wong made was untrue. Had photos of his and Edward Leung’s meeting not been leaked online, he and the rest of Hong Kong Indigenous would have categorically denied any ties or meetings with the US government – just as many other Occupy Central groups have attempted to do.
It is also unlikely that Leung and Wong were simply informing the US of their “beliefs and stances” since the US has been underwriting their movement and the rest of Occupy Central for years now. What would Leung and Wong have told the US consulate that Martin Lee and Anson Chan hadn’t already told representatives of the US government during their over one-hour talk in front of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C. in 2014? Or during numerous other meetings stretching back for years and documented within Wikileak’s archive of US diplomatic cables?
Ray Wong’s final answer about not being able to discuss other meetings with foreign consulates speaks for itself – indicating impropriety that only additional documentation and evidence will be able to force an acknowledgement of – along with excuses – regarding an “independence” movement apparently and completely dependent on Washington.
As Beijing dismantled and diminishes this foreign-funded network in Hong Kong, it is important to not only keep the above facts in mind, but keep them in mind in regards to the intentional and repetitious lies told by the Western media to portray individuals like Edward Leung and organizations like Hong Kong Indigenous as “pro-democracy” rather than the US proxies they truly are.
*
Tony Cartalucci is Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook” where this article was originally published. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
All images in this article are from the author.


asiapacificresearch--2020-10-05--Vietnam Has Reported No Coronavirus Deaths – How?

Vietnam has reported its first ever COVID-19 death towards the end of July , roughly five months past the global pandemic announcement from the WHO .
As of this writing , the Southeast Asian country has just a total of 35 deaths from the 1,096 confirmed cases .
What measures did Vietnam implement to keep the pandemic at bay ?
Vietnam – a developing country that has a large land border with China and a population of 97 million people – has not reported a single death from coronavirus .
As of April 21 , the country had reported 268 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the new coronavirus , with more than 140 people making a full recovery .
The reason why Vietnam has managed to keep patients from death ’ s door is down to a three-pronged government strategy .
While these policy choices may not all be consistent with upholding civil liberties , they are proving essential to keeping the pandemic at bay .
Starting in February , anyone arriving at an airport in a major Vietnamese city had to go through compulsory body temperature screening and fill in a health self-declaration , stating their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These measures are now mandatory for everyone entering major cities and some provinces by land too , and for everyone entering a government building or hospital .
Anyone with a body temperature of over 38C is taken to the nearest medical facility for more thorough testing .
Those who are proven to have lied in their self-declaration , or who resist declaring altogether , can be criminally charged .
Businesses including banks , restaurants and apartment complexes have also implemented their own screening procedures .
There has also been intensive testing across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set up across cities , which all citizens can attend .
Communities who live near confirmed cases – sometimes an entire street or village – are swiftly tested and placed in lockdown .
Our own research on the development of affordable test kits found that by March 5 , Vietnam had validated three different test kits , each costing less than US $ 25 ( £20 ) and producing results within 90 minutes .
These are all being manufactured in Vietnam .
The cost of testing matters everywhere , but is particularly important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ affordable test kits have helped the government ’ s intensive testing strategy .
The second prong of Vietnam ’ s approach is quarantine and lockdowns .
Since mid-February , Vietnamese people returning home from abroad have been quarantined for 14 days on arrival and tested for COVID-19 .
The same quarantine policy has been applied to foreigners coming to Vietnam .
Anyone who has come into direct contact with an infected person , the details of whom are publicised , is encouraged to come forward for quarantine .
If it ’ s discovered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who has tested positive , they will be put into mandatory quarantine .
In March , Vietnam started to lock down whole cities and specific areas in a city .
Travelling between cities is now highly restricted .
In Danang in central Vietnam , anyone who is not a registered resident of the city but wishes to enter has to submit to a 14-day quarantine at a government-approved facility which they must finance themselves .
Villages of 10,000 people have been fenced off on account of single cases .
Bach Mai , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is also a leading COVID-19 treatment centre , was even locked down in late March after one externally contracted staff member tested positive .
Businesses , both state and private , are closed down , and the tourism and airline industries are essentially frozen .
From early January , the Vietnamese government has communicated widely to citizens about the seriousness of the coronavirus .
Communications have been clear : COVID-19 is not just a bad flu , but something to be taken extremely seriously , so people are advised not to put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government has been creative in its communications methods .
Each day , different parts of the Vietnamese government – from the prime minister , to the Ministry of Health , Ministry of Information and Communications and provincial governments – text citizens with information .
Details on symptoms and protection measures are communicated via text to mobile phones all over the country .
The government has also partnered with messaging platforms , such as Zalo , to distribute updates .
This is coupled with propaganda art across the country and newly designed stamps that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus .
Vietnam ’ s cities are adorned with posters that remind citizens of their role in stopping the spread of the virus .
At the same time , the government is revealing details of those who have COVID-19 or , in rare cases , have escaped quarantine – though the person ’ s name is not made public .
For example , two new reports detailed the travel details of patients 237 and 243 .
Even if some cases have not yet been detected by officials , there ’ s no doubt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in reducing the spread of the virus .
Combined , these measures mean Vietnam has not yet experienced any large scale community outbreak , which would devastate a city like Ho Chi Minh City with a population of 11 million and overwhelm the country ’ s public healthcare system .
The three prongs of Vietnam ’ s strategy may not be wholly consistent with liberal ideals , but they are working .
The healthcare system has the time to treat each patient , and in so doing , keep the number of COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lessons as COVID-19 is set to spread further across developing countries .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .

Vietnam has reported its first ever COVID-19 death towards the end of July, roughly five months past the global pandemic announcement from the WHO. As of this writing, the Southeast Asian country has just a total of 35 deaths from the 1,096 confirmed cases.
What measures did Vietnam implement to keep the pandemic at bay?
–APR, October 5, 2020
***
Vietnam – a developing country that has a large land border with China and a population of 97 million people – has not reported a single death from coronavirus. As of April 21, the country had reported 268 cases of COVID-19, the disease associated with the new coronavirus, with more than 140 people making a full recovery.
The reason why Vietnam has managed to keep patients from death’s door is down to a three-pronged government strategy. While these policy choices may not all be consistent with upholding civil liberties, they are proving essential to keeping the pandemic at bay.
Temperature screening and testing
Starting in February, anyone arriving at an airport in a major Vietnamese city had to go through compulsory body temperature screening and fill in a health self-declaration, stating their contact details and travel and health history. These measures are now mandatory for everyone entering major cities and some provinces by land too, and for everyone entering a government building or hospital.
Anyone with a body temperature of over 38C is taken to the nearest medical facility for more thorough testing. Those who are proven to have lied in their self-declaration, or who resist declaring altogether, can be criminally charged.
Businesses including banks, restaurants and apartment complexes have also implemented their own screening procedures.
There has also been intensive testing across the country. Testing stations have been set up across cities, which all citizens can attend. Communities who live near confirmed cases – sometimes an entire street or village – are swiftly tested and placed in lockdown.
Our own research on the development of affordable test kits found that by March 5, Vietnam had validated three different test kits, each costing less than US$25 (£20) and producing results within 90 minutes. These are all being manufactured in Vietnam. The cost of testing matters everywhere, but is particularly important in emerging economies like Vietnam and these affordable test kits have helped the government’s intensive testing strategy.
Targeted lockdowns
The second prong of Vietnam’s approach is quarantine and lockdowns. Since mid-February, Vietnamese people returning home from abroad have been quarantined for 14 days on arrival and tested for COVID-19. The same quarantine policy has been applied to foreigners coming to Vietnam. Anyone who has come into direct contact with an infected person, the details of whom are publicised, is encouraged to come forward for quarantine. If it’s discovered somebody has come into contact with someone who has tested positive, they will be put into mandatory quarantine.
In March, Vietnam started to lock down whole cities and specific areas in a city. Travelling between cities is now highly restricted. In Danang in central Vietnam, anyone who is not a registered resident of the city but wishes to enter has to submit to a 14-day quarantine at a government-approved facility which they must finance themselves.
Villages of 10,000 people have been fenced off on account of single cases. Bach Mai, a famous hospital of 3,200 people in Hanoi which is also a leading COVID-19 treatment centre, was even locked down in late March after one externally contracted staff member tested positive. Businesses, both state and private, are closed down, and the tourism and airline industries are essentially frozen.
Constant communications
From early January, the Vietnamese government has communicated widely to citizens about the seriousness of the coronavirus. Communications have been clear: COVID-19 is not just a bad flu, but something to be taken extremely seriously, so people are advised not to put themselves or others at risk.
Author provided
The government has been creative in its communications methods. Each day, different parts of the Vietnamese government – from the prime minister, to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information and Communications and provincial governments – text citizens with information. Details on symptoms and protection measures are communicated via text to mobile phones all over the country. The government has also partnered with messaging platforms, such as Zalo, to distribute updates. This is coupled with propaganda art across the country and newly designed stamps that further disseminate public health messages about the virus. Vietnam’s cities are adorned with posters that remind citizens of their role in stopping the spread of the virus.
At the same time, the government is revealing details of those who have COVID-19 or, in rare cases, have escaped quarantine – though the person’s name is not made public. For example, two new reports detailed the travel details of patients 237 and 243.
Even if some cases have not yet been detected by officials, there’s no doubt that the Vietnamese approach has been effective in reducing the spread of the virus. Combined, these measures mean Vietnam has not yet experienced any large scale community outbreak, which would devastate a city like Ho Chi Minh City with a population of 11 million and overwhelm the country’s public healthcare system.
The three prongs of Vietnam’s strategy may not be wholly consistent with liberal ideals, but they are working. The healthcare system has the time to treat each patient, and in so doing, keep the number of COVID-19 deaths at zero. Vietnam offers important lessons as COVID-19 is set to spread further across developing countries.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Robyn Klingler-Vidra is a Senior Lecturer in Political Economy, King’s College London.
Ba-Linh Tran is a PhD Candidate, University of Bath.


asiapacificresearch--2020-10-05--New Film Explores U.S. Suppression of Key Footage from Hiroshima and Nagasaki

This article was originally crossposted in June 2020 .
Last month , I completed work on my first film , writing and directing a documentary titled Atomic Cover-up .
Below you can watch via a link four brief clips .
The story for me began , however , thirty-eight years ago this month .
That day also helped set me on the path to spending four weeks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki soon after , and subsequently writing three books on the subject ( including one to be published in July ) , hundreds of articles , and a lifelong engagement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warfare .
In June 1982 , the grassroots antinuclear movement in the U.S. ( and much of the world ) was cresting .
The June 12th march and rally in New York City would draw well over half a million protesters , with some observers calling it the largest such gathering in the country ’ s history .
Many new films with nuclear themes suddenly appeared , including the popular Atomic Cafe .
As someone who came of age in the 1950s and 1960s , I had experienced the terror of the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but I had never attended an “ anti-bomb ” protest .
My knowledge of the debate surrounding the dropping of two atomic bombs over Japan in 1945 was only skin-deep .
But one day in June 1982 , I took notice when the Japan Society in New York announced it would screen the first movie drawing on footage shot in vivid color in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by an elite American military team , then suppressed for decades by the U.S. government .
One of the U.S. Army officers who was part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its suppression for the first time .
I was a member of the Japan Society–they had even arranged my recent interview with film director Akira Kurosawa–and always loved a good “ cover-up.
” So I attended the event a few days later .
The film , produced in Japan , was called Prophecy .
Someone connected with it introduced former Army lieutenant Herbert Sussan , who went on to a long career as a producer/director in the emerging television industry .
He described being recruited near the end of 1945 from the Army @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hollywood ( where he had met Ronald Reagan , among others ) to join a major U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey project to shoot the first and only color footage documenting the destruction of Japanese cities from the air during the war .
It seemed to offer a free , triumphant , trip for the young man until the crew arrived by train at their first stop : Nagasaki .
He would be haunted by what he saw there , and then in Hiroshima , for the rest of his life .
I suppose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I could say that I would be haunted by his words , and the film we would see , for the rest of my life .
Sussan described filming , in blazing color–still rarely used by documentarians at the time–the badly injured , burned or radiation-plagued patients in hospitals .
The cameraman was often Akira “ Harry ” Mimura , from the major Toho studio who had shot Kurosawa ’ s first film , Sanshiro Sugata , and also worked in Hollywood .
Americans back home , to this point , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see grainy , black and white images of rubble in the atomic cities , never the victims , who were mainly women , elderly men and children .
The U.S. had also seized , or banned publication in Japan of photographs of bombing victims taken by Japanese , a ban that remained throughout the Occupation years to 1952 .
When he returned to New York after filming in numerous other bomb-ravaged Japanese cities , Sussan was determined to show the world what he had experienced , hoping that this might halt the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race with the Russians .
Instead , he found that all of the footage had been classified top secret and buried by the U.S. military .
Some of it would eventually be used in training films , but none of it was shown to the public .
The color images were just too revealing not only of unfathomable destruction of buildings , but above all the long-lasting damage to human bodies .
Seized at the same time by the U.S. and hidden for the next quarter of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and white footage shot earlier by the leading Japanese newsreel company , Nippon Eiga Sha .
Sussan tried for twenty years to find and make use of his footage–Americans still had not been exposed to color images of any kind from Hiroshima and Nagasaki–but he got nowhere , even after personally approaching everyone from famed newsman Edward R. Murrow to former President Harry S. Truman .
Image on the right : Frame from color footage that Sussan saw at photo exhibit .
Finally , he would , almost by accident , play a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the world .
Around 1979 he attended an exhibit of photos from the atomic cities at the United Nations near his apartment .
To his dismay , he spotted several color enlargements of frames from the footage his team had shot in 1946..
He said to a Japanese man , Iwakura Tsotumu , who had helped arrange the exhibit , something to the effect , “ I shot the footage this photo is taken from.
” Imagine Iwakura ’ s surprise .
Iwakura did some digging at the National Archives in Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been declassified , very quietly , a few years earlier .
If no one knew about this , it was just the same as still being classified .
Iwakura went back to Japan and launched what became known as the “ 10 Feet Movement , ” a grassroots project that encouraged people ( including school kids ) to raise and contribute funds to buy back copies of all of the color footage in increments of ten feet .
When they reached their goal in 1980 , he made the footage available to Japanese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with more in the works .
The creators of the film that I saw , Prophecy , directed by Hani Susumi , were able to track down some of the survivors shown in the 1946 footage and then contrast the badly-scarred images of them in 1946 with images from interviews with them from the early 1980s .
Soon Americans started making use of the color footage–although only in brief passages–in their own films .
Sussan was gravely ill ( one of his doctors would tell him it was at least possible that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1946 ) .
But my interest had been sparked by listening to him and watching Prophecy .
Later in 1982 , when I became the editor of the leading American magazine for the anti-nuclear movement , Nuclear Times , the first feature I assigned was on Herbert Sussan .
I joined in the interview and became a friend .
I also tracked down in California the man who led the U.S. filming project , Lt. Col. Daniel A. McGovern .
On why the footage was suppressed , McGovern informed me that officials and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the horror it contained .
…because it showed effects on men , women and children…They didn ’ t want that material out because they were working on new nuclear weapons.
” He also sent to me dozens of pages of formerly secret documents from his files , including the original military orders to shoot the footage , his attempts to use the Japanese and/or American footage in films for the public , and the official orders denying that , plus logs of all the classified footage .
I would also talk with Erik @ @ @ @ @ @ @ films who in 1970 had created the first film to make use of the long-suppressed black and white Nippon Eiga Sha footage , Hiroshima-Nagasaki 1945 .
It aired over public television in the U.S. at its full sixteen-minute length , and drew wide attention , although at least one local station refused to air it .
Aiming to gain firsthand experience , I secured a journalism grant via Akiba Tadatoshi ( much later the mayor of Hiroshima ) to spend a month in Hiroshima and Nagasaki , meeting among others some of those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I wrote articles on various aspects of that trip for The New York Times and Washington Post , among others , and dozens of articles about the atomic bombings for numerous other outlets .
I would even interview Paul Tibbets , the pilot of the Enola Gay , which deposited the bomb over Hiroshima , and meet his counterpart on the Nagasaki mission , Charles Sweeney .
A decade later , I penned a small section on the color footage in my book with Robert Jay Lifton , Hiroshima in America .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ book about the saga of the footage , Atomic Cover-up , which was excerpted here at The Asia-Pacific Journal .
It even plays a role in my new book to be published next month , The Beginning or the End : How Hollywood–and America–Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb , on the MGM docudrama of that name , also shot in 1946 .
The MGM movie was directly inspired by warnings from the atomic scientists against building bigger bombs and an arms race with the Russians , but was soon transformed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the White House and the military .
Any mention of Nagasaki , for example , was left on the cutting room floor .
Finally , last year , I set out to fulfill the vision I had , decades ago , of paying tribute to those who shot both the Japanese newsreel and U.S. military footage in 1945-1946 .
I arranged for the first super-high definition transfers of the Japanese footage and several reels of the color footage from the National Archives .
I also obtained relevant portions of books by or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Japanese footage , and the memoir of Harry Mimura , and had key sections translated from the Japanese .
( Abe Markus Nornes , the leading American authority on the Japanese footage , served as an advisor . )
Starting in March , working remotely with an editor in New York , I directed a subtle , perhaps artful , 47-minute documentary , with an original musical score , also titled Atomic Cover-up .
It ’ s told completely through the once-buried Nippon Eiga Sha and American footage , and via @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or produced it in voice-overs .
I am happy to provide four brief excerpts : The first features Lt. McGovern describing his arrival in Nagasaki and Hiroshima for the first time , accompanied by the striking color images .
The second reveals the seizure of the Nippon Eiga Sha footage by the U.S. occupation authorities and how the filmmakers responded–by hiding a print in the ceiling .
The third finds Lt. Sussan paying tribute to the doctors and nurses at the partly destroyed Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshima , which has particular resonance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world cope with the still-horrendous Covid-19 crisis .
And the final one documents the beginning of Sussan ’ s attempts to locate the footage by approaching everyone from Truman to Robert F. Kennedy .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .
Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books , including most recently The Tunnels : Escapes Under the Berlin Wall ( Crown ) and The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America–Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb .
All images in this article are from APJJF

This article was originally crossposted in June 2020.
Last month, I completed work on my first film, writing and directing a documentary titled Atomic Cover-up. Below you can watch via a link four brief clips. The story for me began, however, thirty-eight years ago this month. That day also helped set me on the path to spending four weeks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki soon after, and subsequently writing three books on the subject (including one to be published in July), hundreds of articles, and a lifelong engagement with political and ethical issues surrounding nuclear warfare.
In June 1982, the grassroots antinuclear movement in the U.S. (and much of the world) was cresting. The June 12th march and rally in New York City would draw well over half a million protesters, with some observers calling it the largest such gathering in the country’s history. Many new films with nuclear themes suddenly appeared, including the popular Atomic Cafe.
The Atomic Cafe (1982) – Re-Release Trailer
As someone who came of age in the 1950s and 1960s, I had experienced the terror of the most dangerous years of the nuclear arms race, but I had never attended an “anti-bomb” protest. My knowledge of the debate surrounding the dropping of two atomic bombs over Japan in 1945 was only skin-deep.
But one day in June 1982, I took notice when the Japan Society in New York announced it would screen the first movie drawing on footage shot in vivid color in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by an elite American military team, then suppressed for decades by the U.S. government. One of the U.S. Army officers who was part of that team would discuss the film and its suppression for the first time. I was a member of the Japan Society–they had even arranged my recent interview with film director Akira Kurosawa–and always loved a good “cover-up.” So I attended the event a few days later.
The film, produced in Japan, was called Prophecy. Someone connected with it introduced former Army lieutenant Herbert Sussan, who went on to a long career as a producer/director in the emerging television industry. He described being recruited near the end of 1945 from the Army’s famous wartime film studio in Hollywood (where he had met Ronald Reagan, among others) to join a major U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey project to shoot the first and only color footage documenting the destruction of Japanese cities from the air during the war. It seemed to offer a free, triumphant, trip for the young man until the crew arrived by train at their first stop: Nagasaki. He would be haunted by what he saw there, and then in Hiroshima, for the rest of his life.
The Prophecy (Part 1 of 6)
I suppose, no doubt to a lesser degree, I could say that I would be haunted by his words, and the film we would see, for the rest of my life.
Sussan described filming, in blazing color–still rarely used by documentarians at the time–the badly injured, burned or radiation-plagued patients in hospitals. The cameraman was often Akira “Harry” Mimura, from the major Toho studio who had shot Kurosawa’s first film, Sanshiro Sugata, and also worked in Hollywood.
Hiroshima after the bombing, 1945
Americans back home, to this point, he pointed out, had only been allowed to see grainy, black and white images of rubble in the atomic cities, never the victims, who were mainly women, elderly men and children. The U.S. had also seized, or banned publication in Japan of photographs of bombing victims taken by Japanese, a ban that remained throughout the Occupation years to 1952.
When he returned to New York after filming in numerous other bomb-ravaged Japanese cities, Sussan was determined to show the world what he had experienced, hoping that this might halt the building of new and bigger weapons and prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race with the Russians.
Instead, he found that all of the footage had been classified top secret and buried by the U.S. military. Some of it would eventually be used in training films, but none of it was shown to the public. The color images were just too revealing not only of unfathomable destruction of buildings, but above all the long-lasting damage to human bodies.
Seized at the same time by the U.S. and hidden for the next quarter of a century was all of the searing black and white footage shot earlier by the leading Japanese newsreel company, Nippon Eiga Sha.
Sussan tried for twenty years to find and make use of his footage–Americans still had not been exposed to color images of any kind from Hiroshima and Nagasaki–but he got nowhere, even after personally approaching everyone from famed newsman Edward R. Murrow to former President Harry S. Truman.
Image on the right: Frame from color footage that Sussan saw at photo exhibit.
Finally, he would, almost by accident, play a central role in the footage becoming known to the world. Around 1979 he attended an exhibit of photos from the atomic cities at the United Nations near his apartment. To his dismay, he spotted several color enlargements of frames from the footage his team had shot in 1946.. He said to a Japanese man, Iwakura Tsotumu, who had helped arrange the exhibit, something to the effect, “I shot the footage this photo is taken from.”
Imagine Iwakura’s surprise. Iwakura did some digging at the National Archives in Washington and discovered that the color footage had been declassified, very quietly, a few years earlier. If no one knew about this, it was just the same as still being classified.
Iwakura went back to Japan and launched what became known as the “10 Feet Movement,” a grassroots project that encouraged people (including school kids) to raise and contribute funds to buy back copies of all of the color footage in increments of ten feet. When they reached their goal in 1980, he made the footage available to Japanese filmmakers, who soon completed two documentaries, with more in the works.
The creators of the film that I saw, Prophecy, directed by Hani Susumi, were able to track down some of the survivors shown in the 1946 footage and then contrast the badly-scarred images of them in 1946 with images from interviews with them from the early 1980s. Soon Americans started making use of the color footage–although only in brief passages–in their own films.
Sussan was gravely ill (one of his doctors would tell him it was at least possible that his lymphoma stemmed from radiation exposure in 1946). But my interest had been sparked by listening to him and watching Prophecy. Later in 1982, when I became the editor of the leading American magazine for the anti-nuclear movement, Nuclear Times, the first feature I assigned was on Herbert Sussan. I joined in the interview and became a friend.
I also tracked down in California the man who led the U.S. filming project, Lt. Col. Daniel A. McGovern. On why the footage was suppressed, McGovern informed me that officials and the military “were fearful because of the horror it contained. …because it showed effects on men, women and children…They didn’t want that material out because they were working on new nuclear weapons.” He also sent to me dozens of pages of formerly secret documents from his files, including the original military orders to shoot the footage, his attempts to use the Japanese and/or American footage in films for the public, and the official orders denying that, plus logs of all the classified footage.
I would also talk with Erik Barnouw, the legendary writer on documentary films who in 1970 had created the first film to make use of the long-suppressed black and white Nippon Eiga Sha footage, Hiroshima-Nagasaki 1945. It aired over public television in the U.S. at its full sixteen-minute length, and drew wide attention, although at least one local station refused to air it.
Hiroshima-Nagasaki 1945: The Original Footage
Aiming to gain firsthand experience, I secured a journalism grant via Akiba Tadatoshi (much later the mayor of Hiroshima) to spend a month in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, meeting among others some of those filmed by Sussan and McGovern. Then I wrote articles on various aspects of that trip for The New York Times and Washington Post, among others, and dozens of articles about the atomic bombings for numerous other outlets. I would even interview Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, which deposited the bomb over Hiroshima, and meet his counterpart on the Nagasaki mission, Charles Sweeney.
A decade later, I penned a small section on the color footage in my book with Robert Jay Lifton, Hiroshima in America. A few years later, I wrote a book about the saga of the footage, Atomic Cover-up, which was excerpted here at The Asia-Pacific Journal.
It even plays a role in my new book to be published next month, The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood–and America–Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, on the MGM docudrama of that name, also shot in 1946. The MGM movie was directly inspired by warnings from the atomic scientists against building bigger bombs and an arms race with the Russians, but was soon transformed into falsified, pro-bomb propaganda under pressure from the White House and the military. Any mention of Nagasaki, for example, was left on the cutting room floor.
Finally, last year, I set out to fulfill the vision I had, decades ago, of paying tribute to those who shot both the Japanese newsreel and U.S. military footage in 1945-1946. I arranged for the first super-high definition transfers of the Japanese footage and several reels of the color footage from the National Archives. I also obtained relevant portions of books by or about several of the cameramen and producers of the Japanese footage, and the memoir of Harry Mimura, and had key sections translated from the Japanese. (Abe Markus Nornes, the leading American authority on the Japanese footage, served as an advisor.)
Starting in March, working remotely with an editor in New York, I directed a subtle, perhaps artful, 47-minute documentary, with an original musical score, also titled Atomic Cover-up. It’s told completely through the once-buried Nippon Eiga Sha and American footage, and via the first-person accounts of those who shot or produced it in voice-overs.
I am happy to provide four brief excerpts:
The first features Lt. McGovern describing his arrival in Nagasaki and Hiroshima for the first time, accompanied by the striking color images.
The second reveals the seizure of the Nippon Eiga Sha footage by the U.S. occupation authorities and how the filmmakers responded–by hiding a print in the ceiling.
The third finds Lt. Sussan paying tribute to the doctors and nurses at the partly destroyed Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshima, which has particular resonance today as health workers there and throughout the world cope with the still-horrendous Covid-19 crisis.
And the final one documents the beginning of Sussan’s attempts to locate the footage by approaching everyone from Truman to Robert F. Kennedy.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including most recently The Tunnels: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall (Crown) and The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood–and America–Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
All images in this article are from APJJF


asiapacificresearch--2020-10-06--No Matter What the Western Propaganda Says, Chinese Democracy Is Alive and Well!

This article was originally published in 2018 .
New huge wave of ‘ China bashing ’ is once again rolling from Europe and North America .
Its water is filthy and murky .
It tries to smear everything about the present Chinese system : from its own and unique democratic model , to its leadership , as well as the political , economic and social system .
I am periodically reminded that every year , just before China ’ s annual two sessions , there will be rising voices declaring that the People ’ s Congress play the role of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ democracy can ’ t truly represent the people .
Criticism of the Chinese system sometimes comes from within the country , but more often it arrives from abroad .
Even local critics are usually deeply influenced by the foreign perceptions .
China is often ‘ analyzed ’ and judged strictly by the Western norms and rules , and that is chauvinistic and amazingly patronizing .
My friend and colleague Jeff J .
Brown , a leading expert on China , author of a book China Is Communist Damn It !
wrote indignantly in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hypocrisy Foaming at The Mouth Over China ’ s Constitutional Changes ” : So-called “ China experts ” are piling on with all kinds of doomsday the-sky-is-falling scenarios… President Xi Jinping is being portrayed as megalomaniac , power hungry tyrant .
His 1.4 billion citizens respectfully disagree .
This whole Western charade exudes the worst hypocrisy and at its core , racism .
When was the last time the mainstream media got into a snit because a Western country changed its laws ?
In 2001 , where was Western propaganda when George W. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the US Constitution conferring civil and human rights to its citizens , when a false flag 9/11 gun was held to the heads of every congressman and senator , to sign the Orwellian named “ Patriot ” Act – literally in the middle of the night , never having a chance to read it ?
America ’ s corporate whore media was right there , screaming , Sign it !
Save us !
Protect us !
This is how corrupt , Western “ democracy ” “ works ” … ” A distinct @ @ @ @ @ @ @ University in China , calls recent trends in the West simply and correctly : Chinaphobia .
For decades and centuries , in the West , Chinese people suffered from spiteful racism and discrimination .
In the United States , Chinese migrants were ridiculed and humiliated at best , and physically liquidated at worst .
European powers attacked , occupied , divided and destroyed China , even succeeding in ransacking Beijing .
I wrote entire books ( including Exposing Lies Of The Empire ) and numerous essays , in which I argued that China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history and culture , has undeniable right to be defined and judged by its own people and by its own measures .
But now let ’ s talk about democracy .
First of all , the expression democracy is derived from Greek language .
It loosely means ‘ rule of the people ’ .
It doesn ’ t stipulate that a truly democratic country has to follow a Western multi-party/corporate model , or more concretely , a model in which big corporations and ‘ powerful individuals ’ are financing political campaigns ( while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facto selecting the governments .
In the West , and in its ‘ client states ’ , most of the ordinary people are destined to serve the corporate interests , and the government is there to make sure that they do not break ‘ the rules ’ .
China simply can not follow such model .
Chinese people fought hard for their independence , they struggled during the great revolutionary war , and all this in order to create a system which would be serving the people .
After great sacrifices , people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system is theirs , it exists in order to improve their lives .
It is not perfect , far from it , but it is rapidly evolving into perhaps the most humane system on our Planet .
Chinese corporations are there to serve the people , to serve the nation , and they are told what to do and how to behave by the government and by the Communist Party , not the other way around .
Again , it is not as simple as that , and there are problems and setbacks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marching forward , irreversibly .
Anyone who knows China , knows that the country is improving dramatically , and not only economically but also ecologically , socially and culturally .
There is no other country on Earth , which is changing lives of its ordinary people for better , so rapidly and with such determination .
And it is happening because of the system , because of the Communist Party ’ s leadership , and because of the NPC .
Some people ask me : Those who deny it either don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ losers .
Unlike in the West , Chinese leaders are listening attentively to their people .
China is ‘ direct democracy ’ , and it functions without huge army of political parties .
I don ’ t want to exaggerate and say that the ‘ leadership in China is afraid of the people ’ , but is definitely respecting and listening to them .
It is nothing new : it has been this way for centuries and millennia , since the “ Heavenly Mandate ” was born .
To rule , to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never be taken for granted .
To rule , in China , also means ‘ to serve ’ .
Arrogance and self-indulgence was rarely accepted , and when it was , it was a warning signal that the country was in decline .
Recently , in Claremont , Ca.
, I discussed China with a great U.S. Whiteheadean philosopher , John Cobb Jr. , who has been , for years and decades deeply involved in China , particularly in the “ Ecological civilization ” project .
He replied : Something that could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ West .
When Chinese people sent clear signals to the top that they want more economic freedoms , more consumer goods , and that they want to be able to freely travel abroad , Deng Xiaoping launched sweeping reforms .
Some people agreed with those reforms ; some didn ’ t .
But that is what the majority at that time , truly wanted .
Party and the government were only responding to people ’ s demands .
Decades later , people got tired of so many elements of the market system ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ negative by-products of the super-rapid economic growth .
And they were listened to again .
President Xi Jinping put great emphasis on the environment ( “ Ecological Civilization ” ) , on the great Chinese culture , and above all on improving lives of all Chinese people no matter where they live .
Powerful and progressive model of “ Socialism with Chinese Characteristics ” was reinvented , improved and put to work with new determination and zeal .
Result : soon , perhaps as early as by 2020 , there will be no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the territory of the People ’ s Republic of China .
If this is not socialism , than what really is ?
All this is clearly proof of the Chinese democracy at work .
Even when there are protests , when people are demanding changes , look closely what many of them are holding in their hands : they are waving the little red flags of the Communist Party of China ; definitely not some symbols of the Western regime .
What will be remembered about all this in hundreds of years from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ denied that several Western countries gave at least some freedom and passable standard of living to their citizens , the price has been paid by the plundered continents , squashed under the Western colonialist and neo-colonialist heels .
Tens of millions of non-white people died and are still dying , in order to fulfill tremendous greed and gluttony of so-called Western democracies .
I saw it , unfortunately too often , with my own eyes .
Only lives of the European and North American citizens are respected and protected , not at all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to serve them .
China showed to the world a totally opposite path .
Everything in the PRC is created with hands of the Chinese people ; with their brains , their muscles and their sweat .
It is ‘ clean ’ and honest progress , not one that is resting on the corpses and blood of the millions of ‘ others ’ .
And that is not all .
Brainchild of President Xi , One Belt One Road , is essentially this : “ sharing of China ’ s achievements and success @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , especially with the struggling and unfortunate countries .
China does not turn its success into religion .
It believes that everything positive should be shared , that there should be progress , social justice and respect for different cultures .
The entire world should be benefiting .
This is true internationalism , and true human decency , as well as unmistakable sign of ‘ democracy ’ , serving all human beings , on truly global scale !
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .
A shorter version of this essay appeared in Chinese press Andre Vltchek is a philosopher , novelist , filmmaker and investigative journalist .
He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries .
Three of his latest books are his tribute to “ The Great October Socialist Revolution ” a revolutionary novel “ Aurora ” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction : “ Exposing Lies Of The Empire ” .
View his other books here .
Watch Rwanda Gambit , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “ On Western Terrorism ” .
Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East , and continues to work around the world .
He can be reached through his website and his Twitter .

This article was originally published in 2018.
New huge wave of ‘China bashing’ is once again rolling from Europe and North America. Its water is filthy and murky. It tries to smear everything about the present Chinese system: from its own and unique democratic model, to its leadership, as well as the political, economic and social system.
I am periodically reminded that every year, just before China’s annual two sessions, there will be rising voices declaring that the People’s Congress play the role of rubber stamps, and China’s democracy can’t truly represent the people.
Criticism of the Chinese system sometimes comes from within the country, but more often it arrives from abroad. Even local critics are usually deeply influenced by the foreign perceptions.
China is often ‘analyzed’ and judged strictly by the Western norms and rules, and that is chauvinistic and amazingly patronizing.
My friend and colleague Jeff J. Brown, a leading expert on China, author of a book China Is Communist Damn It! wrote indignantly in his recent essay “Western Racism and Hypocrisy Foaming at The Mouth Over China’s Constitutional Changes”:
So-called “China experts” are piling on with all kinds of doomsday the-sky-is-falling scenarios… President Xi Jinping is being portrayed as megalomaniac, power hungry tyrant. His 1.4 billion citizens respectfully disagree. This whole Western charade exudes the worst hypocrisy and at its core, racism. When was the last time the mainstream media got into a snit because a Western country changed its laws? In 2001, where was Western propaganda when George W. Bush & Co. forever destroyed any semblance of the US Constitution conferring civil and human rights to its citizens, when a false flag 9/11 gun was held to the heads of every congressman and senator, to sign the Orwellian named “Patriot” Act – literally in the middle of the night, never having a chance to read it? America’s corporate whore media was right there, screaming, Sign it! Save us! Protect us! This is how corrupt, Western “democracy” “works” …”
A distinct Turkish professor Tugrul Keskin, from Shanghai University in China, calls recent trends in the West simply and correctly: Chinaphobia.
For decades and centuries, in the West, Chinese people suffered from spiteful racism and discrimination. In the United States, Chinese migrants were ridiculed and humiliated at best, and physically liquidated at worst. European powers attacked, occupied, divided and destroyed China, even succeeding in ransacking Beijing.
I wrote entire books (including Exposing Lies Of The Empire) and numerous essays, in which I argued that China, with thousands of years of tremendous history and culture, has undeniable right to be defined and judged by its own people and by its own measures.
But now let’s talk about democracy.
First of all, the expression democracy is derived from Greek language. It loosely means ‘rule of the people’. It doesn’t stipulate that a truly democratic country has to follow a Western multi-party/corporate model, or more concretely, a model in which big corporations and ‘powerful individuals’ are financing political campaigns (while backing the candidates), and de facto selecting the governments.
In the West, and in its ‘client states’, most of the ordinary people are destined to serve the corporate interests, and the government is there to make sure that they do not break ‘the rules’.
China simply cannot follow such model. Chinese people fought hard for their independence, they struggled during the great revolutionary war, and all this in order to create a system which would be serving the people. After great sacrifices, people of China achieved their goal. The system is theirs, it exists in order to improve their lives. It is not perfect, far from it, but it is rapidly evolving into perhaps the most humane system on our Planet.
Chinese corporations are there to serve the people, to serve the nation, and they are told what to do and how to behave by the government and by the Communist Party, not the other way around. Again, it is not as simple as that, and there are problems and setbacks and corruption, but the country is marching forward, irreversibly. Anyone who knows China, knows that the country is improving dramatically, and not only economically but also ecologically, socially and culturally.
There is no other country on Earth, which is changing lives of its ordinary people for better, so rapidly and with such determination. And it is happening because of the system, because of the Communist Party’s leadership, and because of the NPC. Some people ask me:
“Do you think China’s democracy, or the political system of Party’s leadership, and NPC can improve people’s livelihood?”
I always answer:
“Not only they can, but they do; day by day, year by year!”
Those who deny it either don’t know China, or are simply sore losers.
Unlike in the West, Chinese leaders are listening attentively to their people. China is ‘direct democracy’, and it functions without huge army of political parties. I don’t want to exaggerate and say that the ‘leadership in China is afraid of the people’, but is definitely respecting and listening to them.
It is nothing new: it has been this way for centuries and millennia, since the “Heavenly Mandate” was born. To rule, to be ‘at the top’, could never be taken for granted. To rule, in China, also means ‘to serve’. Arrogance and self-indulgence was rarely accepted, and when it was, it was a warning signal that the country was in decline.
Recently, in Claremont, Ca., I discussed China with a great U.S. Whiteheadean philosopher, John Cobb Jr., who has been, for years and decades deeply involved in China, particularly in the “Ecological civilization” project. He replied:
I think that in China, many leaders actually do genuinely care about the well-being of their nation.
Something that could be hardly said about the leadership in the West.
When Chinese people sent clear signals to the top that they want more economic freedoms, more consumer goods, and that they want to be able to freely travel abroad, Deng Xiaoping launched sweeping reforms.
Some people agreed with those reforms; some didn’t. But that is what the majority at that time, truly wanted. Party and the government were only responding to people’s demands.
Decades later, people got tired of so many elements of the market system; of growing inequality, environmental issues and negative by-products of the super-rapid economic growth. And they were listened to again. President Xi Jinping put great emphasis on the environment (“Ecological Civilization”), on the great Chinese culture, and above all on improving lives of all Chinese people no matter where they live. Powerful and progressive model of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” was reinvented, improved and put to work with new determination and zeal.
Result: soon, perhaps as early as by 2020, there will be no pockets of extreme poverty, anywhere on the territory of the People’s Republic of China. If this is not socialism, than what really is?
All this is clearly proof of the Chinese democracy at work. Even when there are protests, when people are demanding changes, look closely what many of them are holding in their hands: they are waving the little red flags of the Communist Party of China; definitely not some symbols of the Western regime.
What will be remembered about all this in hundreds of years from now?
While it cannot be denied that several Western countries gave at least some freedom and passable standard of living to their citizens, the price has been paid by the plundered continents, squashed under the Western colonialist and neo-colonialist heels. Tens of millions of non-white people died and are still dying, in order to fulfill tremendous greed and gluttony of so-called Western democracies. I saw it, unfortunately too often, with my own eyes. Only lives of the European and North American citizens are respected and protected, not at all the lives of those who are forced to serve them.
China showed to the world a totally opposite path. Everything in the PRC is created with hands of the Chinese people; with their brains, their muscles and their sweat. It is ‘clean’ and honest progress, not one that is resting on the corpses and blood of the millions of ‘others’.
And that is not all. Brainchild of President Xi, One Belt One Road, is essentially this: “sharing of China’s achievements and success with the rest of the world”, especially with the struggling and unfortunate countries.
China does not turn its success into religion. It believes that everything positive should be shared, that there should be progress, social justice and respect for different cultures. The entire world should be benefiting.
This is true internationalism, and true human decency, as well as unmistakable sign of ‘democracy’, serving all human beings, on truly global scale!
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
A shorter version of this essay appeared in Chinese press
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are his tribute to “The Great October Socialist Revolution” a revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DR Congo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter.