Jonas,
* My worry is not that the outpouring of feeling or grievances are genuine, my concern is that people have been selectively goaded into such civil disorder. Why have tens of thousands spontaneously taken to the streets in China? Because of (1) a book that (2) allegedly (3) minimizes (not refutes or slanders) the WWII occupation of East Asia by Japan?
* Mmm, well if tens of thousands of Chinese are allowed to start marching across China so close on the heels of Korean nationalistic pre-elections rhetoric (they do this every few years, the arguments are the same and when they get to power they promote a business-friendly, and if need be culture-friendly, policy towards Japan) because of wording in a textbook, then I sense something very fishy.
* Don't get me wrong, Japan sleepwalked into the late 20th cent. and still sleepwalks across Asia propped up by the US' military need of them as a proxy industrial power in East Asia. A lot they have not faced, and I will not airbrush away the difficult reconciliation tasks they face. But in a country where civil repression even in the big cities is rife (and I have spent time around China and in different income strata), such well-timed "democracy" slaps of civic manipulation. No more, no less.
2 comments:
"But in a country where civil repression even in the big cities is rife... "
aye, thats why i left. :P
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20050417_2.htm
some more theories. but i find this a richer vein to tap:
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20050418_2.htm
"i find this a richer vein to tap:
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20050418_2.htm"
Amazing that 4 guys expressing their views in Victoria Park should be manhandled in this way. Appalling.
Post a Comment