Thursday 16 December 2010

Tariq Ali :The Nobel War Prize

11 December 2010

Last year’s recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize escalated the war in Afghanistan a few weeks after receiving the prize. The award surprised even Obama. This year the Chinese government were foolish to make a martyr of the president of Chinese PEN and neo-con Liu Xiaobo. He should never have been arrested, but the Norwegian politicians who comprise the committee, led by Thorbjørn Jagland, a former Labour prime minister, wanted to teach China a lesson. And so they ignored their hero’s views. Or perhaps they didn’t, given that their own views are not dissimilar. The committee thought about giving Bush and Blair a joint peace prize for invading Iraq but a public outcry forced a retreat.
For the record, Liu Xiaobo has stated publicly that in his view:
(a) China’s tragedy is that it wasn’t colonised for at least 300 years by a Western power or Japan. This would apparently have civilised it for ever;
(b) The Korean and Vietnam wars fought by the US were wars against totalitarianism and enhanced Washington’s ‘moral credibility’;
(c) Bush was right to go to war in Iraq and Senator Kerry’s criticisms were ‘slander-mongering’;
(d) Afghanistan? No surprises here: Full support for Nato’s war.
He has a right to these opinions, but should they get a peace prize?
The Norwegian jurist Fredrik Heffermehl argues that the committee is in breach of the will and testament left behind by the inventor of dynamite whose bequests fund the prizes: ‘The Nobel committee has not received prize money for free use, but was entrusted with money to give to the pivotal element in creating peace, breaking the vicious circle of arms races and military power games. From this point of view the 2010 Nobel is again an illegitimate prize awarded by an illegitimate committee.’

more comments

Wednesday 15 December 2010

John Pilger: Global Support for WikiLeaks is "Rebellion" Against U.S. Mi...

Michael Moore on WikiLeaks: 'Leaks Don't Kill People, Secrets Do'

what an asshole, this ben brown

BBC Anchor Attacks Abused Disabled Protestor As “Revolutionary Cyber-Radical”

DARRYL MASON
Your New Reality
Dec 14, 2010

You don’t need to know too much background to get the full horror of what this BBCNews host is doing to a young man with cerebral palsy, who is unable to operate his wheelchair independently, simply because he dared to turn up at a recent student protest in London:



The blood-chillingly unemphatic journalist actually asks a severely disabled man if he was hurling chunks of concrete at police, and asks him again even after Jody says he can’t operate his wheelchair without the help of his brother.

Note the way interference or the host manage to cut off Jody every time he starts making valid, vital points about the police brutality inflicted on him and hundreds of other students in the streets of London, some students beaten by police, and charged with horses, were as young as 12 years old.

Note also the way the BBCNews host tries to get Jody to admit on air to things that may prejudice his official complaint later on.

Scary stuff.

Jody is becoming a hero of the what’s called the UKUncut student movement, who are opposing massive cuts to education and public services to protect the wealth of England’s richest, and for good reason. He has a lot of powerful things to say.

But after that interview, and the powerful reaction from the thousands who found it through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and began complaining to the BBC, you probably won’t be seeing Jody back on BBCNews anytime soon.

They don’t like ‘student leaders’ or ‘revolutionaries’ to be quite so articulate, and in control of what they’re saying.

England under austerity is a powderkeg, and when the public sees police are prepared to assault even people in wheelchairs, well, everything changes.

LSE在纪念费孝通,这里贴篇关于他的旧文章

费孝通诞辰100周年纪念活动在其母校英国伦敦经济学院刚刚举行,估计是那里的中国学者搞的。这里转一片说费孝通这个中国社会学泰斗的网文,说他老人家也是个“唐骏”。建议方舟子去调查哈:

铁木:大民族要有大民族的胸襟
January 31, 2004 16:01:49:


民族问题文章许多不能摆脱定居农业民族中心论,蒙古人(和许多其他非汉民族)最反感就是流行的所谓“中华民族多元一体”的那种牵强附会。尽管如此,这些文章比网上丰年这类文章还是高很多,因为人家的观点/理论后面有史料,有逻辑。

费孝通先生作为早一辈海龟,把西洋人类学/社会学理论,包装了借来的观点。梁漱溟1921年《东西文化及其哲学》,1935年《中国民族自救运动之最后觉悟》,1937年《乡村建设理论》当中的主要观点,都被老费用西洋学术语言做了包装,零星地写在自己1948的《乡土中国》和《乡土重建》当中(李达)。

梁的“伦理本位”,说亲情关系为基础的社会秩序,就是费说的“礼治社会”;梁说“安分知足,摄生,寡欲”是中国物质文明不发达的原因,到费那里,就成了匮乏经济。梁说过“凭借农业翻身”,“从农业引发工业”的主张,到费那里就成了“乡土工业”。 梁涑溟比较中西文化说,中国人的意欲的方向是“向里用力”,一切“反求诸己”,因此不向自然界和社会争取,故科学和民主不发达;而西人的意欲是“外向用力”。这种中西对比的理论完全反映在费的中西文化观中,也被后来人反复抄袭。


上面是题外话,再看丰年这类文章,每段开头都是“有很多迹象表明”,“还有迹象表明”,“ 可以遇见”,“ 千年以来”和“ 必须指出”这类,后面接着就是自己的一些臆断。这么连续写下去(自己说是还要出系列文章),无疑对作者想象力是个挑战。该文中把历史上农耕民族同游牧民族的贸易战争,想象成单方面的掠夺战争。把蒙古独立虚构成精英阴谋,把平民因素排除在外。试问没有平民,如何能叫做民族主义呢。汉族可以有民族主义,蒙古人就不能有吗?

另外,文章还想象出古今中外,前后左右,强大的敌对“精英”,表现出对莫须有精英的巨大仇恨。而讽刺的是,内蒙古的政治民族精英们,自治区主席在讲话连宪法规定的“自治”二字都不敢提;民族“精英”们因为没有汉名而不能当第一把手;蒙古人身份证件包括护照,不能根据宪法规定的权利,按照自己民族语言拼写姓名,被迫使用汉语拼音。过去贵为国家领导人的乌兰夫生前回内蒙古都不能随便成行,死后葬礼想回内蒙古举行,老邓一给脸色,就泡了汤。

这种妖魔化少数民族的网文,不出一个套路:想象出一个大救星,再想象出一个大坏蛋。这种思维导致极端政治,被中共无数次历史运动证明。就像反犹主义能够把散布全世界犹太人想象成一个大阴谋,妖魔化少数民族的网文也表现出相同的想象力,把形形色色的所谓敌对因素串联起来:美国,台独,日本,俄罗斯,达赖喇嘛…世界其他民族如果也有同样的想象力,估计也能把走西口,闯关东,汉民草原挖发菜,福建人蛇偷渡,大量境内和境外移民,中国边疆地区沙漠化,全球气候变暖,萨斯,禽流感,同中国巨大人口相联系,得出华人霸占地球的结论。

有政治始,就有阴谋论,妖魔化少数民族由来已久,华夷之辨从生理区分进化到文化区分,从肉体上消灭到文化上消灭,也算是进步。不过进步不是绝对的,60年代末在内蒙古挖肃“内人党”,就是肉体消灭的反复。双手沾满数万蒙古人鲜血的滕海清将军,“拨乱反正”后官运亨通照旧(老邓拨乱反正仅对自己的冤家对头,不对自己的部下)。好像即使如此,蒙古人也没有搞出个类似的阴谋论,即把明朝扫荡蒙古人,实行三光政策,清朝对西部蒙古人搞种族灭绝,挖肃内人党,内蒙古生产建设兵团,大量移民,打压蒙古族学生和知识分子,串联成一个大阴谋。

在认识路程上,中国从种族/文化的中心观到懂得有世界民族之林,进步过程十分艰难漫长。保持多民族国家的繁荣稳定,大民族理应负有更多责任,表现出更大的胸襟。反复出现这种妖魔化少数民族的网络蛊惑,说明实现民族平等任重道远,说明人的认识不是直线进步,难免出现反复,就像物种进化中有变异,偶尔会出现返祖的丑类。
* * * * * * * * * * * *

费孝通诞辰100周年纪念活动在其母校英国伦敦经济学院落下帷幕

一个主题:理解中国、与中国人沟通

两个特点:一是多学科的参与,演讲者分别来自社会学、人类学、民族学、汉学、经济 史、农业经济学和管理学等学科;二是各种形式的比较法的演练,如:

* 中文与英文的写作、
* 中国的“谋略”的概念与西方相关的概念
* 费孝通与毛泽东对中国社会的不同影 响
* 费孝通的“差序格局”概念与其更新版“礼尚往来”概念
* 中日农村家产的区别
* 费孝通与霍华德对移民流动和城市化研究的异同
* 城乡社区研究之比较
* 以及 江村的在不同时期收入和社会分层的纵向的比较

三项意义:

* 它呼唤了国际学术界从田野、方法到理论等方面重新审 视费孝通对人类知识的学术贡献;
* 它聚集了中国与其他国家和地区的学者,通过对费孝通的学术思想的研究来加深对中国社会的理解;
* 这次活动是把中 国社会科学研究的精神产品推介到人类的社会科学殿堂中来的一项积极的尝试。



请打开附件阅读深度报道、欣赏50多幅照片,并了解更多的相关信息(中英文各一),或者索性登陆中国比较研究网站:

Chinese: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCPN/ICRB/Fei_Xiaotong/FeiEvenNews_cn.htm

English: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCPN/ICRB/Fei_Xiaotong/FeiEventNews_en.htm



预祝各位及其亲朋好友圣诞节和新年快乐!

Monday 13 December 2010

奥斯陆诺贝尔和平奖颁奖

中国说闹剧有点过,煽情剧还是蛮恰当的。好莱坞的演员,挪威的演员,中国民运舞台上的老演员聚集一堂。我并不赞同来自中共当局和民运内部对刘晓波的批评,但也没多看好诺贝尔和平奖的完美和正确,因为这种奖能给鸡性格这样的坏人,能给奥八马这样穷兵黩武的人,真不能太当真。数来比较名副其实的和平奖获得者要算越南的黎德寿。

铁木:英国学生抗议让我想起6-4

英国学生抗议让我想起6-4 (48 reads) 时间: 2010-12-14 周二, 下午4:34
作者:铁木 在 罕见奇谈 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.info

都可以被报道成“支持民主的学生遭到残酷镇压”,可主流媒体报道却截然不同,从cnn和bbc的报道可以看出。这边抗议者的暴行不过是砸了财政部和最高法院的几扇门窗,有个小伙在英国的人民英雄纪念碑上抓住国旗荡秋千,另外一个小伙在丘吉尔的纪念碑下撒了泡尿。

那天晚上(周四,12月9日)当查尔斯王子夫妇的坐驾被抗议者投掷了油漆,受到轻微损毁后,媒体报道一下子变得歇斯底里。虽然说没到如丧考妣的地步,也和火山爆发,天要塌下来差球不多。

咱不禁想起当初89年夏天在北京,那时候的人民英雄纪念碑是随便让人爬上爬下。那时候广场上的人在人民英雄纪念碑及周围人民英雄的塑像周围随地大小便的有的是。那时候的西方媒体在中国的记者,没有哪位报道说,中国学生在毁坏公物,是无政府主义分子或暴徒。

如果上周在英国的抗议发生在北京,莫斯科或德黑兰,你可以啃腚西方媒体会报道说,是广大要求民主的学生遭到警察残酷镇压。