Sunday, February 12, 2006

Blogalaxy For Global Democracy


The number of Homo Sapiens on the planet, that is a finity. The number of countries on the planet, that is a finity. Among those countries, it is not exactly rocket science to identify countries that are not democracies. In democracies the people are the only source of state power - a truth validated in periodic elections - and human rights are respected and protected.

We start out by compiling a list of the target countries. That list will be sophisticated in that there will be a spectrum. Some autocracies are worse than others. And we identify individuals and groups in and from those countries that are working to establish democracy in their respective countries. I would bet each country has them, some small, some large, some more effective than others, but they are there. And we also need to bring together individuals and groups who are from other countries and would like to help the cause of spreading democracy. We need to bring all of them online and organize them into a blogalaxy.

A blog is one star. A blogalaxy is many stars. A blogalaxy has many individual and group blogs all interlinked to each other. There are three basic components to power for any democracy movement: money, message, organization. Blogs are great ways to marshall all three. Blogs also make possible politics at the speed of thought. You end up with armchair revolutionaries. One country group could learn from another, there would be much cross pollination in terms of learning strategies, techniques, message honing. Each country group will feel this enormous moral support. The blogalaxy would not be a registered organization, just a communication tool that positively impacts all three power tools, although there might be many registered organizations that are part of it.

The transparency of the blogalaxy will also make sure there is accountability on money matters. All book keeping would be online. This is key.

Chances are most people not living in democracies are poor, they do not have internet access, they are possibly illiterate. But internet access is more wide than we might believe. Nepal is one of the poorest countries on the planet, and it has internet access in all the towns, in most middle class homes in the capital city. Getting an email account is not that hard to do. But then not everyone has to come online, not everyone has to blog. There might be language barriers online. This is where Mary Joyce' concept of "bridge activists" comes into play. People and groups who can not, do not come online have access to "bridge activists" who are online and connected, inside and outside the country.

But then we also are trying to create a functional, egalitarian bridge between people and groups in those countries, and their diaspora in countries that are democracies. The diaspora might have the money, the internet access, and they might be so widely dispersed across the globe and in their adopted countries that the internet might be the only way to truly organize masses of them. It is so easy to organize discussions and fundraising online, point and click, point and click. And netizens do not face the traditional political and geographical barriers. Also the artificial barrier between academia and the "real world" goes out the window.

Then you have countries like China that seem to be able to manage even the internet, and they manage to bulley major league companies like Microsoft and Google and Yahoo to their nefarious designs. For them we would have the boundary concept. As in, we apply the open concepts for all organizing outside the boundary. If that organizing is fierce enough, and the temperature is raised, ultimately the boundary will melt. And we go in. In the mean time, we have clandestine concepts for inside the boundary. This might also apply to many other countries.

The appropriate mix of the open and the clandestine will depend on where a particular non-democracy is on our spectrum. Even people from those countries in the diaspora might prefer to work clandestine for fear of reprisals against those working inside the boundary. Individuals make their choice, if to work openly or in clandestine fashions. The online world is designed for clandestine work.

I think we are going to see a lot of tools emerge online for both open and clandestine work, and for all three components of money, message and organization. Cross pollination will speed up the process of tool generation and sharing.

In my model, most of the money is raised and spent by the respective diaspora organizations. For Nepal, for example, you are looking mostly at Nepalis abroad, and to some extent friends of Nepal.

The message. We have to get all the news out. We also have to report of all human rights abuses. People in the network who might get targeted by the state should feel the entire network knows when something happens to them. We have to engage the opponents of democracy in debate. When direct debates might not be possible, we go for indirect debates. We take on their publicly available words. We have to throw sunshine on all their arguments, and we have to counterargue. We have to have rapid response mechanisms.

Organization. We have to build political parties where they do not exist. We have to nurture and protect them where they exist. We have to create organizations and umbrella organizations among the diaspora. Right to peaceful assembly is just like the right to free speech, a fundamental human right. People should organize as they see fit. We should just help in the coordination part.

Once we have this basic infrastructure in place, we could really change gears. We could hope to "invade" countries. The goal would be to wage this one massive, decisive street demonstration like in Ukraine in 2004, which would culminate in either the autocratic regime stepping down, or the democracy movement unilaterally declaring the formation of an interim government to be recognized by the entire family of democracies. (5 Steps To Democracy) The interim government would be charged with organizing elections to a constituent assembly that would give the country a democratic constitution.

Once in power, the democrats should have the option to punish those elements who might have been repressive towards the democracy activists. Only that public knowledge beforehand might embolden the democracy activisits, and scare the autocrats in power to minimize untoward incidents. International laws can come into play, so can country tribunals.

Mary Joyce
Money, Message, Organization

Visitors

12 February07:15Internet Thailand Co. Ltd., Thailand
12 February08:04Nepal (wlink.com.np)
12 February08:28PCCW IMS Netvigator, China
12 February08:47Energis Communications Ltd., United Kingdom
12 February09:51University of Missouri, Columbia, United States
12 February10:13Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
12 February11:47National Internet Backbone, India
12 February14:35Smart Telecom Holdings, Ireland
12 February14:41Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, United States
12 February14:42Internet Qatar, Qatar
12 February15:19Canada (mountain-inter.net)
12 February15:22Road Runner, New York, United States
12 February16:19Verizon Wireless, United States

Draft II, after feeback from Mary Joyce

The number of Homo Sapiens on the planet is finite. The number of countries on the planet is finite. Among those countries it is not exactly rocket science to identify countries that are not democracies. In a democracy citizens have ultimate control over the policies and actions of their government. We look at the list of non-democracies and lay them out along a spctrum: some autocracies are worse than others.

And we work to identify individuals and groups in and from those countries that are working to establish democracy in their respective countries, although the worse the autocracy, the harder the task. Each country has them, some small, some large, some more effective than others, but they are there. And we also need to bring together individuals and groups who are from other countries and would like to help the cause of spreading democracy. We need to help bring together the bridge activists of both the online and offline kinds. And the whole effort should be to enhance the ecosystem rather than to invent something new. Efforts have been made before we came along. We just hope to add to the effectiveness.

The blogalaxy concept can help. A blog is one star. A blogalaxy is many stars. A blogalaxy has many individual and group blogs all interlinked to each other. There are three basic components to power for any democracy movement: money, message, organization. Blogs are great ways to marshall all three. Blogs also make possible politics at the speed of thought. You end up with armchair revolutionaries. One country group could learn from another, there would be much cross pollination in terms of learning strategies, techniques, message honing. Each country group will feel this enormous moral support. The blogalaxy would not be a registered organization, just a communication tool that positively impacts all three power tools, although there might be many registered organizations that are part of it. The blogalaxy will be in the background. Screen time will always be secondary to face time. The most difficult work will be done in the organizing among those that might not even be online. An international digital democracy network will be more like an extensive, sophisticated support system than anything else, something important, but in the background.

The transparency of the blogalaxy will also make sure there is accountability on money matters. All book keeping would be online. This is key.

Chances are most people not living in democracies are poor, they do not have internet access, they are possibly illiterate. But internet access is more wide than we might believe. Nepal is one of the poorest countries on the planet, and it has internet access in all the towns, in most middle class homes in the capital city. Getting an email account is not that hard to do. But then not everyone has to come online, not everyone has to blog. There might be language barriers online. This is where Mary Joyce' concept of "bridge activists" comes into play. People and groups who can not, do not come online have access to "bridge activists" who are online and connected, inside and outside the country. These bridge activists act as a bridge between the international digital democracy network and the local activists.

But then we also are trying to create a functional, egalitarian bridge between people and groups in those countries, and their diaspora in countries that are democracies. The diaspora might have the money and the internet access, and they might be so widely dispersed across the globe and in their adopted countries that the internet might be the only way to truly organize masses of them. It is so easy to organize discussions and fundraising online, point and click, point and click. And netizens do not face the traditional political and geographical barriers. Also the artificial barrier between academia and the "real world" goes out the window. As does the colonial term "brain drain." The two megatrends of globalization and the internet mean expats can digitally play an active role in the political life of their home countries.

Then you have countries like China that seem to be able to manage even the internet, and they manage to bully major league companies like Microsoft and Google and Yahoo to their nefarious designs. For them, we would have the "boundary concept". As in, we apply the open concepts for all organizing outside the boundary. If that organizing is fierce enough, and the temperature is raised, ultimately the boundary will melt. And we go in. In the mean time, we have clandestine concepts for inside the boundary. This might also apply to many other countries.

The appropriate mix of the open and the clandestine will depend on where a particular non-democracy is on our spectrum. Even people from those countries in the diaspora might prefer to work clandestinely for fear of reprisals against their collaborators, who might be working inside the boundary. Individuals make their choice, as to whether to work openly or in a clandestine fashion. The nature of the online world facilitates clandestine work.

I think we are going to see a lot of tools emerge online for both open and clandestine work, and for all three components of money, message and organization. Cross pollination will speed up the process of tool generation and sharing.

In my model, most of the money is raised and spent by the respective diaspora organizations. For Nepal, for example, you are looking mostly at Nepalis abroad, and to some extent friends of Nepal.

The message. We have to get all the news out. We also have to report of all human rights abuses. People in the network who might get targeted by the state should feel the entire network knows when something happens to them. We do not replicate the Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch, and the Committee To Protect Bloggers efforts, but we do act as a magaphone. We make some serious noise. We have to engage the opponents of democracy in debate. When direct debates might not be possible, we go for indirect debates. We challenge whatever public statements might be available. We have to draw attention to their weak or fraudulent arguments, and then we have to counterargue. We have to have rapid response mechanisms. As soon as they say something, we respond immediately. They should feel surrounded.

Organization. We have to help build political parties where they do not exist. It is not possible to imagine democracies without political parties. We have to nurture and protect them where they do exist. We have to create organizations and umbrella organizations among the diaspora. Right to peaceful assembly is just like the right to free speech, a fundamental human right. People should organize as they see fit. We would not direct how people organize, rather facilitate their organizational activities by helping get the word out.

Once we have this basic infrastructure in place, we could really change gears. We could hope to introduce democracy into countries at rather rapid rates. The goal would be to wage this one massive, decisive street demonstration like in Ukraine in 2004, which would culminate in either the autocratic regime stepping down, or the democracy movement unilaterally declaring the formation of an interim government to be recognized by the entire family of democracies. (5 Steps To Democracy) The interim government would be charged with organizing elections to a constituent assembly that would give the country a democratic constitution.

Once in power, the democrats should have the option to bring to justice those elements that might have been repressive towards the democracy activists.Only if that knowledge is public beforehand might democracy activists be emboldened to act, and autocrats in power wary to openly persecute them. International laws can come into play, so can country tribunals.

Freedom is a birthright. It is sad some people don't have it. Those who don't have it deserve it, and those of us who are free are not truly free until all of us are free across the globe. Democracy will be born and will grow in each country in slightly unique ways, but there is no arguing with the fundamentals of democracy. Those are universal. 1

February 13, 2006

Democracy: The Third Wave


Draft III

Global Democracy: The Future Is Now

The number of Homo Sapiens on the planet is finite. The number of countries on the planet is finite. Among those countries it is not exactly rocket science to identify countries that are not democracies. In a democracy citizens have ultimate control over the policies and actions of their government.

We look at the list of non-democracies and lay them out along a spctrum: some autocracies are worse than others. And we work to identify individuals and groups in and from those countries that are working to establish democracy in their respective countries. Each country has them, some small, some large, some more effective than others, but they are there, although the worse the autocracy, the harder the task, less vibrant that activist community might be.

We also need to bring together individuals and groups who are from other countries and would like to help the cause of spreading democracy. We need to help bring together the bridge activists of both the online and offline kinds. And the whole effort should be to enhance the ecosystem rather than to invent something new. Efforts have been made before we came along. We just hope to add to the effectiveness. The blogalaxy concept can help. A blog is one star. A blogalaxy is many stars. A blogalaxy has many individual and group blogs all interlinked to each other. There are three basic components to power for any democracy movement: money, message, organization. Blogs are great ways to marshall all three. Blogs also make possible politics at the speed of thought, blogs empower the individual. You end up with armchair revolutionaries. One country group could learn from another, there would be much cross pollination in terms of learning strategies, techniques, message honing. Each country group will feel this enormous moral support. The blogalaxy would not be a registered organization, just a communication tool that positively impacts all three power tools, although there might be many registered organizations that are part of it.

The blogalaxy will be in the background. Screen time will always be secondary to face time. The most difficult work will be done in the organizing among those that might not even be online. An international digital democracy network will be more like an extensive, sophisticated support system than anything else, something important, but in the background.

Chances are most people not living in democracies are poor, they do not have internet access, they are possibly illiterate. But internet access is more wide than is widely believed. Getting an email account is not that hard to do in most town on the planet. But then not everyone has to come online, not everyone has to blog. There might be language barriers online. This is where bridge activists comes into play. People and groups who can not, do not come online have access to bridge activists who are online and connected, inside and outside the country. These bridge activists act as a bridge between the international digital democracy network and the local activists.

But then we also are trying to create functional, effective, egalitarian bridges between people and groups in the countries without democracy, and their diaspora in countries that are democracies. The diaspora might have the money and the internet access and the intimate knowledge of the local conditions. And they might be so widely dispersed across the globe and in their adopted countries that the internet might be the only way to truly organize masses of them. It is so easy to organize discussions and fundraising online, point and click, point and click. Netizens do not face the traditional political and geographical barriers. Also the artificial barrier between academia and the "real world" goes out the window. As does the colonial term "brain drain." The two megatrends of globalization and the internet mean expats can digitally play an active role in the political life of their home countries, in many cases more actively than if they were in their home countries.

Then you have countries like China that seem to be able to manage even the internet, and they manage to bully major league companies like Microsoft and Google and Yahoo to their nefarious designs. For them, we would have the boundary concept. As in, we apply the open concepts for all organizing outside the boundary. If that organizing is fierce enough, and the temperature is raised, ultimately the boundary will melt. And we go in. In the mean time, we have clandestine concepts for inside the boundary. This might also apply to many other countries.

The appropriate mix of the open and the clandestine will depend on where a particular non-democracy is on our spectrum. Even people from those countries in the diaspora might prefer to work clandestinely for fear of reprisals against their collaborators who might be working inside the boundary. Individuals make their choice as to whether to work openly or in a clandestine fashion. The nature of the online world facilitates clandestine work.

I think we are going to see a lot of tools emerge online for both open and clandestine work, and for all three components of money, message and organization. Cross pollination will speed up the process of tool generation and sharing.

Money. In this model, most of the money is raised and spent by the respective diaspora organizations. To some extent you are also looking at the floating bands of democracy activis who chip in small amounts when they can. The transparency of the blogalaxy will also make sure there is accountability on money matters. All book keeping would be online. This is key.

Message. We have to get all the news out. We also have to report of all human rights abuses. People in the network who might get targeted by the state should feel the entire network knows when something happens to them. We do not replicate the Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch, and the Committee To Protect Bloggers efforts, but we do act as magaphones. We make some serious noise. We have to engage the opponents of democracy in debate. When direct debates might not be possible, we go for indirect debates. We challenge whatever public statements might be available. We have to draw attention to their weak and fraudulent arguments, and then we have to counterargue. We have to have rapid response mechanisms. As soon as they say something, we respond immediately. They should feel surrounded.

Organization. We have to help build political parties where they do not exist. It is not possible to imagine democracies without political parties. We have to nurture and protect them where they do exist. We have to create organizations and umbrella organizations among the diaspora. Right to peaceful assembly is just like the right to free speech, a fundamental human right. People should organize as they see fit. We would not direct how people organize, rather facilitate their organizational activities by helping get the word out.

Once we have this basic infrastructure in place, we could really change gears. We could hope to introduce democracy into countries at rather rapid rates. The goal would be to wage this one massive, decisive street demonstration like in Ukraine in 2004, which would culminate in either the autocratic regime stepping down, or the democracy movement unilaterally declaring the formation of an interim government to be recognized by the entire family of democracies. (5 Steps To Democracy) The interim government would be charged with organizing elections to a constituent assembly that would give the country a democratic constitution.

Once in power, the democrats should have the option to bring to justice those elements that might have been repressive towards the democracy activists.Only if that knowledge is public beforehand might democracy activists be emboldened to act and autocrats in power wary to openly persecute them. International laws can come into play, so can country tribunals.

Democracy is possibly the best gift the dollar a day crowd can get. Freedom is a birthright. It is sad some people don't have it. Those who don't have it deserve it, and those of us who are free are not truly free until all of us are free across the globe. Democracy will be born and will grow in each country in slightly unique ways, but there is no arguing with the fundamentals of democracy. Those are universal.

You have the power. The future is now.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

at No comments:

Saturday, February 11, 2006

The Maoists Are The Reason The King Should Handover Power To The Democrats


I have a vague feeling the Nepali Maoists are for a democratic republic and not for a communist republic, and this is not a tactical ploy on their part, but rather an ideological stand they have taken internally. But I might be wrong. And if I am wrong, and if the Maoists keep increasing their reach and influence, and finally they attack Kathmandu and take over, one of the first things they are likely to do is behead the king, if history is any lesson, because that is what Lenin's people did to the Russian Czar.

There is a saying in Hindi, jaan bachee to lakhon paye. If my life be saved, that is worth millions. No money and power in the world will be his if he were to lose his life. And I am really really worried for him. I am a democrat, which means I am against the current autocracy, of course, and I will and am doing all I can to help usher democracy into Nepal, but my ways are non-violent. The king's life is a no zone territory in my way of thinking. But it is not me I am worried about. I am worried about them Maoists. They might behead the king. I am worried.

Russia: From Monarchism to Communism
Last Russian Czar Remembered as Family Man "He was weak, not terribly interested in politics," he says. "He basically only liked two things, his family and outdoor activities. But he insisted on maintaining autocratic authority because he felt it was his sacred duty to keep it intact and pass it on to his son." ....... the Alexander Palace, an isolated castle to which they permanently retreated after the first Russian Revolution in 1905...... Yet as devoted as he was to his family, says Harvard's Richard Pipes, Nicholas was equally as inattentive to leading Russia's people and its massive military and bureaucracy. "His problem was that he was not suited to be an autocrat, and yet he insisted on being one. So Russia got the worst of both," he says........ In August 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Nicholas and Alexandra as royal martyrs.
Russian Revolution of 1917 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicholas II of Russia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The provisional Russian government at first kept Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children confined in the Alexander Palace 15 miles from St. Petersburg at Tsarskoe Selo (Tsar's Village). Attempting to remove them from the vicinity of the capital and so from possible harm, the Kerensky government moved them east to Tobolsk, in Siberia in August 1917. They remained there through the Bolshevik October Revolution in November 1917, but were then moved to Red Army and Bolshevik-controlled Yekaterinburg. The Tsar and his family, including several family servants, were executed without trial by firing squad and finished off by bayonets in the basement of the Ipatiev HouseJuly 17, 1918, by a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky, a watchmaker from Perm......... The Soviets always argued that the execution took place as units of the Czech Legion, making their retreat out of Russia, approached Yekaterinburg. Fearing that the Legion would take the town and free him, the Tsar's Bolshevik jailers pursued the immediate liquidation of the Imperial Family. This is, however, disputed by telegraphic evidence and the Sokolov Report, which show mounting pressure to execute the Imperial Family by hard-line Bolsheviks, who argued that there was "no turning back." The telegram giving the order on behalf of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow was signed by Jacob Sverdlov, after whom the town was subsequently renamed........ The bodies of Nicholas and his family were long believed to have been disposed of down a mineshaft at a site called the Four Brothers. Initially, this was true — they had indeed been disposed of there on the night of July 17. The following morning — when rumors spread in Yekaterinburg regarding the disposal site — Yurovsky removed the bodies and concealed them elsewhere. When the vehicle carrying the bodies broke down on the way to the next chosen site, Yurovsky made new arrangements, and buried most of the bodies in a sealed and concealed pit on Koptyaki Road, a cart track (now abandoned) 12 miles north of Yekaterinburg. Their remains were later found in 1991 and reburied by the Russian government. The process to identify the remains was exhaustive. Samples were sent to Britain and the United States for DNA testing. The tests concluded that five of the skeletons were members of one family and four were unrelated. Three of the five were determined to be the children of two parents. The mother was linked to the British royal family, as was Alexandra. The father was determined to be related to several other Romanovs. Scientists said they were more than 99 percent sure that the remains were those of the Czar, his family and their attendants. Two skeletons remain unaccounted for - Alexei, the 13 year old heir to the throne, and one of his sisters, either Maria or Anastasia.
The Rise of Russia 862 - 1917 AD
The Russian Revolutions of 1917
Nicholas II, czar of Russia: Abdication and Death He was held first in the Czarskoye Selo palace, then near Tobolsk. The advance, in July, 1918, of counterrevolutionary forces caused the soviet of Yekaterinburg to fear that Nicholas might be liberated; after a secret meeting a death sentence was passed on the czar and his family, who were shot along with their remaining servants in a cellar at Yekaterinburg on the night of July 16. Their bodies were buried or burned in a nearby forest....... Discovered in 1979, the remains of the czar and the others who had been buried were unearthed in 1991 and reburied in St. Petersburg in 1998. In 2000 the Russian Orthodox Church canonized the czar and the members of his immediate family. Nicholas's vague mysticism, limited intelligence, and submission to sinister influences made him particularly unfit to cope with the events that led to his tragic end.
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Royalty.nu - Nicholas and Alexandra - The Last Romanovs ...

This is why it is imperative upon the king to handover power to the seven party alliance. Even the UML that is now for a democratic republic has no designs on the king's life. Crown, yes. But not his life, liberty or property. The other six parties are neutral to the crown, but not yet officially for a republic. So those six might let him have not only life, liberty and property, but also crown in some form. But them Maoists? You never know about them.

Handing power over to the democrats is the best way to make sure the Maoists do not take over.

The seven party alliance hopes to seek a political solution to the insurgency. But if that not work, and there emerge a need to seek a military solution, for that possibility, the king should agree to have the state army squarely under the people's representatives. The crown needs to detach itself from the army.

It is because I am worried for the king's life.

And it is not just the Maoists. You also have to worry about the mob like during the French revolution. A mob can take a life of its own. Mobs are also known to execute, like in Romania.

So I hope the king comes to his senses and hands over power to the democrats and soon.

In The News

Protestors demand King Gyanendra's ouster NDTV.com, India
And the Violence Continues in the Himalayan Kingdom Monsters and Critics.com, UK
Nepal's local polls to go ahead: King Gyanendra Rediff, India
Boycott King Gyanendra’s administration Asian Centre for Human Rights, India
Nepalese immigrants in India protests against crackdown by King ... Webindia123, India
Rights groups call upon King Gyanendra to repeal Feb 1 ... Nepalnews.com, Nepal
Elections Only Way out: King Gyanendra Himalayan Times, Nepal
A Blogger’s Afterthoughts on King Gyanendra’s Speech United We Blog, Nepal
Nepal's local polls to go ahead: King Gyanendra Zee News, India
One Year Anniversary of Nepal’s King Gyanendra’s Complete ... Pacifica Radio
CPI-M welcomes participation of Maoists in political process NewKerala.com, India
Koirala rules out talks with King Gyanendra Hindu, India
Nepal's local polls to go ahead: King Gyanendra Outlook (subscription), India
Impose visa ban on Nepal King Gyanendra: Human Rights group Webindia123, India
Royal loo costs more than human life in Nepal NewKerala.com, India
King under fire as Nepalis seek democracy, peace Boston Globe, United States
Nepalese to march against Gyanendra Samudaya.org, AZ
Clash erupts after Nepal's "referendum" on king Reuters
at 1 comment:

March 22 Event At Columbia



The School of International and Public Affairs
Columbia University
New York City

Sponsored by
The South Asian Institute (SAI)

With the assistance of
The South Asian Graduate Students Association (SAGA)

Nepal –the Himalayan Hotspot. From Shangri-la To….?

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

2 pm – 6.30 pm

Room 1512 at the School of International and Public Affairs

420 West 118th St., 15th Floor, New York, NY 10023

This half-day conference will focus on the possibilities, as well as the problems or challenges, in the strategically located kingdom of Nepal today and look at the prospects for the future.

Nepalese and foreign experts and public figures from different professional fields will present their views and analyses of the political, economic and social situation in this landlocked South Asian country embedded between China and India, discuss the issues and hopefully conclude with recommendations for the way forward.

This colloquium will be hosted by Professor Jenik Radon, Harriman Institute, SIPA, Columbia University, with the support of Khagendra Gharti-Chhetry, Esq., Chhetry & Associates, P.C. Professor Catherine Nepomnyashchy, Director of Harriman Institute, Columbia University will open the conference.


The conference’s topics will include:

1) Domestic and International Balance: Turmoil (Maoists) and in between China and India

2) A Governmental Structure for a Secure Future, Democracy and/or Royal Rule

3) Nepal’s Economic Place in the Sun: from Tourism to Hydropower

4) A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: How Do We Get There?

5) Closing Remarks


For further questions please contact Jenik Radon or his assistant, Jasmine Henz, via e-mail or phone.

Jenik Radon Jr2218@columbia.edu +1 212 496 2700
Jasmine Henz jasminehenz@radonoffices.com +1 212 496 2700

In The News

Maoists free nine Dhankuta captives NepalNews
Engineers demand unconditional release of arrested people
Int’l community’s comments on polls unacceptable: Govt
Chinese Deputy PM’s visit 'postponed'
Foreign comment “narrow minded”: Dr Giri
RPP demands independent probe in Dang Killing
CEC Rajbhandari hits back, says elections are “totally valid”

Nepal rejects election criticism BBC News
Nepal hits back at global criticism of polls Reuters.uk
International communities comments objectionable: Nepal Webindia123, India
Stung by criticism, Nepal Govt hits back at world community Zee News
Nepal says no to talks with Maoists amidst violence NewKerala.com, India
Nepal govt rejects Maoist talks offer Calcutta Telegraph
Nepal Maoists hint at contesting elections NDTV.com
Mourners target king at funeral of poll protester Gulf Times
Anti-election activist cremated in Nepal ABC Asia Pacific
Nepalis protest as dead activist cremated Reuters AlertNet
Amnesty asks for arms embargo on Nepal NewKerala.com, India

Visitors

11 February01:26Air Force, United States
11 February01:45New Skies Satellites, United States
11 February01:46Ethiopian Telecommunication, Ethiopia
11 February01:49Ethiopian Telecommunication, Ethiopia
11 February02:12Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
11 February02:23Binghamton University, Binghamton, United States
11 February02:43Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
11 February02:44Io Global Services Pvt. Ltd, Afghanistan
11 February03:26DrukNet System, Bhutan
11 February04:25Tertiary Education Network, South Africa
11 February04:5488.144.18.x
11 February06:38T-Online, Germany
11 February07:32Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany


11 February07:41Exatt Technologies, India
11 February07:43Globe Telecom Inc., Philippines
11 February07:46ONPT, Morocco
at No comments:

Friday, February 10, 2006

Mary Joyce

Mary Joyce, Demologue

Mary Joyce, a New Yorker currently based out of Morocco, reached out to me when blogger Umesh Shrestha (Mero Sansar) received a death threat recently over email. I have no idea how she found out. I am thinking she might have used a search engine! She gave Umesh a Committee To Protect Bloggers' visibility and the associated sense of protection.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

She also got me listed as a Nepal Watch writer at Global Voices. She sure is connected.

I think Mary is also the reason I got featured in this story in a German newspaper: "Robin Hood Im Internet".

Mary Joyce, Demologue

" Wow, it is so great to find someone who really understands what I am talking about. Usually when I talk about digital activism and using the internet to create international peer-to-peer activist networks peoples' eye glaze over and they nod but I know they don't know what I'm talking about.

So - "to perfect the model in Nepal and then to "invade" countries after that, one at a time, or in groups. Not militarily, but with activists, and the internet." - yes this is precisely what I had in mind: developing models of digital activism and then exporting them through online networks. So I will help your Nepal effort in any way I can and will watch very closely what you do."

Mary Joyce, Demologue

A Bloggers Way to Online Democracy
29 Jan 2006 05:25 GMT




Blogging and democracy talk Mary Joyce is a Fulbright scholar who keeps track of weblogs focussing on issues related to democracy. Based in Rabat, Morocco, we find out more about her, and about her site.

What's your background?

I graduated from Vassar College, a Liberal Arts College in New York state, with a degree in History.

I've pursued my interest in international relations and development mostly though internships and volunteer work. During my internship at the United Nations Association in New York City and got to visit the UN Secretariat where I watched General Assembly and Security Council meetings at the beginning of America's occupation of Iraq (2003).

Needless to say, that was an eye-opening experience: we all are familiar with the grand-standing and speech making that Foreign Ministers make for the press when they attend Security Council meetings. However, by attending meetings when the press and high officials were absent, I noticed that diplomats took a much more conciliatory tone with one another, and were extremely polite. It made me realize that the foreign policy we see in the media is not necessarily the same foreign policy-making behind closed doors.

Last year I received a Fulbright scholarship from the American State Department to study democratization in Morocco. I spent last year working at the National Democratic Institute in Rabat, an American NGO. After interviewing a lot of Moroccan democracy supporters for my final report. I concluded that they are the real force of change in their country and I decided to assist them.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

So how did you get involved in monitoring democracy?

The idea of creating a democracy website, Demologue.com, arose last spring because I wanted to post information about the attendance records of Moroccan MP's online but none of the American organizations I went to were willing to put it on their sites because they considered the information to be too sensitive. I decided that I would need to start my own site. I began building Demologue.com this past summer and DemoBlog grew out of that project. Demologue.com is an international network that uses the internet and digital resources to empower democracy activists. DemoBlog is a reblog of global democracy struggles.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

How do you define 'democracy'?

I don't define democracy. It's really not my position to make those kind of pronouncements, but rather the responsibility of the world's citizens. Our definition is very basic: the form and actions of governments should be determined by the will of citizens. However, beyond that basic principle, we do not support or assert a particular model for democracy. I believe that my job is to inform people about differen ways of defining democracy and then let them interpret, criticize, or reject as they see fit.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

What countries do you think are good examples of democracy

A friend of mine said that there are no democracies in the world. I believe that's true. In no country are the actions of the government fully guided by the interests of citizens. In America for example, money has distorted many of our institutions. Hurricane Katrina showed the world that many poor African-Americans are functionally disenfranchised and to some extent abandoned by their government. Also, although I am not a conspiracy theorist, I would say that the commercial interests of small groups exert too much influence in determining America's foreign policy. I am not only talking about Iraq and American oil interests. I mean, we overthrew the government of Guatemala because of the interests of the United Fruit Company. That's crazy! As you can see, I think it is much more useful to criticize and debate democracies than to congratulate them. No one's in the winners' circle yet.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

Can democracy exist? Or is it utopia?

Another good question. I believe that true democracy can exist, but only in very specific settings, at the level of a town or village, for example, where all citizens can participate actively in the governing of the polity. A nation that is truly democratic is much harder to find. Some of the most democratic nations in the world are in Scandinavia. But this is partially because the homogeneity of these societies. Heterogeneity - or the perception of an "other" within a society - is a serious strain on democracy. I again refer to the disenfranchisement of African-Americans. However, I do believe that nations can and are becoming more democratic. If I didn't have this hope, I wouldn't be able to do my work. However, I do agree with the words of activist Saul Alinsky, who said that the struggle for democracy and human rights is like climbing a mountain without a top. As soon as you reach your goal, you realize that there is more work to be done, so you just keep climbing. I'm comfortable living my life that way.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

Are democracy and human rights two facets of the same issue?

Hmm... I believe that democracy is a human right. If democracy is, in one sense, having control over the government that is controlling you, then I believe that every person has the right to democracy because every person has the right to control his or her own life.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

What impact do you expect your online activities to have?

Oh, I don't want to jinx myself. I guess I would say that my hope is > that the blog and the website will connect democracy supporters from > different parts of the world with one another and that subsequent collaboration and skill-sharing will quicken the pace of citizen-led democracy around the world.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

What developments are you planning for the blog?
Well, I am currently looking for people in touch with the international blogosphere to direct me to interesting democracy blogs. I am also looking for contributors willing to translate from other languages into English to bring a broader range of voices to DemoBlog. I am currently working with a Persian speaker and a Kiswhahili speaker who are going to help translate democracy posts from Iran and central Africa. That's quite exciting for me. I am also working with a local activist in Morocco on a guide on how to build a grassroots NGO network. and I am in contact with a > Chilean blogger about writing a guide for creating election blogs. When these resources are created, they will be posted for free download on the site The motto of both of my websites is Innovation>Evolution>Collaboration>Revolution: the idea that by creating new forms and working across nations and cultures we can speed the pace of democratic revolution around the world.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

Are you affiliated to any pro democracy organisation?

I am willing to partner with any organization with whom I share common goals. However, I do not take money from and am not affiliated with any government institutions. I believE that my organization needs to be independent if it is to be both credible and effective.

Mary Joyce, Demologue

In The News

CEC Rajbhandari hits back, says elections are “totally valid” NepalNews
20 persons reported killed in Nawalparasi clash
Municipal poll "invalid": former EC; Opens doors for parliamentary elections: leaders
Rights situation in Nepal one of the worst in the world: Amnesty
NHRC urges rebels to release security personnel
NC spokesperson arrested from the airport
Last tributes paid to Umesh Thapa
Cabinet assesses municipal polls, upbeat about national election: Report

US slams Nepal vote as ‘hollow’ exercise Daily Times, Pakistan
Nepal minister says no talks with Maoists, clash kills 23 (Roundup ... Monsters and Critics.com
King's placemen take power in Nepal Financial Times
More violence as Nepal mulls fresh polls The Statesman, India
Rebels attack army convoy in Nepal; 25 soldiers missing Hindu
Nepalese Maoists offer King dialogue United Press International
UK asks Nepal ruler to restore order Times of India, India
Human Rights situation worst in Nepal: Amnesty International Webindia123
The zero-sum game of Nepali politics Nepalnews.com
Human rights situation has deteriorated further: AI Kantipur Online
21 percent voter turnout in municipal election in Nepal People's Daily Online, China
Nepal to go to polls again Times of India, India
Royal loo costs more than human life in Nepal NewKerala.com
Interview With Prachanda, Maoist Leader CounterCurrents.org
Nepal to hold parliamentary elections: official Xinhua, China
International community's reactions'baseless : Dr.Giri Webindia123
Parliamentary polls too will not wait for parties: Giri Nepaleyes
Rebels 'attack' Nepal army convoy BBC News, UK
Pro-King party bags most seats in Nepal civic polls Mumbai Mirror, India

Visitors

10 February12:43Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
10 February13:18Columbia University, United States
10 February13:24University of Maryland, College Park, United States
Mary Joyce, Demologue

10 February13:30State of Massachusetts, Boston, United States
10 February13:45Hawaiian Telcom Services Company, Inc., United States
10 February14:00University of Missouri, Columbia, United States
10 February14:05The Mayo Clinic, United States
10 February15:08ElisaCom Oy, Finland
10 February15:15Saudi Arabia Backbone, Saudi Arabia
10 February15:52Internet Qatar, Qatar
10 February16:20Michigan State University, United States
10 February17:02Citi Corporation, United States
Mary Joyce, Demologue
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Thursday, February 09, 2006

Lenin, Mao


"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is generally understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."

 John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (Macmillan, London, 1949), p. 383

Mao and his communists formed a strong alliance with Chiang Kai Shek and his nationalists to drive out the Japanese, and once that goal was accomplished, Mao's people turned on the nationalists and claimed the country for themselves.

In Russia, Lenin collaborated with groups, including democrats, to first overthrow the czar, then he stayed out of government, and worked furiously to get rid of the democrats to establish a communist dictatorship. Lenin experimented with, guess what, a constituent assembly, but did not like the results, and promptly dismissed it. Ensued a bloody civil war between the reds and the whites, the whites were loyal to the old order inspired by the now gone czar.

These two parallels have to be mentioned because the Nepali Maoists have never spoken one bad word about either Mao or Lenin, Stalin yes, but not these two Maoist gods. These parallels also have to be mentioned because the US paranoia about the Maoists are derived from these historical precedents. Many in the royalist camp also offer the same as the reason why the democrats must ally with the royalists or face oblivion at the behest of the Maoists.

What do I have to say about this?

I say, watch out. By the way, that is the advice I also give to my Sadbhavana comrades about the Congress and the UML. You might get a constituent assembly and still not get federalism, so watch out for them Congress and UML people.

So, yes, watch out for the Maoists. On the other hand, do we accuse physicists today of subscribing to theories that were in vogue before Einstein came along? I don't think we have the option to ignore the Maoists. They are the most transparent of the three forces. Where they stand, they make very clear. The Prachanda-Baburam rift from early in 2005 was like an open book, and all the details of how they parted and then patched up is online for the world to see. So when they say they have come around to accepting a multi-party framework after rigorous ideological debates amongst themselves, I think we have to take their word for it.

Prachanda Statement
To: Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
Baburam Bhattarai, Pramod Aryal, Ram Chandra Poudel

We can't carry the communist republic phantom in our minds, and then take every opportunity to reject the fact that the Maoists are for a democratic republic and not a communist republic.

But I go one step further. I say, let's not trust these Maoists. Let's have a roadmap that leaves little room for trust. That roadmap would be to dismantle both the armies totally under UN supervision before the country goes to a constituent assembly. So that their options to disobey the results of a constituent assembly, or to reignite a civil war at a later date, are near nil.

Dismantling the two armies might also be less complicated than trying to integrate the two armies. A poor country like Nepal needs to be spending on education and health and not on armies in the first place.

The 12 point agreement is the work of the seven party alliance and the Maoists. It is for the king to negotiate with that agreement in good faith, or face the wrath of a decisive movement.

He could offer a conditional constituent assembly: that could wean away the seven party alliance from the Maoists, or that might not, in which case the king should feel bad that he did not come out for a constituent assembly when the Congress and the RPP were still strongly behind the idea of a constitutional monarchy. Karma.

Lenin Internet Archive Arthur Ransome, 1919 .... Whatever else they may think of him, not even his enemies deny that Vladimir Ilyitch Oulianov (Lenin) is one of the greatest personalities of his time. ..... He was talking of the lack of thinkers in the English labour movement, and said he remembered hearing Shaw speak at some meeting....... He was entirely convinced that England was on the eve of revolution, and pooh-poohed my objections. ....... Talking of the lies that are told about Russia, he said it was interesting to notice that they were mostly perversions of truth and not pure inventions ...... "I was wishing a happy New Year to a friend over the telephone, and said 'And may we commit fewer stupidities this year than last!' ...... Lenin struck me as a happy man. Walking home from the Kremlin, I tried to think of any other man of his calibre who had had a similar joyous temperament. I could think of none. This little, bald-headed, wrinkled man, who tilts his chair this way and that, laughing over one thing or another, ready any minute to give serious advice to any who interrupt him to ask for it, advice so well reasoned that it is to his followers far more compelling than any command, every one of his wrinkles is a wrinkle of laughter, not of worry. I think the reason must be that he is the first great leader who utterly discounts the value of his own personality. He is quite without personal ambition. More than that, he believes, as a Marxist, in the movement of the masses which, with or without him, would still move. His whole faith is in the elemental forces that move people, his faith in himself is merely his belief that he justly estimates the direction of those forces.......... With his philosophy he cannot for a moment believe that one man's mistake might ruin all. He is, for himself at any rate, the exponent, not the cause, of the events that will be for ever linked with his name........ But the quickest way of restoring good conditions in Russia was, of course, peace and agreement with the Allies...... Lenin. "Tell them to build a Chinese wall round each of their countries. They have their customs-officers, their frontiers, their coast-guards. They can expel any Bolsheviks they wish. Revolution does not depend on propaganda. If the conditions of revolution are not there no sort of propaganda will either hasten or impede it......... Your socialist movements, your socialist parties . . . when I was in England I zealously attended everything I could, and for a country with so large an industrial population they were pitiable, pitiable . . . a handful at a street corner . . . a meeting in a drawing room . . . a school class . . . pitiable. ......... the way in which insensibly, quite apart from war, the Communist theories are being modified in the difficult process of their translation into practice ....... the wild committee business that at first made work almost impossible ..... the antipathy of the peasants to compulsory communism ....... the elasticity of the Communist theories tested by the inevitable pressure of the peasantry...... Civil war, whatever happens, is likely to be more bitter in the Ukraine than elsewhere, because there the instinct of property has been further developed in the peasantry ........ Leon Trotsky ......... His life, however, was chiefly filled by the study of Marxism and its application to the economic and political development of Russia and subsequently of the whole world........ In 1898 he married N. K. Krupskaya, a comrade in the St. Petersburg Union and his faithful companion for the remaining 26 years of his life....... his most important economic work, The Development of Capitalism in Russia, based on an enormous mass of statistical material (1899)....... the paper Iskra (The Spark) appeared in Munich, with the motto “From Spark to Flame.” ...... to form a centralized “underground” revolutionary party of Social Democrats ...... the shooting of the workers on Jan. 9 (22) in 1905, by agrarian disturbances and political strikes. ...... but to retain their illegal apparatus in anticipation of counter-revolutionary blows. ....... the use of force by the people against those who had employed it against them. ...... The rising in Moscow at the end of Dec., lacking as it did the support of the army, without simultaneous risings in other town and sufficient response in the country districts, was quickly suppressed.......... revolutionary exploitation of parliamentary methods as a means of fresh attack...... Lenin’s constant revolutionary struggle went hand in hand with his theoretical controversies. ....... a legal newspaper, Pravda , which in its constant conflict with the censorship and the police exercised a guiding influence on the vanguard of the working class...... Lenin sent articles under different pseudonyms almost every day to the Bolshevik legal newspapers...... Lenin subjects to a merciless criticism not only Socialist patriotism, but that pacifism which, while occupied with platonic protests, withdraws from the revolutionary struggle with Imperialism........ all Lenin’s work was characterized by a twofold struggle, on the one hand with reformism which from the beginning of the War gave its support to the imperialist policy of the propertied classes, and on the other hand with anarchism and all the different varieties of revolutionary adventurists......... In Sept. 1915 (Sept. 5 and 8) there was held at Zimmerwald in Switzerland the first conference of European Socialists who were opposed to the imperialistic war. Thirty-one delegates were present.......... Lenin was prepared for his struggle on an international scale not only by his profound knowledge of Marxism and his experience of the revolutionary party organization in Russia, but also by his intimate acquaintance with the workers’ movement throughout the world. He was master of the English, German and French languages, and could read Italian, Swedish and Polish. He was firmly opposed to the mechanical application of the methods of one country to another, and he investigated and decided questions concerning revolutionary movements, not only in their international reactions, but also in their concrete national form........ The overthrow of Tsarism, he said, was only the first stage in the revolution. The bourgeois revolution could no longer satisfy the masses. The task of the proletariat was to arm, to strengthen the power of the Soviets, to rouse the country districts and to prepare for the conquest of supreme power in the name of the reconstruction of society on a Socialist basis....... Plekhanov called Lenin’s programme “crazy.” ..... The small daily Pravda became at once in his hands a powerful instrument for the overthrow of bourgeois society. ....... The popular movement was crushed. The hounding of Lenin reached its height. He now began to work “underground,” hiding first in Petrograd with a worker’s family and then in Finland....... The constituent assembly which was elected in Nov. and met on Jan. 5 was an anachronism. The conflict between the two stages of the revolution was at hand. Lenin did not hesitate for an instant. On the night of Jan. 7 the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, on Lenin’s motion, passed a decree dissolving the constituent assembly.......... By the end of the summer of 1918 Central Russia found itself surrounded by a ring of fire.....On Aug. 30 the Social-Revolutionary Kaplan aimed two shots at Lenin when on his way to a workers’ meeting. This attack intensified the civil war....... The struggle ended at the beginning of 1921 ...... His doctrine was that the Western European proletariat should refrain from mere declarations of sympathy with oppressed nationalities, and instead should join them in the struggle against imperialism....... At the eighth congress of Soviets (1920) Lenin made a report on the work carried out on his initiative for the drafting of a plan for the electrification of the country. ..... “Socialism is a Soviet Govt. plus electrification.” ..... The exhaustion brought on by excessive hard work over a number of years ruined Lenin’s health. .... His way of life in the Kremlin was little different from his life as an emigré abroad. The simplicity of his daily habits was due to the fact that intellectual work and intense struggle not only absorbed his interests and passions but also gave him intense satisfaction. His thoughts never ceased to labour at the task of freeing the workers.
Vladimir Lenin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Leninism, which he described as an adaptation of Marxism to "the age of imperialism." ....... Lenin was of mixed ethnic ancestry. .... In July 1898, he married Nadezhda Krupskaya, who was a socialist activist. .....founded the newspaper Iskra...... When Inessa Armand left Russia and settled in Paris, she met Vladimir Lenin and other Bolsheviks living in exile, and is believed to have become Lenin's partner during this time....... When the First World War began in 1914, and the large Social Democratic parties of Europe (at that time self-described as Marxist), comprising luminaries such as Karl Kautsky, supported their various countries' war efforts, Lenin was shocked ...... After the 1917 February Revolution in Russia and the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, Lenin knew he needed to get back to Russia as soon as possible. ....... On April 16, 1917, he returned to Petrograd and took a leading role within the Bolshevik movement, publishing the April Theses [5]. The April theses called for an uncompromising opposition to the provisional government. Initially by this lurch to the left Lenin isolated his party. However, this uncompromising stand meant that the Bolsheviks were to become the obvious home for the masses as they became disillusioned with the provisional government, and with the luxury of opposition the Bolsheviks were freed of the responsibility for any consequences from the implementation of their policies (Christopher Read: From Tsar to Soviets pp151-3)........ After a failed workers' rising in July, Lenin fled to Finland for safety. He returned in October, inspiring an armed revolution with the slogan "All Power to the Soviets!", against the Provisional Government..... On November 8, Lenin was elected as the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars by the Russian Soviet Congress. ..... On March 3, 1918, Lenin removed Russia from World War I by agreeing to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Under this treaty, Russia lost Ukraine, Finland, the Baltic states, and large areas to Poland. ..... After the Bolsheviks lost the elections for the Russian Constituent Assembly, Lenin became skeptical and used his military guards to close the first session of the Assembly on January 19th. Later, the Bolsheviks organized a counter-Assembly, the third Congress of Soviets, allowing themselves and their allies over 90% of the seats. [8]. They formed a coalition government with the left wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries. However, their coalition collapsed after the Social Revolutionaries opposed the Brest-Litovsk treaty, and they joined other parties in seeking to overthrow the government of the soviets. The situation degenerated, with non-Bolshevik parties (including some of the socialist groups) actively seeking the overthrow of the Soviet government. Lenin responded to these conspiracies by shutting down their activities and jailing or shooting some of the members of the opposing parties....... Leon Trotsky argued that a direct correlation cannot be made between Lenin and Stalin because this perspective ignores many external factors, such as the turmoil of revolution and civil war during Lenin's leadership. Also, a "river of blood" separated Lenin from Stalin's actions. For instance, Stalin eventually executed many of Lenin's old comrades and their supporters, grouped in the Left Opposition, including Trotsky himself...... Meanwhile, the civil war raged across Russia. A wide variety of political movements and their supporters took up arms to support or overthrow the Soviet government. Although many different factions were involved in the civil war, the two main forces were the Red Army (communists) and the White Army (Tsarist). Foreign powers such as France, Britain, the United States and Japan also intervened in this war (on behalf of the White Army)....... Lenin's brain was removed before his body was embalmed. The Soviet government commissioned the well-known German neuroscientist Oskar Vogt to study Lenin's brain and to locate the precise location of the brain cells that are responsible for genius.
TIME 100: VI Lenin Not long after the Bolsheviks had seized power in 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin filled out a bureaucratic questionnaire. For occupation, he wrote "man of letters." ....... the author of mass terror and the first concentration camps ever built on the European Continent. ..... Lenin was the initiator of the central drama — the tragedy — of our era, the rise of totalitarian states. A bookish man with a scholar's habits and a general's tactical instincts, Lenin introduced to the 20th century the practice of taking an all-embracing ideology and imposing it on an entire society rapidly and mercilessly; he created a regime that erased politics, erased historical memory, erased opposition. In his short career in power, from 1917 until his death in 1924, Lenin created a model not merely for his successor, Stalin, but for Mao, for Hitler, for Pol Pot....... after completing a three-year term of Siberian exile, he began his rise as the leading communist theorist, tactician and party organizer...... In his personal relations with colleagues, family and friends, Lenin was relatively open and generous. Unlike many tyrants, he did not crave a tyrant's riches. ....... a peculiarly modest figure who wore a shabby waistcoat, worked 16-hour days and read extensively. (By contrast, Stalin did not know that the Netherlands and Holland were the same country, and no one in the Kremlin inner circle was brave enough to set him straight.) ....... Before he became the general of the revolution, Lenin was its pedant, the journalist-scholar who married Marxist theory to an incisive analysis of insurrectionist tactics. His theories of what society ought to be and how that ideal must be achieved were the products of thousands of hours spent reading...... all-consuming intellectuality — the fact that from his calculations, from his neat pen, flowed seas of blood, whereas by nature this was not an evil person ....... a rather kind person whose cruelty was stipulated by science and incontrovertible historical laws. ...... Lenin made a perverse reading of the Enlightenment view of man as modeling clay and sought to create a new model of human nature and behavior through social engineering of the most radical kind. ....... Bolshevism was the most audacious attempt in history to subject the entire life of a country to a master plan ....... a unique effort to apply science to human affairs ...... Stalin's murderous statistics are superior to Lenin's. And yet Lenin contributed so very much. ....... Very few of Stalin's policies were without roots in Leninism: it was Lenin who built the first camps; Lenin who set off artificial famine as a political weapon; Lenin who disbanded the last vestige of democratic government, the Constituent Assembly, and devised the Communist Party as the apex of a totalitarian structure; Lenin who first waged war on the intelligentsia and on religious believers, wiping out any traces of civil liberty and a free press. ...... By the Brezhnev era, Lenin's dream state had devolved into a corrupt and failing dictatorship. Only the Lenin cult persisted. ...... the publication of Vassily Grossman's Forever Flowing, a novel that dared compare Lenin's cruelty to Hitler's. ....... Gorbachev admitted, "I can only say that cruelty was the main problem with Lenin." .....
Vladimir I. Lenin

Mao Zedong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TIME 100: Mao Zedong especially after 1955, when he was in his early 60s and at the height of his political power as leader of the Chinese People's Republic, swimming became a central part of his life...... He swam so often in the large pool constructed for the top party leaders in their closely guarded compound that the others eventually left him as the pool's sole user. He swam in the often stormy ocean off the north China coast, when the Communist Party leadership gathered there for its annual conferences. And, despite the pleadings of his security guards and his physician, he swam in the heavily polluted rivers of south China, drifting miles downstream with the current, head back, stomach in the air, hands and legs barely moving, unfazed by the globs of human waste gliding gently past. "Maybe you're afraid of sinking," he would chide his companions if they began to panic in the water. "Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, you won't sink. If you do, you will." .............. Mao was equally unsinkable in the turmoil — much of which he personally instigated — that marked the last 20 years of his rule in China....... Mao's earliest surviving essay, written when he was 19 ...... In Mao's mind, the intensive marshaling of China's energies would draw manual and mental labor together into a final harmonious synthesis and throw a bridge across the chasm of China's poverty to the promised socialist paradise on the other side....... the curious mixture of jocularity and cruelty, of utopian visions and blinkered perceptions, that lay at the heart of his character ..... but firmly rebutted figures — quoted in Hong Kong newspapers — that 20 million had perished. "How could we possibly kill 20 million people?" he asked. ....... Mao combined the ruthlessness of Shang Yang with the absolute confidence of the long-distance swimmer........ drew his sustenance from the chanting crowds of Red Guards....... Leaders Mao trained, like Deng Xiaoping, were able to reverse Mao's policies even as they claimed to revere them. They gave back to the Chinese people the opportunities to express their entrepreneurial skills, leading to astonishing rates of growth and a complete transformation of the face of Chinese cities......... Despite the agony he caused, Mao was both a visionary and a realist.
A Biography of Mao Tse-Tung Mao Tse-tung may be the most powerful person who has ever lived. He controlled almost a billion people for more than twenty five years. He controlled more than 9 million square kilometres of land. He controlled a country whose present value is more than $980 billion American. He overthrew an army of more than 4 million to get it, and killed many more to keep it...... he began to study at a Hunan Provincial library on his own ....... advancing his personal health and fitness which would serve him well in the future. ....... became a poorly paid assistant in the university library. ....... In 1921 he was one of 12 delegates at the ‘First Congress’ of the Communist Party at a time when national membership of the party totalled 57 ........ By 1925 the membership was still only 900 ........ Mao preferred political activity among the peasants with the KMT to the worker-orientated CCP. ........ Shanghai was the main communist city in China and it was ‘hit’ first ...... Over the next few months CCP membership dropped from 60 000 to 10 000...... He would work through villages one by one, finding the landlords, gathering together the peasants to discuss the ‘crimes’ of the landlord, and then having the landlord executed at the hands of the peasants - with the supervision of armed Red Army guards. The offer of political stability, moderate taxes and the distribution of the landlord’s land were naturally very attractive rewards, and by February 1930 Mao was able to declare the ‘South-West Soviet Provincial Government’. ....... 1928 to 1937 has come to be regarded the ‘Nationalist decade’. ....... Mao was soon powerful enough to defy such orders from the CCP leadership. ....... the ‘Long March’, a legendary epic of retreat from the harassment of KMT forces ....... The marchers saw 11 provinces, 6000 miles and 200 million people ....... Chiang Kai-Shek was arrested by a young KMT army general who had read of Mao’s attempts to unite the warring parties to defeat the Japanese and was frustrated with Chiang turning a blind eye to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and north eastern China. Mao surprised everyone by sending Chou En-lai, one of his long time friends and right-hand man, to plead for Chiang’s life, to prove to everyone defeating the Japanese was to be given absolute priority. ........ chronic bribery and corruption within the KMT meant the general population sympathised with Mao. ....... There were attempts at negotiation between Mao and Chiang but they produced nothing and full-scale civil war began in 1946...... Aged 56, Mao now was Chairman of the most powerful political party to have existed to date...... the central theme of the intense ideological work carried out amongst the people was the exaltation of Mao himself. ..... In the first years of the Communist regime, conservative estimates of the number killed for voicing their opinions of the Communist party stand at around 3 million; hostile estimates are much higher. Dissenters were taken prisoner, executed or told ‘You are sick, comrade’, and subjugated to formidable brainwashing procedures. .......... Mao ordered, ‘the greatest reform in history’ (in terms of people involved) ....... ‘Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom, Let All the Schools of Thought Contend’ ...... A huge torrent of criticism flowed out; attacks on the most basic philosophies including many along the line of ‘the old ruling class has been overthrown to make way for a new one’, and complaints that the party officials were acting like plain clothes police meant Mao terminated the idea in just 6 weeks, arresting all the dissenters and either brainwashing them, sending them to work in the fields or having them otherwise silenced. ........ China responded by attempting to form a third world superpower by aligning other communist Asian nations, but this was largely a failure. ....... Mao wanted to do in a decade what Russia had done in four. ....... For the first time since 1935, Mao was demoted from the top job, replaced by Liu Shao-chi...... Mao’s successor, Liu Shao-chi, suddenly admitted to many ‘crimes’ against Marxist-Leninist-Maoism, and was subsequently ridiculed and made a symbol of hate for the Red Guards. Mao was reinstated as leader and his greatest ally, the Army, made up half of the party leadership elected at the Ninth Congress....... unified China and oversaw the greatest social reform in man’s history .... a military tactician. His adaptation of guerilla techniques from the writings of ancient military experts ........ many Chinese people still worship Mao as a demi-god, and the saviour of their people. And, indeed, living standards in China have risen substantially in the past 50 years ...... today China is making serious efforts to improve human rights, the most recent of which is the promise to sign the Human Rights Declaration of the United Nations. ...... while there are no beggars on the street, the vast majority of the population still live in relative poverty and spend most of theirs days tilling fields or doing menial work in factories, the main enjoyment of comfort by Western standards being restricted to Party officials and some factory owners. ......... China only tried to align itself with other poorer, peasant-based nations fit for socialist reforms..... Mao will be remembered as a socialist, a poet, a military strategist and ruthless ruler. He has earned his place among the most powerful rulers of the world......
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, ToC
Reference Archive: Mao Zedong At age 27, Mao attended the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai, in July 1921. Two years later he was elected to the Central Committee of the party at the Third Congress...... From 1931 to 1934, Mao helped established the Chinese Soviet Republic in SE China, and was elected as the chairman...... Starting in October 1934, "The Long March" began ..... In 1937, Japan opened a full war of aggression against China, which gave the Chinese Communist Party cause to unite with the nationalist forces of the Kuomintang. After defeating the Japanese, in an ensuing civil war the Communists defeated the Kuomintang, and established the People’s Republic of China, in October 1949....... In August 1966, Mao wrote a big poster entitled "Bombard the Headquarters." ........ Chiang Kai-shek’s 8 million-man armed force is also a thing which can be eliminated piece by piece...... I don’t oppose military academies. They can remain open, but the school term should not be too long. It would be too long if it lasted two or three years. A few months would suffice. ...... One month is enough to train artillery troops...... The sentence I’ll fight my way may be divided into two more sentences: if I can win, I will fight; if I cannot win, I will run away. Imperialists are most afraid of this method. If I can win, I will eat you up; if I cannot win, I will run away, making it impossible for you to find me.......... We were a minority, so how could we eat them? We did it piecemeal. The result is that we swallowed them...... One should spend most of one’s time in his own country. Perhaps, there is no need to go abroad ......... ......... In 1960 you told me that 90 per cent of the people supported the government and only 10 per cent opposed it.... The Dalai Lama himself had told Mao he didn’t believe he was a living god although if one said that openly the Dalai would have to deny it...... the Chinese did not have only one god, but many. There were gods for everything, door gods, kitchen gods, rain gods, mountain gods, mercy gods, and so on....... he had never been to Tibet ..... Victory or defeat was not determined by weapons at hand at the outset. What was really decisive was the will to victory and right aims........ ‘People then were thinking mainly of liberating China from Japan. Certainly I did not then foresee the full significance of revolutionary China’s rise in the world.’ ....... By 1947 the People’s Liberation Army already had more than a million men, against several million troops on Chiang Kai-shek’s side......... But if I should tell United States leaders that they were building up a revolutionary movement which would defeat them, they would not listen. They would not let the Vietnamese decide their own affairs....... now already the Vietcong had the American intervention to help arm and educate the rank and file and the army officers....... what the French like to call the “Third World” ....... Mao Tse-tung said that he had not reached an opinion about that. Perhaps I could help him? He recalled that President Kennedy had also been interested in that question. Had he not declared that as far as the United States, Canada, and Western Europe were concerned there was not much real and basic difference? .......... ‘Perhaps it could be said that France is in the Third World but not of it?’ ........ This question which had engaged the interest of President Kennedy had led him (Mao said he had read) to study Mao’s own essays on military operations. He had also learned from Algerian friends during their struggle against France that the French were reading his works and using his information against them......... Chiang Kai-shek had also studied the Communists’ materials but he had not been saved either........ They ignored the decisive political fact that whether it was Diem or some other puppets, no government cut off from the masses could win against wars of liberation........ but in most countries I was talking about the people were merely seeking national independence, not socialism — quite another matter. European countries had also had anti-feudal revolutions, but the United States had had no real feudal period........ When the United States first established a republic it was hated and dreaded by all the crowned heads of Europe. That showed that the Americans were then revolutionaries. Now the American people needed to struggle for liberation from their own monopoly capitalists. What part of the United States did I come from? ........... Most of the countries concerned were still very far from socialist revolutions. In some there were no Communist parties at all while in others there were only revisionists. It was said that Latin America had about twenty Communist parties; of those eighteen had issued resolutions against China. He paused and ended by saying that only one thing was certain. Wherever severe oppression existed there would be revolution......... He replied that Mr. Khrushchev had not been very popular in China even before his fall. Few portraits of him were to be seen. ...... China would miss him as a negative example......... the disappearance of Khrushchev had deprived them of a good target for polemical articles.......... Probably Mr. Khrushchev fell because he had had no cult of personality at all. . ....... He added (thinking of his American critics, perhaps) that he had never read any American Marxist theorists. Were there any good ones? ........ Of course the bomb could kill people. But in the end the people would destroy the bomb. Then it would truly become a paper tiger........ so that he was more backward than they, was not that so?’ [Mao was ridiculing, by implication, those who supposed him to be an ignorant peasant unaware of the full meaning of nuclear terror.] ...... For the bacteria, the birds, the mice, and the trees, the atom bomb really was a paper tiger......... The deeper implication of Mao’s last remark was that even if man disappeared from the earth — committed mass suicide — life could not be extinguished by man’s bomb......... All the governments were talking about complete and total disarmament. China herself had proposed disarmament since a long time past. So had the Soviet Union. The U.S.A. kept talking about it. What we were getting instead was complete and thorough rearmament........... China’s proposal to hold a summit conference to consider the total destruction of nuclear weapons........ Mao feared that his reputation was not good; the imperialists just did not like him. ......When the assassination of President Kennedy occurred the Chinese (Communists) were quite surprised. They had not planned that. Once more, they were quite surprised when Khrushchev was removed in Russia. They had not ordered that........ . China was a large country with plenty of work to keep her busy outside the U.N. ...... Ganefo — Games of the New Emerging Forces — organized after the United States excluded China from the Olympics....... China then regarded the Afro-Asian organization as the potential centre of planned development of a Third World largely independent of neo-colonial or Western capital. Following Chinese principles of ‘self-reliance’ in internal development, and of mutual help between the Afro-Asian states, the process of modernization might by-pass the slow and painful methods of capital accumulation by traditional bourgeois means. Such a theoretical alternative of course would have implied more rapid and radical political evolution and an earlier arrival at pre-socialist conditions in the capital-poor Afro-Asian states............ The Chairman replied that he really did not know. Some said that there were 680 to 690 millions but he did not believe it. How could there be so many? ........ As usual the American rulers would not listen. ....... ‘I have heard some people in Washington argue that the fleet and the marines might as well be in Vietnam as anywhere else. They have to be paid anyway.’ ........ In the end, they must all go home. In the past China had seen American troops in Tientsin, Tsingtao, Shanghai, even Peking. They had all left. In fact they had left very rapidly. ....... Chiang Kai-shek, a man who was always losing battles ....... Mao asked what kind of internal problems Mr. Johnson faced. ...... Now only about eight per cent of the total U.S. population was needed to produce more food than the country could consume...... Mao asked me to repeat the figure. When I did so he shook his head sceptically. How could that be? was all he said....... Mao said that forces of history were also bound, eventually, to bring the two peoples together again; that day would surely come. Possibly I was right that meanwhile war could be avoided........ there would be no war because if they did not send troops to China the Chinese certainly would never send troops to attack the United States....... Chinese were very busy with their internal affairs. Fighting beyond one’s own borders was criminal. Why should the Chinese do so? ........ China was overrun but only by Chinese. ...... China had no troops outside her own frontiers. ..... China supported revolutionary movements, but not by invading countries. Of course, whenever a liberation struggle existed China would publish statements and call demonstrations to support it. It was precisely that which vexed the imperialists.........how was it that shooting off empty guns at home could be called aggression while those who actually intervened with arms and bombed and burned people of other lands were not considered aggressors? ....... Some Americans had once said that the Chinese revolution was led by Russian aggressors but in truth the Chinese revolution was armed by Americans. In the same way the Vietnamese revolution was also being armed by Americans, not by China. The liberation forces had not only greatly improved their supplies of American weapons during recent months but had also expanded their forces by recruiting American-trained troops and officers from the puppet armies of South Vietnam. China’s liberation forces had grown in numbers and strength by recruiting to their side the troops trained and armed by the Americans for Chiang Kai-shek. The movement was called the ‘changing of hats’......... Sino-American relations ..... Maybe there would be no improvement in his generation (lifetime). He was soon going to see God....... No, he did not, but some people who claimed to be well informed said that there was a God. There seemed to be many gods and sometimes the same god could take all sides. In the wars of Europe the Christian God had been on the side of the British, the French, the Germans, and so on, even when they were fighting each other. At the time of the Suez Canal crisis God was united behind the British and the French but then there was Allah to back up the other side..........
Mao had mentioned that both his brothers had been killed. His first wife had also been executed during the revolution (1930) and their son had been killed during the Korean war. ....... it was odd that death had so far passed him by ....... His personal bodyguard was killed while standing right beside him. Once he was splashed all over with the blood of another soldier but the bomb had not touched him. ....... There had been other narrow escapes. ....... he had begun life as a primary school teacher ........ events did not move in accordance with the individual will. What mattered was that China had been oppressed by imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. Such were the facts. . . ..... to hear about history and to read books was not the same thing as living it....... a continued development of the revolution towards communism.......... future events would be decided by future generations, and in accordance with conditions we could not foresee....... The youth of today and those to come after them would assess the work of the revolution in accordance with values of their own....... Man’s condition on this earth was changing with ever increasing rapidity. A thousand years from now all of us, he said, even Marx, Engels, and Lenin would probably appear rather ridiculous........ Before I rose to leave the Chairman sent his greetings to the American people and said simply that he wished them progress...... to those among them who were not really liberated, and desired liberation, to them he wished his best.......... Mao Tse-tung walked me through the doorway and, despite my protests, saw me to my car, where he stood alone for a moment, coatless in the sub-zero Peking night, to wave me farewell in the traditional manner of that ancient cultured city. I saw no security guards around the entrance nor can I now recall having seen even one armed body guard in our vicinity all evening......... ..... You are putting up a good fight! Under exceptionally difficult conditions, you have, by relying on your own strength, battered U.S. imperialism, the most ferocious imperialism in the world, so that its forces are in disorder and it has no way out. This is a great victory. The Chinese people salute you.......... a nation, big or small, can defeat any enemy, however powerful provided only that it fully mobilizes its people, relies firmly on the people, and wages a people’s war ......... Perseverance means victory........ ...... Well, so long as he doesn't kill people, we should not dismiss him, nor should we send him away for labour reform. Let him stay in school and continue to study. You people should hold a meeting and ask him to explain in what way Chiang Kai-shek is good and what good things he has done. On our part, you may tell why Chiang Kai-shek is not good......... Teachers should lecture less and make the students read more. I believe the student you referred to will be very capable in the future since he had the courage to be absent from the Saturday meeting and not to return to school on time on Sunday. When you return to school, you may tell him that it is too early to return to school even at eight or nine in the evening, he may delay it until eleven or twelve. Whose fault is it that you should hold a meeting Sunday night? ....... When you return to school, you should take the lead to rebel....... Don't care about the system. Just don't return to school. Just say you want to violate the school system........ I don't think you will be very capable in the future. You are afraid of being accused of violating the school system, of criticism, of a bad record, of being expelled from school, of failing to get party membership. Why should you be afraid of so many things? The worst that can come to you is expulsion from school. The school should allow the students to rebel.......... I think the student you mentioned will be more capable than you for he dared to violate the school system....... How can you do translations or handle foreign affairs if you do not study the Holy Bible and Buddhist sutras? ..........
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