tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-349354252024-03-13T11:19:18.235+01:00the world according to jacobGermany, Sweden, Taiwan, and the world beyondJacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-81928084114359654612012-12-30T14:33:00.004+01:002012-12-30T14:34:54.578+01:00How the world didn't end this time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://good-wallpapers.com/wallpapers/17981/The%20Film.%20the%20End%20of%20the%20World.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://good-wallpapers.com/wallpapers/17981/The%20Film.%20the%20End%20of%20the%20World.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Did you really expect the world to end on 21 December, 2012? Again?<br />
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Numerous times before has the end of the world been anticipated in various cultures. It's a fascinating concept, because it (quite often) allows for something else, something to follow after the world - as we know it - has ended. Something like a new beginning - which is, normally, just like the world before it, only better. Thus, the imagination of world's end is characteristically entangled with utopian ideas of new start, usually for a select few (since the bad of the old days <i>must </i>have been caused by something of somebody, and this source of evil must be uprooted before there can be something new).<br />
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Such concepts are quite familiar to the student of religion.<br />
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However, the alleged ending of the world this time also fascinated the larger populace. Yet, was anybody able to elaborate upon <i>why </i>they were expecting the end of the world? Apparently, the Mayan calender's cessation gained most of the headlines, combined with astronomical observations of a peculiar alignment of the planets of our solar system. (An alignment that would lead others to contend that it would change something in humankind's consciousness, but would not lead to an "end" of the world in a literal sense.) In the end, the pre-21 December media craze was born out of crypto- or pseudo-scientific claims that borrowed a lot from religious ideas. Moreover, the "sources" it was based on were more rumor than that, than sources to rely on.<br />
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<h4>
The end of the world, now and again</h4>
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Frankly, the idea of "history" as a timeline with a fixated starting and ending point is a strange one. It does not correspond well with what our (natural) environment would suggest. Nature would rather point to a cyclical order of things, which led most cultures close to nature to develop cyclical understandings of time. The idea of a "goal of history", a teleology, is not self-evident. But where does it come from? - This idea is probably nowhere so pronounced as in the notion of <i>progress</i>. And while other cultures may have had some understanding of the progression of time, the influential modern idea of progress that has become a totalistic paradigm was developed in what we often term "the West", meaning related Western European cultures originating in a Judeo-Christian tradition (among other influences).<br />
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While the Bible is not the only source and example for a teleological sense of time, it is likely the most influential one, especially with the addition of the Christian New Testament. However, whereas the inherent concept of "progress" toward the Messias' second coming made itself independent of its biblical context and came to dominate all aspects of human existence in Western modernity (economy, culture, science, psychology, biology etc.), it is originally coupled with a vision of an end to the world. There is no everlasting progress but an "end of history" - which, interestingly, was mirrored symbolically in Fukuyama's work in the 1990s on the "final" victory of democracy (and capitalism, which thus became identified with the "good side" or Christianity in this race toward armageddon) over communism. In the Christian context, the world will be destroyed, and a new world will arise where all survivors are to exist side by side with the Triune God.<br />
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This knowledge serves as the background in popular expectations of the apocalypse. Of course, in other cultures we find other but often similar visions of the end of the world. In Indian cosmologies, for instance, time is divided into different ages (<i>kalpa</i>) that each end with the annihilation of the world. In Buddhism, each <i>kalpa </i>is presided over by a different Buddha, and the end of each age is initialized by a period of decline in which salvation from the woeful realm of constant reincarnation (<i>samsara</i>) is hardly possible anymore. In these times, the birth of a Buddha - who will found the next age - can be expected. Historically, this has time and again led to huge salvationist movements in preparation for the coming of the Buddha Maitreya in China.<br />
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<h4>
Do numbers matter?</h4>
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Certain numerologically significant years have often served to anchor such salvationist expectations. In China, it was estimated that the period of decline of the Dharma (the truth betold by the Buddha) would last 500 years after a certain amount of years of prosperity. The coming of the alleged date in the 5th century caused widespread anxiety and upheaval. However, one might say it did pass without bringing about the feared (or hoped-for) results. Handily, the date could be estimated differently according to various variables and sources (does that ring a bell?). The evaluation of the occurance (or not) of the predicted changes differed also, of course. In any event, this is to say two things: First, that the sociological and political implications of salvationist ideas (and <i>movements</i>) were very real - just a common example: The fall of the Mongol Yuan dynasty was initiated by a Maitreya-inspired peasant uprising. Second, the date of the apocalypse is subject to interpretation and change. We might say it is a cultural (an anthropological?) constant in the history of humankind.<br />
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Clearly, the time relating to an event of such existential significance can not be arbitrary. Some kind of <i>meaning </i>has to be connected with the end of the world (arbitrarity would render the event pointless, even <i>sense</i>less, which would cause serious cosmological trouble). Thus, usually it is numerologically auspicious dates that get picked for the apocalypse. As the term 'millenniarist expectation' would suggest already, in the Christian context turns of the millennium are especially prone to mark the world's end. (Remember the fuss about the year 2000? For me, there is no reason to believe the millennarian turn before would have been any less anticipated. In my opinion, the Jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood put this quite aptly in the title of their live album recorded just before the turn of the millennium: "End of the World Party (Just in Case)":)<br />
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So why would the world end a week ago in 2012, when it had not numerous times (on more auspicious occasions) before? There was no legitimate claim, not even religiously, just some crypto-scientific ideas about the end of the Maya calendar that <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/14dec_yesterday/" target="_blank">lacked solid foundation</a>. (This link to a NASA report does not mean that I do believe in what science claims to know about the world. I put it here simply to show how easily rumors about Maya prophecies of the apocalypse can be discarded. This renders the issue a dispute between scientists and believers-in-the-apocalypse - if there was ever anyone who really believed in it this time.) What I want to express here is neither that belief in the end of the world at a certain date is unfounded, nor that it is stupid or dangerous. But it is a constant companion of human cultures, and in this sense quite normal. It has occurred several times before, and it will occur again. Since most cultural phenomena that have existed for that long do have some function (and thus make sense), perhaps there is also some logic to the belief in world's end. We only have to focus on the most prevalent visionof mondane destruction there is at the moment: Even scientists support the idea that there might be an end to the world of humanity if global warming were to continue (or any other scenario of human destruction of the world). Ironically, the reason for this apocalyptic vision is to be found in the idea of progress, which itself in its original religious context was meant to be leading to a desired armageddon and the end of the sinful world as we know it. This may sound like a self-fulfilling prophecy, only that we humans now possess the means to bring about cosmological apocalypse that was meant to be a divine plan...<br />
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Oh gosh, we have become so self-conscious... Personally, I don't believe in religious arguments for the end of the world as long as there is no scientific proof rendering it probable or at least possible. Scientific proof here refers to empirical visibility, testability, and falsibility. For me, the reasons for an apocalypse ought to be exoteric, not revealed to a select few. The latter would make them a matter of personal belief. As long as any science does not claim what it cannot prove empirically, it should be safe to believe in its validity. Why should only some people have access to the truth? How could the truth only be revealed to a select few at a particular point in time? Why not try to make it objective and accessible for everyone to test? I have to admit, believing in any kind of apocalypse is not typically a rational process of decision-making. But if there ever was a beginning (as even science contends), it is quite reasonable to assume that there will be an end. Yet, I'll happily tread middle ground and busy myself with what is going on in-between, the here and now. And this tells me that it rather is the idea of progress we need to focus on. Because this very idea may well lead us straight to armageddon either way.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-13840364399760725302012-12-25T22:25:00.001+01:002012-12-25T22:25:34.553+01:00Film review "The Ides of March"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-suEchg8IsgI/T0aHlr_z46I/AAAAAAAAA4U/pxFnTzWxMbs/s1600/The+Ides+of+March+-+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-suEchg8IsgI/T0aHlr_z46I/AAAAAAAAA4U/pxFnTzWxMbs/s320/The+Ides+of+March+-+Poster.jpg" width="244" /></a></div>
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It may occur a bit contradictory that I
don't have a lot to say about this movie, because in contrast to Law
Abiding Citizen (see below), I quite liked this one. As has been written <a href="http://theinquisitiveloon.blogspot.de/2012/02/ides-of-march.html" target="_blank">elsewhere</a>, the movie's main theme is that power corrupts. And the movie is quite cynical about it. This portrait of an American
election campaign appears so real that it might actually be shocking. In
any way, it doesn't help much to restore my faith in such political
practice. Campaigning is a lot different here in Germany, less
focused on the candidate alone, yet I cannot imagine a complete
qualitative difference from the scenario presented in the movie.</div>
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Ryan Gosling's play is outstanding. As
a professional yet idealistic campaign manager, he has an enormous
presence. Credits should also be due for George Clooney, who as
director left Gosling enough room to develop his charisma and as
actor gives his senator a multi-facetted character but still stays in the background. Clooney in Q&A
sessions in the movie can be so charming and smart that you might actually be
willing to vote for him once he decides to run for office for real.</div>
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All in all, while not especially
cheerful this is a very entertaining and intelligent movie - I needed to check the subtitles more than once - with a lot
of starpower and strong supporting performances (Philip Seymour Hoffmann and
Marisa Tomei are impressive in their roles - they seem to have developed a powerful on-screen relationship, all the more so since ). Finally, the movie also boasts great poster design (above).</div>
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Strong recommendation!</div>
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(<a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_ides_of_march/" target="_blank">Rottentomatoes </a>rating is at 85%, while at <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124035/" target="_blank">imdb </a>it scores 7.2. Here is the trailer:</div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/McCt-_yYLpo/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/McCt-_yYLpo&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/McCt-_yYLpo&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-65146848255478073892012-12-25T22:06:00.001+01:002012-12-25T22:06:46.045+01:00Film review "Law abiding citizen"
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<a href="http://i1-mac.softpedia-static.com/screenshots/Law-Abiding-Citizen_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i1-mac.softpedia-static.com/screenshots/Law-Abiding-Citizen_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This purports to be a movie with a
message. And, honestly, it could have been quite good. For a third of
its total length, it sticks to that plan. But then, the plot gets out
of hand, and while generating a certain degree of suspense, this is
marred by how the original idea of criticizing the US practice of law
enforcement is completely undercut and forgotten in the end.</div>
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Don't get me wrong, the plot still
makes sense on a certain level, but it's just sad how its originality
was laid to rest, in favour of an all-too-normal finish that could
have appeared in every other movie. I will get to this in a minute.</div>
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-- Spoilers ahead --</div>
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The overall acting in my opinion was
quite okay, but not more than standard. Gerard Butler plays his part well two thirds through the
movie (not the last part but this is rather due to the overall plot's
collapse). Frankly, though, it was hard for me to believe his
metamorphosis from helpless family father to cold-blooded murderer
and secret inventor-mastermind. However, I did never warm up to Jamie
Foxx's style of play. His lack of empathy may have been part of the role,
but his play also lacks charisma. Too often, he is uttering empty
tough guy phrases of the „Don't you dare touch my family“-type. The domestic
conflicts were implausible, too, as they were never resolved but
still in the end everything was just fine. Granted, this is
Hollywood, but why create such a fuss about stress at home in the
first place? This is just misleading and leaves the viewer with a feeling of not being put off with a cheap solution.</div>
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Finally, here is my verdict on why I
consider watching this movie a waste of time. As mentioned before, it
is the end which is completely ruining the movie. Had they gone through with the
quite interesting idea of criticizing the way the American law system
works, this may have been a good movie. Disappointingly, this
idea somehow gets lost halfway through the movie, when the guy who is
trying to prove a point (Butler) apparently loses his own sense of
judgment. His actions do not stand in any relation to the point he is
trying to make.</div>
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I basically blame this on Hollywood's inability
(or unwillingness) to think outside the box. So instead of creating a
highly controversial movie, for which the potential is there, things
get resolved the conventional way: No effort is made to try to
understand a possible critique to the hegemonic system-in-practice, to the contrary, the
bad guy is turned into a monster who is acting completely
irrationally (on a sidenote, in my opinion the topic of terrorist motivation has been handled much
better by the screenwriters of recent TV series Homeland). Butler turns out simply to be a threat to society that needs to be eliminated. No further examination of his ideas is required in order to keep the larger society safe.</div>
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There is some ambivalence remaining,
insofar as Butler is playing a "brainiac", but this only helps
the plot in furthering it to a climatic scenario of destruction. His
character is not simply insane but rather completely crazy (or nuts), which makes him even more
dangerous. With his brilliant yet vicious mind, he is seemingly
always one step ahead. At the same time, his bloodthirst is getting
ever more outrageous. In my opinion, this is some people in Hollywood
showcasing their fear of really smart people with different ideas who
seem so crazy that there can not be any reasonable way to understand
them. Or grasp their motives. So what you do is misrepresent them, create a complete caricature. And in the end, the tough guy finds a way
to outsmart the dangerously brilliant freak. I would call this
symptom a technique of auto-legitimation. A defence of our existing
view of the world, at the same time a normative reassurance that this
is how things should be.</div>
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In the end of the movie, apparently
Butler has achieved what he had set out to do: change the
prosecutor's handling of legal affairs. Yet, this suddenly does not
suffice to satisfy him anymore, and he needs to blow things up
regardless. This is what bothered me, it betrays his motives from the
start, and you feel fooled by the screenplay which seemed to promise
otherwise.</div>
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("<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Abiding_Citizen" target="_blank">Law Abiding Citizen</a>" has a score of 25% at <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/law_abiding_citizen/" target="_blank">rottentomatoes - however, 77% of viewers liked it there - </a>and received 7.3 over at <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197624/" target="_blank">imdb</a>. It stars Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx in the lead roles. Nonetheless, I'll still be looking forward to Foxx's new, Tarantino-directed film "Django Unchained".)</div>
Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-87498330783225731052012-12-25T21:40:00.002+01:002012-12-25T21:43:06.327+01:00法律懲罰還是一般的教育,哪種對社會穩定比較有作用? An opinion pieceby Jacob Tischer, Xiamen <span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">(</span></span>2012<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">年</span></span>10<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">月</span></span>23<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">日
</span></span>- 31<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">日,<span style="font-family: SimSun;">廈門</span>)</span></span>
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<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.35cm; text-indent: 0.5cm;">
(Note: I wrote this article in Xiamen as part of a home assignment in my Chinese class.)<br />
- in traditional Chinese characters - <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j3BYjimDwZ0/UNoOpqQAKRI/AAAAAAAAChE/dZa4r9xneCg/s1600/RIMG0014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j3BYjimDwZ0/UNoOpqQAKRI/AAAAAAAAChE/dZa4r9xneCg/s320/RIMG0014.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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(artwork in Xiamen University tunnel; picture taken by author)</div>
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據我原來的想法,教育比法律懲罰為社會穩定的作用可能更大一些。這麼說的理由由於我看來教育與法律對於社會的作用成段並不同﹔簡單說來,教育可以說是法律的基礎,前者站位先一步,教育為首,法律為手。假如民眾沒收過道德之教育的話,法律隻能是刑法,無法預防而隻能處理后果。要預防犯法的人也要先知道合法犯法的區別,什麼才算違法的行為。此種資料可觀為教育的一部份,這是教育的基礎所基本意義。<br />
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但是,我個人的想法也受了西方文化背景的教育之影響﹔因此,我這樣的說法也比較偏向西方自由理論而重視個人教育。反而,中國人也許把這個問題理解得不一樣。怎麼對待此問題呢,跟一個社會的人性觀以及其歷史與文化帶來的思想脈絡挂鉤了很密切 1:莫個社會比較重視懲罰還是教育就會顯示反映這個社會對人的本性看成善惡的思想教義。該問題在中國哲學史上受過熱烈的考慮和辯論。因此,我從中國之思想歷史開始討論所謂‘法律’以及‘教育’這些概念的意涵。首先,在西方和東方社會‘法律’以及‘教育’的意思內涵多麼不同,要理解這兩種概念就要先搜尋其歷史文化根本。其次,可以討論兩者其中哪個對社會穩定作用比較大,作為這篇文章的專門題目。<br />
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<h4>
1)法與教</h4>
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第一個問題主要部分就是我們怎麼理解和判定‘法律’和‘教育’。所謂‘法律’除了德語之 ‘Gesetz’或英語之‘law’ 的翻譯還有其余的意涵?以我的看法,它不隻是一個移民詞語,然而還帶著中文字原本的意涵。兩字中較為重要的就是‘法’﹔‘法’在中國歷史上的意思十分豐富。春秋戰國時代的百家其中已有‘法家’的一家,法家的哲學代表人物 2 把這個概念(法)當成統治者的一個用具﹔每個人遭到‘法’,統治者唯一站位法律之外,他不受懲罰而能夠運用法律懲。所以能說法家舉起了統治者的位置﹔一般的人卻不算什麼,變成‘老百姓’。換句話說,統治者當時以來做為“一”,所有其他人做為“零”。控制法律的理論對應用操作法家思想的秦國行政和機構有利因素,使秦始皇統一國家。歷史發展卻顯示,法家建議的政策與秦國皇帝對人眾之嚴格態度、刑法制度不適合長久的帝國行政。<br />
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與法家不同,儒家思想原來不重視法律而強調人間的‘五倫’,人與人之間的等級制性倫理關系。‘教’站為‘教育’的重點字,對這種思想模式非常為重要﹔由老一輩負責教年輕一輩。按理想說,國家的行政基本上要跟隨家庭內的關系,政府教育民眾就像家長怎麼對待其家人一樣。儀禮時的個人行為就為人間關系的基礎和倫理的來源,進行好五倫的教育,就不必懲罰。可是,儒家思想者之間也競爭為決定孔子想法的解釋。例如,孟子認為人的本性善,能夠以教育來修身。荀子卻認為需要以懲罰控制人的惡本性,他比較接近法家的思想模式。宋朝時,朱熹把孟子選為最重要的四書之一本,終於讓他成為儒家思想的主流。由於孟子的影響力,教育一直以來站儒家思想最重要的概念之一。<br />
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可是,一個國家的政府實際上不能單獨依靠倫理教育來行政而已。到了漢朝,朝廷開始應用儒家思想,國政從之以來綜合起來了儒家之倫理和法家之法律。雖然儒家理論上以教育為重,懲罰對中國實際的政策的重要性還是差不多。但是,所謂“法律”在中國歷史上其實指什麼呢?與教育不同,‘法’的意思比較不受儒學者的注意或辯論﹔這樣子‘法’的內涵一直保留了其原有之意。因此,法律反映了統治者的權力,而同時也顯示儒家思想者的地位缺乏實力。雖然儒學者正常做官,他們在自己的任務與生活 好像還是把國家行政的懲罰與儒學的倫理和修身分較清楚,甚至會影響人生上做‘官’以及當‘私’時的身份。這樣的情況下,所謂‘法’沒有收其他概念一樣多研究與判定﹔其意不定用法豐富,比如說佛教漢化時把法選為其最基本的概念 ‘Dharma’的專門翻譯詞語。因此,‘法’加上了一個統治全個宇宙的原理之意思﹔這種想法的影響力非常大,引起了宋朝儒家所題‘理’的概念。可以看出‘法’的意涵即多元化又具宇宙進化論(cosmological)的價值,比較沒有實用性的味道,而不容易改革。<br />
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與東方比,西方的法律雖然世界觀(weltanschaulich)性格也很濃 3,西方文化的‘刻法’(成文法律,codified law)傳統悠久,能夠顯示法律的改變與發展。立刻的法律的定義性又比較強。更重要的是法律不隻包括刑法,而也會防護個人或組織的權利。隻要有獨立法院,這種情況對社會的組織化非常有影響力,也會傳染到該社會的穩定。中國歷史上的懲罰模式實際還是等於刑法,因為缺乏立刻法律所以私立組織的權利並非發達。這下,法律規則、條件與解釋的不穩定性會影響到私人企業以及獨立組織的可能性。<br />
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2)法律或教育對社會穩定的作用比較大</h4>
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回到原來的問題,我們怎麼判斷法律與教育兩者其中哪個對社會穩定的作用更大呢?找一個正確答案其實可能無法實現﹔法律與教育並沒有客觀的國際標准。反而,我們要特別注意所研究的社會的狀況(context),我們應該從歷史和文化背景開始理解其現狀。不幸的是,在這方面我們再遇到矛盾:現代所謂全球化使不同社會失去其所本質量 4,地球並無任何完全獨立的社會。同時,這種國際交流之下也發起地區化的反之趨勢。<br />
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因為儒家的影響力,中國思想史上比較注重倫理教育為社會秩序的基礎。與理想不同,現實統治卻無法不應用法律﹔因為中國的‘刻法’習慣和其帶來的私人權利傳統皆不凸顯,法律做為統治者的運用措施,再加上時后處罰為法律最重要的功能。刑法的標准平時不是個人的權利還是其罪無罪,而是懲罰公共進行的表現作用。舉例來說,中國朝廷非常急怕民間的秘密組織,尤其是宗教派和信仰團,之所可怕原因為其反抗、引起革命的潛力,國家概況不佳之時政府恆行地嘗試壓迫那種教派,迫害的理由不為其活動的犯法而為其秘密組織模式而已﹔這是所謂法律非寫定的一個結果。宗教組織大多數出刊所謂善書,以便顯示其對社會道德教育的好意,其道德看法正常受儒家思想巨大的影響,顯得教派屬於同一倫理觀念,也顯得其並非犯法的目的而仍然受罪。<br />
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換句話說,教育在中國哲學的普遍觀念上對社會穩定作用偉大﹔實際行政上的社會秩序卻更依靠著懲罰的進行。缺少法典的條件下盡管阻礙了堅強公民社會(civil society)的發祥,它居然還是確保了社會的穩定性,有效的管理制也使中央朝廷長期統治一個大洲性范圍的大國,此為全世界別無二致的現象。雖然中國長期歷史上革命不少,統治者之萬能權力與其管理之倫理教育的背景但也讓天下社會長期穩定。<br />
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總之來說,一般的教育與法律懲罰兩者對社會穩定的作用的確巨大,隻是作用領域可能不同。懲罰較考慮后果,事情發生后處罰的公共威懾的效力。教育反而注重預防事情的道德基礎,其人性觀為本質善。中國歷史從早以來受此兩者競爭的張力壓力。把法律與教育做成‘理想/典型類型’(韋伯所謂的 ideal type),兩者權力的基本卻不同﹔教育有其標准,就為儒學經典,法律的水准怎奈無如清楚而賴統治者的隨意。一方面,教育很穩定、規則化、可靠性,另一方面,法律不穩定、無法典性。其結果就是社會穩定,不過這種穩定的基礎是個統治權威獨裁主義的社會(authoritarian society),民眾合法行為的動機就是懲罰的可怕性。<br />
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這方面的歐美發展很不同。法律的法典化帶來著兩個重要結果。首先,因為有其文獻基礎,再加法院的獨立性,所以法律有其可靠規則與標准。理想上,在法律下每個人的權利一樣(everyone is equal before the law),無論權力多大。其次,因為法律文獻可以讀,其存在有教育性的功能!這樣子,雖然行政下法律與教育屬於不同機構,甚至像對抗現象的分裂,這可隻為行政的抽象解釋,而不等於民眾現實生活上的條件。我還是認為法律的刻寫性使教育與法律更密切的關系,兩者的距離沒有中國那麼大。以我個人的判斷,法律在歐美現代情況下需要刻寫的、可靠的、規則化的、法院獨立性的基礎才有用。達到了此目的,而且能包括法律教育的功能,其對社會的穩定性之作用最重要。法律的基礎也不是懲罰而是權利,其這樣帶來的社會影響為自由主義而非威權主義, 給與人家的機會平等。<br />
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<span class=" __tts tts_on">注释:</span></h4>
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1 所謂的思想脈絡目前指的是文化思想的主要潮流。<br />
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2 其中:商鞅,韓非子。<br />
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3 很多研究者把來自西方的人權概念也看成世俗化的(secularized)宗教或者宗教性的 doctrine。<br />
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4 這就是假設以前有所謂‘本質’﹔我不同意這種看法,卻認為注重民族本質是國家主義時代才引起的現象,之前並無該類概念和主義而有別的思想方式。Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-71391353925652654242012-12-21T23:23:00.002+01:002012-12-25T21:45:03.421+01:00 法律惩罚还是一般的教育,哪种对社会稳定比较有作用? An opinion piece<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.35cm; text-indent: 0.5cm;">
<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN"></span></span><b></b>by Jacob Tischer, Xiamen <span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">(</span></span>2012<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">年</span></span>10<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">月</span></span>23<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">日
</span></span>- 31<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">日,厦门)</span></span>
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(Note: I wrote this article in Xiamen as part of a home assignment in my Chinese class.)</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AvulBhzqoNs/UNTgcEBLAEI/AAAAAAAACg0/RWI22poEObQ/s1600/RIMG0035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AvulBhzqoNs/UNTgcEBLAEI/AAAAAAAACg0/RWI22poEObQ/s320/RIMG0035.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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(artwork in Xiamen University tunnel; picture taken by author)</div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">据我原来的想法,教育比法律惩罚为社会稳定的作用可能更大一些。这么说的理由由于我看来教育与法律对于社会的作用成段并不同;简单说来,教育可以说是法律的基础,前者站位先一步,教育为首,法律为手。假如民众没收过道德之教育的话,法律只能是刑法,无法预防而只能处理后果。要预防犯法的人也要先知道合法犯法的区别,什么才算违法的行为。此种资料可观为教育的一部份,这是教育的基础所基本意义。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">但是,我个人的想法也受了西方文化背景的教育之影响;因此,我这样的说法也比较偏向西方自由理论而重视个人教育。反而,中国人也许把这个问题理解得不一样。怎么对待此问题呢,跟一个社会的人性观以及其历史与文化带来的思想脉络挂钩了很密切
<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>:莫个社会比较重视惩罚还是教育就会显示反映这个社会对人的本性看成善恶的思想教义。该问题在中国哲学史上受过热烈的考虑和辩论。因此,我从中国之思想历史开始讨论所谓‘法律’以及‘教育’这些概念的意涵。首先,在西方和东方社会‘法律’以及‘教育’的意思内涵多么不同,要理解这两种概念就要先搜寻其历史文化根本。其次,可以讨论两者其中哪个对社会稳定作用比较大,作为这篇文章的专门题目。</span></span></div>
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<b>1</b><span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN"><b>)法与教</b></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">第一个问题主要部分就是我们怎么理解和判定‘法律’和‘教育’。所谓‘法律’除了德语之
‘</span></span><span lang="en-US">Gesetz</span>’<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">或英语之‘</span></span><span lang="en-US">law</span>’
<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">的翻译还有其余的意涵?以我的看法,它不只是一个移民词语,然而还带着中文字原本的意涵。两字中较为重要的就是‘法’;‘法’在中国历史上的意思十分丰富。春秋战国时代的百家其中已有‘法家’的一家,法家的哲学代表人物
<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a>
把这个概念(法)当成统治者的一个用具;每个人遭到‘法’,统治者唯一站位法律之外,他不受惩罚而能够运用法律惩。所以能说法家举起了统治者的位置;一般的人却不算什么,变成‘老百姓’。换句话说,统治者当时以来做为“一”,所有其他人做为“零”。控制法律的理论对应用操作法家思想的秦国行政和机构有利因素,使秦始皇统一国家。历史发展却显示,法家建议的政策与秦国皇帝对人众之严格态度、刑法制度不适合长久的帝国行政。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">与法家不同,儒家思想原来不重视法律而强调人间的‘五伦’,人与人之间的等级制性伦理关系。‘教’站为‘教育’的重点字,对这种思想模式非常为重要;由老一辈负责教年轻一辈。按理想说,国家的行政基本上要跟随家庭内的关系,政府教育民众就像家长怎么对待其家人一样。仪礼时的个人行为就为人间关系的基础和伦理的来源,进行好五伦的教育,就不必惩罚。可是,儒家思想者之间也竞争为决定孔子想法的解释。例如,孟子认为人的本性善,能够以教育来修身。荀子却认为需要以惩罚控制人的恶本性,他比较接近法家的思想模式。宋朝时,朱熹把孟子选为最重要的四书之一本,终於让他成为儒家思想的主流。由于孟子的影响力,教育一直以来站儒家思想最重要的概念之一。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">可是,一个国家的政府实际上不能单独依靠伦理教育来行政而已。到了汉朝,朝廷开始应用儒家思想,国政从之以来综合起来了儒家之伦理和法家之法律。虽然儒家理论上以教育为重,惩罚对中国实际的政策的重要性还是差不多。但是,所谓“法律”在中国历史上其实指什么呢?与教育不同,‘法’的意思比较不受儒学者的注意或辩论;这样子‘法’的内涵一直保留了其原有之意。因此,法律反映了统治者的权力,而同时也显示儒家思想者的地位缺乏实力。虽然儒学者正常做官,他们在自己的任务与生活
好像还是把国家行政的惩罚与儒学的伦理和修身分较清楚,甚至会影响人生上做‘官’以及当‘私’时的身份。这样的情况下,所谓‘法’没有收其他概念一样多研究与判定;其意不定用法丰富,比如说佛教汉化时把法选为其最基本的概念
‘</span></span>Dharma’<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">的专门翻译词语。因此,‘法’加上了一个统治全个宇宙的原理之意思;这种想法的影响力非常大,引起了宋朝儒家所题‘理’的概念。可以看出‘法’的意涵即多元化又具宇宙进化论(</span></span>cosmological<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">)的价值,比较没有实用性的味道,而不容易改革。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">与东方比,西方的法律虽然世界观(</span></span>weltanschaulich<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">)性格也很浓
<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a>,西方文化的‘刻法’(成文法律,</span></span>codified
law<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">)传统悠久,能够显示法律的改变与发展。立刻的法律的定义性又比较强。更重要的是法律不只包括刑法,而也会防护个人或组织的<b>权利</b>。只要有独立法院,这种情况对社会的组织化非常有影响力,也会传染到该社会的稳定。中国历史上的惩罚模式实际还是等于刑法,因为缺乏立刻法律所以私立组织的权利并非发达。这下,法律规则、条件与解释的不稳定性会影响到私人企业以及独立组织的可能性。</span></span></div>
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<b>2</b><span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN"><b>)法律或教育对社会稳定的作用比较大</b></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">回到原来的问题,我们怎么判断法律与教育两者其中哪个对社会稳定的作用更大呢?找一个正确答案其实可能无法实现;法律与教育并没有客观的国际标准。反而,我们要特别注意所研究的社会的状况(</span></span>context<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">),我们应该从历史和文化背景开始理解其现状。不幸的是,在这方面我们再遇到矛盾:现代所谓全球化使不同社会失去其所本质量
<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc"><sup>4</sup></a>,地球并无任何完全独立的社会。同时,这种国际交流之下也发起地区化的反之趋势。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">因为儒家的影响力,中国思想史上比较注重伦理教育为社会秩序的基础。与理想不同,现实统治却无法不应用法律;因为中国的‘刻法’习惯和其带来的私人权利传统皆不凸显,法律做为统治者的运用措施,再加上时后处罚为法律最重要的功能。刑法的标准平时不是个人的权利还是其罪无罪,而是惩罚公共进行的表现作用。举例来说,中国朝廷非常急怕民间的秘密组织,尤其是宗教派和信仰团,之所可怕原因为其反抗、引起革命的潜力,国家概况不佳之时政府恒行地尝试压迫那种教派,迫害的理由不为其活动的犯法而为其秘密组织模式而已;这是所谓法律非写定的一个结果。宗教组织大多数出刊所谓善书,以便显示其对社会道德教育的好意,其道德看法正常受儒家思想巨大的影响,显得教派属于同一伦理观念,也显得其并非犯法的目的而仍然受罪。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">换句话说,教育在中国哲学的普遍观念上对社会稳定作用伟大;实际行政上的社会秩序却更依靠着惩罚的进行。缺少法典的条件下尽管阻碍了坚强公民社会(</span></span>civil
society<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">)的发祥,它居然还是确保了社会的稳定性,有效的管理制也使中央朝廷长期统治一个大洲性范围的大国,此为全世界别无二致的现象。虽然中国长期历史上革命不少,统治者之万能权力与其管理之伦理教育的背景但也让天下社会长期稳定。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">总之来说,一般的教育与法律惩罚两者对社会稳定的作用的确巨大,只是作用领域可能不同。惩罚较考虑后果,事情发生后处罚的公共威慑的效力。教育反而注重预防事情的道德基础,其人性观为本质善。中国历史从早以来受此两者竞争的张力压力。把法律与教育做成‘理想</span></span>/<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">典型类型’(韦伯所谓的
</span></span>ideal
type<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">),两者权力的基本却不同;教育有其标准,就为儒学经典,法律的水准怎奈无如清楚而赖统治者的随意。一方面,教育很稳定、规则化、可靠性,另一方面,法律不稳定、无法典性。其结果就是社会稳定,不过这种稳定的基础是个统治权威独裁主义的社会(</span></span>authoritarian
society<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">),民众合法行为的动机就是惩罚的可怕性。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">这方面的欧美发展很不同。法律的法典化带来着两个重要结果。首先,因为有其文献基础,再加法院的独立性,所以法律有其可靠规则与标准。理想上,在法律下每个人的权利一样(</span></span>everyone
is equal before the
law<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">),无论权力多大。其次,因为法律文献可以读,其存在有教育性的功能!这样子,虽然行政下法律与教育属于不同机构,甚至像对抗现象的分裂,这可只为行政的抽象解释,而不等于民众现实生活上的条件。我还是认为法律的刻写性使教育与法律更密切的关系,两者的距离没有中国那么大。以我个人的判断,法律在欧美现代情况下需要刻写的、可靠的、规则化的、法院独立性的基础才有用。达到了此目的,而且能包括法律教育的功能,其对社会的稳定性之作用最重要。法律的基础也不是惩罚而是权利,其这样带来的社会影响为自由主义而非威权主义,
给与人家的机会平等。</span></span></div>
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<h4>
<span class=" __tts tts_on">注释:</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a><sup> </sup>
<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">所谓的思想脉络目前指的是文化思想的主要潮流。</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a><sup> </sup>
<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">其中:商鞅,韩非子。</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a><sup> </sup>
<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">很多研究者把来自西方的人权概念也看成世<span style="font-family: SimSun;">俗</span>化的(</span></span>secularized<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">)宗教或者宗教性的
</span></span>doctrine<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">。</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34935425#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a><sup> </sup>
<span style="font-family: SimSun;"><span lang="zh-CN">这就是假设以前有所谓‘本质’;我不同意这种看法,却认为注重民族本质是国家主义时代才引起的现象,之前并无该类概念和主义而有别的思想方式。</span></span></span></div>
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<img id="__kallout-sm-target-image" src="data:image/png;base64,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" style="border: medium none; color: transparent; left: 78px; margin: 0px; position: absolute; top: 2781px; visibility: visible; z-index: 2147483647;" />Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-26785114433937883512012-05-04T23:20:00.003+02:002012-05-04T23:20:32.818+02:00Orphan of Asia - Taiwan and the Impossibility of the Taiwanese<br />
<i>Jacob Tischer, Student at Departments of Sinology and on Religious Studies, Leipzig University, Visiting Research Associate at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan </i><br />
<br />
The debate on Taiwan's identity is especially within Taiwan extremely tense and conflictual. This is due to the problematic situation in the conflict with China, which precludes Taiwan as the largest country not represented in the UN from international participation. Such precarious existence has grave economic, political and psychological ramifications, impacting Taiwan and its people in sports, science, international treaties and health issues like SARS. Chinese propaganda suggests that Taiwan is culturally uniformly Chinese, but I maintain that the matter is certainly more complex than that. The issue of Taiwanese identity will be tracked here in its historical, ethnic, cultural, political, and legal dimensions. In the resulting existential tension of their everyday experience as citizens of an internationally marginalised, yet functioning independent political entity, and Western swing towards an economically opening, but still authoritarian China, Taiwanese elites are virtually forced to form a distinct identity in opposition to Chinese nationalism. This identity turns out to have emerged through shared historical experience and continues to evolve around the consensual identification of Taiwan’s residents with their democratic state - both key features to distinguish them from Chinese sovereignty claims. <br />
<br />
<b><i>Ethnic and cultural identity in historical perspective</i></b><br />
<br />
The island in the South China Sea, which was known previously under the name Formosa, has been inhabited for about 8,000 years by Austronesian settlers. Because of its tremendous genealogical diversity, it is the probable starting point of the Austronesian colonization of the Pacific islands. In Chinese and Western narratives, however, Taiwan's history does not begin until its consecutive occupation by the Dutch (1624-62) and Spanish (1626-42) regimes, the Zheng kingdom of the historically illustrious Ming loyalist Koxinga’s descendants (1662-83), the Manchu-Chinese Qing Dynasty (1683-1895) - each of which controlled only parts of the plains of the mostly mountainous island - and as the Japanese Empire’s first colony (1895-1945).<br />
After Japan's surrender Taiwan was occupied by troops of the Republic of China (ROC) and since the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek in 1949 forms the ROC’s remaining, albeit internally and externally contested, territory. Chiang's Chinese-nationalist party (KMT) ruled in dictatorial fashion through the coercion of martial law until 1987. Since the 1980s, however, lack of international legitimacy, a growing opposition movement, and external pressure on the part of journalists, NGOs, and the USA forced the regime to adopt democratising policies. In 1996, the first democratic presidential elections were held despite Chinese military threats; in 2000 a former dissident was elected president, and 2008 saw the KMT return to power. The question of Taiwan's political and cultural affiliation could be suppressed no longer in a free political system and – in light of the sensitive political situation in East Asia today – firms more urgent than ever. In recent survey polls more than 50% of the population identify themselves as “Taiwanese” only and less than 4% as “Chinese”, revealing a rapid transformation of identity and a call for subjectivity of the formerly subaltern. Although made possible by political liberalisation since 1987, this full-scale Taiwanisation has its socio-political forebears in the literary indigenisation (Xiangtu wenxue, literally “home-soil literature”) and democratic movements of the 1970s, its roots reaching as far back as the collective experience of Japanese colonisation.<br />
<br />
However, even the concepts of an ethnically Chinese Taiwan are highly ambiguous and interpretative. Immigration from the southern Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong did not begin to an appreciable degree until the 17th century first through labour migration for the Dutch colony and small-time merchants. These pioneers’ descendants now form the population of the “Taiwanese” (Chin. Benshengren, “people of this province”, about 85% of the population of 23 million). The immigrants formed close-knit settlements and organisations by common language, provenance from the mainland, and patrilineal descent (Chen 1994). Sociolinguistically, Hakka (15%) and Hoklo (70%) can be distinguished among them, but only the Hakka identity firms historically constant (Wang 2007). Hoklo spokesmen further divided into subethnical groups based on origin, kinship, or surname and did not conceive of themselves as part of a larger, “national” community until the beginning 20th century. With Hakka and Aborigines they engaged in numerous armed conflicts, but also within rivaling subethnic groups in feud strife (Lamley 1981). Taiwan in Qing-Chinese understanding was a frontier territory outside the confines of Chinese civilisation, hence government control was weak. A popular saying has it that every three years a major uprising was due, something that statistics can confirm. Local religious cults provided an important communal identity marker and organisational anchor in these conflicts. However, religion was also crucial in establishing supraethnic cooperation and in the construction of a common, Taiwan-based identity on the expense of impoverishing links to mainland origin (Shih 2006).<br />
<br />
The Austronesians (today 2%) were subdued and until recently categorized by different civilising projects of Confucian, Christian, and Nationalist provenance according to their degree of Sinicisation as "cooked" (domesticated, shufan) or "raw savages” (shengfan), but never on their own terms (Harrell 1995). Scientifically neglected until of late has been the degree of Plains Aborigines’ assimilation into the Benshengren group. Since in Qing times migration was restricted, it was almost exclusively male pioneers who went to Taiwan and because of denied access of females and families to a considerable part took Austronesian wives. Their offspring were recorded following paternal descent and so over the course of generations "han-ised". Due to growing Chinese “civilisational” pressure, up to the 20th century whole Aborigine settlements adopted Chinese surnames and constructed patrilineal descent lines from the Chinese mainland (Brown 2004). This fact has long been overlooked in the discourse on "Chinese" Taiwan but is becoming increasingly prominent in Taiwan's modern search for identity. Scientific evidence demonstrating genetic differences between Hoklo in Taiwan and South China is a powerful means to assert Taiwan’s uniqueness. However, the distinction of Hakka and Hoklo as well as Benshengren identities from Waishengren (literally "people from outside the province”, about 12% of today's population who came to Taiwan in 1949 with Chiang Kai-shek) reflects at least as much socio-cultural as ethnic or genetic factors. A new approach distinct from Taiwan as a geographically and economically peripheral “frontier zone” is the sea-centered interpretation of its’ “island history”, which aims to include the Aboriginals and their histories but also puts Taiwan in relation to the larger Pacific island region (Tsao 2000).<br />
Religion has been an important factor in the establishment of identities. The Chinese immigrant communities organised locally around central temple cults. With the adoption of Christianity, the Aborgine groups won a strong ally and identity marker. Without the support of internationally networked churches, even more tribes’ identities might have been merged into becoming Hoklo. In recent years, the languages and even long-lost identities of groups such as the Siraya in Tainan County are under reconstruction using early Dutch bibles. <br />
<br />
<b><i>Legal and political identity </i></b><br />
<br />
Taiwan’s international position is ambivalent: De facto independent since 1949, it is not recognized by the UN de jure. Taiwan meets all requirements for inclusion in the UN and would, unlike some newly recognized states, not have to be created through intervention. However, the ruling regime in Taiwan is the state "Republic of China", founded in 1911 on the Chinese Mainland. Until 1971, the ROC held China’s permanent seat in the UN Security Council before it was transferred to the People’s Republic of China as tribute to changing political realities. <br />
After Japanese surrender in 1945, Taiwan was taken over by the Allies under U.S. military government authority and subsequently occupied by troops of the Republican China, but was not formally ceded to the latter at any point which in recent years has led to lawsuits by Taiwanese nationals to be granted American citizenship. A decision on Taiwan's political affiliation is strategically postponed by the United States continuously to this day, even though more and more Taiwanese raise claim to exert their legally guaranteed right to self-determination and decision on their own future (Chow 2008). The U.S. government keeps the island as part of its protective umbrella in the Pacific in deliberate legal ambivalence. All the more surprising in this context appears recent Taiwanese history, in which the island’s inhabitants grew their state into a democratization theory model case of economic and political development.<br />
<br />
Political identity concerning the idea of a national community in Taiwan remains controversial. Communal awareness surpassing ethnic boundaries first became manifest during the Japanese occupation period as anti-Japanese resistance. After its retreat to the island, a KMT feudal caste attempted to maintain mainland Chinese reality, trying to establish a hegemonic ethnicised Chinese high culture, which endeavored to make Taiwan a model Chinese province and suppressed alternative readings. Exclusive access to resources by ethnic standards promoted the confinement of social groups and brought forth the collective idea of bipolar Benshengren vs Waishengren identities. Tension between both groups clashed most infamously in the island-wide 28 February 1947 uprising which was stroke down brutally and followed by a 40-year period of near-fascist rule known as “White Terror”. The ethnic groups’ hostility is still perceivable today, since Taiwanese nationalism is routinely accused of Hoklo-ethnic exclusivism - just as the KMT Chinese nationalism equaled pure Waishengren exclusivism. The narrative of Taiwanese nationalism as a history of resistance against oppression by foreign colonial powers in the eyes of some researchers prevented the emergence of an inclusive nationalism (Wu 2004). On the other hand, ethnic mobilization which increased since the 1970s led to the creation of an opposition party (DPP) and the democratization of the political system. Mainlander sensibilities, however, remain salient in public discourse, as the recent success of Lung Ying-tai’s book on the Chinese civil war (1949: Da jiang, da hai) suggests. A missed opportunity of reconciliation among the different groups may be the price Taiwan has paid for its peaceful change, as the KMT’s position of power proved impossible to be challenged effectively, leaving a critical reappraisal of its inglorious history in Taiwan out of the necessary to survive as one political party among others.<br />
<br />
Every scientific treatise will be confronted with the fact that the ethnic, cultural, and political dimensions of identity in Taiwan itself usually get mixed up indiscriminately. Many adversaries understand the establishment of "Taiwanese identity" as a mere political project by independence supporters. The quest to create a common ethnic and cultural basis for the new political system sometimes gets dismissed as "ethnic racism" and DPP extremism harmful to relations with China and therefore to the economy. In fact, however, the construction of Taiwanese identity was closely connected with the demand for democracy, which today is recognized by all social strata and apparently also by the formerly dictatorial KMT. For the stability of the democratic state in the medium term, however, an established conjoint Taiwanese identity is necessary. Only a second, broader and more inclusivist definition of Taiwanese identity tied to state membership will work toward that end. Lee Teng-hui’s (President 1988-2000) concept of the "new Taiwanese" (Xin Taiwanren) to symbolically include the Waishengren was a step in that direction. With further cultural development apart from direct Chinese control traditional ethnic differences will diminish in favour of new forms of expression. Taiwan's young are in the fast-paced, deliberate process of creating a specific culture blending local, oriental, and western influences. Although definitions of Taiwan's social, ethnic, or cultural identity are fragmented and contested, its political identity firms as a popular consensus to identify with Taiwan's democracy. Whether this modern and multicultural country will have to eke out its existence as "orphan of Asia" crucially depends on Western support for its vibrant democracy.<br />
<br />
<b><i>(Hi)story’s morale</i></b><br />
<br />
This article intended to show that PR Chinese claims of a monoculturally Chinese Taiwan suffering from chronic separatism are a highly selective reading of the situation at best. It is linked to assumptions of Han Chinese identification which do not take any notice of inner Taiwanese discourses on identity whatsoever, yet are internationally accepted as valid. The people of Taiwan have gone through many identity crises and changes, from being officially Japanese to Chinese and now creating their own identity in a mere hundred years time. More appropriate to Taiwanese intrasocietal discourse would be a perspective on Taiwanese identity which centers on the reality of people’s lives and their identification with the liberal democratic system instead of relying on literature review, textual analysis, and abstract scientific theorizing. Political science would benefit from integrating the more sympathetic sentiment of such an anthropological approach of letting people speak for themselves.<br />
A formal, internationally valid declaration of independence as Republic of Taiwan would – contrary to mantra-like repeated and in Western media oft uncritically accepted PRC propaganda – not pose a change of the much-quoted status quo, but merely its formalization. Changing the status quo, i.e. abandoning U.S. support for Taiwan's sovereignty as a "pawn" in the conflict with China, would not defuse the highly conflictual situation between the two antipodes. For the rising power will continue to invest in a reversal of power relations, or, in the Chinese perception, of a return to the "proper" world order with China at its civilizational center. Because of its democratic achievements and over many decades different development from the PRC the conclusion can only read – even in the context of legal ambiguity and political instability – international support for the self-determination of Taiwan's residents, regardless of whether one views them as Chinese or not! <br />
<br />
<i><b>Literature</b></i><br />
<br />
Blundell, D. (2009), Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, History, Ethnology, Prehistory, Taipei. <br />
Brown, M. (2004), Is Taiwan Chinese? The Impact of Culture, Power, and Migration on Changing Identities, Berkeley. <br />
Chen, C. et al. (1994), Ethnicity in Taiwan: Social, Historical, and Cultural Perspectives, Taipei. <br />
Chow, P. (2008), The "One China" Dilemma, New York. <br />
Davison, G. (2003), A Short History of Taiwan: The Case for Independence, Westport. <br />
Fleischauer, S. (2008), Der Traum von der eigenen Nation: Geschichte und Gegenwart der Unabhängigkeitsbewegung Taiwans, Wiesbaden. <br />
Harrell, S. et al. (1994), Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan, Boulder. <br />
Harrell, S. (1995), Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, Seattle.<br />
Lamley, H. (1981), “Subethnic Rivalry in the Ch’ing Period”, in: E. Ahern et al., The Anthropology of Taiwanese Society, 282-318, Palo Alto.<br />
Lung, Y. (2009), 1949: Da jiang da hai, Taipei.<br />
Rubinstein, M. (2007²), Taiwan: A New History, New York.<br />
Shih, F. (2006), “From Regulation and Rationalisation, to Production: Government Policy on Religion in Taiwan”, in: D. Fell et al., What Has Changed? Taiwan Before and After the Change in Ruling Parties, Wiesbaden, 265-283.<br />
Shih, F. et al. (2008), Re-writing Culture in Taiwan, London.<br />
Tsao, Y. (2000), Taiwan zaoqi lishi yanjiu xiju (The Sequel to Research on Taiwan’s Early History), Taipei.<br />
Wachman, A. (1994), Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization, Armonk.<br />
Wang, L. (2007), “Diaspora, Identity and Cultural Citizenship: The Hakkas in ‘Multicultural Taiwan’”, in: Ethnic and Racial Studies 30 (5), 875-895.<br />
Wu, J. et al. (2004), Reimagining Taiwan: Nation, Ethnicity, and Narrative, Taipei.<br />
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<i>This article was published in </i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1619632517">Powision</a><i><a href="http://www.uni-leipzig.de/%7Epowision/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/powision_9.pdf" target="_blank">, no. 9: Identitäten</a>, in 2010</i>.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-52712579450449233832011-03-30T11:10:00.000+02:002011-03-30T11:10:59.792+02:00The state of revolution - rising civil societies and how the concurrent system of power is unfit to deal with them<div class="mbl notesBlogText clearfix"><div>Conventional politics (World Economic Forum) is unfit to deal with the current regime changes in the middle East, because it is inherently interested in stability and cementing the status quo so as to maximise economic profits, and thereby has no capacity for understanding or even supporting political changes brought about by local civil societies; whereas many of today's revolutions in South America and the Middle East have built connections at the alternative <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Social_Forum">World Social Forum</a> (WSF). A fiasco for established neoliberal policies and an articulate hint that we need a reformation, if not a revolution, of that current "world" system. If we did not change anything, would it be exaggeration to fear a confrontation of democratic initiatives and capitalist interests on double fronts: both within Western society (where the civil society's wish for more participation and accountability and ecological concerns contrast with long-term security, stability, and exploitability needed for maximum economic profit), and <em>between </em>Western corporations (not democratically accounted for) and rising local civil societies (whose fight against economicolonial ["ecolonial"?] activities is supported by Western civil society organisations)??? And what about the inherent contradiction, as actors on both sides are of Western provenance, may easily be confused, and thus conveniently made target for holistic, fundamentalist ideologies? -> Can we really go on as before? Will a more morally upright politics suffice long-term? - As the "changeability" of the likes of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy is showing quite clearly, conventional party politics is NO option fit for the upcoming challenges, because too overtly entangled with big business.<br />
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Start gathering knowledge (begin with Wikipedia, for Chrissake), update your frame of mind, change the world! There are lots and lots of interesting and like-minded people... The "end of history" reached by Capitalism's global spread is a myth! The impossibility or the <em>not </em>permitting of thinking alternatives is unhealthy for <em>any </em>ideology whatsoever, as it causes them to become dogmatic and fundamentalist.</div></div>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-86575718773908925982011-02-23T12:55:00.000+01:002011-02-23T12:55:25.551+01:00The "Internet Revolutions" and the Possibility of a Different Kind of "Revolution" in China?These thoughts originate in an<a href="http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/2/21/china-s-instant-revolution-some-student-photos-from-beijing-s-twitter-protest"> interesting blog post</a> by Alex Pasternack on the Twitter-generated "Jasmine Revolution" (or not?) in China on February 20.<br />
The form of organised protest may well change in a virtual reality-influenced environment, especially as regards the possibilities of organising protest in an authoritarian, monitored society.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://assets.motherboard.tv/post_images/assets/000/008/330/china-jasmine-revolution-beijing-wangfujing-police-protest_large.JPG?1298279425" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://assets.motherboard.tv/post_images/assets/000/008/330/china-jasmine-revolution-beijing-wangfujing-police-protest_large.JPG?1298279425" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<blockquote>Maybe the combination of <a href="http://www.motherboard.tv/2010/10/13/how-malcolm-gladwell-got-it-wrong-the-revolution-will-be-networked" target="_blank">social media</a> and <a href="http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/1/6/how-to-frame-a-war-from-a-study-on-the-televised-fall-of-saddam-hussein-s-statue" target="_blank">pseudoevents</a> points a surreal way forward for public dissent in China in the web era: organizers needn’t actually gather people, as Falun Gong supporters <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/oct99/falun28.htm" target="_blank">quietly but visibly did</a> in the late 1990s around the capital, at the movement’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong" target="_blank">eventual peril</a>, and as occasionally happens today, in gatherings of petitioners <a href="http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-02/507176.html" target="_blank">and others</a> that are often promptly shut down by scores of police.</blockquote><blockquote> Instead, they can simply spread word about a protest via one of China’s networking sites, then wait for the police – along with the journalists, and perhaps a few sympathizers with cameras – to show up and shut down something that isn’t even there. You don’t just get a “protest”; you get a display of fear by the government. Do it again, and the number of “protests” grows, along with the number of police. Repeat. [...]</blockquote><br />
Interesting to see in what direction "social networks" on the Internet will influence "social gatherings" or "protest", or indeed "social relations" in a wider sense. <br />
Meanwhile,<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022104733.html"> yesterday's regimes</a> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022104733.html">continue using force on their own people</a> whose support they have long lost...Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-27047501944881161212011-02-20T21:03:00.002+01:002011-02-20T21:14:16.348+01:00Journal Article on Taiwan Identity<div style="text-align: left;">(a shorter version of this article was published in Powision 9 "Identitäten" ("identities"), 2010, political science magazine at the University of Leipzig, http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~powision/wordpress/magazin/) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Orphan of Asia - Taiwan and the impossibility of the Taiwanese</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
<i>Jacob Tischer, Student at Departments of Sinology and on Religious Studies, Leipzig University, Visiting Research Associate at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan </i><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">The debate on Taiwan's identity is especially within Taiwan extremely tense and conflictual. This is due to the problematic situation in the conflict with China, which precludes Taiwan as the largest country not represented in the UN from international participation. Such precarious existence has grave economic, political and psychological ramifications, impacting Taiwan and its people in sports, science, international treaties and health issues like SARS. Chinese propaganda suggests that Taiwan is culturally uniformly Chinese, but I maintain that the matter is certainly more complex than that. The issue of Taiwanese identity will be tracked here in its historical, ethnic, cultural, political, and legal dimensions. In the resulting existential tension of their everyday experience as citizens of an internationally marginalised, yet functioning independent political entity, and Western swing towards an economically opening, but still authoritarian China, Taiwanese elites are virtually forced to form a distinct identity in opposition to Chinese nationalism. This identity turns out to have emerged through shared historical experience and continues to evolve around the consensual identification of Taiwan’s residents with their democratic state - both key features to distinguish them from Chinese sovereignty claims. <br />
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<i><b>Ethnic and cultural identity in historical perspective</b></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
The island in the South China Sea, which was known previously under the name Formosa, has been inhabited for about 8,000 years by Austronesian settlers. Because of its tremendous genealogical diversity, it is the probable starting point of the Austronesian colonization of the Pacific islands.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span> <span lang="EN-US">In Chinese and Western narratives, however, Taiwan's history does not begin until its consecutive occupation by the Dutch (1624-62) and Spanish (1626-42) regimes, the Zheng kingdom of the historically illustrious Ming loyalist Koxinga’s descendants (1662-83), the Manchu-Chinese Qing Dynasty (1683-1895) - each of which controlled only parts of the plains of the mostly mountainous island - and as the Japanese Empire’s first colony (1895-1945). After Japan's surrender Taiwan was occupied by troops of the Republic of China (ROC) and since the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek in 1949 forms the ROC’s remaining, albeit internally and externally contested, territory. Chiang's Chinese-nationalist party (KMT) ruled in dictatorial fashion through the coercion of martial law until 1987. Since the 1980s, however, lack of international legitimacy, a growing opposition movement, and external pressure on the part of journalists, NGOs, and the USA forced the regime to adopt democratising policies. In 1996, the first democratic presidential elections were held despite Chinese military threats; in 2000 a former dissident was elected president, and 2008 saw the KMT return to power.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span><span lang="EN-US"> The question of Taiwan's political and cultural affiliation could be suppressed no longer in a free political system and – in light of the sensitive political situation in East Asia today – firms more urgent than ever. In recent survey polls more than 50% of the population identify themselves as “Taiwanese” only and less than 4% as “Chinese”, revealing a rapid transformation of identity and a call for subjectivity of the formerly subaltern.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span><span lang="EN-US"> Although made possible by political liberalisation since 1987, this full-scale Taiwanisation has its socio-political forebears in the literary indigenisation (Xiangtu wenxue, literally “home-soil literature”) and democratic movements of the 1970s, its roots reaching as far back as the collective experience of Japanese colonisation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">However, even the concepts of an ethnically Chinese Taiwan are highly ambiguous and interpretative. Immigration from the southern Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong did not begin to an appreciable degree until the 17th century first through labour migration for the Dutch colony and small-time merchants. These pioneers’ descendants now form the population of the “Taiwanese” (Chin. Benshengren, “people of this province”, about 85% of the population of 23 million). The immigrants formed close-knit settlements and organisations by common language, provenance from the mainland, and patrilineal descent (Chen 1994). Sociolinguistically, Hakka (15%) and Hoklo (70%) can be distinguished among them,</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span><span lang="EN-US"> but only the Hakka identity firms historically constant (Wang 2007). Hoklo spokesmen further divided into subethnical groups based on origin, kinship, or surname and did not conceive of themselves as part of a larger, “national” community until the beginning 20th century. With Hakka and Aborigines they engaged in numerous armed conflicts, but also within rivaling subethnic groups in feud strife (Lamley 1981). Taiwan in Qing-Chinese understanding was a frontier territory outside the confines of Chinese civilisation, hence government control was weak. A popular saying has it that every three years a major uprising was due, something that statistics can confirm. Local religious cults provided an important communal identity marker and organisational anchor in these conflicts. However, religion was also crucial in establishing supraethnic cooperation and in the construction of a common, Taiwan-based identity on the expense of impoverishing links to mainland origin (Shih 2006).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">The Austronesians (today 2%) were subdued and until recently categorized by different civilising projects of Confucian, Christian, and Nationalist provenance according to their degree of Sinicisation as "cooked" (domesticated, shufan) or "raw savages” (shengfan), but never on their own terms (Harrell 1995).</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span> <span lang="EN-US">Scientifically neglected until of late has been the degree of Plains Aborigines’ assimilation into the Benshengren group. Since in Qing times migration was restricted, it was almost exclusively male pioneers who went to Taiwan and because of denied access of females and families to a considerable part took Austronesian wives. Their offspring were recorded following paternal descent and so over the course of generations "han-ised". Due to growing Chinese “civilisational” pressure, up to the 20th century whole Aborigine settlements adopted Chinese surnames and constructed patrilineal descent lines from the Chinese mainland (Brown 2004). This fact has long been overlooked in the discourse on "Chinese" Taiwan but is becoming increasingly prominent in Taiwan's modern search for identity. Scientific evidence demonstrating genetic differences between Hoklo in Taiwan and South China is a powerful means to assert Taiwan’s uniqueness. However, the distinction of Hakka and Hoklo as well as Benshengren identities from Waishengren (literally "people from outside the province”, about 12% of today's population who came to Taiwan in 1949 with Chiang Kai-shek) reflects at least as much socio-cultural as ethnic or genetic factors. A new approach distinct from Taiwan as a geographically and economically peripheral “frontier zone” is the sea-centered interpretation of its’ “island history”, which aims to include the Aboriginals and their histories but also puts Taiwan in relation to the larger Pacific island region (Tsao 2000).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Religion has been an important factor in the establishment of identities. The Chinese immigrant communities organised locally around central temple cults. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span> <span lang="EN-US">With the adoption of Christianity, the Aborgine groups won a strong ally and identity marker. Without the support of internationally networked churches, even more tribes’ identities might have been merged into becoming Hoklo. In recent years, the languages and even long-lost identities of groups such as the Siraya in Tainan County are under reconstruction using early Dutch bibles. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
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<i><b>Legal and political identity </b></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
Taiwan’s international position is ambivalent: De facto independent since 1949, it is not recognized by the UN de jure.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span> <span lang="EN-US">Taiwan meets all requirements for inclusion in the UN and would, unlike some newly recognized states, not have to be created through intervention. However, the ruling regime in Taiwan is the state "Republic of China", founded in 1911 on the Chinese Mainland. Until 1971, the ROC held China’s permanent seat in the UN Security Council before it was transferred to the People’s Republic of China as tribute to changing political realities. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">After Japanese surrender in 1945, Taiwan was taken over by the Allies under U.S. military government authority and subsequently occupied by troops of the Republican China, but was not formally ceded to the latter at any point which in recent years has led to lawsuits by Taiwanese nationals to be granted American citizenship.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span> <span lang="EN-US">A decision on Taiwan's political affiliation is strategically postponed by the United States continuously to this day, even though more and more Taiwanese raise claim to exert their legally guaranteed right to self-determination and decision on their own future (Chow 2008). The U.S. government keeps the island as part of its protective umbrella in the Pacific in deliberate legal ambivalence. All the more surprising in this context appears recent Taiwanese history, in which the island’s inhabitants grew their state into a democratization theory model case of economic and political development. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Political identity concerning the idea of a national community in Taiwan remains controversial. Communal awareness surpassing ethnic boundaries first became manifest during the Japanese occupation period as anti-Japanese resistance. After its retreat to the island, a KMT feudal caste attempted to maintain mainland Chinese reality, trying to establish a hegemonic ethnicised Chinese high culture, which endeavored to make Taiwan a model Chinese province and suppressed alternative readings. Exclusive access to resources by ethnic standards promoted the confinement of social groups and brought forth the collective idea of bipolar Benshengren vs Waishengren identities. Tension between both groups clashed most infamously in the island-wide 28 February 1947 uprising which was stroke down brutally and followed by a 40-year period of near-fascist rule known as “White Terror”. The ethnic groups’ hostility is still perceivable today, since Taiwanese nationalism is routinely accused of Hoklo-ethnic exclusivism - just as the KMT Chinese nationalism equaled pure Waishengren exclusivism. The narrative of Taiwanese nationalism as a history of resistance against oppression by foreign colonial powers in the eyes of some researchers prevented the emergence of an inclusive nationalism (Wu 2004). On the other hand, ethnic mobilization which increased since the 1970s led to the creation of an opposition party (DPP) and the democratization of the political system. Mainlander sensibilities, however, remain salient in public discourse, as the recent success of Lung Ying-tai’s book on the Chinese civil war (1949: Da jiang, da hai) suggests. A missed opportunity of reconciliation among the different groups may be the price Taiwan has paid for its peaceful change, as the KMT’s position of power proved impossible to be challenged effectively, leaving a critical reappraisal of its inglorious history in Taiwan out of the necessary to survive as one political party among others.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Every scientific treatise will be confronted with the fact that the ethnic, cultural, and political dimensions of identity in Taiwan itself usually get mixed up indiscriminately. Many adversaries understand the establishment of "Taiwanese identity" as a mere political project by independence supporters. The quest to create a common ethnic and cultural basis for the new political system sometimes gets dismissed as "ethnic racism" and DPP extremism harmful to relations with China and therefore to the economy. In fact, however, the construction of Taiwanese identity was closely connected with the demand for democracy, which today is recognized by all social strata and apparently also by the formerly dictatorial KMT. For the stability of the democratic state in the medium term, however, an established conjoint Taiwanese identity is necessary. Only a second, broader and more inclusivist definition of Taiwanese identity tied to state membership will work toward that end. Lee Teng-hui’s (President 1988-2000) concept of the "new Taiwanese" (Xin Taiwanren) to symbolically include the Waishengren was a step in that direction.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span> <span lang="EN-US">With further cultural development apart from direct Chinese control traditional ethnic differences will diminish in favour of new forms of expression. Taiwan's young are in the fast-paced, deliberate process of creating a specific culture blending local, oriental, and western influences. Although definitions of Taiwan's social, ethnic, or cultural identity are fragmented and contested, its political identity firms as a popular consensus to identify with Taiwan's democracy. Whether this modern and multicultural country will have to eke out its existence as "orphan of Asia" crucially depends on Western support for its vibrant democracy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><i><b><span lang="EN-US">(Hi)story’s morale</span></b></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">This article intended to show that PR Chinese claims of a monoculturally Chinese Taiwan suffering from chronic separatism are a highly selective reading of the situation at best. It is linked to assumptions of Han Chinese identification which do not take any notice of inner Taiwanese discourses on identity whatsoever, yet are internationally accepted as valid. The people of Taiwan have gone through many identity crises and changes, from being officially Japanese to Chinese and now creating their own identity in a mere hundred years time. More appropriate to Taiwanese intrasocietal discourse would be a perspective on Taiwanese identity which centers on the reality of people’s lives and their identification with the liberal democratic system instead of relying on literature review, textual analysis, and abstract scientific theorizing. Political science would benefit from integrating the more sympathetic sentiment of such an anthropological approach of letting people speak for themselves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">A formal, internationally valid declaration of independence as Republic of Taiwan would – contrary to mantra-like repeated and in Western media oft uncritically accepted PRC propaganda – not pose a change of the much-quoted status quo, but merely its formalization. Changing the status quo, i.e. abandoning U.S. support for Taiwan's sovereignty as a "pawn" in the conflict with China, would not defuse the highly conflictual situation between the two antipodes. For the rising power will continue to invest in a reversal of power relations, or, in the Chinese perception, of a return to the "proper" world order with China at its civilizational center. Because of its democratic achievements and over many decades different development from the PRC the conclusion can only read – even in the context of legal ambiguity and political instability – international support for the self-determination of Taiwan's residents, regardless of whether one views them as Chinese or not! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
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<i><b>Literature</b></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
Blundell, D. (2009), Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, History, Ethnology, Prehistory, Taipei. <br />
Brown, M. (2004), Is Taiwan Chinese? The Impact of Culture, Power, and Migration on Changing Identities, Berkeley. <br />
Chen, C. et al. (1994), Ethnicity in Taiwan: Social, Historical, and Cultural Perspectives, Taipei. <br />
Chow, P. (2008), The "One China" Dilemma, New York. <br />
Davison, G. (2003), A Short History of Taiwan: The Case for Independence, Westport. <br />
</span>Fleischauer, S. (2008), Der Traum von der eigenen Nation: Geschichte und Gegenwart der Unabhängigkeitsbewegung Taiwans, Wiesbaden. <br />
<span lang="EN-US">Harrell, S. et al. (1994), Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan, Boulder. <br />
Harrell, S. (1995), Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, Seattle.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Lamley, H. (1981), “Subethnic Rivalry in the Ch’ing Period”, in: E. Ahern et al., The Anthropology of Taiwanese Society, 282-318, Palo Alto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;">Lung, Y. (2009), 1949: Da jiang da hai, Taipei.<br />
<span lang="EN-US">Rubinstein, M. (2007²), Taiwan: A New History, New York.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Shih, F. (2006), “From Regulation and Rationalisation, to Production: Government Policy on Religion in Taiwan”, in: D. Fell et al., What Has Changed? Taiwan Before and After the Change in Ruling Parties, Wiesbaden, 265-283.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Shih, F. et al. (2008), Re-writing Culture in Taiwan, London.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Tsao, Y. (2000), Taiwan zaoqi lishi yanjiu xiju (The Sequel to Research on Taiwan’s Early History), Taipei.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Wachman, A. (1994), Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization, Armonk.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US">Wang, L. (2007), “Diaspora, Identity and Cultural Citizenship: The Hakkas in ‘Multicultural Taiwan’”, in: Ethnic and Racial Studies 30 (5), 875-895.<br />
Wu, J. et al. (2004), Reimagining Taiwan: Nation, Ethnicity, and Narrative, Taipei.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="edn1"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"> Maps pertaining to the dispersal of the Austronesian peoples can be found online at </span><a href="http://www.map-service.de/austronesian/"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.map-service.de/austronesian/</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde Leipzig; accessed 09/13/2010) and the ECAI Pacific Language Mapping Project, </span><a href="http://ecai.org/austronesiaweb/PacificMaps.htm"><span lang="EN-US">http://ecai.org/austronesiaweb/PacificMaps.htm</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (accessed 09/13/2010).</span></div></div><div id="edn2"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span> <span class="longtext"><span lang="EN-US">In the eyes of some observers, such as former President Chen Shui-bian and <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">Vice President Annette Lu (2000-08), </span>the 1991 National Assembly and 1996 Presidential elections implicitly mark the beginning of a new state through the exertion of popular sovereignty (by the Taiwanese)<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">.</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"></span></div></div><div id="edn3"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span></span> <span class="longtext"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">Survey Results June 2010: 52.4% "Taiwanese," 40.1% "Both," 3.8% "Chinese", compared to 1995: 25.0% "Taiwanese," 47.0% "Both", 20</span><span lang="EN-US">.7% "Chinese" (<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">Election Study Center, National Chengchi University, <i>Taiwan minzhong tongdu Lichang qushi fenbu</i>, <a href="http://esc.nccu.edu.tw/modules/tinyd2/content/tonduID.htm">http://esc.nccu.edu.tw/modules/tinyd2/content/tonduID.htm</a>, accessed 07/15/2010).</span> <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">The adoption of Taiwanese identity is taking place faster than the desire for its political expression: Concerning the question of political affiliation in 2010 a total of 46.3% opted for "independence" or "keeping the status quo forever" (up from 20.9% in 1994</span>), 11.1% preferred immediate or delayed unification with China (1994: 20.0%), while 36.6% chose keeping the status quo for the foreseeable future (1994: 38.5%) (<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">Election Study Center, National Chengchi University,<i> Taiwan minzhong Taiwanren / Zhongguoren rentong qushi fenbu</i>, <a href="http://esc.nccu.edu.tw/modules/tinyd2/content/TaiwanChineseID.htm">http://esc.nccu.edu.tw/modules/tinyd2/content/TaiwanChineseID.htm</a>, accessed 07/15/2010)</span>. <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">The PR China enhances its irredentist claim to ownership by threat of military action in the event of attempted "separation". The conflict with Taiwan is part of the founding myth of the People’s Republic to this day, forming the basis of its legitimacy as guardian of sacred territorial integrity and giving meaning to Chinese nationalism via delivering a concrete goal-at-hand.</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"></span></div></div><div id="edn4"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span></span> <span class="longtext"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"> Although extant also in China, the groups are not considered ethnically different but are subsumed among the "Han Chinese" despite significant cultural and linguistic differences, which is also the way they are generally accepted in Western scientific discourse. Questioning these assumptions would have far-reaching implications: Who or what are the Han? To what degree is China culturally coherent, how "Chinese" is it?</span></span><span lang="EN-US"></span></div></div><div id="edn5"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span></span> <span class="longtext"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">Interchangeably used was the pseudo-geographic binary division into "Plains” and "Mountain" tribes. Following modern Western scientific interpretations, 14 different aboriginal groups are officially recognized in Taiwan today and some more waiting for State recognition. The earlier pejorative names are still part of common vocabulary and get used under certain circumstances.</span></span><span lang="EN-US"></span></div></div><div id="edn6"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span></span> <span class="longtext"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">The case is similar, for example, in India where national identity is also fragmentary, and in imperial China. However, the Communist Party’s extremely anti-religious policies have led to the separation of local identities from religion and – with the exception of the geographical and ethnic borders (Tibet, Xinjiang) – to greater national cohesion.</span></span><span lang="EN-US"></span></div></div><div id="edn7"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span></span> <span class="mediumtext"><span lang="EN-US">Application of the One-China Principle; worldwide 23 mostly smaller states recognize Taiwan (ROC) as China’s official representation. Taiwan does participate in the WTO as </span></span><span lang="EN-US">„Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu“.</span></div></div><div id="edn8"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span></span> <span lang="EN-US">Well-known Roger Lin and Dick Hartzell filed a lawsuit for US sovereignty over Taiwan as recently as 2009, a court hearing transcript can be found at </span><a href="http://www.southnews.com.tw/specil_coul/chiang/image/%E6%9E%97%E5%BF%97%E6%98%87%E7%AD%89%E4%BA%BA%E6%8E%A7%E7%BE%8E%E6%A1%88%E5%8F%A3%E9%A0%AD%E8%BE%AF%E8%AB%96%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E5%85%A8%E6%96%87.pdf"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.southnews.com.tw/specil_coul/chiang/image/%E6%9E%97%E5%BF%97%E6%98%87%E7%AD%89%E4%BA%BA%E6%8E%A7%E7%BE%8E%E6%A1%88%E5%8F%A3%E9%A0%AD%E8%BE%AF%E8%AB%96%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E5%85%A8%E6%96%87.pdf</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (31pp.), with insightful blogger Michael Turton discussing it at <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2009/02/lin-trial-transcripts-does-us-have.html">http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2009/02/lin-trial-transcripts-does-us-have.html</a>.</span></div></div><div id="edn9"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"> Lee’s inclusionist stance drew heavily on ideas developed by rival presidential candidate and long-term democracy activist and refugee, Peng Ming-min, who wanted to replace Chinese nationalism in Taiwan with an inclusive political atmosphere into which everybody loyal to Taiwan would be welcomed.</span></div></div></div></div>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-23381482130930420162011-02-15T10:58:00.003+01:002011-02-17T16:52:56.065+01:00The moral implications of modern communication - Cell phones and the lives they costThis is why I won't buy any mobile phone that is not second hand (and even those reluctantly - the only mobile I ever possessed was my friend's old one which he did not need any longer).<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wQhlLuBwOtE" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://www.arte.tv/de/3682344.html">"Blood in the Mobile"</a><br />
(<a href="http://bloodinthemobile.org/the-film/">movie's hompage</a>)<br />
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<strike>Be fast watching! (It will stay online at arte another day.)</strike> You can still watch short clips from the movie.<br />
Languages: German or French<br />
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The war for minerals such as Coltan and Casserite in Central Africa (mostly the DR Congo) has cost an estimated 5 million (that is FIVE!! MILLION!!) deaths and at least 300,000 women raped since the mid-1990s (not including the approx. one million victims of 1994's genocide in Rwanda). These people have paid (and the living are continuing to pay) the price for the mobile industry's huge profits!<br />
If this is not a new kind of economic colonialism (with the consent and active assistance of corrupt local elites - see the government official in the video at ca 5 minutes in), I don't know what is.<br />
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Documentaries are one very impressive way of showing in pictures what words can be insufficient to express.<br />
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Everything can be found online, so here is the German version on youtube (Part 1, the other parts are linked <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7P9Cw-zMS0&feature=related">there</a>):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/c7P9Cw-zMS0" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe><br />
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Save your conscience trouble, buy consciously! Or, better even, do not buy cell phones at all!<br />
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Edit:<br />
<a href="http://www.journeyman.tv/">Journeyman Pictures</a> has broadcast on the working conditions in the East Congolesian mines before: http://www.journeyman.tv/18683/short-films/grand-theft-congo.html. Also look at a few other videos that are linked on the youtube post, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1FQmUQ1-mM&feature=fvw.<br />
<span data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show">Casserite is sold for cheap prices on the international market and needed in the production of laptops and mobile phones. The working conditions and corrupted military make lives for local people unbearable, that is , besides the fact that it is completely hypocritical for us to look for the cheapest mobile phone deal possible while at the same time lamenting about how human rights are getting abused all over the place...</span></span> <br />
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Concerning Africa, Journeyman Pictures has put out two recent documentaries of interest that have received praise. One is <span class="title">Africa -<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2085258994"> </a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2085258994">Kamenge: Northern Quarters</a></span><a href="http://journeyman.tv/61453/documentaries/kamenge-northern-quarters.html"> - Where now for Burundi's troubled democracy?</a> (59' min 05'' sec [9 February 2011]), the other <a href="http://www.journeyman.tv/60051/documentaries/war-child-emmanuel-jal.html"><span class="title">Sudan - War Child: Emmanuel Jal</span></a> (55/90 min [18 February 2010]). Emmanuel Jal has become kind of star since, so his story should be rather well-known. Trailer for the second movie:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0402tJk3g5U" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-1844998839896116592011-01-18T23:25:00.003+01:002011-01-30T22:30:05.865+01:00My Playlist January 2011Nach langer Zeit mal wieder der persönliche Senf zu guter (oder auch nicht so guter) Musik.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A Skylit Drive - Wires... and the Concept of Breathing</span> </b>(2008)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XkpssMSNSoE/TApZ7FAbgZI/AAAAAAAAADM/kUToaaUVkxo/s320/a+skylit+drive+new+disc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XkpssMSNSoE/TApZ7FAbgZI/AAAAAAAAADM/kUToaaUVkxo/s320/a+skylit+drive+new+disc.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(What a say-nothing ordinary record cover...)</div><br />
Ich habe mir die Mühe gemacht, mal zu untersuchen, was die heutige verlorene Generation von "Emos" so zum Schwarzfärben ihrer Haare und zum Kajallinienziehen inspiriert... Und ich bin auf diese Band (u.a.) gestoßen. Für alle, die Coheed und Cambria auf der zweiten Ebene der Turbine Blade vermisst haben. Hat Claudio Sanchez Geschwister? Oder machen seine Kinder schon Musik? - Zumindest vom Phänotyp her (glücklicherweise?) nicht auszumachen.<br />
Ich zitiere mal die deutsche Wikipedia (dies ist kein wissenschaftlicher Artikel, also geht das): "<i>Die Band ist bekannt für den einzigartigen, hohen Gesang von Michael Jagmin und den dazu im Kontrast stehenden harten Screams des Bassisten Brian White</i> [...]" Das lassen wir mal unkommentiert stehen. Oder doch nicht. Unsere schnelllebige Gesellschaft erlaubt es jüngeren Generationen wohl nicht, die Wurzeln ihrer musikalischen Vorlieben nachzuvollziehen. Ach, und außerdem ist es "experimenteller Post-Hardcore", tut mir leid für die Fehleinschätzung oben (das Label "Emo" ist wohl negativ besetzt?).<br />
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Würden A Skylit Drive wissenschaftliche Texte verfassen, hätten sie in jedem Fall ein riesiges Plagiatsverfahren am Hals. Und wer weiß - vielleicht haben sie Glück, dass sie nicht noch eine Anklage dafür bekommen, dass sie einen Vorstimmbrüchigen hinters Mikro geklemmt haben.<br />
Nichts daran ist neu, natürlich, aber irgendwie geht die Mischung doch ab, und ich mag dieses Falsettgefitsche und -gekritsche irgendwie. Für die nötigen Rasiermesser sorgen ein paar wohlgestreute Shout-Einsätze mit Doublebass-Gewitter und der okkasionelle Pathoseinsatz (Track 11 "Ex Machina"). Meine positive Einschätzung rührt sicherlich zur Hälfte aus Nostalgie, aber es gibt mit absoluter Sicherheit schlechtere Kapellen. Ich würde sogar sagen, A Skylit Drive gehören zu den besten 10% im populären Emo.<br />
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Anspieltipp: Track 12 "All it takes to make my hair grow" - Oh, Verzeihung, es heißt natürlich: "... to make your dreams come true"<br />
Schmucke Jungs auch, lange Haare sind wohl wieder in und zeigen, dass sie eigentlich mit Metalmilch aufgezogen wurden... Aber nein, Metal ist ja eigentlich doof, sexistisch und kennt keine wahren Gefühle. Nur die Haare, die fetzen. Wenn man sie durch die Luft schleudern kann... Werden eigentlich mittlerweile Emo-Castings für neue Boygroups durchgeführt?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mu8hlO4vZy4?fs=1&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mu8hlO4vZy4?fs=1&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A Strange Isolated Place - Reflection on 2010</b></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://astrangelyisolatedplace.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/5008466543_a648c62663_b.jpg?w=450&h=337" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://astrangelyisolatedplace.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/5008466543_a648c62663_b.jpg?w=450&h=337" width="320" /></a></div><br />
A very nice ambient mix from London. Here is their<a href="http://astrangelyisolatedplace.wordpress.com/"> home page</a>.<br />
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<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F8510294"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F8510294" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/astrangelyisolatedplace/asip-reflection-on-2010">ASIP - Reflection on 2010</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/astrangelyisolatedplace">astrangelyisolatedplace</a> <br />
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You can download it for free, this is the<a href="http://astrangelyisolatedplace.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/reflection-on-2010/"> link to the post</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Marvin Gaye - What's Going on (DJ Friction Extended Disco Mix 2011)</b></span></div><br />
Very cool mix of a great song.<br />
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<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F8919214"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F8919214" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/dj-friction/garvin-maye-whats-going-on-dj-friction-extended-disco-mix-2011">Garvin Maye - What's Going On (DJ Friction Extended Disco Mix 2011)</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/dj-friction">DJ Friction</a><br />
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More nice soulful Re-edits by DJ Friction (formerly collaborating with successful German Soul/Hip-Hop Act Freundeskreis) <a href="http://soundcloud.com/dj-friction/sets/re-edits/">here</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Pianos Become the Teeth - Old Pride</b> </span>(2009)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/uploaded_images/pianos-become-the-teeth-old-pride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/uploaded_images/pianos-become-the-teeth-old-pride.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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What a monster of a record!!<br />
I really think I've found a new favourite band in the genre of emo with screamed vocals. This band emits an incredible energy and features an astonishing drummer! The screams are perfect, very emotional and melodic (no Orchid- or Cease Upon the Capital-style screaming). The music is not as hardcore, but could be described as 'post-rock', meaning long songs with complex structures (think of Envy) - I've read them being described as 'ambient hardcore'. Is Pianos Become the Teeth a band which might be able to turn this into something that gets popular with the average listener of emotive music? -- Perhaps the next record (due soon in 2011) will tell. I for my part cannot wait. (Promising new song, New Normal, is on their <a href="http://www.myspace.com/pianosbecometheteeth">myspace</a>.)<br />
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On the moment together with Suis la Lune my favourite Screamo band. On tour in Europe with the aforementioned in March/April. Watch out for them! Best package deal in years!<br />
Here's for an impression of the raw energy and superb drum play:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jHUK_voJ0sU" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Word Alive - Deceiver</b> </span>(2010)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f5-anJ4giPM/THqVcx-VHAI/AAAAAAAAANM/ScHXPzoBCPI/s320/The+Word+Alive+-+Deceiver+%5B2010%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f5-anJ4giPM/THqVcx-VHAI/AAAAAAAAANM/ScHXPzoBCPI/s320/The+Word+Alive+-+Deceiver+%5B2010%5D.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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A revolution in sound! Something you've never heard before! The definition of the shape of rock music to come!<br />
Kidding, of course.<br />
However unoriginal, this album is fun to listen to. It features a drummer like a machine, some nice metal guitar licks, and a good proportion of clean vocals and shouts. Definitely one of the better metal-core records, its greatest advantage being the pure pop appeal of the choruses. In one and the same song one can swing fists pretending to mosh-pit in one's bedroom, and shout pathetically one's emotions in stadium rock pose.<br />
Broadly comparable with As I Lay Dying, but The Word Alive put more emphasis on pop melodies and clean vocals, without missing out on the metal aspects. Good and highly marketable mixture. And yeah, half the band looks like they were being casted into a metal boygroup.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CdxdBB_63IY" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Miss May I - Monument</b></span> (2010)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_LpR54PFf2M8/TGgNTbfGcBI/AAAAAAAAAnM/Wiz_fUMOvOc/s320/Miss_May_I_-_-Monument.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_LpR54PFf2M8/TGgNTbfGcBI/AAAAAAAAAnM/Wiz_fUMOvOc/s320/Miss_May_I_-_-Monument.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Yeah, I confess to listening a lot of metal-core lately.<br />
But The Word Alive and Miss May I simply put two very good records out in 2010. With that thick a production, great guitar riffs, double bass thunderstorms, and the occasional hymnic melody like the sun rising over a field of war, this is just what I need from time to time. It may not be the most sophisticated of music, but sometimes it seems there can be none greater. Further than that, there is not much to say that is much different from above (read 'The Word Alive'), except perhaps for my impression that Miss May I look less casted than The Word Alive. But I have not investigated either band's 'long-standing' rootedness in any 'local scene' or anything like that. For now I am simply enjoying the kick their music is offering.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NTxuNPYjB_s" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="480"></iframe> <br />
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Oh, and while we're at it, you have to have a look at these two great kids covering all sorts of metal stuff in their parents' (?) living room - if not, they must have a really weird taste in art. Just look at the fancy pictures on the wall. The furnishing is actually hilarious in relation to the kind of music that is being played within it. I love the pure irony of it. Metal is born in the safest of families.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Maybeshewill - Not for Want of Trying</b></span> (2008)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8vACv85t_5A/Sp0nwtkNmXI/AAAAAAAAAFc/vWRlnBa9xNY/s320/Maybeshewill+-+Not+for+Want+of+Trying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8vACv85t_5A/Sp0nwtkNmXI/AAAAAAAAAFc/vWRlnBa9xNY/s320/Maybeshewill+-+Not+for+Want+of+Trying.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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The monthly (daily?) dose of instrumental postrock.<br />
Maybeshewill are one of the better outfits in this growing niche. And they are not American (ought to like this for the simple reason of cherishing diversity) but from Leicester. Occasional use of samples and electronic music definitely fits in well with this kind of music. Also, they seem to have quite an ethical and critical political position, at least some of their songs feature very interesting and sometimes telling spoken word parts, best illustrated perhaps in the amazing video that somebody did for the song 'Not for Want of Trying'.<br />
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1nrtRLhvuQ (no embedding possible) <br />
<br />
Although I've been listening to both their full-length records a lot recently, I will introduce 'Not For Want of Trying' here especially for its gorgeous song of the same name. A new album is announced for this year, and this is definitely something you should mark in the calendar. The band is touring Germany in February.<br />
This nice song, 'Co-Conspirators', was featured on their second album, 'Sing the Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony'.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yu87lUXfcYI" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Maxence Cyrin - Novö Piano</b></span> (2010)</div><br />
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<br />
Something very different to the above. I heard his cover of the Pixies' 'Where is my mind' very often on French Radio fip, and it is just a wonderful interpretation of a wonderful song. There is no instrument as wholesome and pleasant as a piano, no effects needed, no strings attached (sic).<br />
Besides this song, on the record you will also find interesting fresh interpretations of 'Around the World' (Daft Punk) and the more recent hit 'Kids' (MGMT), mong others.<br />
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<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4NZdggNUvq0" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="480"></iframe>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-77999395496666806112011-01-09T21:13:00.001+01:002011-01-09T21:16:12.688+01:00Movies to watch in 2011<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Here is my take on movies I am looking forward to seeing in 2011, in no particular order. You are welcome to comment and make suggestions!</span> </b><br />
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<b>Hesher</b><br />
<br />
Looks like a great indie movie with one of my favourite and one of the most underrated of actors in it, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 500 Days...) who plays a pot-smoking metal-head.<br />
There is no trailer to the movie, it's only got a clip on the <a href="http://www.hesherthemovie.com/">homepage</a>, but it sure sounds great. Oh, and Natalie Portman is in it, and it was directed by Spencer Susser (short film <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/5124137">I Love Sarah Jane</a><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/5124137" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2010/07/hesher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2010/07/hesher.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, I know, from indie to...<br />
But the first three movies have been great fun, and you just gotta love Cap'n Jack Sparrow. Trailer looks awesome (might it be for the "addition-by-subtraction" of the-other-two-main-characters-whose-names-I-forget? - Anyway, Penelope Cruz is a surefire upgrade over Keira K.),<br />
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<b>Rango</b><br />
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Same combination (Gore Verbinski + Jonny Depp) in anime, fun, and the West. Looks really fun,<br />
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<br />
especially considering that this is Jonny Depp <i>acting </i>for real, not smart-ass animation technology,<br />
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See?<br />
<br />
<b>127 Hours</b><br />
<br />
I didn't like Danny Boyle's last film, this bestselling pseudo-Indian fairy-tale with the bonbon-sweet ending (despite featuring Freida Pinto aka the most beautiful face in recent film history). But this one here looks like an engaging story coupled with an academy-ripe performance by James Franco. The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDT0wM6aDXU&feature=player_embedded">trailer </a>features one of the very best rock songs recently written, Band of Horses' The Funeral, and perhaps that was the last tiny detail that got me totally enamoured with this movie. Gotta watch it!<br />
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<b>True Grit</b><br />
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The annual dose of Wild Wild West. The real reason to look forward to this one, however, is its being directed by the Coen brothers. With Jeff Bridges and Määäätt Dääääimon. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfTSvFSdyRg&feature=player_embedded">Trailer </a>does not show that much yet, but it's supported by Jonny Cash, raising coolness levels by 200%.<br />
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<b>Paul</b><br />
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Simon Clegg and Nick Frost, need I say more? This is going to be hilarious British humour by the Superbad-director. About an alien and lots of geek-stuff. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5ipZwwQPcY&feature=player_embedded">Trailer</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TSoUMu_54GI/AAAAAAAACec/7M-fs2l9dwk/s1600/paul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TSoUMu_54GI/AAAAAAAACec/7M-fs2l9dwk/s320/paul.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><br />
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<b>The Tree of Life</b><br />
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Terrence Malick, Brad Pitt, and Sean Penn. Looks highly artistic, symbolic, and meaningful, might be heavy... <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp0TwV1ZxU4&feature=player_embedded">Trailer</a><br />
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<b>Battle: Los Angeles</b><br />
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Alien: Invasion. Unoriginal story, but looks like it is finally possible to combine explosive action with decent scripting<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ02ADHq8Mc&feature=player_embedded" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>, something like Transformers without Tourette and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.<br />
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<b>Twilight - Breaking Dawn</b><br />
<br />
Just kidding. Although it is good we have those kinds of movies, so we can read entertaining reviews.<br />
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<b>Biutiful</b><br />
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Two major reasons: Javier Bardem and Barcelona, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3934586393/">Trailer</a>. I'll just quote <a href="http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3934586393/">imdb</a>: This is the story of Uxbal (Javier Bardem). Devoted father. Tormented lover. Mystified son. Underground businessman. Friend of the disposed. Ghost seeker. Spiritual sensitive. A survivor at the invisible margins in today's Barcelona ... Uxbal's story is simple: just one of the complex realities that we all live in today.<br />
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<b>Red State</b><br />
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Something for the scientist of religion in me. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1235524377/">"A group of misfits encounter fundamentalism gone to the extreme in Middle America."</a><br />
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<b>The Way Back</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1465030937/">imdb </a>again: "A young military officer (Sturgess) leads an escape from a hellish gulag in Soviet-occupied Poland during WWII. Making a pact with six companions, the group embarks on a daring mission across Asia to hopeful safety in India." With Colin Farrell (whom I consider an actor since Bruges).<br />
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<b>Essential Killing</b><br />
<br />
Vincent Gallo as an escaped prisoner in hostile environment, his usual enigmatic <a href="http://www.vincentgallo.com/">self</a>. I don't especially like the movie's name, though.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vincentgallo.com/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="http://www.vincentgallo.com/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-50034227087195575922011-01-02T19:07:00.001+01:002011-01-02T19:09:19.449+01:00Sounds of Stockholm - DocBeautifully shot doc on some of Stockholm's musicians. Darn, these Swedes are just awfully talented!<br /><br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/17425162?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ff9933" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/17425162">Sounds Of Stockholm</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1122154">valerie toumayan</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-36105041222389856832011-01-01T20:49:00.000+01:002011-01-01T20:52:03.887+01:00Piece of Poetry - You still roam these floors<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> 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semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">You still roam the floors</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Of my past and memories</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">And I feel like a haunted house</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> -</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">But if an exorcist were to make you go away</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I’d beg you to stay</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I'd lock myself up</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">And not let you leave</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I’ll become a prisoner of the past</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">In my own head</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I do miss you that bad</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">(November 2010)<br /></span></p>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-86571340859332956562010-12-25T21:08:00.011+01:002011-01-08T22:27:32.540+01:00Einmal Japan und zurück – Nuancen des populären neuen taiwanischen Kinos<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Filmrezension</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><i>Einmal Japan und zurück – Nuancen des populären neuen taiwanischen Kinos</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><a href=""><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i></i></span></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TRZTEn1rwtI/AAAAAAAACd0/bvX9EFu2H-8/s1600/058f81f2a4d1f5919b4fc187cbd7401d.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554718529286816466" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TRZTEn1rwtI/AAAAAAAACd0/bvX9EFu2H-8/s400/058f81f2a4d1f5919b4fc187cbd7401d.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">In diesem Artikel werden gegenwärtige kulturpolitische Tendenzen in Taiwan anhand der drei aktuellen und kommerziell erfolgreichen Filme <i>C</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>APE</i><i> N</i><i>O</i><i>.</i><i> 7</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">海角七號</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">, <i>M</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>ONGA</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">艋舺</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> und <i>1895 I</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>N</i><i> F</i><i>ORMOSA</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">一八九</span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">五</span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">beleuchtet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Cape No. 7 – Heimatfilm mit Wohlfühlatmosphäre</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">„Fuck Taipei!“ – mit diesen Worten beginnt Wei Te-Shens </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">魏德聖</span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Kassenschlager, der kommerziell erfolgreichste einheimische Film überhaupt. Und das ist durchaus programmatisch zu verstehen, spielt der Rest der Handlung doch fernab vom hochmodernen, kosmopolitischen und (dennoch) „hochchinesischen“ Taipei.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Wir befinden uns in und um Hengchun, der südlichsten Stadt Taiwans kurz vor dem Kenting-Nationalpark mit ihren malerischen alten Stadttoren. Hier wird noch Betelnuss gekaut, grundsätzlich ohne Helm Moped gefahren und – in Taiwanisch kommuniziert. Dabei ist die Handlung an sich zu vernachlässigen: Mit den örtlichen Gepflogenheiten über Kreuz stehende Japanerin versucht, das Konzert eines japanischen Schmusesängers am Strand zu organisieren, wird in lokale Machtkämpfe verwickelt und muss schließlich eine wild zusammengecastete Vorband aus dem Ort bühnenreif trimmen. Zwischendurch wird sie mit allerhand exzentrisch-trinkfester lokaler Gesellschaft und Folklore konfrontiert und verliebt sich in den mürrischen Aushilfsbriefträger, der – Ironie des Holzhammers – zu allem Überfluss auch noch Vorband-Sänger wider Willen ist. Kurz, die Lovestory wirkt nicht gerade nachvollziehbar, beansprucht die Nerven und strapaziert den Film auf insgesamt 2:10 Stunden, wobei der Höhepunkt eigentlich schon 40 Minuten vor dem Ende erreicht ist. Die Hauptdarsteller sind entweder kratzbürstig und mit dem immer gleichen Stirnrunzelblick gesegnet (Aga), oder kreischende Nervensägen (Tomoko). Dennoch kennt den Film in Taiwan jedes Kind; viele Menschen haben ihn gleich mehrfach im Kino angesehen, obwohl der Wiedersehfaktor bedenklich nah gegen Null tendiert. Don’t get me wrong, wie sie auch habe ich den Film sehr genossen – aber warum nur?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Das liegt vor allem am kuscheligen Heimatfilmflair einer fröhlichen Südtaiwan-Idylle mit Sonne, Meer und urigen Taiyu </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">台語</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">-Sprechern, die kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen. Taiwan ist eine kleine Insel, ein jeder ihrer Bewohner kann dies also mit eigenen Erlebnissen verknüpfen. Hier stecken denn auch das Herz und die Seele des Films: Es sind die sympathisch-skurrilen Figuren, die ihn sehenswert machen. Allen voran die älteren Darsteller, der überdrehte behornbrillte „Nationalschatz“ Opa Mo, der notorisch gut gelaunte Schlagzeuger „Frosch“ und Stadtratsvorsitzender Hung, dargestellt von Jonny Lin, welcher gerade seinen zweiten Frühling erlebt und mit seinen glaubwürdigen Rollen in <i>Cape No. 7</i> und <i>Monga</i> Kultstatus im aktuellen taiwanischen Kino erspielt hat. Ihre für jeden Taiwan-Besucher durchweg nachvollziehbaren Charaktere würden in der ernsten Karriere- und Bürokratensprache Hochchinesisch nicht annähernd funktionieren. Implizit befördert <i>Cape No. 7</i> damit aber eine Art „innerer Exotisierung“ Taiwans, einer Insel, deren großteils urbane Bevölkerung eben im Alltag kaum noch mit der beschaulichen dörflichen Atmosphäre in Kontakt kommt. Was nicht schlecht sein <i>muss</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">1895 – Rückblick voraus auf das neue Taiwan</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XDOrIh3H8SA?fs=1&hl=de_DE"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XDOrIh3H8SA?fs=1&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Den Rahmen der Handlung bildet die japanische Eroberungskampagne zu Beginn der Besetzung Taiwans, welche aus zwei Perspektiven verfolgt wird: derjenigen der aufgeklärt und mitfühlend porträtierten Eroberer, die die Schönheit der Landschaft bewundern, und jener der lokalen Widerständler in der Gegend um das heutige Hsinchu. Kommuniziert wird in dem Film ausschließlich auf Hakka, Hoklo und Japanisch. Im Grunde sind die Motive beider Filme erstaunlich ähnlich. Sie heben Taiwans soziokulturelle und linguistische Diversität hervor. Gezeigt wird ein vielschichtiges Taiwan, das keine rein „chinesische“ Realität widerspiegelt, sondern in dem japanische Einflüsse keineswegs zweitrangig sind.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Im historischen Epos <a href="http://asianmediawiki.com/1895_in_Formosa"><i>1895</i></a> geschieht das ganz explizit in der Verbindung der Perspektiven von Besatzern und Widerstandskämpfern. <i>Cape No. 7</i> sucht die Verbindung zur Vergangenheit über Liebesbriefe aus japanischer Zeit (die aber seltsam enthoben vom Filmgeschehen bleiben), heutige Popkultur-Verbindungen und Opa Mo, der beide zeitlichen Ebenen in einer Person verkörpert. Im Internet war Kritik zu lesen, warum eine ehemals japanisch kolonisierte Gesellschaft heute die Zeit der Kolonisierung schönfärben und darüber hinaus freiwillig zu ihrer erneuten „kulturellen Kolonisierung“ beitragen würde.[I.] Interessanterweise machen die in <i>Cape No. 7</i> am japanisch-taiwanischen Kulturaustausch beteiligten Taiwaner durchweg von ihrer Subjektivität Gebrauch. Sie lassen sich keineswegs instrumentalisieren oder gar kolonisieren, sondern vermischen Elemente einer ganz Ostasien beeinflussenden japanischen Popkultur mit entschieden lokalen Ingredienzen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Japan ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil des gegenwärtigen kulturellen Diskurses in „multicultural Taiwan“. Einerseits eine politisch geförderte Tendenz, entspricht sie andererseits aber auch den Realitäten sich rapide wandelnder Kulturen. Die Wahrung und Förderung kultureller Diversität ist eines der wichtigsten Projekte des v.a. DPP-geführten ersten Jahrzehnts seit 2000. Das Konsumverhalten der taiwanischen Kinobesucher zeigt hingegen nicht (nur) den Erfolg jener Politik, sondern vielmehr ihre Notwendigkeit. Politische Freiheit seit den 90er Jahren ermöglicht die freie Entfaltung von persönlicher wie Gruppen-Identität, was in <i>1895</i> und <i>Cape No. 7</i> durch Kooperation und Heiterkeit in einer insgesamt wohlsituierten Gesellschaft positiv bewertet wird. <i>1895</i> handelt von reichen Hakka-Familien, traditionell stärker einem mythischen chinesischen Heimatland verbunden, doch veranlasst sie ihr Widerstandskampf gegen die Japaner zu enger Kooperation mit einer Bande von Hoklo-Freischärlern und ihren Ureinwohner-Kompagnons, nicht zum Partikularismus, sondern zur Vergemeinschaftung einer geographisch eng umschriebenen Schicksalsgemeinschaft. In <i>Cape No. 7</i> wird großteils auf Taiyu kommuniziert, doch wird neben Japan auch Hakka („Malasun!“) und Ureinwohnern (vom Stamm der Rukai) große Präsenz eingeräumt. Geradezu symbolisch vereint wird „multicultural Taiwan“ in der auf der Bühne stehenden Band (allerdings ohne <i>Waishengren</i>, dafür mit christlichem Beistand)<s>,</s> zu der sich im Duett einer polyglotten Version von Schuberts „Heidenröslein“(!) der japanische Minnesänger gesellt. Die Versuchung ist groß, die für manchen Slapstick genutzte Präsenz des Christentums im Film als weiteren Beleg anzuführen. Die Verbildlichung (des Wunsches?) eines harmonischen, auf Heiterkeit beruhenden Miteinanders der verschiedenen Bevölkerungsgruppen könnte das wahre Verdienst von <i>Cape No. 7</i> sein. Auch wenn sich in der Realität Probleme ergeben, die der Film verschweigt, etwa die Vermarktung von „Ureinwohner-Schnaps“ durch Han-Entrepreneurs (Malasun) und die einhergehende Stigmatisierung der <i>Yuanzhumin</i> als allzeit benebelt-fröhliche Ohnesorgs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Monga – Die nostalgische Verklärung des Bandenalltags</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">„These are the real Taiwan gangsters: Vulgar yet powe<a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>rful (</span></i></span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">俗擱有力</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">)!“</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ztSLNCNCmM0?fs=1&hl=de_DE"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ztSLNCNCmM0?fs=1&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Doze Nius </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">鈕承澤</span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Film ist der zweite kommerziell äußerst erfolgreiche taiwanische Film seit <i>Cape No. 7</i>, dabei aber stilistisch anspruchsvoller und durchaus ansehnlich. Er erzählt eine Coming of Age-Geschichte in den Achtzigern im alten Taipeher Viertel Bangkah/Monga</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">.</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> Die Übernahme Mongas durch <i>Waishengren</i> stellt hier eine Zäsur dar, den Abschluss der guten alten Zeit. Von nun an gelten andere Spielregeln, es wird hart und auf Hochchinesisch verhandelt, Gewalt inbegriffen. Nicht zufällig endet gleichzeitig die Jugend der Hauptfiguren. Die Umstände werden rauer, die bisherige Leichtigkeit und Sorglosigkeit eines trotz aller Bandenkämpfe scheinbar behüteten Aufwachsens weicht dem Prinzip des Überlebens des Stärksten und endet in gegenseitigem Verrat. Taiwan hat seine Unschuld verloren.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Liebe zum Detail, Zeitlupen, intelligent eingesetzte Musik (in der Tradition von <i>Millennium Mambo</i>), die Faustkämpfe zu Walzer-Einlagen werden lässt, Kameraschwenks, Farben, die das Taiwan der 80er Jahre lebendig machen. Wirre Verfolgungsjagden durch schmale Gassen wellblechbedeckter Einstockhäuser, groteske Massenschlachten vor den Marksteinen Taipeis bis heute, Longshan-Tempel, Huaxi-Nachtmarkt und Snake Alley. Eine Geschichte von Freundschaft, Zusammenhalt und Erwachsenwerden. Jugendliches Balgen. Aberwitzige Situationen und wohldosierte Komik suggerieren die Sorglosigkeit unbeschwerten Lebens. Trügerisch, wie sich herausstellen soll. Denn das Leben im Gangstermilieu kann ein ernstes sein. All das, die bekannten Orte, die komödienhafte Leichtigkeit, der Gebrauch eines leicht ironischen Taiyu erzeugen ähnlich wie in <i>Cape No. 7</i> eine Identifikation der Kinobesucher mit den Hauptfiguren, auf die sie im von hochanspruchsvollen Arthouse-Movies und belanglosen Schnulzen geplagten taiwanischen Kino lange gewartet haben. Allen voran der unwiderstehliche Boss Geta, gespielt von Jonny Lin. Spielerisch wird Geschichte aufgearbeitet und über das populäre Medium Film eine alternative Narrative taiwanischer Subjektivität erzeugt, die das Alltagsgeschehen und seine ganz normalen Helden und Unholde in den Fokus rückt. Nicht prominent, doch auch hier kommt Japan vor, als Ort der Sehnsucht für den jungen Hauptdarsteller. Konsequenterweise endet die Geschichte denn auch in einem versucht-poetischen, dabei jedoch vor allem pathetischen Verwandeln von Blutstropfen in fallende Kirschblüten – unmissverständliche Symbolik.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TRZWDDPCZBI/AAAAAAAACd8/Y5IQGkOEQyo/s1600/aplace.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554721800816059410" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TRZWDDPCZBI/AAAAAAAACd8/Y5IQGkOEQyo/s320/aplace.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 224px;" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Ein zwar langer, bis auf das überdramatisierte Ende aber gelungener, kurzweiliger Film, der keinem weh tut. Man merkt Niu seine Zusammenarbeit mit Hou Hsiao-Hsien punktuell an. Als Bonus</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> bekommt man einen Eindruck von den modischen Stilverbrechen Ostasiens, was Frisuren anbelangt. Das macht Lust auf mehr neues Kino aus Taiwan. Absolute (Geheim-?)Tipps sind die Episodenfilme des Paares Lou Yi-an </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">樓一安</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> und Singing Chen </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">陳芯宜</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>G</i><i>OD</i><i> M</i><i>AN</i><i> D</i><i>OG</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">流浪神狗人</span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">[II.] und </span><a href="http://filmasia.blogspot.com/2009/10/place-of-ones-own-taiwan-2009.html"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>A P</i><i>LACE</i><i> O</i><i>F</i><i> O</i><i>NE’</i><i>S O</i><i>WN</i></span></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">一席之地</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">, jeweils mit dem großartigen Jack Kao </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">高捷</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> in einer wunderbaren Rolle. Kaum warten mag ich auf das nächste Werk des Cape-Autoren, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">der</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> nun aufgrund seiner Bekanntheit endlich seinen lange vertagten Film über den Wushe-Vorfall </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">霧社事件</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> von 1930, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>S</i><i>EEDiQ</i><i> B</i><i>ALE</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">賽德克</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">·</span><span lang="ZH-CN" style="font-size: 100%;">巴萊</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> [III.], finanziert bekommt. </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>jt</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VWrKDyxtOjk?fs=1&hl=de_DE"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VWrKDyxtOjk?fs=1&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Monga kommt am 9. Dezember 2010 als </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>Monga – Gangs of Taipeh</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> in die deutschen Kinos. Am 25. November startet die von Wim Wenders produzierte romantische Komödie </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>Au Revoir Taipei</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">(erscheint in Dianmo 11, http://dianmo.wordpress.com/ausgaben/)<br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="color: #ffff99; font-weight: bold;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 100%;">Anmerkungen</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">I</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">. Taiwanonymus, Movie Review: Cape No. 7, Kommentare, <a href="http://taiwanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/10/movie-review-cape-no-7.html">http://taiwanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/10/movie-review-cape-no-7.html</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">II.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> Film reviews: <a href="http://home.snafu.de/fsk-kino/archiv/godmandog.htm">http://home.snafu.de/fsk-kino/archiv/godmandog.htm</a>, <a href="http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2008/04/god-man-dog-movie-review/">http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2008/04/god-man-dog-movie-review/</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ffff99; font-size: 100%;">III. </span><span lang="SV" style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="color: #ffff99;">5 Min. Trailer:</span> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1Mhl0MQVw&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1Mhl0MQVw&feature=related</a><span style="color: #ffff99;">, Blog: </span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/seediq1930&category_id=12897222"><span lang="SV" style="font-size: 9pt;">http://www.wretch.cc/blog/seediq1930&category_id=12897222</span></a></span><span lang="SV" style="font-size: 100%;">. </span><span style="color: #ffff99; font-size: 100%;">Der Wushe-Vorfall war ein Aufstand der Dekedaya, die auf Kopfjagd gegen ihre japanischen Besatzer gingen, vgl. Rudolph, Taiwans multiethnische Gesellschaft, 127f.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">Abbildungen</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="color: #ffff99; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="color: #ffff99; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">Cape</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> No.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> 7</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">_1</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> http://anna69.pixnet.net</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="color: #ffff99; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">Cape</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> No.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> 7</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">_2</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> http://cape7.pixnet.net</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">Monga</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">_1</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> www.mongathemovie.com</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ffff99; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">Monga</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">_2</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"> http://en.wikipedia.org</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ffff99; font-size: 100%;">1895 In Formosa http://asianmediawiki.com</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-20969179417031820442010-10-16T12:32:00.007+02:002010-10-16T13:18:57.316+02:00Erste Buchpublikation erschienen / First publication<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/BuddhisminLeipzig1903.jpg/220px-BuddhisminLeipzig1903.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 308px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/BuddhisminLeipzig1903.jpg/220px-BuddhisminLeipzig1903.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Nach fast zwei Jahren Arbeit (v.a. für die HerausgeberInnen) ist es nun endlich soweit und mein Artikel über die Geschichte der Leipziger Buddhisten -- welche 1903 den ersten buddhistischen Verein Europas gründeten -- im deutschen Kaiserreich ist in dem Pionierwerk zur lokalen urbanen Religions- und Kulturgeschichte "Von Aposteln bis Zionisten: Religiöse Kultur im Leipzig des Kaiserreichs" <a href="http://www.diagonal-verlag.de/14n-buch.html">erschienen</a>. Herausgegeben wurde das Buch von Iris Edenheiser im Auftrag des re.form Leipzig e.V. im diagonal-Verlag Marburg (2010), http://www.diagonal-verlag.de/14n-buch.html. Inhaltsverzeichnis, Vorwort und eine Leseprobe finden sich auf der Seite rechts oben.<br />Mein Artikel hört auf den Titel: "'Einst suchte ich in der Welt das Glück...' - Buddhisten in Leipzig 1903 bis 1921. Im Buch finden sich ca. 20 populärwissenschaftlich gehaltene Artikel über interessante Gruppen jener Zeit, von Atheisten über Abstinenzler, Zeugen Jehovas, Völkische, Mormonen, Okkultisten, Naturheilkundler, Theosophen uvm.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TLmEPjoMJLI/AAAAAAAACcs/tn_dGDvAqvc/s1600/Tischer+Buddhismus+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TLmEPjoMJLI/AAAAAAAACcs/tn_dGDvAqvc/s400/Tischer+Buddhismus+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528595420370707634" border="0" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TLmFCh1gTYI/AAAAAAAACc0/HXDQw3q1X3g/s1600/Tischer+Buddhismus+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TLmFCh1gTYI/AAAAAAAACc0/HXDQw3q1X3g/s400/Tischer+Buddhismus+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528596296063012226" border="0" /></a><br />Bei Interesse an dem Artikel kann sich bei mir gemeldet werden.<br /><br />--------------------<br /><br />It took almost two years, but finally my essay on Leipzig's Buddhists during the late imperial period -- in 1903 they founded the first Buddhist association in all of Europe -- got published in a book on "religious culture in imperial Leipzig", a pioneering work of research on local religious history in a modern urban context. The book was edited by Iris Edenheiser, a doctoral graduate from my institute at Leipzig University, and got published through diagonal Publishing House. All information on the <a href="http://www.diagonal-verlag.de/14n-buch.html">publisher's website </a>is in German only, as is the entire book. It features numerous articles on different deviant social and religious groups, such as Atheists, Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons, Theosophs, Occultists, Friends of Nature and many more.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-22057922890647790832010-09-04T16:44:00.003+02:002010-09-04T16:52:21.368+02:00post-national Taiwan?Hypothesis:<br /><br />In order to avoid becoming a subdued colonised dependent again -- this time the PRC's -- Taiwan might have to develop nationalism first to become a post-national society in the future. Where there's no (internationally recognised) nation, there can be no post-nationalist structure. By developing a post-nationalist attitude transcending conventional politics and replacing the political sphere with "entertainment", "culture", or "economic gain", the Taiwanese would risk their political independence and freedom. This would not be selling out, rather would it be incredibly naive.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-6996691939648897452010-08-29T16:57:00.003+02:002010-08-29T17:14:56.377+02:00Bound in Motion FurorWhat if this were Rome burning tonight<br />and we were still sticking to past mistakes<br />running past the same images in our minds<br />spinning over and over again<br /><br />Would we keep our mouths shut<br />eyes taped, arms bound<br />forever doomed to the same story<br />told at night, but still - a convenient truth<br />for we are left to tell<br /><br />Only - we know, it's all but a lie<br />and the people are bound in motion pictures<br />or concentrated in camps<br />the animals were taking over<br /><br />Corpses washing down the river<br />the ground soaked in black and green blood<br />breathing a sole grievance<br />and everywhere the towers are growing into the sky<br />tongues twist as people divide<br /><br />We follow the footsteps to a new home<br />and a bright future ahead<br />where distraction will keep us from<br />aiming clearsighted and thus is to be eliminated<br />outdated, the inferior falling to our furor<br />childish naïveté mating mature brute<br />this house is burning<br />and the dancefloor explodes in light<br /><br />(written somewhat around 2008/09, inspired by visited Rwandan sites)Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-40996044043362012942010-08-16T11:30:00.004+02:002010-08-16T12:37:26.545+02:00Formosa Betrayed - film reviewFirst of all, this is an important movie to see for everyone with an interest in Taiwanese or Asian history. Though mostly fictional, the film is based on a number of events in the 1980s. The good thing is: This movie is political, and it takes sides. Portraying the KMT regime in such a highly critical fashion, I don't think this movie might have been shot even in today's Taiwan. Although officially aiming at a neutral stance between blue and green, the movie must be called pro-TI (strange thing that neutrality today seems to imply the avoidance of mentioning anything shady about the KMT's past, or a "status quo" position in between independence and unification while altering the status quo via economic dependence is credited perfectly "neutral").<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TGkH9mZ8bCI/AAAAAAAACcE/wqm4ZsYaKw4/s1600/FormosaBetrayed1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 253px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/TGkH9mZ8bCI/AAAAAAAACcE/wqm4ZsYaKw4/s400/FormosaBetrayed1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505940774299921442" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So, while the fact that it is a Hollywood produced flick surely has its advantages (concerning mostly the movie's outreach), there come a number of flaws with it. (I won't complain about Dawson's Creek ex teen idol Van der Beek starring the lead role.) Unfortunately, the acting is not very convicting since director Adam Kane was mostly relying on American actors with Asian background. Of course, their English is perfect, while there is only little Chinese in the movie and even less use of the Taiwanese language (except for the Kaohsiung demonstration). How police officer Chen was stumbling his few sentences in Mandarin - hurt. Even the most committed actor in this movie - Will Tiao - had an unmistakable American accent to his Chinese. This seriously made the film's atmosphere suffer. Another point of critique has to be its being shot in Thailand, which also means that the entire extra cast was Thai - and I would maintain that you can actually tell Taiwanese apart from Thai. The extra cast in a weird way did not feel involved in the film at all, most strikingly in the demonstration scene in Kaohsiung. I have seldom seen an agitated crowd acting less agitated. Even when security police was marching on, people hardly seemed to take notice and adjust their behaviour. The pictures of streets and houses had a certain artificial feel to them, like you could tell they were studio-made. I don't really buy into Thai studios being able to resemble Taiwan in the 80s more than parts of Taiwan today. Sure, the costs would have been higher, but if wanted there would have been some way...<br /><br />To be honest, I was disappointed by the movie's overall artisanry. Like I said, this is an important movie, for it also depicts historical material (background on Chiang Kai-shek, the US and Red China etc.), but it will have a hard time attracting people solely for its entertainment value. This being said, I wish the film could be seen by more Taiwanese kids. Perhaps they will like the movie for its handsome lead actor and thus subtly internalise the messages delivered in the movie which present an alternative to mainstream KMT-imposed amnesia on its shady past. For this matter, it is definitely good news that Formosa Betrayed was showed to members of US Congress, too.<br />The film's title alluding to George Kerr's legendary journalist account of suppressed and abused Taiwan (1965) is a bit misleading, for at least I would expect a work more equivalent in content and quality to wear this book's name.<br /><br />Citing film critic <a href="http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1269014594/index_html">Roger Ebert</a> on the movie:<br /><blockquote>As a result, "Formosa Betrayed" begins rather awkwardly, but ends by making a statement that explains a great many things. One question left unasked: Why did we promise to defend Taiwan with nuclear weapons but refuse to recognize it as a sovereign nation?</blockquote>Review and presentation with more pictures <a href="http://taiwanheart.ning.com/group/heart09/forum/topics/formosa-betrayedbei-chu-mai-de">in Chinese</a>.<br />The Boston Globe has a <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2010/02/26/formosa_betrayed_is_a_lesson_on_taiwan_and_a_political_thriller/">review of the movie</a>, and says the following of the acting:<br /><br /><blockquote> <div class="articlePluckHidden"><p>Tiao is a passable actor at best, but he’s infinitely more genuine than Van Der Beek, who continues to be the same limited performer he was on TV’s “Dawson’s Creek,’’ just older, and, in this case, sweatier.</p></div> <div class="articlePluckHidden"><p>As a political thriller, “Formosa Betrayed’’ has enough suspense and intrigue to pull viewers along willingly. It doesn’t try too hard, which is refreshing. John Heard plays a veteran FBI colleague of Kelly’s; in another thriller he might be a double agent, but here he’s every bit as average as he seems.</p></div> <div class="articlePluckHidden"><p>And as a history lesson, the film is a decent primer. It will enlighten those who may not know much about the post-World War II era of Chinese rule over the island the Dutch named Formosa, a.k.a. Taiwan.</p> </div> </blockquote><br />Along comes the trailer:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2KbAGhECVZE?fs=1&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2KbAGhECVZE?fs=1&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><div class="articlePluckHidden"><p></p></div><blockquote><br /></blockquote>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-55734766996799925222010-06-04T18:19:00.005+02:002010-06-04T18:23:15.596+02:00About my Intentions as a Potential "Scholar": the Ethical Component in “Science”<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.2 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> </style> <p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></span></p> <p lang="en-US"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">What the people of Taiwan do in their communal construction and discussion of identity, I do according to my own calling and self-understanding as a young “scholar” doing research: support for/legitimation of their constructive efforts via scientific backing (delivering “facts”). Give them a voice in “rational” “objective” scientific discourse which makes for the internationally recognised forum/parliament of debating legitimate decision-making based selectively on terms of orthodoxy and heterodoxy (“rational” vs. “irratonal”), reflecting well-hidden (or taken for granted) power structures which exercise scientific discourse to a point where certain assumptions become consent. Thus, science ultimately serves as legitimising agency and advisory committee to the political executive. Science is neither innocent nor independent. Everyone choses which side they are on. Ideally, I view it as an imperative for any influential intellectual/scholar to not act on their own behalf or blindly bear existing structures of power, but to illuminate and side with the weak, the oppressed, the unheard, to – after objective-as-possible assessment of their situation and overall environment –work towards amelioration of society according to our conscience and scientific ideals of objectivity and impartiality. I believe we should do so along our adopted standards many of which are “Western” in nature (democracy, human rights) but which should nevertheless not be withheld from anybody outside their reach who choses to embrace them. I call for political activity by intellectuals! It is us who need to be outspoken and deliver factual and reasonable arguments in public debate, but we should not be confined by the class many of us feel part of. Instead, we need to include and enhance those voices which are not heard through their own efforts. We need to remember society of the relativity of many of its ideas and convictions, but on stable ground. For albeit constructed or imagined, we chose certain convictions, one way or the other. We would even <i>chose</i> to “transcend” (or deconstruct, or <i>destroy</i>) any idea available. Thus, we need to stay alert about the consequences of our thinking. So my conviction is we shall always think through alternative views, keep in mind our own relativity, but firmly chose our grounding, for we cannot stand without firm ground. Paradoxically, although I am convinced that my belief is relative at best, I am still able to believe. I believe what I believe in, and since I know this is me only and totally irrelevant (or <i>relative</i>) to the bigger picture, of course I must accept what others believe in. But I accept it as equally relative, so that still leaves me a chance to try and convince them of what I believe in. However, I can do so only through word and persuasion, by means legitimable in light of my accepting their opinion.</span></p> <p lang="en-US">
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<br /></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US">Talking about cultural differences, there is no “universal nature” in “human rights”, but we who enjoy their liberties and freedom are to opt for supporting those who freely chose to lead lives along similar lines, even if that means opposing reigning power in a foreign context. We have to do so to ensure the longevity of these our very ideals against an all-encompassing relativism, and we can do so only by acknowledging the historically constructed nature and not given “nature” of liberal democracy, offering it to everybody as one political philosophy among many – the superiority of which we believe in – and support those who decide for themselves to follow it. Since it is a singular political doctrine with absolute claim we propagate, does that justify military operations to safeguard its proliferation and endurance in other countries? Can we morally justify the suffering and even killing of innocent people with the outlook of achieving a better or more just society for them, a view not necessarily shared by the ones so “rescued”? In any case, understanding Western liberal democracy and human rights as one political doctrine competing for power with other, structurally similar doctrines, at least allows for the implementation of military might for a better end – social peace, multiculturalism. In contrast, perceiving them as naturally (or genetically) endowed with the human condition would inextricably lead to a moral dilemma of undermining the end – the state so to be achieved – with the means employed to reach it, and so making it virtually impossible to convince people to convert to the alleged higher moral state innate to liberal values.</span></span></p> Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-14824295836125948952010-05-25T11:50:00.001+02:002010-06-04T18:23:48.453+02:00To the Young People of Taiwan<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CJacob%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" 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mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-no-proof:yes;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 2.0cm 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">(A Reaction to a planned ECFA (on the bus from Taichung to Taipei, Dec. 23, 2009):<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Who is going to carry on the spirit and accomplishments of the generation of those now 50 to 70 years old? It lies with you… I love you, and in this very moment I am still wondering if I love you enough to forgive you when you surrender and succumb to the solely monetary temptation of unification. At least I wish you to fight and not give up before it is all over! You still hold the power in your own hands, and the key to Taiwan’s future is yours still, and it does not lie in a Free Trade Agreement with China. It will only break the door trying to open it for a way out towards someplace labeled future.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Look beyond this narrow Taiwan Strait: Taiwan is part of the ocean, grown from the sea, comparted by an imaginary line named Tropic of Cancer, neckbone of a spinal island arc, in geoterritorial confrontation between the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea Plates which through a cruel jest of fate mirror in geopolitical terms. The sea will take you to places afar, you are an open nation, as sea farers tend to be open-minded, you are people of the south where pleasant temperatures enflame people’s hearts, you are not spatially bound to the Chinese continent, your perspective is the horizon! The ocean connects you with all places, free as fish. Open you eyes, look at yourselves and look up, let your eyes carry you over the oceans, do not be afraid, lift up your voices, be confident and proud, like I were be proud to be one of you!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I would also be so afraid, because I cannot look into your hearts sometimes, I cannot tell what you want, and whether it is the same thing we are striving for. Why do I want more for you than you do? Why don’t you think you can have it all? All at once, power and democracy, and economic success?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Everybody needs a basis, and so do you.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Your democracy, result of decades of dedicated people’s unending efforts, of your blood, sweat, and tears, it does not come by itself, it comes at a cost. You need to work for it, on it, and you need to need it to stay the people you are, the people I love. I can support you in that, and I will, but I cannot do it for you.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">This my be my dream, and I didn’t stay here long enough to know what it truly is like to suffer, but for you this is but real. You cannot escape it, this is your country, your home, and you have a responsibility to protect it. For future generations; And you owe it to the ones who sacrificed so much to enable you to live that way you live now. This is the greatest opportunity, the justest cause, of your lifetime!, and it is also a mission, an assignment. Something you started. You gave me this promise of a free land full of beautiful, caring, friendly people, and now I would like you to only keep this promise.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I’m a big fan of yours, and I love you, so I beg you: Please, don’t leave my love letters unanswered.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">I hope for you, I fear for you, I cry for you, I weep for you, I speak out for you. So much would I love to be with you, or be one of you, that it completely occupies my mind. I feel I can’t live without you! So I urge you, please do this for me, if you dare to accept my love, do this with all your might, and I know you can achieve everything if you only really want to. I have learned what you were able to accomlish in the past, but can you still feel it? It is not all that long ago, and it ain’t a myth. All of it is real! You are living freely through past sacrifice. Those responsible for it are your fathers and mothers, your grandfathers and grandmothers. You can still ask them about it. You are their descendants, their blood runs through your veins, which makes me know for certain you have what it takes!<o:p></o:p></span></p> Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-41654877804689162452010-05-09T19:55:00.003+02:002010-05-09T20:10:56.152+02:00Mix May 2010Eine bunte Zusammenstellung verschiedener Tracks und Stile. Das, was ich unter dem Soundtrack verstehen würde, zu dem ich meine Party rocke.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Ffoolproofsound%2Fmix-may-2010-party"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Ffoolproofsound%2Fmix-may-2010-party" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/foolproofsound/mix-may-2010-party">Mix May 2010 Party</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/foolproofsound">foolproofsound</a></span><br /><br /><br />Tracklist:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://fotozon.com/fotoview.cgi?2217"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/S-b6TkCvwaI/AAAAAAAACbc/htqosW07oK8/s400/admin_66_2217_567003716555521_big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469334011487699362" border="0" /></a><ul><li>Dune - Last Dinosaur</li><li>Against Me! - The Disco Before the Breakdown</li><li>Rancid - Old Friend</li><li>Modest Mouse - Float On</li><li>Jenny Wilson - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward</li><li>Zoot Woman - Holiday Home</li><li>MGMT - Kids</li><li>Console - Suck and Run</li><li>The Robocop Kraus - Nihil Disco</li><li>The Hives - A Little More for Little You</li><li>Head Automatica - Brooklyn is Burning</li><li>Queens of the Stone Age - First it Giveth</li><li>Fu Manchu - Freedom of Choice</li><li>The Strokes - Reptilia</li><li>Rufio - Above Me</li><li>Thrice - Deadbolt</li><li>The Sound of Animals Fighting - Act IV: You Don't Need a Witness</li><li>Aaltra Soundtrack - Sunny</li><li>Coco Freeman Feat. Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee</li><li>Beirut - Prenzlaurberg</li><li>Ska Cubano - No Me Desesperes</li><li>Fanfare Ciocarlia - Godzilla</li><li>Ray Barretto - La Cuna</li><li>Gotan Project - Diferente</li><li>Rosalia De Souza - Maria Moita</li><li>Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Mondo Bongo</li><li>Elliott Smith - Say Yes</li><li>Jan Johansson - Visa från Utanmyra</li></ul><br />Das Ganze wie gehabt zusammengestellt mit dem Pacemaker. Hoffe, es gefällt.Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-70065685437297429172009-12-04T08:53:00.008+01:002012-05-04T23:13:18.387+02:00Criticizing Han Ethnocentrism in Taiwan and China<div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">To be clarified beforehand: I am radically anti-racist and anti-nationalist, I consider proselytizing a crime against an individuals self-determination (although some religious determinations turned out to be better advocates of preserving cultural identities and propagating cultural diversity), and I wish for mutual respect, tolerance, and one multicultural global society without discrimination nor borders.<br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />Let Taiwan serve as a two-fold case in point for my argument, which is to say that there is a very frightening component about Chinese Han Ethnocentrism, something masquerading as "cultural" which is very hard to distinguish from other areas such as politics and ethnicity.<br />By referring to two layers, I mean looking at Taiwan from an micro and a macro level angle. The macro level is rather easy to describe, since it entails the way the Chinese empire spread through the course of many centuries, incorporating colonized local people and by way of proving its "cultural" superiority convincing most ethnic groups to submit to and overtake Chinese culture. This is especially true today, when life becomes ever faster, information can be accessed almost everywhere, and there is fierce competition for job opportunities with an widening gap of the haves vs. the not-haves. This means as long as there is no real appreciation for any non-Chinese culture and multicultural diversity within the so-called ethnic Chinese group, people with a distinct culture have to get rid of some of their cultural traits, especially those that might potentially clash with Chinese custom and behaviour.<br />I am to this day convinced that there is no genuine appreciation of foreignness in China. In part this is due to an overaggressive nationalism which was launched in the beginning of the 20th century to confront Western invasion into China, and at the same time was a reaction to what was felt necessary at the time: the building of a strong nation state to compete with other nations. Along with a nation state, the concept of "race" was prevalent at that time and in a process of westernization (as means to self-strengthening, without losing cultural roots) seemingly had to be introduced or at least, if already existing, modified in China. Keeping traditional cultural roots didn't stay at the political agenda of the most successful movements for long. The Communist regime stands for breaking ties with most fundamental traditional Chinese idea(l)s, especially those relating to society and social relationships. However, it was constantly felt necessary to strengthen a certain nationalist awareness, which after the end of the possibility of Communist legitimation took over as one of the two foundations of the modern Chinese nation state, the other being economic prosperity. In combination they aim for China becoming the world's foremost economic power. This ideology necessarily has a couple of dogmas that cannot be touched, among them the triple 'T' (Tibet, Taiwan, Tian'anmen), which cause a lot of harm in and around China and should be examined critically. Excuses centering on China's exotic nature ("Maybe the Chinese are like that") are not of any help here, because the root of the problem is not genuinely Chinese but rather imported - it lies in the concepts of nationalism and capitalist economy. Current Chinese society is in these aspects very far from what traditional China may have looked like. My criticism as such is thus not aimed at something inherently "Chinese", but on nowadays implementations and importations of essentially Western ideas. I actually would very much like China to be more "Chinese", as I think this ongoing marriage with some mutilated currents of Western thought is a very dangerous one. Realistically, I am not hoping for many Chinese people to accept this criticism, something that may be due to national pride having already taken deep roots in most of the population. What I myself cannot accept, however, is that innocent people in a country separate from China should suffer from dogma-infested actions deriving from this misguided interpretation of outdated Western concepts.<br /><br />The funny and really scary thing about Chinese ethnocentrism is that in cooperation with the Chinese language that doesn't favour definite word-meaning relationships it can quite easily clothe its appearance in more pleasant phrases such as "cultural Chineseness" (which, apparently, is aimed to include all "cultural" Chinese from overseas - Singapore, USA, Indonesia - in the great Chinese community whose representative is, of course, the People's Republic - there is even a word for this that bridges the gap between ethnicity, politics, and culture: 華人世界). This does amazingly often work with Western scholars and politicians who take Chinese phrases (designed to be foremost pleasant to hear) for their concrete meaning, mostly without having the time to cast a critical look on how those phrases relate to reality.<br />To me, if an ethnic group (however wildly constructed this "ethnicity" may be) separates itself as clearly as is the case with Chinese "cultural" ambitions, which at closer look reveal quite direct imperialist intentions, anti-Chinese sentiment in these places is quite a natural thing to expect. As is the case in Taiwan. Taiwanese "ethnic" identity is clearly constructed against and under the threat of Chinese ambitions to take over the island of Formosa. If there were no political pressure on Taiwan, the formation of Taiwanese identities would not have to be directed against China, but it could more naturally evolve as some sort of post-nationalist citizen- and democracy-based identity which is much needed indeed, if we are to confront Taiwan's current and future problems in society and human-nature relations effectively.<br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />At the centre of the problem may well lie the question: What on earth are ethnic Han? - As a friend of mine put it once, the "Han" are a wild mix of different peoples, quite naturally so if one considers traditional Chinese political and cultural concepts (i.e. the imperial claim to represent everything under heaven, of course every cultural group can become part of "everything under heaven"). This makes the "Han" distinction itself more a cultural one than an ethnic one. "Friendly takeover" has happened before, many of the people now considered "Han" were "barbarians" a few centuries ago - I have a hard time believing that the "Han" may be supposed to just be much more effective in out-populating so many peoples. The modern Han race is settled on ideology and mythology, with history serving as its primary legitimation (the "5000 years of Chinese culture"), at the same time "Han" is essentially a synonym for "Chinese" today, representing about 93% of the PRC population, which is pretty convenient in legitimating China's sole representation by "Han" politicians. Some hint in how arbitrarily the "Chinese race" has been constructed can be found in comparing differences between Han and "Manchu", who are officially recognized as a minority, that is, not "Han", and differences between inner-Han groups with their own language etc. (for instance, Hakka, Hoklo, Cantonese). (On another note this may tell us a lot with Chinese preoccupation with the Northern part of the country, whilst the South has always been thought of as populated by uncivilized barbarians.)<br />All I want to say is that I question the Han qualifying as a single ethnic group that can be used by serious scholarship. As long as there is no genetic evidence, I keep on doubting. It appears to me that the construction process serves very real political purposes. A politically manipulated term, however, can not be mingled with independent science.<br /><br />Then there is what I called the "micro level" of Han ethnocentrism.<br />Again, taking Taiwan as an example, on one hand the island is the concrete aim of Chinese cultural-imperialist ambitions (macro level). On the other hand, there is Han ethnocentrism within Taiwan. Although cultural diversity is recognised in Taiwan by distinguishing four different groups (Aboriginals, Hoklo, Hakka, Mainlanders), there is considerable cloudiness to how distinct the groups are. For instance, a big part of the Hoklo-"Taiwanese" are comprised of Hoklo-Hakka and former flatland aboriginals marriages. The only group easily distinguishable are the mainlanders retreating with Chiang Kaishek in 1949, although intermarriage with Taiwanese Hoklo or wives from overseas are common, so that lines get blurred. Talking more specifically about "ethnicity", it seems that all groups are taken together as "ethnic Chinese" (= Han), the only outside group being Taiwans "First Nations", the austronesian aborignals.<br />Let's continue this further. The Austronesians have been subdued by the influx and weapon-technological advance of immigrants from China to the point of marginalisation. Until very recently, the "ethnically Chinese" people have never doubted their superiority to the aboriginals in any aspect. This is why they took their land and resettled them in concrete buildings without bothering to ask for the politically inferior groups opinion. As Fiorella Allio, engaged French anthopologist among the Yami tribe, <a href="http://www.ratical.org/radiation/WorldUraniumHearing/FiorellaAllio.html">tells</a> that the Yami on the Taiwanese island Botel Tobago has been resettled, and their traditional fishing grounds have become a nuclear waste deposit site. How much more disrespectful can you be in dealing with other people? All of this is reflected in the way Taiwanese politicians treat the land - there has been no consideration about a policy's effects on the natural environment (ideological reasons for Chinese indifference towards the land - for many decades, most officials have been mainlanders - can be found elsewhere - Taiwan has always been considered a tropical backwater of no use to Chinese officials. Interestingly, this has changed significantly over the past years, but to a bigger degree for mainland China than for local politicians, I fear). Still, the Aboriginals today may be welcome folklore to many Taiwanese, but they are not really an integrated part of society. They have lower incomes and education levels, higher mortgage and unemployment rates, are prone to become alcoholic, and even the tribes living next door are often separated from "Han" society and driven further out as settlement patterns spread. Settlement spreads, but not to include them, but drive them further away. Professor </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.bp.ntu.edu.tw/people/bio.php?PID=3">Hsia Chu-joe 夏鑄九</a> (National Taiwan University, Graduate Institute of Building and Planning)</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> whom I heard give a talk on the planned new law on the Management of State Property Land at the NGO House in Taipei a few weeks ago put it in these terms: "When are the Han ever going to accept the Aboriginals as people just like themselves? When are they going to accept anybody outside themselves?</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 100%;">Although historically the Chinese political system apparently has been particularly adept at assimilating foreign cultural-ethnic groups, the outcome of this assimilation process seems to have been dictated by political power relations. Coming from a stronger, even hegemonic, position of power, the Chinese were able to conquer and assimilate outsiders according to their own terms. For as long as they were still culturally distinct, conquered minorities must have been on the marginal peripheries of a Chinese-dominated society. Support for this assumption can be found in the recent history of Taiwan’s colonization (where the trend has been somewhat stopped) where Plains Aborigines were married into becoming Hoklo-Chinese and whole settlements switched ethnic affiliation (Brown 2004), whereas the remaining distinct Aboriginal peoples live on the margins of society. But it can also be found in South China itself, where minorities live in economically and structurally weak regions and have tremendous trouble asserting themselves in a Chinese-dominated economy and polity. The recent colonization of Tibet by immensely successful Han entrepreneurs, without Tibetans profiting as much from the region’s economic opening, is another case in point. Something similar may happen in the vast, thinly populated space north of the Manchurian border in Siberia, where hundreds of thousands of Chinese have migrated.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />Chinese Han ethnocentrism from China, as relating to Taiwan, is manifested in that it does not take into account the Taiwanese people's opinion regarding the future and status of their island which is a country independent from China. We might perceive this nationalist ethnocentrism as sort of outsider-friendly (even for hardline unificationists there must be some sense of Taiwan being different from China, since otherwise there wouldn't be need for such a thing as "unification") and dogmatic. Taiwan </span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">has</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> to be kept from declaring official independence to uphold the mythological foundation of the Chinese nation state. This is a very aggressive view on cross-straits relations, especially for its denying Taiwan to make use of the basic international right for self-determination by threatening it to use violence. The only solution to this problem is either China giving up its territorial claims on Taiwan (not likely to happen), or the Taiwanese people giving in to a mixture of international pressure and economic promises (much more likely to happen). From a moral point of departure, the lack of Western support for democratic Taiwan is of great concern to me. This undermines Western democracies moral authority even further, since we are essentially buying into authoritarian China's promise of a great economic market, and selling out democratic kin in return... Apparently, <a href="http://scubathugsteve.blogspot.com/2010/02/chinas-plot-to-takeover-taiwan-by-2012.html">2012 is the year</a> to look out for. If we are lucky, the world will be ending that year anyway.<br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /><br />For all that is good, and if a society really wants to progress, it has to look beyond the confines of its own cultural and ethnic boundaries. It has to learn to position itself in the place of any other culture that it is facing. This is the only way to enhance mutual understanding and avert competition that might lead to subordination of one people under the other. I consider this an essentially globalised human desire, because it will be the only way to the traditional Chinese ideal of "harmony" 和諧 within society, in the relations with other societies, and in dealing with the environment. To give these thoughts some additional weight, let me quote famous anthropologist Clifford Geertz:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">"the primary question for any cultural institution anywhere, now that nobody is leaving anybody else alone and isn´t ever again going to, is not whether everything is going to come seamlessly together, or whether, contrariwise, we are all going to persist in our separate prejudices. It is whether human beings are going to be able, in Java or Connecticut, through law, anthropology, or anything, to imagine principled lives they can practically lead [together]."</span></blockquote>
</div>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-63635178597707962702009-11-19T11:00:00.008+01:002009-11-29T14:52:01.400+01:00Post Rock Mixtape Vol. 1This is a mixtape I made in July for a girl that I saw at a Caspian show in Leipzig. Actually, I saw her two days before in one of our university buildings, but only after the concert did I know she had great taste in music. Me idiot didn't talk to her, though, but instead I followed the obvious path and went to have a few drinks with my friends. Relying too much on good luck, again, but somehow I felt that since I had seen her twice in three days, I should be confident there would be a third time if this may be fate's will... So I did this mixtape for her, which entailed a DIY booklet and a card, because I did not simply want to ask her out for a coffee or something ordinary like that. Well, end of the story, I forfeited this chance, never saw her again, I left only some weeks later to come here to wonderful Taiwan... Since the mixtape is rotting at home, I might as well try and spread some beautiful music on the internet.<br /><br />(<a href="http://www.schallgrenzen.de/mixtape/">Hier</a> gibt es noch eine nette Mixtape-Definition:<br /><p> </p><blockquote><p>Unter einem Mixtape (auch mix tape oder mixed tape) versteht man eine selbsterstellte Zusammenstellung (Compilation) von Songs ,welche in einer bestimmten Reihenfolge auf einer Compact Cassette (Audiokassette) oder CD augenommen werden.aufgenommen wurden. Gute Mixtapes pappen die Songs nicht hintereinander, sondern Mixen die Songs in einem neuen zusammenhängenen Rahmen als neue sStück Musikkunst.</p> Der Essayist Geoffrey O’Brien bezeichnete das persönliche Mixtape als “die am häufigsten ausgeübte amerikanische Kunstform”. 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href="http://www.oneriot.com/search?p=smarterfox&ssrc=smarterfox_popup_bubble&spid=8493c8f1-0b5b-4116-99fd-f0bcb0a3b602&q=Browse%3A%20Home%20%2F%20Musik%20Allgemein%20%2F%20Mixtape%0D%0AMixtape%0D%0A%0D%0AVon%20Peter%2C%2016.%20Februar%202006%20in%20Musik%20Allgemein%0D%0A%0D%0AUnter%20einem%20Mixtape%20%28auch%20mix%20tape%20oder%20mixed%20tape%29%20versteht%20man%20eine%20selbsterstellte%20Zusammenstellung%20%28Compilation%29%20von%20Songs%20%2Cwelche%20in%20einer%20bestimmten%20Reihenfolge%20auf%20einer%20Compact%20Cassette%20%28Audiokassette%29%20oder%20CD%20augenommen%20werden.aufgenommen%20wurden.%20Gute%20Mixtapes%20pappen%20die%20Songs%20nicht%20hintereinander%2C%20sondern%20Mixen%20die%20Songs%20in%20einem%20neuen%20zusammenh%C3%A4ngenen%20Rahmen%20als%20neue%20sSt%C3%BCck%20Musikkunst.%0D%0A%0D%0ADer%20Essayist%20Geoffrey%20O%E2%80%99Brien%20bezeichnete%20das%20pers%C3%B6nliche%20Mixtape%20als%20%E2%80%9Cdie%20am%20h%C3%A4ufigsten%20ausge%C3%BCbte%20amerikanische%20Kunstform%E2%80%9D.%20Viele%20Mixtape-Begeisterte%20sind%20davon%20%C3%BCberzeugt%2C%20dass%20durch%20die%20sorgf%C3%A4ltige%20A" class="smarterwiki-popup-bubble-link"><img src="http://static.smarterfox.com/media/popup_bubble/oneriot-favicon.ico" alt="" class="smarterwiki-popup-bubble-link-favicon" /></a></span></span></span><span class="smarterwiki-popup-bubble-tip"></span></span>uswahl und Festlegung der Reihenfolge der Stücke innerhalb einer Zusammenstellung eine künstlerische Aussage geschaffen werden kann, welche durchaus aussagekräftiger ist als die bloße Summe der einzelnen Lieder. Will sagen, es entsteht etwas neues Ganzes.)</blockquote><br /><br /><br />I did the mix using pacemaker editor, a free software you will find on the net.<br /><br />Songs I used for this compilation:<br /><br />The intro is ta<a style="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/SwUdQ-tm6dI/AAAAAAAACaE/HBoFi_aL9No/s1600/guidb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HbOaT9bppBA/SwUdQ-tm6dI/AAAAAAAACaE/HBoFi_aL9No/s400/guidb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405759105277553106" border="0" /></a>ken from a poem by Hermann Hesse, Stufen, and it means "in every beginning, there dwells some magic, that protects us and that enables us to live..."<br />The Ghost - Red Slippers, Red Wheels (taken from the album This is a Hospital)<br />On the Might of Princes - Go Fuck Yrself (Sirens)<br />Gifts From Enola - In the Company of Others (Loyal Eyes Betrayed the Mind)<br />Caspian - Further In (You Are the Conductor)<br />Scraps of Tape<br />Moving Mountains<br /><br /><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="divplaylist" height="36" width="470"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9415933-932&new_design=true"><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9415933-932&new_design=true" name="divplaylist" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="36" width="470"></embed></object>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34935425.post-82481781504743351162009-11-19T10:12:00.004+01:002009-11-19T10:40:09.683+01:00margaret's hope - 2 SongsI've wanted to upload some of our stuff for a long time now, so it feels that now is a better time than never. These two songs date back to the year 2006, and they were recorded entirely by ourselves (well, by Alex, to be honest).<br />You can stream them right on this page, no need to download anything. I hope you like this music which we created about 3 years ago, which is actually a very long time, especially considering that we didn't keep up with it. I am back in Taiwan now, and so everybody is in a different place. Still, I treasure these few pieces that serve as footprints to what life felt like in our adolescence, the things we valued the most. And I admit that I am still dreaming of a life grounded in arts, musics, and simply doing the things that you love to do... If all else fails, then at least having my own bar and having other people perform, play music or theater. And - why not in Taiwan?<br />These two songs are called "Phürditsch" and "The Fine Art of Balancing Nine-Inch Squared Balls (In One Hand, While Standing on the Other)", they are not the best we wrote but were easiest to record at the time when I was about to leave the country for Taiwan in 2006.<br /><br />這是我之前在德國之樂團的兩首歌,style 大概可以描寫是後搖滾樂或所謂 Emo,可是我們卻沒有歌手。 樂團名稱 margaret's hope,這個名字來自我以前喝過的印度紅茶,產生地田就叫為 margaret's hope,好像以前老闆娘之名字。 我只覺得名字聼起來很不錯,而且讓聽者想到 "Margaret 是誰呢? 是不是因爲失戀而寫歌?" 呵呵。<br />我很希望你們會喜歡,歡迎留言! 我也很想繼續做音樂,不過我正在臺灣, 其他樂團員都住不同的地方,事實期望不能太正式。<br />兩首名稱為 "Phürditsch" (不是真字,我們亂寫我們德文方言一個説法,意思大概翻成 "For You") 和 "The Fine Art of Balancing Nine-Inch Squared Balls" (開始的吉他 riff 我在瑞典想出來的,而夜裏時不斷地彈,也許腦死我的室友 ;)。<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="470" height="36" id="divplaylist"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9415931-db4&new_design=true"><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9415931-db4&new_design=true" width="470" height="36" name="divplaylist" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="470" height="36" id="divplaylist"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9415932-07c&new_design=true"><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9415932-07c&new_design=true" width="470" height="36" name="divplaylist" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object>Jacobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04566776175725734803noreply@blogger.com0