This is another example of what Marx meant when he said that the ruling
ideas are the ideas of the ruling class and how the ruling class ensures
that it will be that way.
On 10/22/2017 11:28 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
When I was about 13 years old, 1948,there was a big fight between the
Teamster Union and the Aero Mechanics Union over the control of Boeing
Aircraft Company workers.
I read some of the articles in the Seattle Times, and asked my dad why
anyone would want to work under the control of corrupt unions.
According to the paper, both unions were riddled with Commies and
Gangsters. Boeing, according to those reports, was being held for
ransom. My dad asked me if I knew who owned the news paper? We
checked it out and learned it was part of a nationally owned company
of newspapers. He asked me if I knew how the company paid for the
papers that appeared at our door each afternoon. I said I thought we
paid each month to the paper boy. Dad showed me how much of the cost
our subscription covered, and how many ads the paper needed to sell in
order to cover the rest of the costs. Dad reminded me that the
advertisers were also very often large corporations with a vested
interest in maintaining their control over their employees. Finally
Dad asked me if I knew the reason the Times printed a paper at all.
I said that it was putting out the paper in order to get the news to
the people. Dad said that the Times put out a daily paper in order to
make a profit. In order to do this, they had to provide a format to
advertisers wanting to sell their products. So the paper is owned by
a corporation, selling advertisement to other corporations, and
presenting an editorial page that supports the corporations.
"Where" Dad asked me, "do you see the editorial page for the Labor Unions?"
That day I learned for the first time, what Alternative News was. We
didn't call it that back then. Nor was the term, Fake News bandied
about. And most certainly we did not have Propaganda in our Free
Nation. Propaganda was what the Bad guys, like the Soviet Union used
in order to keep their citizens ignorant.
So just in my lifetime the American People have been fed a steady diet
of "Alternative News". And it gets worse. As radio and Television
spread across the Land, they were mostly owned by large corporations.
Small town stations were soon bought out by national conglomerates,
and used to promote product. Even so, a whisper campaign went
around, accusing the Media of being Liberal. Personally, I find that
funny. If I were the owner of a national broadcasting corporation
dependent on advertising for my existence, I would be insulted to
think that I'd allowed Liberals into my studios.
And here we are again. Donald Trump screams that our Media is
peddling Fake News, and we all jump around like a room full of
Ninnies. But then, why not? We are the product of years of Fake
News, shaping our mushy brains.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/21/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There are a lot of captions to photographs, but they are very informative,
even if we can't see the actual photographs. You get a very different
picture of North Korea from that given by the mass media.
Miriam
The North Korea Neither Trump Nor Western Media Wants The World To See
By Eva Bartlett, www.mintpressnews.com
October 20th, 2017
Above Photo: From mintpressnews.com
What we hardly ever see in articles on North Korea is the human side, some
of the faces among the 25 million people at risk of being murdered or
maimed
by an American-led attack. I was part of a small delegation that visited
the
DPRK, with the intent of hearing from Koreans themselves about their
country
and history.
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, or DPRK) is one of the least understood and most lied about
countries
on Earth. In Western corporate media renditions, most news about the
country
is alarmist (of "the North Koreans want to kill you" type), fake ("all men
have to have the same haircut," a story originating from Washington
itself),
or about the North's military.
Accounts of the nation's military prowess and threat generally ignore (as
noted here) the presence of the 28,500 U.S. troops occupying South Korea,
their 38 military installations, and more recently their Terminal
High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea - "a U.S. radar
system opposed by the Korean people, in the North and South, as well as
China."
On September 19, 2017, in the forum of the United Nations General Assembly,
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to "totally destroy" North Korea.
This is not the first time threats against the DPRK have been issued. Colin
Powell in 1995 threatened to turn North Korea into "a charcoal briquette"
and in 2013 reiterated that threat to "destroy" the country.
Not broadcast in corporate media is the fact that America had already
annihilated North Korea, destroying the capital city, Pyongyang, and cities
around the country, with 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of
Napalm - indeed turning the North into a 'charcoal briquette'.
Retired U.S. General Curtis E. LeMay, who headed the Strategic Air Command
during that earlier war, said that they had "burned down every town in
North
Korea." In LeMay's words, "Over a period of three years or so we killed
off,
what, 20 percent of the population of Korea, as direct casualties of war or
from starvation and exposure?"
Also omitted in news on North Korea are the criminal sanctions against the
North, enforced since 1950, making even more difficult the efforts to
rebuild following decimation. The sanctions are against the people,
affecting all sectors of life (as humorously noted in this clip). Yet, in
spite of all odds, the country maintains an enviable health system. As
Professor Michel Chossudovsky noted: "North Korea's health system is the
envy of the developing world." And, according to World Health Organization
Director General Margaret Chan, North Korea has "no lack of doctors and
nurses."
Further obfuscated in Western reporting are the simulated attacks (what
America euphemistically calls 'war games') on North Korea twice a year.
Involving "hundreds of thousands of troops." As researcher and author
Stephen Gowans noted, "It is never clear to the North Korean military
whether the U.S.-directed maneuvers are defensive exercises or preparations
for an invasion."
A purposeful and familiar crime against reality
The absurdly cartoonish "news" one hears in Western media about North Korea
is meant to detract from America's past and current crimes against the
Korean people, and to garner support for yet another American-led slaughter
of innocent people.
The stories are designed to vilify the leadership and provide no context,
while completely ignoring the North Korean perspective. This is standard
operating procedure with respect to countries like Syria, Libya, Venezuela,
Cuba, and wherever America and its allies have set their sights on
establishing control (and military bases). As historian Bruce Cumings
wrote:
The demonization of North Korea transcends party lines, drawing on a host
of
subliminal racist and Orientalist imagery; no one is willing to accept that
North Koreans may have valid reasons for not accepting the American
definition of reality."
We are meant to believe that the North Korean leader is a maniac,
inexplicably hell-bent on bombing America. Utterly deleted from the story
is
the fact that North Koreans have a different perspective: the right to a
deterrent against yet another U.S. annihilation of their country. The right
to self-defense.
In response to Trump's threats of annihilation, DPRK Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Ri Yong Ho, on September 23, stated:
The United States is the country that first produced nuclear weapons and
the
only country that actually used them, massacring hundreds of thousands of
innocent civilians. It is the U.S. that threatened to use nuclear weapons
against the DPRK during the Korean war in the 1950s, and first introduced
nuclear weapons into the Korean peninsula after the war.
.The very reason the DPRK had to possess nuclear weapons is because of the
U.S. and it had to strengthen and develop its nuclear force to the current
level to cope with the U.S."
North Koreans as seen through a visitor's lens
Propaganda and history aside, what we hardly ever see in articles on North
Korea is the human side, some of the faces among the 25 million people at
risk of being murdered or maimed by an American-led attack.
From August 24 to 31, 2017, I was part of a three-person delegation that
independently visited the DPRK, with the intent of hearing from Koreans
themselves about their country and history.
As it turned out, we heard also about their wishes for reunification with
the South, their past efforts towards that goal, their desire for peace,
but
their refusal to be destroyed again. Following are snapshots and videos
from
my week in the country, with an effort to show the people and some of the
impressive infrastructure and developments that corporate media almost
certainly will never show.
Impact of U.S. travel ban on unfiltered views of North Korea
My visit coincided with the impending U.S. travel ban to the DPRK, which
came into effect one day after I left the country.
As a dual citizen holding Canadian and U.S. citizenship, I can still choose
to return to the DPRK after September 2017 on my Canadian passport.
However,
for Americans, the ban means they will only in limited instances be
permitted to travel to the DPRK. The U.S. State Department advisory notes:
"Persons who wish to travel to North Korea on a U.S. passport after that
time must obtain a special passport validation under 22 C.F.R. 51.64, and
such validations will be granted only under very limited circumstances."
While the U.S. pretends that the travel ban is for the safety of U.S.
citizens, the same advisory contains this threat:
Using a U.S. passport in violation of these restrictions could result in
criminal penalties. In addition, the Department may revoke a passport used
in violation of these restrictions."
This wording reveals that the intent of the ban is far more likely to
prevent the American public from seeing the human face, and positive
aspects, of the DPRK.
Indeed, in an August 2017 Forbes essay on North Korea, amid the predictable
Western rhetoric were surprising admissions of truths:
Pyongyang looks much more like a normal city than 25 years ago. Then there
were no private cars and few government ones. I wondered why they bothered
with traffic lights. Today there is traffic. It's not much by U.S. (or
Chinese!) standards. But there's no longer the ghostly sense of empty
boulevards. .Visitors on longer tours with more guides often have more
meaningful informal interaction with "real" North Koreans. It's one of the
reasons I believe banning travel to the North is foolish and
counterproductive."
For more photos and videos from the DPRK, please see my Facebook album and
my Youtube playlist, and watch my conversation with the creators of the
satirical documentary, "The Haircut, a North Korean Adventure."
The Mangyongdae Children's Palace in Pyongyang is a sprawling
extra-curricular facility offering children lessons in sports, dance and
music (Korean and non), foreign languages, science, computers, calligraphy
and embroidery, and more. Around 5,000 children daily attend this facility.
They may indeed be the most talented children in Pyongyang and
surroundings,
but encouraging the growth of talent is something done worldwide. Unlike in
many Western nations, in the DPRK lessons are free of charge.
nations, in the DPRK lessons are free of charge.
The Pyongyang International Football School opened in 2013. The complex
includes a massive stadium and a school teaching all subjects, with
football
as a focus for the roughly 200 students. Different classes practiced their
skills outside, doing warm-up drills to energetic music. When years ago I
lived in Korea's south, practicing Tae Kwan Do I warmed-up to similar
drills.
Students at the Mangyongdae Children's Palace playing the traditional
Korean
instrument, the kayagun. Listen to their performance here.
In Pyongyang Middle School. Students spoke in English of the universal
desire for peace, one girl urging people to struggle for peace. On the
issue
of North Korea's weapons, one teenage boy said: "We make intercontinental
ballistic rockets, not for invading other countries but for our national
defense. To protect one's country, the country must have a powerful
defense."
To my questions about the U.S. sanctions, a girl replied: "The sanctions
are
not fair, our people have done nothing wrong to the USA." Another boy spoke
of the silence around America's use of nuclear bombs on civilians: "Why do
people all over the world give us sanctions? Why just us? Why can't we put
sanctions on the U.S.? It's not fair, it's totally wrong."
In a hallway in the Middle School, a poster encourages students to alert
authorities if they come across unexploded ordnance (UXOs). Our host, Kim
Song-Nam, said: "We're still discovering old bombs, for example when we dig
to lay the foundation for a building." This article noted the discovery of
nearly 400 UXOs near an elementary school playground, that farmers
periodically come across UXOs, and that the cleanup period may take longer
than 100 years. At the Pyongyang War Museum, we learned: "There were
400,000
people in Pyongyang, and they dropped more bombs than that on the city."
428,000 bombs, according to the museum guide.
the Pyongyang War Museum, we learned: "There were 400,000 people in
Pyongyang, and they dropped more bombs than that on the city." 428,000
bombs, according to the museum guide.
Students playing football outside the Middle School.
Pyongyang's Science and Technology Center, completed in 2015, is an
expansive structure heated by geothermal energy, and with drip
irrigation-watered live grass on inside walls. Its more than 3,000
computers
are solar powered, the library has books in 12 foreign languages, and a
long-distance learning program enables people from around the country to
study and earn a degree equivalent to that of in-university studies. Watch
a
tour of the center.
Watch a tour of the center.
Student in the aquarium section of Pyongyang's zoo. While the zoo was
well-maintained, by far most interesting was watching the human
interactions, from schoolchildren to adults. Koreans returned our smiles
with deep, genuine smiles.
A group of schoolgirls pause for a portrait photo at Pyongyang's zoo.
The Okryu Children's Hospital is a six-story, 300-bed facility across from
Pyongyang's towering maternity hospital. U.S. sanctions on the DPRK prevent
further entry of machines like the pictured CT scan. While defiantly proud
of the health care system, Dr. Kim Un-Song spoke of her anger as a mother:
"This is inhumane and against human rights. Medicine children need is under
sanctions."
The Children's Hospital provides classes to inpatient children to continue
their studies while in hospital.
Dr. So-Yung (60) works in the tele-consultation department of the
Children's
Hospital. "We have contacts with provincial-level and county-level
hospitals, mostly about children's diseases or illnesses. When they have
difficulties with diagnoses, they request consultations from this
hospital,"
he explained. "I cannot suppress my anger about the sanctions imposed by
the
U.S. and other countries. Yet, generally, it doesn't affect our health
system. We have a solid health system, we are giving proper treatment to
people and are producing our own medicines."
health system, we are giving proper treatment to people and are producing
our own medicines."
While walking up a path to the Pakyong Waterfall, over 100 km south of
Pyongyang, I met a group of men and women grilling meat over a fire. At the
waterfall, other picnickers ate grilled meat, fish, boiled eggs, kimbap
("Korean sushi"), and kimchi (fermented vegetables), drinking beer and soju
(alcoholic drink). Having lived in South Korea, this scene is one I saw
countless times along the sea or in the mountains. While walking up a path
to the Pakyong Waterfall, over 100 km south of Pyongyang, I met a group of
men and women grilling meat over a fire. At the waterfall, other picnickers
ate grilled meat, fish, boiled eggs, kimbap ("Korean sushi"), and kimchi
(fermented vegetables), drinking beer and soju (alcoholic drink). Having
lived in South Korea, this scene is one I saw countless times along the sea
or in the mountains. Watch clips here and here.
sushi"), and kimchi (fermented vegetables), drinking beer and soju
(alcoholic drink). Having lived in South Korea, this scene is one I saw
countless times along the sea or in the mountains. Watch clips here and
here.
Beneath a tree near the waterfall, soldiers took turns being photographed
with the waterfall as a backdrop. Later, they repeated at the waterfall.
Beneath a tree near the waterfall, soldiers took turns being photographed
with the waterfall as a backdrop. Later, they repeated at the waterfall.
Watch here.
A group of men sit and chat near the base of the waterfall.
North Korea has suffered harsh periods of drought and starvation. The
long-imposed brutal U.S. sanctions and destruction of the country don't
help
matters. Yet, traveling over a hundred kilometers south from Pyongyang, we
passed endless lush fields of corn and rice.
Plots of land surround houses in the Jangchon Cooperative Vegetable Farm.
Homes are equipped with solar water heaters, and use methane gas for
cooking. Song Myong-Oh moved with her husband from Kangnam county to the
farm. Outside their home grew eggplants, peppers, corn, and herbs. Of
America's threats against North Korea she said: "Although we don't want
war,
we are not afraid of the US."
Inside the child-care center of the Jangchon Cooperative Farm. The
cooperative also includes a cultural center for meetings and events, and
rows of greenhouses.
At the Kaeson Youth Amusement Park inside the city one night, I interacted
with people and tried out some of the rides. The park was packed with
families and children, including a group of 14-year-olds who had visited
multiple times. A schoolteacher from Nampo City said she frequently brings
her students to visit. A young man next to me on one of the rides filmed
with his mobile. With an entrance fee of 200 North Korean Won (about US
$0.22), the lines were long. Photo: A second amusement Park outside of
Pyongyang.
Under colonial Japanese rule, Pyongyang Silk Factory laborers worked in
unsanitary conditions. When Korea gained independence, conditions were
gradually modernized and improved. The present-day factory is clean and
well
lit, with water coolers throughout. The 1,600 workers work eight-hour
shifts, with financial incentives to those who exceed their quotas. A
nursery provides childcare, and unmarried women have accommodation on site,
with a cafeteria and sports and leisure areas.
Fruit stand seen in Pyongyang. Small stands this size also sell snack food,
sweets, water, sodas, beer, and ice cream.
A revolving bar and restaurant at the top of Yanggakdo Hotel overlooks a
modern, rebuilt city. The DPRK receives tourists from around the world -
especially China and Japan, but also South Koreans - and is continually
opening up areas for tourism. The potential for more American tourism was
recently stymied with the September 1, 2017 U.S. travel ban.
At Panmunjom, near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), one learns the North
Korean
side of history, including the over 8,400 ceasefire violations by the
United
States. One of many notable such violations was the espionage vessel, the
USS Pueblo, now on display outside Pyongyang's war museum. North Koreans on
several occasions proposed to have peace treaty talks, with "no positive
response from the U.S. side."
This is something former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has visited the
DPRK three times, confirmed - saying he had met with Kim Il-Sung in 1994
"in
a time of crisis, when he agreed to put all their nuclear programs under
strict supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and to seek
mutual agreement with the United States on a permanent peace treaty, to
have
summit talks with the president of South Korea." Carter maintained Kim
Jong-Il pledged he would honor these promises.
In a hall near the DMZ, photos depict 2000 and 2007 meetings between North
and South discussing reunification, as well as the support of the people in
both South and North. Our guide at Panmunjom noted: "On July 7, 1994, the
day before he died, President Kim Il-Sung was looking through documents
regarding reunification. He devoted his whole life to this."
Pyongyang's metro is a three-minute escalator ride below ground into a
series of marble stations with elaborate chandeliers and beautiful wall
paintings. Passengers ranged from well-dressed people, women in nice
dresses
and high heels, and others in casual blouses and slacks. Mosaics and
engravings depict scenes of farming, construction, factories, rebuilding.
Riding the metro costs the equivalent of a few cents. The tour group, Uri
Tours, writes that half a million people ride the subway daily. Watch a
clip
of the metro here.
million people ride the subway daily. Watch a clip of the metro here.
One of our hosts, Kim-Young, holding the flag of the DPRK. Behind her, the
Juche tower, so-named after the dominant philosophy of self-reliance. Our
other host, Kim Song-Nam, explained: "The Juche philosophy was created by
President Kim Il-Sung. Man decides his own destiny, we rely on our own
resources."
