Sanders: The Red Herring that Swam Upstream

I saw an example of an artist's photo shop that showed a beheaded Hilary Clinton with her daughter looking like a zombie, her husband cuddling another woman, and sent it to my friend that regularly sends photo shop mock-ups of Trump and his supporters. He was offended and asked me never to send that to him again.. I think the Clinton mock-up is as nasty as some my friend has sent of Trump beheaded or with bloody hands, and  I don't condone or share those photos on my Facebook page. I am an Industrial Worker of the World and care for all workers' rights, not American politics.  I  agree with direct action solutions such as boycotts, strikes, and job actions, and I believe that racist bootlickers must be met in the street to defend workers' rights. The tearing down of statues is foolish ; Washington and who else wasn't a racist American "Father"?

A return to business-as-usual two-party state, even without the antics of this fool, Trump, is not the solution for getting living wages for all; something not addressed by either party. My concern is the welfare of my children and friends who are still of working age in the U.S. 

If someone thinks a return to politics with a Democrat as president, will help workers, they are mistaken. 

Bernie Sanders can say whatever he wants, but the fact is, he blew the chance to do something to help the people of America; he's as much to blame as the Democratic Party for giving in when he should have been standing up. 

Let's look for a real socialist who can bore into the system and have a chance. Sanders is a red herring

Put yourself in Bernie's place. If I were near the pinnacle of power to represent the socialist sway of American politics, environmentalism and decency in living wage... If I knew I had followers and platform there was a campaign against me that would result in a neo-liberal or fool into the White House, would I have given up and said, ":I will play by the rules?" No. Sanders was certainly as guilty as the Democratic party because he went along with the Democratic Party. Don't waste any time resurrecting this red herring that swam upstream and spawned nothing. Find a new socialist, or social democrat that can lead the U.S. out of imperialism and capitalism.

 A socialist system isn't the way you think it is; Bernie is no Socialist and won't upset the apple cart of US politics. It's the lack of funds due to defense spending against imperialist states like the U.K., France, and USA why socialist nations haven't had a chance to take root. Bernie won't stop that. 

Castro led an island under siege but still managed to have equality of its people and enough doctors to send to help countries with disasters. Bernie couldn't do that. A controlled economy that has all the people's best interests at heart is what governments are for. Bernie couldn't do that, either. 

 Both you nor I have lived in socialist or  states but I met many Russian and Chinese ex-pats in NY; they confirm that many people in Russia and China wish socialism was back. They refuted U.S. propaganda that there were no bread or toilet paper. Collective decision making and workplaces, run by the people, 
made many happy. Bernie could never do that in the U.S. 

 As we see social services dwindling in capitalist countries burdened with IMF/WTO/NAFTA loans that the common people had no choice in making, we can see how important collective decision making is and how the capitalist governments have let their constituents down. Meanwhile, China's wages and living standard are increasing after the Western Boycott; Vietnam is recovering after a hundred years of colonialism as are many nations in South America and Africa. They have chosen socialists, not "Social Democrats" as Bernie likes to call himself.  In the case of Cuba and Venezuela, they have chosen to have a single party to ward off interference and subterfuge from the U.S. corporations that hates to give up easy money, slave wages, and plundered natural resources. No politician in the U,S, can dio that without a mass workers' movement and revolution. Bernie is no Che Guevera. 

 I did a lot of research about Germany between 1918 and 1924. I am certain that the Nazi's wouldn't have come to power if the capitalists hadn't backed them and slaughtered socialist instead. The history of capitalism is exploitation and the propaganda machine that deludes people to go against their class interest. Bernie Sanders is a red herring; he is part of the system that spawned him. 

Forget about political "choice" in the U.S. There is only one solution to the quagmire: Workers organize collectively. The people united will never be defeated.  

Taiwanese Know Who Wrote the Book on Meddling

"Open Treason" eh? "A groveling President Trump," eh? "Not meddling in the election was persuasive" eh? New York's Democratic tabloid mouthpiece, a real champion of the common people, says "Trump backs enemy Putin over U.S. Intel." Well, how about that? 

So important is the news that the Daily News put it on the cover, with a cartoon, and pages 6-8 and 22; is that before or after the soccer finals? I read that treason is the only charge that would have him and his VP and entire cabinet removed, but Americans still get to keep all the sellout senators and congressmen, and governors and mayors and judges. The revolution will not be broadcasted or put on the cover of the Daily News; to save the union for push-me pull-you Democrats or mid-term elections is not a good substitute for complete regime change, and that don't come without blood; nyet.

Ruskies couldn't care less what an oligarchy does and the USA wrote the book; after all, capitalism defeated socialism in the USSR, not the other way around. The allies defeated Fascism  because their fascism was more enduring.  I'll take a slow vote to China and ride the Silk Road back to Belarus. Any way we look at it, the people united will never be defeated and this is just another splint rail in the ax swing. I'm sticking with the union and the spirits of socialism to rise again worldwide. 

"US has intervened in foreign elections for decades, including leaking stolen documents. . . nations regularly try to influence elections and this is nothing new for the United States, either as the culprit or as the target of such efforts.”Jonathan Turley

In Taiwan, Trump is seen as a dangerous clown by most, especially China supporters, and as royalty by the American leaning business community; I guess being a liar and ignorant is as much a privilege of the rich as sexual harassment of women is; there is plenty of that here. However, most people understand how the U.S. has divided people; they applauded the reapproachment of North and South Korea for regional stability, some out of jealousy that this reunification could happen between Taiwan and China, too. They sense how detrimental the U.S. is to its own people and to world peace. 

It is a pleasure reading The Boxer Rebellion by D. Preston. It is fun reading about how the Christian missionaries and carpetbaggers got their asses whipped at the turn of the 20^th century. It set a precedent for China to take back its sovereignty from the European and American Imperialists, though not fast enough for the Japanese that had to pick up the slack until after WWII when America and France tried to take it back supporting their fascist puppets in civil wars with the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese Communists. The fight goes on. China is the only power keeping the U.S./NATO from domination of the world economically and socially through the cult of death: Christianity.

The meme I posted a few days ago, “One of the luxuries of living in Taiwan is not having to see Trump” got a number of thumbs-up, but one local scalawag quipped that was only until China made a deal with Trump for hotel rights; I replied I would check in if that happened. My point is that aside from independence for Taiwan, autonomy with China is better for the working class here than dependency on the U.S.with a racist, neo-liberal two-party facade of democracy. 

www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com

 Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Rainbow Gathering Paints Taiwan Black In Bloom

          In Bloom, which calls itself “an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific,” posted an article in its June 2018 issue by its editor, Brian Hioe, entitled “After Huashan Murder, Attempts to Scapegoat Creatives on Pitt and in Taiwanese Media” pandering to what it calls “the wake of the Sunflower Movement.” Let’s get this straight: there was no Sunflower Movement to have a wake from; there was no tsunami from co-opted youth used to do the Democratic Progressive Party’s bidding before the 2015 Taiwan presidential election (see my blog article,  This Stinking Taiwan Kettle of Fish)

          That being said, the In Bloom article is not wrong in highlighting what is a major problem in Confucian societies in Asia: misogyny. The “top-down” philosophy that has been the crux of disempowerment to youth and the poor, and has marginalized women since the dawn of society, in feudal, communist, and capitalist ruling classes is not, as Hioe says, in opposition to “a group of artists and young people [who] applied for use of the space from the city government, forming something like a small artists’ commune.” This 'commune' is an unorganized hodge-podge lending itself to chaos and eventual top-down re-creation. Hioe, editor of In Bloom, does not himself obey collective decision making at his own on-line magazine, as he may be wont to admit. But this is not my point. My point is that a self-described ‘family’ of privileged drifters that call themselves “Rainbow Gathering” descended onto Taiwan in the spring and chose to share Hioe’s article on their Facebook page to defend themselves from such criticism; they throw their lot with In Bloom in pointing the blame for the murder at Taiwanese men, exonerating themselves. Of course, they don't mention the low wages of over-worked men or the financial demands put on them in love relationships. 
The "In Bloom" article Rainbow Gathering posted:

The tragedy of the murder and dismemberment a 30-year-old woman named Gao occurring in the 120 Grassroots Self-Autonomous Zone should be taken for what it is; a deranged young man, perhaps drunk with male entitlement, perhaps just drunk, and the reaction of horrified Taiwanese, not to place the blame on the small group of youth, as Hioe thinks, but on lun-chi-ba-zhao living in general; where there are no rules, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, in the public’s collective mind. There is no reason to get defensive or call youth scapegoats for a problem that is prevalent worldwide so long as a natural laissez-faire goes unguided, indeed rewarded, by society. But, again, this is not my point. Let me get back to the Taiwan Rainbow Gathering Facebook page administrator’s posting Hioe’s article while questioning my submission to the page, a submission that didn’t jive with his group’s self-image.
My article that Rainbow Gathering refused to post:

All through the spring I watched as privileged pilgrims, polluting the skies and earth, got lost finding the way to a chaotic gathering in Taiwan, for some reason, chosen by organizers. The jet-set pilgrims couldn't find the location up to the advertised start of the gathering because of the lack of 'consensus,' as they call the substitute for egalitarian democracy. Some guy named Jacobsen seemed to be running the show and was the man behind approving a half dozen poems I had written and shared with the site. Even after the Gathering disbanded, the site stayed up. A few days ago, I shared an article I wrote about my experiences with Taiwanese youth who were practicing English by learning how to improve the city, organize society, and become activists. Instead of winning approval, the content of the article was deemed “unrelated” to the Gathering by its new Facebook page administrator, some guy named Brian Alexander, whose main job is being an entrepreneur for some start-up English “radio” program called “Funshine.” Twice, he asked me to defend my posting the article, so I did, explaining that it was about how the youth in Taiwan could learn to deal with life in the city on their way to collective decision making and even communal living. Alexander had made up his mind, autonomously, not by consensus. My article wasn’t posted and I was removed from the Facebook group for defending my post!

I demand my poems of promise be removed from the Taiwan Rainbow Gathering Facebook page.

I have written a poem to celebrate the folk who deal with real life and shun the dreaming delusion of Rainbow Gatherings. Every English reader in Taiwan, and soon first-language speakers, will know how In Bloom and Rainbow Gathering blamed them for misogyny when the police removed a similar gathering after a person was murdered and dismembered there. That article was deemed relevant to Rainbow Gathering Facebook page; how vindictive and childish.

The public should note, "Funshine" English Radio, is run by such an outlook and will, by association, suffer lose in listener-ship from indignant Taiwanese who see the true color upheld by permitting a slur against Taiwanese in deference to communal living.

By blocking the dissemination of solutions for a true course for children to deal with city life, Taiwan Rainbow Gathering's administrator perpetuates the problem of top-down decision making.

 The poem:

the family gathers over the rainbow of Taiwan

high above the yellow horde proletariat of Hualien

black undertones of misogynist blame

privileged drifters' vengeful claim

permitting posting on their page for distaste

left on Taiwanese lips for the dismemberment waste

surely it was one of the sick Taiwanese men

and not one of the colorful among them...

democracy replaced by vague consensus

backpacking new-agers shouldering expenses

smoke screening cigarettes allowing pretenses

banned canine unleashing exclusions

for the primitive pleasure of field defecation

a tax and fee free squatting vacation

leaving jet fuel traces in the wake

leaving litter and bitterness in what they take

leaving the urban world for squalor

should visit a ghetto and leave a dollar

or better yet school young innocence

on how to survive without paying red cents

instead of banning this brother for suggesting

it is better to learn survival than to be guesting

off charity and a collective pot

that ties societies into a knot

my green lovers of natural flow

sans raw meat that the paleo know

shun me not with your rainbow pout

come back to reality and work it out

www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com

 Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.