Ahn Sehong and the plight of the Korean comfort women in China

I just got back from seeing the photography exhibit by Ahn Sehong of Korean women who were used as sex slaves by the Japanese military, and were dumped on some barren field in China to fend off for themselves. Now in their 80’s and 90’s, Ahn Sehdong has captured their poverty and their sorrows in black-and-white images.

The exhibit is controversial in that right-wing Japanese are in denial about their shameful past. At the exhibit, they made a nuisance of themselves, speaking in loud voices and calling it “Korean propaganda.” One of them targeted a guard of Korean descent, and made faces at him showing hatred and anger. I admire the guard for keeping his dignity and not falling prey to the heckler’s aggression and provocations.

We had expected these right-wing hecklers to be the typical Japanese right-wingers: elderly, sometimes in military uniform, wearing a white band on the forehead or arm, and/or wearing some sort of military-looking cap on the head. But these were young people, so atypical right-winger, and we concluded that they were most probably paid to do an hour’s worth of heckling. We did notice one genuine protester, a man in his 60’s with a white band tied around each arm with an imprint of a red dot and some japanese characters. He spoke in a low voice to no one in particular. People around largely ignored him, but he was discretely and conspicuously protesting.

It is characteristic of the Japanese to shy away from controversy and anything that brings discomfort, and Nikon has reacted in typical Japanese form. Although Nikon had chosen to exhibit the works of Ahn Sehong, they have gone to court to have the exhibit terminated, bowing down to the heckling of right-wing illiterates.

We met with Ahn Sehdong before we left, congratulating him on his photo exhibit and encouraging him with our support in his endeavour to bring to the world’s attention, the plight of the Korean comfort women in China.

Ahn Sehong

Global Voices: Korean comfort woman photo exhibit sabotaged

Taiwan president Ma urges Japan to apologize for using sex slaves during WWII (10 December 2012)

 

Going the Way of the Conqueror and the Conquered

Sail forth and rule the world! and so the old Masters had ordered. The nations conquered became colonies of the colonialists. Let’s mention a few of them: Singapore, Hong Kong, and Burma were under the British Empire; Nova Scotia in Canada, Louisiana, and the West Indies under France; and from one of the largest Empires, Spain had the Philippines, Mexico and some African states.

While these states have become independent nations, with its native population in control of their government, there were other types of “sailing forth” and not for the reason of “rule the world.”

We all know our history that Columbus, in search of a different route to India, came across America. The native American Indians, whose land it was, were decimated and became secondary citizens on their own land.

Occurring in another part of the world, Great Britain’s search for a far-away place to dump its social ingrates, decided on Australia. The Aborigines, whose land it was, likewise became secondary citizens to a population of inmates of Britain’s prisons.

Present day “sailing forth” has come to be defined as exploitation of a nation’s natural resources. This we see in America’s exploitation of oil-rich nations.

But there is an insidious “third sailing forth” — not a sanctioned incursion by foreign governments, but rather, an economic incursion by individual people. They do not mobilize themselves in groups. They come on their own as economic immigrants.

One nation has done just that to a sovereign country. What is surprising is that the sovereign country is absolutely unaware of the incursion that has happened.

You see, what the conquering people did was to look for a nation of lazy people, who are content with the bones thrown at them, never wishing to improve their lot. They found it and its people have long been characterised as indolent, which they blame on religion (come what may, Someone is looking after me) and the heat of the sun.

Unfortunately for this lazy nation, they are also dis-united, by language* and culture. Their culture was destroyed by the first conquering Empire, who also kept them illiterate and taught them to be subservient. This Empire was then followed by a second one, more aptly described as an exploiter rather than an empire, who taught them english and to be beholden to their power.

The conquering people integrated, but they still kept their culture and their history. They continued to speak their native tongue among themselves in the conquered country, while speaking the conquered nation’s own. They excelled in private enterprise. They are leaders, not followers.

The conquering people then took over the economy. Two** of the three billionaires of this nation are from this conquering people. The third billionaire*** is from another country. There are no indigenous billionaires. The conquering people have become leaders in almost every sector of the conquered nation’s economy.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, the conquering people here are the Chinese, and the conquered nation is the Republic of the Philippines. They are called Filipino-Chinese, but they are Chinese all the same.

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* Between 100-150 languages and dialects spoken
** Henry Sy (US$3.1Billion), Lucio Tan (US$1.5Billion)
*** Jaime Zobel de Ayala (US$1.2Billion)

Millionaires:
Andrew Tan US$700M
Tony Tan Caktiong US$690M
John Gokongwei US$680M
Eduardo Cojuanco US$610M

 

Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist is a documentary film that accurately describes the historical politicization of religion, the clever creation and manipulation of events, and for what grand purpose these serve for controlling society in the way it thinks and behaves in order to enrich the powerful.

Part I: What the Bible is, What Religion Is, and Who is Jesus Christ
Part II: The 9/11 Lies and the Realities
Part III: The Financial Element Behind the Power

Zeitgeist: Statement, Sources, Interactive Transcripts

 

The Anunnaki: Those From Heaven Who Came to Earth

Six thousand years ago, a great civilisation was born. They were the Sumerians, who lived in what is now modern-day Iraq. Zecharia Sitchin discovered through their ancient texts, that humankind was created by extra-terrestrial beings, the Anunnaki, who come from a 12th planet, which Sumerians called Nibiru. The book of Genesis in the Bible is based on Sumerian narratives.

X-Facts Research
The Official Website of Zecharia Sitchin
Sumerian Origin of Humans

 

Live

People who have been given love, education, and everything necessary to succeed in life — why are many of them failures? They go into drugs, religious cults, and listen all day to music in ear-piercing volume. And people who have nothing to begin with, and have experienced hell — why do many of them succeed?

You need meaning in your life. You need a purpose. Whether it be getting out of the rat-hole you’re in, or defeating monsters from your past, you need focus, you need to find an objective for your life.

You must grow. Grow up. You can do extra-ordinary things. You must think for yourself, believe in yourself. You must make a difference.

Your life is yours to create. Take responsibility for who you are. Live.

 

The Asch Conformity Experiment: The Necessity of Doing What You Know is Right

In 1951, Solomon Asch conducted an experiment in which subjects were asked which line best matched the reference line in a series of diagrams. Among the participants in the experiment, only one was the test subject. When the non-test subjects gave the wrong answer, the test subject did likewise, in spite of the answer being obviously incorrect. Asch concluded that group or social pressure can distort your own judgment.

The results of this experiment have wide implications. One stark example is the democratic election process:

In many countries, the majority of the electorate is composed of the politically-illiterate and in many cases, they are also ignorant and uneducated. One case was when the French voted “No” in a referendum to ratify the EU Constitution. The majority of the voters in the “No” camp were farmers and the working classes. Those with higher education and those earning above-average incomes voted “Yes.”

Another case was when the Filipinos voted Joseph Estrada for President. An actor with a high school diploma, he had absolutely no qualification as leader of a nation. But the poor and uneducated, which comprise the majority of the Filipino electorate, propelled him into power only because of his popularity as an actor.

The precedent was perhaps set by the actor Ronald Reagan in the United States, the Philippines being a puppet of that first-world nation. Some people say that if simple-minded Americans were disqualified from voting (among other things that need to be de-merited like biased news-reports, propaganda and corporate lobbies), Bush and Cheney would have never been allowed to destroy the good standing of America in the world (although anti-Americanism had begun way before, the current Administration only made it worse).

The popularity of an incorrect answer does not necessarily represent the truth; nor must it allow the distortion of what you know to be right, because the majority is not always right. So while the rest of the population, the minority, stand seemingly helpless in the face of the incorrectness of a situation, will you shrug your shoulders and accept it?

Band-Aid Democracy

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Click on the diagram above to watch a short film of the Asch experiment. Also see: The Power of the Situation

Also see: The Engineering of Consent

 

The Sacred Lottery of Life

At the Asakusa Temple, I watched the Japanese waving incense smoke on their face, ringing the temple bell, tossing a coin in a wooden chest, clapping their hands twice. Then I saw them drawing bamboo sticks from a silver rectangular box. What was that all about?

I looked around for a suitable Japanese passer-by, someone likely to speak english. A young man in a tee-shirt with a backpack slung over one shoulder, possibly a university student seemed probable. I approached him and he told me that the sticks were a sort of sacred lottery for messages from the gods regarding one’s future. After paying ¥100 for the bamboo straw and taking a sheet of paper from the designated drawer indicated by the character on the bamboo stick, I asked him to translate it for me.

He read the sheet of paper and told me that my dreams will come true; that I will have children; that if I study, I will pass the entrance exams; and that I will have a boyfriend, if I’m not too demanding. I frowned, which did not go unnoticed by my translator. Four of the predictions had already happened. What about the fifth? Will my dreams really come true?

He then said in halting but good english that if I considered my lot in life a misfortune, I should tie the paper to a tree branch, so that bad luck wouldn’t follow me home.

No, I replied, there was nothing in it that was unfortunate; only that I could dream of winning the jumbo lottery. Do you think that will come true? I asked.

A big smile came across his face and he started to chortle as he walked away. I watched his receding back and wondered if most Japanese believe in these messages from their gods.

 

Solutions to Philippine Corruption

If you have had to deal with government offices, you will find the entire staff from the lowest to the highest rank, would need a slip of a few wad of bills under the table for documents to be signed and papers to be processed efficiently. It is the most despicable form of corruption, a precedent set by Ferdinand Marcos who required a percentage from contracts from both the private and corporate sectors in order to pen his signature for their approval.

Corruption is systemic and culturally ingrained in Philippine society. It is pervasive not only in government but in the private sector as well. But to set an example to those who practice it, we should first initiate reforms with the government. And to lop off a malignant cancer that has spread, a simple nick will not do.

Lay-off the entire staff and hire in their place, those with a knowledge of how government should be run: fresh graduates, idealists to begin with, from the nation’s best universities. It has been done before, in France.

France has superior schools specialised in forming the top executives of their nation. Entries to these schools are very competitive, making sure that intelligent and capable individuals head top posts in the country’s private and public sectors, thus providing its youth with a national objective.

So after the war, France entrusted these young leaders with the responsibility for their economy. Their dynamism and innovative ideas changed France from a sluggish pre-war country to the progressive nation it is today. The Philippine educational system has to be reformed.

It would not need a war, as when France’s population was decimated by it. All that would require is a strong leadership to decimate the malignancy and clean the stables of government.

But the solution to corruption is not as simple as that. The government must increase the salaries of the public sector. An example for this is Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yu raised the salaries of the government staff with a warning that if they should be caught in the practice of corruption, they will be dealt with severely. The Philippines must do the same, but not with the existing staff. Corruption among these people are so ingrained not only in their pyche, but in the very depths of their being. They must all be removed.

And finally and more importantly, to have a less corrupt future generation of Filipinos, ethics and civic-mindedness should be taught in elementary and high school. When the Catholic Church cannot instil moral values, there must be other ways to do so.

The present anti-corruption department of the government has no teeth. Corruption remains as rampant as ever, and only a drastic solution is critical to a desperate problem.
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Foreign traders: Philippines most corrupt in Asia: Foreign businessmen see the Philippines as Asia’s most corrupt economy, a new survey shows, but the Palace yesterday rejected the suggestion that it has failed to tackle corruption.

In a grading system with zero as the best possible score and 10 the worst, the Philippines got 9.40, dropping to the bottom of a list of 13 countries, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy said.

Why Politicians Become Corrupt