Tough Times Breed Nostalgia for Mao

Asia Times ^ | May 6, 2009 | Wu Zhong

[nickcarraway]

Although Mao Zedong died 33 years ago, the founding father of communist China seems to still be alive in the hearts of many Chinese.

A new wave of nostalgia for the late chairman is sweeping the nation ahead of the 60th birthday of People's Republic of China (PRC) and amid the global financial crisis. The leader, who led the PRC from its establishment until his death in 1976, is surging though his brand of socialism has long been officially abandoned and there has been criticism of "serious mistakes" such as the Cultural Revolution.

Chingming is a traditional Chinese festival for the dead when families tend to the graves of their ancestors. It normally falls on

April 4-5 each year. During Chingming this year, tens of thousands of visitors flocked into Shaoshan, Mao's native village in Hunan province, to pay homage. According to Hong Kong's Ta Kung Pao daily, on April 2 alone at least 30,000 people from various places of the country visited Shaoshan.

The visitors ranged from retired party and government officials to primary and high school pupils. They first bowed and placed wreaths at a 10.1-meter-tall bronze statue of Mao erected in the village - the numerical figure 10.1 stands for October1, the date on which Mao declared the founding of the PRC in 1949. They then visited the mud-walled, clay-tile-roofed rural house where Mao was born. Many also went to pay tribute to the tombs of Mao's parents and ancestors near the village.

Another sign of growing nostalgia for Mao is the comeback in popularity of his Little RedBook among Chinese university students, according to a report by the France24 news channel.

SNIP

It found that 11.5% of the families surveyed had a shrine in their homes of Mao, in the form of a statue or bust.

[ClearCase_guy]

Sounds nice, but the Obama’s are going to stick with their man Che.

[ETL]

Although Mao Zedong died 33 years ago, the founding father of communist China seems to still be alive in the hearts of many Chinese.

From the Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam website, FinalCall.com...
Malik Zulu Shabazz, chairman of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (NBPP):
"We are happy today to be standing side by side with the Nation of Islam. We believe, like the Nation of Islam and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad believe, in a nation of our own. We believe in a Black first philosophy and a Black Liberation Theology. We don’t worry about the criticism. We love all of those who labored in the Panther Party from the ’60s. Many are with us today."
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_1858.shtml
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From the Maoist Internationist Movement:
[1960s/original] Black Panther Party [BPP] Archives
From the article: REVOLUTIONARY HEROES

"On May 1st, May Day [1969], the day of the gigantic Free Huey rally, two of Alioto's top executioners vamped on the brothers from the Brown Community who were attending to their own affairs. These brothers, who are endowed with the revolutionary spirit of the Black Panther Party defended themselves from the racist pig gestapo.

Pig Joseph Brodnik received his just reward with a big hole in the chest. Pig Paul McGoran got his in the mouth which was not quite enough to off him.

The revolutionary brothers escaped the huge swarm of pigs with dogs, mace, tanks and helicopters, proving once again that "the spirit of the people is greater than the man's technology."

To these brothers the revolutionary people of racist America want to say, by your revolutionary deed you are heroes, and that you are always welcome to our camp."

Source: Maoist Internationist Movement
Article: REVOLUTIONARY HEROS (May 11, 1969):

http://web.archive.org/web/20060717050055/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/bpp/index.html
________________________________________________________________________________

Millions More Movement rally
Washington D.C., October 15, 2005
Louis Farrakhan speech

Louis Farrakhan, at the Millions More Movement rally in DC, Oct 15, 2005: "...what Mao Tse Tung did was, he went to the cultural community, and they [Farrakhan spreads his arms beneficently] accepted his idea."... "Mao Tse Tung ... had a billion people whose lives he had to transform."..."the idea of Mao Tse Tung became the idea of a billion people, and China became a world power on the base of the culture and the arts community. If we had a ministry of art and culture in every city we'd create this movement [in the U.S.]."
Source: http://thedrunkablog.blogspot.com/2005/10/communist-plot-noted.html
_______________________________________________________

From Louis Farrakhan's "Nation Of Islam" website, FinalCall.com...
Re: Millions More Movement rally, Oct 15, 2005:

Unity generates power to change reality
By the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

"The time has never been more ripe for a strategic relationship between the Black, Brown, Native American and the poor of this nation and the world."

"We need a Ministry of Defense. Our young men are born soldiers, but they are in the wrong war. They are fighting a war in the streets of America against each other, or they are fighting an unjust war overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need to bring our boys home and put them into the Ministry of Defense, so we can defend our communities, rather than destroy our communities.

We need a Ministry of Art and Culture. We applaud the hip hop community, the leaders of young people all over the world, but I want the young generation of artists to know there is a bigger purpose for art and culture than popping our fingers and shaking our backsides. Mao Tse Tung, throughout his long march to conquer China, had a billion people whose lives he had to transform. Many of them were victims of opium, drugs and prostitution, like we are. But Mao Tse Tung went to the cultural community and they accepted his idea. Then, through song, dance, poetry, drama, documentaries, movies and books, the idea of Mao Tse Tung became the idea of a billion people. China became a world power on the base of culture and the artistic community. If we had a Ministry of Art and Culture in every city, [we'd] create this movement [in the U.S.], we could say to our young people, “What is the idea of the Time and are you reflecting that idea in your songs, dance and music?

We need a Ministry of Trade and Commerce. Do you think that a Millions More Movement should not be involved in the development of Africa, the Caribbean and Central America? ... we need a Ministry of Trade and Commerce that can link the struggle here with Africa and the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Source: FinalCall.com
(note: this is Farrakhan's own "Nation Of Islam" website. However, the original page has 'mysteriously' been removed and it exists only in this linked cache form, thus the looong url -etl):
http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=%22We+need+a+Ministry+of+Defense.+Our+young+men+are+born+soldiers%2C+but+they+are+in+the+wrong+war.%22%22mao%22&fr=moz2&u=www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4328.shtml&w=%22we+need+a+ministry+of+defense+our+young+men+are+born+soldiers+but+they+are+in+the+wrong+war%22+mao&d=A4xrG52uSSxU&icp=1&.intl=us
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Louis Farrakhan, Santiago de Cuba, February, 1998: "There is not a member of the black masses in the United States who is not proud of the example set by Cuba and its revolution, with Comandante Fidel at its head"
Source: http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/farakhan21898.html#says
_______________________________________________________

"Minister Farrakhan and his delegation met privately with President Fidel Castro of Cuba."
http://www.finalcall.com/media/cuba/
_______________________________________________________

Farrakhan hails Obama as 'hope of entire world'

Louis Farrakhan, at the annual Saviours' Day celebration in Chicago, Feb. 25, 2008: "This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better"..."If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23333598/

Video of Farrakhan's Obama endorsement at the above 'annual Saviours' Day celebration in Chicago, Feb. 25, 2008'. Hear him (Farrakhan) call Obama "The Messiah" And speak of "universal change":
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=farrakhan+messiah+obama&aq=0&oq=Farrakhan+messiah

[Gay State Conservative]

They're nostalgic for Mao in hard times? I guess they've forgotten about “The Great Leap Forward”,a clever little plan straight from the desk of Mao that caused 14 million people to starve to death.Add to that the Cultural Revolution...a nationwide terror campaign straight from Mao's desk....and you surely have "the good old days".

[KLT]

Ahhhhhhhh calypso Louie....from calypso dancer, to head of the Black Muslim Movement...Need I say more...

[MtnClimber]

Mao is probably toasting in Hell. If you like him, figure out how to send him ice!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

There were several "great leap forward" programs in China in the 1950s. One of Mao's ideas was that common birds were eating the people's grain and thus should be destroyed. Chinese trapped birds, destroyed nests, etc and reduced the bird population drastically in central Asia.
The result was bugs and worms consumed crops at a greater rate because birds were not around to consume them.

[ETL]

from calypso dancer, to head of the Black Muslim Movement...Need I say more...

You could have added that the "Nation Of Islam" is really a Black Liberation communist front movement like Reverend Wright's.

[Snickering Hound]

[Clintonfatigued]

Americans aren’t the only ones with short memories. The tough times that China is currently going through is nothing compared to what Mao put it through in his day.

[ETL]

Obama’s Little Blue Book and the Egg of Power
By Michelle Malkin, January 26, 2009

Tons of people have e-mailed about the Little Blue Book of Obama sayings that a firm called the History Company is hawking on its website. Yes, they really are selling them in 10-packs for $49.50 — and yes, the resemblance to Mao’s Little Red Book is striking. Weirdly, “Pocket Obama” has a plain blank cover and smacks of a gag — especially the last line:

"Printed in a size that easily fits into pocket or purse, this book is an anthology of quotations borrowed from Barack Obama’s speeches and writings. POCKET OBAMA serves as a reminder of the amazing power of oratory and the remarkable ability of this man to move people with his words. His superb and captivating oratory style has earned comparisons to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and this historic collection presents words that catapulted his remarkable rise to the American Presidency. It is an unofficial requirement for every citizen to own, to read, and to carry this book at all times.

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/26/obamas-little-blue-book-and-the-egg-of-power/
__________________________________________________________-

"From May 1966, student members of the Communist Party were encouraged to carry copies of Mao's Little Red Book of quotations. Acting under Mao's leadership, these "Red Guards" used his quotations in their mission to weed out intellectuals. With themes such as Correcting Mistaken Ideas and All Reactionaries are Paper Tigers, the quotations became the standard by which all revolutionary efforts were judged."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/09/99/china_50/little.htm

[hinckley buzzard]

The latest of many examples why George Bush was ignorant and misguided when he said that the desire for freedom burns in every human heart. If the jerk knew anything about the real world outside his gated compounds, he would know that far more people are motivated by the search for security than the search for freedom. But hell-- he went to the Ivy League, he knows things that aren't even real.

[dfwgator]

And a lot of Germans are still nostalgic for Hitler, and Russians for Stalin.

[KLT]

You’re right, I apologize...it is what it is...I’m sure Calypso Louie is rolling in Obama funds..

[KLT]

But what really really gets me mad, almost as much as the socialist libs is this:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2244763/posts

[rlmorel]

So, a constitutional republic is good for us, but not for the little yellow brothers?

Just curious as to what you are advocating.

[rlmorel]

Yep. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn pointed out in “The Gulag Archipelago”, there were many who cried at the death of the same man who had put them there.

Human nature does have twists to it, that much is sure. We may see as much when we begin to suffer under the damage liberals have done to this country, and people will still love their Dear Leader even though he will be emptying their pockets with both hands and they will not be able to buy a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow of cash.

I can clearly see that happening.

[dfwgator]

I liken it to “Stockholm Syndrome”.

[rlmorel]

Yes...but even worse in a perverse way, I think. People who develop Stockholm Syndrome do so when placed against their will into a situation from which there appears no escape and they develop it as a protective measure (I think...I could be wrong here).

Liberals have put themselves in this situation, and will defend it to their dying breath. There seems to be more of a masochistic quality to it.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: "far more people are motivated by the search for security than the search for freedom"

I agree -- can't prove it but it make sense to me.

If the Chinese, et al are longing to secure their unalienable rights and maximum freedom where's their social contract? their Magna Carta?