Ive been to Belarus. Funny story - i got deported to Poland. Oh, we laughed...
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As I said in the other post, then I can say I've been to an ''Outpost of Tyranny''. And it's an unusual destination...nobody goes to Belarus.
Economic Left/Right: - 9.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: - 7.85
Ive been to Belarus. Funny story - i got deported to Poland. Oh, we laughed...
Belarus is probably an interesting country to visit, but from what i have heard, its best that you can speak russian, or else you just get the cold shoulder from everyone.
I'm planning on visiting Nepal, Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and North Korea in that order some time in the near future (And by near I mean within 5 to 10 years from now) if I can procure the funds. Both to see revolution and/or revolutionary consciousness in action in the case of Nepal and Venezuela and to see how the revolution degenerated in the case of North Korea. It'd be a real life changing experience I'd expect.
And when Marx says, 'Hitherto the philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways', what that 'hitherto' means is not a renunciation of theory and that all we need to do is wade in with our fists and there will be no more need for thought. This idea is in fact fascist, and it would be grossly unjust to Marx to impute such views on him.
--Theodor Adorno, 'On Theory and Practice'
This must have been asked many times before, but has anyone on this forum actually visited North Korea?
Communist countries? not too much to choose from. I found cuba to be both thought provoking and informative during my visit, and that was before my political education. when you enter cuba you must tell the customs officer not to stamp your passport. because of this you will have two entry stamps for your proxy country, bermuda, canada, mexico, etc. Be prepared to have an explanation ready ("i took a private plane to visit another country.
Areas? How about Vermont, USA? jk. but seriously I found Chiapas and Oaxaca City, Mexico to be incredibly inspiring and full of an incredible revolutionary spirit not found anywhere else. San Cristobal de las casas is a great city to meet and work with radicals and progressives, not to mention drink plenty of cuban rum
Last edited by ellipsis; 30th July 2009 at 22:00. Reason: ellaborated
I'm sure SOMEONE has
someone who is a leftist should visit north korea and write about it
since the only people who write about visiting north korea tend to be middle-class US imperialist liberal types"
And when Marx says, 'Hitherto the philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways', what that 'hitherto' means is not a renunciation of theory and that all we need to do is wade in with our fists and there will be no more need for thought. This idea is in fact fascist, and it would be grossly unjust to Marx to impute such views on him.
--Theodor Adorno, 'On Theory and Practice'
I seriously want to visit North Korea just to refute all the lies told by bourgeois media.
Economic Left/Right: -9.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.15
"There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen." - Lenin
What are the lies?
That it is a starving to death place, and one-man dictatorship. Just because you are portrayed as God doesn't mean it is one-man dictatorship. It is trying to build socialism but they are alone since their economy will only allow co-management with North Korea under great supervision by the bureaucrat government.
To him Sweden is sociaist, to me U.S. America is libertarian. Let's not split semantic hairs. All Swedish institutions and companies would be quite interesting to any American to see.
The collective farms of China and Israel are a fine example of successful small-scale self-organisation.
"Hungriger, greif nach dem Buch: es ist eine Waffe."
— Bert Brecht
Kibbutzism is dead and it was mostly a fraud when it was founded... a racist fraud since it deliberately excluded and was used to marginalize Palestinians.
Economic Left/Right: -10.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.31
"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains."
~ Rosa Luxemburg
And nevertheless it is interesting to see attempts at collectivism at work. Child rearing done by the community is not something you will see on Cuba. And mind also that there are quite many of them in Israel, each with different agenda. The trade is mostly done between the communities and with comparable communities in China.
"Hungriger, greif nach dem Buch: es ist eine Waffe."
— Bert Brecht
Visit the USA. I hear they got this new communist president.
[FONT="Georgia"]Kingston wuttup[/FONT]
Well there has been horrific starvation throughout North Korea. Even the North Korean government accepts the death of several million due to famine throughout the 1990s, an horrific toll relative to its population. The extent to which, alongside the chosen form of political economy and (the immediate cause) natural disasters, this was contributed to by either historic factors relating to the North's economic development and/or the isolation which the country finds itself in, is another matter. But unless the World Food Programme is conspiring against the North by spreading malicious lies about endemic malnutrition, I don't think it's exactly controversial to say it has suffered considerably from starvation.
As to the very real dictatorship which exists in North Korea, if you believe that we can "build socialism" through the systemic application of a police state, by all means go ahead and defend it. But to deny the undemocratic nature of the regime is preposterous. North Korea is not socialist. Again, the degree to which this has been caused by matters of history and of politics is a related, but ultimately separate concern. When I look at the North I see nothing of value for socialists nor any embryo of hope. Indeed it is likely the only alternative to stagnation - economic, and cultural - throughout the north of the peninsula, is a complete restoration of the brutal capitalism which exists in the South.
Islamocommunist, surely?
I have to agree with the people saying Chiapas, Mexico. If your looking for revolutionary idealism, look towards the Zapatistas! Even the anarcho-communists find alot in common with them.
PROTECTING INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES THROUGH COLLECTIVE EFFORT
If by communism you mean self-management and egalitarianism; check out Chipas and the communes in Israel.
The kibbutz are not really communistic at all anymore.
Ivan "Bonebreaker" Khutorskoy16.11.2009"We won't forget, we won't forgive"
Given they were built on stolen land, and excluded people based on nationality, can you say say they ever really were? Collectively owned private property is still private property, see co-operatives.
