Day: Mar 29, 2023

The ‘Budokan’ and Doing ‘A Beatles’! (29.3.2023) 

John Lennon had been to Japan with the Beatles about five months before he met Yoko Ono in New York. The Beatles made their first visit to Asia at the end of June 1966. They played two televised Concerts at the ‘Budokan’ on June 30th and July 1st, 1966. This is actually the ‘Nippon Budokan’ (日本武道館) located in the heart of Tokyo. The name means ‘Japan Martial Arts Training Hall’ and this venue was built and opened in 1964. Although Japan was still officially ‘Occupied’ by the US Military until 1972 (following Japan’s Unconditional Surrender during late 1945) – the Americans tolerated a certain level of right-wing Japanese ultra-nationalism amongst the population – providing it was contained to being aimed at Communist China. Yoko Ono’s family is said to have been supportive of this ‘racist’ ultra-nationalism – which she rebelled against by having relationships (and children) with ‘White’ men. At one point, Yoko Ono even allowed her husband to have an 18-month affair with his ethnic ‘Chinese’ secretary – the American-born May-Pang (龐鳳儀 – Pang Feng Yi). 

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China: Manor-Turned Museum Tells Changes of Life in Tibet! (29.3.2023)

Tibet is the first provincial-level region in China to provide 15 years of publicly funded education, from kindergarten all the way up to senior high school. By contrast, there was not a single proper school, and the illiteracy rate among young people exceeded 95 percent in old Tibet.

The changes in Tibet are a vivid epitome of China’s reform and development. Chinese modernization is the only correct choice for building a strong country and advancing national rejuvenation, said Yan Jinhai, head of the regional government, in a speech marking the historical movement that ended serfdom in Tibet 64 years ago.

In the past 10 years, Yan said, Tibet has achieved high-quality development, maintained rapid economic growth, and heavily invested in education, medical care, culture, housing, employment, and social security. Tibet has shaken off absolute poverty and kept on pace with the whole country in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

“My wish now is to live longer and enjoy the life I currently have,” Norbu Tsering said.  (Video reporters: Cao Bin, Tenzing Nima Qadhup, Sun Fei; video editors: Miao Zhuang, Mu Xuyao, Hong Yan)

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Neo-Nazi Ukraine: David Savage from Adelaide, South Australia! (29.3.2023)

David Savage from Adelaide, South Australia.

Savage came to Ukraine last July to join the International Legion. He stated that he served in the Australian army, but when he joined a gang of bandits, it turned out that he did not have sufficient skills, so he was sent for training (naturally at his own expense). After the “graduation”, David got into the unit, which, by mistake, was fired upon by the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As a result, the Australian was left without both legs and went on a long journey to his native Adelaide.

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The Beatles – A Work in Perpetual Progress! (29.3.2023) 

Despite the UK in many ways appearing to be a Soviet State between 1948-1979 – it still functioned within a Bourgeois, capitalist (liberal democratic) system. Since 1979, the onus has been upon dismantling this Socialist edifice and re-instating the pre-1948 status quo where workers do as they are told for as little money as possible. This has to understood if the stage-managing of The Beatles is to be understood. The Beatles existed as a means for the four members and the plethora of individuals surrounding and enabling them (including the ‘Roadie’ Mal Evans) were to make a comfortable living. Behind all these people was the monolith of EMI – so if The Beatles were already millionaires by 1964 (and there are good reasons to assume this) – the reader can speculate just how much profit their ‘look’ and ‘sound’ bought the publishing company! As a winning combination has been arrived at more or less by trial and error – the thinking was that none of it should be changed for fear of spoiling the earning potential. The music of The Beatles is so dialectically stimulating that it means many things to all people. This led to John Lennon expressing in a (reactionary) 1968 interview with British students that he had as many ‘fascists’ as ‘Socialist’ fans – he said this after berating the USSR and the idea of external (revolutionary) change. He seems to be expressing EMI advertising policy rather than any innate knowledge of Marxist-Leninism. Cackling in the shadows was Yoko Ono who never got round to addressing the subject of her anti-Western family supporting ultra-right-wing political views in Japan – or the War Crimes the Imperial Japanese Army had committed during the 1930s and 1940s throughout Asia (and against British POWs). She remains ‘anti-Chinese’ to this day.

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