Revolution and stuff

Albert Camus once argued that revolutions begin with a demand for justice, but always end in bloodshed. He viewed the Soviet Union as a police state that masqueraded “as an instrument of liberation and a school for future happiness.” Fifty years later, North Korea has perfected this deceit. Although the numbers of dead under Kim Jong Il don’t touch the millions slaughtered by Stalin, the tyrant’s ability to achieve total mind control is probably unmatched in history. With its recent outbursts and threats of nuclear attack, we’re learning a lot more about the isolated country these days.

Jonathon Watts was one of the first Western Journalists allowed to check out Pyongyang and surrounding environs since the nuclear crisis began last fall. In the latest issue of Mother Jones he describes a populace religiously devoted to two things: their leader and anti-Americanism. Each person whom Watts speaks with is named Kim. Seriously. In a measured, articulate manner, they indicate no reluctance to lay down their lives for Kim Jong Il. A conversation with a beautiful Bond-esque “SMERSH Lady” leads to the current crisis: “… I note that a repeat of the Korean War, in which 4 million died, would mean terrible suffering for the North Korean people.” With a “heartbreaking smile,” Ms. Kim replies, “No problem.” A Palistinean refuge, who may have witnessed family members’ homes demolished by Ameri.. er, Israeli tanks, may rail against “Zionism” and the US with a desperate rage. You don’t sense this level of anger here. Years of propaganda and cult-like reverence for Revolution have produced a nation that is calmly ready for war with America. Surrounded by aquariums, Watts flips through the Pyongyang’s daily newspaper at a coffee shop. He reads that a member of the Socialist Youth League (named Kim of course) recently said: “Eight million Korean young people are fully ready to become human bullets and suicide bombs…” This is a place where even the hospitals are adorned with anti-American posters and pictures of atrocities allegedly committed by Americans. Sadly, you detect that even if two people were in the middle of a field, miles from the state’s watchful eye, there would be zero skepticism about what has created the miserable conditions for the country.

According to aid workers with the World Food Program, the humanitarian crisis in parts of North Korea are worse than places like the horn of Africa and Chechnya. Could these Koreans be suffering more than any other group of people in the world? One worker says, “The growth of children has been stunted to such a degree that 11-year olds look like six year-olds. Generations of North Korean will be mentally retarded.” Without noting the irony, Watts mentions that until recently, the United States was the biggest donor of aid to North Korea. Let that sink in for a minute. A country that forces its citizens to oppose the US, has, according to the author, received more assistance from the US than any other country. To put some numbers on just how many people are in need of aid, consider that the World Food Program is feeding more than a quarter of the country’s 22 million people. Koreans who have escaped to China in the late 90s have reported that people were “dropping dead in the streets” due to malnutrition.

The intro to the article features a half-page photo of a massive rally (easily hundreds of thousands) in Kim Il Jung Square. It looks like all of Pyongyang turned out to “prepare for nuclear war with the United States.” It is a strikingly joyless scene. No one is smiling. Most appear to have their right arms extended, fists clenched in solidarity. And along with an enormous painting of the leader, there is a beautiful piece of revolutionary art rising up above the marchers. The artwork depicts a proleteriat superhero stomping on American imperialist invaders. Oddly, there are several instances in the same issue of Mother Jones that uncritically display similar artwork. For example, on page 24, there is a spotlight of the 22-year-old director of MoveOn.org. The accompanying photo shows Eli Pariser sitting below an image of the immortal red, revolutionary fist. The same fist could be found in and around Pyongyang. Now, I in no way think supporters of MoveOn are sympathetic to Kim Jong Il, or the suffering that is currently happening in the name of Revolution. But I wonder, why wouldn’t you want to distance yourself from this sort of thing? It might be fair to ask, “Exactly what is the ideological connection between the revolutionary images that appear in pop culture now and the revolutionary images distributed by leaders of the most totalitarian, fascist country in the world?”

April 26th, 2003