Cuba's New Law Censoring All Forms Of The Arts

If you thought Cuba was getting a little less dictatorial with the passing of the Castro dynasty, and that there might be some hope for change, think again.

The Cuban commie government led by Miguel Díaz-Canel apparently has passed a law censoring artistic expression in all art forms. Decree Law 349 was allegedly established to prevent offensive, vulgar or mediocre [whatever the heck that could be] works, but it is substantially more far reaching than that. You actually have to get permission from the government to show your work in public and private spaces. It also has to pass cultural and revolutionary muster or your project could be shut down.

Some of the no-nos that could get you busted:

a) Use of national symbols that contravene current legislation; b) pornography; c) violence; d) sexist, vulgar and obscene language; e) discrimination due to skin color, gender, sexual orientation, disability and any other harm to human dignity; f) that attempts against the development of childhood and adolescence; g) any other that violates the legal provisions that regulate the normal development of our society in cultural matters.

In other words, pretty much anything and everything.

Government sponsored artists have no issue with 349, however there has been a backlash by independent artists, and as a result the government has said it will consult with those opposing the decree to see how it should be "rolled out".

Ever since Decree Law 349 was first published in July in the government’s Gaceta Oficial , there has been plenty of pushback on the island and abroad and a flurry of meetings between government cultural officials and artists, who are still hoping for modifications. The law requires prior government approval for artists, musicians, writers and performers who want to present their work in any spaces open to the public, including private homes and businesses.

But beyond that, it also proposes fining painters and other artists who commercialize their art without government permission. Among the more chilling provisions is the prospect that “supervising inspectors” could review cultural events and shut them down if they don’t believe they meet government standards. Individuals or businesses hiring artists who don’t have prior approval also can be sanctioned.

In addition to shutting them down, they can also seize their personal belongings. Not that there would be much to confiscate from someone in piss-poor Cuba.

And if you want to sell your art? You have to get government approval for that too, although that probably has more to do with the government wanting a piece of the pie rather than artistic control. After all, anyone working for a foreigner during Castro's reign had to pay the government in U.S. dollars and the employee would then get paid in Cuban pesos.

And like a good commie country, some of those protesting have been detained. I wouldn't expect anything less.

More detailed info here.

Other sources:  Miami Herald , Reuters

Vietnam Targeting Bloggers And Government Critics

You don't hear much about Vietnam these days, but just like Islamic Republics and other Communist countries, there is little to no freedom, and zero tolerance for political dissent.

According to Human Rights Watch, there have been a spate of arrests and attacks on bloggers and  critics of the Vietnamese government. In a statement on its website, HRW is calling for their release.

Human Rights Watch called for the immediate and unconditional release of recently arrested bloggers Truong Duy Nhat and Pham Viet Dao, as well as internet activist Dinh Nhat Uy, and an investigation into allegations that police assaulted internet activists Nguyen Chi Duc, Nguyen Hoang Vi, and Pham Le Vuong Cac, whose security the authorities should protect.

“Vietnam’s strategy of repressing critics big and small will only lead the country deeper into crisis,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The latest arrests and assaults on bloggers show how afraid the government is of open discussion on democracy and human rights.”

Many of the arrests have come under Vietnam Penal Code article 258, one of several vague and elastic legal provisions routinely used to prosecute people for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Recent cases of arrest and assault include the following:

On May 26, 2013, Ministry of Public Security officers arrested blogger Truong Duy Nhat for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens,” according to the Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Nien. The arrest at his home in Da Nang of the 49-year-old followed his posting on his popular “A Different Perspective” blog of a call for the resignation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and ruling Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, blaming them for leading Vietnam into worsening political and economic difficulties.

HRW is also asking "donors and trading partners" to

“..  stand with those in Vietnam struggling for their rights and make it clear that no one should be arrested or assaulted for their opinions."“They should insist that the only future for countries trying to develop and modernize is a free and open society in which the authorities accept that criticism is a normal part of the political process.”

Good luck with that!

Read the whole statement here, along with reports of other incidents of persecution.

Chinese Director Zhang Yimou Faces $17 million Fine For Having Too Many Children

When a country's government has too much say in the lives of its citizens, you get this:

One of China’s top film directors is being investigated for allegedly fathering seven children in violation of the country’s strict one-child policy.

Reports circulated online this week that Zhang Yimou, the director of The Flowers of War, has seven children from his two marriages and from relationships with two other women.

“We are trying to confirm the online rumours,” said a woman at the general office of Wuxi city’s family-planning committee, a department under the municipal government. The woman, who declined to identify herself, as is customary among Chinese officials, said she couldn’t reveal any other information until authorities had finished investigating.

Zhang, 61, could face a fine of up to 160 million renminbi ($17m), according to the People’s Daily newspaper. People caught breaking China’s family-planning policy must pay a “social compensation fee” based on their annual income.

He's been a busy man.

In case you are interested, here's a list of some of his older films that I have seen, and recommend:

* Raise the Red Lantern
* The Story of Qiu Ju
* The Road Home
* Not One Less

He also directed House of Flying Daggers

Inside The Hell Of North Korea

In honor of the father of North Korean Communist-cum-Socialist-cum-Juche rule, Kim Il-sung's birthday today, here are some behind the scene documentaries of the uber-secretive and bizarre DPRK. Where everyone lives in perpetual fear, and worships their leader as God.

Most of these documentaries were filmed while Kim Jong-il was "Dear Leader" of North Korea, and although not much is revealed of the dark side of the DPRK- since the ever present "minders" control every movement of visitors to the country- what you do see is just as creepy and repellent. Empty hotels, empty streets, visitors forced to purchase flowers and bow to a statue of Kim Il-sung, perpetually fostering hatred of the US, and people like automatons, as one of the filmmakers describes them. And then there's all those statues and monuments and photos of Kim Il-sung. Everywhere.

Most are under an hour long.

"Don't Tell My Mother- That I'm In North Korea" is a National Geographic documentary by French/American (sort of) Diego Buñuel filmed while Kim Jong-il was still alive and ruling the DPRK.  Diego shows us the little he can of the real Pynonyang, including the dilapidated slum buildings hidden behind the outer 'showcase' facades, and supermarkets- for the DPRK elite- selling American products that you pay for with U.S. dollars (like Cuba), or with Euros if you have them. We discover that farmers don't get salaries, and the average North Korean makes $100.00 a year, but pays no tax. The army is the leading employer.

"Welcome to North Korea", by filmmakers Peter Tetteroo and Raymond Feddema, was shot in 2000. It won a 2001 International Emmy award for Best Documentary and is strange and sad look inside North Korea, including an interview with a defector (who was a propaganda writer for the regime) who shares some harrowing stories.

Another National Geographic documentary, "Inside North Korea", has journalist Lisa Ling she traveling undercover in 2007 with an eye surgeon on a mission to bring sight to the poor.  In this one we get more insight into the whole cult of personality. Lisa's younger sister, Laura Ling, was one of two journalists arrested in North Korea in 2009 for illegal entry. Sentenced to 12 years in one of the infamous labor camps, Bill Clinton negotiated their release.

And this "60 Minutes" segment, an interview with Shin Dong-hyuk, a young man who was born under "Three Generations of Punishment" in Camp 14- the horrific labor camp that houses around 15,000 political prisoners who are there for life. Under the "Three Generations of Punishment" policy a North Korean found guilty of something as simple as trying to escape will be thrown in prison along with every member of his family. Dong-hyuk is the only known Camp 14 prisoner to have been born in captivity who managed to escape and survive.

There are a slew of other videos with interviews of defectors, but these give you a general idea of how wretched it must be to live there.

And there are many who wholeheartedly support the DPRK.

Documentary: Kim Jong-Il's Comedy Club

One of the most bizarre looks at North Korea during Kim Jong-Il's reign. The documentary aired on BBC Four in 2009, prior to the DPRK somewhat lightening up on its restrictions on filming there.

The film's alternate title is The Red Chapel or in Danish -Det Røde Kapel.

It's very entertaining in a rather humorous but sometimes disturbing way.

A journalist with no scruples and a pair of Danish comedians travel to North Korea with a mission to use humour to uncover the truth behind one of the world's most notorious regimes

On the pretext of being a small Danish theatre troupe on a cultural exchange, the filmmaker was granted permission by the North Korean government to stage a performance for a select audience in the capital. In reality, the troupe was comprised of an unscrupulous journalist, Mads Brugger, and two Danish/Korean comedians, Jacob and Simon, of whom the former is handicapped. Their goal is to use humour to expose the intricate effects of an oppressive regime.

The film follows the troupe as they are lovingly yet firmly escorted by a motherly government employee around the important historical sights, and as they 'collaborate' with other government officials on their performance.

Their double life is wearing on Jacob who feels conflicting emotions of affection and hatred for his hosts. With a sensibility similar to that of Lars Von Trier's controversial film The Idiots, this documentary takes a darkly humorous look inside the North Korean dictatorship.

North Korea's 23 million citizens are ruled by the iron hand of 'The Dear Leader', General Kim Jong-il. The country has a history of starving its people, violating human rights and abusing and killing its handicapped citizens.

North Korea Invades The South Korea -Another propaganda video

More North Korean propaganda. In this video we are treated to the DPRK invasion of South Korea.

Correction: Initially I mentioned it was the U.S.- oops

The people of North Korea are being bombarded with this type of propaganda.

North Korean People Have Taken Up Arms- DPRK Propaganda Video

The North Korean people have taken up arms and are ready to decimate the American imperialists. Or so this DPRK propaganda video claims.

It would be laughable, barring the fact that nuclear weapons in the hands of a lunatic is incredibly dangerous.

Bizarre Anti-American Propaganda Film From North Korea

The latest anti-U.S. propaganda from North Korea (DPRK). A documentary depicting how the majority of Americans live today.

This has got to be a joke, at least the English narrative translation, but it's pretty darn funny, whether it is or not. It basically says:

The vast majority of American live in extreme poverty, drinking coffee made with snow, living in tents, buying guns to kill children, and using heroin. At one point, they point out that there are no birds (it's winter) because people are so hungry they eat them. They are yummy.  The American Red Cross provides curtains and walls from material from the DPRK. And people keep their dead friends in blue body bags close by. Then there's reference to a man that looks homeless as being a former Republican candidate, who has to get coffee made from snow. And only one cup per day, thank you very much. Some lucky people get to live indoors, huddled together "the poor, the cold, the lonely and the homosexual." 

North Korean People- Nuke The Yankees

North Koreans talk about their hatred for Americans and how the DPRK should nuke 'em for causing all their troubles.

There was probably a soldier aiming a gun at their heads, or they'd been threatened with a nice trip to one of the prison concentration camps.

Poor ignorant people.

North Korea Dreams Of U.S. Destruction- Part 2

From North Korea, or the preferred DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea), "Peace is on our Bayonets" sung by a bunch of skinny, mean-looking military dudes.  The only one who is obviously well fed is the new dear leader Kim Jong-un.

And on the screen behind the military band, more dreams of the demise of the United States with footage of captured American soldiers, the destruction of the U.S. Capitol, and a load of missiles firing at, one can only assume, the U.S.

What a life. And there are actually people who admire the North Korean government.

N Korea Celebrates Dead "Dear Leader's" Birthday With Fun Stuff

In honor of dead "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il's birthday on February 16 (today) North Korea presented a series of celebratory events, including the synchronized swimming video below.

A demonstration performance of synchronized swimming "February in Yearning" was given at the Changgwang Health Complex on Friday on the occasion of the birth anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il (the Day of the Shining Star). The performers presented such colorful numbers as group synchronized swimming "February Is Beautiful", single synchronized swimming "Charm", children's group synchronized swimming "Where Are You from". The performers represented the profound reverence of the army and people of the DPRK for Generalissimo Kim Jong Il, symbol of the great Paektusan nation through graceful rhythms and a variety of formation change. The performance showed well the stirring reality of the country advancing toward the eminence of a thriving country while performing miracles and feats in the efforts to build an economic power and improve the standard of people's living under the leadership of the great party. It also vividly showed the development made in the synchronized swimming of the country. Among the spectators were Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the C.C., the Workers' Party of Korea, officials concerned, persons of meritorious services and people in the city. Present there on invitation were delegations of overseas compatriots and other overseas Koreans, the chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front and foreign guests.

They also hosted an international figure skating festival for the same purpose.

The 22nd Paektusan Prize International Figure Skating Festival opened Friday with due ceremony at the Ice Rink here to mark the birth anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il. Present at the ceremony were Yang Hyong Sop, Ro Tu Chol and officials concerned, sportspersons and other people, the delegation of Koreans in Japan and other delegations of overseas Koreans, overseas compatriots, the chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front and foreign guests. DPRK's figure skaters and those from Russia, Ukraine, Estonia and Canada entered the ice rink. Ri Jong Mu, minister of Physical Culture and Sports, in his opening address that the festival has been held with splendor as a significant one reflecting the boundless reverence of all people for Kim Jong Il, who made a great contribution to the revolutionary cause of Juche and the human cause of independence. He expressed belief that the festival would greatly encourage the army and the people of the DPRK in dynamically speeding up the grand onward march in the new century of Juche under the leadership of the dear respected Kim Jong Un. The flag of the festival was hoisted and demonstration performances of figure skaters of the DPRK and other countries were staged.

Both these videos are probably some of the creepiest I have ever seen. Not the performances themselves, but if you focus on the audience you will see what I mean. Not one smile, no enjoyment, no movement. In fact they look like those cardboard cutouts of people that commercials use so they don't have to hire hundreds of extras. I sat next to one on a commercial shoot once.

And here's one from some of the many celebrations  held today- note the heil hitler-esque kids.



It's all so sad, and yet there are foreigners who actually praise the North Korean government.

"Che" Inspired Artwork Removed From Miami South Beach Hotel

Gavin Turk as Che and Elvis on ArtNet

A shi-shi hotel in Miami's South Beach removed a self portrait by Brit Gavin Turk featuring him dressed in the iconic Ernesto "Che" Guevara garb- beard, beret and all, that was captured in the 1960 Alberto Korda photograph. Naturally, the exile Cuban community did not take kindly to seeing the Che-inspired portrait hanging in the halls.  After all, Che was not a nice man, and he was instrumental in bringing communism to the land.

Although Che has been revered by those who obviously have no clue who he really was, there are many who see him as an "evil, racist thug".  All it takes is a quick Google search to find a myriad of articles discussing his major failings as a human being.

The real Guevara was a reckless bourgeois adrenaline-junkie seeking a place in history as a liberator of the oppressed. But this fanatic’s vehicle of ‘liberation’ was Stalinism, named for Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, murderer of well over 20 million of his own people. As one of Castro’s top lieutenants, Che helped steer Cuba’s revolutionary regime in a radically repressive direction. Soon after overthrowing Batista, Guevara choreographed the executions of hundreds of Batista officials without any fair trials. He thought nothing of summarily executing even fellow guerrillas suspected of disloyalty and shot one himself with no due process.

Che was a purist political fanatic who saw everything in stark black and white. Therefore he vociferously opposed freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, protest, or any other rights not completely consistent with his North Korean-style communism. How many rock music-loving teens sporting Guevara t-shirts today know their hero supported Cuba’s 1960s’ repression of the genre? How many homosexual fans know he had gays jailed?

He was not the hero many make him out to be, so naturally Miami Cubans were a tad miffed. They lobbied via social media and phone calls to have it removed, and the W South Beach Hotel complied.

Regarding Turk's portrait, from 1999:

A poster of the Artist as Che Guevara, repeated four times in they style of an Andy Warhol screenprint. Originally made as an advertising poster.

The inspiration behind Turk’s Che Guevara art works is the Alberta Korda photograph of the infamous Argentinean freedom fighter whose wild hair and beard, guerrilla beret and long distance stare came to personify the ultimate symbol of rebellion. Interested in the role of the outsider but also, how images and symbols are reduced to cliché through reproduction and repetition, Turk’s Guevara is transformed into a Warholian screen print, where the formerly rebellious is re-appropriated as cliché. But this Che is also given the “Gav” treatment, with Turk’s face replacing that of the Marxist hero as he continues his exploration of the uneasy relationship between artist/outsider and the market, advertising, celebrity and branding.

N. Korea's Dead Dear Leader's Palestinian Daughter

Did you know that Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il had a Palestinian daughter? Well, not technically but since the poor brainwashed, oppressed and intimidated North Koreans believed the now-dead North Korean president was, among many things, their "Dear Leader" and "Our Father" I suppose he was, in a bizarre sort of twisted way. But how did a Palestinian woman come to view Jong-Il as her father? When I first  saw the title of a recommended Youtube video "Kim Jong-Il's Daughter Jindallae Safarini" I thought, 'that old dog!" I knew he had done some bizarre things, like kidnap a South Korean actress Choi Eun-hi and her director  husband Shin Sang-ok to create propaganda films in the late 1970s and 1980s, but what was this 'Palestinian daughter' all about. I was intrigued.

The Youtube video is actually a propaganda piece from North Korea, a devotional tribute of sorts from a grateful young Palestinian woman, the daughter of  Palestinian Ambassador, Mustafa Safarini, stationed in Pyongyang from 1982 - 1992.

More than 27 years ago my parents lost a child, after the loss of a child they could not be pregnant, and could not have children, they went to so many places but could not find a cure, so they came to Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, where they gave all their love and care to my Mother. That’s how she conceived a child. After having me, my parents were so happy and it was the system of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, the system of our Great Leader Kim Il Sung and Dear Leader Kim Jong Il that gave us this miracle.

Pyongyang is my native place and I spent my childhood there. And it is my second fatherland. Kim Jong Il is my father because he gave me life and love. I express my deepest grief over the demise of my dearest father. Some days ago, I visited Pyongyang, my native place, with a dream to meet you, my dearest father, after 20 years since I left there.

Jong-Il actually named the young girl Jindallae when she was born, and she still has ties with the communist country. Based out of China, she has set up the "Jindallae Fund" to help North Korean kids. Just as well since they need it desperately. She created the foundation as a gift for Jong-il to “repay him for all his love and affection”.

On current "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-un, Jong-il's pillsbury dough boy son:

When I first saw him, it was during the unveiling of the bronze statue of our Great Leader [Kim Il Sung] and our Dear Leader [Kim Jong Il] on the 100th birthday of our Great Leader. When he walked past, and waved to everybody, I felt this very deep emotion since he looked so alike with his father, our Dear Leader Father Kim Jong Il.

Great leader? Right. The same man who ranked as the World's Worst Dictator in Parade Magazine's Top Ten for 2011, right before he died. The same man who had billions stashed away in banks in Luxembourg and pigged out on gourmet and junk food while his people starved, and continue to do so.

Quotes Source: NK News

North Korea Dreams Of The Destruction Of The USA

The North Korean people are so hungry they're being executed for eating each other,  and yet Kim Jong-Un is more concerned about ramping up his military prowess, and dreaming about the destruction of the U.S.

The following video was posted on their official website, uriminzokkiri.

Translation from Stimmekoreas 

" Last night, I had such a wonderful dream. I found myself rising high into space riding the "Eunha 9" rocket. In happiness and excitement, the spaceship "Kwangmyungsong 21" separated, and was flying into the grand and endless space. From onboard, I could see beautiful colors and stark contrast [of the outside]. I was about to press the button to take a picture as I was heading toward our perfectly green earth, a shining star in the midst of the darkness. Suddenly, through the camera lens, the image of the unification flag blowing over our one unified country crops up. Even I weep as I hold tightly to that camera, concerns rushing over me. In America, I can see black smoke. It seems like the devil's nest that habitually caused wars of invasion and persistence are finally burning under the fire that I have caused. The free and peaceful world and the magnificent and awe-striking space seem to be blessing our spaceship "Kwangmyungsong 21." Dear viewers, think about this. Korea's spaceship flying through space, to the backdrop of the brightly-lit sun and space. I am certain that my dream will come true. Even the complete ending of the imperialists schemes. Seeing our Bakedu Mountain country prospering strongly under reunification, they will not be able to prevent our people from going forward towards a final victory." - translation by NKNews

Note Found In K-Mart Halloween Decorations From Prisoner In Chinese Labor Camp

We've heard horrors about unsafe products that have made their way to the U.S. from China, from toxic drywall to deadly pet food, but I had no idea that some products made in that country are also manufactured in forced labor camps where people are severely mistreated. Worse off are members of the banned Falun Gong who are sent to the camps for re-education.

If the following story is true, this is even more of an incentive to purchase American-made products or at least products from countries that treat their people humanely.

The Chinese government has come a long way, but they are still Communists at heart.

The letter came in a box of Halloween decorations purchased at Kmart, but for a year Julie Keith never knew. It gathered dust in her storage, a haunting plea for help hidden among artificial skeletons, tombstones and spider webs.

Keith, a 42-year-old vehicle donation manager at a southeast Portland Goodwill, at one point considered donating the unopened $29.99 Kmart graveyard kit. It was one of those accumulated items you never need and easily forget. But on a Sunday afternoon in October, Keith pulled the orange and black box from storage. She intended to decorate her home in Damascus for her daughter's fifth birthday, just days before Halloween.

She ripped open the box and threw aside the cellophane.

That's when Keith found it. Scribbled onto paper and folded into eighths, the letter was tucked between two Styrofoam headstones.

"Sir:

"If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever."

The graveyard kit, the letter read, was made in unit 8, department 2 of the Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, China.

Chinese characters broke up choppy English sentences.

"People who work here have to work 15 hours a day without Saturday, Sunday break and any holidays. Otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan/1 month)."

Ten yuan is equivalent to $1.61.

"People who work here, suffer punishment 1-3 years averagely, but without Court Sentence (unlaw punishment). Many of them are Falun Gong practitioners, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe to CCPG. They often suffer more punishment than others."

Read the rest here.

K-Mart is looking into the allegations.

Ukraine Commies Pay People To Attend Rally

The Communist Party is so popular in the Ukraine it had to pay people to attend a rally celebrating the 95th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution on November 7 in Kyiv (Kiev). Some were being paid a paltry $3 to $5.00.

RFE/RL correspondent Bohdan Krasavtsev took the offer, but returned the money afterward. (Produced by Bohdan Krasavtsev, Dmytro Barkar, and Oksana Andruschak)

Communist Frank Marshall Davis, Obama's Mentor- Book and Documentary Film Release

Frank Marshall Davis, an America-hating, card-carrying Communist seems to be garnering a lot of attention recently. Perhaps it's because the elections are nigh, and Davis happened to be Obama's mentor, that people are trying to shed some light on a man who so influenced Obama.

First off there's a brand new recently published book by Paul Kengor, The Communist Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story Of Barack Obama's Mentor, that Frances Rice of the National Black Republican Association (NBRA) highly recommends. Though Kengor admits he has no 'so-called' proof that Obama is a Communist, the people that he has surrounded himself with from Davis to Bill Ayers to his maternal grandfather were all far-left, if not Communist.

The following is a review of the book on Amazon.

Paul Kengor: The communist: Frank Marshall Davis: the untold story of Barack Obama’s mentor

Publication Date: July 17, 2012
Book Description:

“I admire Russia for wiping out an economic system which permitted a handful of rich to exploit and beat gold from the millions of plain people. . . . As one who believes in freedom and democracy for all, I honor the Red nation.” —FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS, 1947

In his memoir, Barack Obama omits the full name of his mentor, simply calling him “Frank.” Now, the truth is out: Never has a figure as deeply troubling and controversial as Frank Marshall Davis had such an impact on the development of an American president.

Although other radical influences on Obama, from Jeremiah Wright to Bill Ayers, have been scrutinized, the public knows little about Davis, a card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA, cited by the Associated Press as an “important influence” on Obama, one whom he “looked to” not merely for “advice on living” but as a “father” figure.

While the Left has willingly dismissed Davis (with good reason), here are the indisputable, eye-opening facts: Frank Marshall Davis was a pro-Soviet, pro–Red China communist. His Communist Party USA card number, revealed in FBI files, was CP #47544. He was a prototype of the loyal Soviet patriot, so radical that the FBI placed him on the federal government’s Security Index. In the early 1950s, Davis opposed U.S. attempts to slow Stalin and Mao. He favored Red Army takeovers of Central and Eastern Europe, and communist control in Korea and Vietnam. Dutifully serving the cause, he edited and wrote for communist newspapers in both Chicago and Honolulu, courting contributors who were Soviet agents. In the 1970s, amid this dangerous political theater, Frank Marshall Davis came into Barack Obama’s life.

Aided by access to explosive declassified FBI files, Soviet archives, and Davis’s original newspaper columns, Paul Kengor explores how Obama sought out Davis and how Davis found in Obama an impressionable young man, one susceptible to Davis’s worldview that opposed American policy and traditional values while praising communist regimes. Kengor sees remnants of this worldview in Obama’s early life and even, ultimately, his presidency.

Kengor charts with definitive accuracy the progression of Davis’s communist ideas from Chicago to Hawaii. He explores how certain elements of the Obama administration’s agenda reflect Davis’s columns advocating wealth redistribution, government stimulus for “public works projects,” taxpayer-funding of universal health care, and nationalizing General Motors. Davis’s writings excoriated the “tentacles of big business,” blasted Wall Street and “greedy” millionaires, lambasted GOP tax cuts that “spare the rich,” attacked “excess profits” and oil companies, and perceived the Catholic Church as an obstacle to his vision for the state—all the while echoing Davis’s often repeated mantra for transformational and fundamental “change.”

And yet, The Communist is not unsympathetic to Davis, revealing him as something of a victim, an African- American who suffered devastating racial persecution in the Jim Crow era, steering this justly angered young man on a misguided political track. That Davis supported violent and heartless communist regimes over his own country is impossible to defend. That he was a source of inspiration to President Barack Obama is impossible to ignore.

Is Obama working to fulfill the dreams of Frank Marshall Davis? That question has been impossible to answer, since Davis’s writings and relationship with Obama have either been deliberately obscured or dismissed as irrelevant. With Paul Kengor’s The Communist, Americans can finally weigh the evidence and decide for themselves.

***

There were hundreds of thousands of American communists like Frank who agitated throughout the twentieth century. They chose the wrong side of history, a horrendously bloody side that left a wake of more than 100 million corpses from the streets of the Bolshevik Revolution to the base of the Berlin Wall—double the combined dead of the century’s two world wars. And they never apologized. Quite the contrary, they cursed their accusers for daring to charge (correctly) that they were communists whose ideology threatened the American way and the greater world and all of humanity. They took their denials to the grave, and still today their liberal/progressive dupes continue to conceal their crimes and curse their accusers for them. We need hundreds and thousands of more books on American communists like Frank, so we can finally start to get this history right— and, more so, learn its vital lessons. To fail to do so is a great historical injustice.

We especially need to flesh out these lessons, which are morality tales in the truest sense of the word, when we find the rarest case of a man like “Frank” managing to influence someone as influential as the current president of the United States of America—the leader of the free world and driver of the mightiest political/economic engine in history. Such figures cannot be ignored.

The people who influence our presidents matter.

The following interview with Kengor, posted on National Review Online sheds some more light on the book.

      

Then on July 24, a documentary film entitled Dreams From My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception, directed by Joel Gilbert will be released.

At age 18, Barack Obama admittedly arrived at Occidental College a committed revolutionary Marxist. What was the source of Obama's foundation in Marxism? Throughout his 2008 Presidential campaign and term in office, questions have been raised regarding Barack Obama's family background, economic philosophy, and fundamental political ideology. Dreams from My Real Father is the alternative Barack Obama "autobiography," offering a divergent theory of what may have shaped our 44th President's life and politics. In Dreams from My Real Father, Barack Obama is portrayed by a voiceover actor who chronicles Barack Obama's life journey in socialism, from birth through his election to the Presidency.

The film begins by presenting the case that Barack Obama's real father was Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party USA propagandist who likely shaped Obama's world view during his formative years. Barack Obama sold himself to America as the multi-cultural ideal, a man who stood above politics. Was the goat herding Kenyan father only a fairy tale to obscure a Marxist agenda, irreconcilable with American values? This fascinating narrative is based in part on 2 years of research, interviews, newly unearthed footage and photos, and the writings of Davis and Obama himself.

Can we afford to have Obama in the White House for another four years?!

Allen West Will Continue To Call "A Spade A Spade"- Progressive Dems Are Communists

Allen West calls a spade a spade when confronted by a journalist re. his comment about members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus being Commnunists.



H/T DJ

N Korea Executes 30 Officials For Failed Talks With S Korea

North Korea has been busy purging its government ranks by killing officials who have somehow failed in some form or other. According to a new report from Amnesty International, 30 people who were tasked with improving relations with South Korea were either executed or killed in apparent "staged traffic accidents." Of course,  the main reason those talks have failed is because the whacked out former "dear Leader" Kim Jong-il, and his equally touched son, Kim Jong-un, keep playing with their nukes and ballistic missiles. The country also happens to maintain one of the largest armies in the world, right on South Korea's doorstep. But no matter, 30 of those officials quickly dispensed with last year.

Then this January, when dear "Father's" fiefdom was passed on to his pudgy, 29-year-old baby-faced son, another 200 were either killed or sent off to North Korean gulags. Just making sure that any potential dissension was stopped before it happened. Amnesty estimates there are some 200,000 North Koreans rotting away in gulags.

But members of the oligarchy have never been safe in communist North Korea. Pak Nam-ki (or sometimes Nam-gi) Director of the Planning and Finance Department- was executed in 2010 for being

"a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy"

In other words, he messed up an already incredibly messed up economy by revaluating the local currency, which caused further drastic problems.

Since relations with South Korea will continue to remain soured, and the economy will continue to suffer (unless they make major reforms), I'm sure there will be plenty more shipped off to gulags or executed.

After the failed missile test in April, there is talk that they might try again on May 28, Memorial Day:

"The North Korean regime is hell-bent on being a belligerent actor," said Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, during a visit to Seoul with a congressional delegation. "And I think that on holidays or sad commemorations like Memorial Day weekend is when the leadership tries to provoke the democratic allies into action."

We shall see.

3 Executed For Cannibalism In North Korea

China made the news early in May when a shipment of smuggled dead baby flesh  (found in 'stamina-boosting' gel caps) was intercepted in South Korea. Now there's news of cannibalism in North Korea.

It seems that the North Korean people are  so food-deprived they are turning to cannibalism for nourishment. Not that eating each other goes unpunished. According to 230 North Korean defectors, cannibals are summarily executed for selling or eating human flesh, and it's been going on since 2006, and possibly as far back as 1999. Although these are all allegations by people who have escaped from the uber-secretive North Korea, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

A state-run South Korean think tank- Korean Institute for National Unification- has compiled a report of allegations from those defectors who claim they witnessed the public executions. That report, in turn, was then reviewed by Yonhap News Agency.

Authorities executed one man for killing and eating parts of a co-worker then trying to sell the rest at a market as mutton.

Widespread food shortages forced another to kill and eat a girl three years ago in Hyesan, Yonhap reported.

A third incident of cannibalism was reported in 2011, but researchers were unable to uncover more details.

Yonhap could not verify the allegations because of strict clampdowns on information coming from the North Korea, according to Global Post.

The internationally isolated country has long battled food shortages, especially after an attempt to reform its currency in 2009.

A North Korean official who defected in 2001 said about a dozen incidents of cannibalism surfaced in that country as far back as 1999.

The allegations of cannibalism followed a huge famine in the late 1990s killed two million people.

Renewed reports of cannibalism come after another human rights group accused North Korea of operating a system of secret gulag-style prison camps, The Associated Press reported.

As many as 200,000 political prisoners occupy the camps, said the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea based in Washington, DC.

Based on satellite imagery and interviews with escapees and former guards, the committee said entire families are sometimes imprisoned for the political crimes of one person.

North Korea, naturally, denies that the gulag exists.

Ironically, while the North Korean people starve, and some turn to eating their office-mates, the leadership does pretty well. Dead "Dear Leader", Kim Jong-il, used to airlift Big-Macs from China, had 10,000 bottles of liquor in his cellar, and regularly pigged-out on lobster (and caviar) with silver chopsticks, to boot. He's also said to have amassed 4 billion dollars which he kept in Luxembourg banks.  That's why he constantly ranked high in Parade's Worst Dictator lists for so many years, and hit the number 1 spot last year, right before he croaked.

How's that communism working out for the North Korean people?