Thailand is currently in one of its nearly regular periods of military dictatorship.  A couple of days ago, they made some headlines by censoring a NY Times story on the poor state of the economy.   I bumped into one censored web page on my phone pretty quickly also (A rare recording of A Hitler’s normal speaking voice).

Anecdotally, coming in from the airport, the roads looked OK, (not northern Europe smooth and new) but at least comparable to NY.  On the way to the hotel I passed a Lamborghini dealership, two Mini dealers, a Porsche dealer and a vintage Mercedes shop with three cars on display worth at least a couple of million dollars alone (2 Gullwings and a Mercedes 600), so I have to assume some people are doing at least Ok.  Then the driver turned on the radio, blasting static from the back speakers, which scared the shit out of me, much to his amusement.

The Hotel has an impressive rooftop bar with great views of the city, which is a huge metropolis,, but less lit up than expected.

Walking around, you see considerable evidence of wealth, but also signs that you are not in the first world and all isn’t well.  The public transport system seems to consist of the elevated subway (skytrain), which looks nice, and busses, which look pretty terrible.  Many major cities around the world have beggars and homeless, not least my hometown, but the presence of very young children here is distinct from home.  In the arab neighborhood, many women and beggars are covered head to toe in Islamic dress.  One beggar in a chador smacked a toddler with her cup; haven’t seen that at home.

Walking down the main drag near my hotel, which is under a skytrain line, the city appears better lit at street level than the view from the bar indicates.  There’s the bustle and heat the city is famous for.   

Some of the relatively subdued skyline might have to do with the Generals failing to jumpstart the economy.  Tourism is a big part of it, and some may have already been rattled by the most recent coup.  The recent deadly Islamic terror bomb blast has people on edge. 

The latest coup was against the most recently elected Prime Minister, the sister of Thasksin Shinawatra. The precipitating event was mismanagement of some agricultural subsidies, but behind that was the army’s belief that she served as a surrogate for her exiled brother.

Shinawatra is a telecoms billionaire and populist politician, sort of a cross between Silvio Berlusconi and Venezuela’s late Hugo Chavez.  He gained great popularity in poorer regions, especially the North, through massive wealth redistribution programs.  He was also known for heavy handedness in the drug war, in dealing with the Islamic insurgency in the south, and in other areas.  Depending on ones perspective, he was overthrown to preserve the prerogatives of the elite, or to prevent the country from becoming a populist basket case like Venezuela.  The latter hasn’t occurred, but Shinwatra’s party has won several elections since he was removed, and the country is still deeply divided between his supporters and opponents. 

A unifying figure is the long ruling (70 years) and revered King, in whose name both sides claim to act.  However, his reign is inevitably nearing its end. There have been various murky and sinister maneuverings in the Royal family, with formerly favored members and associates being removed, secluded, and in some instances disappeared or “falling off buildings” while in custody.  The fraught succession, along with the military dictatorship, contributes to some sense of unease.

I was sitting in a coffee shop catching up on some reading (lazy trip) and left around 9:00PM  Across the street there was a growing haze of smoke and lights of many emergency vehicles, along with sirens of many more arriving.  Police were animatedly directing traffic and pedestrians, waving arms and blowing whistles.    Several ambulances were among the vehicles.  Heading back to my hotel a couple of blocks away, I asked a couple of G4S security guards if they knew what was going on, but they either did not or feigned not to know enough English to answer.  I think this was just an “ordinary” car accident or fire (though it’s a nasty one if so) but given the threats to the city, and the number of sirens still wailing as I write, who knows.

The next day I checked with the girl at the hotel coffee shop if she knew of anything happening up the street the previous evening,, and she didn’t, saying that these things are pretty normal for Bangkok.  So I guess it was a “routine” car crash and/or fire.

Managed to get a little more sightseeing in.  Took the Skytrain to the river and a boat from central pier to pier 13.  From there I did a good amount of wandering around small streets which seemed more authentically representative of day to day life, though Thailand’s pervasive tourist and expat businesses were still represented.  There were small shops selling birds, food, spices.  One street had a suitably gritty looking little Thai Boxing ring and workout equipment, with a few of the last guys you would probably want a problem with doing what looked like a light practice..

Heading back past the middle of town, in front of the defense ministry building, a tuk tuk driver asked me where I was going.  I’d heard these were often unscrupulous and the answer was nowhere in particular, but since I was pretty hot and tired of walking around, I assented.  Also, I’ve never ridden in a tuk tuk before.  It’s kind of fun, but a little goes a long way.  They’re slow, bumpy, noisy and not too easy to see out of since the canopy is actually pretty low over the raised seat.  This driver was a little shady, and after an expedited tour of a couple of sites, he deposited me at a tailor with which he would get a commission on sales. 

If you look them up, James Fashion gets at best mixed reviews.  Though not the out and out scam some claim, with their scheming tuk tuk sales force and high pressure Glengarry Glen Ross sales tactics, it’s close.  You could look at it I was scammed into buying a sports coat; I prefer to think I successfully avoided buying several suits, shirts and ties.  The coat itself is nice enough, but there’s enough evidence of halfassedness that I’d be annoyed had I paid more.

Notes on a trip to Bangkok without mention of its notorious sex industry would be conspicuously incomplete.  At work, when I mentioned where I was going, there was  a unanimous and instantaneous response from the mostly younger guys I work which wasn’t food, or boxing, or even girls, but “ladyboys”.  It’s true that you will see more of them than most places, though my home neighborhood of Greenwich Village, at least in summer, makes a passable attempt at keeping up. 

There are three main red-light districts, and plenty on the web about all of them, so I’ll just give cursory impressions-  Patpong is a combination of tourist oriented market and red light district.  It’s a few blocks, with one focused on the Japanese market.  This is also where some of the infamous “shows” are located, generally up a narrow, dodgy flight of steps.  Nana plaza is the middle of a larger, but more diffuse red light district, in that it also has more nearby “regular” seeming bars and restaurants.  There seem to be a relatively high proportion of crossdressers, or ladyboys here.  Then there’s Soi Cowboy, which though its only one block, (though it spills over to nearby streets, is simply the most concentrated venue for vice and prurient interest anywhere. 

I asked the hotel concierge to arrange a city tour for me, so I would be sure to catch the main sights and have some context for them.  My guide was an older gentleman with good (not great) English.  He was too old to drive and guide at the same time, so he also had a younger coworker to drive us.  He either spoke next to no English or was happy enough to pretend not to.  My guide was nice and pretty knowledgeable, but could also be surprisingly bossy and, though he proved at least as durable as me overall, occasionally his age showed through, especially when falling asleep in the car.

He was a devout Buddhist, and had been a monk for a month.  (According to him, all Buddhists are supposed to be a monk for some time, and one can be a monk for as short or long a time as one feels called to be).   Religious discussion was amicable, but somewhat limited- “For Hindus, cow is god!” – an assertion he confirmed with a rather perplexed Indian visitor to the same temple. 

The tour itself was comprehensive and impressive.  I wont go into detail on the palaces and temples since images are worth far more words than I’m willing to type and are readily available, but  scale and scope of them is remarkable. While Thailand is obviously very old, the current monarchy is only about as old of the United States, (the current King is the ninth)and most of the major structures we visited are from since then, primarily the nineteenth century.

They impress both in scale and detail.   Condition is preserved through frequent, often painstaking restoration, often done largely by hand.  The Golden Buddha, which is solid gold according to my guide, illustrates this well, with imposing size and recently refreshed hand painted patterns.  Statues of Buddha can be differentiated from those of monks by the representation of a flame over Buddha’s head.  In front of the golden Buddha were offerings from worshipers, including packets containing the purple robes worn by the monks.  He explained that the color of the robes were geographically specific, with orange for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.  We saw some Burmese in dark red, and Tibetan in brown.  Nuns wore white.

There were two palaces, one in a pure Thai style and one reflecting European, specifically French influence in its style. One contained a recently renovated museum, with samples of Royal crowns, dress, swords, gemstones and other accoutrements.  I learned here that the Thai flag’s colors are red for the blood of their soldiers, white for Buddhism and blue for the king.  When double-checking this fact, I found that like much else I saw, the current Thai flag isn’t as old as you’d think – 1917.  The yellow we see often associated with the monarchy is because that is the color associated with the day of the present king’s birth- Monday.  In Thailand every day has an associated color, and since the prince was apparently born the same day, yellow should be associated with the monarchy for some time to come.

The much larger but concrete reclining Buddha makes up for lack of precious materials in sheer scale.  There were several instances where the number 108 came up.  It’s a sacred number in Buddhism (and some other religions).  Next to the giant reclining Buddha are 108 bowls, and you’re supposed to drop a small coin (made available for the purpose) into each while thinking well of friends, family etc.  Fair enough, and there is a somewhat meditative aspect to the repetitive task, but I wondered how many people did it more than once, and how many were Thais. 

The colossal Wat Arun was under restoration and largely covered with scaffolding.  It was still impressive, and I was able to climb the first flight of steps.  I hope to return and get closer to the top, though even with a railing, its steep and high enough to be a little daunting.  The restoration of the intricate detail on this mammoth complex is being done by hand. 

I saw other temples as well, whose names escape me and whose description would be largely repetitive – beautiful hand made detail, impressive scale, and historic and cultural significance.  I was nonetheless relieved to get off my feet and a bit of a breeze when the tour turned to a boat ride on the main river in the city (Chao Phraya) and the canal system.  It was notably cooler (there are three seasons – winter, which is hot; rainy, hot and wet; and summer, hotter).  I had heard of the canals, but it was far more extensive than I had imagined.  After passing through a lock the wooden boat sped through miles of canals.  They had all the characteristics of streets- signs, streetlights, and you could see piping for fresh water.

One of the striking things was that obviously poor dilapidated houses (I asked if they sometimes collapsed– apparently occasionally they do) were very close to upper middle or even clearly wealthy homes.  Those often had both canal and street access.  This was a recurring theme; while far from egalitarian wealthy and poor seemed less segregated on the canals than many places. My guide emphasized that this was also true for cremated remains in Buddhist temples.

On this tour we also saw some of the boats used for an annual royal procession.  They were long, thin rowed boats; they call them barges but they looked more like elaborately decorated shells.  There was also about a third of an older one, which I was surprised to learn had been destroyed by a bomb in WWII, since I had thought Bangkok largely escaped the fighting.

On the way back to the hotel the guide pitched additional business.  The floating market seemed interesting, so I signed up for that the next day.  It was a bit out of town, so on his recommendation we got going at around eight. 

The first stop was the train market at Maeklong, a town about an hour outside Bangkok and the last station on a namesake rail line.  The market’s so named because it is literally right on normally active tracks, and when trains come everyone, sellers and shoppers alike, needs to scramble out of the way.  There was no imminent need to worry about this though because when I visited the trains weren’t running.  My guide said they should be in a month or so, but if that were an over/under, I’d take the over.

In any case this was a real, bustling, crowded market; plenty of tourists but more going about the business of buying and selling daily necessities.  You couldn’t help but be impressed by the variety of food on offer- all sorts of fruits and vegetables, some more or less like what we have, some more less so.  There were some very nice looking fish and prawns, beef and pork, and some pretty sketch piles of offal.  Also squids, sausages, mush for sausages, and bbq frogs on a stick.  After seeing the market, my guide bought me a late breakfast of pork and duck over rice which both tasted better and upset my gut less than I thought it would.  Still it was pretty hot and I was pretty happy to get back to the AC in the Camry and off to the floating market.

The ride to the market was on a distinctive boat with the engine on a long shallow tiller.  Driving one of these well looked like it took more than a couple of hours of practice, and the ride through the canals was entertaining.  Hitting a low branch knocked a mango into the boat. 

The market itself was more of a mixed bag.  This was less of a real market and more like an airport gift shop times a thousand on water.  The hard sell was a little tiring as was the constant jam of little boats, though that’s also part of the appeal.  My guide directed me to the shops he had the best deals with, but they were all mostly pretty similar- Knick-knacks, shot glasses, tea things, elephants, almost comically bad paintings. I turned down about ninety-nine percent of pitches and still bought a bunch of stuff I didn’t really want.  There was some good looking food at both floating vendors and restaurants, but I had to pass on most of it.

My guide convinced me to go for an elephant ride before heading back.  I know those elephants don’t have the best conditions, and it wasn’t really on my list of things to do, on the other hand, it seemed worth doing once.  It was, once.  I’m not expert in elephant body language but it didn’t seem like they could be having too great a time, nor much reason they would be.  On the other hand, it’s probably an easier time than they used to have hauling lumber.  The ride was more herky-jerky than I expected, it was interesting to see how the driver steered (a foot on top one ear and the other behind the other ear), and the elephant waded through some kind of deep water.

The real elephant was pretty big but not compared to the enormous copper ones at the Erawan museum.  This unique structure (distinct from the Erawan Shrine which was bombed in August) is a little out of the way on the edge of town but worth a visit since your not likely to see much like it anywhere else.  It took ten years to build the 3 story copper elephants.  Inside there is an impressive staircase and stained glass ceiling leading to the second story, which contains the builder and owner’s collection of apparently priceless ancient Buddha statues.  Unfortunately, the space in which they are displayed is less beautiful and more reminiscent of the era in which it was built (late 60s?) than the rest of the museum, but the overall effect is still unforgettable.  The surrounding park has a tortoise, who’s lived there as long as the museum’s been open.

Jim Thompson worked for the OSS in the Second World War.  Following his service, he returned to Thailand and made his name and fortune rebuilding the Thai silk industry.  It isn’t clear whether or to what extent he maintained ties to the American intelligence community.  In 1967, with Southeast Asia particularly turbulent, he visited to Malaysia, went for a short walk (evidenced by the fact that he left cigarettes and medicine behind) and never returned.  No body or conclusive explanation for his disappearance has been found.

His mansion is now a museum.  Thompson constructed it of 6 traditional Thai homes imported from the countryside and reconstructed near where he bought his silk.  It is filled with Thai and regional treasures and artifacts.  Visitors can explore the grounds and take an interesting tour, though at about a half hour, one can’t help think it is a kind of cursory overview of the collection.  There’s a nice restaurant on the grounds as well.  Well worth a visit.

Towards the end of my visit I went to the tallest building in Thailand, Baioke Tower. At least I thought so at the time and so it was still advertised.  According to Wikipedia it’s been superseded in 2015.  In any case, the views were as beautiful as you’d expect, and the multicolored lights are fun.  There are several dining options as well.  However, I was surprised how crowded it was, and getting around the building was surprisingly a pain in the ass.  In all pretty tourist-trap like, and unless interested in views and tall buildings, as I am, then perhaps not a high priority visit.

In all, it’s clear why people find the city and country as beguiling, if also sometimes frustrating, as they do.  I intend to return to both, as both the city and country, each slightly larger in size and population than NYC and France respectively, have much I’d want to revisit and more to see.

Vienna

It’s tough to see everything you should or mean to see, even on a relatively leisurely trip.  Even more frustrating is trying to remember more than a fraction of what you do get to see.  I can recommend everything I’ve seen in this post, so I don’t know how useful it will be for prioritization.

Even if it were completely empty, the Belvedere would be well worth a visit because, as the guides are happy to repeatedly point it, it is one of the best examples of Baroque architecture in the world.  Really, it is two examples, since there is a Lower and an Upper Belvedere, the later built when the Lower was judged insufficiently extravagant. By it’s owner, Prince Eugene.  (quick parenthetical- it’s kind of funny that in France you an find statues of Napoleon, and nearly everywhere else in Europe, of people who fought him).

I had a good look at the Impressionist and Romantic , and at the Symbolists and Decadence exhibition.  They also have Klimt’s “The Kiss” here, and if I recall correctly, I think I’ve seen it twice because it was at the Neue Galerie in NY a while ago.  I don’t think I understand the reasoning behind the symbolists, and am generally not sympathetic to mysticism, but there are certainly some very striking images.  Unfortunately, I only got the briefest look at the inter-war period. As for Gironcoli, I only saw what was inside, not the garden, but when it comes to this (and some contemporaries no less an authority than MOMA assure are among them most important artists, like Beuys) I'm a philistine.  It’s not clear what the social or political points are, or how this responds/ to or refutes an artistic tradition.  Nor do I see the aesthetic appeal or innovation.  Maybe it will click at some point.  Regardless, Belvedere is not to be missed.

The Leopold museum was the only one I think I saw most of, which was exhausting but worth it.  Someone told me once Klimt is excessively feminine, based mostly on the supposed popularity of the Kiss posters with college women.  Even if you buy this (I don’t) seeing a broader selection of work would likely change your mind.  Death and Life has a particular impact.  Egon Schiele is well represented.  The fauves might be considered more evolutionary than revolutionary with the benefit of hindsight; but one can only imagine how provocative Schiele must have been.  He’s still pretty provocative today.  It’s not surprising to see a Freud quote on the wall next to one of his works.

The Murmoc is abruptly modern compared to its surroundings.  The portion of the permanent collection seen had some really nice things from the first half of the 20^th C, including more Schieler.  They (audio guide again) say this piece can be seen as a metaphor for life:

 

There’s a death’s-head if you look closely.

 The main exhibition is Albert Oelen.  His work is more interesting with guide.  I appreciate his using painting and 2 dimensional works when much of the contemporary avante guard insisted the form was inherently “reactionary” and “dead”.  Yet I can’t help wondering how it will stack up over time against some of the greatest works from centuries ago.  I wonder if some of his work is representative of much of the art world becoming too self-referential, relating primarily to previous artists and artistic movement, to the detriment of the artist and the world as a subject.  Though much of his work was about “de-contextualizing”, he allows for some influences:

At the War Museum, the WWI section is closed.  The most arresting exhibit was the car Franz Ferdinand was in when assassinated.  He was killed when his visit to victims of a previous, failed attempt shortly before provided a target of opportunity to another enemy.  The museum also includes the bloodstain uniform he wore and the chaise long on which he died, greatly bringing to life the precipitating event of the First World War.  There is also a comprehensive display of interwar and WWI related exhibits, including the famous 8.8cm German gun, and all sorts of Third Reich and “Anschluss” related material. 

I'd hoped I might find a little more the trip about how Austrians see themselves.  Do they consider themselves primarily German, but through the twists of history it did not work out?  Or rather do they consider their independence a close run thing to be proudly preserved?  There is some evidence for both views.  Today, all the guides insist the German annexation was the darkest day in Austrian history.   This seems somewhat disingenuous.  Ethnic nationalism was one of the main forces that undermined the Hapsburg empire, and there was at the least a substantial portion of the population which enthusiastically welcomed the union with Germany.  On the other hand, language notwithstanding, the Hapsburgs had fought the Prussians, whose empire Germany could broadly be considered between 1871 and 1945. 

In any case, the museum also includes a surprisingly expansive navel section, and a tank garden.

I took a guided buss tour took me to Schonbrunn, the “mini” Versailles of the Hapsburgs.  It is an incredibly beautiful palace, as a quick Google search will affirm.  It is free to access the grounds outside, and it was nice to see people using such a beautiful venue as a park (as with Belvedere).  It was incredibly crowded, reminding that tourism is now the number one industry of the city.  If the reader goes, I recommend a guide.  You’ll get bits you’d otherwise likely miss.  For example, an impressive painting of a Royal wedding is even more so than it first appears, because each portrait is of an actual attendee whose portrait was separately made by the artist and then transferred to the larger work , which must have taken years.  All the attendees are accurately recorded with one notable exception- the Queen had a young Mozart painted in even though his first visit to was two years after the wedding.  The tour also shows the “Napoleon” room, which is the room used when he twice occupied Vienna, and the room in which  his son died a few years after his ultimate defeat.

            Vienna is known as much for music as visual art.  A Mozart Concert at the “Golden Hall” in the Musikverein seemed like it would be enjoyable and exceeded expectations.  The singers, hamming it up quite a bit, seemed to enjoy putting on the show and the packed hall, itself beautiful, also did.

The cheapest ticket had me on the floor looking up rather than down as most of the rest of the audience, but the view was still fine, the sound exactly the same.

Vienna orderly, quiet,  about 15% smaller than about 100 years ago on eve of WWI.

Vienna Art Museum (Kunsthistorisches  Mudeum) – I spent a couple of hours here, which is a mistake.  Though not a sprawling monster of a museum like, for example, the Met in NY, about twice that time is called for, and possibly more if you are up for it.    An interesting factoid is that this museum and the nearby science museum, where commissioned by the Hapsburgs and designed for purpose.  This is unusual in Europe, where converted palaces are more common.  The Dutch Golden period art should be seen:

  

In the face of paintings like these, when people claim that painting is dead, or that craft is irrelevant, the perhaps apocryphal story of the late  19^th century patent officer comes to mind.  He claimed that he and his office would soon be irrelevant, since all possible inventions would soon be patented.   Sometimes it feels like contemporary artists have forgotten how to paint, or maybe can’t be bothered; this sort of thing took time and care, which might explain there being only a few dozen odd known Vermeers.

There are also amazing objects, like this salt and pepper Cellar:           

Or this hand carved stone bowl, apparently as few as 2 mm thick in spots:

Not that a week in mostly in the center spent often in or looking for a museum can give any sort of realistic view, but Vienna as a whole give an impression of placid prosperity, which belies it’s turbulent history.  It is interesting to note that it is about 15% smaller now than it was a century ago on the eve of the Great War, perhaps reflecting its transformation from a bustling cosmopolitan capital of a major empire to a mid size capital of a small, wealthy, homogeneous country.  One of my subjective impressions was of literal quietness; the extent to which you can hear your own footsteps or a spoken conversation a half block away.

Albertina Museum

I recommend the Matisse and the Fauves show at the Albertina wholeheartedly.  Even with a colicky toddler, multiple guided tours and several high school classes, this is worth seeing;  it is one of the most beautiful and interesting collection of paintings I’ve seen.  Matisse has always been a little hit or miss to me, but his best is undeniably beautiful.  Some of these artists are so iconic it’s tough to imagine the uproar they caused a hundred odd years ago. It’s also curious that Cezanne and Van Gough, who are often referred to as strong influences by the audio guide and which can be seen to varying degrees in the paintings, didn’t pave the way for the “Fauve” with the critics more than they did.

That said, my favorites were by Derain, specifically the paintings of London commissioned by his dealer.  Braque, not known as a Fauvist, was part of the group, as was Marice de Viaminck, who I didn’t know before.  Georges Roualt doesn’t look like the others; his dark, gloomy pictures seemed to presage the dark social commentary of German interwar artists, but the audio guide assures he belongs.  There are other important artists also and there’s no point going over the whole list here; just click or copy http://www.albertina.at/jart/prj3/albertina/main.jart?rel=en&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1202307119260&ausstellungen_id=1313041137172

 Into your browser to get a better idea of what your in for if you go.

I also got a quick look at the Gottfried Helnwein exhibition.   It’s tempting dismiss him as shock for the sake of being shocking; itself is something of an artistic tradition.  I mean, bleeding children in Nazi SS uniforms?  Is it Halloween already?  However, there are reasons this is worthwhile.  For one thing, many if the images are arresting.  The painting technique is photorealistic to where some almost seemed like giclees, leaving the viewer to wonder, as with Dutch still lifes, exactly how it’s pulled it off.   As for the content, the audioguide narrator explains, with some help from the artist himself, that much of his art is a reaction to the continued suffering of innocents. Also, growing up in post war Austria, the artist saw a refusal of adults to seriously address issues of their recent history while making a big deal of trivial things.  Therefore this could be seen not just as shocking the midle class but as part of a tradition social and political commentary; a tradition it seems much 20^th century German art is part, and with reason. 

I was there for a little under three hours, which is enough time for either, not really for both.

An Issue with Dr. King’s Legacy

On the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s historic address, there has been much public commemoration and reflection.   The esteem in which the country holds Dr. King is warranted.  Nearly 100 years after the Civil War bloodily redressed America's original sin of slavery, the persistence of pervasive racism, particularly in the south, was unconscionable.   Today, I believe a majority of Americans consider Jim Crow a disastrous historical anomaly, and few, even in the deep south would want to return to those policies, even as de-facto segregation often persists.

Dr. King deserves a great deal of credit for getting to this consensus as completely as is case today, and with less violence than may have been.  Nor do Dr. Kings personal weaknesses detract significantly from his legacy.  His philandering is a personal matter and have no real relevance, and the plagiarism of his PhD thesis, though more problematic in King’s capacity as a role model, pales in significance  compared to his legacy.

Some criticisms King made of the US were, at a minimum, overblown, but also don’t really have much to do with legacy.  (Though you don’t have to be sympathetic to American foreign policy to conclude King’s famous assertion about the US as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” is absurd considering what was happening in China and the Soviet Union at the time.)

So what’s the qualification implied in the title of this post?   

Dr. King bears great responsibility for the conflation of social democracy with civil rights and racial equality.  He came to believe that “If we are to achieve a real equality,” (as King wrote from the Selma, Alabama jail in 1965,) “the U.S. will have to adopt a modified form of socialism.”.  Note that I’ve not seen any credible evidence that King was an agent of foreign powers, or that he was working for any foreign led communist or socialist movements.  He consistently opposed violent means to achieve socialist ends.  Rather, he advocated a peaceful reorganization of the US along socialist lines, and to this day, that position has become inextricably tied to the civil rights movement.  This has hurt the country as a whole and the black community in particular.  King was not wrong to attack the poverty he saw afflicting African Americans and others, but to advocate socialism as redress.  It is not often emphasized today, that was clearly and specifically what he had in mind:  “"the roots" of the economic injustice he sought to overcome "are in the [capitalist] system rather [than] in men or faulty operations".  As early as 1952 King wrote “today capitalism has outlived its usefulness. It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.”

To this day, the close association of socialist ideology and the movement King led has undermined the ability of market-based solutions from making inroads in the civil rights circles.  

This is debate worth having.  If it is possible that a market based allocation of the resources is necessary to develop from developing to a first world standard of living, that view should be considered.  For example, check out this synopsis of Hernando de Soto of Peru, who believes that a deeper penetration of capitalist institutions and property rights are the best way to help the poor around the world- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto_Polar

I’m not unbiased in this proposed debate.  I don’t believe new wealth can be generated unless there are strong capitalist institutions and the majority of resources are allocated by market mechanisms. As a group, those most in need of a functioning market economy are those with the least.  Those already well off are better poised to game a more politicized system.  This does not mean an anarchic  free for all.  Such an arrangement is necessary for enough wealth creation to support programs for those truly necessitous of them. 

King was a great man who accomplished great things and paid the ultimate price in the service of a noble cause.  However, until the socialist component of his agenda is abandoned, or at least seriously debated within the movement he led, those he most wished to help will suffer for it, and his legacy be clouded. 

            

Oliver Stone on American Pay TV Channel Showtime

Oliver Stone is a very accomplished filmmaker, so it makes sense for a pay channel to jump at the chance to make a series with him.  Unfortunately, Showtime has elected to make a documentary series, Secret History of America, a companion piece to his book, in which Stone expounds at length on his particular views regarding post-war American history.  There are conflicting opinions regarding particular points Stone makes, but less on who Stone is and what he has stood for.

Stone has a radical, profoundly illiberal perspective.  His is not the sort of mainstream left wing view, arguing in favor of a more active role for the state in the context of a liberal political system and a market oriented economy.  Rather he consistently throws his lot in with radical revolutionaries and propagandizes for totalitarian, absolutist, left extremism.  For example, he has made two sympathetic documentaries on Fidel Castro, Looking for Fidel and Commandante, helping perpetuate the myth that the tyrant is a sympathetic humanist persevering against “Imperialism”.  (Full disclosure – I’ve not yet seen these; I’ve read about them and intend to catch up with them at some point).  

He has worked with Marxist agitator Tariq Ali on his most recent documentary before Untold History, South of the Border.  By most accounts, South of the Border paints an almost uniformly positive picture of Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.  Some have reservations.   For example, one group which recently sent a mission to investigate the state of the Bolivarian republic noted that “As expressed in a manual for workers’ education published by an official trade union, “violence is the means for the implementation of modern societies (according to Marx)”. Violence, threats, intimidation, insecurity, uncertainty and instability of laws and procedures constitute the current framework of society. This has consequences not only for the private lives of the people and for civil and political life, but equally for national economic activity.”  Who are these skeptical reactionaries?  The Socialist International.  You can read the rest of their report here:

http://www.socialistinternational.org/images/dynamicImages/File/SI_Mission_to_Venezuela_Report.pdf

At other times, Stone has apologized for and equivocated regarding Colombia’s notorious FARC (Revolutionary armed forces of Colombia) Marxist Revolutionaries.  “They're a peasant army; I see them as a Zapata-like army. I think they are heroic to fight for what they believe in and die for it, as was Castro in the hills of Cuba."”

It seems nearly anyone who advocates illiberal economics, anti-Americanism and violence has a better than fair chance at earning Stone’s esteem.

 The book and TV program comes at a time when more liberal ideas, especially regarding trade, sound currency, the rule of law and property rights, are at a low and apparently receding ebb globally.  In addition, a generation with no living memory of the cold war, the Soviet Union and the horrors of Communism has come of age.  One thing few would dispute with Stone, is that 20^th century history is often poorly taught and little known.  It makes it all the more unfortunate that many will likely learn much of what they think they know from this series.

Progressivism

Progressivism is based on contempt for humanity and concomitant disregard for liberty.  In addition, most progressives have no interest in addressing poverty.  The animating principal of progressivism is that the lives of individuals can be improved through continuously increasing levels of cooperation in all aspects of society, including the economy, coordinated through an ever-expanding state.  In this way, opportunities can be extended to those for whom they would not otherwise be available, and they will be protected from the vicissitudes of chance.

The ever-expanding state is of necessity a threat to individual freedom, and must constrain the operation of market mechanisms by reducing the personal autonomy on which such mechanisms depend.  After all, the state doesn’t expand into a vacuum.  If one believes that individual liberty has value in and of itself and that markets are indispensible to allocating assets efficiently and creating wealth, progressivism is inherently problematic.  Yet, it is reasonable to debate a tradeoff between individualism and societal goals, and between growth and other objective.  However, such debates assume Progressives are acting in good faith, and this is generally not the case. 

More realistically, progressives view the effects of their policies as a means of perpetuating their control.  If those who are dependent, who are at the margins of society, the desperate or nearly so are the most likely to support progressives, progressives will implement policies to ensure this constituency is entrenched and expanded.  As the implementation of progressive policy leads the population to become more dependant on the state for survival and cuts off any alternatives, the power of progressive politicians grows.  Progressives’ power doesn’t grow despite the degraded conditions of their constituents, but rather because of.  They create circumstances in which there is no viable alternative to the degraded status quo.

This dynamic is in evidence wherever progressive policies have been consistently applied, not only in the United States.  For example, lit is largely responsible for Argentina’s century long transition from first to third world.  In the United States, it can be seen to be playing out in California, and has brought down Detroit.  

The 16^th house district in NY is a good example.  It covers most of the South Bronx, and it is the poorest house district in the country.  Although its has improved from it’s absolute nadir, it’s still a pretty desperate place, with nearly 40% at or below poverty line.   In the 1950s, this was a vibrant neighborhood, largely of recent immigrants.  Numerous factors contributed to the precipitous decline since the 1950’s, but a constant has been consistent progressivism.  Rent control contributed to the deterioration of the housing stock.  Their House representation has been among the most progressive in Congress.  It’s been Democrats since 1949, and the history includes progressive icons Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Elizabeth Holtzman, Charles Shchumer and Charlie Rangel.  Today, Jose E. Serrano represents the district.   According to his Wikki page, here’s what Schumer had to say about pork sent to his district: “And let me say this to all the chattering classes that so much focus on those little, tiny, yes porky amendments. The American people really don’t care.”  Serreno said, “I make no excuses about the fact that I earmark dollars to go in the poorest congressional district in the nation” when asked about a piece of pork he sponsored. 

Progressive politicians are as likely to serve the long-term interests of their voters as a drug dealer is to serve the genuine interests of their customers.  They have no interest in their independence.  There could be some, such as Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who genuinely believe in the paternalistic relationship between people and their government which progressivism represents.  However, for most progressives, politics is a racket and  Progressive politics serves the interests of the politicians responsible for them. 

The current Presidential administration saw 75 people to the Federal food stamps program for every job created in its first term. (http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/food-stamp-growth-75x-greater-job-creation_660073.html).  Serrano’s district, the poorest in the US, gave the President greatest margin of victory of any House district in 2008 at 95 – 5%.  No doubt, the margin is similar this time around.  Progressivism causes poverty because poverty is the basis of progressive power.

Quick update on Sihonouk's Death

I wanted to add a quick note I didn't get to on the last Pol-Pot related post; it seemed appropriate on the occasion of Sihonouk's death.  Why has the been so little reconciliation with the past in Cambodia?  Nothing like Germany's (or at least West Germany's) confrontation of it's recent history, or any sort of truth and reconciliation commission.  One reason could be that nobody with power has any incentive.  Few involved in this period come off well, and few currently close to power would have their reputations enhanced by an examination of their roles.  Hun Sen was a former Khmer Rouge who outmaneuvered his former mentor.  Those who benefited from the Vietnamese invasion have no interest in drawing attention to the fact, and of course Sihounouk himself had a close, if complicated relationship the the Khmer Rouge.  I expect that after a generation or so of peace, if Cambodia becomes a more stable and prosperous place in a generation or two, there might be a re-emergence of interest in this part of its history.  For now, even as it takes on a semi-mythological status for much of the country's young population, for those currently close to power, the Khmer Rouge era is still to close, and the relationship to that period too ambiguous.