“I hit the streets when I was seven. It was in the middle of the Depression and I learned how to sing out of hard experience. To be black was to confront, and be forced to alter, a condition forged in history. To be white was to be forced to digest a delusion called whiteContinue reading “RKS Literature: Can a White Person Ever Know What a Black Person is Talking About? (James Baldwin)”
Category Archives: Pollitics
RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: Your Horror at the Communists’ Intention to Do Away with Private Property
“You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths. You reproach us therefore, with intending to do awayContinue reading “RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: Your Horror at the Communists’ Intention to Do Away with Private Property”
RKS Literature: Indifference to Reality as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)
“Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage-torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians-which does not change its moral character when it is committed byContinue reading “RKS Literature: Indifference to Reality as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: Obsession as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)
“As nearly as possible, no nationalist ever thinks, talks, or writes about anything except the superiority of his own power unit. It is difficult if not impossible for any nationalist to conceal his allegiance. The smallest slur upon his own unit, or any implied praise of a rival organization, fills him with uneasiness which heContinue reading “RKS Literature: Obsession as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: The Distinction Between Nationalism and Patriotism (George Orwell)
“By “patriotism” I mean a devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best place in the world but has no wish to force upon other people. Patriotism by its very nature is defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable fromContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Distinction Between Nationalism and Patriotism (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: International Sports Mimics Warfare (George Orwell)
“At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare but the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators and behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe-at any rate for short periods- that running, jumping and kickingContinue reading “RKS Literature: International Sports Mimics Warfare (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: International Sports and an Orgy of Hatred (George Orwell)
“I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn’t know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games,Continue reading “RKS Literature: International Sports and an Orgy of Hatred (George Orwell)”
RKS Literature: Freedom Compared to the Poor Female Cousin in Certain Middle-Class Families (Albert Camus)
“Among us, for instance, in Western Europe, freedom is officially approved. But such freedom makes me think of the poor female cousin in certain middle-class families. She has become a widow, she has lost her natural protector. So she has been taken in, given a room in the top floor, and is welcome in theContinue reading “RKS Literature: Freedom Compared to the Poor Female Cousin in Certain Middle-Class Families (Albert Camus)”
RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: FREE TRADE
“The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all the feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his “natural superiors” and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous cash payment. ItContinue reading “RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: FREE TRADE”
RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: The History of Existing Society
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionaryContinue reading “RKS Literature: “The Communist Manifesto”: The History of Existing Society”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 