"In that specific era and situation" - some historic perspectives

Japanese Red Army founder, Fusako Shigenobu, was recently convicted and jailed for 20 years.

In April 2001, Shigenobu announced from a Tokyo detention centre that she was disbanding the group to seek new battles within the law. In a letter to supporters, she said, "In that specific era and situation, our armed struggle represented people's demands."

What does "specific era and situation" mean? It mean when the democratic world was as brutal as the dictators, and when the communists represented the hope of the intellectuals and progressives. In that era

• US invaded supported dictators in Vietnam, the Philippines (Marcos), Chile (Pinochet)
• UK/France invaded Eqypt to continue its colonial interests in Suez Canal
• KMT in Taiwan committed the crime of 2-28
  
• Lee Tenghui joined the CCP
• Hundreds of thousands of bright overseas young Chinese went to the mainland to build a new China
• The Cambridge 5 joined KGB
• Almost all Cubans supported Fidel Castro to overthrow Batista

Not many people are old enough to remember these, and for the younger generation (of my age or younger), not many bother to read critically. It is even becomes more confusing when some 'rather famous' column writers in HK could not understand this and did not bother to sit in history lessons.

To visualize the contradiction, look at these photos. (and one of them is shown below). You will understand why Kim Il-Sung had more followers than Rhee Syngman in 1950s. You will also understand why the North Korean were able to push the South to a corner around Pushan in a few months before the US intervened.

The picture shows the South Korean Army executing political prisoners, many are (allegedly) Nork sympathizers. The decided to kill all of the 1800 prisoners when they retreated from Daejeon in 1950, and a few hundred in Seoul and Daegu, lest they be liberated by the Norks. The man with a hat on the right is one of the 6 American advisors, who are behind these brutal crimes. Things have changed a lot today.

But let's not forget what it was in the past. We should be more lenient to people like Shigenobu, who expressed regret and changed course. We should also praise the South Korean and KMT who courageously admitted their mistake. We should also learn to not view what MSM such as CNN present to us as black and white.

Categories:

• pol
• japan
• korea