The students, who study Advanced Music at Newcastle College, took the gold and silver medal at the national final, held at Walsall College this week.  

The gold was awarded to Northern Lights, a group of second year students including, Jess Wilson, 19, from Chester-le Street and Carly McKee, 18, from Gateshead on vocals; Fardin Esfandiari, 19, from Newcastle and Karl Stott, 18, from Durham on Guitar; Joey Campbell, 18, from Gateshead on bass; Scott Nesbitt, 18, from Gateshead on keyboard and Izzy Curran, 18, from North Shields on Drums.

Silver was taken by 7 Gram Rocks, a group of first year students who took gold in the regional heat, held at the college Performance Academy in Spring.

Each band had to perform two songs and were assessed by a panel of judges on musical ability, performance, and professionalism. Northern Lights performed two contrasting songs which showcased their showmanship and ability as musicians. The judges praised the band on their personality and unity as a band, which would be expected in a professional environment.

The scope of the competition enables learners to develop and put into practice a variety of skills that are required to be a working musician within the industry, such as selecting appropriate repertoire; rehearsing efficiently and effectively to achieve high standards; developing good communication skills; working effectively as a team; developing and improving musical technique; interpreting repertoire and Performing to an audience.

This is the second year running that students at the college have triumphed in this competition, with Paper Tigers taking gold and Flag Unit taking silver at last year’s competition.

Phil Poolan, Lecturer in the School of Creative Industries at Newcastle College, said: “To win the competition last year was a real boost for the college, but to sweep the board again this year is just remarkable. We are very proud of all of our students and are always quietly confident that their talents will shine through in these competitions. To have this recognised at a national level and through the prestigious World Skills competition, is testament to the incredible time and effort that students give when at college.”

But intrinsic intelligence, of course, is precisely what Asians don’t believe in. They believe—and have ­proved—that the constant practice of test-taking will improve the scores of whoever commits to it.

Did an Asian American just generalize Asian Americans? That seems to be a major problem with this article right off the bat. If the writer wasn’t Asian himself, there would be masses of people out for his blood. As a result, a lot of responses are aimed at what was wrong with his points.

The problems with his writing and point of view are thoroughly covered in the many responses to it, such as the ones I linked to above. Instead of that, I want to focus on the points he does make, the issues that he does shine light on. After all, he is taking what he sees around him and interpreting it, with a few assumptions and generalizations thrown in. Biased as it might be, it’s still based on observation and I think it’s worth exploring.

Something that I heard in the workplace recently got me thinking. I was speaking with a coworker about someone else in the office, who I have yet to meet. My coworker is Caucasian, and has always been respectful, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like sexual orientation or race. In describing this person, my coworker mentions “he speaks very authoritatively—for an Asian guy”. He did apologize immediately after, in case I took offense. I didn’t, because I was too busy thinking about who in my network I would call an authoritative Asian guy. I couldn’t come up with very many.

One of the criticisms against the article is that Wesley Yang is saying we should make ourselves more “white” in order to progress, to be more “American”, and are dismissing the article due to this.  Let’s forget about him for a moment. I have a lot of Asian friends, and I am not always keeping track of the habits and behavior of each one. At least, not actively doing so. I went ahead and gave it a try.

My friends are not “faceless” or “nameless”, but are they generally less animated than those of other races when speaking? Do they seem more quiet and reserved? I can’t perform a study or anything, but looking back I am inclined to answer “yes”. Of course I am not insulting my friends, but is it not interesting to think about why these differences exist? And if we can somehow figure out the cause, is it something we should change? What effect would this have for Asian Americans in, say, the workplace?

Assertiveness, enthusiasm, and confidence are not “white” characteristics. One recurring theme on this blog is that our community should not work to break stereotypes, but respect diversity within our community. I don’t think our community is filled with faceless, nameless faces. However, from my own observation (which is inevitably subject to my own biases), there is a disproportionately large number of Asians who are quiet and reserved, who have a severe lack in self-confidence. From the conversation with my coworker, I also realized that I see very few Asian Americans who have, either developed or just inherent in their personality, the qualities that would make them great leaders.

It’s not really possible to write on a topic this broad without including lots of holes, so for the sake of discussion let’s assume the following are true. We can then focus on a very specific and (possibly) disproportionately large subsection of the Asian American community.

1. A leader must be assertive, distinguished, and passionate. These three things don’t make a leader, leaders have these characteristics.
2. A good portion (> 50%) of Asians get into their school due entirely to test scores and grades.
3. Asians focus on tests and grades at the heavy expense of everything else in their lives

The researcher was talking about what some refer to as the “Bamboo Ceiling”—an invisible barrier that maintains a pyramidal racial structure throughout corporate America, with lots of Asians at junior levels, quite a few in middle management, and virtually none in the higher reaches of leadership.

And yet the numbers tell a different story. According to a recent study, Asian-­Americans represent roughly 5 percent of the population but only 0.3 percent of corporate officers, less than 1 percent of corporate board members, and around 2 percent of college presidents. There are nine Asian-American CEOs in the Fortune 500. In specific fields where Asian-Americans are heavily represented, there is a similar asymmetry. A third of all software engineers in Silicon Valley are Asian, and yet they make up only 6 percent of board members and about 10 percent of corporate officers of the Bay Area’s 25 largest companies.

 “So let’s say I go to meetings with you and I notice you never say anything. And I ask myself, ‘Hmm, I wonder why you’re not saying anything. Maybe it’s because you don’t know what we’re talking about. That would be a good reason for not saying anything. Or maybe it’s because you’re not even interested in the subject matter. Or maybe you think the conversation is beneath you.’ So here I’m thinking, because you never say anything at meetings, that you’re either dumb, you don’t care, or you’re arrogant. When maybe it’s because you were taught when you were growing up that when the boss is talking, what are you supposed to be doing? Listening.”

“The loudest duck gets shot” is a Chinese proverb. “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down” is a Japanese one. Its Western correlative: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Continuing with this metaphor, these parents are more focused on how to make the wheel look like the others, rather than what gets the other wheels grease. In America, you must be heard to be noticed, and you must be noticed in order to be truly successful. While the Asian American population continues to grow steadily, it looks to me like there is a steady stream of immigrant families who continue to be unaware of this. Ultimately, I feel like this contributes a lot–maybe even the most– to the bamboo ceiling we still see today. Racism is definitely still part of it, but it’s hard for me to believe it would continue to be so severe if these Asian parents spent a little less time concentrating on getting their kids into the best schools and a little more time thinking about how to help them integrate into society. This can include encouraging the kids to socialize with different racial groups, teaching them more about different cultures, or anything else that gives them an understanding of people in the US in general. Test scores are important too, but showing them that you care about things other than school can do a great deal in reducing the bamboo ceiling in the long run.

How to actually accomplish this is up to the parent of course, so I won’t get into that.

I haven’t put them on my blog until now, because I didn’t want to spread any undue alarm or rumors until I got a handle on the situation. Now that the layoffs have been announced, I think it’s time. While I’ve heard some incredibly jaw-dropping cuts, such as apparently one entire department, I don’t feel comfortable broadcasting them to the world, until I get confirmation from sources I trust. For now, check out this blog for updates on the situation. 

B.) A fascinating rebuttal to Wesley Yang’s “Paper Tigers” from another person of color. Even though Akiba Solomon expressed doubt that she would get “it right”  as a black women, I think she sums up the problems with the article nicely with even just the title:  ”Wesley Yang confuses Asian masculinity with white male supremacy“

“The failure of the protest novel lies in its rejection of life, the human being, the denial of his beauty, dread, power, in its insistence that it is his categorization alone which is real and cannot be transcended.” — James Baldwin, “Everybody’s Protest Novel”

In a recent New York magazine article, “Paper Tigers,” Wesley Yang attempts to “respond” to the Tiger Mother brouhaha with a discussion of his experience, as well as a pseudo-study of other Asian-Americans. He cites James Baldwin as a source of inspiration — a rather fitting choice because of Baldwin’s particular hatred for “protest” literature. And yet, Yang’s article seems like another piece in the genre. To be fair, he asks a provocative question: “What happens to all the tiger children?” I suppose it feels unnecessary to go through a whole new round of Model Minority smashing, but Yang feels the need to anyways.

Right, so here are my beefs with the article:

1.) It’s almost wholly male-centric. Much of the article dwells on a pick-up artist who teaches Asians how to pick up women. It focuses on Asians as “betas” and whites as “alphas” even though the analogy is wrong in its premise (not even wolves are considered alpha any more) and silly in its application. Asian males have procreated for quite some time without problem (see, e.g., East Asian population), and the idea that the procreative instinct has been trained out of Asian males is similarly silly. (Asian-Americans have a higher fertility rate than whites.) Yang’s young dweeby Asian males have more in common with other young dweeby males than with, say, professional middle-aged Asian females. Is this a race problem or a gender-role problem?

2.) It ignores class. Why haven’t Asian-Americans risen to leadership positions? One answer is simple — their families don’t have enough money yet. Much of America continues to run on a class system. From education by location, to legacy admissions, to trust funds, the rich have many advantages that the poor and middle-class do not. When we look at the kinds of social traits that fuel a rise to leadership positions, we see that they have to be learned over time. Furthermore, the kinds of problems that Yang identifies for his Model Minority Males are not the same kinds of problems that, say, a poor Hmong family in Wisconsin might have. As one of Yang’s correspondents in the article bemoans that his family “[doesn't] own the apartment in Flushing that [they] live in.”

3.) It’s as much a caricature of its position as the “Tiger Mother.” Yang’s play on Trainspotting (“Fuck filial piety. Fuck grade-grubbing. Fuck Ivy League mania. Fuck deference to authority. Fuck humility and hard work,” etc.) is both childish and entirely natural. One reaction to an Asian American upbringing is outright rebellion. It goes a bit off the rails to amalgamate his experience and the experiences of a set of anecdotes as the current “trend” for Asian-American immigrants. Just like Tiger Mother syndrome, Yang’s picture of this generation does what Baldwin decries in his essay. He ignores life and the human beings at the core of his story, in favor of the category. Is the “Asian upbringing” the problem? Or is it a society that sees Asians as just Asians, and writers who ignore depth in favor of broad characterizations? There’s nothing inherently uncool, meek or risk-averse about Asians. The entrepreneurial spirit is certainly alive in China; otherwise, everyone wouldn’t be so afraid of them.

My beefs aside, though, I still found the article worth the read for the very reason that it keeps the conversation going. It’s a reminder that the Asian-American experience is not just the one that we see in media portrayals, but an expansive and diverse set of discrete lives. Yang’s writing cuts to the bone, and his talents as a writer show themselves with flair. (If you haven’t read this article about a shady “professional” expert witness against alleged terrorists, you should.) But, behind the style, Yang is one person speaking for himself — a voice confused by what society expects of him and what he expects of himself. Turning a piece about his own demons into a broad characterization of Asian-Americans was as reactionary as Chua’s press tour. I think, though, criticisms of his work are ignoring his own humanity at its center. His story may be an Asian-American story, but it is also at its heart, a human one — of loving, hating, changing and accepting who you are.

In his New York Magazine cover story appropriately titled, “Paper Tigers” (paper tigers are something that seems as threatening as a tiger but really harmless), Wesley Yang explores the nature of the bamboo ceiling experience for the Asian-American. In a very angst-y manner, he seems to come from a very American background rather than Asian as he manifests his sentiments toward Asian culture:

Let me summarize my feelings toward Asian values: Fuck filial piety. Fuck grade-grubbing. Fuck Ivy League mania. Fuck deference to authority. Fuck humility and hard work. Fuck harmonious relations. Fuck sacrificing for the future. Fuck earnest, striving middle-class servility.

I usually am not one to care much for discussions of the Asian-American under-representation in the upper echelons of American society. Though an interesting read, Wesley Yang’s article elicits more disappointment than not, in both argument and conclusion. The only redeeming factor in the article is the artistic snapshot views of the individual Asian-American experiences in the interviews and anecdotes. Yang’s racial/sociological argument is only narrowly applicable to the backdrop of America as the context, and rightly so, as he is discussing issues pertaining to Asian ‘dash’ American and not Asians. But the issues quickly become parochial without a global perspective. One interesting analysis of perpetuating white social hegemony is the Asian-American ignorance of ‘which rules to break’:

White people have this instinct that is really important: to give off the impression that they’re only going to do the really important work. You’re a quarterback. It’s a kind of arrogance that Asians are trained not to have. Someone told me not long after I moved to New York that in order to succeed, you have to understand which rules you’re supposed to break. If you break the wrong rules, you’re finished. And so the easiest thing to do is follow all the rules. But then you consign yourself to a lower status. The real trick is understanding what rules are not meant for you.

What Yang misses is underneath this rule obeying and rule breaking is the fact that rules exist because there are values in a particular culture. In a global perspective, such can change entirely. Whereas the West may value boldness, loyalty (which I’ve found Americans have very little sense of) is something as important in the eastern culture. These differing values give rise to different rules, and the ones you can break and must obey changes in that context. Yang also misses, well, better to say he assumes as a given, to the argument’s detriment,  that to desire to be at the top of a society is morally irrelevant, that is, the reasoning behind why one wants to be significant is not worthy of questioning. It just is. He gets so close in reaching a better anthropological analysis when he quotes Chu in the following:

“I guess what I would like is to become so good at something that my social deficiencies no longer matter,” he tells me. Chu is a bright, diligent, impeccably credentialed young man born in the United States. He is optimistic about his ability to earn respect in the world. But he doubts he will ever feel the same comfort in his skin that he glimpsed in the people he met at Williams. That kind of comfort, he says—“I think it’s generations away.”

But he does not dig any deeper. Then to disappointingly close an artistically decent read, he concludes that the solution, or at least his own solution, is to proclaim his individualism twice as hard. Very American:

In lieu of loving the world twice as hard, I care, in the end, about expressing my obdurate singularity at any cost. I love this hard and unyielding part of myself more than any other reward the world has to offer a newly brightened and ingratiating demeanor, and I will bear any costs associated with it.

The first step toward self-reform is to admit your deficiencies. Though my early adulthood has been a protracted education in them, I do not admit mine. I’m fine. It’s the rest of you who have a problem. Fuck all y’all.

Though he does add a bit at the very end of the article about boldness, making noise, and having a bit of “proud defiance”, such individualism is ironic in the least, if not a plain contradiction. The fact that this article is on the cover of New York Magazine, that Yang even takes the time to explore the issue of ethnic social hegemony ironically shows that he is not expressing “obdurate singularity at any cost” or “unyielding.” He actually cares, maybe not for the traditions of his Asian background but for the traditions of profit. The all-American value of productivity. And that the folly is in not being able to see the meaning and value in the ‘bitter labor’, the paper pushing, the so-called mundane. As he touts ‘daring to be interesting’ as the ultimate way to escape through this bamboo ceiling, I guarantee Yang and all his mentees will only stand on top of that bamboo roof dissatisfied and ever more lost, still searching for that significance all in the wrong places.

Wesley Yang, the disaffected Asian-American man in question, ends his article with a resounding call to action:

. . .And though the debate [Amy Chua] sparked about Asian-American life has been of questionable value, we will need more people with the same kind of defiance, willing to push themselves into the spotlight and to make some noise, to beat people up, to seduce women, to make mistakes, to become entrepreneurs, to stop doggedly pursuing official paper emblems attesting to their worthiness, to stop thinking those scraps of paper will secure anyone’s happiness, and to dare to be interesting.

Asian Americans are good at academic achievement because they are raised to be hardworking followers. This doesn’t prepare them for the real (corporate) world because success in the real world is based on how white you can act. This leaves us with unhappy Asians who go to classes to learn how to pick up white women. Bagging white women and being promoted is called living the dream. If you don’t think this is fair, you should ditch the corporate ladder, start your own company, and make lots of money by being your own boss. Like that guy who started HotOrNot.com.

Now, let me add a few thoughts of my own because the only reason I talk about articles like this is to use them as an excuse to generate tags that trick people into reading my opinions– in an effort to assert his own individualism, Yang continues to perpetuate a false binary of East v. West where the East represents the traditional, emotionally suppressed, emasculated, overachieving automaton and the West represents the virile, socially adept, naturally successful alternative. He collapses the world into an America in which the only visible races are Asian and white. These oversimplified, homogenous racial identities are the basis for a worldview in which he is able to represent a superman who has transcended this racial crisis.

In other words, Yang acts like everyone around him thinks that you have to be either an unhappy, overachieving Asian American who follows Asian cram school culture or you have to learn to be white. Then he acts like he’s the only person who’s ever considered a third path, where you’re not Asian or white washed (even if he acts like a Twinkie), you just ARE. I’m so tired of this argument! Being Asian American is great. And liking your cultural heritage doesn’t mean being Amy Chua (see my post on her). And really people, WE HAVE BIGGER THINGS to talk about.

Let’s talk about homophobia and sexism and mental illness and undocumented immigration and compulsive gambling within our communities. Let’s look at racism and sexism and heterosexism and classism as causes of underrepresentation and disenfranchisement in society at large. Let’s talk about the self-loving, well-adjusted, Asian Americans of all ethnicities that are working to make this world a more just environment for our people to live in.

Let’s talk about that.

Here, Constant Gaw, a second generation Asian American, shares his reaction.

Speaking plainly, I was floored by Yang’s piece.  This is a conversation-starter that needed to happen.

I can absolutely relate to what he writes about, with the exception that I’ve taken a more optimistic path through life, rather than dwell in bitterness.  Everything he’s talking about here actually happens: the social difficulties, work dynamics, difficulties with women – this shit is for real.  I’ve hit each of these elements at various points in my life, and I’ve realized that any success I’ve had in those arenas has been due to an overcoming of the natural tendencies I carried into adulthood.  Now, I want to be clear that I’m not writing to vilify the tiger-mothers or dragon-ladies or whatever other idiotic, zodiac-appropriate term is in vogue.  Anyone that beats their child for getting an “A-” on a paper or demands nothing less than aneurysm-inducing levels of success will not get a gold star from me.  But, away from the extremes of Asian parenting is a relevant, shared experience and I think Yang’s article touched on it.

I should clarify that while I don’t typify the “tiger-raised” Asian-American by any means, the roots of cultural tradition indeed run fucking deep, and they get expressed in ways that can be quite undetectable to the self at times.  Learning to socialize well with a broad spectrum of white people was a long process, and in many ways is still something I’m working on these days.  That may seem like a bizarre thing to read if you know me, but the truth is that with every stage of your life as a minority, you expose yourself to racial dynamics that are slightly different from the last stage.  What worked before may not be as relevant in the present moment, and unlearned socializations can emerge later to assert their significance.

Dating, too, was something that only happened after I had acclimated enough to a broader culture.  Even today, despite having dated primarily non-Asian women, I often still feel some measure of intimidation when approaching them.  Why?  Because it’s hard to overcome the feeling that you’re at an inherent cultural and perceptual disadvantage, and that messes with your confidence.  It’s already difficult enough for a “tiger-child” to learn to be socially confident, but it’s a whole another business to have to project that onto someone that has already bought into the stereotype of your social ineptitude.

Recently, I started dating a Chinese woman who also defies the tiger-child template.  Surprisingly, she, too, subjected me to the sort of instant stereotyping more often associated with white preconception, except in reverse.  Because I was affable, expressive and playful, she immediately thought of me as a very white-washed dude.  After we went on a few more dates, she began to see other sides of me that complicated that perception; I actually had to “earn” back my Asian-ness, in a sense.  It’s amazing how widely the stereotypes of Asian culture, rightly earned or not, have been disseminated.

The corporate aspect of the Asian-American experience is also something that I’ve become a lot more conscious of over the last few years.  I, too, naively believed that I had found an industry that functioned as closely as possible to a pure meritocracy and would be devoid of all politics, but of course I was incorrect.  While I’ve had some frustrations, I’ve ultimately adopted a more pragmatic view of office jockeying.  Being “forced” to socialize in the work environment and assert yourself in ways that feel unnatural may be something to rightly rail against, but those approaches are ultimately successful because humans are humans and there are certain dynamics that hold true and operate the way they do regardless of your feelings on the matter.  Rather that sulk, I strive to adopt the patterns of behavior that are strategic, while consciously avoiding transformation into a douchebag (or, at least, into someone that feels quite divorced from who I truly am).

After reading Yang’s article, it became clear to me that the most relevant debate isn’t whether or not the essential dynamics he describes are true, but rather how we confront them.  He, for better or worse, is the consummate artist: isolated, misunderstood, and reveling in the righteousness that comes from maintaining that purity.  I actually completely relate to him when he describes the patterns he sees and says, “Fuck this, I refuse to give in.”  He’s an angry, bitter idealist.  A part of me wants to live like him, but I ultimately know that’s not a route that leads to happiness or the kind of fulfillment I seek.

Just as the less-deserving alpha-male prospers in life by knowing which rules to break and which to follow, so must the artist learn to part with his idealism (at least on occasion), or risk being devoured by a inescapable singularity of his own making.  He’ll look glorious while doing so, but no-one will ever see it.  And then he’ll be gone.

Constant Gaw is a video game designer living in Southern California and is perfectly happy with the way his tiger mamma raised him.

Wesley Yang writes about the model minority asian middle class that seems to be a classic model of the American dream, yet how come so few Asian Americans aren’t able to achieve more than just that and surpass the so called “bamboo ceiling”?  The article is a bit long, but so self reflexive that it is sure worth the in depth read.

Wesley Yang utilizes personal models of typical academically over achieving Asian Americans to illustrate the sense of alienation and repression they face in the real world.  It is quite interesting to note that cultural implications of a given race can be detrimental to one’s appearance, personality, and treatment.   The ideal journey of a normal Asian American is to perform exceptionally in academics, and then work in a high skilled white collared job as an engineer, doctor, or lawyer.

this bamboo is in my way

Why is the success of one’s professional life so much valued in asian society?  Is it because Asians value social hierarchy in the form of financial stability and social status?

I believe that people are generally conditioned by given values, beliefs, and environmental factors that mold and shape them to be who they are.  Once a human being has already been molded it is quite hard to bend it any other way.  Hence there is a problem that exists when immigrant families with a different set of traditional values try and assimilate into a western society that encourages a more outward looking way of life.  There is no one that should be blamed in this case, because we have a sort of negative externality that Asian Americans must face in a land that isn’t native.  They are raised in such a way that is beneficial because they generally follow the rules of hard work and strive to achieve a path that has been already been laid out for them, which in the end isn’t so bad at all.  Living a stable life, with a upper middle class income is what everyone would like to desire.  However,  there isn’t always a perfect model for everything.  One can only go so far, when looking inside the box.  That is because within the box there is a only a minimum volume of success that can be achieved. Asian culture seems to promote following higher authority,and being modest for one’s achievements.   These values and beliefs are able to function properly in the East, but when it exists in America that is a whole different story.  When Asians are only encouraged to listen at home, and never question authority what appears to be familial piety turns to be a negative factor in one’s personal or professional life within American Society.  Why is that so?  Because now in your work environment, you seem like you don’t care, are not well informed, or even too lazy to participate.

Now what does Wesley Yang refer to solving this issue that Asian Americans face in American reality?   Well there seems to be a surge in organizations that help Asian Americans overcome their problems such as LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics) which would reveal that the need for such support is in fact real and it is being felt throughout all career professions.  Most importantly,  Wesley Yang would say to us “Fuck them all.”  We must release ourselves from the given lines that only appear to define who we are to become and challenge the given stereotypes by working twice as hard and that means to challenge authority and value creativity not to be “comfortable” doing the simple and back breaking laborious work that supposedly we are only capable of because we lack the same values as our white counter parts.

http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/

made even more relevant after all the stir amy chua’s Tiger Moms caused. I think this is the best cultural reflection essay on asian americans I have read to date. seriously. (if you’ve ever read one of those ridiculous out of date, just plain irrelevant cultural reflection essays–like the ones I’ve had to read because my middle school english teacher was really big on diversity and learning about our diverse student body’s cultures–you’ll really appreciate this one just because it’s at least relevant.)

Trick

Or

Treat

Presents

Roughly an hours worth of brand new 100% homegrown Irish hip hop to download . MC’s & producers from all over the country are featured in this comphrensive round up of Ireland’s flourishing genre. This will make & break expectations and an entertaining listen.
Bang it on your iPod, laptop, car stereo the lot. Share/spread on Facebook/Twitter as well.

Tracklist
1. Bony – Get A Grip
2. Rob Kelly – Everytime I Come Home
3. Sons Phonetic – Danger, Danger
4. Gerard i2 – Power
5. Rob Steenson – Waiting
6. Captain Moonlight – Banana Republican
7. Nugget – State Of The Nation (Vote Nug)
8. Noize Thievery – Grey Cityscapes
9. Lethal Dialect – Do You Believe
10. Jonnyboy – All I Wanted
11. Jambo & Jonnyboy – Sick With 16′s
12. Collie – Last Thing
13. Terawrizt & Nu-Centz – Grown Man Music (Remix)
14. SertOne – Past, Present, Future
15. Paper Tigers – For You

Download via Mediafire

Thanks for the continued support, shout out to all the artists featured.

Craic Music
craicmusic.wordpress.com
The best in Irish Hip Hop news/audio/video/downloads!

Mr. Chang (Hong Kong Triad) on phone with Sister Eda (CIA agent)

BLACK LAGOON and THE UNITED TENTACLES OF AMERICA

Mr. Chang : That’s enough, agent.

Sister Eda : We are not done. Tell me your countermeasure.

Mr. Chang : Does the trust between us only reach that far ? You’re just sucking up to the government at best… Don’t think you can boss us around.

Sister Eda : (Sinister laughs) You are terribly mistaken. Let me give you a piece of advice. We do not suck up to the government. Think of the United States as a gigantic hydra with countless heads. You may have the power to bring individuals and companies to their knees, but we have enough power to annihilate entire countries. Indeed, we are the single strongest being in the entire world. And so…don’t you look down on my company…punk.

Black Panthers, Anti-Imperialism and Intercommunalism

The ideology which guided the Panthers evolved through several stages, each of which was accompanied by fissures, fractures, and defections. By the end of 1970, the Party leadership had moved from a purely black nationalist stance to the advocacy of revolutionary socialism and then on to “intercommunalism“. Under intercommunal theory, the world’s people formed a collection of communities. Either directly or indirectly, all were dominated by the “United States Empire”, a cruel power-hungry entity whose tentacles of control had made the concept a truly sovereign nation-state anachronistic. The Black Panther Party would end this oligarchic rule by leading the downtrodden masses as they seized the means of production. The, under the new international order, wealth, technology, and political representation would be distributed in an egalitarian fashion among the world communities. Wars would en and the state-as-oppressor would cease to exist, being replaced by a system of “true communism” where “all people produce according to their abilities and all receive according to their needs”

William L. Van Deburg, New day in Babylon: the Black power movement and American culture, 1965-1975, 1992, p 160-162

Afro-american mercenary Dutch reading Quatations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung – BL:RBT E02

MAO’S THOUGHTS ON US IMPERIALISM (The Little Red Book)

U.S. imperialism invaded China’s territory of Taiwan and has occupied it for the past nine years. A short while ago it sent its armed forces to invade and occupy Lebanon. The United States has set up hundreds of military bases in many countries all over the world. China’s territory of Taiwan, Lebanon and all military bases of the United States on foreign soil are so many nooses round the neck of U.S. imperialism. The nooses have been fashioned by the Americans themselves and by nobody else, and it is they themselves who have put these nooses round their own necks, handing the ends of the ropes to the Chinese people, the peoples of the Arab countries and all the peoples of the world who love peace and oppose aggression. The longer the U.S. aggressors remain in those places, the tighter the nooses round their necks will become.

Speech at the Supreme State Conference (September 8, 1958).

CHINESE IMPERIALISM (Mao’s Cultural Revolution )

From 1966 to 1971 the Cultural Revolution had a profound effect on Chinese government policy towards China’s minority ethnic groups. The Cultural Revolution’s call for a return to many of the orthodoxies of the Great Leap Forward meant a return to destructive and radical policies of forced assimilation. Many administrators and community leaders who favoured pluralism or gradual assimilation were purged or thrown out of office. The study of cultural minorities was abandoned and deemed to promote “national splittism,” and other “heinous crimes,” even though it had been official government policy before.

Black Panthers and the Little Red Book a rally in Oakland, 1969 – Image from Platypus Review

MAOISM AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN BLACK SUPREMACISM

In the United States, the Black Panther Party, especially Huey Newton, was profoundly influenced by Maoist thought.

Maoism enjoyed cachet among the Black Panthers, who during the 1960s, financed firearm purchases by selling the Little red Book at Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza. The militants’ daily, The Black Panther, was suffused with Maoist slogans. The Panthers believed that Mao’s strategic elevation of downtrodden masses to position of revolutionary centrality had important parallels with the lot of oppressed African Americans. Yet, a good part of Maoism’s attraction had less to do with strictly doctrinal matters than withe aesthetics of political militancy. Charismatic Panther leaders like Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver were enamored of Maoist slogans such as “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” and “A revolution is not a dinner party”.

Richard Wolin, The Wind from the East, 2010, p14

In 1967, before the founding of the Revolutionary Communist Party U.S.A (RCP), which claims to continue to uplhold the spirit of Mao’s revolution, RCP leader Bob Avakian saw a Mao poster on the apartment wall of Eldridge Cleaver, a Black Panther and militant role model. When Bob asked Eldridge why he displayed that poster, he was told : “We’ve got that picture of Mao Tse-tung up on the wall because Mao Tse-tung is the baddest motherfucker on the planet Earth”.

Huey Newton meeting Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in China, 1971

There was significant political exchange between the Chinese communist government and African Americans in the United States. U.S. Black Power activist Robert F. Williams, author of Negroes with Guns, went into political exile in 1961, living in various socialist countries and ending up in China from 1966 to 1969. Williams published a major articles on Black Power in the August 1966 issue of Peking Review, two months before the official founding of the Black Panther Party. It is widely acknowledged that the Black Panther Party’s public posture of armed resistance was deeply influenced by Williams’s vision, and the Panthers’ view of the Party as the vanguard of the revolution, working to establish a united front, paralleled Maoist ideology. In 1970, a broad grouping of U.S. activists visited North Korea, North Vietnam, and China as the U.S. People’s Anti-Imperialist Delegation, including BPP officers Elaine Brown and Eldridge Cleaver. As a result of that trip, the Chinese government invited a larger delegation of the Black Panther Party to visit in 1971.

Lincoln Cushing, Ann Tompkins, Chinese posters: art from the great proletarian cultural revolution, 2007, p18

FARC soldiers and FARC commandant (“Cuban Special Naval Missions Formation”), under direct orders from FARC Commandante Marulanda

LATIN AMERICAN SUPREMACISM( and Maoism)

Che Guevara, though initially praising the Soviet Union prior to, during and shortly after the Cuban Revolution, later came out in support of Maoism, and advocated the adoption of the ideology throughout Latin America.

Pro-Soviet FARC, pro-Cuban ELN and pro-Maoist EPL

FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

The FARC was established in 1964 following yet another bloody period known as La Violencia (1948-58). It is the oldest of many substate groups in Colombia and has engaged in the longest continuous campaign of armed violence in Latin America. Initially the FARC was made up of landless rebels who formed the military wing of the originally pro-Soviet Colombian Communist Party. Jacobo Arenas and Manuel Marulanda were two of the founders of the new guerrilla group and became its top leaders.Its stated goal was (and technically continues to be) the establishment of a Marxist state in Colombia. FARC’s anti-imperialist political position labeled the United States as an imperial power and the Colombian government as a right-wing oligarchy.

The very complex relationship between political and drug activity by the FARC defies generalization. It controls one of the world’s richest and most powerful insurgent armies, holding territory and behaving as a military organization. In 2007, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that the group had about 12, 000 armed combatants. It has been the premier producer and global exporter of cocaine ; according to a US federal indictment, the 50 senior leaders of the FARC control 50 percent of the cocaine traffic in the world. While such things are difficult to measure, academic studies estimate that the vast majority of the FARC’s murders, anywhere from 75 percent to 88 percent of the total number of killings, have been related to apolitical, economic goals, particularly protecting the routes and assets of the narcotics trade.

Audrey Kurth Cronin, How terrorism ends: understanding the decline and demise of terrorist campaigns, 2009, p150

Moe Moe FARC Propaganda

ELN and EPL

Other rebel roups emerged in Colombia following gloval events and changes in the Communist world. While the Cuban Revolution of 1959 produced the ELN, the rift between Soviets and Chinese brought about the creation of a Beijing-oriented Communist party in Colombia, which also launched its ownn rebel movement, the EPL.

The foundation of the ELN, in 1964, was strongly influenced by the writings of 'Che' Guevara, and the movement derived much of its initial support from left-wing students. The ELN based its guerrilla struggle on the strategy of the insurrectional focus, which would spread and eventually engulf the whole country. The ELN thus differed from the FARC in its analysis of the revolutionary situation and how to go about creating one. While the FARC doctrine proclaimed that revolutionary conditions developed over time, ELN fighters were confident about creating them, even if the existing situation did not favor that outcome. This optimism was bases on the thinking of 'Che' Guevara, who, inspired by Mao Zedong's works on revolutionary warfare, believed that it was not required to wait until all conditions for revolution had developed because guerrilla warfare would induce them. The ELN leaders initially attempted to cooperate with the FARC ; however, a working relationship was not established because of the former's unwillingness to submit to PCC control.

The Maoist EPL stemmed from the 1963 Sino-Soviet split. In 1965, after the PCC adopted positions opposed to the Chinese Communist Party, a faction of pro-Chinese members broke away and established the Partido Comunista Marxista-Leninista (PCML), with a program influenced by Maoist teachings. Accordingly, the struggle for liberation was seen as inevitable and necessary, and revolutionary violence was viewed as the 'midwife of history'. In 1968, the party launched its own rebel movement, the EPL. Some of Marulanda's FARC fighters switched over to help the new group organize. The EPL aimed to emulate the Maoist strategy of popular war and had some initial sucesses in the 1960s. The EPL signed a peace accord with the governement in the spring of 1991, and most of its two thousand combatants surrendered. The EPL transformed into a political party called Esperanza, Paz y Libertad and continued to use the acronym EPL. The military force of the EPL, however, was integrated into COlombia's rural police force. The former Maoist rebels turned right-wing paramilitaries who were accused of massive human rights abuses among the banana workers in the Uraba region.

Alfredo Schulte-Bockholt, The politics of organized crime and the organized crime of politics: a study in criminal power, 2006, p111-112

I had the pleasure of attending yet another great gig promoted by Mr Simon Pattinson from York. It was another benefit for York Hospital Radio and £300 was raised. As usual Simon promoted a brilliant gig, you can’t really beat four excellent bands for £5 can you? But firstly let me apologise for missing Rosie who were the first on the bill. But all the people I spoke to that saw them rated them very highly.

The first band I saw on the night was the Paper Tigers. A great band name in my opinion and whilst their name says paper their sound is so much stronger. A female singer with a great rock vocal ability, a superbly tight rhythm section and a guitar sound reminiscent of Steve Jones aural attack with the Pistols. I’m sure from a visual perspective they might be compared to the likes of Paramore. But believe me these guys are bloody good in their own right. They can rock out and they can be mellow. I particularly loved their song “Rebellion” and frankly anyone who writes a song called rebellion is more than alright with me! I hope they go on to bigger things.

The next band up were the Shadracks, how good a name is that? A really exciting band who I suspect really know how to party. They’re from Scarborough and even have a song in their repertoire about that very town, which they referred to as a shit hole. But then don’t we all think the town we come from is a shit hole. Hillingdon, where I came from certainly is. The Shadracks sound was reminiscent of the Arctic Monkeys before they got a bit pretentious and up themselves. They also carry a great dose of superb northern wit with them. They had, sadly, run out of CDs ( a real shame, because I definitely would have bought one!) but to make up for it they brought along a load of hand-made party goody bags containing sweets and tied up with a glow in the dark wrist band. All this was hand crafted by the singers Mum. Now that is a brilliant touch! I absolutely loved their song “Lucy Locket”. Their disco Bomb activity worked well, getting everyone to crouch down and then, on the count of four, jump up and pogo. I have seen the Streets do this at Reading, but that audience was far more sedate than the Shadracks audience! I would definitely pay to see these guys again.

The headliners were Surprise Fire, these guys really know how to rock and how to work the audience. I bought their EP before they had finished their third song! A really powerful guitar sound and a great heavy drummer. This is a band with a social conscience (check out their song “Coal”) and a great sense of fun (they had us all join in a rendition of Happy Birthday for their friend Daniel). The singers vocal wasn’t mixed very well for the first couple of songs, but even then they were still very good and just got better! I can see them working really well as part of a support package to someone like Rage Against The Machine. They would go down a storm at the Reading Festival given the chance.

So after my last gig it seem that normal service has been resumed. Regular readers will know that my last gig review contained a view of probably the worst band I have ever seen. This gig was excellent and I would definitely seek out all the bands again given the chance. I will also check out Rosie, seeing as how working late made me miss them.

Finally, if Simon can fill Stereo, how come whenever my son’s band Steal The Smile play at the FaceBar in Reading there is hardly anyone there? It’s all about promotion in my opinion, some promoters promote and many others don’t!