PART VII

 Italy

25/01/2014

Did I say Slavery is slavery?

Yes, even a single minute should not be allowed for slavery. Let’s stop slavery all together!

In the last six parts, we tried to see what Juche ideology is according to DPRK applications and how Eritreans are treated by this kind of ideology, though, not officially declared as an ideology, at all levels of life spheres. My approach is still from general to quite specific. And more, based on my own observations and interpretations of the ideology.  To make how such measures are intermingled in our daily life, I gave some personal experiences and hence a specific in its interpretation.

Then, let me flash you back on the origin of Juche ideology.

As we read in part VI

There are three major schools of thought regarding the origins of the Juche ideology. The first of these is the instrumental perspective, which emphasizes domestic and international relations factors. The second perspective focuses on the influence of traditional Korean politics. The last viewpoint considers Juche to be original political thought stemming directly from the life experiences of Kim II Sung.

Traditional Political Culture

The second perspective is more long-term and focuses on the influence of traditional political culture in Korea. The scholars in this second camp argue that juche is a reflection of a centuries-old tradition of independence from foreign powers. Strategically located at a peninsular tip of the East Asian continent, Korea has long been a pawn of contention between its two powerful neighbors, China and Japan. From the earliest recorded history, the Korean people have fought fiercely to maintain their independence in the face of multiple invasions by Mongols, Manchurians, Han Chinese and Japanese pirates and samurais. The sum total of these invasions may qualify Korea as the most oft-invaded territory in the world. Under the Yi Dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 until the Japanese annexation in 1910, Korea became a highly defensive state with a foreign policy of isolation towards the outside world. When Kim Il Sung came to power in North Korea in 1945, he arguably reverted to the highly isolationist policies of pre-modern Korea.

Furthermore, this viewpoint encompasses the exposition of Juche as a brand of Korean Leninist nationalism, a “creative adoption of Marxism-Leninism” peculiarly suited to the Korean situation, described by Kim Jong II as

a difficult and complex revolution which had to deal with the tasks of the anti-imperialist, national-liberation revolution, with formidable Japanese imperialism as the target, and those of the anti-feudal, democratic revolution simultaneously.

Baek Nam Un, a Korean sociologist who later aided Kim Il Sung, said that the situation in Korea requires an independent and creative adoption of Marxism and Leninism, and a peculiar synthesis of nationalism and socialism. Kim Il Sung himself said:

To establish juche is a question of special importance for us in the light of our country’s geographical situation and environments, of the peculiarities of its historical development, and the complex and arduous nature of our revolution.

Individualism: Kim II Sung’s Original Thought

The third viewpoint is the North Koreans’ view of juche as a prime example of their late Supreme Leader’s brilliance and originality. This last group insists that juche was the intellectual result of Kim Il Sung’s highly exaggerated and romanticized  personal experience as a guerrilla fighting against the Japanese in the 1930s. This immediate attribution of juche to Kim Il Sung’s personal history is emphasized by his son and heir Kim Jong Il in his book On the Juche Idea. He argues that his father “put forward a juche-oriented line for the Korean revolution” and that “…this was a historical event which heralded the creation of the juche idea and the birth of the juche-oriented revolutionary line.” 22 Kim Il Sung himself had at times maintained that the juche ideology grew out of two major frustrations he felt with the Korean revolution during the anti-Japanese struggle: first, the revolutionary vanguard had lost contact with the proletarian masses and were waging a theoretical battle without mass support; and second, that “flunkeyism” – seeking Moscow’s favor – and factionalism were corrupting the revolution from the inside.

KIM IL SUNG’S POLICY STANCES ON SUBJECTS SUCH AS THE CLASS STRUGGLE, THE IDEA OF THE MASS LINE, THE BELIEF IN ONE’S OWN CAPABILITIES WERE ALL DRAWN PRIMARILY FROM CHINESE AND EASTERN EURO- PEAN THOUGHT. KIM IL SUNG’S GENIUS LAY IN HIS ABILITY TO FUSE THESE ELEMENTS TO- GETHER TO CAPITALIZE ON THE NORTH KOREAN DRIVE FOR INDEPENDENCE.

Philosophical Underpinnings of Juche Ideology

The Juche idea is a Weltanschauung, or world view, that affirms the penultimate value of man’s interests. According to Juche ideology, man has ultimate control over the world and of his own destiny because he alone has chajusong, or creativity and consciousness. Adherents to the juche philosophy claim that this viewpoint of man as dominating and reshaping the world is a unique contribution of Juche ideology to the body of philosophical knowledge. Despite this claim to originality, there is nothing particularly revolutionary or novel in the tenets of the Juche philosophy. Kim II Sung’s policy stances on subjects such as the class struggle, the idea of the mass line, and the role of the single great leader in history and the importance of belief in one’s own capabilities were all drawn primarily from Chinese and Eastern European thought. Kim II Sung’s genius lay in his ability to fuse these elements together to capitalize on the North Korean drive for independence.

Debt to Maoist Thought Kim’s early knowledge of communism came from the Chinese communist guerrilla army with which he trained from 1935 to 1941. During this time, he was tutored and influenced by Wei Zhengmin, a superior Chinese political officer in his guerrilla group. While Kim never acknowledged the extent of his subordination to and affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party, many scholars contend that Kim was a member of the CCP. 24 By the end of the Korean War, Chinese influence in North Korea had overtaken that of the Soviet Union. Kim closely followed Mao Zedong’s political thought and action, which heavily influenced the development of the DPRK’s political institutions in the late 1940s and 1950s.

One example of this emulation was the North Korean strategy of Chollima Undong, which was inspired by Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward movement of 1958-1960. 25 The multi-year economic plans, stress upon rural self-sufficiency and nationalistic and revolutionary fervor that inspired the Great Leap Forward are all characteristics of the Juche ideology of economic self-sufficiency. Kim’s assertion that

Mao Zedong’s political thought and action, which heavily influenced the development of the DPRK’s political institutions in the late 1940s and 1950s. One example of this emulation was the North Korean strategy of Chollima Undong, which was inspired by Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward movement of 1958-1960. The multi-year economic plans, stress upon rural self-sufficiency and nationalistic and revolutionary fervor that inspired the Great Leap Forward are all characteristics of the Juche ideology of economic self-sufficiency.

Kim’s assertion that is

…if one lacks the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, one will lose faith in one’s own strength, fail to try to tap the inner resources of one’s country, grow indolent and loose, and fall into passivism [sic] and conservatism

highly reminiscent of the Yan’an era of the CCP, during which a belief in the power of the will to overcome seemingly impossible barriers was permanently embedded into Maoist thought. The underlying principle of the Juche ideology is the faithful application of Marxism-Leninism in a case-specific manner that would best suit the history, political conditions and current realities of the country. This theory of different means to the penultimate goal of communism was first stressed by Mao Zedong, especially during the rectification campaign of 1942-44 on the need to “sinify” Marxism- Leninism and halt the mechanical and dogmatic acceptance of the Soviet model as the “universal truth.” 28; 29 Thus, the main tenet of Kim II Sung’s thought can be directly attributed and traced to Mao.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Kim Il Sung was never willing to publicly acknowledge his ideological debt to Mao, especially after the institutionalization of the Juche ideology as North Korea’s sole political philosophy by the DPRK in the early 1960s. Following this formal linkage of the Juche ideology with North Korean nationalism, the inferiority implications of acknowledging such a great debt to a foreign leader was probably insurmountable both for the consistency of the independent Juche ideology and for Kim’s personal pride.

Korean and Confucian Roots

The Juche ideology that is trumpeted by North Korea as Kim II Sung’s ingenious and original contribution to the body of political philosophy is really drawn from a centuries-old tradition of Korean political thought. Kim himself has acknowledged that he drew the term and idea of Juche from Korean scholars in the early twentieth century, who in turn drew inspiration from

Confucian ideas dating back to the original state philosophy of independence espoused by Korean rulers. The tradition of strong nationalism among the Korean people coexisted with another tradition called sadaechuii, in which the Confucian palace officials and educated elite groups jockeyed for foreign support through sycophancy. 31 Kim’s Juche ideology may represent his reaction to the slave mentality of Sadaechuii as well as an indebtedness to the original nationalistic strain of Korean political culture. Aside from its tremendous appeal to the deep traditional Korean antipathy towards foreign influence, Juche serves to intensify the nationalism of the North Korean people, who are told that world civilization originated from the Korean peninsula.

Application to Society

Indoctrination in juche ideology was seen as the primary concern in the revolutionary struggle for chajusong and the subsequent construction of a socialist republic. 33 Establishing a juche mindset meant the promotion of the attitude that the Korean people could solve all of their problems by their own talents and initiative. Cultivating a sense of national dignity and revolutionary pride was especially important, as evidenced by the great lengths to which cultural aspects of North Korean life such as music and entertainment were monopolized and dictated by the Party under Kim Jong II, Kim II Sung’s son and successor.

The Kim II Sung regime instructed the North Korean people in the Juche ideology using an analogy drawn from human anatomy. The Great Leader is the brain that makes decisions and issues orders, the Party is the nervous system that channels information, and the people are the bone and muscle that physically execute the orders. This belief system, inculcated in North Koreans since early childhood, made them docile and loyal to Kim Il Sung even in the face of famines and energy crises that have devastated the country.

The Juche ideology was widely supported among the North Korean populace because of the doctrine that the success of the socialist revolution depends upon the extent to which the masses rally around and support the leadership. When Kim Il Sung unilaterally declared Juche to be the governing principle of all aspects of North Korean life, as well as the ideological basis of all state policies, the philosophy gained the full authority of Kim II Sung’s godlike status. Having established the infallibility of the Juche philosophy and consolidated their own political power, Kim II Sung and Kim Jong Il were able to use Juche principles of self-sustenance and political and military independence as justification for policies such as the routing of a huge percentage of national income towards military expenditures, despite the famine sweeping through the populace. Due to the power and influence of one man, the Great Leader, the Juche philosophy became inextricably embedded in the economic, political, military and cultural aspects of life in the DPRK.

MARX BELIEVED THAT INDIVIDUAL FIGURES HAD NO CONTROL OVER THE GENERAL TREND OF PRE- DETERMINED HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, AND HE DID NOT GIVE MAN AN EXALTED POSITION IN THE HIERARCHY OF HISTORICAL FACTORS OF IMPORTANCE. KIM IL SUNG, IN CONTRAST, SAW HIM- SELF AS AN ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL FIGURE IN THE STRUGGLE OF THE WORKING MASSES AGAINST THE OPPRESSIVE MIDDLE CLASS.

The last part is coming soon

In the last part, I will try to write my reflections on part VII and make a conclusion.

Refernce

Lee G. 2003. The Political Philosophy of Juche. Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, Volume 3,  Number 1.

Part IV and V

My reflections on part II

Still I am on part two my friends.

Did I say 70 staff members stranded in one office while I was trying to talk on the food security policies and its hollow propaganda?

Did it look shallow analytical approach for my justification?

It is so bizarre when I just mention such numbers from far. But, let me go in. I am not in doubt that we have a common understanding on human capital, sure it is with no doubt that human capital is a multiplying factor when it is utilized properly. I said in part III just those 70 staff member just visit, sign and quite the office. How do you feel when you walk up from your bed, eat your breakfast, dress properly and just leave your sweet home to sign? This is for you, on individual level, just a feeling and sure it is a destruction.

And at office level, it is just non functionality. Look then how these individuals which are non effective get multiplied.

At this time, speaking safely, each sub-zoba has around 70 staff numbers. At zoba level, zoba Anseba has 14 sub-zobas, then simple arithmetic, 70 x 14 = 980, approximately 100 Agricultural scientists and at national level, 55 x 70 = 3850 capable scientists are just sign the daily attendance and leave. 3850 agricultural scientists!

3850!!!!!

And in the other hand, 80% of our population is considered as farmers. In fact, today, the number reaches almost 90%. If there is business, people usually bow to the mother land, to take what is available there. Did you hear ERI-TV broadcasting an x-taxi driver changed to a farmer? If the a taxi driver quited his profession, then there must be something wrong in the down town. No one is there, and he could not get clients. Then he could have forced to step-down and search something that he can eat. Oh, what else is available to feed his family?

Did you see and conclude as I did, almost 90 % of the entire Eritrean population spending in search of something to eat. Even the taxi driver. And long time before, as a pretention of national development programme, the national service members joined agricultural activities. These soldiers, organized in the form of units started agricultural activities in every corner of the country. Can you calculate the number, I mean, their total number?

The villagers are for sure there. Even if the taxi driver is changed into a farmer, then what less can be left behind without being engaged in farming?

See then the paradox: the city dwellers being changed into farmers and 3850 agricultural scientists just visit and put their signature?

Where is then agriculture? Where is the scientific means of producing food?

For the time being, let’s just consider those 90 % are able to produce more than enough farm products?

Then let me ask you very simple agricultural related questions?

Are these farmers using scientific means of farming?

Is environmenat aspect put into consideration?

What type of product is being produced?

Is there any means of processing technologies, both in the raw materials and secondary agri-producst?

How is the quality aspect of the agri-products?

What is its economic significance?

Is farming continued in the tradition way or not?

Part V

My reflections on part two are a bit extensive than I can say. The concept is very much complicated and it touches every aspect of the policy, economic policy, national security policy, social policy etc. And the way I tried to put my reflections may look so shallow and probably one dimensional. From far, it may look so. But it is not.

I call you to have a look deep into the Eritrean matters and go beyond emotional judgments before judging what you are reading here. Come unto yourself and make your own counting on how the Eritreanization policy affects Eritrean daily life. That is the only way that we can draw a deep understanding on what is going on around us.

In fact, PFDJ policy is of dependent by nature on making black businesses. Consequently, no clear image can be drawn on what is going inside Eritrea unless a critical observation is done by every individual. Regarding me, my approach; from general ideology to specific sphere of applications.

Are you ready? Let me go further to the JUSHE ideology.

Chawi: Military Independence

In this regard, Juche tries to elaborate the military independence as the foremost area in maintaining the peace and security of a nation. It asserts that;

The last area of independence is self-reliance in defense, a characteristic fundamental in Juche philosophy to an independent sovereign state. The North Korean attitude towards military confrontation was summed up in this manner by Kim II Sung: “We do not want war, nor are we afraid of it, nor do we beg peace from the imperialists.”  The decidedly belligerent policy of countering any perceived “imperialist moves of aggression and war” with violence was seen as the best way to defend national independence and to win the revolutionary cause. The implementation of this self-reliant defense system would involve the mobilization of the whole country and the complete inculcation of ideology in the armed forces. Those who were not directly taking up arms were to contribute to the construction and maintenance of the domestic defense industry and remain ideologically prepared, so that the home front would be united in a sense of socio-political superiority.

Although Kim II Sung conceded that foreign support played a secondary role in the holistic war against foreign “imperialists” and “aggressors,” he heavily emphasized that the decisive factor would be the preparation of internal domestic purposes.  Thus he pledged the government to prepare the Korean people and the army thoroughly and ideologically to cope with war and to make full material preparations to defend the country by relying on an independent national economy.

I am not a military analyst, but as I have seen the last 18 years of Eritrean military development, one can easily read what was going on inside Eritrea. We have been told day and night that the foreign intervention will keep in danger the Eritrean sovereignty all the time and the only solution is to keep people alert. And nothing is more haven that to build the military and make them ready for all possible solutions. Did you read from this simple paragraph of Chewari (military independence) is easy to protect against imperialist. Throughout the cold war period and years before, the notion, “Imperialist” is so common to be heard by the eastern block to attack and weaken America. Then in the Eritrean case, just the word imperialist “is absent and replaced directly by America. And parallel to this, Ethiopia named as a first hand for the implementation of American interest in the region.

Keep an eye on this politics.

Unlike the cold war and Maoist-Leninist mind set, the word “imperialist” in Tigrigna ‘tsioninet’ is absent and instead just America is present. A word game!

And do you know the propaganda?

Just simply, “American Interest in our region.” So funny for a peasantry politics. Eti kedem wutsuat diyom zibehalu nerom? The oppressed in English.

It is not different but just a modern concept of the cold war of handling internal politics. The trick is, “for oppressors, there must be a self created enemy. I am not denying what the Americans may think politically to keep their interest in each region, but, I am stressing on an illusion created to build something that you want. Then, come back what steps were taken to have this independence. Sawa military training center, the WiÁ, Mietir, Hashferay, then minor centers for militias. Just 6 million people with such big military training centers. And do you have an image on the average number of people who got trained every year in all these centers? 

Let’s take just a minimum average youths and recently old, as old as 50 years get training to join the military force: 20,000 people and multiplying by 18 years, we have 360, 000 people got full military training. And plus, informal military training such as for militias, those who try to leave left is it under estimation? Sure it is, but to be just aware, let the number be as it is.

Then, we have those who got training in the form of “short-cut,” militias. The number is beyond one can imagine. No reliable statistics is available on the Eritrean demography (I don’t know why they did not make it public, though every family, from south to North and from East to West is registered because of KUPON), but if we consider the Eritrean population who live inside Eritrea is 5 million and those with age between 40-55 constitute 10% of the entire Eritrean population, then 500,000 are in the militias. This is in fact true if we see what happened recently in all parts of Eritrea. Starting from 2012 onwards all Eritrean men who are in governmental civil services and those who were excused from military due to different reasons were forced to have a gun and be public soldiers (Hizbawi Serawit). Though they stay around their village or home, they fulfill all obligations what a shoulder should do; training, regular attendance, and security services.

Then just by minimum and simple mathematical calculations, Eritrea has 860, 000 soldiers (360,000+500,000). Just this is a simple calculation.

Sure some innocent people may say, already 100 thousands abandoned the military force and this number is non-existent. Come on buddy, this is mimimum number by doing all possible cancellations. If we consider those who departed their military position and those who are in prison centers, the number will be almost 50% of the entire population, almost 2,500,000 soldiers who got a chance to be enlisted in the ministry of defense.

Therefore, just these 860,000 soldiers are now fully equipped and active members who reside inside. Oh my GOD!

Then this number will make Eritrean number one in Africa in its military resources. I am saying number one, by comparing the ration. Probably some, in fact very few African countries might have such big numbers, but when we see the percentile ratio, (860,000/5,000,000 = 17.2%).It is a big number.

Just for comparison, suppose Ethiopia has 3 million soldiers (not true, just for calculation) and if its entire population is 70,000,000, it could be higher in fact now a days), the percentile ratio is 4.3 %.

Be careful my friends, number is not the major factor to be one strong or weak in military science. My objective is not to compare Eritrea is having this and Ethiopia like that. My objective is to see how much Eritrean population is in military. And from this, we can easily draw the application of militarization in the Juche ideology. Regarding this, Eritrea perfectly matches to North Korea.

Please refer some materials on military capacity of North Korea.

One thing to remind you, my assumption is as if the Eritrean military is under normal circumstances in which a soldier should be. The factual in the ground is different. How equipped the soldier is, how well feed the soldier is, how well paid the soldier is, etc, just lets be optimistic regarding this. Just let’s consider what a normal soldier is.

Cherki zelewa, cherki zeybila diyom zibluna nerom abti werarat.

And worse is their approach. Juche as its guidance says,

The North Korean attitude towards military confrontation was summed up in this manner by Kim II Sung: “We do not want war, nor are we afraid of it, nor do we beg peace from the imperialists.” 

And in Eritrea it is the same. The news medias are saying, we need peace, and in the ground military build-up never stopped. Then what is the job of a soldier? 860, 000 are trained to fight not sing a beautiful song or marsh for a honor of a king or a leader. If there is no war, they do not have jobs and by all means they need to work. Then how can a man be fooled by such propagandas.

Sure one blind observant may say Eritrea is in ‘No war, No peace” situation.

Hahahhahahahahhahahahhah,

Come on guys. See a good example, the great example available in this planet, how South Korea went beyond this, while North Korea remained under such psychological mind.  

Anyway, the discussion could be with non-stop, but I have to say ok from this onwards, go on what you know or what is available in the information media.

And probably it is repeating between Eritrea and Ethiopia. I do not read much about Ethiopia, because of the hate built within me by knowing what they did to us during the 30 years war and more, on the false image we acquired after 1998 till now.

But, now, I am trying to look not only in Ethiopia but in all Africa and beyond on what is going on in the ground. And for my surprise, OMG, I found myself being fooled. What a stupid mind is. Really stupid. It is true and very clear now not to make friendship with one who hates something. Can you guess why? ….

Don’t worry; it is because he is a good teacher on how to hate others. I hope I will make friendship from now onwards with who can teach me on how to love, not on how to hate.

And worse, when you hate, the brain stops to analyze things. And this is what PFDJ succeeded in his 20 years propaganda.  

And the opposite is true. If you live with one who teaches love, the universe is open to give you all the wisdom available.

Oh my fellow brothers, I need to continue to say something on how the ideology is originated and the philosophy that builds it.

 Origins of the Juche Philosophy

There are three major schools of thought regarding the origins of the Juche ideology. The first of these is the instrumental perspective, which emphasizes domestic and international relations factors. The second perspective focuses on the influence of traditional Korean politics. The last viewpoint considers Juche to be original political thought stemming directly from the life experiences of Kim II Sung.

Instrumental Perspective

 The instrumentalist viewpoint focuses on both domestic and foreign political factors as the root of the Juche ideology. Some scholars believe that Kim’s unstable power during an immediately following the Korean War caused him to deploy ideological purges in order to consolidate his political position, using the Juche principle of national solidarity as a domestic instrument of personal cult-building. To this end, Kim II Sung forbade any other ideology from being discussed or taught in North Korea. Since the content and application of the Juche ideology were very ambiguous until the late 1960s, Kim II Sung was the only one who could successfully wield and implement the philosophy. Thus, implementing and executing policies based on Juche effectively consolidated Kim II Sung’s absolute political power and indirectly provided ideological justification for his dictatorship in North Korea.

Perhaps more saliently, Juche as the guiding principle of foreign policy was utilized as a means of balancing power between the Soviet Union and China, and as a means to curb the Soviet and Chinese influence in the country. Kim’s wariness of Sino-Soviet involvement in North Korean domestic affairs was exacerbated by his personal dislike of the Soviets and the country’s national inferiority complex towards major powers. Kim became uneasy about the Soviet Union’s gradual movement towards peaceful coexistence with the United States in the 1960s. However, because of the economic and military aid Pyongyang was receiving from Moscow, as well as Kim’s professed value for unity in the Marxism-Leninism struggle against imperialism, North Korea continued to support Soviet positions on most issues. Gradually, North Korea began to use the Juche tenet of foreign non-intervention and national self- determination as an ideological excuse for cordoning off its governance from Moscow and Beijing. Eventually, North Korea repudiated both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China as a socialist imperialist state, accusing its leaders of abandoning pure Marxism-Leninism principles to pursue capitalist gains.

… it continues

Reflection on part I

From the first part, we came to learn that “Juche” as an ideology came into the surface in 1972. I said, “to the surface” because this is just an official use of the term as an ideology. We will see in detail on its historical developments just let’s have patience.

And second, the term is referred by foreign scholars as “Self-Reliance.” Did you get the point? I am highlighting this because; my focus is to co-relate it on how the PFDJ regime is using the word self-reliance. As quoted from Kim II Sung explanation, we can compartmentalize the statement into a number of segments for visualization. Here it follows;

Establishing Juche means, in a nutshell,

1.      … “Being the master of revolution”

2.      … “Being the master of reconstruction” in [one’s own country].

3.      … “This means holding fast to an independent position”,

4.      … “This means that, rejecting dependence on others,

5.      … “Using one’s own brains”,

6.      … “believing in one’s own strength”,

7.      … “displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance”,

8.      … and “thus solving one’s own problems for oneself on one’s own responsibility

9.      … UNDER ALL CICUMSTANCES.”

What a number of points are coming into flash? I could have left you here, because no additional points will be mentioned outside this. Did you come to read some points which we have been bombarded for the last 10 years? I am saying 10 years, just to emphasis on the years in which the dictatorship was officially came into air. For acceptable reasons, I have left the years before as they are.

Another point that we learned from the first part is, Kim II Sung as initiator and credit holder and his son Kim Jong II as a successful wielder of the Juche idea. Jong II formulated this idea as a political shibboleth to evoke a fiercely nationalistic drive for North Korean independence. He almost converted it as a religious cult. What can he not do if he has to prove the dynasty of his power? And worse, he did this to justify policies of self-reliance and self-denial any external aid even during worst times his own people.

Thanks to our people that we have a strong belief, a belief that has long and strong foundation that sustained almost 2000 years. Both Moslems and Christians. It is impossible to dig this foundation to destroy the existing one and wield it as a political shibboleth. But, PFDJ got a fertile land in formulating his policies according to “Self-reliance approach.” Even this has lots of draw-backs and bold rejection by the major policy makers. But, as the ideology beliefs on one man-rule, those who confronted to such policies became victims. Please check the number of prisoners, more than 10,000! What a shocking phenomenon is this? Just to build the one man system, putting these number in under-ground detention centers.

Are you surprised? Don’t please. Just stay in touch and continue reading.

Juche ideology has three major components. Just three major components, as a specific guidance for its application

a.      Political and ideological independence, especially from the Soviet Union and China

b.      Economic self-reliance and self-sufficiency; and

c.       A viable national defense system.

Now everything is clear like morning sunshine of Massawa. Those who know Massawa, you know what it looks, if not, I wish you to have visit soon. If you read Soviet Union, sure, communism, the Marxism-leninsm, cold war, as a powerful union will come in the front. And not less than this, though not of the same scale, with the word, China, Mao will come. Mao and China are two faces of the same coin. “Maoism,” hard to describe it as an ideology, but because of his powerful figure in the communist China makes him to have such credit. Then what is coming into your mind.

Escaping from these two ideologically powerful countries is hard. Especially by considering the geographical location of North Korea and the hunger they had in disseminating their ideology. In addition to this, NK was totally inspired by such movements to make herself free from the Japanese oppression. How is then possible to be politically and ideologically free? If they can win on this regard, of course the other will be easy. Anyway, they had to device and also became the winners in introducing their own kind of ideology, the Juche ideology, with it’s own components as it is noted.

The question again remains on the economic side. Despite some important mineral resources, such as coal and iron, North Korea did not have sound economic bases. Every decision taken then will lament the situation.  Whatever it demanded  they sticked to their political ideology and as we can today North Korea is the most secretive nation in the world.

What relevance does it has to the Eritrean dimension? Can we read that such decisions were taken in the new millennium? Did they follow the same course of history or Eritrean case is also a new paradigm of the new millennium? Keeping such critical questioning, let’s march.

As noted above the key components are

1. Domestic and Foreign Independence (Chaju)

2. Economic Independence (Charip)

3. Military Independence (Chawi)

Nothing is here known from the points outlined before. Just to be more targetful, the names are clearly elaborated and discussed as it is extracted from the reference paper.

The article continues to say,

Chaju: Domestic and Foreign Independence

The principle of political independence is one of the central tenets of Juche ideology. With respect to international relations, the principles of Juche stress complete equality and mutual respect among nations. Furthermore, Juche ideology asserts that every state has the right of self-determination in order to secure the happiness and prosperity of its people as it best sees fit. These political tenets – equal sovereignty and non-intervention – would satisfy the fierce desire for respect and security of a small and weak nation-state such as North Korea.

In practice, this political stance has caused North Korea to truly become a hermit kingdom because of the huge stigma Juche places upon cooperation with outside powers. According to Juche as interpreted by the DPRK, yielding to foreign pressure or tolerating foreign intervention would make it impossible to maintain chaju, or the defense of national independence and sovereignty. This in turn would threaten the nation’s ability to defend the interests of the people, since political independence is seen as being absolutely critical for economic self- sustenance and military self-defense. Kim Jong II predicted that dependence on foreign powers would lead to the failure of the socialist revolution in Korea.

Among countries that he considered socialist peers, such as China, the USSR, Cuba and several African countries, Kim II Sung urged cooperation and stressed the need for mutual support and limited  dependence.  However, while acknowledging that it was important to learn from the examples of other socialist countries, Kim II Sung was highly sensitive to the problems of flunkeyism towards Moscow and Beijing and the inevitable Marxist-Leninist dogmatism that he abhorred during his guerrilla days. In constructing the socialist revolution in North Korea, he warned that the North Koreans must “…resolutely repudiate the tendency to swallow things of others undigested or imitate them mechanically.”

Furthermore, he claimed that his regime’s “success” was credited to the independent manner in which all problems were solved, conforming Marxist-Leninist principles to the specific conditions of North Korea without altering their fundamental substance.

Domestically, Kim asserted that it was imperative to build internal political forces to ensure chaju. The pivotal factor in the success of achieving chaju would be the extent to which the people rallied around the party and the leader Kim II Sung, and later Kim Jong II himself. This insistence on internal unity of support, stemming perhaps from the elder Kim’s disgust with internal factionalism before the Korean War, conveniently helped to justify his consolidation of personal power.

Charip: Economic Independence

An independent and self-sufficient national economy is necessary both in order to secure political integrity and to achieve national prosperity. Charip – economic independence – is seen as the material basis for chaju, or political independence. Kim II Sung feared that economic dependence on foreign aid would render the state a political satellite of other countries. He believed that it would be impossible to successfully build a socialist republic without the material and technical foundations that would come from an independent national economy. This economy would consist of a powerful base of heavy industry with the machine-building industry at its core, which would equip light industry, agriculture, transport, and all other branches of the economy.

According to Kim Jong II,

“Building an independent national economy means building an economy which is free from dependence on others and which stands on its own feet, an economy which serves one’s own people and develops on the strength of the resources of one’s own country and by the efforts of one’s people.”

Independent food production was seen as being of particular significance because successful farming would provide the people with stabilized living conditions and means to independently support themselves. Just as important to the survival and independence of the national economy was the establishment of reliable and independent sources of raw materials and fuel. Extensive modernization of the economy and training for technically-minded cadres were considered indispensable for the construction of an independent national economy as well.

Kim II Sung was careful to maintain that building an independent national economy on Juche principles of self-reliance was not synonymous with building an isolated economy. Looking at the size of American aid to South Korea, which equaled its fledgling economy’s gross domestic product during the immediate post-war years, Kim Il Sung recognized that North Korea would not be able to survive without significant aid from its communist sponsors. Thus, he encouraged close economic and technical cooperation between socialist countries and newly-emerging nations as an aid in economic development and ideological unity.

… To be continued

Refernce

Lee G. 2003. The Political Philosophy of Juche. Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, Volume 3,  Number 1.

Part I

Rule of the Jungle and My Search to This

Tesfabirhan Redie

France 31/12/2013

My New Year gift to all my friends is just ideas. I know everyone is busy in saying “Good Bye to 2013 and saying welcome to 2014.

But, me, as usual, thinking deeply and meditating in life from all dimensions.

I am still feeling all the sorrow that I had for the whole year after losing my beloved brother and in addition to this, the loneness that I experienced was not an easy especially being away from home. But, yet I have to go on thinking as usual.

And for those who had a good 2013, may 2014, be with double happiness and a prosperous year. Let joy shower your soul and your spirit be conquered by love.

After saying this,

Here is my sharing idea and of course it will continue, but for 2013, it is just enough. I want to say this year good-bye by contemplating on ideas and to be ready for 2014 in all dimensions. I am promising myself to write more articles aiming at fighting and exposing PFDJ for the sake of Justice back home.

Enough is enough! No Eritrean should pour a single tear. It is enough and it is time for family re-union. But this cannot be achieved from wish-full thinking, let’s act together in whatever we can.

I don’t want to mess your New Year party, but if interested, I wish you a good reading time.

Here it goes…

I was always wondering what type of ideology is the current ruling tyranny in Asmara follows in his guidance. I remember one student asking to the political instructors of Cadre school in Nakfa this same question in 2008.

Ahferom, the school director, responded by saying, “the political ideology followed by PFDJ is SOCIAL JUSTICE.” Since then, I tried to look into this ideology if it was really in implementation or not. And I came to find many clues on how the ideology is being tried to be implemented. And this is by tracing how the word “Social Justice” is used in Information Medias and community based works and organizations.

In a new and organized form, since 2002 or may be later years, the word, SOCIAL JUSTICE, in Tigrigna translated as , “Mahberawi Fithi” became a mouth piece of daily news and political propaganda.

I was not aware in detail what it means before, but from mid 2008 on-wards, I started to give a special focus on how the term is coined in the daily lives of the Eritrean Society. Sadly, the majority, including me, consider the term as safe as it sounds. The reason is, the social norm of our society was such a kind where sharing, social campaign and mutual help are such a long standing character of the society. As a result, when the ruling regime use it, it is not easy to pick-point it as a political ideology.

In the ground, just as the way the daily administration is running, the society was tired of the “Kupons” and “Dukan Hidri, as well as “Tumur Mahres” In addition, terminologies like community health center, community recreation center, community kinder garden, community courts, community hospitals, campaigns, etc, were and still now common words to hear.

Such terminologies which became part our daily life, inside and abroad conquered our daily activities. And the worst is, those who fight for democracy to prevail in the country are using them unconsciously in performing for their organization campaigns. I am saying this, because, in many political parties and civil organizations, “Social Justice” is one of the major objectives. And this is creating similarity at least on the surface as well as information diffusion. 

Here is then my interest to dig out what a social ideology is and how it is implemented. Months before, I had posted a document which tries to speak about social justice. But, my understanding was so shallow that today I came to understand neither of the existing ideologies was followed by PFDJ. The reason is “Social Justice and the way PFDJ regime is trying to us has a different approach.

Then, what we will be next?

Having this question in my mind, I continued to search the political life of North Korea. I did this because; it has been now almost a decade to compare Eritrea and North Korea in a number of issues. As a motive then, I went to their political philosophy and I came to know, what they have is different. A political ideology that I never heard of, “JUCHE IDEOLOGY”.

After reading a number of articles on Juche Ideology, I came to understand similarities between the political systems. Under this consciousness, i came to realize the terms used by DIA were not his.

To mention some, “Self-Reliance”, “nation first”, All for national sovereignty”, “National security”, “Technically minded youths”, “Politics of our own nature and based on our experience”, “one man centered leadership”, “one idea” etc… The list is infinite.

But, yet, I found that NK has a constitution based on their own ideology. Then, what is going on in Eritrea?

Question after question will throw me of course into the jungle, where I can only find the address of PFDJ ruling elites. No ideology, no constitution and no definite political line. And of course, they have “Rule of the Jungle.” Anyway,

To help my argument, I will post a serious of 8 volumes on an ideology followed by North Korea, called “Juche Ideology” as a base and then I will have my own analysis by reviewing critically, what Juche ideology and Social Justice is.

Here is a paper extracted from an article written by Grace Lee published in Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, volume 3, Spring 2003, titled by, “The political philosophy of Juche”

The Political Philosophy of Juche

The political philosophy known as Juche became the official autarkic state ideology of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1972. Although foreign scholars often describe Juche as “self-reliance,” the true meaning of the term is much more nuanced. Kim II Sung explained:

Establishing Juche means, in a nutshell, being the master of revolution and    reconstruction in one’s own country. This means holding fast to an independent position, rejecting dependence on others, using one’s own brains, believing in one’s own strength, displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, and thus solving one’s own problems for oneself on one’s own responsibility under all circumstances.

The DPRK claims that Juche is Kim II Sung’s creative application of Marxist-Leninist principles to the modern political realities in North Korea. Kim II Sung and his son Kim Jong II have successfully wielded the Juche idea as a political shibboleth to evoke a fiercely nationalistic drive for North Korean independence and to justify policies of self-reliance and self-denial in the face of famine and economic stagnation in North Korea. Kim II Sung envisioned three specific applications of Juche philosophy: political and ideological independence, especially from the Soviet Union and China; economic self-reliance and self-sufficiency; and a viable national defense system.

This paper begins with a discussion of the three key components of the Juche ideology – political, economic and military independence – as promulgated by the DPRK. The second section is a discussion of the ideological origins of the Juche philosophy, followed by a third section on the philosophical bases of the Juche idea. The paper concludes with an examination of Juche as a political body of thought and an evaluation of the success with which Juche policies have responded to the political and economic realities of North Korea.

Key Components of the Juche Ideology

The governing principles of Juche were clearly expressed by Kim II Sung in a speech entitled “Let Us Defend the Revolutionary Spirit of Independence, Self-Reliance, and Self-defense More Thoroughly in All Fields of State Activities,” which he delivered to the Supreme People’s Assembly on December 16, 1967. In it, he declared that

” …the Government of the Republic will implement with all consistency the line of independence, self-sustenance, and self-defense to consolidate the political independence of the country (Chaju), build up more solidly the foundations of an independent national economy capable of insuring the complete unification, independence, and prosperity of our nation (Charip) and increasing the country’s defense capabilities, so as to safeguard the security of the fatherland reliably by our own force (Chawi), by splendidly embodying our Party’s idea of Juche in all fields.”

… To be continued

Reference

Lee G. 2003. The Political Philosophy of Juche. Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, Volume 3,  Number 1.