[ˈsɛn.sə ˈɦɔf.steː.də] or 何森璱 is a master student in International Relations at Sciences Po in Paris and Peking University in Beijing, with a keen interest in China, Singapore, and Dutch colonialism in Asia.
Two gazed into a pool, he gazed and she,
Not hand in hand, yet heart in heart, I think,
Pale and reluctant on the water’s brink,
As on the brink of parting which must be,
Each eyed the other’s aspect, she and he,
Each felt one hungering heart leap up and sink,
Each tasted bitterness which both must drink,
There on the brink of life’s dividing sea.
Lilies upon the surface, deep below
Two wistful faces craving each for each,
Resolute and reluctant without speech:—
A sudden ripple made the faces flow,
One moment joined, to vanish out of reach:
So those hearts joined, and ah were parted so.
— An Echo from Willow-Wood – Christina Rossetti (ca. 1870)
Inmiddels drie weken en drie dagen geleden landde ik voor de eerste keer in Korea. Wat volgde was een drukke tijd vol met paleizen en musea. Na afgelopen vrijdag afscheid te hebben genomen van een reisgenoot en een weekeinde bijkomen van de stadse drukte in het rustige Gongju, kom ik er nu eindelijk aan toe iets te schrijven over wat ik zoal heb meegemaakt.
Het Korean War Memorial Museum omgeven door de vlaggen van de deelnemende VN-lidstaten.
Het grootste deel van de afgelopen tijd was ik natuurlijk in Seoel, vanaf mijn aankomst op 17 juli tot de reis naar Jeonju vorige week dinsdag. Seoel is een indrukwekkende stad met zoveel te zien en te doen, dat je aan twee weken niet genoeg hebt, Toch heb ik het gevoel dat ik aardig geslaagd ben: ik heb zoveel gedaan!
Eerste hof van Gyeongbokgung
Seoel heeft de Vijf Grote Paleizen en ik ben ze allemaal bij langs geweest: van Gyeonghuigung, waarvan enkel de troonhal herbouwd is, tot het groots opgezette Gyeongbokgung. Je kunt zien dat Korea druk bezig is alle paleizen te herstellen tot hun oorspronkelijke staat. Vooral bij het grootste, Gyeongbokgung, gaan ze daarin ver. De Japanse bezetters hadden grote delen gesloopt en voor de troonhal stond pontificaal het gigantische gebouw van het gouvernement-generaal. Dat wordt nu allemaal weer ongedaan gemaakt.
Het is onderdeel van manier waarop een steeds assertiever (Zuid-)Korea zich aan het presenteren is: een trotse natie met een trotse geschiedenis. De paleizen zijn daar gigantische herinneringen aan en zijn daarnaast ook buitengewoon mooi – het is allemaal wat ingetogener en meer uitgebalanceerd dan het bombast in Peking.
Dit nationale verhaal komt erg duidelijk naar boven in het Korean War Memorial Museum, waar niet alleen de slachtoffers in grote ernst worden herdacht, maar waar om de reflectiekamer heen een oorlogsmuseum zit met een martiale toon die je haast een beetje verrast. Heldendaden van strijders voor lang vergane staten worden met terugwerkende kracht in sterke nationalistische taal op één lijn gezet met de huidige verdedigers van het land.
Jeongneung graftombe, in Gangnam
Het herinnert je eraan dat je in een land bent dat officieel nog in staat van oorlog verkeert. En die zin mag dan misschien inmiddels wel cliché nr. 1 zijn in alle stukjes die over dit land geschreven worden, maar je ontkomt er wel niet aan. Van de musea, tot de metrostations die tegelijkertijd schuilkelders zijn, en de dienstplichtige jongens die je overal in het openbaar vervoer ziet, in uniform op weg van of naar de basis.
Maar makkelijk vergeten doe je het wel. De hoge torens van Gangnam, Yeouido en Jung laten een flitsende kant van Korea zien die nog eens versterkt wordt in het gedrag tussen de Koreanen en de talloze Chinese toeristen in de winkelstraten van Myeong-dong. Maar dan loop je ineens in een buurt waar sinds de jaren tachtig niks meer gedaan lijkt te zijn, of staat er ineens een groot boeddhabeeld buiten een tempel tegenover een gigantisch conventiecentrum.
Op bezoek bij de Halmoni’s in Gwangju
Een ander deel van de geschiedenis kwam langs in een trip met een vriend naar de ‘House of Sharing’ in het kleine Gwangju even buiten Seoel. Dat centrum niet alleen een museum over het Japanse seksslavernijsysteem, maar ook het tehuis voor enkele van hen, aangezien de meeste na de oorlog geen gezin meer konden beginnen door de schande.
Na een rondleiding door een gepassioneerde en goed belezen vrijwilliger, hadden we vijfenveertig minuten om via een tolk met de vrouwen te kunnen praten. Omdat het woord ‘troostmeisje’ &ndash want wie werden er eigenlijk ‘getroost’ &ndash te beladen is en ‘seksslaaf’ veel te hard, gebruikt men in Korea ‘halmoni’ (할머니), oftewel: grootmoeder.
Deze trip was niet per se ‘leuk’, maar wel enorm interessant en leerzaam. Het rondsloffen door paleismusea steekt er een beetje schril tegen af. Qua gewicht kwam alleen de tocht naar de DMZ, de grens met Noord-Korea, een week later enigszins in de buurt, maar dat was toch veel meer een attractie, compleet met vrolijke muziekjes die tentoonstellingen met machinegeweren opluisterden.
육회비빔밥, het beste wat Jeonju te bieden had
De trip van drie dagen naar provinciehoofstad Jeonju in het zuiden van het land was een welkome verandering van omgeving na de vloedgolf van prikkelingen die Seoel is. Samen met nog iemand sliep ik in een hanok, een traditionele Koreaanse woning, waar je ‘s nachts voor het slapen gaan je bed eerst moet uitrollen op de grond. Jeonju had frisse lucht, een feestelijke atmosfeer tussen alle Koreaanse toeristen – en wonder boven wonder een Nederlands gezin – en geweldig eten. Alles was net wat frisser, net wat lichter dan in Seoel. Alleen de kimchi is daar beter. Op een regenachtige laatste morgen had ik de meest klassieke ervaring tot nu toe, toen we in een oud theehuis langzaam een potje gele thee opmaakten terwijl de regen de bladeren in de speciaal vormgegeven tuin waarop we uitkeken bespeelde.
Wandelpad over de muur van Gongsanseong in Gongju
Inmiddels ben ik al via Daejeon naar Gongju gegaan, zo’n anderhalf millennium geleden een tijd de hoofdstad van Baekje, een oud koninkrijk, waar ik in een via AirBnb geregeld appartement van een particulier zit. Het uitzicht over de Geumgang vanaf de bruggen is spectaculair en de bezienswaardigheden zijn best interessant.
Morgen trek ik verder naar Suncheon, aan de zuidkust.
Morgenochtend vroeg vertrek ik via Frankfurt naar Seoel, voor uitwisseling aan de Universiteit van Korea. Daarvoor heb ik eerst heb een dikke vijf weken om het land te leren kennen. Het beloven vijf interessante maanden te worden!
Net als mijn reis naar Hangzhou van vorige zomer wil ik ook deze keer mijn blog bijhouden voor de thuisblijvers en de andere geïnteresseerden. Ik zal proberen het leuk te houden door er zo min mogelijk een droog reisdagboek van te maken – met die details kan ik thuis wel lastig vallen via Skype of de mail – en in plaats vooral het land te laten zien en wat ik onderweg leer.
Met vijf weken heb ik ruim genoeg tijd om het land te leren kennen, maar dan moet je natuurlijk niet in de grote stad blijven hangen. De eerste twee weken is dat nu juist wel mij plan; ik blijf in Seoel om op mijn gemak te kunnen wennen aan het land. Bovendien is daar meer dan genoeg te doen! De definitieve plannen voor de rest van mijn zomer moet ik nog maken, maar één ding staat vast: 23 augustus meld ik me bij de universiteit voor mijn introductie. Dan zal ik Korea van weer een heel andere kant leren zien.
The above picture shows the delegation of the Dutch prime minister, who is currently on a trade mission in Indonesia, meeting with their Indonesia hosts inside the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. The irony here is that Merdeka Palace—named after the slogan of the Indonesia struggle for independence, ‘freedom’—was built as Paleis Koningsplein, the residence of the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies.
Where now hang portraits of former presidents, once were the solemn gazes of Dutch kings caught in paint. The very red and blue flag standing proudly in this room stands for everything that was prosecuted from here.
The Delftware in the back and the Dutch colonial architecture show there is a historical link that cannot be forgotten. But it is clear that the tables are turned. Where the power of The Hague was once on display, the Dutch prime minister is now a humble guest, hoping to be noticed amongst other possible trade partners. This is the irony of history.
Today an issue played regarding a September publication in fashion magazine Elle that listed ‘North Korean Chic’ as a top fashion trend for this autumn. Small as this slight may seem, it is a good example of trivialisation that happens with regard to the North Korean issue. Look at those silly North Koreans in their retro uniforms and their retro concentration camps!
One problem is the lack of realisation that what is going on there is seriously horrific. We are talking about a country where in the past few years up to 100,000 inmates have disappeared from the concentration camps, many of which presumably starved when the new regime redirected scarce food resources to prop up its support base. Regardless of the accuracy of that number—earlier reports talked about 20,000—it is still an incredibly crime that merits global attention on its own. Jokes about the outfits of North Koreas Army, essentially ten years of forced corvée labour for the men, is not fitting.
However, of course is has not only got to do with a lack of knowledge, but also with defining a group so much as the Other, that empathy is reduced. Only that can explain the fact that things like the grueling, child-abusing Arirang Mass Games are filed under entertainment. Stories about sex scandals and executions are passed on like Snowden files at a journalist get-together, only for their entertaining value. We have to stop seeing North Korean lives as worth less worry and care than those of people we can culturally and physically relate to more easily.
I believe that the above justifies that even such small issues such as the Elle gaffe should be addressed, proportionally of course. A few angry responses to Elle Magazine have already sorted some effect: the magazine has removed the reference and expressed regret. This is a good way to address this issue and I encourage every reader of news media to do the same.
Is your news source of choice oversimplifying the situation, trivialising suffering or just being plain racist? Send a letter and show the editors that you care!
‘But what proud nation will accept democracy as a gift from insolent conquerors? One thing that the war has done, and one of the worst, is to make of the Kaiser, to every German, a symbol of their national unity and national force. Just because we abuse their militarism, they affirm and acclaim it; just because we abuse their militarism, they affirm and acclaim it; just because we attack their governing class, they rally round it. Nothing could be better calculated than this war to strengthen the hold of militarism in Germany, unless it be the attempt of her enemies to destroy her militarism by force. For consider—! In the view we are examining it is proposed, first to kill the greater part of her combatants, next to invade her territory, destroy her towns and villages, and exact (for there are those who demand it) penalties in kind, actual tit for that, for what Germans have doen in Belgium. It is proposed to enter the capital in triumph. It is proposed to shear away huge pieces of German territory. And then, when all this has been done, the conquerors are to turn to the German nation and say: “Now, all this we have done for your good! Depose your wicked rulers! Become a democracy! Shake hands and be a good fellow!” Does it not sound grotesque? But, really, that is what is proposed.’
Students of International Relations are probably familiar with the concept of nuclear deterrence so loved by especially neorealism. Simply put, the utter and complete destruction that today’s nuclear weapons are capable of, combined with second-strike capabilities, they say, create stability in the international system. Because attacking a nuclear power is too costly, no state will do so.
However, in his book ‘The Anarchical Society’, famous English School theorist Hedley Bull highlights an important deficit in the line of reasoning followed here by the neorealists. Bull paraphrases Spinoza discussing Hobbes’ “warre of all against all”. The problem, Spinoza says, is that man has to sleep sometime. He can be sick or distracted or deluded. In the absolute anarchy of Hobbes, where there is no authority, this is incredibly dangerous. Because it takes only one good hit to kill a person.
Note that it is the Hobbesian kind of international anarchy that neorealists hold for true.
But, says Bull citing Von Clausewitz, war between states is not as immediate as the act of killing a person. It takes several different blows for one state to ‘kill’ another, but most wars do not even end in the complete annihilation of one party. This means that the anarchy experienced by states is not so Hobbesian after all.
However, since states have acquired nuclear weapons, from a neorealist conception the Hobbesian anarchy seems to be more and more realised. Nuclear powers now have the ability to kill an entire state at once. How more states become nuclear powers, how closer we get to the kind of Hobbesian anarchy as described by Spinoza.
So, Bull shows in an aside from the main line in his book, strive for nuclear deterrence might only increase the state of anarchy for a neorealist.
Above is the sweet Japanese song 上を向いて歩こう (Ue o Muite Arukō) with its characteristic whistling. Known in the West under the virtually meaningless name ‘Sukiyaki’, this is the most famous version, sung by Kyu Sakamoto in 1961. The song was written by Ei Rokusuke. When you read the lyrics, you see the text of saccharine tune about love lost or desired.
However, its origin is not as sweet. The composer wrote this song after he returned from a protest against a revision of the Security Treaty with the United States. Ei was so disappointed by the failure that he wrote the following words:
I look up as I walk
So that the tears won’t fall
Though the tears well up as I walk
For tonight I’m all alone tonight
(whistling)
The text was adapted and turned into a general tune that had little more to do with political engagement and it went on to conquer the world as one of Japan’s first successful cultural exports. As such it is already important. However, I find the context of this song also noteworthy.
The early sixties, the period in which this song was published, was one of great turmoil for Japan. The occupation by the US was over, but the country was still in the process of restoring its full sovereignty and it was grappling with the issue of balancing sovereignty with very useful security guarantees from the US and a volatile society.
At the same time, the Japanese society was also undergoing changes: the first postwar generation was growing up and the country was only on the outset of the huge economic growth that would later make Japan so huge. The political climate was fraught with tension while the left battled the right. The on-stage assassination of socialist leader Asanuma Inejirō serves as a shrill illustration of this era.
One grouping in this political tumult were the pacifists. Consisting for a large part of people grown up or born during or after the Second World War, they were abhorred by what had happened in that war, especially the atomic bombing. They—of course, there is no one ‘they’ here—did not like to be drawn into further conflict and were afraid that by choosing one side in the Cold War, Japan would risk being drawn into a new war. That is why they often demonstrated against alignment with United States. Apart from them, there were also leftists who were just against the conservative-dominated government.
Composer Ei participated in protests organised by groups like these. It was about the failure of one such protests that he wrote this song. The shed tears for compromised sovereignty or neutrality compromised, I feel, show the emotional side of Japanese nationalism or patriotism.
It is therefore somewhat ironic that this song did so well in the United States and the rest of the West. It reached the top of the charts, is still one of the best sold single ever and has been covered many times. Still, behind this ostensibly saccharine love song lies an interesting story!
Ever since I’ve returned from China, I have been itching to leave again and go to any of the big three countries in East-Asia, be it Korea, Japan or China. It has also made me think about the views I hold and the way I perceive the world.
You see, I come from a small village of four-thousand souls in a part of the Frisian countryside. Our province basically consists only of small villages such as that and of the occasional town. In my village I could count the number of non-white families on one hand and because part of my family originally comes from a different province forty-five minutes away, even I already stood out a little bit.
Coming from such an undiverse background—my family can be traced back to the same areas in the North of the Netherlands for centuries—and from such an undiverse village, I feel that I have to be mindful of possible prejudices I might have. Of course it would be generalising (discrimination!) to say that countryside folk are all more inclined to bias and prejudice, but I do think that we are more prone to unconscious prejudice and even racism, because we are simply not used to dealing with people outside our own ethnic grouping. Also, whenever you as a westerner have enthusiasm for a certain non-western area, the danger of orientalism creeps in.
You can only improve yourself by learning and in that spirit I would like to write this blog post about an example that illustrates the mechanisms at play very well. I only heard about it in a YouTube video, but a quick Google search did not return much, so it must be somewhat lesser-known or very original. Anyway, I am talking about the so-called ‘white people slap’.
The Slap
Basically, it consists of a white person asking a compatriot or someone like that with a non-white background too detailed questions about that non-white background. An example could be someone asking a person of Chinese descent about his or her opinion about the influence of western missionaries in laying the foundations for the Taiping rebellion. It would be ridiculous to assume that every person of Chinese descent is also a China scholar versed in all eras.
Although questions like the one above might be a demonstration of well-intended enthusiasm or be intended as such, if you do not find yourself in a discussion that in this case would concern 19th century Chinese history, you did do something wrong. There are several problems here, besides the fact that you look a bit like a show-off.
First of all, when you ask someone a question, it’s usually because you consider the addressee to be someone knowledgable enough to help you out. If the person you are talking to is just a random member of the identity group you are asking a question about, you imply by asking the question anyway, that you assume that all people of background X are all the same in the sense that they know everything related to their background X. Simply being of background X means they know everything about it.
Secondly, by asking this question and taking the above implicit assumption, you demonstrate that you equate the person with his background X. However, you don’t know where the allegiances of the persons you are talking to lie. They might be immigrants or children of immigrants who relate much stronger to their current country. Even if they aren’t, you still oversimplify their relationship with their heritage.
The ‘white people slap’ is not overt racism. However, it is a tool for subtly making the receivers of the slap feel that they do not fully belong. It is a way of marking the in-group and the out-group, with the added bonus of someone from the in-group graciously expressing interest in the out-group. In a sense you rob the addressees of their individuality and force them to be part of a collective, without knowing if they are or if they even want to be part of the collective you are assigning them. It contains parts of the mechanisms that fed the Yellow Peril and other racist ideologies that target a certain group. Even if they consider themselves fully part of the collective, of background X, they still deserve to be addressed as individuals.
Therefore, no matter how enthusiastic you are about a certain country or how much you want to know the answer to your burning question, always ask yourself if you are asking it to the right person.
I know that writing about discrimination and racism is not easy and that you easily risk being hypocritical and contradiction your own claims. I have tried to avoid this. If you don’t agree, please assume good faith on my side and please let me know why you think I am wrong.
It might ruin your day, watching this documentary. But I think that you should nevertheless.
It tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, a North Korean who was born inside concentration camp 14. His father had gotten his mother as reward for good labour. Interviewing Shin and two former guards who defected to the South, the film makers show you the world of horror. An artist draws the scenes described.
Shin is a famous defector, because he was born in the concentration camp and managed to escape a total control zone. His tragic story adds to this: in his youth he told the camp leaders that his mother and brother might be planning an escape. After months of torture in prison he had to watch their public execution.
There are so many things from this documentary I would like to share that I can only recommend you to watch it fully. But I would like to draw your attention to several things:
See how meticulously dressed the guards are and compare it to Shin, who does not sit on a chair as he tells his story, but on the floor of his apartment, which he kept empty to remind him of the home he used to share with his mother.
Notice the grin of one of the guards after he describes the position of absolute power he held over his inmates.
“The public executions in the camp weren’t restricted to adult inmates. That could happen to children too.”
“I hadn’t learned that you are supposed to cry when your mother is executed.”
This is not a horror from the past. This is happening right now as we speak.
