Several moments of faint audio from previous recording
Jones: Attention, attention, attention. News of the day. Uh– State of emergency continues in uh, Lebanon over Syria and Israel. Syria was appointed by the United Nations to be one of the peace-keeping forces. Syria, a Muslim nation, pro-Soviet. The major ruling party of Syria has been the Phalangist uh, fascist party, ruled by Christians. But Israel is provoking the Christians to take a stand that they would rather die than live as Syrians, which Syria threatens to do, if the present president is forced to resign. President [Elias] Sarkis. The former son of the Christian past president is leading the new rightist attempt to reintroduce Christian domination on Lebanon, which is a majority Muslim nation. President Sarkis threatened to resign as present of Lebanon, but it's still being held in abeyance. He will resign if he cannot get commitment from the right-wing fascist Christians to bring about peace. Syria sees sustained provocations daily on the part of the Christian section in Beirut, continuous firing on Syrians as well as Muslim residents of Beirut. It is hoped that Israel will not intervene directly, because Syria apparently has made her stand, that Israel must withdraw from her meddling in Lebanon, the Zionist state of Israel.
In Vienna, [Egyptian President Anwar] Sadat and the Israeli moderate left Labor Party leader – the Labor Party leader has been forced to live in exile in Vienna, Austria – holding a news conference. Sadat described talks as constructive, it was a friendly meeting. He said there was no use for him – that is, Sadat, leader of Egypt – to negotiate any further with Israel, because no new concessions had been made. Israeli Labor Party leader [Shimon] Peres said Israel has nothing new to offer. They refuse to give up their aggressive expansionist policies. Israel has been instrangi– intransigent, adamant about giving back its conquered territory of the Gaza Strip to Egypt, who it rightfully belongs to, and the West Bank to Jordan and southern Lebanon, turned over to the United Nations peace-keeping forces under – in that sector – General [Emmanuel] Erskine, a black general from Ghana.
Bangladesh and Burma are in very strained relations, because of the considerable influx of Moslems from Burma into Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a predominantly Muslim state. However, the number seeking asylum in Bangladesh due to alleged persecutions by the Burma regime against the Muslim sector has caused such overpopulation in Bangladesh that Bangladesh is turning away refugees seeking asylum. Bangladesh was taken over and broke away from India– uh, from Pakistan in a coup, a rightist coup, that has since maintained a reactionary form of government. It is capitalists that are trying to flee Burma, as Burma is beginning to develop strong national socialist government. Not Nazi, not fascist, left of center, but with some contradictions. The Muslim sector in Burma happen to be the business class, and always are ethnic problems and race problems, it seems throughout the world, without exception. Actually, races live in harmony here better than anyplace in the world, in Guyana, and certainly perfectly so compared to the rest of the world in Jonestown.
Malaya. The Ruling Front– National Ruling Front Party coalition won. They were opposed by the DAP, which is a large Chinese business minority party, Democratic Action Party. There is political polarization of Chinese in Malaya. There is a attitude on the part of Chinese capitalist expatriate residents of many countries other than their own Chinese mainland, to be above the populace, and it causes great difficulties. The Islamic party leader lost his sleep– his seat in what was considered a disaster and a continuation of a military regime that is not progressive, nor in fact does Malaya have much opposition except in the jungles, where communist guerillas are encamped, to its military regime.
In Pala [Pallars], in the Basque territory of Spain, riots have broken out throughout the city. Fire started by demonstrators of all the leading buildings of government and institution. The trouble started when Basque separatist extremists demonstrated, demanding their right to a separate state. The Basque people have a high degree of nationalism and are strongly pro-socialistic. It has lasted all night. The main government buildings are burning, tear gas has driven demonstrators back. One rebel– rebel Basque leader was shot in the head.
Racial turbulence has broken out in the Puerto Rican sector of New York, New York, as some 130 Puerto Ricans – which are black and brown – were rounded up and arrested. Charges of police brutality were grave, as before they could even be arrested, some 60 had been brutally beaten by the racist police in New York, New York.
Those are the high points of the news. Now I'm going to give you background that you must learn in geography so you can have a frame of reference for the nations that you hear about. It's very important that you hear what is going on in the world, and know something of those nations. There were be strong testing [at] Peoples Rally, Tuesday, we have a test every week. There will be strong testing on this kind of information, so try very much to listen to it.
Albania. The location of Albania is on the west coast of the Balkan peninsula, bordered by Yugoslavia, a non-aligned socialist nation, on the north and the east, by Greece, that now has a form of democracy after breaking out of the terrible military dictatorship that we saw in the movie Z. Greece borders them on the southeast, and by the Adriatic and the Ion– Ionian– Ionian – I-o-n-i-a-n – Seas on the west.
How was Albania created? It's a brave communist nation, for many years pro-Chinese, the first nation – as small as it is – to break away from the Soviet orbit. But recent imperialistic practices of (stumbles over words) mainland China in Africa has caused Albania to break its alliance with China and form a non-aligned position, and even begin again negotiations with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.
How was Albania created? Slavic invasions following the fifth century drove the ancient Illyrians – I-l-l-y-r-i-a-n-s – the Albanians' ancestors, southward from the large portion of Yugoslavia they had inhabited. They then settled in the largely mountainous region, which is their present home. Independence was achieved following World War I. They had to wait that long.
Size? Eleven thousand one hundred square miles. As it– You can compare that to our own beloved country of Guyana, which is 83,000 square miles, nearly eight times larger than Albania. Population? Where we have here only 700,000, the least inhabited country in the world in Guyana, the best in terms of food, for whatever crisis the world faces in the future, one of the few countries that produces much more food than it consumes, giving it a healthy future. But this country of Albania, eleven times smaller than Guyana, has a population nearly exactly three times more, between three and four times more than Guyana. Population of Albania is two– uh, 2,670,000. Ninety-five point two percent are Greek, two point four percent are gypsy, Macedonian, Romanian, and others. Two point four percent represent various ancient cults, 69 percent are Muslim, 21 percent are Greek Orthodox, 10 percent are Roman Catholic. The official policy of the government is to allow for freedom of religion, but as in all Marxist countries, people who hold government posts must be atheist, non-church members.
Who rules? Perhaps one of the purest forms of communist democracy, the Peoples Assembly, which is elected every four years by all the people and meets twice a year. The leadership of the Albania Workers Party controls the entire functions of government. It is the only political party. Enver Hoxha – E-n-v-e-r H-o-x-h-a – a former French teacher who led the national liberation movement in World War II, has been the president, who is the guiding force in the communist state of Albania since it gained uh, independence in 1920.
The Shkumbi – S-h-k-u-m-b-i – River forms a boundary between the two main racial groups of Albanian peoples, the Ghets – G-h-e-t-s – in the north, and the Tosks – T-o-s-k-s – in the south. The Ghets are a superstitious, a rather primitive clan, stern, hardy and fierce. They live in a pastoral life, in the largely barren land of their region. The Tosks are a lively, friendly people, more and more– much more advanced than their neighbors to the north. Their land is very fertile, and they are better equipped to pursue their agricultural and industrial labors. They still have evolution to deal with in any communist or capitalist state. Racism, ethnic division is always there. The Tosks are advanced, not because of superiority, but because they happen to have better land and opportunity to develop their culture and their education. As they are isolated mountain dwellers, the two groups have a tendency to feud among themselves and with each other, but since the communist government has brought about new unity, no outbreak of fighting has been known for years.
Albania sponsored the General Assembly resolution that secured recognition of Communist China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations in 1971. The largest number of Albanians – A-l-b-a-n-i-a is the name of the country – that live outside their country are concentrated in the Kosovo – K-o-s-s-o-v-o – and Macedonia – A– M-a-s– M-a-c-e-d-o-n-i-a – regions of Yugoslavia. Massachusetts in the USA has the largest population of Albanian immigrants in the USA. The Albanians are not notorious for rightist attitudes in USA, much of them ar– are non-political and not involved, as all America, unfortunately, North America is apathetic these days.
We'll move on to Afghanistan – A-f-g-h-a-n-i-s-t-a-n. This is the country that gave the Soviet Union a great deal of peace when it had a recent revolution, a coup that overthrew its existing dictator [Mohammed Dauod Khan], and so it will be updated from what I'm giving you. I have to interpret much of this because this is a capitalist perspective on all these nations, but still gives you the essence of truth, and where I do not see the book providing it, I will give it to you from my knowledge of these nations.
Afghanistan was important – A-f-g-h-a-n-i-s-t-a-n – because it became a buffer between Iran and the Soviet Union, on the border of the Soviet Union, gave them greater confidence, now that it pro– formed pro-Soviet ties, and it almost encircled Iran, and ever since uh, Afghanistan developed a pro-Soviet government, there has been turbulence in Iran from revolutionaries coming across the borders, helping the many, many sectors of the population, which is better than half that hate the dread dictator of Iran that was put in power after the president of Iran [Mohammad Mosaddegh] was killed by the CIA, and the former CIA head now heads the dread [Reza Pahlavi] Shah of Iran's secret police.
Where is Afghanistan? Its location in central Asia, India and Iran meet– Right where central Asia, India and Iran – I-r-a-n – meet. Along the northern border lies the Soviet Union. To the west is Iran, and to the south and east is Pakistan. Afghanistan has a short border on the northeast with China.
How created? Afghanistan was formed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries out of the efforts of Britain and tsarist Russia before its great socialist revolution, to create a buffer zone between their empires in the subcontinent and central Asia. Several Khans – K-h-a-n-s – of the region were involved at the same time in attempting to form an effective unity out of the 15 different racial or ethnic groups in the areas. It was 1880, before the British finally – England, imperialist England, ally of US imperialism – found a Khan they could work with and depend upon and who was able to hold the region together, without direct intervention of British or English troops. By 1901, at this Khan's death, the present borders of the state were largely settled.
Size of Afghanistan is 251,823 square miles, as compared to Guyana, 83,000 square miles. You can get an idea that way, three times larger than Guyana. It's about the size of the state of Texas. Population over 18 million. That's still, you see, how many, many more mouths there are to feed in ratio to their population, their– their land, and they don't have the fertile land that we have in Guyana. Over 128 million, they include Pathans, but – P-a-t-h-a-n-s – Pushtuns – P-a– P-u-s-h-t-u-n-s – Paktuns – P-a-k-t-u-n-s – that group that I just mentioned are 58.7 percent of the population, Tadzhik – T-a-d-z-h-i-k – is 28.7 percent, Uzbek – U-z-b-e-k – is 5.3 percent. Hazara – H-a-z-a-r-a – is 2.7 percent. Others – Christian tribes, black that are pure African so forth – is 4.6 percent. Ninety-nine percent of Afghanistan is Muslim. Rare thing to see a r– religious state go communist. And it has been nationalizing governments, and it's (unintelligible word) on a very strong pro-Soviet policy.
Who ruled before the communist coup? The military clique that overthrew the monarchy in 1973 declared a republic, suspended the 1965 constitution, and the landlord-dominated legislature. The leader of the coup, a former prime minister of the country, set up a republican government, but not a democracy. There are no legal partiti– parties. Under the old regime, there were no legal par– political parties, no opposition was allowed. Communist Party could not even exist. Yet somehow people kept their hearts inclined to Marxism and socialism, and managed to get up into the military and overthrow this dread dictatorship. The leader of the 1973 coup, Lieutenant General Sada Mohammed Dauod [Khan] – D-a-u-d – who was killed as the people's revolution took place, was the president, so-called of Afghanistan, but really a dictator. He is the brother-in-law and cousin of the deposed king [Mohammed Zahir Shah], and was forced out as prime minister a decade – that means ten years – before the coup or the military takeover. The royal family has been ousted from power, but by faction of the same ruling elite– but by a faction of the same ruling elite, the ruling elite that has just now been overthrown just a few weeks ago. The Pathan ruling class was the ruling class before the communist revolution that made it pro-Soviet. P-a-t-h-a-n. The military faction (Pause) now is very sympathetic to the Soviet Union, and now it gets all of its military aid, but is not controlled by its northern neighbor, the Soviet Union, though its alliances are growing closer and closer. Most powerful in terms of day-to-day control of the impoverished masses of Afghanistan, before this last revolution, were the religious clerics. They act as legal arbiters and teachers in the villages and wield great moral authority among the villagers. This will now be changed under new districting. Religion is not going to be abolished, because it's a Muslim nation. The one that became pro-Marxist, pro-Soviet is a Muslim leader [Nur Muhammad Taraki] that now re– leads that– that– that nation of Afghanistan. Seventy percent of the population that lives in villages scattered throughout the mountain or desert countryside is too remote, far-removed from urban centers, city centers, to have much part in the city economy or the urban economy. Their social structures are basically feudal or tribal, before this last revolution. That's where they're coming from, jumping from feudalism into socialism. Quite a jump. It'll take quite a while to eliminate the vestiges of poverty.
The merchant class of the cities was largely involved in agricultural trade, the capitalist class, including export of agricultural goods. There is little industry. That is changing now, since the revolution a few weeks ago, they're beginning a five-year plan to embrace great changes. Landlords supported by the religious clerics form the ruling class of the country before the recent coup. In the past two decades, 20 years, Afghanistan has received a total of 1.5 billion dollars in military and economic aid from the Soviet Union, to try to uh, help eliminate its poverty, 425 million from the USA, and 72 million from China. All were courting its favor through these years, (Pause) but the Soviets won out.
Afghanistan is known for its high quality hashish – h-a-s-h-i-s-h – particular in Mazar– Mazar – M-a-z-a-r – dash e dash e Shariff – capital S-h-a-r-i-f-f – and Kandar – Kn– K-a-n-d-a-a-r. We should learn as much as we can about all kinds of foods, too – anyone that knows different foods – because much of the world eats rice, and they eat it deliciously. And we can make our foods always very, very tasty. Couple of other people knew how to make some– cook up rice and uh, that's being given to the kitchen by my suggestion, so that we can enjoy. I love rice. Since I've been on the people's meals, I found I was the one that was being punished on the diet that I was having.
Now let's go to Algeria, which has meaning to us, because of The Battle of Algiers. Where is the location? North Africa, fanning out from the Mediterranean in the north to the Sahara – S-a-h-a-r-a – in the south, where its borders– it borders Niger – N-i-g-e-r – and Mali – M-a-l-i. Look this up. You will be tested. Tunisia – T-u-n-i-s-i-a – and Libya, a socialist state, are on the east. Morocco, a fascist state. Mauritania, still under fascist control, as is Tunisia. And Spanish Sahara on the west, still under the control of fascist colonialism, French-USA imperialism. So Algeria stands with Libya fairly alone in its liberation.
How created? Algiers was one of the North African Barbary – B-a-r-b-a-r-y – states, which throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, thrived on privacy– on piracy, rather. They were pirates, the best of the pirates. In 1830, the French subjugated the coastal cities, and over the next 70 years, conquered the interior and established the present day boundaries. There was resistance to the French from the outset. The final drive for independence, led by the National Liberation Front – socialist FLN – culminated or ended in the French pulling out in 1962.
What is the size of Algeria? 896,588 square miles, as opposed to 83,000 square miles in Guyana, so you get an idea, nearly ten times larger. Nearly ten times larger, and it's three times the size of Texas. Population? Over 16 million. Still, a better ratio of population for food here in this country than there. And much, much more arable land, uh, edible fertile land, that can grow every diverse thing that is needed for survival.
Population is 16 million, made up of 80.4 percent Arabs, 18.7 percent Berbers – B-e-r-b-e-r – and others, Christian and whites, include just one percent. Ninety-eight percent are Muslim, and yet they went socialist. They've been helping liberation forces all over the world, and were a haven for many black activists, Black Panther leaders who were being crucified by US imperialism all through the sixties.
Who rules? The National Revolutionary Socialist Council, headed by the president, and the National Assembly. Who really rules in terms of the actual control? The National Liberation Front is the only recognized Marxist political party. Its members nominate all candidates for the National Assembly, who are then elected. But they have choices of different Marxist candidates, but – contrary to this text that I'm having to interpret – they don't realize that Marxists cannot allow capitalist opposition, because the capitalists are a– a breed of selfish people who are always trying to take over again the people's property, the means of production, the means of distribution. You can't allow uh, Catholic, uh, (stumbles over words) rather, capitalistic freedom, a freedom for capitalists who are greedy property-mongers, lust-mongers, you can't allow them to exist in a socialist state. They must be rehabilitated, and they were in Algeria, Vietnam, in training centers, to learn how to do honest work rather than rob the people.
The great Catholic theologian, St. Augustine, was an Algerian. Everyone knew St. Augustine for his compassionate and rather communal ideas, though he would– lived centuries ago. He was an Algerian, born in Tagaste – T-a-g-a-s-t-e – now Souk-Ahras – S-o-u-k dash capital A-h-r-a-s – in 354 AD. That's a long time ago. Only 354 years after the death of Jesus, if he ever lived. Following his conversion to Christianity in Italy, he returned to Algeria and became bishop of Hippo – H-i-p-p-o – south of present day Bone – capital B-o-n-e – an office he held from 395 AD until his death in 430 AD.
Another great Algerian was the Nobel Prize author Albert Camus – C-a-m-u-s – born in Mondovi – M-o-n-d-o-v-i – now Drean – capital D-r-e-a-n. It's been named since the socialist revolution in Algeria. He was born in 1913, he was educated at the University of Algiers, and lived in his homeland until 1940, when he moved to Paris, France.
When France conquered Algeria, made it a co– colonial extension of itself, a colony in 1830, the immediate pretext for the conquest was an incident in which the Algerian ruler, Dey Hussein – H-u-s-s-e-i-n – struck French consul [Pierre] Deval – D-e-v-a-l – with his fly whisk during an argument. That was all the pretext, a little ol' diplomat was i– insulted because the Algerian leader struck him with a fly swatter. Fly whisk, as they called it. And he had a right to, because the French were making demands on their territory, aggressive demands. Prior to independence, Algeria was regarded as an integral part of metropolitan France. Nearly a million Frenchmen made their homes in Algeria. Five thousand Europeans owned over one-third of all the arable land, the food land, the– the productive land. The word is arable – a-r-a-b-l-e. Today in the official propaganda, (Pause) says this capitalist documentary, a great deal of lip service is paid to the principles of socialism. In actuality, the economy is run partly along socialist and partly along capitalist lines. Say they. The following groups exist, although there is marked tendency to play– play down social distinctions and, even this text admits, that there's more socialization taking place in Algeria again. Had to jump from feudalism into socialism. And it's not easy move sometimes. The bourgeoisie, they operate the many successful smaller enterprises in the city. Well, that's small business, that's quite different, friend, than being capitalist. They have– In other words, they've not taken over all businesses, there're still some incentives left. But not big monopolies. The government has set no ceiling on how much they can earn, but the members of the bourgeoisie are very discreet as to how they spend their wealth. They tend to keep a low profile. They also prefer a vacation of simplistic uh, measures, s– spending their money at home, which helps the economy.
Bureaucrats. There's a considerable bureaucracy, but the government has set a limit in Algeria on the income of allgovernmental officials. They can earn no more than five times the pay of the lowest factory worker's pay scale. Well, that shows honesty.
City workers. Whether employed privately or by the government, they are protected by an extensive system of socialized medicine, socialized insurance. There has been a significant migration to the cities in the past 40 years, with more people moving in than the cities can really absorb, which is a worldwide phenomena, except in the Soviet Union and China. The result has been that about one-third of the labor force is under-employed.
Peasants. One-time French holdings have been confiscated by the government, the big monopoly corporations of the colonialist of the French, the ally of US imperialism, and all US monopoly corporations have been confiscated, taken over by the government, and turned into collectives. Well, that's certainly a socialistic venture. The workers are entitled to the profits of their farms. The vast majority of farms, though, are privately run. Small, still, in nature. Half of them consist of holdings smaller than 12 acres.
Desert nomads. N-o-m-a-d-s. In Algeria, they live pretty much as they always have, although the socialist government has been attempting to provide permanent settlements for some of them, so they can have better standards of living.
When Algeria was taken over, the illiteracy was nearly 90 percent. The poverty, the people dying of starvation, was over 40 percent. So you can't expect them to move suddenly overnight into a pure economy, pure socialist economy. It is interesting that even the capitalistic rundown on the nation of Algeria does not reveal any poverty now, or– or hunger, that is.
Let us move now to Angola – A-n-g-o-l-a – where the great Cuban freedom fighters, aided by the Soviets, liberated that troubled former colony of Portugal. Location of Angola. South western Africa, to the north is Zaire – Z-a-i-r-e – the dictatorship upheld by US capital. And to the east is Zambia – Z-a-m-b-i-a – that's trying to be forced into having to take the International Monetary Fund, World Bank assistance, because [Jimmy] Carter dumped– dumped surplus copper on the market, bringing down the world pricing of copper, and copper's the major industry of Zambia. So they're having economic difficulties, though they're trying to build a socialist country. Namibia – N-a-m-i-b-i-a – is to the south and to the west of the south Atlantic.
How was Angola created? Angola's boundaries were formed by the Berlin West African Congress, an imperialist commission, in 1884 and 1885, in which France, Germany, and Portugal won recognition of their colonies. In 1974, after 13 years of guerilla warfare, Angola gained a promise of independence from Portugal. Official independence day was set for November 11, 1975. Not being honored, a war broke out, and the MPLA, only because of the backing of the Cubans, won the liberation of Angola and established a Marxist state.
What is the size of Angola? 481,1– 351 square miles, as opposed to 83,000 square miles in Guyana. Again you have about six times larger. It's 14 times bigger than Portugal, its former colonial slave master. That's how unfair capitalism, colonialism, imperialism is. Angola was 14 times larger than Portugal, its former colonial slave master.
What's the population? Five point eight million. Not so over-populated. Bantu – B-a-n-t-u – form 91 and a half percent. European whites, six percent, still living there, and accepted. Amazingly enough, no matter how bad black people have been treated, it's very seldom reversed, when they have a black majority that takes over. The whites can live there peacefully and conduct their businesses– I mean, conduct their lifestyle. Mixed between white and black are two-and-a-half percent. Of the African population, 33 percent are members of the Ovimbundu – O-v-i-m-b-u-n-d-u – tribe, 25 percent are of the Bakongo – B-a-k-o-n-g-o – 25 percent are of the Kimbundu – K-i-m-b-u-n-d-u – eight percent are the Chokewe – C-h-o-k-e-w-e. Fifty percent of the population follows tribal religions, the true religions of the African culture. The colonialists were never able to convert many Angolans. Thirty-eight percent though are Roman Catholic, 12 percent are Christian, Protestant.
Who rules? Theoretically, an interim government of whites and liberation groups pledged to a one-person-one-vote election, to form a constituent assembly was established by the Portuguese to draw up a new constitution. But Portugal, an a– an ally of the USA, lied and it required a r– an armed struggle, a revolution to take over, and now, Agosto– Agostinho Neto is the prime minister and the Marxist party is the only party of the people in Angola. The MPLA. The liberation parties are the only groups allowed to present– the only– the only– the liberation parties are the only groups allowed to present candidates for elections. They are the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the Nation– the Nation Front for the Liberation of Angola, and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola. As I said, the elections were not allowed, so the popular movement, the MPLA, had to take over, and in an armed struggle, they won the revolution.
Before Angola became Marxist under Neto in 1976, at least 95 per cent– cent of the people – 95 out of one hundred – could not read or write. Uh, we call that illiterate. Only 35,000 blacks out of a total of over five million were ever to reach the assimilado status legally offered. To become an assimilado – which is a-s-s-i-m-i-l-a-d-o – a black would have to apply to a tribunal and prove that he was a Christian, that he could read and write Portuguese clearly, and he had to have a steady income and would give up pagan or na– the native religions for European customs. In spite of that, being held down, only 35,000 blacks able to even be able recognized as Uncle Toms for the Portuguese regime. Angola won its revolution.
Angola might appear to be a Portuguese name. Not so. The name actually derives from that of the old king N'Gola – Capital N comma [apostrophe] g-o-l-a – who led one of the proud kingdoms which throw [thrived] in western Africa before the immigrations of the Europeans, and while America was still undeveloped. A great civilization. Once the Europeans arrived, Angola quickly became known as the mother of Brazil, because it was the homeland of most of the blacks who were packed off to work on plantations in Brazil as slaves. Angola became one of the chief sources of slaves for the New World. North of Angola is the tiny, oil-rich enclave of Cambini– Cambinda. Most of you have Angolan ancestry. That's where most of you came. C-a-m-b-i-n-d-a is a tiny, oil-rich enclave, which is also a former Portuguese colony. The new leaders of Angola want Cambinda to be ruled as a part of Angola, but many people in Portugal tried to get independence for Cambinda, but they never managed it. The Marxist revolution saved the oil-rich enclave.
Now we move on to other countries. We move on, and we might get an education, an education of the surrounding areas and an understanding of people about us.
Well, let us go to Brazil, to our south, a very vast and rich nation. Strange one, where the CIA overthrew the dictatorship– I mean, established a dictatorship over the left moderate socialist regime of President Joao Goulart, and ever since, he's been forced to live in exile abroad.
Brazil occupies central and eastern South America, with borders on all South American countries except Chile and Ecuador. It borders all the south of Guyana. How was it created? First discovered by Pedro – P-e-d-r-o – Avlares – A-v-l-a-r-e-s – Cabral – C-a-b-r-a-l in 1500, nearly– and over 450 years ago. The territory was claimed for Portugal, because it lay on the eastern or Portuguese side of the line dividing Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the New World. This line was established by the 1494 treaty of Torte Sillas – T-o-r-t-e S-i-l-l-a-s – which was intended to prevent bickering between the two countries involved. Brazil remained Portugal's colony for three long centuries, 300 years, until in 1807, the royal court of Portugal had to flee to Brazil to escape Napoleon of France. Brazil briefly acquired the same status as Portugal, but the presence of the royal family hindered revolts that were taking place by the many blacks there for independence, such as were occurring in other South American Spanish colonies. With the overthrow of Napoleon in France, the royal family returned to Portugal, leaving Dom– Dom Pedro – capital D-o-m capital P-e-d-r-o – the king's son as a regent in Brazil. But in defiance of his family's wishes – goodness starts in strange places, even in the kingly state – Dom Pedro separated Brazil from Portugal and the country became an independent monarchy, a benevolent one, really in 1822. Dom Pedro's son, Pedro II ruled Brazil until 1889, when he was forced to abdicate, to give up his kingdom. Brazil became a republic in 1891.
What's its size? Staggering, 3,286,488 square miles. Now that's quite a large state, uh, that some– To understand it, about 38 times larger than Guyana, 38 times. It's the largest country in South America, and the sixth largest country in the world. But again, we are better off in terms of population. It has over 128 million people. Brazil accounts for half of the total population of South America. European constitutes 62– 62 percent, although all whites are mixed with black, practically. They're mostly Portuguese black. But also some Spanish, Italian, and German in rather significant numbers. The Germans are not quick to assimilate, they're pretty well known for carrying over the old attitudes of [Adolf] Hitler's racism. Pure black who did not mix represent 11 percent. Mixed white, Indian and black who are obviously still black, are 27 percent, but also including a large Japanese colony that's quickly growing and doing immense farming in Brazil. These official figures belie the fact that almost no group has maintained any racial purity. They mix rather freely, which is good.
Who rules? Theoretically, a federal republic with a bicameral– two legislator uh, body, elected by an all– by all adult literates. That means those that can read and write. However, a 1964 military coup with USA CIA's direct assistance ousted President Joao Goulart– J– G-o-u-l-a-r-t – a le– a leftist, and instituted effective military rule. The last four presidents have been generals.
Who really rules? Military men and technocrats currently run Brazil, with considerable US and other foreign assistance, though Brazil has become more inclined to Third World allegiances and is forming strong trade agreements with the Soviet Union. Soviet Union is trying to court them away from USA, which is a pragmatic necessity for their– their interest and the interest of socialism.
The Brazilian Congress exists, but it is powerless. Its teeth were pulled by the 1969 constitution, which gave mostof the Congress' power to the executive branch, in other words, the general that is the dictator. The USA has considerable investments in Brazil, but many of them are now being nationalized, and maintains a large military mission there. Some 100,000 of Brazil's police have received assistance from a US-operated so-called public safety program that was really a program in torture. And at least 344 of the top military officers have been trained in torture in Washington's International Policy Academy. However, due to resistance of the church and socialist elements, much of the torturing of dissidents has been ceased in Brazil, and the northern part of Brazil is practically out of military control, because the military is spread too thin and the inflation is too high, and so there is no strong military presence in Brazil on our borders. While Brazil's booming economy has brought great wealth to the country as a whole, and to certain groups in particular, not all Brazilians have benefited. It is estimated that as much as 60 percent of the population is basically unaffected by this new wealth. In the drought-ridden northeast, Brazil's poorest area, the standard of living has in some cases actually been reduced. The government has stated its preference for increasing the country's income first and redistribu– redistributing the wealth later, though redistribution of the wealth will begin this fall.
Censorship exists on every level. Some publications have a resident censor. Others self-censor their material or submit it to a board willingly, so there is no free press to speak of. Song lyrics are censored, and the tunes themselves are scrutinized for double meanings or subversive connotation. Many foreign films do not pass the censor, but Braz– Brazilians interested in such forbidden films as Clockwork– Clockwork Orange and Last Tango in Paris have organized short junts– uh, jaunts to neighboring Uruguay, which is a dictatorship but has more freedom, even though it has a great deal more torture. The CIA has done horrible things to all leftist dissidents, and has more political prisoners than any nation in the world. It is strange that there are uh– there's more freedom to observe certain films that might create too much free thinking. They also travel to Peru and uh, Colombia and Guyana, it states here, to enjoy a– a more leisured democracy. And Surinam.
Brazil has officially opposed population control., fearing that it will hinder economic development, in spite of USA trying to get them to do so. Abortions are strictly outlawed, but even so, there are one and a half million illegal abortions performed yearly, and little done about it.
Brazil's irresponsibility toward its Indian population has arowed pro– aroused protest, both from the church and city groups at home and from concerned groups abroad. Reports of deliberately-spread disease, massacres, and callous neglect have filtered out from the interior. Some observers believe that an unofficial policy of genocide – mass murder – was adopted in order to clear the way for the settlement of the area, but world protest has stopped their plans short. Brazil has more open active homosexuality than any place I've ever seen in the world.
The Brazilian National Indian Foundation confirmed that it had found a tribe of blue-eyed, brown-haired bearded Indians. The tribe numbers about 100 members and lives in a remote, beautiful Amazon area. You know the great Amazon River. They don't know how they ever got there, and they don't know how they ever developed.
The carnival in Rio – Rio de Janeiro, quite a beautiful city – lasts from the Saturday before Ash Wednesday until Wednesday evening, is a time of massive exuberance and colorful display of costumes and dancing. All business, shops and offices shut down, and no one seems to go to bed. The streets are jammed for four days with dancing, singing people, and there are competitions among various clubs for the best samba dancers. It's also a diversion to keep people away from establishing a socialist revolution, even though it is a fantastic sight.
Emperor– Emperor Dom Pedro II was morally opposed to slavery, but for political reasons, he favored a gradual rather than an immediate abolition. While he was on a trip to Europe in 1888, his daughter, Isabel – Princess Isabel – freed all the slaves, as she loved black people, without compensation to their owners, wouldn't give the owner a penny. This caused the conservative landowners – the big capitalist merchants of that day – to drop their support of King Dom Pedro, and the monarchy was easily deposed in 1889. King Dom Pedro (unintelligible word) disappointed in– with his daughter and uh, the rejection of the Brazilian people, went to France to live in exile, where he died two years later.
That gives you a uh, little understanding of some of the nations. It's important that we have some understanding of the nations of the world. The last I will give you is about China, and we want to understand all we can about each of these nations, because there will be testing in the Peoples Rally. There will be, I suppose, some children's program, with the generator set up, movies for children from 4 to 6, and then music from 6 till dusk, and then we will have some film. As we give out the delicious peanut fudge, we'll give some film over TV at that time.
Location of China, the largest Asian country. Running 3000 miles from Mongolia and Soviet Siberia in the north to the south, where it borders the South China Sea, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, India, Bhutan – B-h-u-t-a-n – Sikkim – S-i– S-i-k-k-i-m – Nepal – capital N-e-p-a-l – and Pakistan. And 3000 miles from Afghanistan and the USSR in the west, to the Yellow and East China Seas in the east. Think of those, 6000 miles of borders.
How created? Spanning 4000 years of history, China has the longest continuous tradition of national identity, historically consisting of two distinct regions: China proper, with an inner core of Han Chinese – capital H-a-n – settlement, culture and political administration, and an outer ring of buffer territories originally inhabited by non-Han peoples but controlled by China proper. White European powers forced China to establish fixed boundaries (coughs) in the nineteenth century, to China's disadvantage of course, due to the white racism. Since the 1949 revolution, China has re-established authority over former outlying territories, sparking current border disputes with India and the USSR.
Size of China, 3,691,500 square miles. Well, you see, you cannot even begin to talk about that vast territory, as compared to 83,000 square miles in Guyana. You've got an idea again. You are talking about something 40 times larger than Guyana. At least. It's larger than the United States of America, with all of its states.
Population? Over one billion. Han – ethnic group of Chinese, H-a-n – form 94 percent. Fifty-three other groups, including Chuang – C-h-u-a-n-g – three– 53 other races. Uighur – U-i-g-h-u-r – Hui – H-u-i – Y-i – Yi – Tibetan– Tibetan – T-i-b-e-t-a-n – and Miao – M-i-a-o. Six percent form the rest. The other, uh, six percent.
Religion is discouraged by the government, but Confucisism– Confucianism – C-o-n-f-u-c-i-a-n-i-s-m – and Buddhism – B-u-d-d-h-i-s-m – and Taoism – T-a-o-i-s-m – and Islam – I-s-l-a-m – still have a strong influence.
Who rules China? Peoples Congress of 3040 members, elected for four-year terms. Provinces elect one deputy for each 800,000 inhabitants. Municipalities, or cities, one for every 100,000. Ethnic minorities are guaranteed by the Chinese constitution, 150 deputies. The armed forces, 120. The overseas Chinese are even allowed representation in the Peoples Congress, they have 30.
Congress elects chairmen and vice-chairmen of the country, but no elections have been held since 1964, no convention since 1965, and no head of state since Liu Shao-chi – capital L-i-u capital S-h-a-o dash c-h-i – was deposed in 1968. He was thrown out in 1968. Executive in the state council, which controls the state through various ministries.
Now, who really rules? Struggling factions within the Chinese Communist Party, particularly the faction headed by Premier Chou En-lai, who now, of course you know, been taken over his section by Hua [Kuo-fenj], prime minister Hua, and other military leaders and elder statesmen.
The party selects the peoples deputies, although the people do not ordinarily know who their deputies– deputies are. The deputies may not represent the interests of the people – this is the capitalist version, now. They dorepresent them, the will of the people, in terms of their domestic policy, and unfortunately, Chinese people are caught up in such chauvinism and reverse hate, due to the awful oppression they've suffered from white people, they have a blind foreign policy, but they have good district representation, and the will of the people are carried out domestically for the most part. According to Chairman Mao [Zedong], the political system of China is that of a people's democratic dictatorship, the dictatorship of the working class. Although the constitution declares that the government is responsible to the democratically-constituted National Peoples Congress, in actuality the government's policies are all decided by the party. But the Communist Party is China, that's what it is.
Inflation does not exist in China. In fact, the prices of some foods actually decrease consistently. (Pause) That's certainly an improvement, where a million people were starving to death daily, no one now hungry. Out of a billion population.
The Chinese character differs from the Western, and even some other Eastern characters, in three major ways. First the Chinese see the universe and its parts as a single whole, versus the European schizophrenia, which sees everything as either spiritual or physical. Second, the Chinese have always believed in the importance of social cohesion, versus the strong individualism of the West, or capitalism. Third, unlike Europe, the US and Japan, the Chinese have relied on civil versus military conquest. China has surely engaged in wars, but she has depended more often upon diplomacy and the obvious superiority of her culture to win her influence and friends among nations. It's only recently that Chinese have been noted for military efforts, and then that's usually, again, diplomatic, as using the Kampucheans against the Vietnamese. The Chinese have historically esteemed the status of scholar, farmer, artisan and merchant, in that order. That was under capitalism, not so now. All class stratifications are gone. Elitism is pretty much gone. Capitalism– Capitalist mercantilism – m-e-r-c-a-n-t-i-l-i-s-m – has always been held lower in importance than knowledge and ag– agriculture, almost the reverse of values in USA capitalism, USA imperialism. Antiquated agriculture accounts for 80 percent of China's output. They use just primitive methods. Although the United States and China are about equal in area, China has less land – 11 percent presently – suitable for cultivation to feed a population four times larger, but they are doing it adequately. That shows the genius of communism, whatever mistakes they have made in their foreign policy, and they're grave ones. They've become a lackey because of their fear and apprehension of the white man to imperialism in Zaire. Chairman Mao, before he died, said that when city and countryside are one, and no distinct (stumbles over words)– no distinction exists between manual and intellectual labor, between urban workers and rural workers, China will have the basis for a truly utopian egalitarian – that's a total side of equality. Consequently, since 1968, the Communist government has forced nearly half of the graduates of the metropolitan or city middle schools, over 30 million youths, to the farms to live with, teach and learn from peasants. But the peasants don't like the extra mouths to feed, and many young graduates don't like the bleak future of farm life, so many escape with forged identities and go over to Hong Kong and so forth. They're rushing off because– at least communism domestically is still being practiced. But the government continues the policy, because it relie– relieves the cities of the pressures of population and political dissent, and it's becoming much more acceptable to the Chinese population now.
Chinese family structure has also changed from the original Confucian idea in which the father guardian controlled the family's production, income and expenses, as well as all authority. Today, each adult member of the family is given equal status. The communist revolution saw the old family system as a bulwark– a bulwark for private wealth. So the new regime pushed to transform the family from a hierarchy to a democracy, in which children and women have the right to speak, make decisions, and even criticize. The marriage law of 1950 advocates equality between men and women, and abolishes family-arranged marriages, which was always the custom of the past, under capitalism and feudalism, while guaranteeing divorce. Day care centers, canteens and homes for the aged have been widely established. A very effective socialized medicine, enabling women to participate in the productive, political and scientific work of the country. Nearly half of the labor force of the agricultural communes, or collectives as we live on, is composed of women. Moreover, the very collectivization of land has deprived the male of opportunities to use land ownership for oppressing and exploiting women, which has led to their narcissism and consequently their chauvinism and homosexuality. Nevertheless, while wages and educational opportunities for women generally equal or exceed those for men, some inequalities that favor men still exist in agricultural communes, higher education and in the upper echelons of the Communist Party and peoples army. Men dominate leadership roles in the peoples republic, because few older women escape the pre-1949 oppression and became revolutionary, and party committees are only partly made up of workers. Army members and political cadres, already reflecting the sexual bias of the older era, make up an entrenched and large part of many committees, although that is changing significantly, as there are powerful women at the highest levels of the communist government.
China tried the lawyer system in its courts from 1954 to 1957, but decided to let the individual be self-represented or be represented by a friend. The procedures are so simple, they don't have all the technical procedures we do here, writes an American lawyer who recently visited Red China. They don't need the parasites of lawyers, who capitalize on causing people to feud and fight and have differences, so they can make money. (tape edit) Minor crimes are judged by people elected from the neighborhood block or village. Major ones are in regular people's courts. While the death penalty exists on the books for such crimes as murder, rape, sabotage, and crimes against the government – the communist government – only one death sentence has been carried out in 13 years. That's significant. A person sentenced to death is given two years to rehabilitate himself, after which the sentence– sentence is then reviewed. Very humane.
The Chinese don't have the concept of tort law that the Americans have. T-o-r-t. How does one judge how much pain is worth, the Chinese will ask. In an accident case, for example, the one responsible would be– would be required to bring meals or cook for the victim and (unintelligible word) his family until the victim recovers, or forever, if they have permanently damaged them. Very just and humane. In spite of all the nationalistic errors in the nuclear age of communism, you can see the superiority of the socialist system, and cannot rationalize away that you should be a pure socialist. Where one million people were dying a day, now one billion people in China are well-fed, with only 11 percent of the land cultivation that USA has, and they can't feed their people. The white seniors are eating most of the cat food, and certainly the black food– more– nearly all cat food in USA is eaten by poor senior citizens, both white, Indian and black.
In the late 1973's, three hundred workers were charged with aggravated hooliganism, and anarcho-syndicalist deviationism – A-n-a-r-c-h-o dash s-y-n-d-i-c-a-l-i-s-t, and deviationism is d-e-v-i-a-t-i-o-n-i-s-m – because they believed that factory committees should be controlled by the workers and not by the communist party. Though they originally were comprised of non-Han Chinese – H-a-n – Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Sinkiang – S-i-n-k-i-a-n-g – and Tibet have at various times formed the outer or buffer zone to China proper. Today, in order to restore China's traditional influence to actual political boundaries, the Red Chinese have taken over the outlying areas and set them up as autonomous regions. While it hasn't forced Chinese culture upon these areas, with the exception of Tibet and then it was done very humanely, Peking, the capital of China has gerrymandered these regions' boundaries so they include at least half Han Chinese. But there is no real racist attitude.
Tibet. An autonomous region with one point three million people, Tibet covers about 13 percent of the Chinese land area, has the highest and largest plateau on earth, is the– the Tibetan highlands are the source of many of Asia's great rivers, such as the Yangtze – Y-a-n-g-t-z-e – the Mekong – M-e-k-o-n-g – and the Indus – I-n-d-u-s. The people are primarily farmers and nomadic herdsmen.
Not too much more.
Before the Chinese takeover, Tibet was led by a holy man king, Dalai Lama – D-a-l-a-i and capital L-a-m-a. And the people were in poverty. Both he and the Panchen – P-a-n-c-h-e-n capital E-r-d-e-n-i – Panchen Erdeni, another civil religious leader were generally confirmed by the Chinese emperor. All the land was owned by less than three percent of the population, the noble families, feudal lords and Buddhist monasteries, the religious orders. The remaining 90 percent were serfs, almost slaves. And five percent of the people were slaves, before China freed them– the Chinese Communists freed them. Nearly one-third of the male population at any one time were monks, most of whom had quasi-serf status. They were almost slaves. After the success– their successful revolution at home, the Chinese Communists defeated the small Tibetan army in an effort to bring Tibet back into the fold. As a result, in 1957, the Dalai Lama agreed to come– come under the Chinese umbrella, so long as the political structure and religious culture remained intact, and the Chinese Army remained outside. For their part, the Tibetan leaders promised to reform serfdom, and have. But the reform didn't come quickly enough for the Chinese, who finally invaded Tibet and took outright control in 1959, because they were not abolishing serfdom, though they did abolish slavery. The Chinese freed the serfs, and with the exceptions of a few showplaces, converted the monasteries into granaries, barracks and offices for the people. Today the Chinese Army remains in Tibet as an obvious military presence and as a service for the agriculture and grazing economy. The Peking government, the capital of Peoples China, has poured more capital in development projects into Ti– Tibet than its small population and economic return warrant, in comparison with other provinces. Roads have been built to Lhasa – capital L-h-a– capital L-h-a-s-a – and small-scale industries begun in the other small urban areas. Although all this effort helps secure China's border with India, pockets of resistance against the Chinese overlords – as they consider them, this capitalist writing – still exist in Ti– Tibet's isolated upland vi– valleys. But even the capitalist rendition has to admit that communism at least on the home front for China has been like a heaven compared to hell in improving the lot of the people.
Inner Mongolia, another part of China. North of the Great Wall, this is sparsely-populated, semi-arid homeland of the nomadic groups who roam about, who often surge southward across the steppe – s-t-e-p-p-e – to invade the prosperous cities and fertile farmlands of old China proper. Today this homeland forms the autonomous self-governing regions of Inner Mongolia and Nig-Sia Hu– Hui – capital N-i-g dash S-i-a capital H-u-i. The Mongol – M-o-n-g-o-l – population, which now numbers only slightly over two million, is far outnumbered by the Han Chinese in the region, since only a few Mongols can still depend solely upon the nomadic existence of animal husbandry for their livelihood. Most also grow crops in settlements centering in a few irrigated river valleys and oasises [oases]. Still others have been absorbed into the urban life of larger settlements, and a few still take up hunting and trapping to supplement their incomes. Most Mongolians believe in the Tibetan brand of Buddhism. The Han Chinese of the region are concentrated in a narrow bran– band just north of the Great Wall. They populate the numerous state farms, collectives Peking has established to supplement the animal husbandry industry and insure Chinese assimilation.
Sinkiang – S-i-n-k-i-n-j– i-a-n-g, rather, is a vast autonomous self-governing region of deserts and high mountains. Lightly populated, only eight million, and largely undeveloped. An area well suited for China's nuclear and missile testing, because it occupies a pivotal position in central Asia, sharing a 1800-miler border with Russia. The Chinese have always tried historically to prevent the area from falling into hostile hands by controlling key caravan routes, which still crisscross Sinkiang.
The Uighuirs– U-i-g-h-u-i-r-s – a Turkic people – T-u-r-k-i-c – live in the oasises of the region's desert. The Tarim – T-a-r-i-m– T-a-r-i-m – Basin. Over the centuries – the hundreds of years – they have built intricate systems of canals and dug wells to supply water for fields growing grains, fruits, vegetables and cotton. Kazakh – K-a-z-a-k-h – Mongol – M-o-n-g-o-l – and Kirghiz – K-e– K-i-r-g-h-i-z – nomads herd sheep, cattle and horses to graze the rather dry grasslands of northern Sinkiang– northern Sinkiang. Oil has been discovered here, however, so factories producing iron, steel, cement, farm machinery, fertilizers and textiles have been opened, mostly in and around the chief city and capital of Urumchi – E– U-r-u-m-c-h-i.
Last paragraph.
During the 1960s, Peking, capital of Peoples Republic of China, Communist national China, sent massive numbers of Han Chinese into the production and construction corps. A paramilitary organization under the army to develop Sinkiang, the corps was assigned land reclamation and water conservancy projects.
Kwangsi Chuang– K-w-a-n-g-s-i capital C-h-u-n-g– se– capital C-h-u-a-n-g. The Chuangs, with six point six million people at the time of the last census, are China's largest minority group, and well-treated. Over 90 percent of them live in the Kwangsi Chuang autonomous region, self-governed, where they comprise about one-fourth of its total population, because the region borders Indochina. The Chuangs and Han who are here share many of the cultural and economic traits found in the peoples of Vietnam and Cambodia. Most of the Chuangs depend upon rice cultivation for sustenance. In religion, they are animists – a-n-i-m-i-s-t-s – worshipping their ancestors' spirits in particular. That's what we mean by animist.
That's the ending of the discussion of China. And it's important to take note of China, which indeed will one day be the type of human being that we'll see all over the world, because all genes are dominated by the Asiatic gene. And one day, China will come back into the fold of internationalism, because her domestic policies are too fine to do otherwise.
Thus ends commentary. The news earlier, you can replay it now, and then the study of these nations, the various nations, study them, as we'll be doing a lot of that. But it's important that you know these nations and have some base of reference, so you'll be able to understand the news when it is spoken.
I do love you. Obviously I love you, or I wouldn't work so hard for you. I hope you can see it. (Pause) Not that I want you to appreciate it, I just want you children will be protected as far in the distant future as you can imagine. Much love.
[End of tape]
Originally posted on December 20th, 2019.