Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Liberation Day

Walking home today a truck caught my eye on the other side of the road. Two young guys were in the tray at the back, one standing, one sitting. They were hanging flags from the streetlights as tomorrow is Liberation Day in Korea. On 15 August 1945, Korea was liberated from Japan after 35 years of colonial rule. After the atomic bombs were dropped and World War II ended, the Japanese surrendered and Korea gained its independence. The Soviet Union and the U.S. agreed to oversee the Japanese surrender of forces in both the north and south, respectively, and the Republic of Korea was formed, also on August 15, in 1948.

Ok. So there's a lot on my mind but I thought that was worthy.
In my ignorance, it seems that lots of Koreans will still be eating in the plethora of Japanese restaurants this week, as every other week. And Korea will carry on living divorced from itself.

So other things on my mind.... I haven't done a wrap-up of my weekend... Let's just say I went to a medieval fish den, back to Jazz Story, argued about etymology of Barely Legal, played word games at the Camel place, passed the morning in the company of beautiful women who played the piano, went to a sauna and sat in a 44 degree pool, then powernapped on the floor along with 300 Koreans, went to a Filipino street market, a 6 storey romantic cafe with hosts of cinderella waitresses and all you can drink sweet teas.

Quote from the brilliant book (A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian) that I'm reading too fast and will finish tomorrow on the train to Ilsan ::
'But this is all in the past, Nadia. Why do you have such a bourgeois preoccupation with personal history?'
'Because it's important... it defines... it helps us understand... because we can learn... Oh, I don't know.'

Joy at the news that Howard dropped the bill that would have meant all asylum seekers arriving in Australia would be sent to other Pacific island countries for 'offshore' processing.

Some other Charlie, who said 'Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky'.

The one and only Charlie, who tells me there's 26013 minutes left of the countdown. (Kisses)


PS. How to celebrate Liberation Day? How about taking to the streets with posters reading : “A curse on U.S. imperialism!” and chanting “Let us trust in the Korean people’s own virtues!”

7 comments:

mskp said...

i propose we celebrate liberation day here on the date of howard's demise/defeat/death. waddya reckon, toots?

kiki said...

i read your blog, but then got side-tracked by the great belgian man on wikipiedia and following other links from that page... now i forget what i was going to comment about on your page

hey mskp- you really think Creene or Beazley could have done a better job? i mean, after all, they never got close to getting enough votes to rule, and they don't look like they will in the forseeable future either.
so he must be doing something right in order to be continually voted back into office...???

richardwatts said...

Kiki - the only thing he is doing right is pandering to the entrenched racism and conservatism of Australian voters - Howard has vampirised Pauline hanson and made her policies more than his own...

Anonymous said...

...miss bonnie conquest i still swear to you that i definately probably came up with 'barely legal' all on my very own, no help from hugh (subconcious or otherwise)....true i did, i did.

promise.

so, i learnt some fun new games on the weekend for camel this friday, which i have just decided will be a fantabulous way to start soundday off:) what do you think??

oh, and how much do you love sweat?
this dirty, scrapeoffable sweat that is so thick it feels more like a third and fourth layer of skin than a mere second...
oh, the things i will NOT miss!

and in addition to this ramble, whilst im all for being able to celebrate liberation from a country's colonial rule and enjoy their delicious cuisine at the same time, i REALLY like your image of korea living divorced from itself.
was that a line from Barely Legal?
;)

seriously though, well put.
have a nice day at work, dear.
and, see you in the sunshine, sunshine.

Unknown said...

kiki, it is dissapointing you think things would be the same either way labor or liberal.

Richard Watts is right. Winning votes doesn't mean your doing the best for the country. The Black Eyed Peas sell a lot of albums but it doesn't mean they produce the best music. It just means they have a lot of money behind them and music is marketed more effectively.

The same goes for politics. You can get people to think things are "right" with the proper manipulation. Just because beazley is a shit leader, doesn't make Howard's policies valid.

Instead of defending Howard, you should be asking yourself do you really agree with his policies? Assylum seekers, native title, VSU, work place relations etc. These are not in the best interest of the majority of Australians or what I conceive to be fair and just.

Bonnie Conquest said...

Stirling idea, mskp! Will indeed be a day worthy of celebration.
But something tells me it will only take a while to forget how bad we had it under Howard. Just like the Koreans eating teppanyaki yesterday.
Yes, Dave et al, that's the thing about Kiki. Kiki - you gotta look at the policy. Think about the policies of Howard and judge them on whether you think they have helped create a better peaceful cohesive safe fair Australia.
Pix- I'm a bit worried about the new game. And, can you send me the words from last week's game? Ta. And mwah for chat last night.

mskp said...

kiki...you dig the peeps?

i couldn't agree more with you about the ineptitude and inadequacy of the labor party and its leaders. but there are complicated reasons for howard's continuing electoral success.

the first victory was close, the second saw the alp WIN the primary vote and still not gain power, the third is studied all over the world as the tampa election for its uniquely potent combination of home-grown fear mongering and manipulation of 9/11, and the last one...well...broke my heart because so many people voted for howard even though they think he's a liar.

was it interest rates? maybe. was it fear and loathing in the new world order? a little. was it the uncertainty offered by latham? of course. but was it a nation getting behind howard because they share his vision of a more mature, more enlarged, more inspired australia?

no. and there's the rub.