Coming out of . . . the Japanese Gulag (Update)

Previous Story Posted August 27, 2009

Not a whole lot has happened or changed in Japan since this story was first posted.

However, at least one encouraging sign for Unificationists as well as for those who might claim to champion religious freedom for all has begun to emerge.

The Unification Church of Japan is at last engaged in a concerted viral media campaign to reveal its side of the story while exposing what has been predominant and destructive.

In this third part of an official video release on the phenomena, the "Staff Officer in Charge of Kidnapping and Confinement Issues," Mr. Issei Sawada shares something of the psychological impact of all this (44 year history of) forced conversion and kidnapping upon actual persons:



PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), is certainly familiar to many (war veterans, especially), but may seem strange to those unfamiliar with its usage in the context of religious faith. Should faith or even the choice of one's faith after all be so traumatic, much less, so stressful?

Traumatic, no, but certainly such an essential and important decision is stressful.

So should it be something forced or something put upon (even by one's parents), rather than something truly flowing from within even as Jesus (John 7:38) and others no doubt have made it quite clear?

By the way, whatever became of Christianity in Japan?

This apparently continuing story of Christian "dysfunction" and duplicity should astound and shake-up the whole church from West to East and back again. How is it that the world of believers has come so far to be so far away?

Sadly, these words, particularly, seem to echo as true:

"You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." (Galatians 5:4 NIV)

The time of reckoning for years of injustice, misinformation and misapplication of "faith" may finally be at hand now that such voices are being heard (are there others?). May there perhaps even develop real dialogue somewhere (soon) down the line . . . after the healing.

For now, this despicable practice simply must STOP.

A Japanese victim's web site has been established here.

A report on the latest victim, Ms. Yoshiko Majima, a 30-year-old Japanese bank employee can be found here.

Robert Park Update

Previous story posted Thursday, December 31, 2009 

After crossing "illegally" into North Korea from China on Christmas Day with a letter addressed to North Korean leadership appealing for an end to the country’s notorious prison camps, Robert Park has been released.

So now he's back after being held captive for 43 days, interview(s) yet to come, it is hoped.

But what was accomplished?

Phoenix New Times blogger Stephen Lemons likens it all to border politics, comparing Kim Jong il to Uncle Sam, writing:

"I was struck by the mention in several reports that Park had done missionary and humanitarian work among the poor in Nogales, Sonora, so he is undoubtedly familiar with the plight of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. illegally, and those who are unceremoniously dumped back over the border by Wackenhut buses under contract with the federal government."

Continuing:

"Their [migrants and Robert Park] motives for violating the border policy of the respective nations involved may be vastly different, but both Park and the migrants have this in common: Their incarceration and their unjust treatment. And that means that Kim Jong-il and Uncle Sam have a lot more in common than they might anticipate or desire."

I suppose that such a view is understandable in certain context or company.

However, somehow it just remains impossible for me to see the relative parity in relations between Mexico and the USA and the relations between North and South Korea.

How is the imprisoning and deportation of illegal immigrants (sometimes "brutal" or not) within America the same (or similar) to the internal policy of North Korea imprisoning (for life sometimes) so many of its own citizens?

Solovki (Monastery) to be restored

 The Solovki 

Interfax reports today that "Russia's government plans to start restoring the Solovki Monastery."

Not sure that's really news though as such "restoration" would seem to be either 1.) ongoing (thus, redundant) or 2.) irrelevant in the ultimate sense of that.

A thought occurs: Can God be raised from the dead or even hell??

The blog post of Aussiegirl (Helen) from September 18, 2006 tells much more regarding this monastery no more:

While we are on the subject of gulags, here's another one, located on the site of an ancient monastery in Solovki. The Monastery has become a UNESCO World Heritage site. Included is a link to experiences of Ukrainians in this notorious camp. (Note: site is in Ukrainian.)

Solovki - UNESCO On-line

The Solovetsky Monastery was founded six decades before Columbus
discovered America and is located on some islands in the White Sea
near the Arctic Circle. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site.
http://www.solovki.museum.ru/default_eng.asp

In the 1920s the monastery was converted into one of the first GULAG
concentration camps. Also know as "Silovki" GULAG. According to
Solzhenitsyn, it spread like a cancer becoming the model for the
GULAG system for the USSR. The following website includes sections
about Ukrainians in Silovki.

Books and articles
Solovki

The Silovki GULAG has become synonymous for political terror, repression and spiritual genocide according to one author.
posted by Aussiegirl @ 3:50 PM

And who's Helen?

"I am a naturalized Ukrainian-American, fortunate enough to have been admitted to this great land as an immigrant. My personal history is the spur for this blog. My parents lived through the Ukrainian Genocidal Famine of 1933, survived years of Communist persecution, fled to the West, endured forced labor in Nazi Germany, and following liberation, ended up in Allied internment camps fighting forced repatriation to the Soviet Union under the Yalta Agreement. Their courageous struggle to bring our family to freedom, first to Australia, then to America, and their example of unflinching faithfulness to truth and honor, have left an indelible impression on me. My parents did not save me from Communism and Nazism for me to go gently into dhimmitude or slavery. Hence my passion and my mission to expose threats to freedom and democracy wherever they are found. This blog is a testament to their courage and my small gift to their heroism."

And then, if one is paying attention, one finds:

***ADDENDUM*** Aussiegirl, my wife, Helen, passed away on January 13, 2007. I shall continue her blog to allow access to her archives.***David

What a fitting and essential tribute.
(not knowing more of Helen, how can I say "moving"?)

And David's last post seems to have been on Monday, December 31, 2007. [Sadness upon sadness??? or the eternal bliss of an Ultima Thule reunion?]


******************************


Back to being more reporter, less the romantic . . .

A link within a comment of Helen's story regarding The Solovki leads one to a Library of Congress online exhibit of "The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated" (check them out here ).

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) seems to have been something of the Russian version of a cross between Lewis and Clark and Ansel Adams.

His photographic subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population.

In the early 1900s Prokudin-Gorskii formulated an ambitious plan for a photographic survey of the Russian Empire that won the support of Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909-1912, and again in 1915, he completed surveys of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation.

Scorpions Calling it Quits

Another old band heads toward immortality, mothballs, popular obscurity, inanity or infamy.

Which will it be?

Not sure why this particular news item seemed important, but then I looked closer (not being a fan) and found:



I follow the Moskva

down to Gorky Park

listening to the wind of change

an August summer night

soldiers passing by

listening to the wind of change


The world is closing in

did you ever think

that we could be so close, like brothers

the future´s in the air

I can feel it everywhere

blowing with the wind of change


Take me to the magic of the moment

on a glory night

where the children of tomorrow dream away

in the wind of change


Walking down the street

distant memories

are buried in the past forever

I follow the Moskva

down to Gorky Park

listening to the wind of change


Take me to the magic of the moment

on a glory night

where the children of tomorrow share their dreams

with you and me

take me to the magic of the moment

on a glory night

where the children of tomorrow dream away

in the wind of change


The wind of change

blows straight into the face of time

like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell

for peace of mind

let your balalaika sing

what my guitar wants to say


Take me to the magic of the moment

on a glory night

where the children of tomorrow share their dreams

with you and me

take me to the magic of the moment

on a glory night

where the children of tomorrow dream away

in the wind of change

May the spirit of Bob Dylan, The Scorpions, God and their minions be ever seen, felt, tasted, smelled and heard upon the face of our great earth.

God bless!

Stalin Was Not Alone

Ludwik Kowalski

In the 2008 book,  Hell on Earth: Brutality and Violence Under The Stalinist Regime, by retired physics professor Ludwik Kowalski, an important statement (or declaration) is made: "Stalin Was Not Alone."

Relevant excerpt:

"Yes, Stalin was not alone; it would be impossible to kill millions without an efficient social structure and without numerous collaborators. Why didn't the idea of having a trial of Red Terror criminals ever materialize in Russia? Even Yeltsin, the most radical reformer, but also a child of the old regime, failed to initiate public trials in Russia. In another section of his autobiography, [Yuri] Orlov describes a dilemma facing many Soviet intellectuals during the post-Stalinst period. They sympathized with those who were agitating for speedy democratic reforms but feared unpredictable negative consequences. His physicist friend, Kobzarev, for example, was afraid of “the dark instincts of the masses.” Many kinds of dark forces emerged from ruins of the collapsed empire and it is remarkable that people like Kobzarev were able to anticipate them. Stalin knew about dark forces and used them skillfully to destroy the “loveliest dreams on earth.” How long will it take to regenerate truly the loveliest dreams on earth in Russia?"

"Not long" would seem the obvious answer.

However, what of the power of faith or just the common good character and the decency of "average" Joes (not Stalin)?

Another (powerful) excerpt:

"The ruthless suppression of millions in the desolated camps would have meant nothing if the `others,' those who temporarily remained behind, did not learn the lesson. The rules of Stalin's game of terror were desperately crude and desperately simple. They told you about them as soon as you entered the compound: In order to survive you must work, and in order not to die from work you must know how to make others work. Hunger was the regime's other whip. A man of culture looking for food in rotten garbage would have certainly exclaimed `It took a million years to make a human being from the animal, but it takes less than a few weeks to reduce him to that status again.' ''

Are mass killings avoidable? Hitler's holocaust was based on racism; Stalin's slaughter was based on the concept of class struggle. Can we say that these two ideologies of intolerance are responsible for mass killings? Or should the tragedies be attributed to the evil nature of leaders? The two tyrants were not alone; it is impossible to kill millions without favorable social conditions. Can such conditions be identified? Can they be eliminated? How can this be done? I am not sure how to answer such questions. But I strongly believe that all occurrences of mass genocide should be analyzed and exposed, not hidden or forgotten."

It seems that the author (whose father in 1931 as a civil engineer and idealistic Polish communist, entered the Soviet Union, was arrested, sent to the gulag camp at Kolyma where he died) has much more to say on such things, too, as he has written another book, Tyranny to Freedom: Diary of a Former Stalinist.

Read more excerpts and comments here.

And be sure to follow (at least some of) the various links (as some of the discussions get fairly heated).

Both of the author's books are available directly from Wasteland Press (at much better prices than Amazon) here.

Some of the Amazon.com reviews seem helpful though, as these are surely not easy reads.

A Legacy for Laos?

 

Dr. Thomas Dooley

Thomas A. Dooley, the late Catholic physician, not the subject of the infamous song, worked in both Vietnam and Laos back in the latter 1950s, before the fallout from the "Korean Conflict," Vietnam and the others would come to the very doorsteps of the shanties within those poor nations. It is duly noted that Dr. Dooley was no ordinary missionary or aid worker. However, it seems to me that his appeal back then lay in his ability to articulate his understanding of the Communist enemy in both words and actions. His was a singularly Christ-like example of living (and ultimately dying) for the sake of others; even those not all or in all ways his friends.

Which brings me to why I've brought up such an esteemed person in context today.

Recently, the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C. uncovered additional information about the secret prisons and clandestine gulag system in Laos confirmed (previously) by Australian human rights advocates, journalists and others.

"Thousands of Lao Hmong refugees, and many political and religious prisoners, including Lao student leaders, are being held in secret prisons and detention camps in Laos that are part of a nation-wide network in various provinces," according to Philip Smith, Executive Director of the CPPA in Washington, D.C. in an online press release.

The Minnesota Twin Cities' Hmong Community joined by those from California, Wisconsin and other states is appealing for the release of their relatives held in that very network of secret prisons and camps within the various provinces of Laos.

The account in The New York Times of the forced eviction of 4,000 Hmong refugees just last month by Thailand government soldiers can be found here.

Voluntary repatriation or lambs to the slaughter?

I guess we'll see soon enough.

Perhaps for the moment, at least, more realistically and simply, that song noted previously should be sung once more, briefly, while we all just forget . . . that Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia or any of the rest ever happened.

****Visit: Beautiful Laos****

Hmm, maybe . . . not.

"Hang down your head, Tom Dooley, hang down your head . . . and cry."

For more on Dr. Thomas Anthony Dooley and his living legacy read here.

Update on The Baha'i Seven

Story First Posted Here on August 31, 2009
And November 7, 2009 

The purported "trial" of the seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders in Tehran began, finally; less than in earnest, apparently -- Tuesday.

You can read about the half-baked, cold-hearted mockery here.

Is it a trial or merely more tantalizing terror from "you-know-who" in the trail of blood known as JUSTICE within yet another unjust land?

The "World" reacts, but can it act or really DO anything?

The Baha'i Seven