Yeah, I’ll just respect whatever the mods decide. Can’t say I am an expert in Eastern European racialisation.
Neptium
Class struggle in all its forms.
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Joined 4 years ago
Cake day: April 12th, 2021
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In terms of racism, I’m glad you haven’t encountered too much trouble, but I do find that quite surprising. Maybe it really depends on where in england you are as well.
I am just saying personally, it could’ve been worse. Hell, some of my friends and family had slurs shouted at and overall disgusting and nasty behaviour like you mentioned.
And to add on to it, my disability basically makes me a recluse so can’t really be a victim if I am not outside but generally the areas I am in (treading carefully here so I do not dox myself) I see more non-white people than white people. At most it is a 50/50.
Edit: & assuming you’re the same person as hexbear’s Neptium
Yup same person and thank you! I took a break from that as I am bit busy at the moment. I may continue again later but I’ll need to find a more efficient way at compiling news.
Right one thing I forgot to mention is that the “sibling name” applies for your uncles and aunts too but with a different prefix.
So your dad or mum’s oldest brother would be called “paklong”.
Those that speak English would use Auntie and Uncle for “strangers” too. In Malay, there will be a distinction on age and gender, “pakcik” and “makcik” for those older/parents age, and just akak and abang for those similar to your age. (I guess similar to the uncle/brother and auntie/sister age distinction in some English dialects).
This does not even include other major naming cultures present here, especially Chinese.
I think that’s why over here government documents just ask for your full name without any distinction between family/last/middle names. And it’s also why my full name can get cut off when I am in other countries (it’s too long lol).
Honestly, I mostly lived in the Global South but I am also now living in the UK. I wouldn’t say I personally experienced the worst of the racism here either.
I’d say Eastern Europeans are definitely welcome here but I am not a mod.
Regardless, I hope the job hunt goes well for you
(if I am understanding you right). A family member of mine was struggling aswell but got offered a really good one a couple months back.
One thing I didn’t really notice until I read a random blog about translating and subtitling Korean dramas in English and my native language is that our naming conventions are way different than in English.
This happens with other languages of course but didn’t really realise it for the one I actually speak.
For example, the infamous example is gender neutral pronouns and no grammatical gender. Maybe even having no last names and only personal names + patronymic names. Some do have family names but depends on familial origin (often arab ancestry).
But the one I didn’t realise is how referring to yourself by your first name (ie. Referring to yourself in third person in English) is very normal and even encouraged because traditionally people have multiple names and people often only go by one of the names they are given.
And if not by first name, you either refer to yourself by your title, or your position within the family. Ie. Your dad will say “Dad thinks you should xyz” instead of “I think you should xyz”•
It sounds absolutely awkward in English but it feels very normal in my native language.
We also have names for each sibling (ie. Eldest sibling will be called “Along”, you either prefix “kak” or “abang” (“sister” or “brother”) and remove the initial a. In my family we use the gender neutral name. There’s a unique name for up to the 5-8th sibling, in which case it can repeat for more and another alternative prefix is used, but not everyone follows it.
Nicknames are also a big thing. Family can either call you by a nickname which is usually some form of your personal name, or by the “sibling name”. Sometimes sibling name + nickname for clarification. Other people outside family can use your nickname aswell.
Typing this all out also made me realise it’s really hard to explain and understand unless you actually speak a language that has that same level of complexity.
Read a pro-NATO article written by a white guy based in Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
A classic angmoh/mat saleh (
) momentAnd again we face the consequences of Sukarno not carpet bombing Singapore.
14·7 days agoHaven’t checked on Lemmygrad in a while. How’s everyone been?
My life has been going better lately, just hoping I can continue this momentum into the future.
43·7 months agoThis is a crosspost from the original on Lemmygrad here.
On the road to high-income
This is the 1st part of a 2-part series that aims to elucidate postcolonial Malaysian history. The 2nd part will focus on Malaysian-Chinese relations as an elaboration of the history and contradictions discussed here.
Each country in the region possesses its own unique and identifiable characteristic; Singapore is a hyper-capitalist dystopia, perhaps the only one in the region that could claim first-world status; Vietnam is a market socialist republic, ironically not unlike its bitter rival, China; Thailand is perhaps globally unique in its mix of royal and military authoritarianism; Brunei is akin to a Gulf State, with its oil wealth and Islamic absolute monarchy whereas the Philippines is more akin to a Latin American nation-state with its strongmen figures, cartel problems and US imperial interference.
Malaysia on the other hand can be identified by one particular characteristic: its profound mediocrity. It is rich, but not as rich as Singapore. It is authoritarian and corrupt, but never to the extent that can be found in its neighbours such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Leaders incompetent as such that they cannot be counted on to save their ass, and reformers so dull it cannot be counted on to pursue. On the whole, Malaysia is always reliably second place to something, in all things good or bad it always falls short of excellence. A jack of all trades, master of none. If Malaysia had another name, one could surmise it to be “Asal Boleh”.[1]
the rest of the essay
Malaysia gained independence in 1957 with over 50% of the population living in poverty. The ruling classes, who collaborated with the colonizers in persecuting communists and left forces, were forced to embark on a series of developmentalist policies to negate rising class consciousness among the populace.
Ghana and Malaysia were once taught of as twin brothers, having gained independence in the same year with an economy of a similar size and structure. Now, after more than 65 years have passed, the story could be anything but different. Malaysia’s GDP per capita is now 5 times larger, life expectancy 11 years longer and manufactured goods account for more than 80% of exports. In stark contrast to Ghana, which still is stuck in raw commodity exports, priamrily gold.
Over the course of the 70s, 80s and 90s, a push for industrialisation saw the creation of a national car company, the establishment of semiconductor manufacturing in the northern state of Penang and the mechanisation of Palm Oil production, making Malaysia the world’s largest producer until 2006, when much more populous Indonesia finally overtook the country. Crucially, Malaysia also retained state control of its oil sector under the national banner of Petronas which continues to be a major source of foreign exchange and income.
The aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis prematurely ended this era of industrialisation. However unlike Malaysia’s neighbouring states, the nation’s state finances were largely positive and could afford to refuse the diktats of the IMF and World Bank that called for much more vast and expansive neoliberal structural adjustments. Additional competition from Chinese manufacturing meant Malaysia’s manufacturing sector was on the downturn during the 2000s and remained stagnant for much of the 2010s.
As the government steps into its 12th 5-year plan in 2020, an emphasis on (re-)industrialisation has now begun. Coupled with its New Industrial Master Plan 2030, the government now seeks to transform the economy to finally graduate from its upper-middle income status by 2030.
This would mark a first for a postcolonial country of a modest size and ethnic diversity to graduate to high-income. It would ultimately also be a first because it is a country that stood more in defiance than support of the West for much of its history.
The “New” Political Economy
However, this defiance in practice is quite restrained, as the country’s open economy means it is unable to antagonise any major economies, which includes the USA. This is reflected in the establishment’s reluctance in leaving the Five Powers Defence Arrangement (FDPA), a remnant of the country’s colonial history that stipulates military co-operation with it’s former colonial masters, the United Kingdom, and her other colonies, namely, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
Furthermore, there are still structural blocks that are withholding the nation’s ability to bring general prosperity to all. The racialized economic base remains largely unchanged since the colonial era, with one major exception, which is the establishment of an indigenous Malay-Muslim bourgeosie that benefits heavily from the inflated government bureaucracy and extensive network of government-owned and government-linked companies. Outside the public sector, which remains Malay-Muslim dominated, the private sector is still dominated by local Chinese and Indian haute-bourgeoisie that benefit from this racial stratification of the economy.
In the past, the British brought waves of Chinese, Indian and Javanese migrants to Malaya to work in the plantations and mines. Now, this pattern continues with Malaysia’s over-reliance and super-exploitation of foreign South Asian labour that depresses wages locally. Roughly 10% of Malaysia’s population are immigrants, amounting to 3 million, with an additional 2-3 million undocumented. Hosting the largest Bangladeshi population outside of Bangladesh itself.
The successful urbanisation and proletarianisation of a large vast of the Malaysian population, lead to the rise of a modern political Islam that, similar to Mao’s famous saying, is “surrounding the cities from the countryside”. In contrast to this radical political Islam is the rise of an affluent urban middle class, whose ideological pretensions vacillate between comprador anglophilia to “secular” cultural nationalism. This is reflected in the numerous political parties that dot the landscape of Malaysian politics, all with it’s own class and ideological affiliations.
Malaysia is now at the crossroads of old and new. Questions of Marxism and Communism, which continue to be slandered in the political mainstream for being extremist, anti-thiest, and antithetical to “Asian culture”, is being countered at an astonishing rate for many who are tired of the old Cold War rhetorics. Figures that were sidelined and entire political histories ignored after the defeat of the left forces, are being rediscovered as many are fed up with the promises of development seemingly only benefiting those at the top.
Malaysia is not exempt from the transformations taking place in the larger world economy. In fact, Malaysian history is defined by its location between trading destinations which caused it to be colonized in the first place. For better or for worse, this central location allowed Malaysia to have an open (political) economy of remarkable fluidity and diversity. Internationalism is never too far from home.
Late response but surau is only used in Southeast Asia.
The surau (a small prayer house) is the cornerstone of every village community here. Education, communal meetings and gatherings, and spirituality is found there.
In every surau, in every prayer - 5 times a day, in every khutbah, in every doaa, Palestine and Gaza is mentioned.
The same can’t be said about Saudi Arabia.
I can’t recall the number of Palestinian flags I have came across throughout the countryside and urban areas. That’s the reality of the mass support of Palestine.
May Allah grant victory to those that have been wronged. Amin.
Death to Capitalism and Imperialism.
Death to the Persian Gulf monarchies and Israel.
Death to Amerika.
This has been the second time that I know of where there was news of an alleged Israeli normalization wrt to Indonesia.
Both are false from what I know and as you point out. It is overwhelmingly unpopular to normalize, historically, currently, and for the foreseeable future.
Normalization would anger both major factions of Indonesian Islam, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama. It is politically unfeasible.
I can only suspect the cause for such fake news to spread, probably as means of hybrid warfare of course, but the specific aims remains to be seen.
Free Malaysia Today despite the cringe name is okay in terms of news. I say it represents a neutral (Malaysian wise, so much much better) if slightly left-leaning on marginal local issues.
As for the the upgrading of military ties, yes that is true, and Western news source often amplify this fact when talking about Indonesian relations. However in reality, economically, Indonesia has always benefitted more from Chinese trade than the USA, unlike what can be said about Viet Nam, so I would still class it as par for the course for Indonesian foreign policy.
Unfortunately the aid dropping thing is common parlance for those supporting Palestine in Southeast Asia. The Jakarta Post is known to be a propaganda outlet for the ruling Indonesian establishment though. I suspect this “announcement” was made just for cheap political points locally.
Nothing fundamentally changes as of now.
It is unwise to portray all compradors and national bourgeoisie as having the same interests as each other. There are differences that can and should be exploited by left forces.
On Friday, Bolivia’s foreign ministry issued a statement, saying the country “expresses its solidarity with the sister People’s Republic of China, in the face of the loss of life and severe material damage caused by a large earthquake that occurred in recent hours off the coast of Taiwan”.
Lol
Taiwan slams Bolivia for quake solidarity with China - CNA
DPP authorities’ politicization of earthquake a ‘secondary disaster’ to Taiwan residents - Global Times
I couldn’t find the actual statement on their website.
I am not one to usually post deeply cynical stuff, but was going through Andre Vltchek’s works and this section especially relevant.
“It is a brutal horror show, the never-ending awfulness of Western neo-colonialism, as well as the sleazy servility of local rulers. The results are omnipresent: the beaches of entire countries are devastated and privatized. Whole enormous islands like Borneo, Papua and Sumatra are finished, scarred and poisoned by local and multi-national corporations. It is smoke and filth, clogged rivers, collapsed cultures. Entire ancient civilizations are wiped-out, converted to 4th rate replicas of Disneyland. No mercy, no compassion, no future.
But it is all hushed up. Crimes are denied. Outraged, confused nations are called ‘lands of smiles’, or ‘’friendly and tolerant archipelagos’.
It is insane, but tens of millions of foreign tourists descend on this ruined part of the world, annually. They see nothing. Some like it. They only nurture their complexes of superiority here. They do not want to understand anything. They choose to be blind. Cheap sex, shitty alcohol and beach food, as well as monumental sunburns. They continue the demolition work which has been triggered by their governments and corporations.”
Thailand’s economy stumbles as Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia race ahead
Thai economy is falling far behind its Southeast Asian peers amid growing middle-income trap fears.
Growing fears? Thailand has been in the trap since the 1997-98 financial crisis that the imperialists subjected the country to. Surprising that when foreigners run a speculative roulette in your economy, it collapses! GDP growth has never been the same afterwards.
Now, under an 200 years-outdated Royal-Military superstructure I don’t see how things will improve. Suffering with a fertility rate of 1.3 without the economic development of South Korea, Japan or Singapore.
China’s BRI will help with badly needed infrastructure but the rot goes deeper. It is projected that Viet Nam will reach parity with Thailand’s economy by 2030, and soon overtake it after that. Long gone are the days of import-substitution industrialization.
Thailand may have escaped the tumultuous period of European colonization from the 1500s-1800s but is now suffering under the imperialism and “neo-imperialism” of the 1900s and 2000s.
No wonder Thailand ruling class has shifted it’s alliances towards China, as shown by the recent ISEAS poll. However, NGOs and “activists” have now been mobilised in this moribund economy to maintain US hegemony.
Betrayed and continuing to be betrayed by the West for 100 years. Sometimes we learn the lesson the hard way.
It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.
Ironic isn’t it?
The countries that were most influenced by Chinese culture are often the most anti-Chinese.
South Korea, Japan and Vietnam.
Singapore still has the next largest proportion of muslims in Southeast Asia, 15%.
And as much as they act otherwise, Singapore is still within the cultural realm of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. They inevitably will be influenced by the trends seen in their neighbouring countries.
From that ISEAS survey that was linked before:
12.4% in Malaysia says Hamas was justified in attacking Israel
I serve the red, white and blue 🇲🇾🇲🇾
Although that plays a large part, Muslim Southeast Asia has always been more China friendly than the rest. Even after Western propaganda regarding the Uyghurs.
In the survey itself, I think the more interesting shift is Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar edging closer or slightly surpassing the 50% mark.
It depends on the country I feel. I think Singapore/Indonesia is more China friendly on the ground than is reflected in the polls. Philipines is much more neutral.
Myanmar - I am unsure which specific people and group they polled but I think certain ethnic enclaves are much more China friendly than it implies, especially along the border with China.
It’s because of NATO aggression in Ukraine.
I got some information from people attending the talks at COP and they said that since COP rotates through the continents, and that iirc South America decided to delay their bid to next year, it was Europe’s turn.
The issue then of course is that Russia has veto powers and rejected any plans for a COP in Western Europe and vice versa with Eastern Europe.
The deadlock lead to ultimately Azerbaijan being chosen. The story went that Azerbaijan did not even know they were on the table until the announcement was made.