JOURNALISTS OF THE FIVE CONTINENTS
WIELD YOUR POWERFUL REVOLUTIONARY
PEN AND STERNLY CONDEMN US IMPERIALISM! "
DELIVERED BY KIM ILSUNG ON SEPTEMBER 18 1969
BY John Marchant
The 1960s was a period of profound changes, with the the trend of independence being much strengthed. It was the decade of Africa with the majority of countries in that continent achieved freedom from colonialism, apart from the Portuguese colonies,aparthied South Africa and Zimbadwe. By the time of the conference the Vietnamese people were obtaining a decisive conclusion to their liberaton war. Forty years ago the Libyan people started the Jamahiriya Revolution and the people of the north of Ireland began to assert their national and democratic rights aganist the injustices of British imperialism. Only in the previous year did the Korean people confront the US imperialist aggressors over the intrusion of the US spy ship "Pueblo" into DPRK waters. Due to the determined stand of the Heroic Korean Peoples Army led by the Invinicible Commander KIM IL SUNG the United States was forced to sign for the first time in its history a letter of apology to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea in exchange for the release of its crew members,this was signed by a senior US five star general.But the aggressors did not learn from this defeat. On April 15th 1969 the Korean Peoples Army shot down the USAF large scale espionage plane EC-121 in DPRK airspace.
KIM IL SUNG in the first parts of His speech makes an analysis of anti-imperialist struggle "THE TIME IS PAST WHEN A HANDFUL OF IMPERIALIST BILLIONARIES COULD SWAGGER ABOUT AND LORD IT OVER THE EARTH, EXPOLITING AND PLUNDERING HUMANITY AT WILL.HUNDERDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THOSE AREAS OPPRESSED AND PLUNDERED BY IMPERIALISM FOR CENTURIES HAVE THROWN OFF THE CURSED YOKE OF COLONIALISM AND EMERGED NOBLY AS HEROS IN THIS NEW EPOCH OF HISTORY.UNDER THE POWERFUL IMPACT OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT THE CHAINS OF COLONIAL SLAVERY ARE FALLING APART EVERYWHERE AND THE COLONIAL SYSTEM OF IMPERIALISM WHICH ENTAILED SO MUCH MISERY AND SUFFERING FOR HUMANITY IS CRUMBLING TO DUST.THERE NO LONGER EXISTS ANY SAFE REAR OR QUIET BACKYARD FOR THE IMPERIALISTS. IMPERIALISM IS BREATHING ITS LAST."
Imperialism perpetrates the control of the vast resources of the developing world through its proxies and pupperts in power. Some countries may have formal independence but their affairs are decided in Washington,London, Brussels and Tokyo .Since the holding of the 1969 Pyongyang conference the process of the infiltration of the third world by imperialist capital has only intenisfied under the cover of globalization. KIM IL SUNG exposes neo-colonialism in a direct manner with thef ollowing:"THEY ARE PURSUING A POLICY OF COLONIAL SUBJUGATION IN MANY ASIAN, AFRICAN AND LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES BY STIRRING UP RIGHT CIRCLES SUCH AS SENIOR MILITARY OFFICERS AND TRIBAL ELITES WHO BECOME REACTIONARY. IF THE PUPPETS THEY HAVE PUT INTO POWER GET IN THE WAY OF THEIR COLONIAL POLICY IN THE SLIGHTEST DEGREE,THE IMPERIALIST ENGINEER A MILITARY COUP, ESTABLISH A FASCIST MILITARY DICTATORSHIP AND DO NOT HESITATE TO INTERVENE OPENLY BY FORCE OF ARMS.SUCH OUTRAGEOUS PLOTS AND ACTIONS CONSTITUTE A STANDING THREAT TO THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES AND HAVE REDUCED A NUMBER OF GOVERNMENTS TO COLONIAL RULING MACHINES FOR IMPERIALISM" . Further on KIM IL SUNG States "THE IMPERIALIST PLOICY OF REDUCING THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO ECONOMIC SUBORDINATION IS ONE OF THE MAIN FEATURES OF NEO-COLONIALISM. US IMPERIALISM USES ITS AID POLICY AS A MAJOR TOOL FOR OVEREAS EXPANSION.THUS, IMPERIALIST MONOPOLY CAPITAL RUTHLESSLY CONTINUES TO ROB THESE COUNTRIES OF THEIR RICH NATURAL RESOURCES AND THEIR INDUSTRIOUS PEOPLE OF THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUR.THROUGH ECONOMIC AID THE IMPERIALISTS ARE NOT ONLY HOLDING BACK THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ECONOMIES IN THE THIRD WORLD, BUT ARE FLAGRANTLY INTERFERING IN THEIR INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND REDUCING THEIR POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE TO AN EMPTY NAME"
With the change of the cheif executive of US imperialism, some people on the liberal left speculated that there would be a great change in the external and internal polices of the United States of America.The Presidency of Barrack Obama promised a new era, some elements were mesmerised by the fact that Obama was of a different ethnic background to his predecessors. Fundamentally speaking despite all the fancy rhetoric Obama serves the interests of the US military-industrial complex. Obama's campaign for the US Presidency was the most expensive in political history, with around 20 billion US dollars, mostly donated by such mutli-nationals as the internet gaint Google and arms manufacturer McDonald-Dougas aerospace.
Back in the 1970s Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter promised to in his campaign to withdraw all US forces from south Korea and take up the issue of human rights with the south Korean regime.Instead troops levels increased, in 1980 the "Team Spirit" military excrises began and the Kwangju massacre happened. US imperialism has a long record of making false pledges to international public opinion. In Prague President Obama outlined a non-nuclear world in his April 4th 2009 speech, but the USA still continues with its nuclear buildup (US nuclear weapons stocks are estimated at 30,000) and with its various warplans.The only difference with the infamous Bush, is that Barrack Obama is the trendy Public Relations man of the cosmopolitan wing of the US imperialist bourgeoisie. Progressive peoples must apply presurre on this US adminisration to see if its words about "change" are true or false.
KIM IL SUNG exposes the mask of peace and democracy worn by US imperialism with these words:THE IMPERIALISTS HEADED BY THE UNITED STATES OUTWARDLY ADVOCATE INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM FOR THE PEOPLE, BUT IN REALITY THEY ARE MAKING FRANTIC EFFORTS TO MAINTAIN THEIR COLONIAL RULE IN A MORE CUNNING AND UNDERHAND WAY,AND ARE FOOLISHLY TRYING TO CATCH THE PEOPLE OF THE NEW-INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES AGAIN IN A NOOSE OF COLONIALISM.
ON THE EARTH TODAY, THERE IS NO PLACE, WHETHER IN ASIA,AFRICA OR LATIN AMERICA, THAT IS FREE FROM THE REACH OF US IMPERIALISM' S TENTACLES OF AGGRESSION,AND THERE IS NO COUNTRY,BIG OR SMALL, FREE FROM THE THREAT OF ITS AGGRESSION.
ALL THIS PROVES THAT US IMPERIALISM IS THE MOST BARBAROUS AND SHAMELESS AGGRESSOR OF MODERN TIMES, THE MAIN FORCE OF AGGRESSION AND WAR,THE RINGLEADER OF WORLD REACTION, THE BULWARK OF MODERN COLONIALISM, THE STRANGLER OF NATIONAL LIBERATION AND INDEPENDENCE AND THE DISTURDER OF WORLD PEACE".
US imperialism has been the mainstay of the capitalist system since the second world war.The United States of America was founded upon the principle of expansion.From the 1820s Latin America was considered a region of US vital interests. Between the 17th century to the mid 19th century twenty million Africans were kidnapped as slave labour to work in North America.In the United States there are still instances of prejudice with the ongoing imprisonment of native Indian activist Leonard Peltier and of Afro-American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.It was the United States which boycotted the recent UN conference aganist racism because it is afaird of exposure of its record and of the support given by the US to the Isreali Zionists in their dirty war aganist the Palestinans.
Around the period just after the US civil war the American captialists started to take an active in Korea. The USS Sherman sailed up the river Taedong in july 1866. This US battleship was sent to the river bed by Korean patriots led by Kim Ung U (the great grandfather of KIM IL SUNG). Since then US imperialism has displayed a greedy stake in Korea.During the 20th century the United States occupied south Korea and has attempted it keep divided from the north.On june 25th 1950 the US military began a war with the newly born Democratic Korea and the US imperialists and their pupperts were roundly defeated by the KPA on July 23th 1953.Lately the US adminstration has staged the "Ulsi-Foal Eagle" invasion game and made an unnecessary fuss about the successful launch of the DPRK's peaceful satellite.
In the four decades following the second world war the US masterminded 100 coups ranging from Chile to Ghana to Cambodia to Brazil.From 1945 to 1991 the United States has intervened in 185 nations ranging from Korea, Vietnam, Grenada and Iraq.The CIA and other imperialist agencies helped to undermine the Sociaist countries of eastern Europe with the assistance of their revisionist and counter-revolutiona ry allies.If was not for the existence of the US imperialist superpower and its military,economic, political and cultural dominance,humanity' s progress towards global independence, in the direction of communism would have been much more faster.
KIM IL SUNG makes the observation about the role of ideological consciousness in revolutionary struggle and the part played by journalists in forming an advanced awarness among the board masses"AS EVERONE KNOWS IT IS THE PEOPLE WHO CREATE HISTORY AND CARRY IT FORWARD. BUT THIS DOES NOT IN ANY WAY MEAN THAT THEY JOIN IN THE REVOLUTIONAY STRUGGLE SPONTANEOUSLY. IT IS ONLY WHEN THEY ARE ARMED WITH REVOLUTIONARY CONSCIOUSNESS AND DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO THE BLOODY FIGHT TO DESTROY THE RULING CIRCLES OF THE OLD SOCIETY THAT THEY CAN TRULY BECOME THE MAIN FORCE OF THE REVOLUTION,THE POWERFUL MOTIVE FORCE OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND WORTHY CREATOR OF A NEW HISTORICAL ERA. IN ANY REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT, THE HIGHER THE LEVEL OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE MASSES WHO TAKE PART IN IT, THE GREATER THEIR FORCE AND MORE DECISIVE THEIR ROLE IN THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE.THE PROGRESSIVE INDIVIUALS WHO ARE FIGHTING FOR THE MASSES OF THE PEOPLE ARM THEM WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEA OF OVERTHROWING THE OLD SYSTEM AND BUILDING A NEW SOCIETY, CREATE CORRECT FIGHTING SLOGANS, ENCOURAGE AND RALLY THEM, ROUSE THEM TO ACTIVE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE.
PROGRESSIVE JOURNALISTS - THOSES MASTERS OF ADVANCED IDEAS AND FIGHTERS WHO LOVE JUSTICE AND TRUTH AND BRING TO LIGHT ALL MANNER OF INJUSTICES AND SOCIAL EVIL- HAVE NEVER FAILED TO GRASP THE OBJECTIVE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CORRECTLY AND HAVE FIRMELY TAKEN UP THIER REVOLUTIONARY PENS TO DEFEND THE INTERESTS OF THE PROGRESSIVE CLASSES.AND THEY HAVE BITTERLY DENOUNCED THE OLD DECAYING SYSTEM AND INEXORABLY CONDEMNED THE MORBUND REACTIONARY RULING CLASSES TO THIER DOOM"
In the above quoted segments of the speech KIM IL SUNG stressed the need for journalists and writers to promote progressive, anti-imperialist and revolutionary consicousness within the boardest mass of working and oppressed people.Over the course of the 20th century the position of the mass media in forming a world outlook has become more prevalent than ever before.The media's postion in society, along with more traditional forms such newspapers,has exploded with the advent of the internet and with the arrival of satellite and cable muti-channel television.An ideological stand promoted by newspapers,radio, television, websities and internet providers can be either of a reactionary nature serving imperialism or of a progressive nature upholding independence. Regrettably the imperialists have monopolised a large part of the print and electronic media,spreading reactionary, fascist ideas, promoting an decadent and consumerist lifestyle across the planet through their networks.
Throughout the history of journalism there have been many advocates of a progressive stand such as Wilfred Burchett and Alan Winnington.The Korean people produced many heroic Peoples journalists. In the year of the conference Kim Jong Tae (1926-1969) a patriotic south Korean journalist and reunification fighter was executed by the Pak Chung Hee military fascist regime due to his activities for democracy in south Korea and for the independent reunification of Korea. Kim Jong Tae was awarded the International Journalists Prize and the title of "Hero of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea." Many places in the DPRK are named after this courageous journalist and activist,including a large locomative factory.Attending the Pyongyang conference were many revolutionary journalists and reporters from various parties and organisations such as the Black Panther Party USA.The fact that you had representatvies from the oppressed sections in the USA and other imperialist countries shows the necessity for spreading an independent ideological consciousness among the working and oppressed people within the basitions of imperialism.
KIM IL SUNG's speech to the 1969 world journalists conference stills remains a handbook for combating the aggression and tyranny of US imperialism, for those aspiring for independence. KIM JONG IL's Songun Politics is a continuation of Korea's glorious anti-imperialist traditions.Songun is very much a powerful weapon for realising the goal of freedom from imperialist control.I would recommend all progressive and peace-loving people,particularly those who are active in the anti-globalization, anti-capitalist movements to reserach the rich lessons contained in this work of KIM IL SUNG and apply its militant message creatively to the battles for a world of Peace,Social Justice and INDEPENDENCE.
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