[lbo-talk] pictures from a revolution

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

As I was browsing through stuff in my parent's home, I found a box of old
slides taken in 1969 in China, during the so-called "Cultural Revolution."
Most of them were the usual family snapshots, of little general interest,
however, a few contained scenes that quite accurately reflect the nature of
that momentous event - after all it was mostly about theatrics and
semantics.  

To be certain, the sexier ones - showing the "trials" and public humiliation
of Shanghai intellectuals - could not be found in the box.  Perhaps these
images exist only in my memory. Taking pictures of such scenes was quite
risky.  I did not speak the language but I could understand quite well what
it was about from the body language - the read-cheeked guys in military
uniforms publicly humiliating eggheads who strayed from the truth spelled
out in 200 or so pages of the "Red Book."  It would look very nice on
slides, indeed.  After all, these trials were also a part of the theatrical
show that formed the bulk of the "Cultural Revolution" - as nicely rendered
in the film  _Farewell My Concubine_ (referred to in the last slide).

Enjoy the show
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wsokol52/album?.dir=4f9e&.src=ph&store=&prodid
=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wsokol52/my_photos

Wojtek