Tag: Asia

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Korean Epilogue

The exhibition on the Korean Provisional Government closed with a stimulating epilogue. The call on visitors to spread the message of peace resembles religious practices. The long struggle for Korean independence and freedom for the people in South Korea leaves them wishing the same for all Korean people and beyond 75 years after the beginnings of the Korean War. From a German and Eastern European perspective this unaccomplished wish resonates a lot. The small stickers with messages from visitors propose short thought pieces like “South and North Korea shall be together” and “Peace starts with inner peace”. The wisdom in these statements lies in not giving up on ideals, however distant they may appear. There is always the possibility of small steps ahead.

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Korean Independence

The independence of a country is sometimes a long struggle. At particular points in time, a window of opportunity may open up, which allows to change the course of history. In many cases the opportunity to gain independence has been prepared for several decades, at least from 1919 onwards to come to fruition only after the end of the Pacific war, shortly after the Nazi-regime was defeated. The long and relentless preparation of the Korean Provisional Government ensured that a consensual constitution was ready to be adopted and elections to be held. The resulting division of Korea into 2 parts (South and North), just like East and West Germany, is rather long lived on historical time scales. For that matter, the hope of a peaceful unification needs to be reiterated again and again. The informative exhibition of the Korean Cultural Center to Belgium and the EU highlights the continued “Dream of Peace” which continues even after more than 100 years.

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Art from India

Indian music, art and performances have had a difficult time in traditional western cultures. Based on the historical collections and donations in the BNF, this WEIRD bias is challenged a bit. The focus on performances and art from India of centuries old traditions of high standards could have been a major source of inspiration to wider audiences already. The narrative language of for example dance as Bharatanatyam is a sophisticated ritual of expression. It appears to us like a spiritual performance which reaches our emotions much like our modern ways of expressing and performing. It seems amazing how the western world has omitted looking and listening to other continents. 

Of course, archers have played an important role in Indian culture as well. Such depictions have been common across cultures in previous times. These images can reflect the shared human heritage and this with a global perspective on art history. Flora Willson (2024 in Die Musikforschung) refers to this Indian cultural heritage in her book review and why Italian Opera never really became popular in India. 

(Image BNF, Paris Richelieu in Rotonde 2025).

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Korean Uprisings

With the recent Korean uprising against the imposition of martial law the world has witnessed a successful defense of democratic rule in South Korea. International politics has quickly moved on to other areas of the world where people’s struggle to obtain or sustain the freedom to vote and the freedom of expression.
However, the Korean history of uprisings goes back a least as far as the beginning of the Cold War period with the separation in 2 Koreas. The 1980 uprising of student protests in South Korea was extinguished with brutal force and mass killings. Can literature heal the wounds of uprisings? Only the best of literature can. The Korean female author and poet Han Kang (Nobel laureate 2024) has accomplished this. In the novel 소년이 온다 “Human acts” (English title), “Celui qui revient” (French), ”Menschenwerk” (German) the Gwangju Uprising 1980 is the historic backdrop against which the loss of human dignity during dictatorships is narrated. Han Kang manages to depict the empathy of family members who are confronted with the brutality of the military forces. It is tough on readers as they become the witnesses of the violence described as such and the sorrow of the whole social environment of the victims.
The Nobel Prize for literature 2024 honors the “world literature” aspect of Han Kang’s writings over many years. Many prizes have been allocated for representative writers (80+ % were men) of a country. The different titles of professional translators chosen for this novel reveal the potential to link to very different national narratives and connections to national memory of uprisings. Translating literature from different cultures can be challenging as readers frequently want the narratives somehow to relate to their own “endured” experiences. World literature, just like world history, goes beyond this and takes the reader by the hand and broadens emotional and human horizons.
(Image: Gallery Lee Bouwens, Brussels, exposed Jungjin Lee Voice #02, Voice #26 in 2025, inkjet pigment prints, Jungjin Lee)

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Korea relieved

On Saturday 14th of December 2024 the Parliament of Korea voted with 204 out of 300 votes, the required 2/3 majority of the parliament to dismiss the president. The declaration of martial law has been the most serious attack on democracy in Korea since its founding in 1987. It is the 3rd impeachment of a Korean president in this short time of democratic life cycle. After impeachment the constitutional court has to confirm the impeachment also with 6 out of 9 judges in favor of impeachment. In 2017 the judges confirmed the impeachment of a president due to corruption charges, but in 2004 another president was reinstated after illegal campaigning charges were retracted. Democratic procedures hinge on checks and balances in the constitutional set up of a state. Nominations, votes of confirmation of judges are important safeguards against illegal martial laws to restrict or even abandon democracy. Pressure from the street, the people at large, is another safety net of democracy. It should not be the last resort for democracy’s survival as it is likely to come at high costs of human lives.

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Ballistic Missiles

Ballistic missiles have been studied as part of physics for centuries. The basic mechanics in gravitational fields like on earth are well known. Longer reach intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) have been built by several countries for defensive or offensive purposes. China had demonstrated to master the science and technology of rockets since its latest launch of a ICBM in 1980. In 2024-9 China has demonstrated again, it is still capable to launch such missiles with long distance range (Japan Times 2024-9-25). This is both a technological task, but much more a geopolitical issue as a reminder to be taken seriously on the international political arena currently. Technological capabilities and capacities have regained geopolitical strategic importance as attempts to shift the global balance of power, which is undergoing multiple challenges or even changes. Flagging technological options is not only important to demonstrate own military strength, but to present a country as a potential strategic partner of global reach. Window dressing using weapons is much more oriented towards other countries (buyers of weapons mainly) than of relevance for Chinese society. Strategic alliances seek strategic partners. China is likely to receive more attention in the 21st century than before.
(Image: extrait de Gustave Courbet: La vague, 1870, Berlin SPK)

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Patient Capital

There is something cultural about capital. Different cultures use different narratives when they commonly talk about capital. In Western capitalist societies it is common practice to cite “capital is a fugitive dear”, meaning that people who command sizeable amounts of capital tend to flee places once they become to agitated, especially by politicians. The Eastern narrative surrounding capital is more focused on “patient capital”. The newspaper “China Daily” has more than 6.000 entries referring to this term. On 2024-9-26 (p.9) the Japenese economist Kazuyuki Motohashi praised the Japanese economic system and its specific form of patient capitalism as based on” long-term, stable investment, which enables companies to achieve sustainable growth in the long run”. The Chinese economy suffers as Western capitalism from excessive focus on short-term profit seeking and this causes huge market flucturations shifting quickly from shortages to oversupply and back again. Short-term rent seeking is driving whole industries into fluctuations that are hard to attenuate through other economic (fiscal and monetary) as well as labour market policies (training, re-locations, internal migration).
It is interesting to witness that recently in Germany an example of a bank that had benefited from a patient capital approach of the German government for more than a decade (Commerzbank) is now prone to a bit of a hostile takeover from another bank probably more interested in the short-term rent-seeking. After all, banking and the varieties of capitalism approach highlight that at the very heart of economic rationale there remains a little bit of a cultural twist to understand what is happening in international economics and competition.(Image: Musée Rodin Paris 2024, Le Penseur”)

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Fiscal Union

European Integration is slow and hard to come by. For others it is moving too fast (Brexit). Cultural diversity is a real asset of the EU. The economy or the economies are powerful on an international scale. Nevertheless, the diversity concerning the tolerance of fiscal deficits is still widely spread across the Member States of the EU (see image below). Some states seem to play it cool and run relatively high deficits compared to the EU averages. In OECD comparisons most of the above average fiscal deficits are closer to or even below OECD averages over time (link to pdf-file OECD, 2024). Within the EU differences in government expenditure as % of GDP or the indicator of Gross public debt according to the Maastricht Criteria range from 20% to 160% as percentage of GDP. This entails a different level of resilience to future crises. After we managed to leave the previous 3 crises (financial, Covid-19, energy) it is time to prepare for what might come next in terms of challenges. Preparing public deficits to be able to soften economic shocks is essential to be able to sustain yourself and support others. We seem to be a bit off-target to coordinate fiscal deficits across the Union. Eastern and Northern countries have suffienct scope to support expansionist fiscal policies, be it in the realm of a defence union or to address climate change. Southern Europe will find it more difficult to raise additional funds to prepare now for future challenges. Fiscal deficits might even be not only an economic phenomenon, but a cultural one as well. If we compare Japan with a deficit running at 240% with South Korea with 50% Asia is showing even larger diversity in terms of fiscal preparedness.
An economist’s stance on fiscal policy and fiscal union might depend much more on her/his region or country of origin than economists might want to believe.
Images: OECD Economic Surveys: Belgium 2024, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c671124e-en. p.17.

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Indigo Waves

„Indigo“ is an almost mystical colour. Its deep blue nature refers to profoundness and in combination with oceans to a surprisingly still largely unexplored world of biodiversity. Additionally, in association with endlessly forthcoming and retreating waves, indigo reveals its many possible shades. Oceans separate or link continents and it is this feature of Oceans which is explored in the exposition “Indigo Waves and Other Stories” (Gropiusbau). Beyond our all to common focus on the transatlantic relationships, “Indigo Waves” explores the links between the African and Asian continents. Embarking on a new narrative for the Afrasian Sea, i.e. the Indian Ocean, we are taken to new horizons through the continuous challenge to our value systems, comprehension of art, poetry or culture more generally. The exposition, through multiple challenges, succeeds in displacing us into the context of other perspectives. Following Oscar Murillo, imagine to view the water roses from Claude Monet (Les Nymphéas) from below the surface. What do you expect? In Europe? Near a barrier reef in the Indian Ocean? Beauty is often not visible at first sight, yet it is co-determined by the currents that build and potentially destroy it (compare photo from exhibition below). The balance of social ecosystems is easily messed-up just like the beauty of ecosystems in nature. “Indigo Waves and other stories” tells us other versions of the colonial stories most of our history books told us for centuries. It is an eye-opening exposition, but probably not the way we expect. Following a poem towards the end of the exhibition by Tishani Doshi “Do not go out in the storm”, we are drawn into the ambiguity of our existence irrespective of the continent of origin. Jack Beng-Thi preserves a poem from Jean Joseph Rabearivelo in his artistic book creation and installation to bring to light “indigo waves”. “vos yeux clignotent dans l’azur, et je les appelle : étoiles. ” (Translated suggestion: “your eyes blink in the blue sky, and I call them: stars).

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Ausblick 22

Vor dem Ausblick steht meist der Rückblick. Die Satireproduzierenden bereiten schon den Jahresrückblick vor. Da habe ich mir mal wieder die Frage gestellt, was bleibt von 2021. Beim Stöbern in Bibliotheken und Archiven dazu, hat mich die Sammlung von Zeitschriften des „Economist“ von vor 4 Jahren beeindruckt. Hat sich doch an den Fragen und Themen von vor 4 Jahren wenig geändert. Es war nicht nur 1 verlorenes Jahr, es waren gleich 4 davon. Aber langsam, was waren damals die Themen für Titelblätter? Und heute? Visual Social Science ist ja schon eine neue Forschungsrichtung und die Macht der Bilder ist beeindruckend. Eigentlich wussten wir, was auf uns zukommt. Das Image für Corona war auch schon mit China verbunden, nur eben als Stahlkugel statt als schleichendes Virus. Lügen über Klimawandel waren ebenfalls Thema der Presse. Noch Fragen? Nur bitte kein Weiterso!