Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The People's Daily Blues

Ideology Notes: On Septmember 13, 2010, the newspaper, People's Daily, in China, provided "analysis" of some shocking events. Numerous employees have been jumping off Foxconn Technology buildings this year. In China, suicide, per People's Daily, is often not the result of mental illness, as in the West. Rather, it is a custom of honor, so as not to be a burden to others. It is a cultural phenomenon that is very much a part of being Chinese. Thus is raised the possibility of a serene, non-melancholy,"Chinese-style suicide," perhaps an important distinction.

##

De Chinee Peeppa's Day Lee News Blues
~ by Ole Micah Dee Moondog

(SUNG)
Ever moanin Ah geddup
Read de Peeppa's Day Lee News
Oh my, Ah am sa happy
To find Ah doan hab dem bloooose!

Ah been tole Ah doan hab dem blues!
Oh my, dat is good news!
Doan hab dem mind-messin, distressin,
Low-down an depressin
Buh-looose!


(Spoken) Ah'se jes Chinee
An Ah hates mah job


(SUNG)
When Ah geddup na moanin
Fust thing in mah head
Ah'll go head-fust offa buildin
Land right on mah head

Oh my, Ah am sa happy
Ah doan hab dem blues!
Ah doan hab em now, doan hab em,
Woan hab em when Ah'se dead!


(Spoken) Ah'se jes Chinee

(SUNG)
My, Ah am so-oh happy
Ah doan hab dem buh-loooose
Yeah! Ah red it in de paypuh!
Ah doan hab dem blues!


(Spoken) Break it Down!
Buh-loooose it up, Y'all!


(SUNG)
We de Chinee Peeppas
We doan moan an sob
When we go off de buildin
'Slike we goin to de job


(Spoken) S'all bidness!

(SUNG)
We dress from head to toe
In our bess bidness suit
Our family gets
Death benefits
An ever one stay mute


(Spoken) Is part de job
No need to sob, Y'all
We'se jes Chinee


(SUNG)
Ole Ma can hab mah 'nnuity
Young Sis can hab mah car
Pop can hab mah stamp collection
(He cain't take dat to de bar)

No mo Ah'll be a burden
Ta mah family
Ah'll jes take dis flyin leap
Into eternity...


(Spoken) Cuz zats mah job, y'all
Doan moan an sob
Is jes mah job


(SUNG)
Lawd! Ah am sa happy!
Ah doan hab dem low-down Buh-Loooose!
Doan hab em, Ah doan hab em,
Woan hab em when Ah'se dead

Ah'll jes jump right offa Foxconn
An land smack on mah head
Woan hab dem blues,
Woan hab em, Woan hab,

Neva mo ha-a-hab, de blues


##

Notes on Reality: Working conditions are so bad at Foxconn Technology, the world's largest supplier of electronics components for manufacturers of computers and electronic gaming consoles, they are a form of 21st century slavery in an industrial setting, people working hundreds of hours of overtime each month for $1 an hour, working in heat, dust and fumes, often sleeping in the factory after working long overnight shifts. Marx and Engels, writing in the mid-1800's of British factory conditions, would be aghast to see this ultimate Stalinistic sweating of the laborer, and in a nation that proclaims itself a "People's Republic." The average worker has little choice but to stay and slave or return to a poor village in the countryside, and most leave, rather than contemplate "Chinese-style suicide." ~MDM

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/business/global/07suicide.html
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/9000190782/7138799.html
http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09//chinese-style-suicide/




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