Bringing King to China is the story of a young American teacher in Beijing, whose failed protests against the Iraq war inspire her to produce a play in Chinese (Passages of Martin Luther King) about Martin Luther King, Jr. Her journey begins after she learns (mistakenly) that her father, an ABC journalist covering the war, has been killed by a suicide bomber.
Bringing King to China documents a cross-cultural dialogue about the current relevance of Dr. King's philosophy of peace and non-violence. The feature-length documentary conveys the lead character's "dream to build a bridge between the societies by talking about peaceful struggle and universal rights" (The New York Times). It chronicles her twelve-month struggle to interpret and adapt King's message for Chinese society, preserve the historical accuracy of the U.S. civil rights movement, clear bureaucratic hurdles before opening night and raise funds to pay the theater company. Powerful and intimate, the film takes American viewers backstage at the National Theatre of China, as Chinese actors rehearse with African-American gospel singers.
Bringing King to China marks the first time in the modern history of Chinese theater that Chinese and African-American actors have shared the same stage. Titled Passages of Martin Luther King, the play was a joint production of the National Theatre of China and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.
Bringing King to China is a vehicle for American audiences to examine Dr. King's international impact and to access the changing beliefs of China's future leaders. The film provides a unique lens for Americans to review the history of the U.S. civil rights movement and to wrestle with Martin Luther King Jr.'s inspiring call for global peace, one of his important—but lesser known—beliefs.
Bringing King to China could not be more timely. More than forty years after his assassination, Dr. King's legacy as an advocate for economic justice and international peace is increasing. Today, Dr. King's name is invoked in struggles for self-determination in China, Egypt and many other parts of the world. In the U.S. the new King memorial on the National Mall, designed by a Chinese sculptor, has opened in Washington, D.C.. Last year, the same play that was staged in Beijing, Passages of Martin Luther King, by King scholar Dr. Clayborne Carson, was translated into Arabic. It premiered in Jerusalem.
The storm of Afro-American struggle taking place within the United States is a striking manifestation of the comprehensive political and economic crisis now gripping U.S. imperialism. It is dealing a telling blow to U.S. imperialism, which is beset with difficulties at home and abroad.
The Afro-American struggle is not only a struggle waged by the exploited and oppressed Black people for freedom and emancipation, it is also a new clarion call to all the exploited and oppressed people of the United States to fight against the barbarous rule of the monopoly capitalist class. It is a tremendous aid and inspiration to the struggle of the people throughout the world against U.S. imperialism and to the struggle of the Vietnamese people against U.S. imperialism. On behalf of the Chinese people, I hereby express resolute support for the just struggle of the Black people in the United States.
Racial discrimination in the United States is a product of the colonialist and imperialist system. The contradiction between the Black masses in the United States and the U.S. ruling circles is a class contradiction. Only by overthrowing the reactionary rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class and destroying the colonialist and imperialist system can the Black people in the United States win complete emancipation. The Black masses and the masses of white working people in the United States have common interests and common objectives to struggle for. Therefore, the Afro-American struggle is winning sympathy and support from increasing numbers of white working people and progessives in the United States. The struggle of the Black people in the United States is bound to merge with the American workers’ movement, and this will eventually end the criminal rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class.
In 1963, in the “Statement Supporting the Afro-Americans in Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism,” I said that the “the evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people.” I still maintain this view.
At present, the world revolution has entered a great new era. The struggle of the Black people in the United States for emancipation is a component part of the general struggle of al the people of the world against U.S. imperialism, a component part of the contemporary world revolution. I call on the workers, peasants, and revolutionary intellectuals of all countries and all who are willing to fight against U.S. imperialism to take action and extend strong support to the struggle of the Black people in the United States! People of the whole world, unite still more closely and launch a sustained and vigorous offensive against our common enemy, U.S. imperialism, and its accomplices! It can be said with certainty that the complete collapse of colonialism, imperialism, and all systems of exploitation, and the complete emancipation of all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world are not far off.
A: no
TG posted:umm in peep show jeremy mentions jfk and mark buys an fdr doll and calls him the greatest liberal hero of the 20th century. argument: destroyed *rides off on the shoulders of enormous crowd cheering tee gee! tee gee!*
yeh exactly, Jeremy knows jfk because of some quote in the one paragraph of his high school textbook, and mark knows FDR solely because of WW2
Lykourgos posted:who outside of America gives a fuck about martin luther king, jr.? There is never a waking moment where I go, hmm how about martin luther king, or john f kennedy, or oh shit what would Thomas Jefferson think about this. it never happens, these people are not cultural or intellectual icons beyond maybe one or two quotes that people vaguely recognize from that one paragraph in a high school textbook about the American colonies.
"I know many American Icons, like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, John Wayne Deere, and Burger Clown!"
Lykourgos posted:who outside of America gives a fuck about martin luther king, jr.? There is never a waking moment where I go, hmm how about martin luther king, or john f kennedy, or oh shit what would Thomas Jefferson think about this. it never happens, these people are not cultural or intellectual icons beyond maybe one or two quotes that people vaguely recognize from that one paragraph in a high school textbook about the American colonies.
I'm so sorry you lost your empire faster than the Mongols.
wasted posted:Lykourgos posted:who outside of America gives a fuck about martin luther king, jr.? There is never a waking moment where I go, hmm how about martin luther king, or john f kennedy, or oh shit what would Thomas Jefferson think about this. it never happens, these people are not cultural or intellectual icons beyond maybe one or two quotes that people vaguely recognize from that one paragraph in a high school textbook about the American colonies.
I'm so sorry you lost your empire faster than the Mongols.
And the Portuguese as well.
Lykourgos posted:yeh exactly, Jeremy knows jfk because of some quote in the one paragraph of his high school textbook, and mark knows FDR solely because of WW2
yeah but think about who else we only know of because of WW2
Superabound posted:Lykourgos posted:
yeh exactly, Jeremy knows jfk because of some quote in the one paragraph of his high school textbook, and mark knows FDR solely because of WW2
yeah but think about who else we only know of because of WW2
the rest of the planet
