Tip: in Volkskrant oud-actievoerders over de 2 Wijnands Duyvendak

[Antid Oto]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Henk Vreekamp wrote:
> "Meer narcisme bij GL" heb ik niet beweerd - goed lezen. Dat er bij
> D66-ers veel narcisme heerst, weet ik ook wel. Bij Duivendak is het
> echter manifest en storend op de beeldbuis.
>
> Het zal je marxistische hart verwarmen: gister las in in The Guardian
> dat de uit 1929 stammende, marxistisch geinspireerde roman "Kani cosen",
> "Carp ship" over armoede in Japan weer een bestseller is (half miljoen
> ex) nadat een right wing cult figuur de novelle en public had aangeprezen.
> hv,u

Ja, had ik ook gelezen:
http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4557638

Marxist novel a surprise hit in Japan

August 14, 2008 Edition 2

Tokyo - A Marxist novel written in 1929 has climbed to the top of
Japan's best-seller list, reflecting growing anxiety about job
security and widening income gaps in the world's second-biggest economy.

"I think people are feeling keenly that the economy is starting to
slow down and things are getting more difficult,'' said 27-year-old
Sota Furuya, a marketing consultant who recently read the book.

Furuya is one of the many Japanese readers who have put Kanikosen, or
A Crab-Canning Boat, on best-seller lists in recent months. It is near
the top of several of Japan's leading best-seller lists, almost
unheard of for a book of this genre.

A Crab-Canning Boat tells the tale of a crab boat crew working in
harsh conditions under a sadistic captain. It was written by Takiji
Kobayashi, a communist who was tortured to death by police at the age
of 29 in 1933.

Most of the novel is devoted to the crew's struggle to unite and
co-ordinate a strike, and the story ends with their vow to topple
their capitalist masters.

The book has long been a favourite of scholars of Marxist literature,
but it gained mainstream attention after an advertising campaign
linked it with the concept of the working poor, said Tsutomu Sasaki,
of Shinchosha Publishing Co, which reprinted the book. The book has
been on best-seller lists since around May.

Experts say the novel's popularity reflects anxiety over job security,
widening wage gaps and the hardships suffered by growing ranks of
low-paid, part-time and contract workers.

"I think the keywords here are sympathy and similarities,'' said
Hirokazu Toeda, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University.

"Young people are sympathising because they see themselves and today's
situation in the novel.''

But while the story resonates, the novel is unlikely to hold practical
lessons for workers in present-day Japan, where labour union
membership has been in decline for decades and only a tiny minority of
voters back leftist political parties.

"The sympathy is sporadic and I don't think it will lead to organised
movements,'' Toeda said. - Reuters

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