We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Workers, come holiday in your paradise It has it all – from aeroplanes that look like they are crashing to exciting political rallies – wouldn’t YOU rather go to North Korea?
Update: The official DPRK website hates our links for some obscure reason. So, in the interests of spreading the happy holiday message, please copy and paste this URL into the appropriate spot…
http://www.korea-dpr.com/kfa2006/kfadelegation05.wmv
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Doesn’t anyone else find this little screed from the KFA website a teentsy bit ironic:
Don’t miss out on the opportunities:
Lowest labour costs in Asia
Exiting new market, with many goods for export and import: gold, silver, industry, health, art, garments, raw materials, processing, electronics and much more.
Stable country with full diplomatic relations with EU countries.
Possibility of many areas with exclusive distribution (sole distribution)
In other words – Western fat capitalist big businessmen: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea needs your capital and expertise, the better to exploit its workers.
And you get monopoly/monopsony privileges as well!
But how exactly do you export “health”? Do exports of N. Korean health explain the drastically poor domestic health of the NK population?
The only thing to export to the beloved leader is a consignment of neutron bombs (T – 40 mins)
Woah, that really is creepy! It is like a music video done by 1950’s style propagandists! The grainy images just add to the effect and the synchronised people engaged in mandatory enjoyment just says it all.
It is interesting that direct linking from Samizdata seems to be banned.
The misconceptions they have of the Western outlook is breathtaking. Look what whoever put it together thought we’d find impressive :
– a crappy old plane and its interior
– a crappy old bus and its interior
– a park
– some poxy monument
– a slummy looking housing estate
– a political rally with bored participants
– a shot of what I assume is the NK legislative chamber
– a waterpark with obviously dated facilities
– a pretty unremarkable fireworks show accompanied by a sterile looking dance performance
Blimey! Is that what they think we Westerners are missing out on? If these people ever visited the West, their heads would explode. I once read of the first visit of North Korean high officials to the South. Apparently they thought the expressways and cityscape of Seoul was some elaborate facade conjured for their visit to scare the bejeezus out of them. Denial is quite a remarkable phenomenon.
It’s not just Samizdata that has problems with their links. That site is run by the Korean Friendship Association. They don’t let anyone copy their stuff without permission. I guess that extends to direct links.
Deluded.
Another way to fix the problem with the direct link not working is to click on the link get the “You do not have permission…” screen. Then click on the URL in your browser’s address bar and press enter. This has the effect of reentering the URL without forwarding to the site the details of where you got the link from.
I once had the joy of negotiating a contract for aluminium with some North Koreans. Two generals and their “minder”. Seriously bizarre, having to explain each and every step of why we needed a letter of credit and such.
In the end it didn’t happen. N Korea was so bust at that point that their own bank wouldn’t issue an LC.
I couldn’t get the wmv to run, but I did find this:
KFA flash animation
Which is priceless! I can’t wait until the dance remix comes out.
Keep trying, Nick. I’ve seen that weird anthem before, and the tourist video’s even better. Try what someone suggested above – click the original link which will take you to the error page, then highlight and click ‘enter’ on the URL in the navigation toolbar. Should open up Windows Media Player and there’s your North Korean propaganda video downloading for your viewing pleasure.
I should add that when you have viewed the tourist video, Nick, honourable medals will shine on your heart.
http://www.korea-dpr.com/cgi-bin/simpleforum.cgi?fid=04&topic_id=1127055507&highlight=team%20america is even better – loads of commies complaining about Team America World Police
Oh that’s good telemachus. Now if we could only find a way to set these loonies against the islamoloonies, they can nuke each other to oblivion and everyone else can watch on CNN. If only.
In a similar vein…..
Click Here
It looks better than it did the last time I visited, in 1950.
“Team America” even made me feel optimistic (and that takes some doing).
The North Korea lovers’ forum was funny – I wonder how many (if any) of the people in the thread were real communists and how many were just making fun of the whole thing.
Also I loved the Mulsims jumping about – even if it is cruel to be amused by a old man who clearly was desperate to go to the toilet (my own bladder is not very strong these days).
This video about the latest North Korean car is also a good laugh. Don’t miss the bit about three minutes in when they list the features, including reclining seats, and a radio-cassette player!
http://www.korea-dpr.com/fiparam.asx
Page this video is from: http://www.korea-dpr.com/bus1.htm