Transcribing the Past

  An English translation from the Esperanto article on the life and death of the Japanese volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. Note: I translated Miyamoto Masao's article from Esperanto and in doing so had to cut out his poetic narrative and focus on only the factual parts of the account. The EO original is worth reading if you can, this translation exists for the benefit of English speakers. The following article was published in Sennaciulo 57/2 of February 1986, as part of a series of articles to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War. This year the whole progressive world remembers the beginning of the Spanish revolution, in which disappeared and died many fighters from around the world. It is probably little known that among the many Spanish fighters was also one Japanese combatant. The information about him comes from our Japanese comrade Miyamoto Masao. The 26th November 1936 In the afternoon the steamship Normandy left the quay at N...

    Link  https://youtu.be/oXbyVHE57D8 Here's a short video recorded by three anonymous inmates of the prison in Arles. It details conditions and the grievances of the detained population. Note: The transcription is of the translated subtitles from the video. Though some parts were confusing, so I re-worded some passages to make the meaning clearer. Though some references escaped me so I chose to leave them intact. Arles, Prisoners Statement 2001 This video was released in October 2001 by 3 prisoners from the Arles prison in the South of France. Translation was difficult as the statement often refers to French reality. We hope it is understandable, and we hope this video will be played abroad as much as possible. Statement Before reading this statement we must clarify that we are hooded in order to avoid the personalisation of the current action. We are just long sentenced prisoners among others. The message that we carry is the one...

  Kon Krailat's short fiction about an alienated male sex worker. Chiwin 1 sits quietly in a dark corner, waiting for his moment to come… Tonight the place is packed, since it’s the beginnig of the month and people still have enough cash to go out and enjoy themselves. Chiwin lights up a cigarette and inhales listlessly. It’s very strange, but this evening he feels lonely, moody, not himself. He’s got a lot of complicated problems on his mind, among them a letter from his mother: “ Win, my dear son, your father isn’t very well. The riceplanting season’s already here, but there’s no one at home. How are things going for you in Bangkok? Have you found a job yet or not? We haven’t heard from you at all…” Parts of the letters Mother wrote usually went like this. In fact, of course, she hadn’t written them at all. She was illiterate, so she must have asked someone in the neighbourhood to write them for her. Actually, it’s only now that Chiwin takes cognizance of how long it’s been...

   A translation of an article published in 1931 detailing events in Latvia before WWII and how Esperanto played a part in the political development of the author, a Latvian revolutionary. The Esperanto original can be found here . I was born in the year 1909 in Riga, the Capital of Latvia (then a province of Russia). My parents were workers. I passed most of my youth in Riga. In this city I also lived through many difficulties caused by the World War. During the Revolution I saw, the people fraternising with the soldiers and overturned the Tsars power. I will always remember those days when the people ruled themselves. I also remember the arrival of the Whites (Nationalists/Monarchists) their shameful power and butchery of thousands of workers. From these days though still a child I became an opponent of their religious dogma and an atheist. Because of the poor living conditions in the city my parents left for the countryside, settling in the provinc...

    In December 1948 Menachen Begin a Zionist politician infamous for his extreme nationalism -even amongst fellow Zionists- began a tour of the United States, hoping to generate publicity and raise funds and support while his party campaign in the elections of that year. Appalled at the visit and the warm welcome he was receiving a group of 28 Jewish intellectuals including Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt published a joint open letter to the New York Times denouncing Begin, his party, his policies and the general campaigns of atrocity and intimidation in Jewish communities and the Palestinian Arab population carried out by Menachen's followers and fellow far right Zionist paramilitaries. The letter can be found on Archive.org but the OCR scans are full of errors which make reading difficult, though the scans are clearer. I think its an interesting document so transcribed it correcting errors. New Palestine Party Visit of Menachen Begin and Aims of Po...

        Video link   Translation: Full Translation : Best of health my dear defenders of the motherland. Making this address to you is a Lieutenant Colonel of the reserves Sahashik Valerij Stepanovich. I’m introducing myself because I’ve quit quite a long time ago. Some of the current airborne forces may not know me, although everyone must have heard about the Black Hawk trials. All the current bravery and mastery has originated from there, and also you must have heard about how the 38th airbourne Briansk brigade used to run 10km and at the end in full personal would swim in a lake all year round, well I’m exactly the guy that for 4 years in a row would run at the front of the brigade and would be the first to jump into the lake. I am the Black Hawk number 1. All of the most important things in life all happen impromptu and unexpectedly. It’s impossible to prepare yourself to be a hero. In the life of every person a situation may suddenly arise in ...

       A translation of a speech by Wilhelm Liebknecht a prominent Socialist leader in 19th century Germany. The contents of the speech are an attack on nationalism, militarism and capitalist morality and an appeal for international brotherhood and social revolution. It covers and criticizes early industrial capitalism and Bourgeois society for its failures to solve social issues and argues coherently that on the contrary they are often the root causes of these problems, from poverty to political violence.   Available for tablets at the Kindle Store.   Support via ko-fi   On Offence and Defence A Speech by Wilhelm Liebknecht (1871) Introduction Wilhelm Liebknecht was an important figure in the history of German socialism, he was amongst the first generation of socialist politicians who founded the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). And it was partially thanks to his activity that the SPD grew from a small sect into ...