Two perspectives on Zimbabwe's National Democratic Revolution: Thabo Mbeki and Wilfred Mhanda

The concept of the ‘National Democratic Revolution’ (NDR) is often used by left-leaning scholars and political actors in attempts to explain or justify the lack of socialism in third-world societies governed by rulers who consider themselves ‘scientific socialists’. It has been invoked in analyses of Zimbabwe by both the former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, in 2001 as he was embarking on his ‘quiet diplomacy’, and Wilfred Mhanda, a Zimbabwean guerrilla leader imprisoned by the Mozambican government in the late-1970s for posing problems to the leadership aspirations of Robert Mugabe, who later became president of the country posing problems for Thabo Mbeki among others. Analysis of both these political intellectuals’ writing sheds light on the concept of the NDR (evoked often in contemporary South African politics and Zimbabwean discourse about the current crisis) as well as the theoretical and practical aspects of the authors’ careers.     

Development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamines VI: Evaluation of methods for comparison of amphetamine

Amphetamine samples were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the peak areas of 33 target compounds were transformed by applying various pretreatment techniques. The objective was to optimise the ability of a number of distance metrics to establish links between samples of amphetamine originating from the same batch (henceforth referred to as linked distances). Furthermore, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to evaluate the effects of various pretreatment methods on separation of amphetamine batches synthesised by the Leuckart reaction, reductive amination of benzyl methyl ketone, and the nitrostyrene route. The most efficient way to pretreat GC-MS data varied for the different distance metrics, although best results were obtained when data were normalised to the sum of peak areas, and either the fourth root or a logarithm was applied to the normalised data. When pretreating normalised data by fourth root transformation, Pearson correlation was the distance metric that was most successful at finding linked samples. Normalisation and the use of fourth root also represented the best method of pretreating data when employing PLS-DA to separate samples synthesised by different routes. To achieve a faster and more user-friendly procedure for evaluating chromatograms, experiments were performed in which the number of target compounds used to compare samples was reduced. The effect of each compound that was removed was studied by applying PLS-DA and by using Pearson correlation to calculate linked distances as well as unlinked distances (between samples from different batches of amphetamine). Considering both links between samples from the same batch and separation of samples synthesised by different routes, the best results were obtained with the data set comprising 26 compounds. Finally, it was found that the profiling method developed in this work was superior to an existing technique with respect to separating linked and unlinked distances.     

Retelling the past,inspiring the future: Waffen-SS commemorations and the creation of a ‘European’ far-right counter-narrative

ABSTRACT

Heinrich Himmler created the Waffen-SS in part as a multinational force, willing to fight for a New Europe based on Germanic blood. After the war, many international Waffen-SS units formed veterans' associations (VAs). Like other VAs, these provided veterans with the chance to engage in ‘memory work’ and to keep alive a sense of comradeship and of valiant sacrifice, as well as an emotional commitment to the fallen. Waffen-SS veterans were, however, alone in celebrating their ‘sacrifices’. Others shunned them for their participation in atrocities. To defend themselves, they developed a counter-hegemonic Second World War narrative that presented the Waffen-SS as uniquely heroic ‘European’ volunteers' against Bolshevism. This counter-narrative, however, only gained resonance with the fall of the Berlin Wall. After 1989, in fact, veterans could seek out and establish sites of public commemoration, not in Western but in Eastern Europe. Hurd and Werther use veterans' journals and books to explore the redeployment of SS ideology in a revisionist version of history. They examine the resurrection of a mass Waffen-SS graveyard in East Ukraine as a telling case history, discussing, not least, the implications of a ‘reconciliation’ of the former German soldiers with both Ukrainian villagers and Red Army veterans. Finally, they explore the significance of the veterans' ‘European’ counter-history for a younger generation of neo-Nazis.     

History and hero-making: patriotic narratives and the Sovietization of Kazakh front-line propaganda, 1941–1945

This article analyses Soviet agitprop that was produced for Kazakhstani soldiers during the Great Patriotic War. The author argues that one of the main goals of this propaganda was to cultivate a complementary Soviet-Kazakh identity. Conditions at the front made this difficult to accomplish, but Soviet propagandists persisted in tailoring their propaganda for the benefit of Kazakh soldiers. As the war progressed, Kazakh front-line propaganda acquired a more unambiguously Soviet orientation, a consequence of the elimination of key themes derived from Kazakh national history and considered too politically volatile by the Communist Party. The article concludes by suggesting that the narratives articulated during World War II by Soviet propagandists went a long ways towards setting the contours of a prescribed Soviet-Kazakh identity.     

《台湾民报》对五四新文学作品的介绍及其影响和作用

1923年至1933年间，《台湾民报》转载了胡适、鲁迅、郭沫若等数十位祖国大陆新文学作家的上百篇作品，对台湾新文学创作产生了示范和推动的作用。海峡两岸新文学创作在“救亡”、“启蒙”、“革命”等三大主题上的契合，在深层次上证明了这种影响关系。     

一部成功人物传记——读《旷继勋传》有感

《旷继勋传》突出了旷继勋鲜明的个性、军人的气质、军事家的谋略和对中国人民解放事业至死不愈的精神,如实地描述了他从一个旧军人到一位红军高级将领的转变过程,使读者对旷继勋烈士有了一个全面的了解和认识。     

两性平等和谐基础上的妇女发展--五四先进分子的追求

五四先进分子认为,妇女发展关系着妇女解放、人的解放和社会的全面发展。他们要求对女性进行德、智、体等方面的培养;要求妇女走向社会广泛地参加社会劳动和创造。先进分子还设计了理想的性别关系模式,并以其作为妇女发展的基础。     

中国共产党创建人民军队的历史基础

中国共产党经过早期的酝酿和大革命时期的斗争 ,逐渐从思想、组织、群众、实践等方面为创建人民军队作了较为充分的准备 ,为人民军队的产生奠定了坚实的基础。随着第一次国共合作的失败和国民党新老右派加紧反共活动 ,中国共产党坚定地走上了创建人民军队、武装夺取政权的道路。     

日常生活的悲剧与解救——论《红楼梦》的悲剧主题

<红楼梦>的悲剧是一种日常生活的悲剧.其悲剧的根源在于日常生活总是遵循一般行为图式的安排,从而与个体的生活欲求形成抵触.这一悲剧存在于各个时代的世情小说中,具有普世性,其结果是造成常人作为生活主体.<红楼梦>展示了这种悲剧,同时为悲剧的解除提供了解答.这一解答对于今天现代化进程中的日常生活审美重建,仍然具有积极的启发意义.