TR EMERITUS

作者: 郭铁成 提出"民主"是"好东西"还是"坏东西"这种问题，自然不能说有错，但总觉得有些"文不对题"。因为"民主"并不是"好"或"坏"、"有用"或"没用"的问题，它是我们生命的一种渴望，一种需求。正如吃、喝、拉、撒、睡，正如人的"七情六欲" (human desires)，你说它们"好"还是"坏"，"有用"还是"没用"？我们需要它们，是我们的生命离不开它们，一旦离开，生命就要受到致命的阻遏。反过来也可以说，如果不是我们的生命需要它，它就是再"好"、再"有用"也与我们不相干。 也许有人会反驳我："民主"的要求属于历史；中国两千多年的王权专制主义，没有民主，国人也照旧过来了，怎么能说民主是人生命的需求？ 当然，民主作为人生命的需求，并不如吃喝拉撒睡、"七情六欲"那样简单，它是人发展到一定阶段产生的一种精神需求。这个阶段的标志，就是个性、主体、自我这 些个体性的觉醒。在西方，始于"文艺复兴"时期，发展到"启蒙运动"时期蔚然成风，在中国则要晚到20世纪初，至"五四"时期形成一个高潮。陈独秀的一段话对于这种"觉醒"的表述是最清楚的了："解放云者，脱离夫奴隶之羁绊，以完其自主自由人格之谓也。我有手足，自谋温饱；我有口舌，自陈好恶；我有心思， 自崇所信；绝不认他人之越俎，亦不应主我而奴他人；盖自认为独立自主之人格以上，一切操行，一切权利，一切信仰，唯有听命各自固有之智能，断无盲从隶属他人之理。"于是他揭橥了"民主"的大旗，尽管此时他对"民主"的要义还"不甚了了"（胡适语）。无论西方还是东方，民主首先都不是一个理论的问题，而是一 个实践性问题。就是说，人类并不是根据民主"好"还是"坏"、"有用"还是"没用"来建构"民主"的，而是依据实际需要有了民主实践，才渐渐有了理性的认同和理论上的研究、探索和明彻的表述。后者又进一步推动了民主的自觉建设。 那么"民主"到底是什么？今天，人们对民主理论上的研究已经汗牛充栋，再重复这些已经成为人类常识的理论实在没有多大意义，不如把民主的问题还原为实在的生活。在这里我愿意引用龙应台女士的一段表述： " 民主，就是手上有一本护照，随时可以出国，不怕政府刁难；民主就是养了孩子知道他们可以凭自己本事上大学，不需要有特权；民主就是发表了任何意见不怕有人秋后算账；民主就是权利被侵犯的时候可以理直气壮地讨回，不管你是什么阶级什么身份；民主就是，不必效忠任何党，不必讨好任何人，也可以堂堂正正地过日子；民主就是到处有书店，没有任何禁书而且读书人写书人到处都是；民主就是打开电视不必忍受主播道德凛然地说谎；民主就是不必为了保护孩子而训练他从小习惯谎言；民主就是享受各种自由而且知道那自由不会突然被拿走，因为它不是赐予的。" 所以，民主并非只是选举投票，只是少数服从多数，只是"好东西"、"坏东西"的问题，"它是生活方式，是思维方式，是你每天呼吸的空气、举手投足的修养、个人回转的空间"（见龙应台《为台湾民主辩护--与华人世界对话》），是你觉悟的个体生命一刻也离不开的生命需要。这也可说是民主的"实质"。当然可以研究实现它的各种途径（包括程序正义的问题），但这种"实质"，却是个大前提。这个大前提，你如果有兴趣特别想分解一下，也可以看到，这里其实就是自由、人权、平等、多元、法治。于是我们又可以说，民主与这些具 有核心意义的价值是紧密相连、不可分割的，说到家它就是这些价值在体制上、制度上、方式方法上的体现。即如阿克顿勋爵所说："人类社会为什么需要民主？因为民主意味着让人民大众享有自由。"脱离这些价值谈"民主"，必定越谈越不得要领，甚至走到民主精神的反面去。 中国1950年代到1970 年代的30年间，尽管用"阶级论"解构"民主"，把"民主"与"资产阶级"连结在一起，并以"无产阶级民主"的革命实践取而代之，但"粉碎四人帮"和进入 改革开放的"新时期"以后，人们还是义无反顾地把自己的要求与"五四"曾经高扬的"民主"大旗联系起来。这时，我还可以说，因为几十年"断裂"的缘故，有关"民主"的真义，国人还是"不甚了了"，有关"民主"的理论更是思想上的空白，但有一点他们是再清楚不过：他们要过一种生活，这生活就是为了活命，他们要一点生产上的自主权（可以想一下，1978年12月安徽凤阳县小岗生产队20名农民为"包产到户"所按下的血手印）；这生活就是不会因为"出身"而被剥 夺生活基本的权利，不会因为有一点个性和独特性，就被作为"资产阶级"加以批判，因为发表一点意见和观点，就沦为"阶下囚"乃至付出生命的代价，因为读书、求知就被扣上"白专"的帽子，因为做学问、有学识，就成为"资产阶级反动学术权威"；这生活就是偌大中国不要一个人说了算，天是一个人的天，地是一个 人的地，十几亿人的生命和生活由一个人来操纵，连"共和国主席"都无以自保，死于非命；这生活就是我们至少能活得像个人样，不至于唯唯诺诺、战战兢兢，整日生活在不知什么时候就会有"群众"以"革命的名义"光顾你的家庭，抄毁你的书籍，拉你到批斗现场，给你戴上"牛鬼蛇神"的帽子，把你驱逐到"牛棚"，流放到举目无亲的地方经受"炼狱"之苦。 应该把人们这种有点卑微的诉求叫什么呢？这种生活是不是人的一种起码生命需求？如果承认人这种生命的渴望和祈愿是合理的、正当的，也是不可遏制的，那么怎么实现它？这时，能不接触"民主"--也就是广大人民做自己命运主人的问题吗？ 我最讨厌的就是一些貌似有学问的"知识分子"，脱离人民大众最质朴，也最有力的生活实践，把最生气勃勃、贯注着生命气息的生活抽空为干巴巴的"理论"，在那里煞有介事地"见仁见智"。岂不知他们在这样做的时候，已经远离真正的学问了。 举个小例子来说吧。1967年8月5日，中华人民共和国主席刘少奇被"造反派"押到中南海的批斗现场，经过了几个小时的残酷批斗，又被押回办公室。这时刘少奇"疲惫已极，余怒未息，立即按铃把机要秘书叫来"，"拿出《中华人民共和国宪法》，义正辞严地抗议说：'我是中华人民共和国主席，你们怎么对待我个人， 这无关紧要，但我要捍卫国家主席的尊严。谁罢免了我国家主席？要审判，也要通过人民代表大会。你们这样做，是在侮辱我们的国家。我个人也是一个公民，为什么不让我说话？宪法保障每一个公民的人身权利不受侵犯。破坏宪法的人是要受到法律的严厉制裁的。'"（见刘平平、刘源、刘婷婷：《我们的父亲刘少奇》）刘少奇的"抗议"很有力度，是自身的遭遇让他想到了"公民权利"--也就是民主这个根本性问题。可见"民主"原不是知识分子书斋里的"学问"（只是可惜他的意识晚了一点，如果1957年"反右运动"时他就有了这种"觉悟"，并能提出"抗议"，也许历史可能是另一个样子了）。 我还举个小例子来说明问题。散文家筱敏在《成年礼》一文中，写到自己"1974年深秋的某一天"，在街头读到一张《关于社会主义民主与法制》大字报的情景： " 我站在人群里，默默地读完了它，走出来。接着又回到人群起始的一头，再次从第一个字开始。天昏暗下来，人越聚越紧。有人划着了火柴，这边的一枝熄了，那边的一枝燃起来（那时的火柴是凭票限量供应的）。一个女孩一手扶着一位老者，一手举着手电筒，一个字一个字念给半盲的老者听。人群慢慢挪动。离开人群的时候，我才知道下雨了，深秋的冷雨，细细地斜飘着。" 文字是质朴的、动人的，而更动人心魄的，还是那情境。如今，你看到什么书、什么理论产生 过如此巨大魅力和感召力的？那简直是一首凄美而壮丽的诗篇！人们不是在读，而是在用生命、用心灵在感悟、在诉说。你可以从那街头的阅读大军中感受到伟大的历史脚步正从暗夜中"咚"、"咚"地走来，悲壮、沉实、充满力度。我也读过那大字报中的文字。今天看，或今天从"理论"上看，自然已不足论，但那大字报最重要的一点就是从"文革"的实践出发，点燃了一个蠢动于人们心中、被人们用生命和苦难体验着的"问题"。它一下唤醒了人们的良知和理性，打通了历史，让几 十年前就飘扬于人们心中，却"不甚了了"的那面"民主"旗帜，一下获得了真实的意义。 筱敏是把读到那张大字报的一天，视为自己的"成年礼" 的。我想，"五四"的"民主"对中国人来说，可能实际上只有相当有限的"启蒙"意义，真正使中国人成长起来的还是"不民主"的痛苦。经历了种种"不民主"的苦痛和折磨，人们才会切实明白，民主其实不是别的东西，它就是我们生命的尊严。 而我要说，一个带着强烈生命尊严感、追求民主的民族，才是真正有出息的民族。 来源：香港、《凤凰周刊》2009年31期  Read More →

BBC News, 13 November 2009 Asia is leading the world out of recession, the region's leaders have said. Leaders have gathered in Singapore for the annual meeting of the 21 nations that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) body. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that, with weaker US growth, "somebody else has to spend more somewhere else in the world". "This has to be in Asia," he added in a keynote speech to business leaders. Mr Lee cited China and India, two countries which are recording annual growth of more than 6% this year whereas most countries in the West have been through deep contractions. "The next few years' growth will be slow worldwide but in the long term, Asia will do well," Mr Lee said. The International Monetary Fund said last month that Asia would grow by 2.75% in 2009 and 5.75% in 2010, compared with flat to negative growth in the US and Western Europe. Leaders of the US and Russia will also attend the Apec meeting - which some say reflects the shifting balance of power between the US and Asia. Chinese boost Chinese President Hu Jintao told the summit that his government's stimulus measures were benefiting the world economy. "The series of measures China has adopted to counter the international financial crisis is conducive to the steady and relatively fast growth of the Chinese economy," Mr Hu said in Singapore. China's $586bn economic and infrastructure stimulus plan has been instrumental to keep its economy growing while the rest of the world slumped. Mr Hu also suggested China would use additional measures to persuade Chinese consumers to spend more. China is an export-led economy. "China will further boost domestic demand, vigorously expand the domestic market, and promote balanced growth of domestic and external demand," he said. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also supported China's role in the reshaped world economy. "If you look at the broad thrust of policy from China, it is playing a major role in helping contribute to recovery. "The broad thrust of reforms provides a very promising basis for helping underpin a more solid foundation for growth in the future, not just in the region but around the world," he added. Stimulus wind down Other attendees at the meeting backed what Mr Lee said. "Historically, the developed economies led recoveries," said Dennis Nally, global chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International. "This time, it's going to be the developing economies." The regional body has also vowed to help businesses operate in the region. "Apec ministers agreed to make it 25% cheaper, faster and easier to do business in the region by 2015," trade and foreign ministers said on Thursday. Mr Lee also said that countries would have to collectively determine how to wind down stimulus packages that have boosted growth, echoing what the G20 group of richest nations said last week. "The moment will have to be co-ordinated so that countries come out in an orderly sort of way," he said. The Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu backed that view. "The recovery is fragile and everybody agrees," she said. "How to sustain it means that you can't exit too quickly." The summit brings together 21 of the world's largest economies who account for 44% of world trade and 40% of the world's population. Source: BBC news  Read More →

By Louis Lim, Business Correspondent In view of the current economic difficulties facing many, people ought to be more ware of what's happening in the world and how what's happening can adversely affect their financial securities and lives; if it has not done so already! It is not a well known secret that one can avoid being a financial casualty by simply acquiring a set of skills different from what we are usually programmed from young to have. The latter has to do with being enslaved to a job or business controlled by others; the other being about having skills to generate an income independent of any circumstance or other people. Anyone depending solely on a job for a living would be almost completely lost if he loses his job. The unfortunate fact is that since the Multi-Nationals Companies began institutionalizing the treatment of employees as just another business resource, albeit commodity, the age of life-long employment seizes. Financial results associated with satisfying shareholders' expectations became the main reason for a business enterprise. Coupled with the practice of achieving short term objectives and the need to maintain share prices, retrenching workers became a normal business practice. Words like 'downsizing' and 'business rationalizing' became common business parlance. This dehumanizing of business enterprises, prevalent throughout 18th and 19th century industrializing Britain was revived and practice by American businesses. The new reality in a capitalist environment anywhere means a worker is subject to his job being taken away any day. More importantly, this means also that the individual worker must realize quickly the insecurity of a job. What then is a worker to do to secure himself? Off course there are skills like being a doctor or dentist and others which are not down sizable. However, most workers are dispensable! Men are, however, born with an innate creativity which can be described as entrepreneurial but this has historically been replaced by skills which are intended for us to work for someone else. The result is that only the top five per cent or so of employees can acquire financially independence (with high salaries) while the rest remained dependent and vulnerable all their lives. To acquire these forgotten skills would require a change in mindset from one of being a worker (a worker's mindset) to that of being a boss (an entrepreneurial mindset). The latter entails having a 'Possibilities Mindset" which would enable one to know how to garner resources and knowledge and, to apply them to secure one's own financial objectives. Henry Ford, the car genius, once said that 'money is not a man's security; he is his own security'. What he meant was that a man's security lies in his knowledge and skills. However, if your skill and knowledge is tied to working for someone then those skills and knowledge can be replaced any time. However, Henry Ford is not wrong; if a man's skills and knowledge is in the area of creating a money making enterprise. Robert Kiyosaki, a very successful entrepreneur, said that 'every man must mind his own business'. He didn't express it too well but what he meant is that 'to have financial security a person must learn to develop his own money making business'. Is this possible? Every man? In my opinion, in today' new reality, any worker who wants financial security has no other option! Off course, whenever an uninitiated thinks of starting a business he thinks of big capital, connections, special knowledge and skills. For a man who has little money and has just lost his job, it's even more unrealistic to think of starting his own business. However, many have done it, albeit, at great odds. But what if you are not retrenched yet? And you have some time to learn. Could you invest in a money-making skill that can provide an alternative income? Could you learn to be an entrepreneur with little resources and connections? The answer is yes but you have to adopt an entrepreneur mind-set; which really means that you to start believing in possibilities! Remember that when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started their little enterprises in garages all they had mainly were their belief in possibilities. The amazing fact is that because of them the possibilities have increased exponentially with the advent of the internet. Besides a strong belief in possibilities, an entrepreneur is one who learns to gather resources, knowledge and skills and organize them into money making processes. In most conventional businesses, this is usually a huge ask for any newcomer. Fortunately,, there are now other avenues where starting a business is made more possible for any one with little money and is prepared to spend time learning. For example, the internet has made it easier to start your own business. The main thing you would need is a good PC, some affordable money, a willingness to learn and a lot of belief in yourself. What is to be learned is seldom difficult; a man's limitation to success is often his own lack of self-belief! (Note : One website where you can learn how to be internet entrepreneur is www.thesuperfastaffiliate.com) If your motivation is create a secure financial situation for you and your loved ones, you need to be an entrepreneur. The days of secure employment is long over and moreover, personal wealth is seldom acquired by working for others. About the Author: Louis Lim is a highly qualified certified management consultant who promotes entrepreneurship as a set of basic human skills for financial security! With them, anyone can always feel secure of making a living with or without a job. Louis has identified Internet Marketing as the latest opportunity for those seeking financial independence. He has decades of experience consulting for many firms and mentors many business people. He is sharing his skills in business on the internet. Louis Lim is also an Expert Author on Entrepreneurship in the top Ezine Business and Motivation magazines in the internet and Google.  Read More →