FCAW Welding

Introduction to Flux Cored Arc Welding

Flux core arc welding was introduced in the 1950’s. Technically the introduction of this process was not new. It was just a new type of an electrode that can be used on a MIG welding machine. Flux cored arc welding is a process similar to MIG welding. Both processes using continues wire feeds, and similar equipment. The power supply for a FCAW, and a MIG welder, are the same machine. They are both considered semi automatic processes, and have a very high production rate.

The main difference between flux cored arc welding and MIG welding is the way the electrode is shielded from the air. Flux cored arc welding just like the name implies, has a hollow wire with flux in the center, similar to the candy called “pixy sticks”. Just as the name states, a “Flux Core”. The main difference between MIG welding and flux core arc welding is, FCAW gets its shielding from the flux core, and this allows the operator to weld outdoors where it is windy. It’s like a SMAW welding electrode turned inside out! MIG welding gets its shielding from a bottle of gas which has serious draw backs, when welding outdoors, or in drafty conditions.

Flux Cored Arc Welding Production

Flux cored arc welding is the most productive of the manual welding processes! When comparing MIG welding to flux core arc welding, there is a huge gap in production, in the amount of weld per hour. A MIG welder can typically produce 5 to 8 pounds of weld per hour, verses a FCA welder packing 25 plus pounds of weld per hour. On top of that flux core welding can weld 1/2" plates in a single pass with full penetration on both sides. Flux core arc welding for this reason is primarily used in the ship building industry. Ships are made of heavy plate, and have endless amounts of welding that needs to be done. Flux core welding produces high quality welds, fast, and even when in windy conditions.

Weld ability of Metals

Welding with flux core electrodes has some serious cons when it comes to the weld ability of metals. So far, FCAW has been perfected on most carbon steels, cast iron, nickel based alloys, and some stainless steels. Unfortunately most non ferrous exotic metals cannot be welded and that includes aluminum. On the upside for most hobbyists the flux core electrode may be an excellent choice for general garage work, because if used in a MIG welder there is no shielding gas required on some electrodes.

How Flux Cored Arc Welding Works

Flux cored arc welding just like MIG welding requires three main ingredients, electricity, filler metal, and a form of shielding from the air. Just like MIG weldering, flux core welding works by feeding an electrode continuously to the joint. First the welder squeezes the trigger, and then the wire feeder begins to feed the electrode to the joint, at the same time the electrode gets electrically charged. Once the electrode hits the metal joint, the electricity short circuits, and heats up the electrode till the electrode begins to melt. Once the electrode begins to melt, the metal also starts to melt, and then both of them start to create a puddle. This puddle at the same time melts the flux core, creating a shield from air, and at the same time produces a slag that protects the weld from contamination.

FCAW Self-Shielding vs. Dual Shield

Flux cored arc welding comes in two types of shielding. The first difference is in the electrode itself, it is a tubular wire with a shielding powder in the center. In technical terms this is called “Self-Shielding” or sometimes branded "Inner Shield". The second is the same type of electrode, but another ingredient is added. A bottle of gas is used in addition to the flux core shielding. The technical term for this is “Dual Shield”. In the case of dual shielding, you have a powder flux in the center of the electrode and an external shielding gas protecting the weld area.

FCAW Voltage Type - Welding Polarity – Power Supply

A flux cored welding power supply is also a MIG welding power supply, they are the same machine. That is a “Constant Voltage Power Supply”. Constant voltage power supplies keep the voltage near, or at the same level. Unlike a TIG, or Stick welder, that keeps the amperage consistent. In the flux cored welder the amperage is changed with the wire feed speed. The faster the wire feeds, the more contact the electrode has, producing more amperage, and heat.

The voltage type used is D/C direct current like the type current produced by a battery. The polarity used in industrial flux core arc welding is typically D/C electrode (+) positive. This means that the handle is the positive side of the circuit, or the electricity flows from the metal to the welding handle. This is typical when larger electrodes are used. When welding with smaller electrodes and sheet metals, the polarity is changed to D/C electrode (-) negative.

The main difference between FCAW, and a MIG welder’s are, flux cored arc welding power supplies are available with, much, more, power! Basically they are an extremely powerful MIG welder! Some flux core arc welders come with the capabilities of running over an extremely hot, 1000 plus amps! That is where they leave MIG welding in the dust for production.

Shielding Gasses for FCAW

In the case of dual shielding being used with a flux cored electrode the choices of shielding gasses are limited. The choices are as follows:

• CO2 – Carbon dioxide
• Ar – Argon
• CO2 / Ar – A mixture of the two
• Ar / Ox – A mixture of the two

CO2 by itself produces the deepest penetrating weld but has some draw backs. The mechanical properties of the weld are not the best due to fact the flux in the wire reacts with the shielding gas. Others draw backs are, it produces a lot of spatter, and the arc is stiff and not as stable as it can be.

Argon by itself will also weld with a flux cored electrode, but just like CO2, it reacts not favorable with the flux. Both Argon and Carbon dioxide can make a decent looking weld if used by themselves. What the weld looks like verses the actually quality of the weld are two different stories.

The most common gasses used for dual shield FCAW are a mixture of Carbon Dioxide and Argon or Argon and Oxygen. The most popular is C25 / 25% Carbon Dioxide and 75% Argon. This gas produces a stable arc, less spatter, and allows more of a spray transfer of metal. I recently used this mixture when taking my 3G flux cored arc welding certification. In some other cases a mixture of Argon and Oxygen may be used. Oxygen in small percentages stabilizes the weld arc and improves the mechanical properties of the weld.

Ultimately if using dual shield it’s always best to read the electrodes manufactures recommendations or ask you gas supplier for the proper gas.

FCAW Electrode Types

The electrodes used for flux cored welding are almost visually the same as a MIG welding electrode. The difference is that flux cored electrodes are tubular, or a hollow tube with flux in the center. MIG welding electrodes are solid metal.

Flux cored electrodes come in standard sizes. Some are the same size as most MIGwelding electrodes but others are comparable to the thickness of a stick welding electrode. Here are some of the more popular sizes for standard industrial applications:

• .035
• .045
• .052
• 1/16

As with most electrodes there is a standard classification code or designation code, on the spool they come on. To understand the classifications better it is important to know some basics about where the classification codes are different.

A somewhat common flux cored welding electrode is the “E71T – 1”. As with all electrodes the numbers and letters all mean something. There identifications are as follows.

• E – Stands for electrode.
• 7 – Stands for the minimum amount of tensile strength. In this case it is 70,000 lbs of tensile strength per square inch of weld. The way this number is figured is by adding four zeros to the number.
• 1– Stands for the position that this electrode can be welded in. There are only two designations and they are “0” for flat and horizontal welding, then there is “1” for all position welding.
• T – Stands for a tubular electrode. When “T” is used it is always assumed it is a flux cored electrode.
• 1 – The last is the shielding flux type designations.

As a note with all flux cored electrodes they need to be stored in a dry place. Otherwise the may pick up moisture and this will cause major weld defects.

Flux Cored Welding Transfer Types

When welding with a flux cored electrode there are two metal transfer types used! The transfer types are Spray Transfer and Globular. Spray transfer is the most commonly used. Just like the name states the metal from the electrode gets heated up to the point that it literally sprays the filler metal to the joint. Globular transfer heats up the electrode hot enough for globs of metal to drip off of the electrode to the weld joint. What separates the two transfer types are, voltage settings, wire speed, and the gasses used, if any.

Flux Cored Arc Welding Joint preparation

Joint preparation for flux core is not as critical as with MIG welding. FCAW can typically burn through mill scale and minor rust. In many cases when the metal is cut with a torch, it can be welded as-is, with no additional cleaning. For the ship building industry this is a huge savings in labor cost. In addition to easy joint preparation, beveled grove joints can be narrower for metals ½ inch or thinner, and they can be welded in a single pass with full penetration on both sides.

Ceramic Backing Tape

Commonly in the ship building industry many joints are welded from a single side using a ceramic backing tape. The ceramic backing tape is like a mold to pour metal in, but in this case the electrode will fill that mold. When ceramic backing tape is used it allows for full joint preparation and outstanding weld quality. This in return gives full control of the shape and penetration of the back side of the weld. Once the weld is finished, the ceramic tape is simply peeled off, and thrown away. The great think about using ceramic backing tape is that it is just like welding an open root butt joint, but requires much less skill! The pictures below are of the first time I used ceramic backing tape on a 3G weld joint. Its real easy as long as you keep the arc in the puddle!

Shameful Shunning in a Thousand Words

This is a picture of my dad eating. He had just made lunch for me, but he couldn’t eat it with me. I had to eat it at another table with my four-year-old son while he sat there away from me.

Why? Because that’s what the Watch Tower Society tells him to do.

I posted this picture on a Facebook forum October 26th. The first response I received was, “Don’t know what to say. This boggles the mind; mind-control religion at its very worst!”                                                                  

Minutes later a flood of comments and “Likes” followed,   reminding me that a good picture can easily replace a thousand words.

For those of you who are curious, I must explain that my extended family began shunning me a year ago after I questioned the authority of the Watchtower’s Governing Body. My family’s unanimous well-meaning response to my doubts was by expressing their opinion that I “must be an apostate” and “severe shunning would surely bring me to my senses.”

After my mother died eight months ago, my dad, being all alone, went to the elders in the congregation he attended to see if he’d be allowed to visit with me. They said that since I was his son, he could visit with me at his house. But he could not discuss religion - nor could he share a meal with me at the same table.

Two weeks ago, I called my dad and asked if his grandson and I could visit him. He said “yes” and even offered to make lunch. But shortly before serving the meal, he said that he wasn’t going to sit at the same table with us. When I asked why, his reply was, “The organization says so.”

That confession allowed me to vent my feelings for maybe thirty minutes, describing to him about the harm caused by shunning and other Watchtower policies. He listened politely. But I could see that he was in a “cognitive dissonance mode” – so nothing I said registered with him.

After I spoke my piece, he served a nice meal to me and my son. Then he chose to sit alone in a small area of the kitchen with his back turned to us while eating his lunch. I sat there speechless, trying to figure out what was going on in his mind. That’s when it occurred to me that I had to capture this moment on my camera phone.

As I nibbled on my lunch, a feeling of pure sadness engulfed me. But as bad as I felt, I had this gut-wrenching feeling for Dad. This had to be much harder for him. Here’s an 80-year-old man thinking that he is doing this for God. He feels he has to suffer through this intuitively wrong act to be loyal to what he thinks is “God’s organization.”

But the story does not end here. My son is growing up seeing this silliness going on. Can the Watchtower be blind to the damage caused by their harmful policies, not just to us adults but to innocent kids who have “no dog in the fight?”

Tears were running down my face as I drove away from my father’s home. But I also realized that I was not alone in this situation. Today, there are thousands of us who no longer believe the Watchtower’s lies we used to feed on. We now know the truth about several Watchtower policies that sacrifice the civil rights of current and former members.

We can no longer turn a blind eye to the suffering and cries of others due to the Watchtower’s policy of shunning. I know that I can’t!

Extreme shunning is inhumane! It is a cruel and unjust punishment – a despicable act of a mind-controlling religion that’s afraid of losing its members and financial contributors. My goals are to make the non-JW world community aware of the emotional and psychological damage from shunning, for the court of public opinion to find the Watchtower guilty as charged, and to put a stop to this barbaric practice.

And yes – I think that sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words – sometimes, maybe even more!

Source : http://aawa.co

Young Thief in Iran Punished by Running a Truck Over His Arm?

 Summary of the eRumor:  
A sequence of pictures of a truck running over the arm of a young boy.  The text says he was a starving Iranian child who had stolen some bread from the marketplace and this was his punishment.

The Truth:  This eRumor has circulated as having happened in various Moslem countries, but came from an Iranian website. We checked with Iranian sources who said this was more likely a street performance than an act of Islamic punishment. The man in the picture is holding a microphone and as gruesome as the pictures appear, the boy is not harmed, but is part of the act.  People gather around and pay money for the performance and the boy walks away.   Our Iranian source also says that if this had actually be a public act of punishment, it would have been carried out by a uniformed officer. An 8 year old starving child caught stealing bread in a market of Iran is punished in a public place, in the name of Islam!!! His arm will be crushed and will lose its use permanently. A religion of peace and love, they say? How can anyone believe them when they commit such inhuman acts? Spread this example of peace and love of Islam to your friends !! Source : Islamic Punishment Of Young Boy.

Why I am an Atheist

Bhagat Singh 1931

Written: October 5–6, 1930

Source/Translated: Converted from the original Gurmukhi (Punjabi) to Urdu/Persian script by Maqsood Saqib; 

translated from Urdu to English by Hasan for marxists.org, 2006;

HTML/Proofread: Andy Blunden and Mike Bessler;

CopyLeft: Creative Common (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org 2006.

   It is a matter of debate whether my lack of belief in the existence of an Omnipresent, Omniscient God is due to my arrogant pride and vanity. It never occurred to me that sometime in the future I would be involved in polemics of this kind. As a result of some discussions with my friends, (if my claim to friendship is not uncalled for) I have realised that after having known me for a little time only, some of them have reached a kind of hasty conclusion about me that my atheism is my foolishness and that it is the outcome of my vanity. Even then it is a serious problem. I do not boast of being above these human follies. I am, after all, a human being and nothing more. And no one can claim to be more than that. I have a weakness in my personality, for pride is one of the human traits that I do possess. I am known as a dictator among my friends. Sometimes I am called a boaster. Some have always been complaining that I am bossy and I force others to accept my opinion. Yes, it is true to some extent. I do not deny this charge. We can use the word ‘vainglory’ for it. As far as the contemptible, obsolete, rotten values of our society are concerned, I am an extreme sceptic. But this question does not concern my person alone. It is being proud of my ideas, my thoughts. It cannot be called empty pride. Pride, or you may use the word, vanity, both mean an exaggerated assessment of one’s personality. Is my atheism because of unnecessary pride, or have I ceased believing in God after thinking long and deep on the matter? I wish to put my ideas before you. First of all, let us differentiate between pride and vanity as these are two different things.

I have never been able to understand how unfounded, baseless pride or empty vanity can hinder a person from believing in God. I may refuse to acknowledge the greatness of a really great person only when I have got fame without doing any serious efforts or when I lack the superior mental powers necessary to become great. It is easy to understand but how is it possible that a believer can turn into a non-believer because of his vanity? Only two things are possible: either a man deems himself to be in possession of Godly qualities, or he goes a step further and declares himself to be a god. In both these states of mind he cannot be an atheist in the true sense of the word. In the first case, it is not an outright rejection of God’s existence; in the other, he is affirming the existence of some kind of supernatural power responsible for the working of universe. It does not harm our argument whether he claims to be a god or considers God to be a reality in existence above his own being. The real point, however, is that in both cases he is a theist, a believer. He is not an atheist. I want to bring home this point to you. I am not one of these two creeds. I totally reject the existence of an Omnipresent, all powerful, all knowing God. Why so? I will discuss it later in the essay. Here I wish to emphasise that I am not an atheist for the reason that I am arrogant or proud or vain; nor am I a demi-god, nor a prophet; no, nor am I God myself. At least one thing is true that I have not evolved this thought because of vanity or pride. In order to answer this question I relate the truth. My friends say that after Delhi bombing and Lahore Conspiracy Case, I rocketed to fame and that this fact has turned my head. Let us discuss why this allegation is incorrect. I did not give up my belief in God after these incidents. I was an atheist even when I was an unknown figure. At least a college student cannot cherish any sort of exaggerated notion of himself that may lead him to atheism. It is true that I was a favourite with some college teachers, but others did not like me. I was never a hardworking or studious boy. I never got an opportunity to be proud. I was very careful in my behaviour and somewhat pessimistic about my future career. I was not completely atheistic in my beliefs. I was brought up under the care and protection of my father. He was a staunch Arya Samaji. An Arya Samaji can be anything but never an atheist. After my elementary education, I was sent to D. A. V College, Lahore. I lived in the boarding house for one year. Besides prayers early in the morning and at dusk time, I sat for hours and chanted religious Mantras. At that time, I was a staunch believer. Then I lived with my father. He was a tolerant man in his religious views. It is due to his teachings that I devoted my life for the cause of liberating my country. But he was not an atheist. His God was an all-pervading Entity. He advised me to offer my prayers every day. In this way I was brought up. In the Non-cooperation days, I got admission to the National College. During my stay in this college, I began thinking over all the religious polemics such that I grew sceptical about the existence of God. In spite of this fact I can say that my belief in God was firm and strong. I grew a beard and ‘Kais’ (long head of hair as a Sikh religious custom). In spite of this I could not convince myself of the efficacy of Sikh religion or any religion at all, for that matter. But I had an unswerving, unwavering belief in God.

Then I joined the Revolutionary Party. The first leader I met had not the courage to openly declare himself an atheist. He was unable to reach any conclusion on this point. Whenever I asked him about the existence of God, he gave me this reply: “You may believe in him when you feel like it.” The second leader with whom I came in contact was a firm believer. I should mention his name. It was our respected Comrade Sachindara Nath Sanyal. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with Karachi conspiracy case. Right from the first page of his only book, ‘Bandi Jivan’ (Incarnated Life) he sings praises to the Glory of God. See the last page of the second part of this book and you find praises showered upon God in the way of a mystic. It is a clear reflection of his thoughts.

According to the prosecution, the ‘Revolutionary Leaflet’ which was distributed throughout India was the outcome of Sachindara Nath Sanyal’s intellectual labour. So often it happens that in revolutionary activities a leader expresses his own ideas which may be very dear to him, but in spite of having differences, the other workers have to acquiesce in them.

In that leaflet, one full paragraph was devoted to the praises of God and His doings which we, human beings, cannot understand. This is sheer mysticism. What I want to point out is that the idea of denying the existence of God did not even occur to the Revolutionary Party. The famous Kakory martyrs, all four of them, passed their last day in prayers. Ram Parshad Bismal was a staunch Arya Samaji. In spite of his vast studies in Socialism and Communism, Rajan Lahiri could not suppress his desire to recite hymns from Upanishads and Gita. There was but only one person among them who did not indulge in such activities. He used to say, “Religion is the outcome of human weakness or the limitation of human knowledge.” He is also in prison for life. But he also never dared to deny the existence of God.

Till that time I was only a romantic revolutionary, just a follower of our leaders. Then came the time to shoulder the whole responsibility. For some time, a strong opposition put the very existence of the party into danger. Many leaders as well as many enthusiastic comrades began to uphold the party to ridicule. They jeered at us. I had an apprehension that some day I will also consider it a futile and hopeless task. It was a turning point in my revolutionary career. An incessant desire to study filled my heart. ‘Study more and more’, said I to myself so that I might be able to face the arguments of my opponents. ‘Study’ to support your point of view with convincing arguments. And I began to study in a serious manner. My previous beliefs and convictions underwent a radical change. The romance of militancy dominated our predecessors; now serious ideas ousted this way of thinking. No more mysticism! No more blind faith! Now realism was our mode of thinking. At times of terrible necessity, we can resort to extreme methods, but violence produces opposite results in mass movements. I have talked much about our methods. The most important thing was a clear conception of our ideology for which we were waging a long struggle. As there was no election activity going on, I got ample opportunity to study various ideas propounded by various writers. I studied Bakunin, the anarchist leader. I read a few books of Marx, the father of Communism. I also read Lenin and Trotsky and many other writers who successfully carried out revolutions in their countries. All of them were atheists. The ideas contained in Bakunin’s ‘God and State’ seem inconclusive, but it is an interesting book. After that I came across a book ‘Common Sense’ by Nirlamba Swami. His point of view was a sort of mystical atheism. I developed more interest in this subject. By the end of 1926, I was convinced that the belief in an Almighty, Supreme Being who created, guided and controlled the universe had no sound foundations. I began discussions on this subject with my friends. I had openly declared myself an atheist. What it meant will be discussed in the following lines.

In May 1927, I was arrested in Lahore. This arrest came as a big surprise for me. I had not the least idea that I was wanted by the police. I was passing through a garden and all of a sudden the police surrounded me. To my own surprise, I was very calm at that time. I was in full control of myself. I was taken into police custody. The next day I was taken to the Railway Police lockup where I spent a whole month. After many days’ conversation with police personnel, I guessed that they had some information about my connection with the Kakori Party. I felt they had some intelligence of my other activities in the revolutionary movement. They told me that I was in Lucknow during the Kakori Party Trial so that I might devise a scheme to rescue the culprits. They also said that after the plan had been approved, we procured some bombs and by way of test, one of those bombs was thrown into a crowd on the occasion of Dussehra in 1926. They offered to release me on condition that I gave a statement on the activities of the Revolutionary Party. In this way I would be set free and even rewarded and I would not be produced as an approver in the court. I could not help laughing at their proposals. It was all humbug. People who have ideas like ours do not throw bombs at their own innocent people. One day, Mr. Newman, the then senior Superintendent of CID, came to me. After a long talk which was full of sympathetic words, he imparted to me what he considered to be sad news, that if I did not give any statement as demanded by them, they would be forced to send me up for trial for conspiracy to wage war in connection with Kakori Case and also for brutal killings in Dussehra gathering. After that he said that he had sufficient evidence to get me convicted and hanged.

I was completely innocent, but I believed that the police had sufficient power to do it if they desired it to be so. The same day some police officers persuaded me to offer my prayers to God two times regularly. I was an atheist. I thought that I would settle it to myself whether I could brag only in days of peace and happiness that I was an atheist, or in those hard times I could be steadfast in my convictions. After a long debate with myself, I reached the conclusion that I could not even pretend to be a believer nor could I offer my prayers to God. No, I never did it. It was time of trial and I would come out of it successful. These were my thoughts. Never for a moment did I desire to save my life. So I was a true atheist then and I am an atheist now. It was not an easy task to face that ordeal. Beliefs make it easier to go through hardships, even make them pleasant. Man can find a strong support in God and an encouraging consolation in His Name. If you have no belief in Him, then there is no alternative but to depend upon yourself. It is not child’s play to stand firm on your feet amid storms and strong winds. In difficult times, vanity, if it remains, evaporates and man cannot find the courage to defy beliefs held in common esteem by the people. If he really revolts against such beliefs, we must conclude that it is not sheer vanity; he has some kind of extraordinary strength. This is exactly the situation now. First of all we all know what the judgement will be. It is to be pronounced in a week or so. I am going to sacrifice my life for a cause. What more consolation can there be! A God-believing Hindu may expect to be reborn a king; a Muslim or a Christian might dream of the luxuries he hopes to enjoy in paradise as a reward for his sufferings and sacrifices. What hope should I entertain? I know that will be the end when the rope is tightened round my neck and the rafters move from under my feet. To use more precise religious terminology, that will be the moment of utter annihilation. My soul will come to nothing. If I take the courage to take the matter in the light of ‘Reward’, I see that a short life of struggle with no such magnificent end shall itself be my ‘Reward.’ That is all. Without any selfish motive of getting any reward here or in the hereafter, quite disinterestedly have I devoted my life to the cause of freedom. I could not act otherwise. The day shall usher in a new era of liberty when a large number of men and women, taking courage from the idea of serving humanity and liberating them from sufferings and distress, decide that there is no alternative before them except devoting their lives for this cause. They will wage a war against their oppressors, tyrants or exploiters, not to become kings, or to gain any reward here or in the next birth or after death in paradise; but to cast off the yoke of slavery, to establish liberty and peace they will tread this perilous, but glorious path. Can the pride they take in their noble cause be called vanity? Who is there rash enough to call it so? To him I say either he is foolish or wicked. Leave such a fellow alone for he cannot realise the depth, the emotions, the sentiment and the noble feelings that surge in that heart. His heart is dead, a mere lump of flesh, devoid of feelings. His convictions are infirm, his emotions feeble. His selfish interests have made him incapable of seeing the truth. The epithet ‘vanity’ is always hurled at the strength we get from our convictions.

You go against popular feelings; you criticise a hero, a great man who is generally believed to be above criticism. What happens? No one will answer your arguments in a rational way; rather you will be considered vainglorious. Its reason is mental insipidity. Merciless criticism and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking. As Mahatmaji is great, he is above criticism; as he has risen above, all that he says in the field of politics, religion, Ethics is right. You agree or not, it is binding upon you to take it as truth. This is not constructive thinking. We do not take a leap forward; we go many steps back.

Our forefathers evolved faith in some kind of Supreme Being, therefore, one who ventures to challenge the validity of that faith or denies the existence of God, shall be called a Kafir (infidel), or a renegade. Even if his arguments are so strong that it is impossible to refute them, if his spirit is so strong that he cannot be bowed down by the threats of misfortune that may befall him through the wrath of the Almighty, he shall be decried as vainglorious. Then why should we waste our time in such discussions? This question has come before the people for the first time, hence the necessity and usefulness of such long discussions.

As far as the first question is concerned, I think I have made it clear that I did not turn atheist because of vanity. Only my readers, not I, can decide whether my arguments carry weight. If I were a believer, I know in the present circumstances my life would have been easier; the burden lighter. My disbelief in God has turned all the circumstances too harsh and this situation can deteriorate further. Being a little mystical can give the circumstances a poetic turn. But I need no opiate to meet my end. I am a realistic man. I want to overpower this tendency in me with the help of Reason. I am not always successful in such attempts. But it is man’s duty to try and make efforts. Success depends on chance and circumstances.

Now we come to the second question: if it is not vanity, there ought to be some sound reason for rejection of age-old belief in God. Yes, I come to this question. I think that any man who has some reasoning power always tries to understand the life and people around him with the help of this faculty. Where concrete proofs are lacking, [mystical] philosophy creeps in. As I have indicated, one of my revolutionary friends used to say that “philosophy is the outcome of human weakness.” Our ancestors had the leisure to solve the mysteries of the world, its past, its present and its future, its whys and its wherefores, but having been terribly short of direct proofs, every one of them tried to solve the problem in his own way. Hence we find wide differences in the fundamentals of various religious creeds. Sometimes they take very antagonistic and conflicting forms. We find differences in Oriental and Occidental philosophies. There are differences even amongst various schools of thoughts in each hemisphere. In Asian religions, the Muslim religion is completely incompatible with the Hindu faith. In India itself, Buddhism and Jainism are sometimes quite separate from Brahmanism. Then in Brahmanism itself, we find two conflicting sects: Aarya Samaj and Snatan Dheram. Charwak is yet another independent thinker of the past ages. He challenged the Authority of God. All these faiths differ on many fundamental questions, but each of them claims to be the only true religion. This is the root of the evil. Instead of developing the ideas and experiments of ancient thinkers, thus providing ourselves with the ideological weapon for the future struggle, – lethargic, idle, fanatical as we are – we cling to orthodox religion and in this way reduce human awakening to a stagnant pool.

It is necessary for every person who stands for progress to criticise every tenet of old beliefs. Item by item he has to challenge the efficacy of old faith. He has to analyse and understand all the details. If after rigorous reasoning, one is led to believe in any theory of philosophy, his faith is appreciated. His reasoning may be mistaken and even fallacious. But there is chance that he will be corrected because Reason is the guiding principle of his life. But belief, I should say blind belief is disastrous. It deprives a man of his understanding power and makes him reactionary.

Any person who claims to be a realist has to challenge the truth of old beliefs. If faith cannot withstand the onslaught of reason, it collapses. After that his task should be to do the groundwork for new philosophy. This is the negative side. After that comes in the positive work in which some material of the olden times can be used to construct the pillars of new philosophy. As far as I am concerned, I admit that I lack sufficient study in this field. I had a great desire to study the Oriental Philosophy, but I could get ample opportunity or sufficient time to do so. But so far as I reject the old time beliefs, it is not a matter of countering belief with belief, rather I can challenge the efficacy of old beliefs with sound arguments. We believe in nature and that human progress depends on the domination of man over nature. There is no conscious power behind it. This is our philosophy.

Being atheist, I ask a few questions from theists:

1. If, as you believe there is an Almighty, Omnipresent, Omniscient God, who created the earth or universe, please let me know, first of all, as to why he created this world. This world which is full of woe and grief, and countless miseries, where not even one person lives in peace.

2. Pray, don’t say it is His law. If He is bound by any law, He is not Omnipotent. Don’t say it is His pleasure. Nero burnt one Rome. He killed a very limited number of people. He caused only a few tragedies, all for his morbid enjoyment. But what is his place in history? By what names do we remember him? All the disparaging epithets are hurled at him. Pages are blackened with invective diatribes condemning Nero: the tyrant, the heartless, the wicked.

One Genghis Khan killed a few thousand people to seek pleasure in it and we hate the very name. Now, how will you justify your all powerful, eternal Nero, who every day, every moment continues his pastime of killing people? How can you support his doings which surpass those of Genghis Khan in cruelty and in misery inflicted upon people? I ask why the Almighty created this world which is nothing but a living hell, a place of constant and bitter unrest. Why did he create man when he had the power not to do so? Have you any answer to these questions? You will say that it is to reward the sufferer and punish the evildoer in the hereafter. Well, well, how far will you justify a man who first of all inflicts injuries on your body and then applies soft and soothing ointment on them? How far the supporters and organizers of Gladiator bouts were justified in throwing men before half starved lions, later to be cared for and looked after well if they escaped this horrible death. That is why I ask: Was the creation of man intended to derive this kind of pleasure?

Open your eyes and see millions of people dying of hunger in slums and huts dirtier than the grim dungeons of prisons; just see the labourers patiently or say apathetically while the rich vampires suck their blood; bring to mind the wastage of human energy that will make a man with a little common sense shiver in horror. Just observe rich nations throwing their surplus produce into the sea instead of distributing it among the needy and deprived. There are palaces of kings built upon the foundations laid with human bones. Let them see all this and say “All is well in God’s Kingdom.” Why so? This is my question. You are silent. All right. I proceed to my next point.

You, the Hindus, would say: Whosoever undergoes sufferings in this life, must have been a sinner in his previous birth. It is tantamount to saying that those who are oppressors now were Godly people then, in their previous births. For this reason alone they hold power in their hands. Let me say it plainly that your ancestors were shrewd people. They were always in search of petty hoaxes to play upon people and snatch from them the power of Reason. Let us analyse how much this argument carries weight!

Those who are well versed in the philosophy of Jurisprudence relate three of four justifications for the punishment that is to be inflicted upon a wrong-doer. These are: revenge, reform, and deterrence. The Retribution Theory is now condemned by all the thinkers. Deterrent theory is on the anvil for its flaws. Reformative theory is now widely accepted and considered to be necessary for human progress. It aims at reforming the culprit and converting him into a peace-loving citizen. But what in essence is God’s Punishment even if it is inflicted on a person who has really done some harm? For the sake of argument we agree for a moment that a person committed some crime in his previous birth and God punished him by changing his shape into a cow, cat, tree, or any other animal. You may enumerate the number of these variations in Godly Punishment to be at least eighty-four lack. Tell me, has this tomfoolery, perpetrated in the name of punishment, any reformative effect on human man? How many of them have you met who were donkeys in their previous births for having committed any sin? Absolutely no one of this sort! The so called theory of ‘Puranas’ (transmigration) is nothing but a fairy-tale. I do not have any intention to bring this unutterable trash under discussion. Do you really know the most cursed sin in this world is to be poor? Yes, poverty is a sin; it is a punishment! Cursed be the theoretician, jurist or legislator who proposes such measures as push man into the quagmire of more heinous sins. Did it not occur to your All Knowing God or he could learn the truth only after millions had undergone untold sufferings and hardships? What, according to your theory, is the fate of a person who, by no sin of his own, has been born into a family of low caste people? He is poor so he cannot go to a school. It is his fate to be shunned and hated by those who are born into a high caste. His ignorance, his poverty, and the contempt he receives from others will harden his heart towards society. Supposing that he commits a sin, who shall bear the consequences? God, or he, or the learned people of that society? What is your view about those punishments inflicted on the people who were deliberately kept ignorant by selfish and proud Brahmans? If by chance these poor creatures heard a few words of your sacred books, Vedas, these Brahmans poured melted lead into their ears. If they committed any sin, who was to be held responsible? Who was to bear the brunt? My dear friends, these theories have been coined by the privileged classes. They try to justify the power they have usurped and the riches they have robbed with the help of such theories. Perhaps it was the writer Upton Sinclair who wrote (Bhagat Singh is referring to Sinclair’s pamphlet ‘Profits of Religion’ – MIA transcriber) somewhere “only make a man firm believer in the immortality of soul, then rob him of all that he possesses. He will willingly help you in the process.” The dirty alliance between religious preachers and possessors of power brought the boon of prisons, gallows, knouts and above all such theories for the mankind.

I ask why your Omnipotent God does not hold a man back when he is about to commit a sin or offence. It is child’s play for God. Why did He not kill war lords? Why did He not obliterate the fury of war from their minds? In this way He could have saved humanity of many a great calamity and horror. Why does He not infuse humanistic sentiments into the minds of the Britishers so that they may willingly leave India? I ask why He does not fill the hearts of all capitalist classes with altruistic humanism that prompts them to give up personal possession of the means of production and this will free the whole labouring humanity from the shackles of money. You want to argue the practicability of Socialist theory, I leave it to your Almighty God to enforce it. Common people understand the merits of Socialist theory as far as general welfare is concerned but they oppose it under the pretext that it cannot be implemented. Let the Almighty step in and arrange things in a proper way. No more logic chopping! I tell you that the British rule is not there because God willed it but for the reason that we lack the will and courage to oppose it. Not that they are keeping us under subjugation with the consent of God, but it is with the force of guns and rifles, bombs and bullets, police and militia, and above all because of our apathy that they are successfully committing the most deplorable sin, that is, the exploitation of one nation by another. Where is God? What is He doing? Is He getting a diseased pleasure out of it? A Nero! A Genghis Khan! Down with Him!

Now another piece of manufactured logic! You ask me how I will explain the origin of this world and origin of man. Charles Darwin has tried to throw some light on this subject. Study his book. Also, have a look at Sohan Swami’s “Commonsense.” You will get a satisfactory answer. This topic is concerned with Biology and Natural History. This is a phenomenon of nature. The accidental mixture of different substances in the form of Nebulae gave birth to this earth. When? Study history to know this. The same process caused the evolution of animals and in the long run that of man. Read Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species.’ All the later progress is due to man’s constant conflict with nature and his efforts to utilise nature for his own benefit. This is the briefest sketch of this phenomenon.

Your next question will be why a child is born blind or lame even if he was not a sinner in his previous birth. This problem has been explained in a satisfactory manner by biologists as a mere biological phenomenon. According to them the whole burden rests upon the shoulders of parents whose conscious or unconscious deeds caused mutilation of the child prior to his birth.

You may thrust yet another question at me, though it is merely childish. The question is: If God does not really exist, why do people come to believe in Him? Brief and concise my answer will be. As they come to believe in ghosts, and evil spirits, so they also evolve a kind of belief in God: the only difference being that God is almost a universal phenomenon and well developed theological philosophy. However, I do disagree with radical philosophy. It attributes His origin to the ingenuity of exploiters who wanted to keep the people under their subjugation by preaching the existence of a Supreme Being; thus claimed an authority and sanction from Him for their privileged position. I do not differ on the essential point that all religions, faiths, theological philosophies, and religious creeds and all other such institutions in the long run become supporters of the tyrannical and exploiting institutions, men and classes. Rebellion against any king has always been a sin in every religion.

As regard the origin of God, my thought is that man created God in his imagination when he realized his weaknesses, limitations and shortcomings. In this way he got the courage to face all the trying circumstances and to meet all dangers that might occur in his life and also to restrain his outbursts in prosperity and affluence. God, with his whimsical laws and parental generosity was painted with variegated colours of imagination. He was used as a deterrent factor when his fury and his laws were repeatedly propagated so that man might not become a danger to society. He was the cry of the distressed soul for he was believed to stand as father and mother, sister and brother, brother and friend when in time of distress a man was left alone and helpless. He was Almighty and could do anything. The idea of God is helpful to a man in distress.

Society must fight against this belief in God as it fought against idol worship and other narrow conceptions of religion. In this way man will try to stand on his feet. Being realistic, he will have to throw his faith aside and face all adversaries with courage and valour. That is exactly my state of mind. My friends, it is not my vanity; it is my mode of thinking that has made me an atheist. I don’t think that by strengthening my belief in God and by offering prayers to Him every day, (this I consider to be the most degraded act on the part of man) I can bring improvement in my situation, nor can I further deteriorate it. I have read of many atheists facing all troubles boldly, so I am trying to stand like a man with the head high and erect to the last; even on the gallows.

Let us see how steadfast I am. One of my friends asked me to pray. When informed of my atheism, he said, “When your last days come, you will begin to believe.” I said, “No, dear sir, Never shall it happen. I consider it to be an act of degradation and demoralisation. For such petty selfish motives, I shall never pray.” Reader and friends, is it vanity? If it is, I stand for it.

Bhagat Singh Internet Archive  |  Marxism and Anti-Imperialism in India
Marxists Internet Archive

Filthy India Photos, Chinese Netizen Reactions.

Note from Fauna: The following post and collection of photographs spread on the Chinese internet in 2008.

Reflections in the midst of extreme poverty and filth 

— a record of a trip in India

India is the dirtiest country I have ever been to. I have heard people say that Pakistan, which is to the west and Bangladesh, to the east, are worse, but that is probably beyond the limits of my imagination.

In two months in India, I went from south to north, visiting some tourist towns that I had read about. I also went by train and bus to countless towns and open fields that weren’t so famous, and everywhere there were people had something in common — dirty, messy and stank. Interestingly, I also saw countless foreigners having a great time.

A holy ground covered with feces! Note: No toilet paper!

Tourists have been coming for years to the small town of Bodhgaya , the place where 2500 years ago Buddha achieved enlightenment, bringing their foreign money to the pockets of a few hotels and tourism operators, but still they live in abject poverty. The streets are lined with rubbish, wild animals squabble to find their breakfast in it. Look carefully and find wild pigs, dogs, mountain goats, and sometimes even cows, which are considered sacred, make an appearance. No wonder the locals don’t each much meat, these animals depend on trash to survive.

Cow dung is the most environmentally friendly fuel source

India is very dry, and vegetation scarce. Sometimes you’ll sweep your eyes over the horizon and only see a barren expanse. Rural villagers use firewood, but like using cow dung more. In cities and towns, sacred cows fill the streets, defecating wherever they please. Cow dung is the most eco-friendly kindling of all, and this means less trees need to be cut down. Moreover if the manure that is produced is not removed daily, a small town would probably quickly drown in it.

You often see see women collecting fresh manure, packing it together with hay using both hands, then carefully sticking it against a wall to dry. The manure largely contains grass that the sacred cows are unable to digest. For Indians, this kind of smell is natural, and tourists who have stayed awhile get used to it. In my two months in India, I learned to accept the piles of cow dung that fill the streets, and their all pervading odor. Compared with the smell of the dung of carnivores, the smell isn’t as strong. Indians have an undying reverence for their sacred cows, which makes me automatically think of people in the modern age and their frivolous materialism.

Puri is a tourist hot spot on the east coast, where heaven and hell come together. One side of town is the hotel area, with its picturesque beaches, the other side is a poor fishing village. The inhabitants’ straw huts are lonely islands in a sea of trash, and I got the feeling that it’s never taken away. The most shocking thing: every villager would defecate on the beach. It wasn’t only villagers who would take a crap on the beach, out in the suburbs you’d get used to seeing people doing it on the side of the road, and the Indian men would do it out in the open, never sneaking off to a secluded spot in the undergrowth. Everywhere from small towns to large cities would have men showing the special characteristics of their culture; even in the major city of Kolkata [Culcutta], on the most upmarket of streets, were white collar workers carrying briefcases walking past crowds of people urinating against walls.

One can’t criticise people for reliving themselves on the beach or in a field, after all this is what our ancestors had to do, all the Indians are doing is preserving a natural way of life that has continued for tens of thousands of years. This is one of the most natural parts of the way people there live, and it’s only we foreigners who make a fuss about it. It’s just that urinating on the street in a big city after all isn’t very decent, but I am sure that with the increasing pace of modernization, India’s cities will very quickly take on a new look. China’s toilet usage/habits have come a long way in the past ten years, so is there any reason that India, another ancient Eastern civilisation, can’t do the same?

I am filthy, but I am brilliant. In the ancient city of Varanasi [Benares], on the banks of the Ganges, all the sewage created by people relieving themselves on the ground in corners, and the rubbish, everything flows into that sacred river, the same water where pilgrims come from all over, brushing their teeth, washing their faces, bodies, and swimming. However, the dirty Ganges and Varanasi are India’s most beautiful place, lots of foreigners love it, staying for months at a time. I lived there for a while, living like a local, swimming in the river like one of them. The ancient town’s intense artistic spirit and religious fervour made me forget material poverty. This important part of the Indian psyche is passed down even today: the spirit is greater than physical riches.

India is indeed “dirty”, “messy” and “smelly” but I have gotten more out of it than any other place I have been. If this wasn’t the case in my two months I wouldn’t have met so many expats who return often, or never leave. As the Taiwanese dancer Lin Huaimin said, whenever he is stuck for artistic inspiration, he goes back to India.

Maybe only in the most disgusting of material surroundings, and the basest living conditions can we find the most profound spiritual enlightenment.

[Warning: This post contains graphic images.]

[Note from Fauna: Not every copy of the post includes the same captions or all of the same pictures. We have translated from the Liu Liu version of the post, which appeared later than the Tianya and Mop copies. ]

Puri, where heaven and hell come together.

Floating corpses, a common sight on the Ganges!

Here come the remains of a sacred cow!

The famous morning bathing by the Ganges, washing as if the rotting corpse floating by was nothing!

Bathing in the corpse-filled Ganges!

A corpse in the midst of the morning bathing at the Ganges, what do you think?

A rotting body on the banks of the Ganges River.

A body floating by a wharf. Gasp!

A floating rotten corpse.

The floating corpse of a sacred cow!

The body of a cow or a sheep?

Ganges River scenery.

Everywhere the floating corpses of sacred cows!

Natural clothes washing area + sun drying clothes area + cow and sheep bathing pool + excrement flowing and mixing together.

Ganges River morning bathing, how can this water be used for brushing teeth?

Bodies abandoned at the Ganges River.

A dead elderly man by the Ganges River.

A body being dragged by a boat.

Note the lower right corner. What is it? Revealed in the next photo.

Here comes the close-up!!!! Note the flies!!!!

Washing after discarding a corpse.

An old man also comes to bathe.

Girls also come to bathe.

Those on the shore bathe, while in the water floats a stinking bloated corpse.

A skeleton on the shore of the Ganges River.

A corpse floating in the Ganges River.

Let’s put the corpses-in-the-Ganges-River aside for a moment, and talk about Indians using the toilet. Have a look at the three pictures below…

These three toilet photographs represent three levels of toilets in India. Note what is common to all of them, which is that none of them have any toilet paper, but all of them have a bucket of water at arms length… yes, you’ve guessed correctly, Indians don’t use toilet paper when using the toilet, they use their hands. After defecating, you use your left hand finger to wipe the feces around your anus, and then use the water in the bucket to wash your hand. The custom is to use your left hand to wipe your butt, so when you go into a store to select food, you mustn’t use your left hand.

JY people believe, this is actually is a good habit. The first benefit is that cases of hemorrhoids are significantly lower; the second is that it can greatly save paper, good for protecting the earth’s resources and the development of green initiatives. So just by doing this, it saves a great amount of wood.

I’m not sure if I should bring out this photo…a sick elderly person, lonely standing by the Ganges River. I don’t know if he is appreciating the true meaning of life or bemoaning the helplessness of human existence…that helpless expression…that remarkable face carved by the years…is unforgettable…

Don’t look if you won’t like it…you are responsible for yourself…

Sunset, rotting corpse, rowing and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Sunset, rotting corpse, a butt facing the sky.

A rotting corpse in the Ganges at dusk.

A rotting corpse that looks like a frog.

A person more frightening than the rotting corpses and old leper! Seems to be someone who carries dead bodies professionally.

The Ganges River filled with rotting floating corpses, and people rowing boats as if nothing were the matter.

Not only do [they] wash and bathe in the Ganges River where rotting corpses float about, [they] also drink from it. My god, I can’t take it anymore!

Rotting corpse on the shore.

Wild dogs freely tearing their food off a rotting corpse.

Wild dogs tearing their food off the rotting corpse of a sacred cow.

A crow standing on a floating rotting corpse.

Corpses on the Ganges River, giving off an offensive rotting stench.

Dog. Crows. Fighting for a child’s head as food. Dog victorious.

Dog gnawing on human head.

Steps on the river shore with floating corpses. Can you tell how many rotting corpses are in the water?

An old fish catcher on the shore of the Ganges River.

The tour guide said that this kind of fish in the Ganges is called “Gulang” fish, a very nice sounding name…and it is said the flavor is very good, but upon thinking of the corpses soaking in the water, the soap from the bathing, the garbage by the river…I don’t have the courage to try it, not sure if this kind of fish will have a human flesh flavor…

This needs no introduction as many compatriots are able to eat it domestically [in China]…but a reminder, never eat an authentic one…because the chef uses his left hand to wipe his shit when using the toilet/restroom.

Here, let’s let the JY people see India’s free medical care.

A public hospital’s surgery room.

Ganges River in the early morning, bustling because of the crowds…some to wipe themselves down, some to get water, some to bathe.

Suddenly encountering some familiar faces, [I] was surprised…deeply admiring the guy who entered the water to his waist…BH [biao han, daring] to the extreme…but hope he is not our compatriot.

Flagrantly floating downstream not 500 meters at another set of steps [into the river] was a corpse. Even foreigners had taken out their cameras to snap photos. I wonder how that swimming guy just mentioned above felt…

Two photographs after going ashore…

An elderly person doing morning exercises, technical difficulty rating 3.0, far higher than the Tai-chi exercises of old men and women in [China's] parks.

Accepting a holy water baptism…valiantly emerging from the water…[his] motions toofucking carefree…

 Not enough money to buy [enough] firewood, those two feed will not be able to burn away, so it looks like they can only be discarded into the Ganges River…the people baptizing [in the Ganges], will they be so daring as to find a foot…?

 Now let’s return to this post’s main topic…the rotting corpses in the Ganges River.

 What are the dogs eating? Notice what is in the water on the left side of the image!

 Swimming and bathing even with so many rotting corpses around.

 There are a small number of middle-aged men and women squatting on the steps brushing their teeth, none of them using toothbrushes, half of them using their fingers, the other half using twigs, swallowing the water after brushing, and then cupping and drinking down a few more gulps, which happens to be in the opposite direction of people in other countries brushing their teeth and then spitting the water out.

INFO : ChinaSmack
Re-upload by : Me