5/24 Terrorism

The Clash of Civilizations
On May 24th, we talked about other countries and their resentment of Western Civilization and culture. The reality is that they resent the economic equality, the gap.
We also discussed Osama Bin Laden's reasons for attacking us. One main reason was that he saw his people as victims.
The government of Saudi Arabia was not using Islamic law and couldn't keep out Americans. The Muslims bought weapons from us, so it was as though we were assisting the enemy.
The Muslim response was violence and resistance. They resented the US and the gap, but they didn't mention anything about American culture itslef or specific incidents that the US did to victimize them.
We then discussed a primary source about 9/11 and preparations the hijackers should be taking.

Sorry, this is late, its in by the last day of school.
Alix

05/30/07 - World History in a Long View

This is the last blog post ever! First, we continued our discussion of "Energy, Resources, and the Twentieth Century." We talked about how the 20th century was a period of Great Transformation; economies grew faster, energy use increased, and human activity had a greater and more complex impact on the environment. Also, the world's core shifted from Western Europe to the U.S., and perhaps the core will shift back to Asia in the 21st century. Then we turned to the day's class topic, which was "World History in a Long View." There are two challenges when trying to consider 800 years of history: how can we make sense of a class that covers such a long period of time? and how can we explain the creation of the modern world without being eurocentric? We made note of the four contingencies in world history: China's decision to end its ocean voyages, Europeans reaching the New World, Spain's failed attempt at an empire, and Britain's industrialization. We also talked about globalization and when it started. It is important to consider world history from a smaller perspective as well as considering the whole world at one time. We have to realize that, despite having broken out of the biological old regime, humans still have to live within the limits of the natural world.

Tues May 29

the last presentation!!!

on tuesday, we discussed ways in which to organize our final essays. We discussed the four contingencies which influenced the west's rise to power. We also talked about how the Industrial Revolution was the threshold for the shift in power. We then talked about globalization and how essentially, the process has been going on since the beginning of humanity itself. Going deeper into how to organize our essays, we discussed two good ways in which to organize the essays: chronologically and geographically.

Summary for May 23

Today in class, we started by discussing the growing gap between the world's richest and poorest countries. The rate at which the gap is growing is amazing. We then discussed the intriguing border state of Andorra, and how in its isolated location, Andorra thrived as a hot spot for smuggling goods between Spain and France. We then began a detailed analysis of the clash of civilizations and terrorism in the world today. We talked about Osama bin Laden, Muslims and their enemies, etc. We studied the nature of Osama bin Laden's opposition. We then read a primary source that was the actual instructions distributed to the 9/11 hijackers to read the night before they carried out their plan.

Steve

Competing Visions of the World: Consumerism and Productionism

The Cold War- Chilly, no direct fighting between the US and USSR. A "proxy war". MAD: Mutually Assured Destructions. An direct attack by either country would result in the end of both. Fascinating.

The U.N.- Founded in '45. Situated in midtown. Mediates between countries. Designed to be a forum for all countries to have an equal voice. UN security council develops, featuring the US, China and three other beefy countries. The countries on this council had the right of a veto against anything passed in the UN. Riveting.

Marshal Plan- US provided economically battered Europe with massive amounts of money, for which they were reimbursed when European countries used this money to buy vast quantities of American goods. Enthralling.

Soviet Productionism- Not Marxist, for there was no grand uprising of the proletariat. Basic necessities of life were seen to- health care, school, food, house, boxy car. Unless you were a high official in the government, you basically lived the same life as everyone else in town. Captivating.

China- Mao Zedong. He was the Dong, avid swimmer. Leader (Chancellor? Prime Minister?) of China. Implemented the Great Leap Forward. Famine and death ensued. Lots of bad steel was produced. Enrapturing.


Sorry this is so amazingly late.

TRF.

5/16

today in class we started off by talking about Islamism whcih was a political system that was based on Islam. some of the reasons of growth were because of the rejection of western ideologies, failures of Arab nationalism, and it was believed that islamism was a solution for some of the problems in the middle east there were two types of islamism, there were the reformist and then there were the revoultionary/extreemists the reformists tried to work within the existing system while the extreemists tried to do it in a not peacefull way, through violence or terrorism.
We also discussed Iran and the oil system in iran, in 1951 Muhammed Mossadeh tried to Nationalize the oil and make the govt become the organizers and buyers/sellers, this Iran was the first Middle Eastern state to do this. In 1953 the CIA sponsered a Coup (d'état) which was a change in govt to overthrow the state. in 1970 there was a Iranian revoultion lead by Ayatollah Ruhollah knomeini.

4/24

today in class we discussed the Anti-European stntiment which had widespread calls for "home rule" in India, Vietnam, and Indonesia (dutcheast indies) there were some religious revivals, Japanese success and the carnage of WWI played a factor in it to. there was a big spread of wester political ideologies and education, and a disparity between the europeanans and the reality of the situation. There were a lot of carismatic leaders such as, Ghandi, Muhammed Ali Hunnah and Nehru, Achmed Sucamo, HoChi Minh, there were a lot of leaders of this sort because people liked having leaders and order.
There was nationalism in South Asia were Satyagraha-- resisting without violence, was promoted. Ghandi was 'thumbs up' towards the west but he promoted passive resistance, the willingness to suffer to protest what is wrong (for a greater injustice NOT yourself).
in 1930 there was a salt march because of the salt tax, people needed salt to survive.
Jawahar al nehru promoted western soceity and was westernly educated but a part of the indian national congress
In vietnam there was a french colonization because of WWI, 90,000 vitanamese soldiers were used Nguyen That Hoc was a crazy revoultionary radical leader, he was a school teacher and believed that everyone had the right to resist in terms of nationalism. The french resisted ALL requests therefore the Vietnamese national party was formed.

Late post: What we did in history class the 23 May

Sorry this is a bit late.
In class we talked about free trade. We first talked about what the economy was like in the 1990s, and going over the reading from Marks. We discussed for a few minutes the introduction to our reading in the Human Record about the new Capitlaist organizations and the corporations. Then we talked about the primary source of Ralph Nader against the corporations and the evils of free trade. Or, to state it bluntly, Ralph Nader looked at free trade from the international point of view and the third world's view. We discussed the risks, the "race to the bottom" (corporations moving their business to places where they had to abide by minmal environmental restrictions that would set them back in the least amount possible, and where the workers are willing to work for rock bottom wages), the environmental consequences, and a more beneficial alternative: long term development and benefit, not short term development and quick profit benefit.
That's all

5/22/07 - Global Free Trade

To recap from last week, over-investment and speculation in Asia led to an unbalanced growth. Due to a great deal of investment in industries, Asian countries did not produce enough goods and food for their own country. Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia (“Dragons” or “Tigers”) produce goods cheaply and sell them all over the world. When the Thailand economy crashes, the other “Tiger” or “Dragon” economies crash, too. In the 1400s, East Asia was economically the most important, but in the 1830s, it begins to lose its importance.
In the 1990s, a true global economy emerged and individual states were not able or permitted to control the global economy. Free trade causes world-wide environmental problems, such as pollution, which workers are exposed to and from which they have become sick. Free trade among the North American countries was protected by NAFTA. It is difficult for one country to control a company when there are locations around the world, such as multi-national corporations and international organizations.
Ralph Nader, promoter of consumer rights and environmentalism, wrote Free Trade and the Decline of Democracy. In his book, he argues against free trade and discusses the risks of, consequences of, and alternatives to free trade. Nader provides the alternative to free trade which is to establish smaller, local, and sustainable companies. Nader wrote this piece from an international perspective. He is concerned about the health deficiencies of workers and consumer countries.
Globaphobia. Confronting Fears about Open Trade is a source that supports free trade. Consumer gains and a decrease in prices allow people to buy more things. Companies and consumers benefit from free trade, but unskilled workers do not benefit because they are forced to accept small pay reductions. Free trade is just benefiting the U.S., Mexico, and Canada that are protected by free trade treatises.

5/14--Sorry this is so late, guys--SBV

Today we learned about the development of the Third World. After WWII, the world became divided into three "worlds": the First World, referred to capitalist states like the US, and Western Europe. The Second World referred to communist states, including all places under the influence of the USSR. And the Third World consisted of former colonies and states with dependent economies who are neither capitalist nor communist. These "worlds" were linked by several treaties and military alliances such as NATO, the Warsaw Pact, CENTRO, SEATO, and NAM.
The Third World was linked by its poor economic situation and large population base. These countries needed to "develop" their economies and therefore focused on agriculture in order to provide food for everyone. However, overproduction of agriculture made the countries poorer because of the consequent decrease in the price of food. In an effort to industrialize, many of these countries set up plants in low wage areas, bringing international investments, and increasing consumer demand for cheap goods.
During the Cold War, the global demand for oil reached an all time high. Countries with natural oil reserves joined to form OPEC in 1960, and raised the barrel price of oil in 1973 from $3 to $10. The leader of the OPEC countries benefited from the raise in prices, but they did not use that money to help thier people. Instead they invested the oil money in US and British banks and real estate markets.