Accelerating Global Interaction 3

This section of the chapter focused more on world population growth as well as the global environment. There were three factors that greatly influenced the environmental changes. One factor was the explosion of human numbers, an unprecedented quadrupling of the worlds population in a single century. Another was the ever growing use of our fossil fuels such as coal and oil. The third factor is the rapid growth of our economy. The production of goods has been quickly increasing which means more energy is being used as well. These three factors were the foundation of the environmental change we are still facing today.
     Environmentalism was an effort to better our environment. It began in the nineteenth century when Romantic poets stated that the industrials, "dark satanic mills" were threatening our green and pleasant land. The second wave began in the West with a publication of a book. This book showed how bad our environment is becoming and inspired many people. By the early 1990's, almost 14 million Americans had joined environmental groups that aimed much of their effort at lobbying political parties and businesses. The trend soon spread worldwide. Soon the German environmental movement arose with the Green Party. It then spread farther east to India, the Philipines and Austrailia.

Accelerating Global Interaction Pt 2

This part of the chapter focused a lot on fundamentalism and religious alternatives to fundamentalism. Fundamentalism can be said to be a militant piety- defensive, assertive, and exclusive-that took shape to some extent in every major religious tradition. It represented a religious response, characterized by one scholar as "embattled forms of spirituality". The term started in the US where religious conservatives in the early 20th century were unhappy with the critical and scientific approaches to the bible.
   Fundamentalism wasn't the only religious response to modernity and globalization in the Islamic world. The many people who were concerned about the ways of fundamentalism have established their own political structures. Believers found various ways of responding to global modernity. Liberal and mainstream Christian groups spoke about the ethical issues arising. Fundamentalism seemed to really stir up a religious debate.

Accelerating Global Interaction 1

Accelerating Global Interaction talked a lot about globalization and reglobalization in the world’s economy. People mostly refer to globalization as the economic transactions that took place in the second part of the 20th century. In the 1970’s, major capitalist countries such as U.S. and Great Britain started seeing the world as one big,open market. During reglobalization world trade skyrocketed as department stores and supermarkets started to stock their shelves with merchandise. London marketed 120 blends of tea in over 100 countries and Australian kiwi shoe polish sold in 180. U.S. and Britain started investing in foreign factories to maximize its profit. Globalization started our world’s economic boom.

The maps on page 729 are a great example of why some countries boomed economically and why others were left behind. U.S., China and India had an incredible population which led them to their economic success. China was populated with 1,290 million people which is the main reason for the large number of factories. China was U.S. main go to country for factory investments. Another map shows the economic development in the world. Even though China boomed with population, their per capita income was under $2000. With all the factories, there left room for a lot of cheap labor. Where in the U.S. the per capita income was over $20,000. 

Gandhi vs King Jr

The two quotes I found to compare Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. both speak of non-violent actions. Martin Luther King stated, "At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.", and Gandhi stated, "A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident." These quotes both insinuate that things are possible and can be accomplished in a non violent manner. King's statement means that someone fighting for a cause or movement peacefully, is sensitive to the cause. The desire for their cause comes from the heart, not out of anger and passion. Gandhi's quote means that a weak man may do the right thing by accident, but a strong non violent man always does right and only does wrong by accident. In other words, a good man chooses the right path for a cause where a weak just man is to weak to know the right path. I believe King was inspired by Gandhi in using his peaceful ways. Gandhi fought for his country to be equal and not hate each other based on race where King fought for people not to hate each other based on race. Both sensitive subjects, so they proceeded with caution by using peaceful ways.

Chapter 23

This chapter started off with a very strong introduction about Nelson Mandela. It spoke of his time in jail and his quick accomplishments he made after being released. He was a strong man and one to be remembered in history. His strength led to African freedom against Europeans and mobilized millions of people to take role in political activity and warfare. Decolonization promised national freedom, personal dignity, abundance, and opportunity.
   Freedom was also a problem for India, they had a "freedom struggle" just as South Africa did. Though it took a while, India was one of the first colonies to gain freedom where South Africa was one of the last.  India's most important political expression of an all- Indian identity started in the INC, established in 1885. Its only members were English speaking Indians such as lawyers, journalists, teachers and business men. The INC was an elite organization but still struggled to gain mass among India's vast peasant population. Gandhi stepped into the picture and quickly rose within the leadership ranks of INC. In the 1920's and 30's he tried his approach in periodic mass campaigns that brought support from all over. Gandhi was a political power like no one had ever seen before, he didn't want social revolution but the moral transformation of individuals. He was a peacekeeper and a new face for India. After great non-violent struggle, India finally gained its independence in 1947 as 2 countries, one Muslim Pakistan and a Hindu India. This divide was very destructive, over 1 million Indians were killed.
     South Africa's struggle for freedom was very different to India's. South Africa has been independent since 1910 but the freedom was only granted to the white population which was less than 20%. During the Boer War, South Africans had already sought independence from the Afrikaners but failed. Different from India, South Africa had a well developed industrial economy. White Africans owed factories, plants and farms while Africans worked for  them. Just as India did, South Africans developed their own leadership, the ANC. It started off as professional African men but then branched out to a younger generation. The ANC lead the freedom struggle with Nelson Mandela as their fearless leader. As India did, South Africa eventually won their freedom and their country split into two. The split wasn't over religion like India, it was over things such as race, ethnicity and ideology. The Africans finally had their home.

The Rise and Fall of World Communism Pt 2

Communist expansion into China, Korea and Vietnam led to the Cold War's most destructive and prolonged "hot wars". Both Korea and Vietnam started to turn against its own country to split into two. Thats why today we have not just Korea, but North Korea and South Korea. To save Vietnam, US troops  intervened and hoped to stop a communist victory. In the end, Vietnam united their country under communist control by 1975. Our efforts had failed.
     The United States started to emerge as the "superpower of the west" from 1945-1975. WWII and the Cold War gave the US a chance to take over what had been Britain's previous role. The United States was shipping off it's soldiers to various countries around the world. By 1970, the US had more than 1,000,000 soldiers in 30 different countries, was a member of four regional defense alliances and an active participant in a fifth and much more. Along with United State's dominating military, political, economical power, their popular culture was expanding rapidly. American rock and roll was becoming a big hit. By the 1990's, American movies took about 70 percent of the markets in Europe and there were 20,000 McDonald's restaurants in 100 countries. Brand names such as Kleenex, Coco Cola, Jeep, Spam, Nike and Kodak started being used worldwide as well as words like "groovy", "crazy" and "cool".

The Rise and Fall of World Communism Pt 1

In this chapter I learned that in the past, Communism was a world wide thing. Communist regimes came to power almost everywhere during war, revolutions and other struggles. During the past two decades of the twentieth century communism has collapsed almost everywhere except China and the Soviet Union. Other than Russia and China, communism also traveled to Eastern Europe.
     In Russia, the communists came to power within a single year in 1917. There was one historic event thats opened the door to a huge social upheaval. Soldiers were seeking to end a terrible war or even go a wall. New trade unions arose to defend workers' interests and some workers even tried to gain control. During the civil war the Bolsheviks had harshly regimented the economy by seizing grain from angry peasants, suppressed nationalist rebellions, and perpetrated bloody atrocities.
     When China was under the rule of Mao Zedong many achievements, tragedies and limitations were made. Production in steel, coal, fertilizer and cement increased by large amounts. Along with the increase in production 17 million urban youth were sent to work in the fields and average life expectancy from 35-65 years. 20 million died during the Great Leap forward, 500,000 deaths during the Cultural Revolution and between 1 and 3 million counterrevolutionaries were killed. Mao's rule was both positive and negative but I don't think industry was worth all those lives.