Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

The Collapse of Communism

Communism has been going on since 1917 to 1991. It took awhile for it to realize that type of government just can't work, and Russia and the Eastern Europe were ready for Democracy and change. They all knew that it will fail and that's how it collapsed. They also tore down the Berlin wall as the sign of the collapse of Communism. They wanted Europe to unite again. It took awhile for them to change, because after they banned Communism, they didn't know what to do after. They didn't know how to switch to Democracy. It changed the world, because we are all now working on Peace around the world, so we can avoid war and such. Even though there's still some Communism government in some countries, like North Korea and Cuba. 

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Nelson Mandela fought for his country's freedom, its racism, and apartheid. Apartheid is a racial-segregation policy in South Africa back then. That policy included everyone. But the white minority get the full citizenship and not the majority of the people in South Africa. For example the Blacks, colored, Indian, and even Asian. Many of them were restricted to vote during elections. The term Apartheid came from the 1930's in South Africa, by the South African Bureau for Racial Affairs. It was a policy that caused separation developments for the races. To me I think it's called Apartheid because the word "Apart" is to keep races apart and all their rights from the higher race, which is the whites, but they're the minority in South Africa. Even if there was more blacks, colored (mixed), Indians, and Asians, the whites get more privileges. Everyone thought it was unfair, and not just that, but according to the whites, the "minorities", were treated wrong. South Africa was full of Racism and Racial segregation.

Nelson Mandela was a hero, because he fought his way for independence. Not just his independence and rights, but also for his people. He no longer wants to follow the un-just system of government. He was imprisoned for 27 years and after that, he became the president of South Africa. He destroyed the corrupt system of the government. He fought for change and still even after all the racism that followed before, South Africa is still in healing.

African Independence

During the years, the African people didn't have their own independence. Africa was taken over by many European countries. They were trying to convert them to their religion or either how they act also.  They were also trying to change their society. Some Europeans were cruel and they turned them to slaves. Most of them at least. After World War II, many countries were seeking for independence in their countries, but also the European countries were ready to transfer to government to the government people. 

It took a while for African and its countries to gain independence by European rule. Of course, Ethiopia became its own country. It was the only country in Africa that was not under European rule. There was this Negritude Movement, where Africans around the world, celebrate their own culture, heritage, and values. Kwame Nkrumah was one of the non-violent protests leaders. Jomo Kenyatta, Mau Mau, Zaire Again, were one of the strong leaders that helped gained their African country gain independence. 

Film Lesson:"The Right Stuff"

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

NATO represents The North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They're also known as the North Atlantic alliance. The organization was about agreeing to have mutual defense in case there was an attack or any party. The countries in the United States and Europe get involved. Their goal was "to keep the Russian out, the Americans in, and the Germans down". North America basically formed this group, because they want to prevent Communism being spread.

Film Lesson: " Schindler's List"

The movie "Schindlers list" illustrated the Holocaust more detailed than the other movie that we watched in class. I thought both movies were very powerful. It was shocking and scary seeing those actually happened to the Jews though. It was cruel and brutal. It was that cruel, that I got myself asking why would they blame the minorities for their problems and just kill all of them. Does that make any sense and very unfair. It shows how the world can be evil. Seeing the liquidation of the Ghettos was really heart-breaking. A lot of Jewish families would be in a small apartment with probably 6 or 7 other Jewish families. It was very crowded, since the Nazis just put all of them in. Many Jews were very wealthy, and the Nazis took it away from them. Later on, they were just capturing all of the Jews that they saw and found to round them up to go to the concentration or labor camps. People who hid, got either killed or caught. But most likely killed. Many were really desperate to hide from them, that they would hide in floors, sewers, walls, or they would make their own secret passage way.

Other events that was more heart-breaking, was when they were taken to Auschwitz or other death camps, and they're being separated from their families, and never to been seen again. But there are a couple of small amount of survivors who were lucky to re-connect with a few of their family members. I guess evaluating on which movie was more powerful, it would be "Schindler's list", because in the movie, it showed the meaning of things. Like the girl in the red-coat, also it showed how A Nazi officer, Oskar Schindler, who saved 1200 Jews through his labor camps. It really takes a brave man to save Jews, especially that during that time of the war were you can get hated or killed for. Night and Fog was good too, but it mostly showed how Hitler invaded Europe and what he did to the Jews and the other minorities, and showed the camps that they were put it and what they would do to them.

Film Lesson: " Night and Fog "

In class, since we're doing World War II now, we are learning about the Holocaust, because it was a big part of the war in Europe. It was a devastating thing that happened. Many people died because of their race. Mainly, because they were Jews.  But also many minorities were killed, like Gypsies, prisoners of war, the disabled or ill, homosexuals, and etc. It was the biggest genocide in the world. The movie "Night and Fog" is about a documentary about the  Holocaust and what happened in the concentration camps and the life living there. They had images of the inmates and all the cruel things they've used to kill the Jews and other races that Hitler thought they were 'Superior' of. The Nazis would torture them or just kill them just for fun. In the movie, they showed footage and they talked about how they would experiment them on what humans can handle. When I saw this movie, I was horrified and disgusted that Hitler and Nazis would kill innocent people because of their race and supposedly, the Nazis were just following orders. But not only that, but also on how they put these people in pain. Also for the past few days, we also watched another Holocaust film. It was called " The Schindlers List ". But that movie was a Hollywood movie, and they re-in acted the events that really happened to people during that time. So when they shot Night and Fog, it was 10 years after the war and the people were in the camp were liberated. This documentary did move me in some way, but Schindlers list moved me more because it was about how a Nazi saved 1100 Jews because they put them in labor. I think this whole Holocaust event moved me in a way that racism and war can turn people evil. 

Treaty of Versailles (ended WW1)

World War I caused a lot of European country's damages. But the one who lost in the war paid the prices for all the damages . The Triple Entente, which is the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and also the United states won the war, and the Central Power, which is Germany, Austria, and Italy lost the war. Since Germany signed Treaty of Versailles, they paid most of the damage of their country and other countries that they've destroyed. They also lost their colonies in other countries, like Africa. Their economy was ruined and all this led Germany to depression.

Then a man, named Adolf Hitler, was one of the Germans who were really upset about their losses. He was Austrian- born, but raised as a German. He became a great politician and also became a leader of the Nazi Party. And soon enough, he became the Chancellor of Germany. The treaty of Versailles also got them furious, because there was many unfair rules of the treaty, but other people think they deserved it. But I think, there's a lot of good and bad sides of the war, because everyone chooses to kill people. But it depends of the measures you take.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is a Turkish Muslim. He was mostly involved in religion and politics. Mustafa Kemal wanted to modernized the religion, Islam in Turkey. Mustafa didn't want to wear the traditional stuff that Muslims wore in the Middle East. He believed that religion is religion, you don't have to wear a specific thing. He felt that since they're in Europe, they wanted themselves to blend in the European style. Like he wanted them to wear such things, like jackets, hats, shoes, pants, and etc. that Europeans wore at that time, since Turkey is part of Europe. 

Europe back then became secular, and some people wanted to keep the traditional clothing in their religion, Islam. But Mustafa Kemal thought that secular clothing shouldn't get in the way of religion. 

Film Lesson " Gandhi "

For the past few days, we've been watching clips from the movie "Gandhi". Gandhi was an Indian man, who helped his country win its independence from the British. But to him, in order to win their independence, was all about gaining it with non-violent actions. He was one of the spiritual and political leaders of India. He was a very kind-hearted man. Though in this kind of situations, many people would take violent actions, but Gandhi didn't he believed in that but peace and taking non-violent actions.

Basically this whole Indian Independence movement started because India was controlled by the British, since they were part of the British Colonies. They were okay with it first, but things changed and the Indian people didn't like their ways and the way things were. They were also treated terrible, and got taxed more than they should be. Like any other countries, they wanted to be a free country.

The actions he took was very light and wise. He took his protesting to the next level, by not fighting back if the British Officers or officers who hurt them. Though, there was this one time when they had a massacre and killed almost 1400 people. Another event that they protested was the Salt March. They didn't want to pay any taxes for the salt. The Indians refused to pay, so they instead marched peacefully. After trying for many years of doing things peacefully without any violence, and it finally worked. The Prime Minister of Great Britain declared independence for the country India.

The Russian Revolution.

Like our American Revolution, Russia also had their own revolution except they had more of their own people involved, and many people were killed. The people that were involve in this revolution was the Czar, but after he died, he was replaced by the Provisional government. They were going against the Bolshevik, known as the Communist Party, and they also became the new government of Russia, since the other government lost in the Russian revolution.

The Russians had these revolution because the Communist wanted to take over Russia and its government. They believed that they should be one government where everything is fair and everyone gets the same amount of rewards of money. The idea came from Karl Marx, also he made the idea of socialism. From there VLadimir Lenin, became the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. After he died, he passed the Bolshevik Revolution leader to Joseph Stalin. They had this motto " Peace, land, and Bread " and it meant the majority. It basically expressed the idea of the Bolsheviks. 

Causes of WWI.

World War I occurred during 1914-18. It was a violent war between many European countries, like Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Scots, and more, and also got the United States involved. There were many causes of this war. Mainly because of Imperialism, Nationalism, Militarism, and the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the collapse of the alliance.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in June 1914 by the Serbian black hand. Austria- Hungary's people's reaction to the death of their emperor were outrageous and they basically blamed the Serbians. That's how the Russians got involved. The Germany allied Austria- Hungary and declared war on Russia. France allied with the Russians and soon, Great Britain also joined them. They were called the Triple Entente. The Germans, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were called the Triple Alliance.

Also, another cause of the war is nationalism and militarism. Most people had many pride in their countries. They believed that they're the best nation out there and they see the other nations negatively. Same with Militarism, they believed that the government or the people of that country should have a strong military. It also came from the Imperialism.