Industrial revolution

Chapter 18

"Industrialization is, I am afraid, going to be a curse for mankind.... God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the West. The economic imperialism of a single time island kingdom is today keeping the world in chains. If an entire nation of 300 millions took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts.... Industrialization on a mass scale will necessarily lead to passive or active exploitation of the villagers.... The machine produces much too fast." -Mahatma Gandhi

This quote from chapter 18 stood out to me. The industrial revolution has lead to the disintegration of culture.  The more ahead you are in society regarding to technology, or things that make you more advanced than other societies when it comes to doing things easier or in a less amount of time you are given power to how advanced you are. Power such as Great Britain which started out as small but grew and grew until it almost dominated the entire world.

Chapter 14 Columbus and the world before

Columbus and the World before...
After reading Chapter 14 or Ways of the World, it painted a picture in my mind of how it must have been seeing Christopher Columbus for the first time, inspecting the homeland. To see someone more civilized, someone dressed, seeing guns for the first time, tasting alcohol for the first time, hearing a different language for the first time.
I remember traveling to Italy for the first time, not knowing the language and also trying to make my way around. It was difficult! A simple smile was our way of communicating-- if you were open to smiles, this worked magic.. but it you were closed off and bitter, there was NO type of communication exchanged. I can only imagine the people from the mainland to be welcoming, with open arms and smiles. I believe the society that was here before us, was a laid back, simple society. A society that was giving and humble. The Europeans had a few things in mind, and non of those things consisted of giving or being humble. Maybe the Europeans should have learned more from the Native Americans.
This link between the Americas and Europe opened so many new things such as food, people, ways of living, views of life, morals and not to mention diseases. Small pox, measles, Typhus, influenza, malaria and yellow Fever... In many cases, up to 90% of the Native American population died within 50 years of Columbus' arrival.
Back when I was in Elementary School and every year around Thanksgiving time, the teachers would make such a big deal about Christopher Columbus and how he was such a hero and looked at as someone of high stature. They left out the part how he enslaved the native americans or killed them off with the diseases the Europeans carried. This idea of slavery always makes me question weather power over things, greediness and selfishness are just natural qualities. I say this because these traits are possessed in animals as well. The difference between us humans and animals, besides the obvious is that us humans have the power to communicate and understand right from wrong.

Road of lost innocence

When I read the Road of Lost Innocence by Somali Mam It opened my eyes on how inhumane some people are. The part that stood out to me most was going to the extent of punishment with electric shocking. It baffles me how some think having sex with a virgin will help them  with diseases.  This book really made me realize what these girls go through and how hard they have life. I never was aware of human trafficking and sex slavery before reading this book. It made me want to be a little more involved. Somali Mam really inspired me by having the courage to share her story with  millions of people and also making other people aware of this issue. 

Goals For My Generation

In class question "What are your goals for your generation?"

A few goals for my generation would began with complete equality meaning same sex marriages.  In order to make it legal we need to have people become open minded and have acceptance that same sex marriages are not harmful as people believe it to be. Also mention in class we talked about education and making it more available to those who many not be able to finacially afford it. I believe this is also related to the economic problems we face everyday that seem to get worse.  It seems that we need to somehow start fresh and get back on track.  Then education can be made available to others.

Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Accelerating Global Interaction

"globalization"refers to international economic transactions and has to seem inevitable. 
After WWII, the capital winner were determined not to repeat the great depression.
In 1970 major capitalist countries dropped many controls on economic activity; this approach was know as neoliberalism.  It was imposed on many poor countries as a condition for giving them loans.
Global economic transactions quickened dramatically afer WWII and the world trade skyrocketed.  Money became high mobile globally.
Globalization helped generate the greatest economic growth spurt in world history.  Life expectancies rose, infant mortality declined, literacy rates increased and resulted in a great decline in poverty.
Growing economic led to inequality within individual states both rich and poor and eventually the growing movement agains globalization emerged in the 1990's involving both rich and poor countries. 
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war left the US without any equivalent power in opposition.   The US faced growing international economic competition since 1975.  The global exercise of American power has also caused controversy within the US.  The US invasion of Iraq provoked similar protests and controversies.
Feminism revived in the West in the 1960's with a new agenda.  Women had been wlecomed in communist and revolutionary movements in the South.  Many African feminists' interest in cultural matters.  Not all women's movements deal explicitly with gender.
Modernity presented a challenge to the world's religions. "Advanced" thinkers of the 18 century  believed that supernatural religion was headed for extinction.  There was a sharp decline in religious belif and practice in some places. The spread of scientific culture convinced small minorities that the only realities worth considering were those that could be measured scientifically.
"Fundamentalism" is a major reaction against modernization and globalization. Many features of the modern world appear threatening to establish religion.  Fundamentalists hae responded with selective rejection of modernity.
Religious Alternatives to fundamentalism are considerable debated within the Islamic world.  The global environment transformed from 3 factors that have magnified the human impact on the earth.   A world population quadrupled in teh 20 century, massive use of fossile fuels, and enormous economic growth. Human evnironmental disruptions are now of global proportions. Environmentalism began in the 19 century as a response to the industrial revolution.  It only became a global phenomenon  in the 20 century.  It took root in developing countries in 1970's and had shapr conflicts between the Global North and South.  Global environmentalism has come to symbolize focus on the plight of all humankind

Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Independence and Development in the Global South

After African independence many empires began to fall in the 20th century.  The Austrian and Ottoman empires collapsed in the wake of WWI. Russian, German and Japanese empires also ended with WWII.
Freedom struggle in India began with British rule that promoted a growing sens of Indian identity. Unlike earlier foreign rulers the British did not assimilate.  Indians shared more similarities to each other than to the rulers.   Mohandas Gandhi became a leader of the Indian National Congress (INC).  Many peope did not agree with Gandhi especially when the growing of Muslim/Hindu religions divided. Unforunately, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu extremist.
South Africa gained their independence from Great Britin in 1910, however, its government was conrolled by a white settler minority. Eventually South Africa had a mature industrial economy, but black South Africans were extremely dependen on the white -controlled economy.   The issue of race was prominent.  The policy of apartheid trid to keep blacks and whites completely separate, whileretaining black labor.  Underground nationalist leaders turned to sabatage and assassination organizations of strikes and violence broke out.
African and Indian nations congronted all efforts to establish political order such as population growth, high expectations for independence, and cultural diversity.  In India democracy succeeded and the independence movement  was more extended.  Many more Indians than Africans had technical skill at the time of independence. The widespread of economic disappointment discredited early African Democracies. However, the well-educated elite benefited the most.  They obtained high paying bureaucratic jobs that caused resentment in ethnic conflict.
In economic development they believed that poverty isn't inevitable. General expectation in the developing world that most private economies were weakly developed, but for several decades ther has been growing dependence on market forces for economic development. An important issue arised with urban vs. rural development.  Economic development varied widely by region with East Asia being the most successful.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Collapse and Recover of Europe (1914-1970)

By 1900 Europeans controlled most of the world. Modernization and Europe's rise to global ascendancy sharpened traditional rivalries. By 1900 the balace of power in Europe was shaped into two rival alliances. The triple alliance with Germany, Austria, and Italy; the Triple Entente with Russia, France, and Britian.  These alliances turned a minor incident into WW1. War broke out by 1914 from the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne.  Popular nationalism, industrialized militarism, and Europe's colonial empires contributed to the outvreak and character of the war. Most expected WW1 to be a quick war instead it became a war of attrition "trench warfare" and a "total war".  The war left widespread disillusionment amond intellectuals in its wake leading to questions of enlightenment values.  The war led to the rearrangement of the map of Central Europe and triggered the Russian Bolshevik revolution in 1917.  The Treaty of Versailles made the conditions that caused WWII and the US appeared as a global power.
The war loosened the hold of many traditional values in Europe.  The Great Depression represented the most influential postwar change. Europe's economy was failing and there were concerns about industrial capitalism.  The great depression hit in 1929 and caused the American economy to boom. Speculative stock market had driven stocl prices up. when the stock market crashed the whole economy collapsed.
The great depression became a worldwide problem.  The New Deal in the United States was administrated by Franklin Roosevelt.  The deal did not work well, the US economy only imporved the massive government spending beecause of WWII. However, Nazi Germany and Japan coped the best with the depression. 
WWII was more global that WWI. The outcomes of global conflict estimated 60 millino deaths in WWI. Governments' mobilization of economies, people and propaganda reached further than ever before.  The Holocaust had killed 6 million Jews in genocide. WWII left Europ impoverished, and millions of people homeless or displaced. WWII consolidated and expanded the communist world. It also led to the new dominance of the US as a global superpower.
Europe recoverd; they rebuilt industrial economies and revived democratic systems. The US took the initiative to rebuild Europe.