SJS 8 - The Difficult Road to Peace in Colombia

Source: Posada-Carbo, Eduardo. “The Difficult Road to Peace in Colombia.” Current History, vol. 116, no. 787, Feb. 2017, pp. 74-76.

Author Credentials: Eduardo Posado-Carbo is a professor of history and politics of Latin America at the Latin America Centre of Oxford. He trained in law at the Javeriana University in Bogotá, worked at the Asociación Nacional de Industriales, and edited a newspaper in Colombia all before he was a professor. He has completed an MPhil in Latin America Studies at St. Anthony College and then a DPhil in Modern History at Oxford. In addition to this, he has been published several times in academic journals. His wide range of research topics and accomplishments in Latin America makes him very qualified to write about peace in Colombia. In this article, he seems slightly biased towards the people's want for peace while still thoroughly presenting all of the important facts of the issue.

Summary: This article addresses an international question and concern as to why Colombians rejected a peace accord in a plebiscite when they have consistently shown that the majority favors peace. After decades of on and off guerrilla wars, the government and the Colombian rebel group (FARC) finally reached a tentative peace agreement. Soon after this, when the decision between continuing conflict and a sustainable peace was offered to the citizens, it was more than a simple choice between peace and war. Many citizens wanted peace but were not willing to sacrifice justice for it. The abstentionism due to many people leaving the country and short notice also contributed to this unexpected result. The president, Juan Manuel Santos, met with the opposition group to make changes to the peace accord and decided to implement it directly through the Congress to avoid the prospect of the FARC returning to arms. The peace process has now moved into its final stages with the start of transitioning former guerrillas to civilian life and the implementation of the peace accord into law. Attention is now focused on the 2018 election which will likely determine the future of Colombian peace.

Analysis: The author id a reliable and qualified source because of his previous qualifications and accomplishments concerning the study of Latin America. In this article, he seems slightly biased towards the people's want for peace while still thoroughly presenting all of the important facts of the issue. He also frequently distinguishes between fact and opinion. As this is a relatively current event, he includes opinions by bringing up opinion polls and surveys that the people in Colombia have done and their perspectives. However, he also addresses the other perspective in a question and answer type layout.

SJS6: Muhhamad Ali Jinnah

Source- Muhhamad Ali Jinnah." MuhhamadAli Jinnah. Google Scholar. Excerpt originally  published in Muhammad Khan Corporation 

Author credentials- this was written about Muhhamad Ali Jinnah and all of the accomplishments he has accomplished. This is an exerpt from a larger collection of books about his life and his acoomplishments. 

Summary- Muhhamad Ali Jinnah was a Pakistan activist. He served as a leader of the Muslim League and Pakistan's first governer. He had many accomplishments including, exposing Hinduism, joining the Indian National Congress, leading the Muslim League, and founding Pakistan. This source explained his life, and his accomplishments. 

Analysis- This source wasn't biased, it explaind his good and bad qualities. The author could've put more in depth analysis into his life and why he made the choices he did. Overall, the author knew what he/she was talking about but could've went more in depth in the information. 

PDP6- Hind Swaraj

Author credentials- Mohamdas Ghandi was an Indian activist. He was the father of modern India and he organized numerous accounts of India discrimination. He was the head of the India National Congress, and he also lead various independence movements.

Context- This text is based off of the life of Ghandi and how he helped India gain independence from Brirish rule and how he helped the discrimination in India.

Summary- This text mainly revolves around "Hind Swaraj" which means "India Home Rule". This was one of Ghandi's best known works. The primary document also talks about the various ways Ghandi helps overcome the independence of India. For example, the author talks about passive resistance and how it secured rights by personal suffering. The author also talks about how Ghandi wasn't afriad of anything and he would stand up for what he believes in. This primary doument explaind how Ghandi achieved the independence and end to racism in India but doesn't fully go into how or why he did what he did.

Key quote- "Passive resistance became one of the most influential doctrines of the mid twentieth century, and was adopted by Martin Luthur King in the struggle against racial dicrimination in the United States.

SJS5: Hagakure

Author Credentials: Yamamoto Tsunetomo was a scribe for a samurai. He was influenced in his early years by a Buddhist monk and Confucian scholar. When his master died, he then became a Buddhist priest, and after this nothing is known about his life.

Summary: This passage is all about what samurais are and what the characteristics of samurais are. The author talks about what a samurai should act and be like, and how people should treat samurais.

Analysis: Overall, this passage is well written. The author seems to be very knowledgeable of samurai and their actions. This knowledge is probably from when Tsunetomo was a scribe to a samurai. Overall, there was some bias towards samurais, making them sound like they can do no wrong.

Russia and China are Putin-Xi Suppression on “Free” Media

The effects of technology on ordinary people's access to information in China and Russia.

      Media censorship is a serious concern that threatens the necessity for a free and unbiased media that acts as a watchtower over governments, an essential part to preserving people’s rights and establishing new rights around the world. The ideal for a free press is very much threatened in China and Russia as technology increases, mainly because of government fears that subjects may access new information that may undermine authority. Both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have been ardent supporters of government crackdown on media and have launched campaigns to silence media that opposes them. As technology use has increased in both countries, so has state controlled media. Both countries have hushed political adversaries by fear tactics and slowing the release of their information, even to the extent of throwing them in prison.
    Among the generation of post Soviet Union Russians, support for Putin is as high as 88%(*1), despite his long “reign” and ultimate desire for power and difficulty in everyday life. In Russia, among many young people (coined the “Putin Generation”) their is the sentiment of wanting to achieve more than what they currently have or the desire for success. This often conflicts with older generations that have lived under the Soviet Union for almost all, if not all, of their adult lives. The values of the generations that grew up during the time of the Soviet Union are still very relevant and impact many young people in modern Russia. An example of the increase in state run media is after the protests of the 2012 election in which Putin was able to retain another term. This victory was heavily protested when many polling station observers caught video proof of ballots being stuffed for Putin. Tens of thousands, many young people, turned to the streets to protest the victory of Putin who they viewed as winning unfairly. This was something unseen in Russia for decades and Putin responded by jailing many of the protestors and increasing his attacks on “liberals who advocated for freedom and democracy...{and labeled them as} traitors” (Ioffe, pg. 100). By reacting in a belligerent way to demands for fair elections and further democratization, Putin established his desire to stay in power. Putin by using fear tactics in arresting protesters established fear amongst protesters and further instilled the older generation's lack of desire in political engagement into younger generations. This coincides with the lack of information that Russian citizens have access to and this keeps power at the hand of Putin’s government.
     Like what is seen in Putin’s Russia, Xi Jinping’s China has seen very similar effects of technologies introduction into China. One of the most contradictory aspects of media censorship in China is the fact that the Chinese constitution gives citizens the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of press. The excuse the government gives is that media contradictory to the goals of the government is harmful to the government’s interests and even traitorous. Xi Jinping, since rising to power has endorsed an effort to crack down on media. Xi's policy towards media enforcement has been described in state run media as "essential to political stability." The Chinese government forces foreign companies like Google to succumb to their standards for media or risk being blocked by firewalls. The government of China has blocked news stories from entering the country and has jailed journalists for contradicting the government’s regulations on media. A prominent example of this is the Chinese journalist Liu Xiaobo who was imprisoned for calling for democratic reforms to the government. He later received eleven years in prison but was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. He was not permitted to leave the country to receive his award and news of the achievement was blocked in Chinese media. Also the government explicitly censors information related to events in which it determines that the people should not know, including historical events such as Tiananmen Square.
     All of these effects of lack of access to objective information in Russia and China allow power to be in the hands of existing governments despite concerns of citizens and outsiders. The media crackdown by both Putin and Xi demonstrates the threat of people lacking information and the ability to make informed decisions.

Works Cited
Ioffe, Julia, and Gerd Ludwig. “The Putin Generation.” National Geographic, vol. 230, no. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 76-101.
Fallows, James. "CHINA’s GREAT LEAP BACKWARD. (Cover Story)." Atlantic, vol. 318, no. 5, Dec.       2016, p. 58. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=119211199.
Xu, Beina. "Media Censorship in China." Edited by Eleana Albert. Council on
     Foreign Relations.

SJS8 - "Affordability and Mobile Telephony in Latin America"

Source: Galperin, Hernan. "Affordability and Mobile Telephony in Latin America."
     Proyecto Afrolatin@, vol. 1, 28 June 2012. Accessed 5 June 2017.


Author Credentials: Hernan Galperin is a professor of research at USC's Annenberg School for Communication. He has a Ph.D. from Stanford University and is an expert in communications, foreign relations, and information technology. He has researched this and similar topics extensively and seems to be a very reliable source.

Summary: The article details a study conducted to determine the affordability of mobile phone usage in Latin America. It examines the different tariffs put on the services across Latin American countries, and finds them to be generally higher than those in more developed countries. Next, the article talks about how affordable cell phone services are for the lower class. When compared with the lower classes' average incomes, almost all the countries in the study had tariffs that were generally not affordable for these people. Finally, the article mentions how Latin American people use cell services significantly less than many other regions, probably because of the high and unaffordable tariffs.

Analysis: The article is very thorough in going through the research conducted. It includes several graphs that plot out the various tariffs and wage gaps, to back up and showcase the research done. The article also poses different reasoning and viewpoints to help explain the data. It compares data found to data of other regions, such as South Asia, to put it into perspective. While Galperin is Latino himself, and a bit of bias is present because of this, he does an overall good job of keeping the article as objective as possible by relying on facts and numbers instead of opinions.

PDP8- The_True_History_of_the_Conquest_of_New_Spain

Author Bio- Bernal Diaz was a spanish conquistador, and was a soldier in the conquest of Mexico. In this time, he was under Hernán Cortez. Late in his life, he then wrote about his experiences during the conquest.

Context- The text was based off of the experiences of spanish conquistadors during the conquest of Mexico. This was when the Spanish were starting expeditions to conquest and find new territories.

Summary- Overall, this text is mainly about Diaz explaining what he saw in Mexico. Everything he saw was new to him, so he did not really understand different rituals and gods Mexico had from his perspective. He starts off by talking about the market, and how there was an abundance of goods being sold and an abundance of people organized there. The conquistadors, after looking around, climbed a temple and were met by priests. The priests offered them to look in the temple at their gods after Cortez asked to see them. When the Spanish went in, they were disgusted in what they saw. Their gods looked like demons, and the whole place was covered in blood because of the sacrafices they preformed their. Cortez offered to introduce them to “better” gods, but the priests took affence to what they were suggesting. The spanish conquistadors then keft the temple, wishing they would not have climbed it in the first place.

Key Quote- “There were soldiers among us who had been in many parts of the world, in Constantinople and Rome and all over Italy, who said that they had never before seen a market place so large and so well laid out and so filled with people.”

PDP5 - "The People's Democratic Dictatorship"

Author Bio: Mao Zedong was the founder of the People’s Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until his death in 1976. Influenced by Marx and Lenin, Mao founded the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. 

Context: This speech was given on June 30, 1949, the commemorate the 28th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party and the beginning of Mao’s rule in China. This speech shows how the nationalist and socialist movements of Europe spread around the world to China. 

Summary: In this speech, Mao states how his new system of communism in China will lead to prosperity. Mao says that China must unite with the workers and the proletariat and reject the western ideals of Great Britain and the United States. Mao compares Marxism and Leninism to a weapon and advocates for the alliance of China with the Soviet Union and other socialist government around the world. Mao’s democratic dictatorship (“democracy for the people and dictatorship over the reactionaries”) is introduced and said to be the best way for China’s development as a communist state. In this speech, Mao sets the goals to abolish classes in China and to put the working man in power. 

Key Quote: “The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is our best teacher and we must learn from it. The situation both at home and abroad is in our favour we can rely fully on the weapon of the people's democratic dictatorship, unite the people throughout the country, the reactionaries excepted, and advance steadily to our goal.”

SJS6 - "Gandhi Values and Terrorism"

Source: Sen, Amartya. "Gandhi Values and Terrorism." ETC: A Review of General Semantics, vol. 65, no. 1, Jan. 2008, pp. 76-79. MasterFILE Premier. Accessed 4 June 2017.

Author Credentials: Amartya Sen is a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University and formerly the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is Senior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Previously he was Professor of Economics at Jadavpur University Calcutta, the Delhi School of Economics,, The London School of Economics, and Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University.

Summary: Sen argues that the values of Gandhi are useful today in guiding leaders to ending terrorism. For example, Gandhi advocated against schools that promote the hatred or alienation of another group of people based on race, religion, or caste. Using this Gandhian value in British policy has basically eliminated the militant preaching in certain mosques and madrassas. Gandhi advocated for nonviolent approaches to ending violence, which Sen uses to argue against the torture of prisoners at prisons like Guantanamo. Sen states that the torture and poor treatment of prisoners is used by terrorist groups to drum up support for their causes. Torture and abuse cannot be used to fight torture and abuse. Gandhi also spoke out about the divisions between Indians based on religion. Sen argues that bridging the gap between people and seeing others not in terms of religion, but as humans, can have a tangible effect on the efforts to end terrorism.

Analysis: Sen presents a good and especially poignant argument in this article. However, Sen seeming portrays Gandhi and his views as infallible. There is not much diversity in thought in this article. Sen is very knowledgeable of Gandhi and his views, and he does present a strong argument with good supporting details. Overall, the argument of the article is strong and well-supported, but some bias is detectable.

SJS7 - "A New Strategy on Myanmar"

Source: Abramowitz, Morton. “A New Strategy on Myanmar.” Current History vol. 107: no. 712. Nov. 2008, pp. 393-394

Author Credentials: This article was written by two people, one being Morton Abramowitz and Jonathan Kolieb. Abramowitz was the former U.S. ambassador to Thailand in the late 70s and deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asian and Pacific affairs. Kolieb is a lecturer in law and business at RMIT University and has served as a United Nation’s Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

Summary: The article begins by discussing the how much of a disaster Myanmar is in at the moment, and discusses how the people of Myanmar are suffering. Cyclone Nargis had struck Myanmar and the junta was not allowing aid and relief workers to come in. The authors then explain that this causes an international uproar which soon dies down and allows the regime to remain in power. The international community wants the situation in Myanmar to change, but does not do anything in order to implement change. Countries like China, India, and Thailand do not deal with the problems in Myanmar, but are invested in the energy resources that reside there. Myanmar, much like North Korea, is a closed society and the leadership abuses its power over the people as well as uses the wealth for its own personal gain. The article then states that the military power has resisted protests from its people for many years, and the only way Myanmar will be fixed is if it becomes a democratic society. Myanmar in the weeks following the disaster allowed for relief workers to come in as they realized they needed help reconstructing the villages. Myanmar is in need of many other things as well as far as aid goes because the health care system and the educational system are in terrible condition. In order to reconstruct the Irrawaddy Delta the international donor community has to donate $1 billion, but in order to help the country as a whole they will most likely need another billion dollars which Myanmar might not even take. Inside the country there are many organizations working secretly in order to help in the aftermath of the cyclone. In the context of history this is well after independence of Myanmar which was then Burma, but it can be traced back to British imperialism and how the arbitrary boundary lines were drawn up by the British. This lead to conflicts and eventually the military rule which is the state Myanmar was in when this article was written.

Analysis: The authors make a strong argument that Myanmar can not be assisted very much in order to end the military rule, but aid will help the citizens the most. The authors also provide evidence to why aid is the best way to help Myanmar because of how the international community uses Myanmar and can find no way to end the regime. The authors wrote this based off their opinions on how to handle Myanmar, but they do provide facts to support their opinions. I think the authors are reliable sources given their background in human rights studies and international backgrounds.

PDP5 - Letter to King George III

Author Bio: The author of this document was the emperor of China, Chi’en-lung, was the sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty. During his rule there were many foreign merchants attempting to come into China in order to sell their western goods. Being a more traditional emperor he did not care for much of the foreign items being brought. In his letter he is against the sale of western goods in China and is not willing to loosen the restrictions on British merchants.

Context: This document was written at the end of the 18th century where China was reluctant to begin trade with the Europeans. The tributary states was where most of the British trading was done until they got footholds in many ports and decided to pay tributary to the Emperor and ask to trade in the Canton area. Their request was denied and this went on for many years until the British were finally able to force the Chinese to open up to European trading after the Opium Wars. The time this letter was written displays how the Chinese were rightfully worried about the foreign trade.

Summary: The letter begins with the emperor acknowledging King George III tribute in order to help facilitate the trade between the British and China. He then goes on to discuss how he accepted the ambassador, Macartney, and his deputies with open arms yet they did not abide by the dress code. The emperor then discusses the problems of not abiding by the customs of another’s country and how China would not be able to change its traditions and culture in order to fit that of Europe. He also states the even if the envoy would be able to come dressed in proper Chinese attire that their ideologies would not be Chinese so the envoy would gain nothing. He then says how he accepts the gifts from the King as to not be rude to him, and says that the he has no need for European manufactures as he has everything he already needs. He then states that he is sending the envoy home peacefully with gifts for the King. The emperor then states that it is possible for the British to trade in the Canton area, but takes offense that they’re asking to loosen the regulations for foreign merchants. He says that this would be unfair to the other countries trading in the Canton region. The emperor then denies the British request to have a small trading port on the island of Chusan. He also denies the request for the merchants to be able to roam freely in Aomen because he feels that the Chinese may have conflicts with the merchants. The last thing the emperor denies is the ability for the Europeans to freely practice and spread their religion in China. He ends the letter by saying that the King should not send his merchant ships to trade wherever they please and if they do they will be forced off the land and back to England.

Key Quotation: “I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures.”

PDP8- Jamaican Letter

Author Bio: Simon Bolivar, also known as "El Libertador" is very well known throughout Latin America because of his famous political roles and manifestoes. He was born into a wealthy family and was the son of a Venezuelan nobleman who died when Bolivar was still studying in school. Bolivar then moved to Spain to finish studying and returned to Venezuela when Napoleon loosened up and countries started gaining independence. Bolivar led the revolution of Venezuela against Spain in order for them to truly obtained their independence which they declared in 1811. Once he beat Spain he declared the territory where he was as the Republic of Colombia. Upper Peru was renamed in Bolivar's honor, it is now Bolivia. Bolivar is clearly an important historical figure who assisted in creating Latin American countries that were free from Spain and also providing his opinions through societies through his manifestos just like his most famous, Jamaican Letter.

Data/Context: The Jamaican Letter describes the thoughts of Bolivar and what he believes the Americas will be able to accomplish and what they will not be able to accomplish. He provides details that he is unsure of but follows through with reasoning about why one way is better than the other and why that one way would be more beneficial compared to the rather. This letter shows a lot of predictions that Bolivar made while some are solid and actually did happen others are the opposite of what he believed would be able to work but they did.

Summary: Bolivar begins by describing how new the Americas are and how young they are in all the liberal arts but they are old in the civil society ways. He continues to look at how Americans are citizens of America yet they follow the laws of Europe and fight off the invaders and have rights that the natives do not who were truly there before the Europeans who turned to Americans came. He continues talking about the rights of the society and the domestic affairs that were not very strong right off the bat and how those affairs could have been strong if things were different. Bolivar then describes the social status of the Americans that live in a Spanish system and how they are like the lower middle class, greater than serfs or a consumer. He closes by stating his predictions and hopes for the future of America.

Key Quote: "From the foregoing we can draw these conclusions: The American provinces are fighting for their freedom, and they will ultimately succeed. Some provinces as a matter of course will form federal and some central republics; the larger areas will inevitably establish monarchies, some of which will fare so badly that they will disintegrate in either present or future revolutions. To consolidate a great monarchy will be no easy task, but it will be utterly impossible to consolidate a great republic."