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.”