Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mahatma Ghandi. Amazing people with incredible character, determination, and vision. The introduction to this chapter speaks about Nelson Mandela's struggles towards achieving equality in South Africa. What's awesome is that he not only fought against white domination, but also black domination. He didn't want one to solely rule the other, but for both to rule and live side by side. This reminds me of a quote about friendship: "Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." Strange time to bring up this up, but it popped in my head just now as I was writing this response.
Back to Mr. Mandela. 27 years in prison, hard labor at a stone quarry, floor for a bed, bucket for a toilet, write/receive only 1 letter every 6 months - only a brief glimpse of the hell he had to endure to ensure a positive future for his people. And his punishments are totally ridiculous - 1 visitor a year for 36 minutes?! Whaaat. How did they even arrive at those numbers. I'd like to know the logic behind torturing someone like this because of his plea for equality. It wasn't like he was gonna blow their heads off or physically threatening them. This deprivation of basic human rights is preposterous. I just can't believe how much Nelson Mandela and all the other greats sacrificed and suffered for what they believe in, so much that they were willing to give up their life. The power of the human spirit, especially his human spirit, is crazy amazing. And just like Hitler, all it takes is one person to start a revolution.
If the Europeans didn't dominate the world and forcefully impose their views upon the natives, there wouldn't be this need for freedom wars and intense human sufferings for the sake of liberation. But then again, they planted the seed of industrialization and advancement into the entire world, and where would we all really be without that?
Jumping ahead to the section on "Experiments in Political Order", one of the arguments as to why democracy was initially rejected in Africa: "Others suggested that Africa's traditional culture, based on communal rather than individualistic values and concerned to achieve consensus rather than majority rule, was not compatible with the competitiveness of party politics." - pg 707. That's an interesting point, that one's natural culture affects and facilitates what economic and political system works best for them.
The chart on page 712-713 consumed most of time; countries from every continent are stacked up against each other in the areas of population growth, income, adult literacy, and life expectancy. My judgement about success definitely varies depending on which measure I use. Population growth would leave Russia in last place at a -1% rate and Saudi Arabia the winner at a 2.8%. The US and Japan blows everyone else away with their income of $41,000-37,000, while Africa barely makes $400. Literacy rates are pretty surprising as well. Russia has a literacy of 99%, which would assume that their adult population are well educated and well trained for high paying jobs that can secure a positive future for the country, yet their income-per-capita is only $3000, compared to US/Japan who also have a 99% literacy but with a $40000 income-per-capita. It's the communism, huh. It's no surprise that Japan has the highest life expectancy of 78/85 years, a few years higher than US's 75/80. The Japanese mastered the art of tea-making, which is one of their secrets to a long, healthy life. Also, their religion and culture seems to foster a much healthier life than as well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment