Angela Davis- Stanford 4/15/15

Just recently, on a random Wednesday night a couple of friends and I, heard about Angela Davis speaking at Stanford. My two other friends are very interested in social issues and aware of people like Angela Davis. They were appalled that I have never heard of her, and how she was, is a living Black Panther. This seemed very interesting to me so, we visited Stanford Campus and listened to her speak about her thoughts on modern racism, mass incarceration, and the struggle of reform today. You obviously did not assign this, or inform us about this, however I found her speech to be relative to the topics we've covered in class.

In terms of racism, we learned how the establishment of slavery served as a foundation of the white belief in racial superiority. During her speech she opened my perspective to how our democracy was initially based and established with racism. She explained the starters of democracy, or our Founding Fathers, were incredibly racist. How that foundation then evolved to where we are today, where we see militarization of police due to the many controversial events of racist police officers. Also, what the effect of 9/11 did to our police force, associated with the war against terror. To the extent that even some campus police forces are being offered grants to militarize (Berkeley). 

Her words were too captivating to be explained, merely limited to a blog post. Her views on reforming these unjust systems, starts from knowing what we want. One of her quotes that really struck me, "We should ask for what we want, not to what we think will be offered to us." In the midst of her passionate, and inspiring statements, Angela showed a warm personality with her smiling face. I truly took that moment in that night, making me think in a third person perspective of myself. Me choosing to leave LA, to go to school in the Bay Area, made me realize how much I've learned that some people from this region of truly devote their life to having their voice heard about social justice. It was like I was meant to make certain decisions in my life, that led me to that event that night. In addition to her speech, as well as sitting in your lectures weekly, I have learned that I was raised to believe that capitalism is good thing. Now that I have made it to a university I see how capitalism affects other countries, and how the power in our government is not brought on by the people, but by the corporations. 

Paul Brockmann: Ebola Presentation

I did not fully get to take in the presentation because, I was hosting the event itself, and I had to work the slideshow in the room next to the lounge. My friend would point to me when Paul would say next slide, so I did not really hear much of the event I put together. However, I did find out that Paul is in fact not a Doctor. It was kind of funny because I posted fliers all over campus saying Dr. Paul Brockmann, assuming he was a doctor since he works with MSF. What I did learn was that he managed doctors on his trip to Sierra Leone and, you do not have to be a doctor in order to help the cause. He was a great speaker and gave insight to the commitments, as well as risks one would have to take on in order to endure that particular line of work.

In terms of Colonialism, a student managed to ask him a question about it and I remember him briefly replying by saying something on the lines of "people did bad things." He was basically saying that it brought a negative impact to some of the countries he worked in, yet he did not see a direct effect during his time.

Property: CST

Property may be owned by a single individual, yet it is ultimately owned by God. Where all of the land should be available to all of humanity. Despite our social status, we are all bonded by being apart of the same human community. The Catholic social teachings showed the divide private owners were causing on the rest of society. Where a wealthy owner of fertile farmland might be thriving, yet on the other side of their land there are starving peasants. This section brings up Marxist ideas in that, these private landowners are so driven by profit, that they would never voluntarily give up their land. This then lead to expropriation, an unjust acquisition of land from previous owners. Where people are exploiting natural law, because as humans we are all reliant on aspects of industrial production. These industries contain all the electricity and power, yet not all people are being supplied by these entities. 

The church’s ideals based on labor make the formation of unions to be a human right. Where as humans we are entitled to band together and organize unions, to have fair and equal working conditions. 

Surrendering Freedom

I find Ayatollah Khomeini’s essay to be both interesting as well somewhat contradicting. Contradicting based on the selection of wording, when initially mentioning how Islam is religion of freedom, yet one must surrender to certain practices or beliefs. It find it hard to follow, when he uses both surrender and freedom in the same essay. Having a sense of freedom means not having to comply or follow certain characteristics. In some ways, freedom can also mean rebellion. However, this essay truly brings to light how one can use Islamic teachings as a driving force for radical extremism. The fact that Islamic governments were founded by militant groups, evokes a sense of violence. Most of essay mentions acts of violence, as sources of punishments to certain crimes. Coming from an American perspective, I find it easy for someone to be afraid of associating Islam with government. The effect of the American government depicting Muslims in a negative light is a unfortunate thing. Given that I grew up essentially being taught to be afraid of Islamic practices, is a result of being exposed to the media post 9/11. It is unfortunate that our government has put a negative light on Muslims, causing some Americans to associate Islamic looking people with terrorism, yet not all Muslims are extremists. I choose to frown upon the American government for constantly associating Islam with terrorist acts, causing Americans to internalize that idea for years.

Central Powers

Countries that were left in vulnerable and susceptible positions to be contended by fascist imperialisms due to the instability of their governments. Conflicts between countries that routinely went to war were usually the case when a nation was fragile. In reference to WWI, populations greatly diminished due to harsh number of trench warfare casualties. The outcomes of the war left countries to believe that the West was not the lone superior country, with the highest amount of technological innovation. The disillusionment in Europe grew, Japan began to expand throughout China and the U.S. had a stable economy. All was well economically until The Great Depression hit, restraining many families out of work and essentially penniless.While the stock market crashed in the US, Stalin was gaining power within the USSR with fascists rapidly surfacing.

Groups like anticommunists, antidemocratics, antifeminists emerged when Europeans grew a fortified nationalism. That is until Hitler began his European conquest. Before the beginning of his human “purification” against non-Aryans, democracy was being denied to countries like Italy, Germany, and Japan. His plans unfolded quickly because he promised a struggling Germany that as a passionate dictator citizens would see an improved way of life. His convincing words allowed Hitler to eradicate populations of countries through warfare and concentration camps. 

Heading to the far East, despite the size of this country, the Island of Japan maintained an authoritative power. The economic growth within the 1920’s established a solid foundation for the country. With the growing economy along came the expansion of Japan's military. Additionally, the government had no single party, nor did they have a single ruler. After being at war against China and Russia, Japan was able to build empires in countries like Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria. To gain more resources, Japan began to invade Southeast Asian countries, leaving many Asian countries victim to the harsh conditions of war. Until the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U.S. was essentially unaware of Japans happenings causing the U.S. to join The Allies against Fascism. As a result of being at war, the U.S. re-stimulated its economy and got itself out of its depression. Through his New Deal, President FDR established innovative things in our government that still hold weight in our modern politics. In addition to political progression, the foundation of nuclear bombs was discovered when military actions led to a whole new level of technological advancement when scientists of the Manhattan project figured out how to split atoms.