The World's Environment and the Globalization of Environment

The twentieth century was marked with drastic environmental changes that shook a lot people and raised concerns for future generations. There were three speculated causes of these changes: 1) the world's population quadrupled in a single century, 2) the new ability to tap potential fossil fuel energy, and 3) the phenomenal economic growth from the advancement of science and technology.

Just like all the other revolutions, there was different types of environmentalist movements. In England, environmentalists calls for the abandonment of "dark satanic mills" caused by the industrial era. Others asked for the preservation of the "wilderness" from human exploitation. These are called the first wave of environmental movement and did not gain much supporters. The second wave of environmentalism was initiated by Rachel Carson when she published her book "Silent Spring" in 1962. In her book, she talked about the "chemical contamination of the environment that threatened both human health and the survival of many other species". She also talked about the "strange stillness" from the absence of the singings birds in the future. By early 1990s, there was about 14 million members of environmental organizations in the America. In Europe, environmental group Club of Rome warned about the exhaustion of resources from the growing and continuing industrialization.

The environmental movements in the developing countries were different from those in the West. There were fewer organizations and were more locally based. Members were from poor communities rather than the middle class and their concerns were based on food security, health and basic survival. They focused more towards the protection of their livelihood and the effects of large industrial factories owned by Corporations from the West.

The Globalization of Liberation: Comparing Feminist Movements

Feminist movements differ not just in different countries but in races and different areas within a country and I think it had a lot to do with type of oppression that they were experiencing. For the women in Western Europe and United States, they were focused in establishing their role in the society and also to be free from the expectations of what a typical housewife should be. But the African American women, also from Western Europe and United States, did not feel the need to fight for the same issues and that those issues were really more of something that concerns the white, middle class women. Did they not have any issues with working conditions because they have been and compared to their status when they were slaves, the new working conditions are much better. Being able to live close to their husbands and to become a housewife was also something that they consider as an improvement in the quality of life as a woman. And so when they decided to form their own feminist organizations, they were focused on racism and poverty. The African American feminist movement also had more consideration for cultural traditions such as female circumcision and polygamy. I guess coming from a culture that tries to preserve their traditions, they had better understanding that each culture is different and that as much we would like to move forward, it also good to keep some of cultural traditions with us because it is part of our identity. In the East African country in Kenya, the associations of women became a good source of support for one another during times of need. They achieved a sense of independence by achieving things without having to depend on their family or husband. In Morocco, the feminist movement were able to convince the liberal king to revise the Family Law Code that allowed hem to initiate divorce and claim child custody. In Chile, because were seen as "invisible", they were able to successfully organize as human rights activists fighting for the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. They a big role in bringing back democracy in Chile in 1990. Women in South Korea were also able to restore by protesting against the working conditions of young female workers in export industries. Not only were they paid poorly and frequently experienced sexual harassment, they were also housed on company dormitories that resembled a chicken coop. By 1970, not only did they develop many feminist movement, it also initiated class consciousness.

From the first part of the reading, we can the disagreement on different feminist organizations. Each one has different agenda and they didn't really agree on which issue should take precedence even after they gain an official position in the United Nations. Not only were they unable to meet a common ground, their differences even fueled anger, hatred and offensive attitude towards one another. Sometimes, the differences are not just tied with race and culture, it was associated with religion. I guess it's too complicated that its almost impossible to find a resolution.

Accelerating Global Interaction

Global Interaction and the Transformation of the World Economy
What factors contributed to economic globalization during the twentieth century?
1. After World War II, leading capitalist countries such as the United States vowed to never go through the same conditions as they did during the Great Depression. In order to that, they formed a post-globalization made up of institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This became the start of a somewhat free trade among major capitalist countries.
2.Technology continued to develop and made information travel faster and products ship faster and cheaper.
3. A country that has a growing population, together with growing economies and modernizing societies results to citizens that are hungry for further modern development.

Reglobalization
In what ways has economic globalization linked the world's peoples more closely together?
After the development of the "reglobalization" of the world economy, there was a significant increase in the circulation of goods, capital and people. Foreign direct investment emerged, which means companies from first world countries are setting up their labor-centered companies in third wold countries where they can get cheap labor, resources, tax breaks and more relax environmental regulations. If the first world countries are not bringing their companies to the third world countries, they are bringing people, mostly professional and skilled workers such as doctors, nurses and engineers, to their country. We are more familiar of these concepts today as outsourcing. With the increasing rate of unemployment, it has become one of the big debates but it is still hard to compete with the incentives that big companies are getting from it. Outsourcing continues to grow and has taken an unexpected expansion to other fields such as in medicine. An example would be the outsourcing of radiology services. Because of shortage of radiologists in the US, hospitals have now set up a remote radiology base in third world countries with an overflow of radiologists like India. After a radiology exam is performed, films are sent to the remote site and initial reading can be made. Hospital administrators argued that this has not only made services faster but also safer because with the initial reading, they'll be able to catch whatever is wrong with the patient right away, right when they are still in the facility. Patients on the other hand are more concerned about their privacy, with their medical information now circulating in different locations. The other term that we hear nowadays is medical tourism, where patients get treated and get surgeries done in countries where medical fees are cheaper compared to what they would've paid in the US even with insurance coverage.

Weaving Movements Together to Attain Social Justice by Dolores Huerta

 

            On March 14, 2013, I had the honor to listen to Dolores Huerta talk about her experience and beliefs about community engagement and social activism. The many community organization that she was able to form and her achievements in attaining social justice has earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom that was awarded by President Obama and the U.S. Department of Labor Hall of Honor last year, 2012. Among the key topics that she talked about is the importance of labor union, the injustices around the world such as forced labor that she made relatable by bringing up forced labor within our society that most people are not aware of such as forced labor in prisons, and the social advancement that can be achieved by harnessing our own countries resources instead exploiting third world countries not just with their natural resources but also with human resources. She also talked about her background and how she was able to attain her achievements, which inspired me the most, because it made me realize that yes, education is important but the one thing that creates a big difference is the motivation and the drive to help others.

CH. 23: THE INDEPENDENCE AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

TOWARD FREEDOM: STRUGGLES FOR INDEPENDENCE

The first step towards independence is the collapse of the colonizing empires. The Austrian and Ottoman Empire ended after World War I. The Russian empire was brought down by the Soviet Union. The Japanese and German Empire ended after World War II. Inspired by the revolutions that were spurting in different areas at the time, nationalist movements in the colonized territories became the source of determination to gain independence. National self-determination was the power behind the Mexican Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, and even in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The author of the book described the end of the European empires as an almost "natural phenomenon". It was destined to collapse. He described in such a way because 1: It is only natural for human beings to want to control themselves, and 2: Nationalism, where once again, people from the colonized territories wanted to express their culture and national identity that was suppressed and replaced with that of the Colonizing Empire's. The author also stated that when the European empire, it was its time to collapse. The US and Soviet Union has overpowered the European Empire and the UN formed an anti-colonial agitation platform.
Behind newly gained independence were the "fathers" of their new countries like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Neru, Ho Chi Minh and Nelson Mandela. One similarity that these founding fathers have is that they were all from the "educated few" of their country.

COMPARING FREEDOM STRUGGLES

The Case of India: Ending British Rule
The group that started the independence from British rule movement in India is the Indian National Congress (INC) and was lead by Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi was a firm believer of the "satyagraha", which means "truth force", and calls for an active and confrontational yet non-violent political action. His leadership was unique in a way that he was able to gain supporters from the opposing groups of peasants, intellectuals and artisans, capitalists and socialists, and Hindus and Muslims. These groups might have united while they were trying to gain independence but they quickly separated as soon as their agenda was achieved. The formation of East Pakistan from India due to the inability to unite the Hindus and Muslims.

The Case of South Africa: Ending Apartheid
In South Africa, the independence that they were seeking was not from the European Empire but from the white settler minority that has government and economic control. Just like in India, a group led by the "educated few" led the independence movement called the African National Congress (ANC). Gandhi's counterpart in India was Nelson Mandela. And just like in India, after they gained independence, Africa was also divided, not on religious lines but on race, ethnicity and ideology.

Evolving Notions of Rights and Responsibilities Relating to Property and Work Relationships

"Living Justice"
by Thomas Massaro

Section 5: Property Ownership in Modern Society: Rights and Responsibilities

This section of the reading tackled the interlaced yet conflicting issue of the common goods and individual ownership. The Catholic Church strong supports the notion that everything in this world is a gift from God to all mankind and should therefore be available to everyone but it is also hard to ignore the benefits that are reaped by individuals who knows how to manage resources wisely. To those individuals, since they alone worked in cultivating and growing the resources, then they alone should be the only one that should get the benefits from it. But we can argue this part once again with the notion that resources are not equally divided. Not everyone worked hard for the fruits of their labor and not everyone has the tools needed for success readily available to them. The Catholic Church then argues that those who are wealthy should not just think of themselves and use the resources in ways that would make other people suffer. I think the main focus of their argument is exploitation. As we have learned in class, during the development of industrialization, exploitation was not necessarily seen as a bad thing. It was merely a necessity for businesses to profit. But as industrialization further progressed, large corporations grew bigger and bigger and labor workers became poorer and poorer. I guess what the Catholic Church wants to point out is that as the beneficiary of exploited and instigator of such poverty, those who are wealthy have the responsibility to help the exploited laborers.

Section 6: The Dignity of Work, Rights of Workers, and Support for Labor Unions

One of the greatest accomplishment during the uprising of industrialization is the development of labor union. With laborers as an organized group, they were able to fight off exploitations such as inhumane work conditions, subpar wages and unreasonable corporate demands. Corporate owners are of course in opposition of the organization and refuse to give power to the people by forming a union amongst themselves and tried to turn the table by saying that labor unions have unrealistic demands. I guess any type of power is vulnerable to abusive use but it's still hard to argue that a laborers can work in an environment that is free of exploitation without a union.

The second part of this section focused on the "need" for work for it give individuals a sense of "purpose". In theological teachings, this was addressed in that, humans are God's co-creators. It also gives people a chance to work with one another which improves human relation. And this is also the reason why laborers should not be seen as a mere commodity but as God's children that should be given opportunity to fully develop their skills and ability.

Communism in Russia and China

Communism was derived from the teaching of Karl Marx who believed that in order to get rid of inequality and division between classes within a society, land and private properties has to be equally redistributed among all members in the community and rulers elected must only have the sole purpose of serving the people and of no influence of religion and capitalism. This idea was an echo of the Frech Revolution that became very popular during the 1970's, right after World War II, and had the most significance in China and Russia.

Between Russia and China, the commencement, implementation and termination of communism differs greatly. In Russia, its initiation was like a kick start. The revolution was achieved in just one year, 1917. It started by overthrowing the ruling Romanov dynasty, followed by the upheavals of the middle-class, then the peasants seized and burned their landlord's estates, just like in the Haitian Revolution. In the end, a small socialist party called the Bolsheviks, were able to gain control of Russia and elected Vladimir Ulyanov as its leader. Even after battling several local and international forces, the Bolsheviks were able to maintain control of Russia and gained more supporters as it showed their ability to fight off exploiters.

In China, the development did not develop as quickly as it did in Russia. It was rather a long and slow, probably because they Karl Marx and his ideologies was not introduced in China until the early twentieth century. It was founded in 1921, in a small group with only sixty members, called the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) but its charismatic leader named Mao Zedong was able to expand and transform its strategy in ways that was different from its Russian counterpart. Unlike Russia, even though the foundation of communism depended on industrialization, it started in rural areas within the Chinese peasants. Along with the uprising of the peasants was the feminist revolution, where women were determined to establish their position in the society, make alterations to the constitution of marriage and pushed for better employment benefits and accommodation. Sadly, this huge uproar from women did not last long. In the end, the male dominated communist parties hushed the feminist revolution.

On the other hand, communism in both countries ended in a similar way: self-destruction. Both were scared to lose control and became almost paranoid of possible enemies within their own government. What initial purpose to seek out equality later turned into dictatorship that oppressed and violated human rights. The fruits of communism were the "Terror" or the "Great Purges" in Russia and the "Chinese Cultural Revolution" were their own government sought out and accused their own citizens as political enemies with no right for trial and were either sent to labor camps or sentenced with death. It wasn't long until their started accusing their own officials and ultimately ended the communist reign in both countries.