Chapter 22-23

Chapters 22-23

I am full of questions at the end of chapter 22. What would these countries have turned out to be if Europeans had not colonized them? Would they be better off, or worse off today? The legacy colonialism has left behind has affected the entire world. It has left a power vacuum that have been filled with corruption, communism, confusion, and mostly failed experiments of modernization. It seems that colonialism was telling the rest of the world (in particular countries with skin colors different than their own) that the ideas of the enlightenment of democracy, equality, humanism were only good enough for Europeans and they did not qualify. The gap between values and practices discredited the Europeans in the eyes of those countries that were occupied. Self determination is something that is so cherished in our own country, and in any society, of course these countries wanted that and strike when the iron was hot. We should all determine our own paths. So many tried to fill those leadership roles as nonviolent protestors to colonial rule: Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Abdul, Ghaffar Khan. So many others who were as violent and oppressive as the colonizers: Inkatha Freedom party, dictatorships of Pinochet, Castro, Allende. And how best to proceed with this new found independence? How to modernize and improve the economic circumstances of the people in these countries? India it turns out was the most successful in this transition. The rest it seems are still in the experimentation phase. What a legacy colonialism has left upon the world.

Chapter 23

I was shocked at how much global trade had increased: since 1947 has increased from $57 billion to $16 trillion in 2009. Thinking back to the small time traders of the silk, sand and sea roads, and wondering if they could have even imagined this in their wildest dreams! It makes me so angry that we put other countries and environments at risk and take advantage of their looser environmental regulations so we can produce what we think we need, and use the people as cheap labor. It reminds me of the rubber plants in Africa and how we abused the people there for our tires. As long as we don’t see it and it doesn’t affect our backyard. The globalization of money through credit cards was eye opening. I never really thought of credit cards this way. There was an NPR segment on about t-shirts. They followed the production from the field of cotton to the processor, to the fabric producer, then the t shirt factory, and then the distributor to the destination in a journey around the globe. Makes you really think about how many people and how many miles are on the products we buy by the time it reaches us.

                Is the U.S. an economic empire? An Informal empire? I think we are a corporate empire. Only we’re a sneaky corporate empire as we sneak behind the scenes and arm those we want to win. What strange bedfellows we have had all for the sake of money and oil. We began by conquering villages, to conquering empires, to conquering nations, now we’ve conquered the world, what’s next???

                The section on international feminism surprised me that in 2006 the US did not ratify a UN Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women. I wondered why? Do we think we are so progressive that we didn’t need to? Or was there some other reason? I was extremely interested in learning more about fundamental Christianity. My mother in law and my husband’s siblings are born again Christians. It helps me to understand them better. I try not to get into religious discussions with them.

                The section on the global environment makes me worry about my kids. What have we left for them and their children? I hope it is not too late.

Chapter 20-21

Chapters 20-21

I never knew WWI started accidently. Competing states, what spurred the growth and competition of European countries also spurred the rivalries that started WWI w/ the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. The rigid alliances, and deep seeded pride and nationalism. After I read the section, that conservative governments welcomed the war because of the unrest of mounting class and center-based conflicts in Europe, it seemed that it wasn’t an “accident” but a convenient distraction. It also gave governments the occasion to create new (toys) weapons of destruction, and to use them for their already developed elaborate war plans. I never knew Mother’s day began in France to encourage child bearing because of the huge loss of life in the War. Surprising too how a Treaty created to end the war, started a new war that was even worse.

My mom and dad lived through the great depression and would tell us stories about the times in San Mateo.  The hoboes that would get off the train (in San Mateo) and come to my great grandmother’s door for food and work. My great grandfather owned a butcher shop downtown on B Street, and when people bought meat on credit he recorded it in a small black book. During the depression, he burned the book and released everyone in if from their debt. The details about Roosevelt’s new deal reminded me so much of what Ben Bernanke and the Feds did during the great recession. I wonder if we will look back and change the name of the recession to a depression. But I think if Roosevelt’s protections from the New Deal had not been in place it could have been so much worse.

               Hitler, Mussolini, what to say about them… The machinations of government are twisted. We trust our governments way too much, and believe they are making the right decisions for us. What always amazes me is how individual people can be manipulated, and whipped into a frenzy, and the things they can do to others that they can justify as the right thing to do. I often wonder what I would have done if I were a German, or a French citizen watching the Jews marched into cattle cars. Would I have the courage to speak out? I would hope so, but I’m not sure… 

               WWII: My mom was a burner in the shipyards in Marin in the Kaiser shipyards. My dad was a tail gunner in a B24 bomber and flew 16 missions in the Pacific. We have heard many stories from them about the war as well. My mom did not indicate she was sad to leave her job when the men came home. My dad still talks about the war with vivid description and memories. I can imagine as a young man and woman, how it would change the course of your life. My mom always said our generations Pearl Harbor was 9/11. Henry Luce proclaimed the 20^th century as the American century. I think the American Century ended with 9/11.

               When I read that WWII ended European colonialism, I was glad of it. But what did we leave behind? It seems the legacy of colonialism still leaves a scar in so many countries. The second WW tactic of Blitzkrieg reminds me of Shock and Awe of the Iraq war. I had no idea 60 million people died in WWII and that half were civilian deaths.

               Chapter 21: When I first read about communism and Marxism, I thought, hey, this is pretty interesting. But the way the rulers of China and Russia manipulated, forced and eliminated elements to fit their needs was frightening. I thought it was interesting that women were seen to be equal to men, but women were then masculinized, instead of men being feminized. Men and women are different, just as cultures are different and should be embraced for their uniqueness. Instead of the melting pot, it is a mixed salad where all of the differences can be seen instead of a blending and homogenizing.

               It was good to finally understand the Cuban Missile crisis, and I thank God china was not involved or we would have all be gone! The “speak bitterness” meetings and collectivization were interesting. They sounded so benign until I read that 2 million people were killed in the process! It seems that communism was forced down so many people’s throats, and those that did not swallow were sentenced to death, prison or sent to the gulag. Their resistance is a testament to the desire for freedom, and individual rights. Our country is not perfect, but no wonder so many people want to live in the U.S.

              

 

Chapters 16, 17, 18

Chapters 16, 17, and 18

And the atrocities to humanity and the environment of the Modern Era continue in the next three chapters. The new ideas of the Enlightenment spur new innovation and thinking and revolution and freedom. The egalitarian ideals of Enlightenment that is only applicable to Europeans during Colonialism. The creation of the Bill of Rights putting the political ideas of the Enlightenment into Practice.

The idea of the three “estates” in France (clergy, nobility and commoners) with the first two estates consisting of only 2% reminds me of the recent protests by the 99%. I wonder, will the 99% rise up and create their own “National Assembly?” Rousseau’s worlds still resonate that the “handful of people should gorge themselves…while the hungry multitude goes in want of necessities.”

The abolition of slavery was certainly one of the positive outcomes during the modern era. Although the abiding poverty, lack of education, and limited skills kept them enslaved even though they were technically free, and “independence debt” enslaved their countries for many years after abolition.

The section on Feminist beginnings and the writings by Condorcet and Mary Wollstonecraft were amazing that they were broached as early as the 19^th century. Careers for women, although limited, were finally being viewed as acceptable for women to work for pay and outside the home. Although the negative aspect to jobs during the industrial revolution in factories were low wage, long hours, and unsafe conditions, they were still better than they’d had in their home countries. The possibility of owning a home and becoming middle class was a dream come true to many immigrants (something that is no longer possible in the Bay Area. It seems that so many are fleeing the Bay Area, and those that have lived here for generations can no longer afford to live here…myself included!).

I never truly understood Colonialism until I read chapter 18. It seems that with the abolishment of slavery, this was a convenient and righteous way for Europeans to reenslave them and keep control, demand free labor, and to convert them as well. Although some gained from missionary education, many countries were stripped of their identities and smacked with the label of inferior backed by the concept of social Darwinism. I was disgusted to read about the cruelties of forced labor for rubber in the Congo. Millions died or were maimed so we could have rubber for our Model T’s and bicycle tires. The inhumanity of man’s treatment of man never ceases to amaze me.

Chapters 13, 14, and 15

Chapters 13, 14, and 15

It seems to me that the people of early modern era were experiencing as many changes as we are presently, although on a bit slower timeline (as it took 18 months to cross the Atlantic at that time.) People’s eyes were opened to new people, cultures, lands, foods, materials, religions, science, diseases, and whole new ways of considering where they fit into the universe. It must have made their heads spin, just as today’s ever changing technology makes my head spin sometimes!

It also startles me every time I think about how we humans justify our actions for conquering new lands and overrunning existing civilizations, and resources, using God as our right to do this. How we can call it the “good hand of God” at work, “sweeping away great multitudes of natives that he might make room for us.” How we can enslave people to do our bidding and the work we refuse to do ourselves. How we can treat them as less than human, look in their eyes and not see their humanness as they are wrenched from their families and homelands. How we can starve people out of their homes for spices, and replace them as if they were nothing more than a pair of shoes. How the pope can hand down an edict and say who can be enslaved into perpetuity because of their beliefs or their non-beliefs. It all makes me so sad.

Did we all just follow so blindly and not see the contradictions? Were our eyes not open to the destruction that was happening to the land and animals? Because it was so far away, it does not concern us, we don’t see it, it doesn’t affect us. So much of what happens today: where our cloths are made, where our food is produced. As long as we get what we want and are not inconvenienced, we do not question. I am just as guilty as anyone else. It is just too hard to find out where to buy fair trade anything, it is made obscure and so we don’t ask, until there is a revolt an uprising and we discover people are getting paid .03 cents a day to make our t-shirts and under ware, and they can’t feed their families or have a decent place to live. We still have slaves, they are just located far away where we don’t see them, in an obscure factory in Bangladesh, Taiwan, China… And we won’t question as long as we have what we want. We too choose to remain as blind as they were in the early modern era, because it suits our needs, and we get what we want, without being inconvenienced by the unimportant facts.

Chapters 9, 11 and 12

In chapter 9, I was surprised to learn that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism were initially quite similar in their monotheistic belief system, all people of the book, and how they have so radically split since. And how the Arabs had initially worshipped over 360 deities housed in a shrine in Mecca, now a very holy place for Muslims, and later Muhammad came and purged the Kaaba of its idols which reminded me of the story of Jesus casting out the money changers. As someone who grew up Catholic are familiar and also foreign. I’ve often wondered how people can make the time to pray 5 xs per day. We have a couple of mosques on our street and they are quite busy. Now I understand why. To practice Islam one must truly be dedicated. I was made uneasy by the sixth pillar the jihad of the sword. After 9/11 I so wanted to understand why they hate us so much. If one was truly a dedicated Muslim, and see the US as evil, they are given authority in the Quran to kill in order to establish Muslim rule and defend the umma from the threats of infidel aggressors. Given that the US is a capitalist society, and Islam rejects much of these beliefs, I can understand now that they indeed see us as infidels, and also aggressors in many Muslim countries. Muhammad’s death brought chaos and the split in to two factions: Sunni’s and Shia’s. It seems so many things can come unhinged when the charismatic leader is no longer alive or in power. I read why they split, over who the rightful ruler should be (Caliphs or derived from descendants of Muhammad). Seems so silly, but I guess I don’t really understand. I also learned that the Arabs invented algebra and shared the secular knowledge openly with others, and that women were honored, but only at half the rate!

In chapter 11, I was surprised to learn the Mongols had some redeeming qualities. I found it interesting that the pastoral peoples generally did not have written language, and usually the victor writes the history, but they did not because of this (although they were ultimately defeated by the agricultural civilizations). Therefore the history was written by the plundered. Although still gruesome in their methods, they did help to facilitate trade across the sea and silk roads, supported merchants (if only to profit from them), arts and crafts, and also develop diplomatic relations between Persia and China within the Mongol Empire. They also kept many cities running. In China they improved infrastructure, lowered taxes, supported peasant agriculture, and more. But it seems that most of what they did had a benefit to the Mongols themselves. They still treated people they conquered as second class citizens. The Black Death was just horrendous. I was shocked to learn that 50-90% of the population could die in an infected area. The letter Francesco Petrarch wrote was poignant and heartbreaking.

In Chapter 12, I enjoyed the way Strayer took the reader on a journey around the 15^th century world. Beginning with the remaining gathering/hunting people of Australia and North America, Strayer portrays these people as changed by the changing times, only much slower than the rest of the world, unaffected by the age of agriculture as they did not adopt these practices either because of abundant resources or lack of need. I was surprised to learn about the Chinese and their exit from maritime expeditions: how they gave it all up after emperor Yongle died, how really, they could have ruled the world if they had been as forward thinking and ambitious as the Europeans, but their egos got in the way. I appreciate understanding why Europe was so successful (seeking riches, converts allies, conquests, no centralized government, competition between states). The desire for money and power are the key to the European’s success. I enjoyed reading about the female Renaissance writer Christine de Pizan and her views on women and her lack of understanding about why they were treated differently. With the voyages into the Americas begins the destruction of so many societies and civilizations.

 

Chapters 7, 8 and 10

I enjoyed the way the chapter 7 started with the comparison of ordering a product online and then moving into how trade was conducted millennium ago. We as a people have always wanted what the other person has and will travel great distances to get it. The difference in trade today is that it comes to us at the click of a button from the comfort of our homes.

I also found it fascinating to read that goods were not the only thing that were carried to distant lands on the Silk, Sea and Sand roads: culture, religion, technology, disease-bearing germs, and plants and animals were carried along with these goods. Creating an interconnected web across deserts and oceans, mountains and valleys. Today’s web of interconnection is truly staggering in comparison, but ultimately has the same outcome but on a global scale.

I loved the story of silk and how it was produced. That “women were responsible for every step of the ingenious and laborious enterprise.” And the intrigue of how the silkworms were stolen in an “act of industrial espionage.” And how it became such a coveted and controversial product for its beauty and sensuality.

It is amazing that, despite geographic and environmental obstacles, and no horses or wheeled carts or boats, some things were traded across large distances in the Americas! Although not as prolific as trade in Eurasia, they still had an interactive web that stretched from the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi south to the Andes. Evidence that maize, a particular game with a rubber ball, certain types of pottery styles and architectural conventions made their way from the southwest US to eastern North America, as well as South America. Amazing considering they had no animals to help them.

Chapter 8 helped me to understand the influence and power China has had on its neighbors, as well as the world. The many ups and downs of the dynasties was difficult to keep track of, but it seems that their demise typically stemmed from internal discontent and mistreatment of the poor population. The interactions of trade, culture and religion among neighboring countries was fascinating. How they borrowed many of the elements from China, but still maintained their own identity. And also how China was influenced and changed by its neighbors, as much as they seemed to believe they were the sole purveyors of all things important.

Reading about The Golden Age of China really took me there walking among the streets seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, and smelling the wonderful smells emanating from the restaurants and vendors! This seemed to be truly the center of the world for trade, culture and wealth. It also seemed the most benign time for women as they saw fewer restrictions during the Tang dynasty, but as always they were stripped again during the Song dynasty. Then the awful torture of foot binding was introduced. I was appalled by the picture shown and talked with my kids about this practice and the twisted reasoning behind it. They were just as appalled as I. The silk industry was also taken from women, but on the positive side of the Song dynasty they did own restaurants, sold items, and had other work outside of the home. They were also able to control their own dowries and inherit property from their families. They were also encouraged to be educated by some, even if it was only to effectively raise their sons.

It made me chuckle to read that people that were not the same as themselves were considered “barbarians” and that their influence would corrupt their perfect world. I didn’t realize the origin of the word “kowtow” until I read this chapter! Throughout all of the chapters I've been surprised to read about the environmental devastation we've caused, even so long ago in history.
 

In chapter 10, I felt like a yo yo trying to keep track of the expansions and contractions of Christianity! I was appalled by the crusades…it amazes me what men can cook up and justify in the name of God. I was born and raised Catholic, I no longer practice Catholicism but it makes me cringe to read this. What incredible egos we have to think that everyone should think the way Christian’s think and do as they do, as the only right way to live. I agree with Strayer when he writes, “Crusading drew on both Christian piety and the warrior values of the elite, with little sense of contradictions between these impulses.” Strayer also quotes Bernard of Clairvaux that it is “good that you march against the Muslims, but anyone who touches a Jew to take his life, is as touching Jesus himself.” So, it’s ok to kill Muslims, but not ok to kill Jews… How is this consistent with Christ's teachings....Just sickening.

 

 

Chapters 3-6

The intro of chapter 3 compares the US with the Roman Empire and that historically, all empires collapse after they become overextended abroad, corrupt, and dictatorial at home. In many ways the US has become all of these things, with wars we are involved in abroad, spying on our own citizens using the excuse of terrorism as an reason to circumvent the law and strip our country of our privacy rights through the Patriot Act, and the many sex and money scandals of our elected officials. It does indeed make me wonder if we will end up like so many other empires. Putin seems to be gloating that he inherited Edward Snowden and many of the U.S.’ valuable secrets.

 Interesting too how the Roman empire was weakened by the influx of different ethnic and linguistic groups who controlled the weakening empire and eventually took over displacing the Roman emperor altogether, however the Chinese empire was disrupted by the nomadic peoples establishing “barbarian states,” but eventually assimilated into the culture and became ethnically Chinese.  I have read where it is much easier in countries that are homogeneous to establish laws and get everyone on the same page, and there is much more disagreement and debate in countries like the U.S. that have a large immigrant population. Not that I would want to live anywhere else, but relating it to history, this seems to prove accurate.

The discussion in Chapter 4 about religion and rationality was intriguing. The comparison of the rational, this-world focused Chinese and Greek philosophers, and the exploration of the unseen worlds by the Indian, Persian and Jewish intellectuals. All of them were seeking to define the meaning of life through spiritual or moral realm and all of these new ways of thinking focused on compassion. However, with the development of these new ways of thinking it also seemed to establish a ridged hierarchy and patriarchy. The Confucian answer of the moral example of superiors (men, wealth, age) to their inferiors (women, status, child) to show sincerity, benevolence and genuine concern towards those inferior to them, would automatically motivate the inferior to act with deference and obedience, turns my stomach a bit. I do agree though that gov’t officials should be chosen from those with good moral character and intellectual achievement, and not on aristocratic background (although it seems that only those from wealthy backgrounds could achieve the education necessary to achieve these positions in gov’t.) It also seems as though they were seeking work/life balance even back then with the discussion that a scholar-official pursue Confucianism during the day at his work, but behave more in the Daoist fashion when returning home at night.

I was hopeful when I began to read about the Buddhist belief that Buddha challenged the inequalities of the caste system, and also that he believed the possibility of “awakening” was available to all. But it goes on to discuss that with the formalization of Buddhism also came patriarchal rules and inequality, and it seems true of most  religions that once teachings were formalized, distilled, and mainstreamed, that class and gender inequality became entrenched.

In chapter 5 I was shocked to discover what an asshole Aristotle was! That women were just infertile males, and  passive receptacle of sperm, compared to domesticated animals or children, unable to be rational or participate in public life. I wish he was around to see our society today and the powerful women in it! I truly enjoyed reading about Pericles and Aspasia! What an enlightened man who could have taught Aristotle a few things about equality!

Chapter 6: The separate but equal definition of the Bantu people in Africa was promising to me and seemed to make for a more egalitarian society. It was less patriarchal  and they saw women as having equal value and as a valuable contributor. They also worshipped powerful female ancestral figures. It seems that  in all of these societies that once politics, and organized religion were introduced and established, women's status was degraded substantially. I was also disgusted by the amount of human sacrifice that went on in the Mesoamerican civilizations, along with their artistic renditions of these sacrifices.