Thursday 1 December 2011

Ultra Nationalism and Crimes against Humanity

What are Crimes against Humanity? 


Passionate nationalism and very strong leaders can lead to excesses of ultra nationalism when one group of people commits crimes against other groups. When Japanese soldiers invaded the city of Nanjing, for example they murdered an estimated 300 000 women, children and men on orders from the ranks of the Japanese military. In closing days of the world war two, american scientists developed an atomic bomb. The US dropped two of these atomic bombs on Japanese cities. By the end of 1945, up to 140 000 Japanese people had died. Later on in the years radiation from the atomic bomb made people sick, and thousands more died. The cause for the thousands of deaths was leukemia and other forms of cancer. 


Naming the Crimes 

  • War crimes: Killing, torture or inhuman treatment; causing suffering. Directing attacks against civilian population or those who are part in a peacekeeping mission and humanitarian. 
  • Genocide: Killing of members of a racial, ethnic, national or religious group; causing harm to members of the group. Inflicting on the group conditions, calculated to bring about its physical harm. 
  • Crimes against humanity: refers to systematic or widespread attacks against a civilian population.Torture, extermination, murder, enslavement, imprisonment, and the crime of apartheid. 
These were written by the International Criminal Court, it was a permanent court that was conceived by the UN in 1988 and supported by many countries.  Even though the ICC is an international court, the countries that were supporting it believe that they are doing this out of national interest. The interest of all countries was the peace in the world and security of persons. So is bringing to justice those who broke the peace and deny people's security of person. 


Ultra nationalism and Crimes against Humanity 
Ultra nationalism can lead to treating people as if they are less than human and racism. A racist who treats a specific group of people with contempt may have taken the first step toward treating members of the entire group inhumanely.  Ultra nationalists may start by segregating the people they despise, forcing them to live in ghettos, and denying their rights as citizens. They may even be the blame for when things go wrong in the country, their culture is often destroyed, they were deported from their homeland or even murdered sometimes. A Turkish journalist was killed because he told the story of Armenian genocide. Racists are usually afraid of the truth. Genocide, and crimes against humanity are state sponsored acts of murder. The murders believe that doing this promotes their national interest. Though there are laws that exclude ethnic groups, condemn them to death may be a state policy. But the crimes are carried out by individuals and the victims are individuals. 


How has Ultra nationalism caused Crimes against Humanity?
Ultra nationalist sentiments and beliefs caused people to commit crimes against humanity, war crimes and also genocide. Some nation states approved these crimes and also encouraged and promoted them. In results of that, some ethnic nations have basically nearly disappeared. 


Genocide in Turkey in 1915 
Turkey was still a part of the Ottoman Empire. Islam was the official religion, but it did include many Armenians. Most Armenians maintained their national identity, culture and language and were Christians. The choice of maintaining and affirming their identity came in high prices, they would often suffer discrimination. In late 1800s, some Armenians started to fight for self-determination. But they lost, lots of Armenians were killed by the Turks in the after math. In 1914 young Turks an ultra nationalist political party that controlled the Ottoman Turkish Government issued orders calling for the massacre of Armenians.
  • Kill off in an appropriate manner all Armenians in the army. The military was left to do this.  
  • Carry away the families of all who succeed in escaping and cut them off from all connection with their native place. 
  • Exterminate all males under 50, teachers and priests and leave the girls and children to be Islamized.
State Sponsored Crimes
April 24, 1915 all soldiers started their mission, the killing of the Armenians. Armenian people were arrested, murdered, and even deported. Out of 2 million Armenians, about 100 000 survived while walking over the mountains with no food or water. France and Britain had said they would hold the Ottoman Government responsible, but nothing was done since most of the leaders had fled to Germany by the trials in 1919.

Recognizing the Armenian Genocide
T
his massacre has now been labelled genocide by many people; Canada was one of the first countries to support this. The government of turkey does acknowledge the deaths in 1915 & 1916 but it says that they were not planned. A British journalist named Robert Fisk says that the genocide of the Armenians, goes along with the plan that Adolf Hitler had made during the genocide of the Jewish people.

Famine in Ukraine – 1932 – 1933
Ukraine had been ruled by Russia for nearly 150 years, in 1918 they tried to declare independence and failed. Ukraine is known for its wheat fields and is often called the “breadbasket.” Joseph Stalin, once in power, said that all farming land belonged to the state and all the farmers had to work on collective farms. Many people disagreed with this and they did things like burnt their crops and killed their livestock. In 1932 Stalin sent all the wheat crops to Russia to get the money he needed to create the soviet army. He then sealed all the
borders in Ukraine, nothing could get in and nothing could get out. By 1933, all the wheat and grain had been seized and about 7 million Ukrainians had been killed or had starved to death. Everything was censored by the government, in fact he was being praised in some places, while innocent citizens were starving to death.

Recognizing the Ukrainian Genocide
The Stalin government denied that the people were starved, even after Stalin’s death. In November 2006, the Ukrainian parliament declared the famine plague genocide. Russia did not accept this. In 2003, the Senate in Canada called for the federal government to recognize the famine as a genocide, and in 2007, Manitoba declared it a genocide.


WHAT ARE SOME CONTEMPORARY CONSEQUENECES OF ULTRANATIONALISM?

Bringing Criminals to Justice
After the League of Nations failed to prevent World War 2, leaders were determined to find an international agreement that would preserve peace. They believed that peace was a part of every nation’s national interest. In 1945 there was no place where they could try war criminals, so the allies set up the international military tribunals. Ever since then the  UN has been criticized for taking too long to respond.

The International Criminal Court
In 1948, they began a task that took them 50 years. The establishment of the International Criminal Court. There were to main problems.
1.       How it would operate without infringing sovereignty
2.       Agreement on all the laws the court would be responsible for
In 2002, the International Criminal Court stature was signed by 60 countries, in 2008 there were an additional 45 countries signed on. The international Criminal Court runs independently of the UN and it only gets involved if the people being tried are not treated fairly.



Crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia

in 1918-1919 was when various nations in the known area known as the Balkans were merged into a single country called Yugoslavia. These peoples did at one point have many conflicts but as they both coexisted they tried their best to stay peaceful. The ultra nationalism is a huge aspect in affecting crimes in humanity. In the late 20th century, Yugoslavia was a very tightly controlled communist state. When the soviet union started to collapse in the late 80's nationalist and ultra nationalists became more important in their process of committing crimes against humanity. 

 Although in 1991 Slovenia and Croatia declared independence and Macedonia and Bosnia followed their choices in 1992. 

Serbian ultra nationalists and the siege of Sarajevo 

The Serbs formed an ethnic nation that everyone else should be expelled from Serbian territory. They called it ethnic cleansing which was a code word designed to make whats happening seem more socially acceptable. If a person for example one of the Serbs was to be to much of an ultra nationalist a lot would be changed and affected by how the crimes would be committed. Serbs were looked up to and non Serbs were very harassed. The non serbs were not allowed to meet in public places, move to another town without permission , or travel by car. 
Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia had once been a city that was interconnected and joined and worked together. But in 1992 the united nations security council warned Serbian forces to stop attacking Sarajevo or they would face military action. Even though UN peacekeepers were sent to the country and tried to deliver humanitarian relief and establish safe areas where people were protected, the killing still continued. The UN forces had been ordered to remain neutral so they could continue  to get food to the besieged city. By 1996 the death toll in the city had risen to more then 11 000. After the UN security council established the international criminal tribunal the milosevic was put on trial for genocide he died before the end of his trial. 

Crimes against Humanity in Rwanda

The country of rwanda was home to two ethnic groups involving the tutsi's and hutu's. Although hutu's had most the population majority the tutsi'd held most political power because they were favored by the belgians who had controlled the country when it was a colony. After Rwanda gained independence in 1962, cause decades of more pointless conflict. Eventually thought, the majority of the hutu's gained control of the country but the struggle between the two groups continued. The campaigned against each other hoping it would scare off one another because neither of the Rwandan citizens could neither write or read properly. In 1993 the UN sent a small force of 2600 soldiers under the command of candaian general Dalliare to keep the peace in Rwanda. But later on an airplane carrying president juvenal habyarimana was shot down. The genocide in rwanda raised fundamental questions about the role of the UN and how far it should go to prevent genocide. This genocide also helped generate support for a permanent international criminal court.

 Acting for good in the face of evil

Oscar Schindler 
Oscar was a buissness person who hoped to benefit when the nazi's invaded Poland. He became a member of the nazi party and a nazi spy, and he ran enamel and munition factories.  he employed more than 1200 Jews as slave laborers in his Krakow factory. Schindler did everything he could to protect his workers from being sent to Auschwitz death camps. He was very caring and generous. he spent his own fortune, made up lies and did everything else he could to save the jews. for his efforts the nazi's arressted him a countless amount of time whil e he even rescued 100 people who had already sent to the camps. By the end of the war oscar was very poor but managed to save many lives. 

   

 
  
 Feng Shan Ho

When germany took over austria in 1938 the nazzi's extended their vicous anti-Semitic policies to that countries jewish population. Many jews wanted to escape but they were not allowed  to leave austria unless they had boat tickets or enerty visas to other countries. But the chinese consul in vienna, Feng shan ho issued visa's to shinghai to jews who asked for them. As a result of feng doing this he lost his job in vienna but he still helped 18000 jews escape before losing his job. 
  

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Nationalism and Ultra-nationalism

What is ultra nationalism?
Ultra nationalism is very similar to the word "nationalism" which means to to have an extreme form of patriotism and effort to ones honored country. Now ultra nationalism is just more of an exaggeration of the word nationalism, which is how they both relate. It promotes the interest of one state or people above all others. Although ultranationalism in each state is different for certain reasons, it had the same tragic result when it came to war! These people who are strongly interested in their states well being are called ultra nationalists. Ultra nationalism is usually shown when opposed to international cooperation between states/countries, and being able to stay strong in your beliefs for that certain state/country! basically a type of patriotism that a person shows or just different types of nationalists that take it over board in a good way when it comes to being patriotic.


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How have people responded to ultra nationalism? 

Ultra-nationalism has an effect on all aspects of a country's life: economic, social, political, cultural, and spiritual. Ultra nationalists prey on people's fears and use propaganda to spread hatred.


Appeasement as a Response to Ultra-nationalism 
Before world war two, many countries that have already went through world war one and the great depression believed that not coming into contact with another war was one of their national interests. They hoped that appeasement was the best policy for them, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis began to expand Germany's territory in Europe. In 1938, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, French prime minister Edouard Daladier , and Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini met Hitler to discuss Germany's takeover of the Sudetenland. Before world war one took place Germany had controlled the territory, Treaty of Versailles gave it to Czechoslovakia. Hitler promised not to expand further. Mussolini, Daladier, and Chamberlain agreed to allow the takeover to go unchallenged. Not everyone thought that appeasement would be the right choice. Winston Churchill said "Chamberlain, Daladier, and Mussolini had to choose between war and dishonor. They choose dishonor; they will have war." 


By 1934, 58 countries, including Canada, France, and Britain were members of the league of nations, which was established after world war one. League of nation members agreed to help one another to take action and keep the peace. If one country were to invade another, league of nation members could


  • Use military force against the aggressor
  •  Impose trade sanctions and penalties on the aggressor 
  • Order the aggressor to leave the other country's territory 
After world war one, Italy suffered some of the same problems just like Germany. Promising to gain Italy's power and prestige again, Benito Mussolini, an extreme nationalist was prime minister in 1922 and soon also established himself as a dictator. Mussolini ruled through fear, just like Stalin in Russia and Hitler in Germany. His policy was instilling absolute lotalty and conquering other territories. They were angry when the Treaty of Versailles failed to give Italy control of independent African country of Ethiopia or the territory it claimed in Europe. In October 1935, Italian forces were ordered to invade Ethiopia. Italy and Ethiopia were part of the League of Nations, Ethiopian emperor traveled to league of nations to plead for help. But in response the league of nations called for trade sanctions against Italy. But this failed, many countries including the united states, ignored them.



1939- Germany was beginning to think that they could control everyone beginning with Poland. Canada began to talk about their national interest and began to think about the war effort that would need to be brought forward. Canadian citizens began to label countries based on their actions Germany was one of them they were officially named the enemy and citizens were under the impression, that Canadian soldiers were fighting for the freedom of man kind. Many men and women were beginning to enroll in to the army to help the war efforts and help bring mankind this freedom. To appeal to people posters were displayed everywhere to encourage the idea that joining would be for the best. The Canadian government began to believe that their was people using information against them, so they made a guideline that everything would be read and censored before being applicable to soldiers or families.
Along with censorship and invading people privacy, the Canadian government began to follow the ideas of Germany and the Soviet Union. They believed that they should this idea as well. It was a pro and a con because it began to divide people and the rest of society. Farmers played a large role in this because they were torn between two loyalties. Many citizens were more worried about how it would affect the rest of Canada, and problems did not begin to arise until the end of World War I.

A change in society was under way; many citizens began to believe racist thoughts towards other people more specifically other races. Japanese, Ukrainian and Italian people were being discriminated against. Specifically Japanese Canadians were rounded up and were placed in camps, which were similar to prisons. For safety reason the government imprisoned them to better society’s security policies. Due to the fact that the bombing of Pearl Harbor could be reoccur.

When all this was going on it was not just the Canadian government making changes the UN began to get involved in missions to help protect people’s safety and make sure that everything was being done respectively. The UN solved people from getting in wars by reconciliation between nations, and making sure that everyone was negotiating fairly. Canada joined this affect since they were strong believers in world piece. 


How is ultranationalism developed?


Countries in Crisis

·         Germany – After World War 1 Germany became a republic, but it was hit very hard by the Great Depression because it was still trying to recover from the war and having to pay war reparations. In the 1920s, inflation was very high and German money was worth nearly nothing. During these times the people came altogether to look for a new leader. That was when Adolf Hitler and his party were elected. Once elected, Hitler then abolished parliament and took over everything, he had all the power in his hands. Germany was at the top in everything: economic, social, political, military, and cultural matters.

·         Japan – Japan supported the allies during the world war, but they exported to the United States, Canada, and Europe after the war. Then after the great depression and a massive rice crop failure all the ultranationalists in japan started blaming the politicians. When Canada, Australia, and the United States stopped accepting Japanese immigrants, Japan was enraged. They invaded Manchuria to obtain products/ supplies. In 1937, the government was controlled by the military, and to top it off Japan was at war with its neighbour, China.  

Charismatic Leaders

·         Hitler – Hitler promised to put Germany at the top by :

o   Refusing to follow Treaty of Versailles

o   Rebuilding Germany’s territories

o   Reclaiming lost territories

o   Restoring superiority of the “Aryan race” (white Europeans)

All Hitler’s propaganda posters and speeches were carefully organized and planned. He had everything and everyone under his control.

·         Hitohito & Tojo in Japan – Ultranationalists tried to make japan into a one-party state that was run by the military. Emperor Hirohito was not involved in politics. Commanders of Japan’s armed forces made all the decisions and decided the country’s national interests. In 1941, General Tojo became Prime Minister, being an ultranationalist he promised to soon have Japan dominating all of Asia.

Instilling Ultranationalist Values

·         Ultranationalist Values in Germany – In the 1930s, German propaganda focused on nationalist values of the past. Hitler wanted to create a race that would last for a thousand years, but to do this all the people that did not qualify would have to be gotten rid of. This includes people like socialists, Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and people that had disabilities. All of these people did not qualify or meet the requirements of the “master race.” On a night in November known as “Kristallnacht” which means the Night of Broken Glass, the Nazis did the worst they could. Nazi thugs destroyed Jewish synagogues, buisnesses, beat Jewish people and broke windows. Then, not soon after that all basic rights of the Jewish people were taken away. Things like driving a car were no longer allowed for Jewish people.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

National Interests

How has National Interest shaped foreign policy?

A policy is a plan of action that has been deliberately chosen to guide or influence future decisions. There are two different policies that a government is responsible for develeoping both domestic policy and foreign policy. A domestic policy is decisions that are made about what to do within a country, while a foreign policy are decisions made about what to do with official relations with other coutnries. Decisions made about foreign policy's may have a short term effect on a small group of people or it may have a long term effect on a big group of people. National interest is the interests of the people of a nation.

National Interest and World War 1 peace settlements
Before World War 1, nationalism had flourished in Europe. Many people believed that the cause of the war was every individuals national interest. Europe believed that their national interest was in expanding their territory and forming alliances with other European countries, as a foreign policy. The more alliances that were created, the more countries that were involved in the war. Being in the war was not part of most peopls national interest, but it was a part of their foreign policy, so they had no say. They had to fight when they were told to fight. The person's national interest was not taken into consideration. The reason world war 1 was fought was over territory, sovereignty, economy, security, nationalism, and national identity. All these issues were discussed in the peace talks in 1919- 1920 in Paris, France. Since the allies had won , they wanted Germany to be severely punished under harsh conditions. As a result, Germany had to pay war compensation of $30 billion, give up its land in Europe, and they had to accept responsibility for all the damage that had been done to the allies. It wasnt a part of their national interest, but it was a part of their foreign policy.

National Interests after World War 1
Once world war one came to an end, many Canadians turned their attention to domestic concerns. The war had created an industrial boom, many returning Canadian veterans had trouble finding work. People's personal, collective, and national interests began to focus more on whats been going on at home rather than whats going on in other countries. The domestic issues became way more important than foreign policy concerns. Belgium and France, in debt, focused on rebuilding towns, farms and cities. Unity among the allies who had created the treaty of Versailles soon disappeared. A couple of years before world war 1, Arabs in ottoman empire had suffered political, cultural, and linguistic persecution in the hands of the ruling Turks. But during the war Arab nationalism based on language, history, traditions and religion had been growing. The Arab's goal was a self-government. But to further this dream, they had helped the allies fight the Turks and Germany in the middle east. In return they had been promised a independent homeland.

The treaty of Versailles wasn't the only treaty negotiated after world war 1. The other treaties gave France control over the territory and the peoples of Syria and Lebanon. While Britain was granted control over the territory and peoples of Cyprus, Iraq, and Palestine. Although the United States was not involved the united states president Wilson supported Britain and France. Wilson didn't pay attention to the promises or national interests of the Middle Eastern. The allies were concerned only with their own national interests. The growing popularity of the automobile, oil was becoming very important. And the middle east was rich in oil, France and Britain thought controlling the middle east would promote their nationalist interests. By having ready source of oil and securing trade with the region. But Arab nationalists through the region were very angry about what happened. Arab nationalists viewed these actions as a betrayal, they broke all the promises that were made to them. After the war, a nationalist party led by Mustafa Kemal set up a republic in Turkey. The new government refused to accept the European peace treaty and won Independence for Turkey in 1923.

Foreign Policy and Contending National Interests in Peru


  Foreign policy does not always benefit all communities that are involved on the negotiations. Much of the indigenous people's of peru land was destroyed after it was used and sold off for oil exploration and extraction. The national GDP for peru was 6600$ per person. The peru law say's that if indigenous people live in a region, it must be kept for the people's use. This law can be set aside to help contribute to the countries national interest, but in september 2007 the government of peru signed a United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples. This gives them to right to have heir own territories and resources they traditionally own.


9/11 and Canada in Afghanistan


     9/11 killed 2982 people in the states, 24 of these people were canadians. It was assumed that Osama Bin Laden and other members of al-Qaeda were behind the terrorist attack. United Nations came to a conclusion that it was time to go in and attack the taliban and track down bin laden. This mission was started in 2001 by NATO. The taliban government was banished and canadian forces were involved in the take down of the taliban government. after the down fall, Canadian forces stepped in after and helped with the new government on in Afghanistan.But when the american government got involved, they were reassigned to iraq instead of afghanistan, which reduced the size of NATO in Afghanistan. To makeup for this shortfall canada increased the size of their force and expanded their role to include active combat. this movement was very controversial, many canadians did not like the idea of this invasion in iraq.

Debate over Afghanistan


After much conflict, NATO decided that there was much more to do other than fighting. They wanted to put a greater self-sufficient society in that country. They also wanted to help the country to be more secure.  They wanted to help with economy, political progress, medical systems,  and armed forces within the country such as police and armies.  This was hard to achieve, the taliban forces were trying to prevent this from happening. by 208 81 canadian soldiers have died, and one dimplomat has been killed fighting.

How are nationalism and national interest related?

Nationalism is more of the nations pride and national interests is like the interests of the nation. Nations make decisions just as you would make your own. Those are dependant on the citizens beliefs and wants. Although your wants are important, your needs are 10 times more important in life so in making decisions you must consider what is right for you and also beneficial to you. Also including what would benefit your family and how hard or easy it may be for you to make the decisions you want for yourself. Nationalism relates to this how? it relates to it because nationalism is a groups involvement which in national interests also involves groups but clearly not as much. Nations are considered a whole, and their choices are considered to be similar thus coming to an agreement. these agreements cannot be made just by 1 person. But with the whole nation or part of a nation thinking about the most helpful and best thing to do, is when the real decision is made.

Aspects of national interest 

The main aspects are economic prosperity, security and safety, and beliefs and values. All these aspects that involve decision making are based on the thoughts of what a community or what the nations interests are. These choice are in the best mind to want certain benefits for themselves and their communities. The first aspect is economic prosperity which includes a stable employment factor and a decent standaard of living. Security and safety is the second and i definitely think this is the most important aspect! it mainly focus's on the measure to maintain national security physical protection including laws that protect citizens within the country. The last aspect would be beliefs and values which is affirming and promoting citizens values & beliefs. All these aspect are huge contributors to how national interests work and how choices are made.


Differing views of national interest

Many citizens have different thoughts of what a nation is and what national identity is. Thus resulting in different decisions and wants for the citizens of that country. Canada is a great example of what we call "peacemakers". They are armed forces that maintain peace by keeping enemies apart until a crisis can be resolved. I agree with this completely but other think that Canada is more of a peacemaking society. Meaning they allow soldiers to use force for reasons other then self-defense. Everyone has their different veiw on what canada is which creates conflict and that is where eiither where peacemakers or even peacekeepers get involved.



National interest and arctic sovereignty

National interests usually involve claiming sovereignty over a specific territory. Its almost like its a completion between nations and how strong their interests are towards other territories.  According to the UN convention on the law of the sea, countries tend to have sovereignty over 22.2 km of sea beyond their coastline. which i think is quite a lot! one factor in claiming these territories would definitely be the climate change. This one factor really works toward the arctic ocean whereas most the climate can differ from day to day thus causing to much of a risk for whoever may take over that territory. The climate change really effects the choices in who wants to take that territory or not. The 2nd factor is the issue of the discovery of extensive oil, natural gas, gold, tin and diamond deposits(which is really not likely but can still happen). There are so many different risks of having certain choices made, so making them as a nation really helps.










Tuesday 25 October 2011

How have people reconciled contending nationalist and non-nationalist loyalties?

Sports Teams


All the different sports teams represent a different contending non-nationalist loyalty. They are all competing against one another in a competition. All trying to be better than the other one. During a game or a sports competition they are all trying to win, but after the competition there is reconciliation and the people decide to co-exist in peace.


Voting 

This picture is a great example of how people reconcile contending nationalist and non-nationalist loyalties. Sometimes people may experience times when their nationalist loyalties come in conflict with non-nationalist loyalties because they both have different goals. This can sometimes result in alienation, so the people would have to pick one loyalty over another, or maybe even living/seeing their contending loyalty everyday can reconcile contending nationalist and non-nationalist loyalties.

Multiculturalism

In the above picture it shows stick people, all different colors, but all together on one canvas. The caption at the bottom of the picture reads "We could all learn a lesson from crayons: they are all different colors but manage to live in the same box." This means that even though everyone is different, they look beyond that, beyond all their differences and co-exist with eachother in peace.

Religious and Nationalist Loyalty 

Because of globalization and worldwide migration, our school includes many different religious beliefs. Canada is a civic nation, so people here have the freedom of religion guaranteed in the charter of rights. People that have a lot of different religious loyalties respect one another's beliefs and will coexist in peace. But it isn't always like this, some places around the world still come in conflict with religious and nationalist loyalties, but we're the lucky ones. People in Canada are respected and excepted for their religious beliefs.


Canada

Canada is a great example on the topic of reconciliation of contending nationalist loyalties. Just recently, the Canadian government released something called "The Statement of Reconciliation" which was basically an apology to the First Nations people of Canada. It apologized for all the wrong doings that had been done to the First Nations, for example the reserves and the residential schools. They wanted to reconcile with the First Nations people and be able to co-exist in peace with eachother.


       Multiculturalism


Canada is a great contributor to showing how multicultural nations can manage to work and live together in peace. Many different religions, being many different non nationalist and nationalist loyalties tend to come into conflict and not get along and/or agree on many things involving the country. Our school is a great example of multiculturalism. With so many different cultures, countries can be scared of segregation occurring, thus leading to less and less loyalties and more and more disagreements between those loyalties. But Because of reconciliation we can all live and work as a whole.


                                                                    Acceptance


Our school, crescent heights high school is a great place to really show multiculturalism and acceptance. Without Canada reconciling to so many different loyalties our school would not be such a diverse place. The reconciling occurred greatly with everyone being more understanding and knowing that alienation may sometimes even be a good thing Since we all came together as one we can call it a great place with great opportunities and a great complete loyalty.


Countries of Reconciliation

These 2 flags of Pakistan and India are two different loyalties who once were full on enemies and now accept each other for what they believe and who they are as different people with different rights. For non nationalist loyalties and nationalist loyalties to reconcile is a lot of work. Involving compromise and acceptance to each other and considering each others beliefs, it can be done! India and Pakistan are a great example of this considering all they've been through as enemies, and now being able to call each other friends. Both religions were close to alienation because of how Pakistan was basically trying to force Indians to change their ways and values to be more like them. Which once was failed caused both loyalties to realize the importance of multiculturalism and so they reconciled their differences and obtain respect for one another's beliefs.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

How have people reconciled contending Nationalist Loyalties?

Reconciliation is the act of resolving differences and repairing relationships that enables people to come to terms with past injustices and to coexist in peace. Nationalist loyalties is basically being loyal to your nation. Going along with the nations values and beliefs even if you do not come from that nation originally.

There have been many times inthe past when people have had to reconcile and come to terms with a contending nationalist loyalty. For example:

1. The Oka Crisis - In 1990, a group of Mohawks people set up a roadblock and a camp in a nearby woods  on the Kanesatake reserve. The Mohawks goal was to stop the expansion of a golf course onto the land that the Mohawks claimed as their own and thought of it as sacred. The Quebec government did not talk to the protesters, while the roadblock was in place, and as usual the protesters said no to remove the barricade. This went on for four months. Other First Nations set up their very own barricade to support the protest going on. Soon enough the Quebec government called in the army, over 2500 Canadian soilders moved in, and slowly started to cut off the protesters communications with the outside people. The protest finally ended on September 26th. Later on the federal government brought up the disputed land, and gave the ownership to the Mohawks. This left a bitterness feeling among the people of Kanesatake and other Aboriginal people.


2. The Royal Commision on Aboriginal Peoples - Prime Minister Brian Mulroney set up the Royal Commision on Aborginial Peoples in 1991 so that the government could get public input. There were 3 non-aborginal, and 4 aboriginal people to sit on the commision. There was one question they had to ask anyone they interviewed or questioned and that was: What are the foundations of a fair and honourable relationship between the aboriginal and non aboriginal people of Canada? After listening to about 2000 people, visiting 96 commuinites, and talking to many experts the people on the commision wrote a report, with 5 different volumes titled "People to People, Nation to Nation". In the end concluding that the policy the Canadian government and the colonial government had been using for the past 150 years was wrong. This showed Canadians a different view on the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people. It said that they had the right as a seperate nation to govern themselves while being in partnership with Canada.

3. Statement of Reconciliation - There was findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples led the federal government to issue a Statement of Reconciliation in 1998. This Reconciliation basically said how Canada is now regretting Canada's history of inhabiting Aboriginal culture, values, and also weakening the identity of Aboriginal peoples. The Statement of Reconciliation said "We must acknowledge that the result of these actions was the erosion of the political, economic and social systems of Aboriginal people and nations." After going through so much, for some Aboriginals this statement was a step forward, but for others it was nothing but empty words.


4. Land Claims - Settling land claims had always been a problem and a conflict between people. The first modern land claim that was settled would be the James Bay and Northern Quebec agreement of 1975. Only a few more have been settled, but in 2007 about 800 were still unsolved. On June 19, 2007 the National Day of Action was organized by the Assembly of First Nations, this day was all about the First Nations people to talk about issues that had become a bigger problem. Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said that the First Nations people were loosing patience and they were fed up with how slow the negotiations about their issues were going.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

External factors that shape Nationalism

The external factors that shape Nationalism are:


Historical

History plays a major role in the French revolution. The main event that sparked the French revolution would be the storming and destruction of the Bastille. The Bastille was a prison in Paris that the king used as a place to put people that spoke out against him or disagreed with him. On July 14, 1789 ordinary citizens of France took over control of the prison. This became a symbol of nationalism for the country. It showed the nation coming together as one, under one train of thought, and speaking up for themselves and showing the monarchy what it is that they wanted. They wanted to show the monarchs and the privileged estates that the third estate had voices as well. The takeover of the Bastille is now celebrated as a national holiday in France and it reminds the people of France about all the difficulties the people went through just so they could get to where they are today.

Social

This is where the estates come in, the first and second estate were privileged meaning they owned most of the land, collected special feudal dues from the peasants. The first and second estate also owned the best positions in the government, army, they enjoyed special treatments before the law while the third estate was the unprivileged class. Before the revolution the third estates opinion and voice was silenced, they did not have a say in anything involving the monarch. The third estate always wanted the abolition  of the special privileged, and finally they got it. The abolition of special privileged, declaration of rights of men, financial measures.. So the church lands were used to back new paper currency called assignats , church land was broken apart and sold to peasants for low costs, reforms of local government, constitution of 1791.. was a constitution for a limited monarchy, kings power was limited, and nation assembly makes laws, and religious measures.. civil constitution of the clergy, made catholic clergy, paid government civil servants and said that the church will be Frances National church.


Geographic

The geography of France played a role in the French revolution. The winter was cold and bitter and the summers were dry. There was starving people everywhere in the 3rd estate, while the top two estates were living lavishly. Since the summers were dry with barely any rain there was no way to grow crops to feed the people. The geography made it basically impossible.

Political

The monarch made and enforced all the laws, censored speech and press, levied taxed and dispensed justice. The end of the monarch was caused as the prussian and austrian armies were moved towards paris. After tons of riots and mishalves the king was accused of being in communication of the enemy and thus somehow it was ended. The political veiws also changed dramatically after the beheading of the king and queen. France was in bankrupcty before the revolution all because of Louis XVI spending to much money on himself and while doing so also refused to tax the privelged class. The liberty was changed to freedom for all people and equality of all persons before the law.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

What are some characteristics of a Nation?

Culture: The beliefs, values and ethnicity within the group of people in the nation.Their different cultures represent our muliti-culturalism and include the respect for all the different cultures. A nation will base their descions considering the people and what their beliefs are. Their values are what shapes our nation and its democracy. Different cultures may indicate different rights, for example the first nation reserves.


Language: A nation uses language by the way they interact and communitcate with eachother. The language spoken also represents the nation and if its a mulit-cultural nation just like Canada. Different languages expect different rights.
    Unity: A state or a group of people within the state, coming together as one. A nation cannot be whole without the people having some sort of unity. Unity is like a group of people having the same mind set, feelings and beliefs.  

Patriotism: Patriotism is showing love, and pride for your country. Being patriotic and loyal to your country brings the people in the nation together and forms a unity. A major example for patriotism is the people who decide to fight and risk their lives for their country.

Sovereignty: Is being independent and having the authority to govern your own nation. The decisions are made depending on the unity and people within the nation.