Sierra Leone Civil War

Sierra Leone Civil War

After doing some research, it appears that the main cause of this civil war was greed and corruption, and not from civilians but from the government and high power officials.  Sierra Leone gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1961, and since then has seen government officials allow more corruption and  greed than is permissible and the entire government has dissolved. Sir Milton Margai, his brother and successor Albert Margai, Siaka Stevens, and finally Joseph Momoh all had a hand in the destruction of Sierra Leone. From the undermining of parliament and bribery of judges, to electoral violence and the collapse of the education system, Sierra Leone went from bad to worse. The other main cause of the civil war was the diamond mining and financial corruption. Sierra Leone is rich with diamonds, and should have been able to use those resources to provide financial stability for the country. “The presence of diamonds in Sierra Leone invited and led to the civil war in several ways. First, the highly unequal benefits resulting from diamond mining made ordinary Sierra Leoneans frustrated. Under the Stevens government, revenues from the National Diamond Mining Corporation (known as DIMINCO) – a joint government/DeBeers venture – were used for the personal enrichment of Stevens and of members of the government and business elite who were close to him. When DeBeers pulled out of the venture in 1984, the government lost direct control of the diamond mining areas. By the late 1980s, almost all of Sierra Leone's diamonds were being smuggled and traded illicitly, with revenues going directly into the hands of private investors. Momoh made some efforts to reduce smuggling and corruption in the diamond mining sector, but he lacked the political clout to enforce the law. Even after the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) took power in 1992, ostensibly with the goal of reducing corruption and returning revenues to the state, high-ranking members of the government sold diamonds for their personal gain and lived extravagantly off the proceeds.” (Wikipedia) 

The citizens of Sierra Leone didn’t have a government to rely on, so the rebel cause RUF (Revolutionary United Front Rebels) was an appealing option for many people. “The RUF took advantage of the refugees, who were abandoned, starving, and in dire need of medical attention, by promising food, shelter, medical care, and looting and mining profits in return for their support. When this method of recruitment failed, as it often did for the RUF, youths were often coerced at the barrel of a gun to join the ranks of the RUF. After being forced to join, many child soldiers learned that the complete lack of law – as a result of the civil war – provided a unique opportunity for self-empowerment through violence and thus continued to support the rebel cause.” 

It makes sense why these refugees and citizens joined the RUF; they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, they had a government that was destroying the country. There wasn’t enough food rations or resources to survive on and the education system had collapsed. On the other hand, the RUF was offering medical attention, food, and shelter; but at a price. These citizens didn’t want to use violence to get what they needed. But they had to choose between violence or starving. No option is easy but it makes sense why a lot of them chose to join the RUF. 

To me it just seems crazy that the civil war lasted as long as it did. The UN knew what was going on, the UK knew what was going on, the world powers knew what was going on, but still this civil war lasted over 10 years and left over 50,000 people dead. 

Revolution is not a Dinner Party

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party

No, it is certainly not. This book really has opened my eyes about something that I had never known before. I knew who Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao) was before reading this book and I knew that he was the leader of the Cultural Revolution, but I really had no idea what went on during and after the revolution. Asian history to me is really interesting, probably because we don’t really learn much about it in public school. I took an East Asian history class at Eastern that was very interesting, but the time span was just so immense that we couldn’t really focus on many details because we had to learn about so many different things. I wish we could have gone in depth more, but I found what I learned to be very interesting. It makes me wonder why we don’t learn more about Asian history in school. 

Ling was 3 years old when the revolution started, and was really just growing up as a young girl, learning who she was, who her family was, what she stood for, all while this revolution was going on around her. It seemed at first like the Revolution would never truly affect her. Her parents both had jobs, provided for her, did their best to protect her. Yes she saw what was going on around her, but I think as a young girl, she had an idea of the fantasy life she hoped to continue living, and unfortunately was not able to go on as she was used to. 

Its makes me sad to think about the relationship between her and her mother. I have a very good relationship with both of my parents. My dad was a lot like Ling’s. He always did my homework with me, took me on special Daddy-Daughter dates, bonded with me, loved me unconditionally. My mother, although very different from my dad, also loved me whole-heartedly. They both still do. My mom was always the one I talked to about my various adolescent problems, from boyfriends, to puberty, to which dress I was going to wear for prom. My dad was just always there to support me and tell me how proud he was of me. It saddens me to see the relationship between Ling and her mother because her mother, I am sure, loved her very much. She protected her and wanted her to grow up right. She wanted to raise her to be a good woman, respectful and independent. I wish Ling could have felt that, but instead she always felt disapproval from her mother. I think it was just hard for her mother to show love in the way that Ling needed it.

How hard the changes must have been for Ling. I cannot imagine my father being taken away from me, shunned by my peers, having my home invaded, having my big brother turn against us and join an army who was doing destructive things. I can imagine that Ling often felt helpless and at odds as to what she could do to help save her family and her self. Thats a lot of weight to carry and a very heavy burden for such a young girl. I don’t know if I would have been as strong as Ling, although I hope that I could stay out of much trouble and do my best to help my family. 

Chinese Cultural Revolution

Chinese Cultural Revolution

The Chinese Cultural Revolution, also called the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a social-political movement led by Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, in 1966. Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in order to re-establish his authority over the Chinese government because he believed that the Communist leaders were taking China in the wrong direction. He felt that they were moving too far in a revisionist direction and he called the youth of China to purge the “impure” elements of Chinese society. 

Previously, with the failure of Mao’s Great Leap Forward (1958-1960) and the economic crisis that followed, Mao’s position in government had weakened. He gathered a group of radicals, his wife Jiang Qing, and defense minister Lin Biao, to help him attack current party leadership and get his own power and authority back. He shut down the nation’s schools and mobilized the youth to attack the leadership for their embrace of bourgeois values and lack of revolutionary spirit. The movement escalated quickly and the youth started forming paramilitary groups called the Red Guards. The Red Guards attacked and harassed the members of China’s elderly and intellectual population. A personality cult quickly sprang up around Mao, similar to that which existed for Josef Stalin, with different factions of the movement claiming the true interpretation of Maoist thought.

WIth the death of Lin, Mao’s official successor, in 1971, the cultural revolution lost a lot of movement. The Red Guard was moved to rural areas and Lin’s brutal end led many Chinese citizens to feel disillusioned over the course of Mao’s high-minded “revolution,” which seemed to have dissolved in favor of ordinary power struggles. Mao died in 1976, after years of Chinses politics teetering between the two sides of Mao and the Gang of Four. When Mao died, Deng Xiaoping regained power and maintained control over the government for the next 20 years. 

“Some 1.5 million people were killed during the Cultural Revolution, and millions of others suffered imprisonment, seizure of property, torture or general humiliation. The Cultural Revolution’s short-term effects may have been felt mainly in China’s cities, but its long-term effects would impact the entire country for decades to come. Mao’s large-scale attack on the party and system he had created would eventually produce a result opposite to what he intended, leading many Chinese to lose faith in their government altogether.” - history.com

What is really interesting to me, more than the push for communist values and ideological purity, was who was really apart of this revolution. China’s youth was really the man power behind the movement and without them this would have gone nowhere. Its interesting because a child can be so easily persuaded and coerced, and even though they may not have known what they were doing, they would later be blamed and identified as part of the Red Guard of China that caused so much destruction and crisis within the nation. 

US Immigration

US Immigration Policy

There are about 11.7 Million immigrants living in the United States illegally. Fewer than one-third (29%) of immigrants in the United States are from Mexico. Roughly 28% are from Asia, 24% from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean other than Mexico, 12% from Europe, and 4% from Africa.

Moreover, contrary to some popular misconceptions, most Latinos in the United States (63%) are native-born—not immigrants. And 29% of foreign-born Latinos are naturalized U.S. citizens.

These statistics are interesting to me because when I hear of immigrants, I automatically think of Mexicans crossing the border illegally. True, this may be pretty judgmental and critical, but I think a lot of it has to do with the media’s portrayal of the situation and all of the laws and political upheaval that is concerned with Mexicans crossing the border and living in the United States undocumented. We only hear the bad stories about how these “illegals” are taking American jobs, not paying taxes, living off of our land for free, etc. What we don’t hear is that, in reality, they don’t use up our public services, they pay taxes, and they do a lot of the tough labor work that most Americans are unwilling to do themselves. Unauthorized immigrants are not eligible for most public benefits, and even legal immigrants are limited in what they can receive. Most legal immigrants cannot receive federal Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or food stamps during their first five years or longer in the United States—regardless of how long they have worked or how much they have paid in taxes. Like the rest of us, unauthorized immigrants pay taxes on their property and are subject to sales taxes on what they buy. More than half of them have taxes taken out of their paychecks. Households headed by unauthorized immigrants paid $10.6 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, according to estimates prepared by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Moreover, ITEP estimates that, if provided the opportunity to earn legal status, formerly undocumented immigrants would pay a total of $12.7 billion in state and local taxes each year. Immigrants do not compete with the majority of natives for the same jobs because they tend to have different levels of education and work in different occupations. As a result, immigrants usually “complement” the native-born workforce. That increases the productivity, and therefore the wages, of natives. Immigrants are also more likely to start businesses than the native-born. According to a 2011 report from the Kauffman Foundation, “immigrants were more than twice as likely to start businesses each month than were the native-born in 2010.” Immigrant-owned businesses employ millions of people across the U.S.

What makes me feel conflicted is that, on one hand, I think we need to stop worrying so much about the fact that these immigrants are here illegally, and start coming up with ways to make getting them documented easier so that they can become legal residents who feel welcomed into our country and can give back. On the other hand, it is illegal for aliens to reside in our country undocumented and I don’t believe that its ok to just let it happen. Maybe if we worked more on getting them documents before they crossed the border than we wouldn’t be having these issues.