Speaking Truth to Power

One of the most interesting parts of this weeks chapter for me was about the "Madres de la Plaza de Mayo", who were women whose children had gone missing  because they were the enemies of authoritarian states, causing them to "disappear". Although I had heard of this before, I have never studied Latin American history and my knowledge of it is admittedly quite limited. Because of this,  I was quite surprised that this was happening in the late 70's, and normally when I hear about this type of occurrence  I automatically think of quite a long time ago, and not as recent as the 70's, which is a bit disturbing. This reminded me of a film I watched in my Spanish class called "La Lengua de las Mariposas" which is set in Spain,  and at the end of the film many men were kidnapped at night because they were Republicans, but this movie was set in 1936, and I didn't think people would still be "disappearing" as late as the 70's. It was really interesting to read about how the media brought light onto this topic and this shows the power that media has. Once a topic as big as this is discovered, the awareness of it grows extremely quickly, and soldiers could not continue with how they were treating the women out of fear of the world finding out, and extremely quickly as well.I thought reading 10.2 was quite interesting, as it was "arguably the first rebellion of the digital age" and that the Mexican army could not do what they had done in the past, which was to get rid of them, which gave the Zapatistas more power and time than they would have in previous years.

The Terror

Document 9.1 was taken from the New York Times magazine, and focuses on the investigation on the event in the Southern Peruvian Highlands in which eight journalists were murdered. The people who killed the journalists, the Iquichanos, were accustomed to the amount of violence that was seen in the photos that were found, "That violence is the atmosphere they live in from the time they are born until the time they die" (page 304) While this obviously does not make what they did okay, it makes it more understandable. As evident form the photographs, words were exchanged between an attacker and a victim, and even though the victim was not armed, he was still killed. As the text said, this was due to the fact that they believed the journalists were enemies. The main reason for the attack is unclear, as it was suggested that the reason for the murders was the carrying of the communist flag, but there is actually no photographic proof of this actually happening. It is clearly stated that it was not the peasants who killed the eight men, it is the higher class citizens who were born in cities, who have so much support from peasants. Document 9.2 is an interview President Gonzalo where his idea  of violence is discussed. He appears to have no negative feelings towards violence, and believes it is necessary for things to run smoothly. "The need for revolutionary violence is a universal law with no exception" (page 306) and he also talks about how the two aspects of war are construction and destruction, and destruction must occur for construction to happen. Document 9.3  is the declaration of Fujimori. This begins with the opportunities that the democratic government offered, but they are being held back by other government branches. The goal is to move forward, towards "national reconstruction". This text is different from the previous two because it is much more focused on the people, and aware that they are the ones who make up the nation.

Power to the People

The importance of the radio proved to be very important way to connect people, and it "made the crowd into the people" (pg 208). It made a sense of community amongst the people, not matter what differentiated them, people could listen to the radio wherever they were, and whoever they were. I thought that "The Hora do Brazil" was really interesting. Since the radio was so popular and widely listened to, Getulio Vargas made all the radio stations in Brazil broadcast on hour of political information in the form of speeches, announcements and more. However, no one listened to it, and some stations refused to play it.  This is something that I think would still happen today, because when people like politics and free time to be separate events, something I would compare to ads online, which I think everyone skips because they don't want government messages or advertisements to interfere with leisure time. What I found interesting was that the only time that Vargas really had the attention of the radio was in his suicide note.
Document 7.1 was very skeptical, as it says in the textbook  that critics have said for a long time the The Times have purposefully chosen less attractive events in Latin America, and specifically written in negative ways.  This brings up the question of how realistic the the report of the event was. the reporter shows her biased view by stating "The Presidents acceptance was unqualified" and also when judging about how long it took Senora Peron to make a decision, and then not making an appearance on the radio. The reporter overall seems unprofessional, as I think reporters are normally supposed to be unbiased and just state the fats as they happen without expressing their own personal opinion.
Document 7.2 and 7.3  are different versions of the speech made by Peron, and Dawson explains that 7.2 was the version that was never actually said, likely because it was the speech that was written but not said, maybe because of the reactions of the crowd. In 7.3 the crowd is very involved, and the speech had to be taken in another direction to calm the crowd and please them.

Chapter 6

    I found it interesting that the chapter began with discussing the separation of cultures between the North and the South, and that America is " is often represented in simple terms, as a violent oppressor or noble saviour" (pg 181-182), and then is described "The United States has been a violent and often unwelcome presence in Latin America" (pg 182). This attitude of looking at the United States with both a positive and negative light is carried on in many aspects. For example, the discussion of Carmen Miranda, and how she became widely well-known in Brazil, and when she had the opportunity to go to the United States she gladly went and as a result left her home country behind. This showed the fact that the United States is so dominant, and draws upon the attitude that one is not truly successful until they have  "made it" in the USA, However, there were positive factors as well, as tourism in Brazil greatly increased, as well as attention to Latin America as a whole.

Document 6.4. I found this reading especially interesting, as it focused on Disney and the heavy stereotypes that are not only used in cartoons, but also comics and Disneyland itself. Starting from the stereotype of Mexico in "Aztec land" showing all the prototypes of Mexico, without showing the actual facts about the country itself. " Disney did not, of course, invent the inhabitants of these lands; he merely forced them into the proper mold" (pg 201). This reading also goes into detail about specific cartoons and dialogues  which show stereotypes of underdeveloped countries, and the feeling of prestige by the United States. The example that stood out the most for me personally was the very first one, in which Donald Duck is speaking to a witch doctor in Africa. This dialogue translates to the fact that Africa may have many goods (telephones in this example) but few are useful, as well as putting Africa into the mold of continuously being in debt. Luckily these types of cartoons do not appear to be produced anymore.

Chapter 5

This Chapter began by discussing the negative findings which can often be found even in the most seemingly positive things. "One persons boom was always another persons crisis" (141) is a quote that shows this outlook. This attitude is heavily drawn upon during the export boom, specifically the construction of the railroad in Mexico in rural areas, as people were not as obedient as was hoped by the people in charge. Though a change as dramatic as a railroad, which would bring many positive effects such as the ability to trade and communicate throughout the country,  there were also the negative effects which came with it, drawing back to the theme of the good being equally distributed with the bad.  People with seemingly more power began to take advantage of the citizens in rural areas by not only forcing them to do work, but also to give up their land, which actually resulted in violent uprising by these citizens. I found it interesting when it drew back to he interview with President Diaz, and that after he declared Mexico was ready for Democracy, and that people became extremely exited. However, he also contradicted himself by saying that the people are not educated enough to make informed to make important political decisions, which would make Mexico not ready for Democracy. The first reading, 5.1, is a poem from Ruben Dario about the United States of America. This poem starts off with explaining the attitude of the country, stating that they are dominant in terms of power, but finishes by sating that the one thing they lack is God. He also points out the lack f culture they have, and gives the impression that all the USA has is power and they are only driven by it, weather they have earned the right to it or not. "you are the United States, future invader of our naïve America with it Indian blood, an America that still prays to Christ and still speaks Spanish."(153) Though this my come across as admitting to being inferior and perhaps even shameful, it is also showing the value to tradition and heritage in Latin America, which their Northern neighbors have lost in the power ride.

Chapter 4

This reading begins with explain that President Diaz had ruled Mexico for an extremely long time, twenty-seven years to be exact. "For twenty-seven years he has governed the Mexican Republic with such power that national elections have become mere formalities." It is pointed out by the interviewer that in the United States it is considered a concern to have a President elected for three terms, when President Diaz was elected multiple times. It is pointed out that the worry of being elected multiple times may present a sense of entitlement, and the feeling that the country belongs to you if you have been in charge of it for too many years. Diaz points out all that he had done since the beginning, and how he had managed to stay in his authoritive  position for so long. Trust is a very prominent factor when electing a president, which President Diaz makes note of this when discussing other elections.

"I have tried to leave the Presidency several times, but it has been pressed upon me and I remained in office for the sake of the nation which trusted me." Also discussed is the new presence of the middle class, which was previously non-existent, as well as the hope for people, despite their diversity, to find common grounds as the government is democratic and unity is wanted. "When men read alike and think alike they are more likely to act alike.” I found the portion about the childhood of Diaz the most interesting. As he was exposed to hardship at a very early age, he grew incredible independence and grew up with the attitude that he could solve nearly every problem himself, which stayed there.

"He asked no-one for anything that he could get for himself." This may have been an attitude that he developed very early, and stayed with him to adulthood while he was president. Which is evident in the fact that he began when Mexico bankrupt and divided, and ended  leaving Mexico an overall safe country.

Chapter 3

I found it interesting when this passage began discussing freedom and rights with the following line “men are born and remain free and equal in rights,” but then it said that

"the declaration did not include women, and made no mention of freedom for slaves" It then goes on to explain the definition of what it means to be a citizen, which varies greatly depending on where a person lived. Because of the extreme levels of diversity in Latin America, it was extremely challenging to define a citizen, and if each person deserved to have the rights which were granted along with citizenship. It was also a struggle to determine if woman were to be granted these rights, even if they were born into a high class family, because of the stereotype that was engraved into peoples minds that woman were to be homemakers, even if they had proved themselves in combat.

Since lighter skin was considered better, people subtracted the amount of darker skinned people through intermarriage as well as reclassification. Something that I found quite interesting was the difference in the importing of slaves in southern and northern America. Slaves were much less often imported in the United States, as they were much more valuable to the their owners, and therefore were better taken care of and lived longer lives. In South America, slaves were very frequently imported because they lived much shorter lives, many died within their first 3 years of work.
The second reading is focused on the current state of Cub, and centered on the equality of the people. This is displayed by the line " everybody in the conservation of Cuban nationality, allowing everybody born in this land equally in public administration". As well as " Immigration should be free for all races, without giving preference to any". The third reading was slightly confusing to me. It started off talking about the importance of religion, but then explained the cost f joining the church, with special discounts if a person was ill. I found this slightly odd, as church is now free except for donations.