so entertaining

State-level analysis-

·      Emphasizes the characteristics of states, what states do, and how they make foreign policy choices.

·      Much of what goes on in world politics revolves around interactions between governments

·      Important: foreign policy making process: the influences and activities within a country that cause its government to adopt one or another foreign policy.

on edu and la

The problem of poverty in Central America is growing; this is due to such things as lack of education and globalization. A huge cause of poverty in Central America is lack of proper education. The majority of the people have not had any type of schooling.  Lack of education creates dependence, dependence on people to read for you, which opens the opportunity for people to cheat you.  The elite run the governments and it is in their interest to keep down the poor so that they can exploit them for cheap labor.  If the people were given the opportunity to learn and go to school they could possibly open their own business and sell their products at better prices.  They also would be more knowledgeable on which candidate to vote for in elections because they could read the information themselves.  The poor have little access to the means pf production or the final product; they are simply a cheap source of production.  Exploitation by countries like the United States has also caused Central America to stay poor. The more developed countries that send corporations down to Mexico and set up sweatshops to make cheap goods for Americans to buy, force the independent stores to close and the workers get cheep paying jobs in Maquiladoras because they lack the education to work for themselves.  The workers slave away barely surviving on the pittance they receive; they cannot afford to send their children to school and so by continuing their dependence on America and other EDCs.  The average Salvadorian lives on one twentieth of what Americans live on.  The majority of the rest of Central Americans live on less than two dollars a day and most are under the poverty line.   Costa Rica is a good example of a country that is emerging from poverty.  The leaders put emphasis on democracy, getting rid of the armed forces, and moderating the inequality of income, and prioritized heath care.  They are significantly better off then some of the other Central American countries.  In Guatemala the number of 18-23 year olds who had received some sort of higher education was one in five as opposed to one in three Costa Rica.

crunchy apples

Jacobo Arbenz was a Guatemalan nationalist and whose reform of the country alienated conservative wealthy landowners and the US, resulting in his removal by the CIA. During his presidential campaign, Arbenz promised to free Guatemala from its dependency on the United States and make it an independent capitalist state. Arbenz continued and expanded many of Arevalo’s reforms. For example: in 1952 he formed a program that would allow the government to expropriate uncultivated land to families.  The people who had part of their land taken were paid the in how much it was worth in taxes. To show how serious he was about land reform he gave a percentage of his own land.  The United State’s problem with Arbenz’s land reform was that he was taking land from the United Fruit Company. The UFC was the largest landowner in Guatemala; most of the land however, was uncultivated. Higher-ups in the American government, like the Dulles brothers, were important shareholders in the company and would suffer if the UFC pulled out or lost money. Arbenz was forced to resign and flee his country because he knew that the USA was sponsoring a coup d’etat.  A US supported military dictator, Colonel Carlos Armas, who replaced him in 1954.  This is just another example of American imperialism and globalization.

while you were shopping....

As a product of capitalist greed, leading to globalization, Latin and Central American countries have been kept underdeveloped to benefit American companies.  Latin America is full of natural resources like oil, coffee, and sugar cane and could be much more economically and politically stable if they were able to keep the profits of their production instead of having the US take it through their multinational corporations that have set up sweatshops in the countries. With NAFTA and CAFTA, USA companies can move to Mexico and pay the workers lower wages without having to worry about unions (they just make them “disappear”) or other laws as they do in America. The wages are low for Mexican workers often they have to look in landfills for food for their children. Another negative effect that NAFTA has had on Mexico is that the farmers cannot compete with subsidized American farmers so they have to look for work in the sweatshops.  NAFTA is a policy that further forces the dependency of Mexico on the United States for economic growth.  Though, it must be said that the United States has become dependent on the cheap products that are made in Mexico.  The US supporting leaders like Diaz and removing leaders like Arevalo and Arbenz, does nothing but detract from the development of Latin America, as Bureaucratic-Authoritarian/Military governments tend not to give up power easily or fairly, keeping Latin America in a constant state of coups and violence.

"to stop being a hypocrite and start living out what I believe"

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2008/1128/1227739082279.html?via=mr

Latin American politics for fun

The relationship between the former Sandinista Government in Nicaragua and the United States was not one of milk and cookies. The Sandinista National Liberation Front or FSLN, ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990; they led a revolution that was aimed at freeing the indigenous people from the imperialism and abusive capitalist state run under the Somoza government; they formed communal farms and nationalized land. They also, in 1980, started a Literacy Campaign and reduced the percentage of illiterate people from 50% to 12.9%.  The Sandinistas saw education as a right that all Nicaraguans had, not simply the wealthy. In 1981 newly elected president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, condemned the Sandinistas for working with Cuba to support revolutions in Latin America. Under Reagan, the CIA began supporting, financing, training and arming rebels, the Contras, to fight against the FSLN. The Contras were an armed group that formed to oppose the Sandinistas after the Somoza dynasty was overthrown. The Contras and the Somoza government killed about 81,000 people-mostly civilians from 1975-1981. The Contras attacked coffee plantations and other civilian targets; most Nicaraguans opposed them, as did human rights groups. The Contras were supported by the United States through the CIA to fight against the Sandinistas; at the same time the Congress of the United States was condemning their actions-rape, torture, kidnapping- as terrorist activities. The Contras employed such tactics as planting mines in busy roads, attacking day care centers, hospitals, bridges, power buildings and schools, causing major casualties. The plan behind sabotaging public civilian places was that it would disrupt the economy and government ideally resulting in displeasure in the Sandinistas. In 1983, Congress prohibited the funding of the Contras by the US. The Reagan administration ended up selling weapons to Iran and having the money sent back to the Contras in Nicaragua-The Iran-Contra Affair. In 1984, Nicaragua had their first democratic elections and the FSLN won with 67% of the vote. The US held major propaganda campaigns to try to discourage the Nicaraguans to vote for the Sandinistas. Due in part to the Contras terror rampage, inflation rose exponentially and there was dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in stopping the terrorist attacks and in reinvigorating the economy. The Sandinistas lost popularity in the late 1980s, and in 1990 the US backed candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro won the election for president. 

get global

The Maastricht Treaty was signed in the Netherlands in 1992 and served to create the European Union. The Treaty helped create the widely shared currency of the euro, making international trade easier and more efficient. The European Union is the successor to the European Community, whose 12 nations collectively created the biggest economic market in the world. Psh who needs sovereignty? we've got globalization!

more troops= peace......?

Somehow when politicians say that they want to end a war or create peace, they always mean add more troops to the area.
interesting: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1121/breaking88.htm

Alt Edu

“Education is a process of drawing out, not of driving in; that the child must be let free to develop spontaneously, directing his own efforts and choosing the branches of knowledge which he desires to study; that, therefore, the teacher, instead of imposing or presuming as authoritative his own opinions, predictions, or beliefs, should be a sensitive instrument responding to the needs of the child as they are at any time manifested.”

-Bayard Boyesen

good quote

"My advice: Take up yoga, lefties, because you're gonna need an awful lot of flexibility to perform the contortions necessary to explain and justify President Obama's actions over the next four years." http://www.mickeyz.net 

this is a start

Some might find it pointless and futile to not go to class because the prof said not to come if we did not vote. I could overlook the comment, arrive in class, think silently about what I believe and leave it at that. That's not how I roll. Not voting is a serious choice that I do not treat lightly.

I am an anarchist [I have been outed]. That does not mean that I throw bricks through random windows and want to violently destroy every microcosm of organization that exists. What I believe is that the system we have that is based on capitalistic and hierarchical ideas needs to change. Ideas are what keep it going, not it actually being right- it is the thought of it being right.

There needs to be true, deep, cleansing change, gutting change. The sort of change that does not come from voting booths. The very fundamental nature of the system needs to be redone. I do not have a blueprint for development of “the perfect society” but it is one where respect is given to individuals needs and consensus is reached on plans or ideas that should be implemented. I will, at some future time express my ideas of anarchism.

Even if you believe that the type of democracy we have is right, participation EVERYDAY is essential. How many years have politicians campaigned, been elected and then forgotten what they stood for? Most every time. They are not held accountable by the people who elect them.

I agree that this election was a particularly significant one. Having the first non-white president elect is seen by many as a massive achievement. People tried to tell me that of all times to lay down my ideologies this would be the time. On the contrary, this is the most important time to stand behind my anarchical beliefs. Close is not what I fight for. Close still disenfranchises people, still kills people, and tends to allow individuals to feel a false sense of success- leading them to believe they deserve rest.

Neither candidates, nor most any individual running for election, are going to attempt a legitimate end to the occupation of Iraq. They are not going to fight for a sustainable energy development, fight to end the rape of this earth. Which box do I check to end sweatshops? to say that I will only buy from companies that pay their workers a fair wage and allow union organizing to keep hierarchy extinct? There is not a check that can ever express that. I have a loud voice and I will run in the streets until we can collectively create true change. Voting is fear of exercising one's actual voice. Get out in the streets.

I know not everyone is able to participate in direct action or is comfortable being an activist. There are many ways that people who do not agree with militancy. Community actions like food cooperatives, volunteering with Food Not Bombs, tutoring in schools are all examples of such actions. Building a community and network is a highly effective way of protecting each other and gaining a voice.

Quite frankly we have reached a time where comfortablity is no longer a valid desire. I am speaking of laziness and expecting "change" from the simple act of checking a square on the ballot. If you believe that elections and voting are what will create a better, peaceful world and if you are going to vote, than vote and then (please) YELL! Do not shut up and wait for the next election. There are far too many people around the country and around the world who suffer every day from policies and implications of policies brought on by this system of government that I am begging to deconstruct. Speak up and don't shut up.

These thoughts are not articulated as smoothly or strongly as I would wish them to be. I am sure there are cavities in my ideas, but please ask me kindly and I will defend them, maybe. This is only a start, I have much more to explain and think about.

do not forget

I DID NOT VOTE

DON’T TELL ME TO VOTE IN A SYSTEM I DESPISE. THE STREETS ARE MY BOOTH AND MY REPRESENTATION IS MY VOICE. Allow me the small favor of simply listening to my reasoning.  I do not expect minds to be turned around or for you to expect re-formation of my values. In the next posts I will attempt a more rational explanation of why I will not sacrifice my beliefs to participate in this system. 

vote and shut up?

"Electoral politics dominates the imaginations of people in the United States to an unparalleled degree. Whenever the question of social change arises, one is always pointed to the ballot box: if you don’t vote, you can’t complain, which is to say, vote and shut up. One might argue that there is no more strategic target for direct action than the conventions, which represent the total hegemony of the two-party system."

I will not shut up and I will not vote-thereby giving legitimacy to a system that is not ideal. i am not a blind young idealist. do not stomp on me, join me.  you do not have to refuse to vote, do what you want but make sure you do not simply vote and shut up. yell when they try to silence your voice. acceptance is not democratic. 

if the system dont work build a better one

antirepublican antidemocrat if they self-destruct it'll be anticlimactic.