Author Archives: cha

Movements in the 1960s and 1970s

by cha

feminist-med-hammare

During 1960s and 1970s, many changes occurred in the U.S. In fact, By 60s a variety of values were standardized by the society. For example of gender role, Men and Women’s roles are predetermined by the social gender definition. Also, education system played a role to form such a gender role. However, the socially standardized concepts changed in the 70s. After World War II, various groups began to express their needs; accordingly, the society became more complex one where the various inter-relationships were mixed together. As a variety of changes appeared spontaneously, people got confused with the standardized ideas and started to discuss in an open places.

Zinn, in his book, introduces Betty Friedan as a pioneering, strong and influential feminist at that time. In fact, Friedan was one of the representatives who led the women’s movement in the 60s by her book “The Feminine Mystique.” According to her book, the life of middle class housewives of 60s was like:

Just what was the problem that has no name? What were the words women used when they tried to express it? Sometimes a woman would say “I feel empty somehow . . . incomplete.” Or she would say, “I feel as if I don’t exist.” Sometimes…. “A tired feeling … I get so angry with the children it scares me. … I feel like crying without any reason.”

Using this quote, Zinn points out that since women in the 60s did not have choice to speak up and actively work with men, they had to give up all the dreams and concentrate on their families. Therefore, loss of meaning of life led them to feel empty and that was motivation to provoke another women movement.

Entering 70s, the women movement took place all over the places by the women who had opinion to speak up and stand up in the society and brought out the result. The movement led a lot of women to begin to decide not giving up their dreams and not sacrificing themselves for their families.  As the result, they started organizing their own union and insisted equal opportunity with men. Zinn introduces one of the women’s opinions that represented the 70s’ circumstance, Dorothy Bolden.

In 1970, Dorothy Bolden, a laundry worker in Atlanta and mother of six, told why in 1968 she began organizing women doing housework, into the National Domestic Workers Union. She said: “I think women should have a voice in making decisions in their community for betterment. Because this woman in the slum is scuffling hard, and she’s got a very good intelligent mind to do things, and she’s been overlooked for so many years. I think she should have a voice.”

As you can see, throughout her saying, how actively women started to express their needs regardless where they are and what they do. However, women’s voice was not limited in social rights. They started to express the suppressed unfairness that had never revealed for a long time for the reason of shame and embarrassment. Zinn says that one of the most influential book disclosing to the public about the women’s biological issues was “The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective called Our Bodies, Ourselves.” According to Zinn, this book contained ”an enormous amount of practical information, on women’s anatomy, on sexuality and sexual relationships, on lesbianism, on nutrition and health, on rape, self-defense, venereal disease, birth control, abortion, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause.”

Consequently, this movement brought out result in a political way. In 1967,  President Johnson signed an executive order banning sex discrimination in federally connected employment, and in the years that followed, women’s groups demanded that this be enforced.  

“The Eisenhower Doctrine” (1957)

by cha

 

SEC. 4. The President should continue to furnish facilities and military assistance, within the provisions of applicable law and established policies, to the United Nations Emergency Force in the Middle East, with a view to maintaining the truce in that region.

 

 

First of all, the Eisenhower Doctrine seems to arise from one of the political methodologies to restrain Communism spreading around the world. As the result, this Doctrine shows how several western countries including Israel perceive the Communism in the Middle East and stop the movement that might affect the Western Europe countries. However, it seems to be that economic conspiracy behind politics.

As the SEC. 4. says, the United Nations led by several western countries needed justifications to set up military basis to restrain the Communism movement in the Middle East since they thought the movement might have invaded into not only western countries but also the United States territories.

Also, after occupying Egypt, which was part of restraining Communism in the Middle East, since Israel refused to withdraw troops from the area that might cause serious confliction between middle east countries and Israel, the Eisenhower Doctrine seems to be a good justification or EXCUSE for the US government to resolve all the political issues at once and set up military facilities in the Middle East.

There are mostly economic benefits based on ideological and political disputes because there is always disputes where people want economic advantages. This Doctrine also seems to be political policy. However, one nation or organization set up in a specific area, which sometimes means they can keep extracting all kinds of resources like oil. Therefore, the Eisenhower Doctrine was also an excuse to invade into Middle East and keep gaining economic advantages.

 

Django from Slavery to Capitalism

by cha

In my point of view, this film deals with changes in social class and capitalism throughout Django’s life. When Django was captured as a slave, what he had to worry about was his destination as a slave and what he had in his mind was anger to slavery. That is, he did not have any chance to know about where and how slavery came from. However, since he works together with Dr. King Schultz, Django gets to realize that money determines slavery and social class; furthermore, slavery also derives from the capitalism. As he gets to know more and more about how capitalism moves people’s mind, the recognition plays a big role in his life.

Even though there are some scenes that describe the procedures how Django earns money and utilize the money, the most representative scene is when he escapes from cage after he gave up to save his wife. Because he knew that the three guys who transport all the slaves including Django would like easy money by killing the wanted, utilizing their minds, he could have escaped from the cage and had another opportunity to save his wife and revenge all the people who have faith in slavery. Consequently, I believe the director seems to depict that the process that one person knows what money works in the society plays the most important role to break the slavery in the film.