Terrorists Attacks on 9/11 has changed our society ever since. We are living in a new timeframe in which our government is deeply concerned with getting rid of the threat of terrorism that the United States along with the rest of the world faces. Ever since 9/11 the US has engaged in the War in Afghanhistan/Iraq. These wars as a result have brought much controversies, yet nevertheless are all a result upon the attacks of 9/11.
The Kyoto treaty or Kyoto protocol is a set of rules that have the intention to fight global warming. The Protocol was initially adopted in Kyoto, Japan on December 1997 and entered into force on February 2005. While many countries have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the Bush administration withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Treaty in 2001. Ratification means that a nation agreed to cap (limit) emissions in accordance with the Protocol.
The Bush Doctrine was used to refer what was seen as a movement of President Bush towards unilateralism. It was early announced by him after 9/11. However, about four years later, it was codified in a document, National Security Strategy of the United States, that shifts the U.S. foreign policy.
The Bush Doctrine states that we have the right to anticipatory action to defend ourselves and the right of preemptive strike against other countries that we think it is going to attack us.
Freedom Riders Bus Burned near Anniston, Alabama, 1961
In 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality established the Freedom Rides, in which Civil rights activist rode buses and trains from the north to the south to protest against segregation on transportation. Protesters were attacked by violent mobs, in which the buses were bombed and the protesters were violently beaten. After the violent attacks, the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered buses and terminals to be desegregated.
Freedom Summer also known as the Mississippi Summer Project was a campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi, which up to that time had almost totally excluded black voters. Many out-of state volunteers participated in Freedom Summer alongside thousands of black Mississippians. Most of the volunteers were young, 90 percent were white and many were Jewish. In the end, however, the Freedom Summer Project helped gain the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and formed the foundation for the newly emerging black power movement. Two of the most significant accomplishments were the creation of Freedom Schools and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
The Berlin Wall fell on November 9 ,1989 and represented the beginning of the demise of communism in the the USSR and more generally the world. It was erected to divide between East Germany and West Germany, after WWII, which were the communist and democratic sides of Germany respectively. Hordes of people from the East flocked to the West celebrating Germany’s reunification.
During 1970s, the United States experienced stagflation which is economic phenomenon that the unemployment rate and the inflation rate are high at the same time. Main causes for this stagflation were the changes in economic policy, the end of the Golden Exchange Standard, made by Nixon in 1971 and Oil Crisis in 1973 and 1979. It created a negative spiral in economy because price increases while income decreases and suffered not only people in the United States but also other nations especially country which highly depended on oil imports.
Image from: www.epips.com/djia/ 1970s-oil-crisis.html
March on Washington is a nonviolent civil rights movement happened in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. This march was led by a black unionist called A. Philip Randolph. The main purpose of this march was to call for the passage of a civil rights bill, on the other hand, this march was also aiming to draw attention on reducing unemployment, an increase in the minimum wage, and a law to prohibit discrimination in employment.
The March on Washington is an important event in American history. During this event, one of America’s greatest leaders; Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech “I Have a Dream” meanwhile, this event brought both white and black participants together to fight for racial and economic justice in United States.
“Axis of evil” is a term that used by the former President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002, he accused Iran, Iraq and North Korea of helping terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction which would potentially threat the safety of the United States. Thus, he named the three countries as the “axis of evil.”
This event was a start point of the civil rights movement. In 1955 in Montgomery, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white person. Almost all black people in Montgomery stopped using the public transportaitons. This boycott resulted in a crippling financial deficit for the Montgomery public transit system. Finally in December 20, 1956, the United States Supreme Court declared that Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses are unconstitutional.
