Dickinson to Durban » Archive
Why Violence?
Explain the reasons behind the creation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Do you think adopting violence as a method strengthened or weakened the anti-apartheid movement? When Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military branch of the ANC, was formed in the 1960’s the anti-apartheid movement was struggling. The organization had spent decades fighting for their rights through peaceful protests but the government only became more oppressive. Eventually, the ANC felt they had no choice but to resort to nonpeaceful demonstrations. In Nelson Mandela’s statement in the 1964 trial he claimed that “We were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or to defy the Government.” The ANC also felt that due to the severity of the oppression the people were going to turn … Read entire article »
Filed under: Mosaic Action, Summer Reading Responses
Weather vs. Climate and Human Perception
How can we reconcile the variability of weather with that of climate? How does our humanness restrict our thinking? This question is most intriguing to try to answer, since it deals with the human issues of perception in relation to climate change and our own short life in the scope of this global change. This huge perception “stumbling block” could be argued to be the biggest issue facing immediate action towards policy making in favor of climate change mitigation. The book emphasizes this within the first chapter of the book, providing a human context for our understanding of weather changing from year-to-year and from generation to generation, as people comment on the milder winters occurring. However, the book briefly mentions that human perception can change in relation to how the CURRENT … Read entire article »
Filed under: Summer Reading Responses
Mandela’s Political Philosophy Develops
How did Mandela’s childhood and education impact his political philosophy? Mandela had a traditional Xhosa tribe upbringing in the context of his culture, but also found himself in many traditionally British education systems and with various non-Xhosa tribal members acting as guardian figures as he grew up. These diametrically opposed forms of education and upbringing helped Mandela to form the ideas he had about freedom, religion, fairness, and politics, he carried and upheld for the rest of his life. While reading Mandela’s own writing, I found his various personal traits and virtues to be a product of his tribes’ deep belief in these very same virtues. For example, Mandela describes various meetings with tribal leaders through his involvement with the ANC court hearings, which through vivid descriptions paint him as a humble … Read entire article »
Filed under: Summer Reading Responses
What makes a freedom fighter?
(In response to the prompt ” How did Nelson Mandela’s Childhood and education impact his political philosophy?”) Nelson Mandela was not always the man we know him to be today. Not every human is destined to become their country’s first African attorney, be imprisoned for 27 years, and later become the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize. Yet, however extraordinary the events of Nelson Mandela’s life were to become, they began in much the same way as many other poverty-stricken Africans of his generation. He, his mother, and siblings lived in small mud-walled huts without any of the modern amenities available at that time. Mandela spent his early years enjoying the simple games of stick fighting and meals of samp (corn porridge) and beans, while leaning to look after sheep and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Summer Reading Responses
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