Southern Africa Current Event (3)

Annan, Carter and Machel's Zimbabwe visit blocked

The condition of Zimbabwe has continued to collapse. The political infighting has increased, along with a near total collapse of utilities and amenities. This has prompted a survey visit from three representatives of the U.N to asses the humanitarian crisis. However, Zimbabwe has banned and blocked the three people and stopped their visit. The three people, known as experienced politicians are former President Jimmy Carter, former U.N secretary General Kofi Annan, and the wife of Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel. The reason for this injustice was printed in a government owned paper, The Herald. "The visit has been deemed a partisan mission by a group of people with partisan interests." This small snippet of text pretty much sums up the government's argument, and those of the Zimbabwean politicians concerning the U.N. So by banning the U.N visit, a dying nation has thrown down the gauntlet. What is to come in the next few days will be closely watched.

I believe this is news for few reasons. The first and most prominent reason is "unexpectedness." No one at all expected these respected people to be banned from a country. The story is also relevant, and it is about a conflict that has been raging for a while now between the political icons. It is also "bad news" for the people of Zimbabwe. 

Government and Economy of Southern Africa.

The development of a true African Government began shortly after the Apartheid was abolished. This happened primarily because of economic sanctions against Africa, and the general movement of people beginning to realize how unfair the Apartheid really was. One of these people was Nelson Mandela, a young activist who was imprisoned for protest. This is the same man who would eventually shape South African politics, win a Nobel Peace Prize, and become a hero, after twenty-six years of imprisonment. 

As to the countries themselves, alot of them were incredibly dependent of the Afrikaans and Europeans for support. This was because it was the trade the Europeans brought that created the Southern African economy. The only nation that stayed strong after the Apartheid ended was South Africa. It had a vast amount of resources, a stable government, and the initiative to lead development in Southern Africa. Meanwhile, small kingdom countries like Lesotho and Swaziland became dependent on South Africa , supplying mineral resources, food crops, and labor for the developing economy. Other countries like Namibia, the Comoros, and Madagascar are rich in resources, but have an unstable government, resulting in a failing economy. One success story is Botswana, which managed to establish a stable government and pull through the chaos that came after the Apartheid. Overall, Southern Africa has many problems facing it in the near future. It's a conflict loaded with resources people have been attempting to control for many generations. It is going to be difficult, but with the current rate of development, Southern Africa can pull through the problems to a better and brighter future. 

Feedback November 10-14

The main visual elements of this cartoon are the black Africa, and the giant footprint cutting across most of the country. I believe that this cartoon is about the colonization and subsequent draining of resources that occured in Africa. Also about how the spirits, the country, the people, and the culture of Africa was crushed by a "White" opressive foot. Therefore I'd have to say that the cartoonist dislikes the colonization of Africa. My support comes from the contrast between black and white, also from how the foot has left a desert-like mark, indicating that the people were crushed.  The image kind of gives of the feeling of Africa being used up. Kind off like a doormat that everyone crushes and wipes their feet on. I guess this is actually an effectively used propaganda technique. If I could do one thing better, I would add a caption. It would probably be confusing to other people who aren't studying imperial and colonialism. 

History and Culture of Southern Africa

As long as 2000 years ago, the African people were hunter gatherers who were divided into many ethnic groups. These people, called Khoisan, were intruded upon by the Bantu people migrating from West and Central Africa. This mix combined cultures, something that would happen more with the European invasion of Africa. One race, the Shanu, constructed a magnificent stone walled city called New Zimbabwe. As the population grew, Great Zimbabwe became a trading center and capitol of known South Africa. It’s trade routes were said to encompass the Indian Ocean trade network. In fact, it was the wealth obtained through trade that made the Europeans invade Africa. Countries like Germany, Netherlands and the French created small colonies, and yet again the cultures were intermingled. This resulted in a new language called Afrikaans which influenced language development. Violent countries like the British established claim and made war over land owned by tribes, one of which were the Zulu. By the 1900’s, the Afrikaners, descendants of Western colonists, controlled the government. They established racist policies called apartheid which divided people into four racial subgroups. These groups were allocated better or worse resources depending on race. However, the Africans struggling to throw off racism caused by the Europeans achieved freedom in 1980. They put back together their culture, which combined Christianity, many languages created by Afrikaneers, and holidays and festivals from many diffrent ethnicities.

The Scramble for Africa

While other countries fought it out for territory of questionable value, we attempted to claim territory wanted by other countries. Using this territory, we gained the upper hand in peaceful negotiations over land that we wanted. Also, using this bargaining chip, we would form alliances, like our deal to take over Botswana with Portugal. Our deals were often complicated and sometimes backfired, like us gaining only three squares in South Africa. These constant negotiations prevented other countries from attempting to take our land, and also let us slowly claim more territory to bargain with. When we first laid out our plan, we were looking for the resources mentioned in the note in African Countries. In particular, zinc, iron and copper. We also checked if other countries wanted that area, and if so, was there a way we could work together to get the best out of the territory instead of fighting. We also prioritized our claims of land, so valuable countries were captured first. 

I think that France won the Scramble for Africa. They were looking for iron, diamonds, zinc and petroleum, and managed to secure massive amounts of all but petroleum. The also used an effective strategy of taking over South Africa and moving upwards. They claimed a lot of coastline, which was valuable land, and Madagascar, an island with a gigantic amount of disposable resources. I think that Great Britain did the worst out of all the countries. It started out promising, but did not manage to secure any of it's resources. Also, the third objective to control the Suez Canal was thwarted, and the territory divided. On top of all that, they also didn't manage to subdue the french. 

South Africa Current Event (2)

iafrica.com | news | sa news SA's low life expectancy

This link links to a news article regarding the life expectancy of Africans on iAfrica.com, an african news source. 

The basic story in the article is the declining life expectancy of the African people in Africa. It has dropped so low, that its lower then the expectancy of war-ravaged Iraq. The world average life expectancy is men-65 years and women-70. However, in Africa it's fallen to men-52 and women-54. It gets even worse. In South Africa, it has lost another three points leaving at men-49 and women-50. This information was gathered by the United Nations Population Fund on Tuesday. Also in the report was information stating that The Hiv Infection rate is fourteen percent in males, and twenty one percent among women. On top of that, the birth ratio is wildly out of check, resulting in twenty three babies born for a thousand teenage girls. Overall, Southern Africa has to get it's death and birth rates in check if it wants to survive as a developing/developed country. 

This article can be considered news for a few reasons. Firstly is Impact, because this article deals with lives of South Africans, and how it's going to affect their lifestyle. Also Magnitude, because it doesn't deal with just one South African, it deals with ALL South Africans. Third is Timeliness, because the report dealing with this issue was released only two days ago. It also refers to something negative, in this case, the horrible life expectancy of South Africans, which is a bit unexpected. 

Physical Geography of South Africa

Southern Africa is mineral rich region of intense physical contrast. If you were to walk across South Africa, you would see plateaus, mountains, rivers, and vast deserts. It is on these elevated plateaus deserts that the African people have adapted to survive. Most of the region is located on these grassy plains, with mountains like the Drankensburg and Inyaga separating them into different countries. Other inabitants of these plains are a variety of animals such as lions, tigers, elephants, gazelle, and antelope. Crisscrossing down from the mountians of Centeral Africa are many rivers vying from control over the main plataeu. They almost all empty into the Indian Ocean. It's believed that once rivers like these flowed through the arid deserts like the Namib, resulting in heavy mineral deposits from times past. This wealth is shown in coal, platinum, copper, uranium and iron ore. So overall, the region of South Africa houses rich minerals, diverse cultures, and a variety of geographic features.

Feedback November 11th

Can we trust the truthfulness of "To Be A Slave?"

I believe that we can for a few reasons, the first one being that the book was published under "history" in the first place. If the editor didn't think that the information in the book was credible he wouldn't have published it in the first place. The second reasons is that the reviewers have commented on the truthfulness, "This [To be A Slave] is how it was-a powerful chronicle of tragedy skillfully assembled from the eloquent slaves themselves..." Let me continue with the fact that this book is the winner of countless awards, one of which is the Newbery Honor Book Award. It also appears that Mr. Lester was a deeply motivated historian, with a lot of his books dealing with ideas about race and African culture. In conclusion, I believe that Mr. Lester is a credible author for three reasons. The first was that the boook was published in the first place, the second is that critics believe it's truthful, and finally that Mr. Lester was a historian and all his books deal with African Culture.

South Africa Current Event (1)

SADC leaders fail to break Zimbabwe impasse.

This link links to an article found on NewZimbabwe, an online Zimbabwean news network. 

The article talks about how, yet again, the South Asian Development Council has failed to end hostilities between President Mugabe and opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The old attempt at equality, a power sharing deal between the two, has collapesed in a dispute of control over the powerful Home Affairs Office. The two stand at opposite ends of the spectrum. Even with eminent speaker President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa leading the approach, committee members failed to organize a strategy to heal the rift.  Meanwhile, the inflation rate of Zimbabwe is still rising, and coupled with a breakdown of basic services has led to complete panic across the capitol. So while a country slowly tears itself apart, it's two most powerful leaders spend their time bickering.

This news is relevant for a few reasons.  The first one is Impact, because if this problem is not sorted out, its going to change the lives of many Zimbabweans for the worse. Also Conflict, because apparently, the rivalry between Mugabe and Tsvangirai  has been going on for a while.  Timeliness and Relevance are also legitimate reasons, because this story affects almost all of the "local" community in Zimbabwe, and the story is pretty recent, and is still going on. 

Five Themes of Geography

Image taken from http://www.interstate-guide.com/

I think that this photo (above) has all five of the themes of geography. The first theme is movement, and the cars and motorcycles in the picture are moving, carying ideas, to New York. They move along asphalt and cement roads which were created by clearing out the environment in that area. The point mentioned before is an example of the third theme (H/E interaction). You can tell these cars and infrastructure are part of the western region because the writing is English and the state of New York is in the USA. This is also part of the location. The full location is probably somewhere on one of the boulevards coming into NYC. The photo is connected to many overlapping regions of culture. The first major one is of the USA and New York State. On a broader scale, the "West" and on a smaller scale, Interstate 95. This place is unique from all the other places for a few reasons, the first being that it is located in New York instead of anywhere else. Also it has a special type of sign that was discontinued from use shortly after all the intestates leading into New York Area were completed. 

All the above covers, M.R. HE.L.P.

Feedback October 27-31

"Violence leads to more Violence."
Well, most of the time this statement is true, because human beings react solely on danger, but it can also be wrong. For instance, there are times when swift and necessary action have saved the day. However, even swift action can lead to violence, for example in Julius Caesar, Brutus believed that assassinating Caesar would free Rome. Instead, this small act caused a full scale revolution and civil war. The death of Cinna the Poet is also a good example. A man who had nothing to do with the conspiracy to kill Caesar was murdered to quench the bloodlust of the rioters. Also, going back in American history, a blacksmith threw a rock at a American boy. The result of this puny act was the Boston Massacre. Even today, in the modern social environment we exist in, a threat is always responded to with another threat. The terrorist attack of 9/11 and from there straight to the Iraq War. In places where this statement is wrong, the death of Adolf Hitler lead to the freedom of Europe and Germany. So in my opinion this statement is mostly true, and only sometimes, in the presence of great individuals, wrong.