In the next few weeks we will be discussing the impact of WWI on Ireland. Remember, Irish boys fought in the Opium Wars, the British-Burmese Wars, the Boer War and were stationed in British colonies all over the globe. World War I was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.” In addition, after WWI the British wanted to avoid conflict at all cost. Subsequently, 26 of 32 Irish counties will gain independence in 1922.
The following song–covered here by Boston’s own Dropkick Murphy’s–is a traditional one whose origins are disputed. It is similar to the American Civil War song “When Johnny Came Marching Home” and may be a parody of it or the Civil War song may have been a spin-off of this one. There is much discussion on-line and the Mudcat Cafe has a particularly interesting dialogue posted concerning the debate over when this song was first played.
Regardless of the exact place names involved in the original…the message is anti-war. I wanted to post something for St. Patrick’s Day and hopefully this song will remind you of the impact WWI had on the Irish struggle for independence.
A few of you mentioned this in class. The trial is being run by the U.N. world court on behalf of Lebanon—so it’s a little different from what the world court normally does, but obviously still a very important function of a world court.
This CNN video provides some background info:
Edited to add: Also, on March 4th BBC reported:
The International Criminal Court in the Hague has announced that it has issued an arrest warrant against the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is the court’s first indictment of a serving head of state.
Many of my IRL friends and acquaintances are pointing out that the United States is printing more money and using it to help alleviate our economic crisis. Other democracies like the UK and Japan are doing the same. So, does this mean we will go the way of Zimbabwe or post-WWI Germany? Isn’t printing new money always a bad idea? Well, there is a new economic practice (first used in Japan in about 2000) called “quantitative easing.” Sure, to me it just sounds like we are merely printing more money….and this makes me very frightened for our economy. However, here is an economist on CNN explaining the difference:
This is not surprising since Obama said “communism,” a word that sets off the Great Firewall. See full article here and once again be reminded of how free you are here in the United States. Remember also that with freedom comes responsibility and much of what Obama said yesterday was directed at you!
It is quite a challenge to find any unbiased news coverage on this topic as I’m sure you all picked up on as you were completing your vacation homework assignment, but this a decent summary of the United States’ position on the current war. Obviously, this topic will be a large part of our class in the upcoming months—of course we need to first tackle WWI and WWII both of which played a huge role in the current crisis. In the meantime, this piece will at least expose you to your country’s official stance on the matter:
This was the news a few days ago:
Embedded video from CNN Video
So, what is going on in the former British colony of Rhodesia? Robert Mugabe has been Zimbabwe’s only ruler since indepence in 1980. In recent years his administration has been accused of voter fraud (oppostion leader Morgan Tsvangirai appeared to win the presidential election in March 2008), destroying the homes and businesses of opposition supporters (as part of a program called “Operation Restore Order”) and an economic campaign (price controls and land redistribution that removed white farmers from their land) which resulted in widespread shortages of food and basic commodities. Inflation has risen 100,000%. Everyone is a millionaire, but it costs $1 million to buy a roll of toilet paper! HIV/AIDS is an epidemic and recently an outbreak of cholera. The average life expentancy in Zimbabwe is age 44.
Still, Africa and Zimbabwe in particular is rich in natural resources. One would assume that the value of these resources would remain consistent and help end or at lease alleviate the economic crises. However, this CNN report tells a different story:
For those of you who went to bed at a decent hour here are the speeches from Election Night. I can not help but think of all the people around the world who have suffered violence in order to force change in their governments, both past and present. Last night we were witnesses to democracy in action.
McCain’s concession speech—pay attention to 9:45-10:45 which is the closing lines of his address. We will be learning what McCain means by those lines in the months ahead.
Here is Obama’s victory speech—pay attention to 11:50 as Obama addresses the world.
The Absolut Vodka people probably thought they were just being funny when they released this advertisement last spring. Bloggers went crazy over this one and the resulting “controversy”—and I am using quotes here because as far as I know the furor was limited to the Internet—brought up some serious issues on both sides. When you first learn about the Mexican-American War it does seem shocking to think that the U.S. would steal more than half of another country’s land and add it to our own. Some even argue that present-day Mexicans have the right to travel across our border illegally since once upon a time this land was theirs.
On the other hand, think back to the conditions in Mexico in the mid-1800s. Think back to the strict, race-based, social class system that prevailed even after independence when the Creoles replaced Peninsulares in status and power, but little else changed. Think of 30 changes in government in the first 25 years of Mexican independence. If you polled the Mexicans living in California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas in 1848 would they be happy with the new arrangement?
What gives a country the right to own land? Is it military power? History? Inheritance? Or is it the self-determination of the people who live in that land? These are the questions that nations and leaders have been asking for centuries. In the 1800s in Europe the answer to this question was Nationalism…meaning people who shared a common culture and ethinicity had the right to their own country. Calls for independence from Quebec, to Puerto Rico or even years ago when Roxbury wanted to seceed from Boston and become the independent city of Mandela are based on this same prinicipal.
Lastly, what is Reconquista and is it working? Obviously not on a political level, but on a cultural one? We don’t perhaps see it as much here in Massachusetts, but think of the prevelance of Spanish language and culture in the southwestern states that used to be Mexico.
I teach world history to 9th graders at Weymouth High School in Massachusetts. I love my job because I love to tell stories---stories about history and stories about my life as a child of the 80s, stories from my wanna-be journalist days in Washington, DC and stories about my 4 children: Patrick, Veronica, Nora and Agnes. I also tell lots of "what not to do" stories about my dear husband, Jeff.
