Islamic feminism

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/11/2010111813029420433.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2011/03/2011318326616845.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2011/02/201121472514918558.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/02/201122852528240117.html

chapter 21

Europe history contributed to the First world war:
Italy and Germany joined territories into two major new powers
Germany and France war
Germany wanting to become industrialized became a new political problem in Europe


New Departures in the history of the 20th century
women supported their countries war efforts
war mocked the enlightenment values of progress, tolerance, and rationality
New states were formed in Central Europe and based upon the concept of "national self-determination"
In Russia, a revolution upheaval brought Bolsheviks to power and took Russia out of the war
World communism was launched and played a large role in the 20th century
War echoed to Asian and African men
United states was brought to the center of global power

The great depression was a global phenomenon
unemployment soared everywhere
Germany and the United States reached 30 percent or more
vacant factories, soup kitchens, bread lines, shantyowns, and beggars came to symbolize the human reality of this economic diaster
Germany and Austria borrowed extensive money from the U.S.
Britain and France were also indebted to the US
Brazil destroyed enough coffee crops
colonial southeast Asia supplied rubber and experienced a large export drop

Facism challenges the ideas and practices of European liberalism and democracy
violence against enemies was condoned and action was exalted rather than thought and reflection
individualism, Liberalism, feminism, parliamentary, democracy and communism were condoned which all divided the nation

Chapter 20-colonial encounters

It was interesting to read the different ways the colonial takeover of Asia and Africa occurred. Europeans preferred informal social control because it was cheaper and less likely to provoke a war. Although, when needed the Europeans did take the risk of conquest and outright the colonial rule. The motives for Europeans were shaped by the military and economic power that came with the Industrial Revolution.

India and Indonesia grew out of earlier interaction with European trading firms. The Mughal Empire lacked united to begin with leading the Europeans to a successful colonization.

Furthermore, it was also interesting to read the how people benefited from the colonial regime. For example, many men found employment, their status in society changed, and they had security in European-led armed forces. European education was promoted. A few were able to return back home as doctors, lawyers, doctors, engineers, or journalists. Additionally, there was also cons that came along with the colonial regime. The Muslims and Hindus did not want to convert to Christianity. Also, local rulers lost power, landlords were deprived of their estates or their rents, and peasants overtaxed and exploited by urban moneylenders.

Moreover, it was fascinating to read how the power of the colonial states transformed the economic lives of colonial subjects by not paying people for labor on public projects, such as building railroads, constructing government buildings, and transporting goods.

Segments of Slavery

The Impact of the Slave Trade in Africa p. 455
Western African economies were increasingly connected to the European world
African population was decreasing
Africans who benefited most from the traffic  were not investing in the productive capacities of African societies
African authorities sought to take advantage new commercial opportunities and manage the slave trade in to their own interests
Benin exported fewer than 1.000 slaves a year, uniqueness lay in its relatively successful efforts to avoid deep involvement in slave trade
Dahomey on the other hand, became chief business of the state until the 19th century

The Atlantic Slave Trade p.449
Children could inherit the slave status of their parents
Males were favored 2 to 1 to female slaves
some slaves in the Islamic world acquired prominent military or political status 
Although most slaves worked in their owners households, farms, shops, laboring in large-scale agricultural industrial enterprises
slaves were treated as dehumanized property
Ancient Greece  took into consideration affirming values of human freedom and equality
Atlantic slavery came to be identified with Africa and "blackness""
Sugar was an essential factor leading to slavery
""Slav"became "slave"in European language
Africans were cheap slaves and skilled farmers as well as had a strong immunity to both tropical and European diseases, they were not Christians, close at hand, readily available

Feminism

How did the extraordinary process get launched in the 19^th century?

v     European Enlightenment challenged many ancient traditions

v     French reveloution raised the possibility of re-creating human societies on new foundations

v     Women participated in these events suggesting that revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality must include women

v     Declaration of women’s rights”…discover your rights”

v     Taking part in temperance movements, charities, abolitionism, missionary work, socialist and pacifist organizations, active trade unionists

v     Started to view women as individuals with rights equal to men

v     Refused to take husbands’ surname and wore trousers under skirts

v     Womens’ movements in the West focused on suffrage

v     National American Woman suffrage Association claimed 2 billion members

v     British women’s social and political organized a campaign of violence that included blowing up railroad stations, slashing works of art, and smashing department store windows

v     Beginning of the 20^th century the movement became a mass movement

v     1900-woman gained entrance to universities, literacy rates were growing steadily

v     manage and control their own property and wages

v     divorce laws were liberalized                               

v     medicine opened to a few and teaching as well

v     Jane Addams invented social work

v     New Zealand became the first country to give the vote to all adult women, everywhere else it was not achieved until after world war 1

v     Slower progress in politics

v     Writers, journalists addressed taboo sexual topics---homosexuality and birth control

Cons of woman having equal rights:

v     Serious reproductive damage

v     Depopulate the nation

v     Seen as selfish

v     Willing to sacrifice family to pursue individual goals