Much like last week, this week’s chapter has also not failed to shock me with the thought of how recent these events occurred, however, this week’s shock was far greater. ‘Speaking Truth to Power’ focused on how the truth, perpetuated by the increased use of social media, and increased accessibility to news worldwide through technology, …
Continue reading “Week 12: Speaking Truth to Power”
Posted in Blogs, Week 12 | Tagged with Argentina, drug war, Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, Mexico, sadness
Today when we bring up the idea of Latin America, it is almost always associated to immigrates and drugs. The drug war is not a stereotype of Latin America, but after watching the lecture videos I realised that it is in fact a part of life, it has happened, it happens even today, and may even continue to happen in future. The military, businesses and people are all trying to extract as much money as they can- and thus causing corruption. Coming from a highly corrupt country Kenya, I know that changing the foundation of this and trying to put an end to drug cartels is extremely difficult and will probably take a while for such measures to be implemented.
The War on Drugs is my favourite video so far! It showed us how drugs are brought into countries and the extent through which people will go through just to bring in these drug- like hiding it in coffee bags, or having people swallow and eat packets of cocaine. Infamous people like Pablo Escobar had been depicted in the video for being the most powerful man in Latin America when he had been trafficking cocaine. It was really shocking to see how powerful this man really was.
The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo really spoke to me and evoked so much sympathy. It had been disheartening to read about this group of mothers that lost their children.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an association of Argentine mothers whose children “disappeared” during the dictatorship. This era represents families being torn apart and several human rights atrocities that had been carried out by the corrupt military. They had their children “taken” from them with no explanations.
During this “Dirty War” in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, the military government did more than just kidnap children but they went to extents of torturing people and anyone that they saw as submissive in the military they would expel them. It was truly sad to read about this- and I can only imagine how many families had to suffer as they watched their loved ones being taken from them one by one and not receiving clarifications as to what happened to them. It seemed like everyday life was a struggle in Latin America and just being able to survive seemed like a mission on it’s own.
My question for this week was: Do you think the drug cartels was beneficial in some way for Latin America?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with 1983, Argentina, Dirty War, drug cartel, drugs, Pablo Escobar, plaza de mayo, torture 1976
This week, we read about the emergence of Human Rights groups in Latin America, and the reaction of governments and government officials. I found the reading a bit difficult to take in. It focused on quite a horrific subject matter, and it really touched me. I am very grateful to have read about this topic, […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 12 | Tagged with Argentina, disappearance, government, madres, murder, pinochet
This week, we read about the emergence of Human Rights groups in Latin America, and the reaction of governments and government officials. I found the reading a bit difficult to take in. It focused on quite a horrific subject matter, and it really touched me. I am very grateful to have read about this topic, […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 12 | Tagged with Argentina, disappearance, government, madres, murder, pinochet
Corse, Theron E. Projecting Peron: The Constructed Image of Juan Peron, 1945-1949, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1995. Max Weber describes three ‘pure’ types of legitimate authority: rational, traditional and charismatic. His account of ‘charismatic authority’ outlines its relation to specific and exceptional sanctity, heroism and exceptional character of an individual grounded in a complete devotion out of enthusiasm, despair or hope–– the crux of this legitimacy lies in a leader’s perception by his followers. Charisma is an intimate component of ‘populism;’ as such, its dialectic opposition to rationality and routine grounds…read more
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Argentina, authority, charisma, legitimacy, Perón, Peronismo, Weber
In this week’s reading, I found it very interesting to read about the interplay between politics and technology. The invention of radio dramatically changed the political sphere in Latin America, and the lives of citizens by extension. The radio acted … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs, Week 10 | Tagged with Argentina, Brazil, democracy, Mexico, Peronism, populism, radio, technology
The first topic of focus is of the utility of technological advancement in the political sphere. It seems that leaders such as Juan and Evita Peron were able to utilize these advancements greatly as a means to create a wide support base. As is mentioned in the reading, prior to the creation of radio it […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Argentina, Chávez, Evita Peron, Juan Peron, radio
The first topic of focus is of the utility of technological advancement in the political sphere. It seems that leaders such as Juan and Evita Peron were able to utilize these advancements greatly as a means to create a wide support base. As is mentioned in the reading, prior to the creation of radio it […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Argentina, Chávez, Evita Peron, Juan Peron, radio