Graffiti Wall

War and Peace

 “Be the peace and love you want to see in the world.” This is the most powerful quote I came across while researching war and peace. War and peace is never an easy topic to talk about. Peace is truly powerful as an individual. As I sit here and think about my views on war and peace, I feel as though I don’t have much of a say in anything as a whole. I do know that I can make the world a better place by my attitude and how I treat people. “Be selective in your battles, sometimes peace is better than being right.” I don’t have to be right all the time; I can be humble and peaceful. When our guest speaker Sean talked to us about his time in the military as a soldier, it made me start to think deeper into peace and war and what I really believe in and hold value to. The part that really hit home to me was when he talked about building schools for kids in Afghanistan and other countries. Out of the kindness of his heart, he went out of his way to do something nice for children that we are fighting war against their country. “They don’t want the war anymore than we do”, Sean stated. This explains why I included a picture of a soldier carrying an innocent kid away to safety. Even though these soldiers are there to fight war, they still promote peace with innocent children and have huge hearts. Sean also talked about how important education is and this has been embedded into my head all of my life. I completely agree with the quote by Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Last but not least, I included an American flag. I love my country and am extremely blessed with how easy I have it to live here compared to the other countries I have read about in A long Way Gone and Sold. After reading these books I feel like I have taken so much for granite. I didn't realize how spoiled I am to live in America and am blessed beyond words. 

A Long Way Gone

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah was definitely an eye opener. At the very beginning of the book it talks about how people assume war is too far away to be realistic. People make it seem like it is happening in a different land; even I find myself doing the same thing. What shocked me the most when reading this book was reminding myself that this isn’t even that long ago, it was happening when I was alive. Children walked 16 miles to save money; this is crazy to me. It makes me realize how lucky I am and how easy I have it in life. I complain about walking a couple miles let alone 16. A part in the book that I did research on beforehand was the rebels and their attack in the mining areas. Reading Ishmael Beah’s interpretation of this made it seem that much more real. Schools were closed and people ran around frantically trying to find their loved ones while rebels fired shots in the air and eventually at the people. I wonder why Ishmael and his older brother had such a distant relationship with their dad and why their step mothers always ended up ruining their relationships whenever they tried to get close. I cannot imagine being twelve years old and seeing the things that Ishmael saw, even at any age. He encountered people’s brains on the floor, limbs torn off, bodies in different areas from where they should be, and more. He was so brave throughout everything and I think this is the reason he survived. The hardest thing I had to read was when a woman was carrying her baby on her back, running for their lives when she got shot in the back and it killed the baby and when she stopped to grab the baby, it was dead with its eyes open. I don’t think I would be able to deal with that if I was that mother, I would feel so terrible. Nobody should have to see that or go through that. I felt so heartbroken for Ishmael when all he could think about was if he would ever see his parents again or his baby brother. My parents are my best friends and I don’t know what I would do if I was faced to deal with what he had to go through. This was so hard for me to relate to because I have never had to go through anything remotely close to what Ishmael had to go through. I loved how after everything, the boys were able to still crack jokes and have a sense of humor when their feet were all torn apart. This is what helped them stay sane; at least they had each other at this point. Thank goodness for good people like the man who helped them by catering for them and bringing them food when they were starving and couldn’t walk. I want to make a point to do nice things for people more often like this man did. You never know who it could impact. 

Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leone Civil War

In 1961, Sierra Leone gained its independence from the United Kingdom. In the years following the death of Sierra Leone’s first prime minister, Sir Milton Margai, in 1964, politics in the country was increasingly characterized by corruption, mismanagement, and electoral violence that led to a weak civil society, the collapse of the education system. When Siaka Stevens entered into politics in 1968 Sierra Leone was a constitutional democracy. When he stepped down, seventeen years later, Sierra Leone was a one-party state. In 1985, Stevens stepped down, and handed the nation’s preeminent position to Major General Joseph Momoh, a notoriously inept leader who maintained the status quo. During his seven-year tenure, Momoh welcomed the spread of unchecked corruption and complete economic collapse. With the state unable to pay its civil servants, those desperate enough ransacked and looted government offices and property. By 1991, Sierra Leone was ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world, even though it benefited from ample natural resources including diamonds, gold, bauxite, rutile, iron ore, fish, coffee, and cocoa. The Sierra Leone Civil War began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia, intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, enveloped the country, and left over 50,000 dead. The SLA soldiers and government leaders were cruel and brutal. The tows people were transported to concentration camps. Civilians turned against them and joined a rebel cause. Some soldiers decided they had to chance so they joined this team called the “sobels”. This stood for “soldiers by day, rebels by night”. By 1993 this two forces became indistinguishable and nobody knew who was on whose side or who to trust. The Kamajors came into play and civilians trusted them. There title was to protect civilians and their family and homes. The kamajors went against the government and won so people joined their side and this quickly lead to corruption and murder. Soon the government was unable to pay both its civil servants or SLA. With senior government officials neglectful of the conditions faced by SLA soldiers, front line soldiers became resentful of their poor conditions and began helping themselves to Sierra Leone’s rich natural resources. This included alluvial diamonds as well as looting and ‘sell game’, a tactic in which government forces would withdraw from a town but not before leaving arms and ammunition for the roving rebels in return for cash. The war continued to drag on. On 18 January 2002, President Kabbah declared the eleven-year long Sierra Leone Civil War officially over. Several factors led to the end of the civil war. One is that the government demanded that the government of Liberia expel all RUF members, end their financial support of the RUF, and halt the illicit diamond trade. The Kamajors felt less threatened and quit fighting the SLA’s. Over 1,000 primary schools were destroyed during the war by SLA members. Fun fact: the movie Blood Diamond was based off of this war.

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party

The first thing I noticed is how far apart Ling and her mother are. Her mom seems to resent her own daughter and criticizes everything she does. It is hard for me to connect with this because my mom and I are so close. I am confused as to why Comrade Li is living with them still and if Li’s parents are communists or not. Are they trying to hide that they aren’t to Comrade Li? I can’t tell if they like him or agree with him, but I feel as though the mom secretly hates him. One thing from this book that directly related to the research I did ahead of time was the fact that before the revolution began, the streets were filled with schools, churches, modern hospitals, tall office buildings and more; sounding like what I am used to seeing around where I live. After the revolution started, the walls of the streets were covered with Chairman Mao’s posters and quotes and red flags. When Comrade Li and the other Red Flags took Mrs. Wong and threw her up on stage and made everyone watch as he tortured her, it made me think of how the Germans treated the Jews. I had no idea this happened let alone that it was this intense. I’m confused as to why all the doctors are disappearing. Is that too western for this new revolutionary movement? I don’t understand how Comrade Li could live with that family and they could help him out so much and yet he can still turn around and treat them so poorly. “Dear mother, Dear father, But nobody is as dear as Chairman Mao.” This is crazy to me how much they are into this guy who is terrorizing everyone. I was shocked to see that Niu turned on Ling’s family and turned into a Red Guard. I know he had to do this to stay alive, but really? Break inside their house and arrest the man who comforted him when his own parents got taken away. The mom runs to her room instead of comforting Ling like most other moms would have. I am against stealing but I have to admit I was happy when Ling stole that meat, especially after all the Red Guards ate well and everyone else starved. I also found myself smiling when I read about her sticking up for herself not only at the market but at school when those boys kept picking on her and beating her up. I am just nervous for what is to come of her now. Probably the most interesting thing I read was the crying for Mao. They had to cry for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. If they didn’t cry, they were arrested. I wonder how this worked. Did they set a timer and say you may now cry? How do people cry on demand? I couldn’t be happier when they turned against Comrade Li, it was about time. I just find it shocking how fast everyone can turn against someone whom they have been worshiping for so long. 

Chinese Cultural Revolution

The Chinese Cultural Revolution has had a huge impact on China since this movement started in 1965. This social-political movement was started by Mao Zedong, who was then the chairmen of the communist party of China. The goal was to enforce communism by removing capitalist and traditional cultural movements in the Chinese society. This movement ruined China politically and affected the country economically and socially. Mao insisted that the revisionists be removed through violence and this resulted into the youth forming Red Guard groups. This affected the military, urban workers, and the communist people. This created chaos and uproar and leaded to people being persecuted and publically humiliated, tortured, and harassed. Mao eventually tried to put an end to this in 1969, but it still lingered on. On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong died. To Mao's supporters, his death symbolized the loss of the revolutionary foundation of Communist China. When his death was announced on the afternoon of September 9, in a press release entitled “A Notice from the Central Committee, the NPC, State Council, and the CMC to the whole Party, the whole Army and to the people of all nationalities throughout the country” the nation descended into grief and mourning, with people weeping in the streets and public institutions closing for over a week. The effects of the Cultural Revolution directly or indirectly touched essentially all of China's population. This Cultural Revolution brought a lot of Red Guard to Beijing with everything paid for by the government. Buildings, artifacts, antiques, books, and paintings were destroyed by these Red Guards and quotes of Mao’s were printed instead. During this time, China’s education system didn’t exist anymore. Educated youths were sent to live and work in agrarian areas in order to understand the role of “manual labor” in Chinese society. So in other words, the educated youth were being punished for having an education and trying to better themselves. 

The People’s Republican of China (PRC) is a sovereign state located in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC) a separate entity. China is the world’s second- largest country by land and area. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the world's fastest-growing major economies. As of 2013, it is the world's second-largest economy and is also the world's largest exporter and importer of goods. China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army, with the second-largest defense budget. China suffers from water shortages and overpopulation despite being a leading investor. China has been in many disputes involving land borders and undefined borders with India and Bhutan and is also involved in disputes over islands in the East and South China Seas. It seems like China has a lot of unresolved issues.