I chose the immigration movement for this course because I am a supporter of equality and civil rights. I began this course believing that this movement has the potential to accomplish its desired goals and changes and I still do. This course has helped me to understand the essence of a social movement. The importance of engaging in movements in order to attain a desired change is also something that I learned throughout the course of this class. This movement has been going on since 2006 and remains strong. The problem that this movement has recently faced is less participation in the May protests. Even though the mobilization has been great for this protest the economic crisis has played a number in the decreased participation during this years protest, many are afraid to loose their jobs or are in need to work double shifts. Other major factors that have affected the participation of people are the raids and the tough anti-immigration laws that have made the immigrant community wary of their surroundings. In the article Immigrant rights groups rally across the U.S. (2007) it states how people feel terrorized “Organizers said Tuesdays turn out would be lower because stepped-up raids in recent months have left many immigrants afraid to speak out in public a major change over rallies in 2006 when some illegal immigrants wore T-shirts saying “I’m illegal. So what?” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18411370/)
It is great to see that this group’s perseverance is still intact despite the lack of participation by a few, the rallies are still going on year after year and they will continue until a fair resolution has been established. I have mentioned many times before that this movement has similarities with the civil rights movement. In this movement, we have a group of people who are fighting to gain recognition and equality. Immigrants are asking for a path to legalization in order to stop the prejudice and the stigmatization that comes with being an undocumented immigrant. These people want to become an acceptable part of our society that are treated with justice and dignity as should all human beings be treated.
In the article Hundreds rally in New York for immigrants’ rights by Jesse Solomon it was mentioned that people from all different backgrounds and ethnicities have joined the immigration movement people from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America have been present within the movement. This portrays the wide range of inclusiveness that this movement contains. This movement consists of a diverse group people who share common goals and ideals. Another point in this article that I found interesting was that the article mentioned Gregory Jesus Luc, who is planning to produce a documentary about Haitian immigrants. He mentioned that the purpose of this documentary is “to raise awareness and to let the media and America know that immigrants are the backbone of this country”. This reminds me of Klein’s article on the bono-ization of activism because documentaries are a tactic for protests to raise awareness about a certain issue. I feel documentaries are great because they are informative and can definitely get their point across. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/17/immigration.raid/index.html#cnnSTCText)
Boycotting is a form of protest that has been a part of the immigration movement starting with the boycott of 2006. There is another possible boycott that is currently being talked about; Latino leaders have proposed a boycott of the upcoming census. (Shawn 2009) They believe that all undocumented immigrants should not participate in the census because they are not counted as part of society so why be counted in the national census? This is a tactic that these Latino leaders believe will help push for the immigration reform. They believe it is a radical step but are hoping to spread the message just in time before the census forms are delivered.( http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/23/latino-leaders-illegal-immigrants-boycott-census/)
Currently under president Obamas administration, the raids have been minimal. A recent raid in the state of Washington outraged a community. "This is a really heavy Obama-supporting county," she said. "So a lot of folks here had been in involved in the election." Immediately after the raid, she said, "the calls, the e-mails started and networks were activated." (Oppman 2009) The mobilization of the people in the community was quick and efficient it led to the return of the detained immigrants to their home and were issued a work permit. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/17/immigration.raid/index.html#cnnSTCText)
The current immigration movement has achieved its goal of sending the immigration debate to the White House. Currently Obama has proposed a possible comprehensive immigration reform that will allow the 12 million undocumented immigrants to obtain possible legalization. This is a big win for the immigration movement but of course, the job will not be finished until the proposed immigration reform actually passes. The plan is for this law to be implemented by the end of this year or early next year. It will be a hard road ahead for this proposal because many strongly oppose it. I believe it is important that we come to a comprehensive agreement that will allow the undocumented immigrants to be equal, come out of the shadows, and stop living in fear. This course has helped me to see the diversity and the meaning in protest. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/10/obama.immigration/index.html)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Assignment 4
According to Robert Pape Suicide bombers are not crazy. His research showed that most of the suicide bombers are perfectly fine and showed no psychological abnormalities. Even though many of us may differ in feelings towards the sanity of such terrorists we have to think about these people who are extremely devoted to their government’s ideology. Some religions are actually deeply influenced by politics people who decide to become suicide bombers do it for their beliefs, their land, their religion, and politics. In the book it is argued that terrorism is a form of resistance to a specific government or entity. Terrorist’s specifically suicide bombers usually tend to act for political reasons rather than for religious reasons. Most people think of suicide bombers and terrorists as extremists whose religious affiliations undermine their actions. In reality, according to Pape terrorists are mainly influenced by politics. He gives us the example of the Palestinians who have turned from one ideology to another to try and explain their loss of land to Jewish settlers and military forces in order to for a plan to regain territorial control (296).
In the case of Iraq Mohammed Hafez has shown through his research that even though many terrorists who belong to al-Qaeda claimed or were though to be acting for religious purposes or beliefs. Hafez argues that these suicide acts did not sprout from religious reasons rather they began with the American and British invasion of Iraq (297). I agree that the majority of these terrorist acts derive from politics and the struggle to control and dominate territories. People in Iraq want to conserve their own type of government; they want to have control over their own territory. I believe that anyone would have a problem when a foreign government invades their country to try to force a type of government upon them. I believe that it is human nature to react to such actions even though terrorism is an overly extremist way of opposing to something it is something that I would consider a form of protest.
Terrorism in many cases is an action of last resort when a certain group feels that it has no other alternatives and is desperate to regain power or control. For example in the case of the South African Anti-Apartheid movement, this movement turned to an armed struggle only after many decades of previous protests that were never acknowledged and had little or no impact at all. After a long struggle with no ending results people became frustrated and were forced to turn to a more violent way of protesting. These people were demanding political rights and acting in response to the repression that they have suffered by the state. Seidman mentions in the book that before the movement turned violent they tried peaceful demonstrations such as boycotts, petitions, and civil disobedience similar to those of Gandhi’s and the civil rights movement.
The problem with these peaceful demonstrations was that they in turn provoked violent reactions and many people were killed. As a result the anti-apartheid leaders stated that they would no longer risk the lives of their followers and consequently turned into an armed struggle. This is a perfect example of how such extremist actions can develop from years of repression. Such extreme acts such as guerillas and terrorists can be viewed as either negative or positive. To some these people are considered heroes because they went above and beyond for something that they believed in. Some suicide bombers may be admired for their courage by their people they would consider this person as a fallen hero who gave his life for its people, religion, or government. On the other hand others will consider guerrillas as extreme and non acceptable. We often consider suicide bombers to be psychotic and lunatic and many of us cannot find the logic in terrorist acts such as suicide missions.
I do agree that terrorism is a form of extremist protest because these people are acting in response to repression or something that they would like to see changed. I do not agree with any type of armed warfare or terrorism as a form of repression. What I can say is that these people have their own reasons as to why they act in such extremist and radical ways. If a group of people have suffered repression under a regime or government they are likely to react. Many also react out of revenge or retaliation and ultimately act upon those feelings. In the case of the Anti-Apartheid movement, decades of peaceful protesting amounted to nothing. They were unable to accomplish their desired changes and were forced to use a more extremist approach. The United States and Britain going into Iraq to impose a new kind of government for that country is problematic because people will retaliate with anger because they no longer have control over their own country. Terrorism is a form of protest regardless of how violent or immoral it has the some of the same basic elements of regular protesting.
In the case of Iraq Mohammed Hafez has shown through his research that even though many terrorists who belong to al-Qaeda claimed or were though to be acting for religious purposes or beliefs. Hafez argues that these suicide acts did not sprout from religious reasons rather they began with the American and British invasion of Iraq (297). I agree that the majority of these terrorist acts derive from politics and the struggle to control and dominate territories. People in Iraq want to conserve their own type of government; they want to have control over their own territory. I believe that anyone would have a problem when a foreign government invades their country to try to force a type of government upon them. I believe that it is human nature to react to such actions even though terrorism is an overly extremist way of opposing to something it is something that I would consider a form of protest.
Terrorism in many cases is an action of last resort when a certain group feels that it has no other alternatives and is desperate to regain power or control. For example in the case of the South African Anti-Apartheid movement, this movement turned to an armed struggle only after many decades of previous protests that were never acknowledged and had little or no impact at all. After a long struggle with no ending results people became frustrated and were forced to turn to a more violent way of protesting. These people were demanding political rights and acting in response to the repression that they have suffered by the state. Seidman mentions in the book that before the movement turned violent they tried peaceful demonstrations such as boycotts, petitions, and civil disobedience similar to those of Gandhi’s and the civil rights movement.
The problem with these peaceful demonstrations was that they in turn provoked violent reactions and many people were killed. As a result the anti-apartheid leaders stated that they would no longer risk the lives of their followers and consequently turned into an armed struggle. This is a perfect example of how such extremist actions can develop from years of repression. Such extreme acts such as guerillas and terrorists can be viewed as either negative or positive. To some these people are considered heroes because they went above and beyond for something that they believed in. Some suicide bombers may be admired for their courage by their people they would consider this person as a fallen hero who gave his life for its people, religion, or government. On the other hand others will consider guerrillas as extreme and non acceptable. We often consider suicide bombers to be psychotic and lunatic and many of us cannot find the logic in terrorist acts such as suicide missions.
I do agree that terrorism is a form of extremist protest because these people are acting in response to repression or something that they would like to see changed. I do not agree with any type of armed warfare or terrorism as a form of repression. What I can say is that these people have their own reasons as to why they act in such extremist and radical ways. If a group of people have suffered repression under a regime or government they are likely to react. Many also react out of revenge or retaliation and ultimately act upon those feelings. In the case of the Anti-Apartheid movement, decades of peaceful protesting amounted to nothing. They were unable to accomplish their desired changes and were forced to use a more extremist approach. The United States and Britain going into Iraq to impose a new kind of government for that country is problematic because people will retaliate with anger because they no longer have control over their own country. Terrorism is a form of protest regardless of how violent or immoral it has the some of the same basic elements of regular protesting.
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