I found this week’s reading very intriguing because I am interested in contemporary issues and politics. The earthquake in Mexico was a disaster that killed tons of people and inflicted harms to economy in Mexico. The incident also showed flaws of the government due to its inability to handle the situation well and buildings that symbolized the prosperity of Mexico was completely destroyed. The destruction of hospitals, schools and buildings for government institution brought about another serious problem that tied with corruptions. A construction company closely connected to politicians did not use proper materials to build, which led to the huge disaster killing hundreds of people. I was not aware of this problem at all before reading the text and I was also shocked that a number of babies died as a result of the flawed construction.

Poor economic managements Latin America brought harms to those who were in lower class. As a result of recessions, spiraling foreign debts pressured nation’s budget and the problem often refer to as the “lost decade”. This was the also a phenomenon that occurred in Japan in 1990s after an economic recession. I could compare with my home country and Latin America in terms of economic conditions.

Although there had been a dispute whether capitalism was superior to socialism, the collapse of  the USSR proved that capitalism were more effective. Cuba was significantly affected because it was relying economically on the USSR, which created a huge hunger.

Nations that were in struggle could rely on the World Bank or the IMF for the  support. However, in order for them to accept aids, a nation had to embrace rules such as imposing austerity measures and free market without tariffs. However, this brought negative effects especially those in poverty or local farmers. These people opposed the measure because it signified decline in standard living. Especially for local farmers, they now had to compete against big companies with a quality and quantity, which was impossible. As a result, tons of farmers lost their jobs and migrated to urban cities for work, but most likely they could only find dangerous and low paid jobs.

In sum, I really liked this week’s reading because the problems still continue today and free trade such as the NAFTA may benefit the rich so much but increased income disparity. Since Canada has been part of the NAFTA, it is important to pay attention to harms that free trade could inflict upon.

For this week’s reading, I would like to concentrate on what happened in Argentina. Before reading the text, I would think of Argentina as a country in love with soccer. Argentina has one of the best soccer teams in the world and often play for the World Cups. However, after reading about Madres de la Plaza Mayo, my impression toward Argentina completely changed. The movement Madres de la Plaza de Mayo was a political movement comprised of mothers who had claimed that their children were kidnapped by the authority. In 1977, a small group of women gathered at the Plaza de Mayo and demanded information about their missing children.  In the beginning, their movement was not disturbed even though any political movement was banned, and the authority thought that their movement was not a threat. However, as the movement enlarged with the aid from foreign journalist, the authority started to block the movement and dispatched a secret police. While I was reading the text, I was surprised that it was a group of women who stood up against the dictatorship even though they could be hurt potentially in the future. Especially when dead corpses arrived near the beach of Mar del Plata, other countries started to gain more interest in event in Argentina.

The authoritarian government of Argentina tried to divert people’s anger to external by attempting to seize Falkland island, which is part of the UK. However, this war was a complete failure, which augmented the anger and sparked massive protest. Hence, the government responded by promising a democratic society in 1983. It was intriguing to read about invasion of Falkland island because this was something I had known before reading, but I was not sure about the full context behind the war and always looked for an opportunity to learn.

In this term, I happened to learn about some social movements in other classes, and I was surprised to learn about women’s contribution in the movement. I always thought that men were the main characters of the movement, but because of various feminist movements and Madres de la Plaza Mayo I was able to learn the importance of women’s participation and their achievements. In sum, my image toward Argentina drastically changed and by learning dark side of Argentinean history, I believe that I have better understanding of it and judging it objectively.

This week’s reading allowed me to understand a situation in Latin America, where civil wars and political and economical stabilities were present. Guerrilla groups organized and took violent actions to oppose right wing government. Peru, for instance, had the largest armed insurgents in Latin America and they differed from other groups in terms of finance. The conflict occurred due to struggles between a Marxist left and a free market right. The civil war  in Peru had some similarities with Guatemala and Columbia in which they showed capacity to take over vast territories for short time. However, the most intriguing thing was how armed insurgents in Peru was able to resist for long time. Unlike other guerrilla forces in Latin America, where they did not have a stable source of income, Sendero Luminoso, armed insurgents in Peru, had a reliable source of income, which was cocain trades. As a result, they could better arm themselves and continue a war against well equipped government troops.

Until, Alberto Fujimori was inaugurated as the president of Peru, the country was in a constant instability. However, when he took over the power, he managed to weaken Senderos, even though some people criticize him for adopting fee market system, in which it destroyed the domestic economy and manufacturer. In addition, because of that, income disparity grew even more and cutting a budget for social welfare created a huge discontent among lower class. The president Fujimori took measures to attack the guerrilla group by expanding National Intelligence Service to go after terrorists. Alienated by his brutality and total destruction, Senderos were significantly weakened by 1990s. As a result many people admired and thought him as a savior of the nation especially after capturing the president Gonzalo, the leader of Sendero. In my opinion, he certainly inflicted struggles to lower classes due to his economy policy, but he should definitely receive some credits for destroying Senderos.

In sum, Latin America was a proxy war between America and the Soviet Union and civil wars and unstable politics created violent guerrilla forces such as Sendero Luminos.

This week’s reading mainly focussed on how technology such as radio helped to deliver messages and gathered people. The radio seemed to play powerful role in displaying not only different arts like music and samba, but also stating politics. In Brazil, even though Getúlio Vargas turned out to promise various things but failed to deliver, he was one of the earliest politician who understood the power and utility of radio. I was surprised that radios already existed in Brazil as early as 1930s. In the beginning, there were about 20 stations, but by the end of 1950s, more than 100 stations were built. Moreover, 85% of households in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro owned a radio and many people were exposed to commercial tv. Because a large number of people had communication tools, Vargas set up national radio station to promote good works done by the government. Hence, the Hora do Brazil or Brazil Hour was broadcasted. This program was widely ridiculed by people and often ignored. In addition, he tried to connect people with his idea, Estado Novo (the New State), but he failed at the end. Federal officials attempted to suit the samba for nationalist purposes in order to increase patriotic feelings. Fans simply rejected the official samba and looked for what they liked.

Using technology to control people can also be noticed in Europe by Nazi Germany. Hitler effectively used radios and censored newspaper to brainwash people in Germany and his plan worked well as opposed to Vargas. This was something that came up in my mind while I was reading the text. However, censoring newspaper and controlling radio are not enough to brainwash people because we have the internet. Although the internet can be censored like in China, it is much more difficult to do so compared to radio and newspapers. The internet allows people to look for whatever they want and can easily know what is happening outside of one’s country.

In sum, this week’s reading enabled me to understand the emergence of technologies such as radio and how that help politicians and people’s life in general.