To begin I have to state that I fundamentally disagree with Dawson’s definition and view of revolution. In the video, Dawson states that, “Revolution is a claim of ownership on history” and is “an attempt to shape a view of the past that organizes power in the present.” I believe revolution is exactly the opposite of what he claims and is a movement by citizens to bring a change and improve their situation rather than fighting for something belonging to the past. Therefore, in my opinion, revolutions have a forward vision rather than looking into the past and trying to going back to something that a nation previously held. Furthermore, even though I am also interested in how people tell the story of a revolution, however, I think it is critical to realize the facts about a historic movement rather than just relying on people’s opinions and their versions of the story.

Regarding the components of a revolution Dawson mentions that the Old Guard as people who benefited from the previous government and as a result want to maintain their political and economical privileges and would mostly maintain their power. However, normally all the powerful men from a previous government would get wiped out and would be considered lucky if they get a chance to survive and live freely let alone maintaining their power. Therefore, I have quite different view of a revolution compared to Dawson.

Regarding the readings from this week, the poem “To Roosevelt” , the poet has strong opinions against the Unites States and believes that the U.S government is a source of chaos and war in the world and particularly in Latin America. I also think that U.S government played a destructive role  in the history of Latin America and took advantage of their resources which will be further discussed during the next week.