Reconciliation Siegfreid Sassoon

Reconciliation

When you are standing at your hero’s grave,
Or near some homeless village where he died,
Remember, through your heart’s rekindling pride,
The German soldiers who were loyal and brave.

Men fought like brutes; and hideous things were done;
And you have nourished hatred, harsh and blind.
But in that Golgotha perhaps you’ll find
The mothers of the men who killed your son.

elegy/ ode

p. 146- 147 BV

Mc Murphy talks with the lifeguard p.146- 147

Context:
Mc Murphy has resumed power in the ward he believes the nurse isn’t tough enough to handle him. The patients go to the swimming pool.


Themes
• Control and manipulation - Nurse decides what is done and when the patients can leave, do what they are asked to do, play after the nurses rules- the nurse plays a fixed game

Characters

• Lifeguard- a victim of the nurses manipulation and control
• Chief- tends to see things in terms of literal metaphors
• Mc Murphy- tries to upset the routine- the black boys are intimidated by him- he never plays a game he knows he cannot win. He is trying to run the ward vs. the nurse

Symbols
• Cast on lifeguard: control of nurse and mental manipulation

Motifs (reoccurring symbols)
• Brainwashing
• Being committed

Paradoxes (seems impossible but is possible)
• Lifeguard was picked up for being drunk and disorderly - has been there for over eight years

Synecdoche
• Lifeguard stands for all patients - control of nurse, brainwashing

What drives the passage?
• Language- drugged gorilla- shows how the lifeguard is controlled by the nurse- the nurse runs a fixed game
• Imagery- the life guard doesn’t actually have a cast- he is so manipulated by the nurse
• Structure- one person talking and there is a new paragraph- the chief has switched from his life before the ward to observing mc Murphy-

Modest proposal

Modest Proposal
Ever since the 1980’s technology has become a major aid by western society to developing countries around the world. Governments have provided these developing nation with medium or high technological tools which should benefit there society and create work for the people.
When developing nations receive low technological tools such as saws and shovels they are able to use and maintain these tools over a long time period. More jobs will be created in these developing countries as more people begin to use the low technology tools provided by the west.
The highly advanced technological tools which our modern society is providing Africa with are one of the main reasons why these developing nations are struggling to flourish. These tools such as chainsaws, often take away jobs as they require less labor and more capital. Furthermore the high technology capital provided by the west requires money to maintain which developing nations obviously don’t have.
Developing countries such as those in Africa have been creating burdens for the westerners which they do not wish to carry anymore. The west is fed up of dealing with issues such as illegal immigration, disease spreading and costs due to economic and social aid.
The hope is that the weapons will be miss- used by the government leaders in Africa, and due to their race to control the continent with weapons they will use these weapons against each other.
The soldiers receiving these weapons from the government will be unable to operate the high technology which will lead to further accidental killings and destruction of the continent.
The only effective solution to this is to send technologically highly advanced weapons to Africa. The result of this will be that the African nations “eradicate” each other, leaving only the strongest leaders and their armies to control Africa.
Although this process may take a few years the benefits will outweigh the costs of this “project”.
Once the African nations have “finished each other off”, western corporations will move in and drain the remaining resources in Africa, not only will there be a large decrease in the people living below the poverty line, so, less than a dollar a day, but there will be a large decrease in the world’s population.
After the west has robbed the rest of Africa’s resources they will be able to re grow resources and other necessary commodities that were not affordable before due to the costs created by Africa. Governments in Europe will be able to earn charity money as government revenue and will further exploit Africa.
Africa will be the setting of a new capital intensive workplace. Nations from across the world will be able to open factories etc. and create more jobs for people in their nations: this will hugely decrease poverty
Due to the Location of Africa, just south of Europe, it will be easy and cheap to transport capital and labor from Western Europe all across Africa.
Obviously high technology has the opposite effect on developing nations than it should. Instead of creating jobs and helping the economy, it puts inexperienced workers in danger and takes a way jobs that people could be doing.
My plan is to exploit the lack of knowledge these developing nations have about this high technology and use it against them. By sending them weapons the western society will be digging a grave for the entire African continent.

precis 3 - General Suharto

General Suharto has been a corrupt dictator for the past thirty years. Indonesia “achieved substantial economic growth”, however there is no mention of the incidents in 1965, “the massacre of large numbers of working class Indonesians “. The victims of the massacre were from the oldest communist party in Asia the PKI. There were over three million members of this party in 1965, due to political tension General Suharto, directly aided by the U.S over one million of these PKI party members were murdered.

The US played a key role in the mass killings as they trained and armed Suharto’s troops. The regime that so greatly aided the west was based on these mass killings; the remainders of the PKI party members and their friends and relatives were blacklisted. At the time of the genocide the U.S governments attitude was “no body cared as long as they were Communists that they were being butchered, a statement that pretty much speaks for itself as an indictment of the genocide carried out in Indonesia in 1965”.

Even today this genocide is not spoken about in Indonesia; the western capitalist media called it huge “economic growth”, and blamed the mass killings on the PKI. The U.S claims that they are building their government towards aiding Indonesia on an “anti imperialist basis”.

Precis 2 - G.W.Bush article

President George W. Bush and Kim Jong-Il of North Korea: “Both men are first-born sons of powerful fathers who partied like adolescents well into their adult lives, after which they submitted to their dynastic fates as heads of state”. Bush uses very effective methods of Propaganda, “he discourages his dissenters”, who may create obstacle in his path. Bush also excels in “shutting down information flow and stiffing the press.

The administration challenges the legitimacy of the press, the press room topics are all controlled in the white house, only information that is wanted to bi given to reporters is presented to the public.” Absorbing and ignoring tough questions”. News reporters are laid off when they write article putting members of the administration in a bad light. This is the first step of creating propaganda, filtering information to the public.

Another method the administration uses is fear; they scare the people by promoting “No child left behind, or dangers of illicit drugs.” They directly fund these campaigns as well. The way the administration persuades the public is by portraying the administration as Americas’ protection from terrorists.

Bush strongly opposes filtration of news, according to him the media gives false information so he prefers to speak straight to the public. However he “exploits nation security as a tool to suppress and distort information.”He believes in "compassionate conservatism" and fancies himself part of the "army of compassion." He's the "reformer with results" who embraces the "culture of life."

Precis for Aborigines Article

In 1905 an Act was created to “make provisions for the better protection and care of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Western Australia”. Along with this act came the Aborigines Department and a Chief Protector of Aborigines these were implemented in order to; promote the welfare of aboriginals, provide them with food, clothing, medicine and medical attendance, education and the general preservation and well-being of aborigines.

Before the act was created, aborigines were ruled by a police state. Aboriginal people could be moved from the district or be confined and held in reserve. The chief Protector had control over the children and could separate them from there familes. The government colluded with the employers to keep the aborigines working for a very low pay, almost “slavery”.

1944 Aborigines were allowed to become citizens, not vote, this was the so called “dog licence”. However the aborigines could have their citizenships removed if they did not “adopt the manner and habits of civilized life”. This caused separations of families across Western Australia.

Aboriginal people did not receive pensions, and most of their wages were given to a government trust fund, and when a family wanted money they would write a letter the chief protector requesting access to their funds, for food, clothing etc. On May 1^st 1946 Aborigines in Pilbara went on a strike to increase wages. The strike went on for several years, the efforts of “McLeod and groups like the seaman’s union and the communist party who supported the aboriginals, aided in the success of the strike”.

The Aborigines Act of 1905 was meant to ““make provision for the better protection and care of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Western Australia”, instead it created a huge cheap labor work force of aborigine people. “They were only paid a fraction of their efforts”.

Precis

The New Rulers of the World

The new rulers of the world by John Pilger: talks about the unequal and hypocritical methods in politics of globalization. To begin with Pilger introduces the “new” order, which include “unholy alliance of business interests, imperial repression and media magnates.” He also speaks to the importance of “breaking the silence that protects great power and its manipulations.” A frequent motif which, runs through the book, is “the failure of the mainstream media to report honestly and accurately on such abuses.” “This is no conspiracy, it is simply the way the system works” emphasizes Pilger. The Key Ideas in this book are abuse from Western powers, failure of media to report honestly, governments who hide the truth about what they are doing, recognizing western state terrorism and American power and its goal of world order, and the propaganda that helps drive it. This book uncovers the truths that are hidden from the public eye. Pilger claims that the new rulers of the world are the “World Bank and IMF” in Washington DC. They began offering loans to poor countries if they privatize there economy and allow the west corporations to free access to raw materials and markets.

The new rulers of the world has four chapters, the first chapter deals with Indonesia. How General Suharto took over Indonesia in the mid 1960’s, which lead to the genocide of millions of “Communist sympathizers” and a western planned economy in Asia, this lead to the spread of globalization. The fact that this event was unreported and is widely unheard of is shocking because John Pilger sees it as “the origin of economic globalization in this part of Asia.” This first chapter is one example Pilger gives about the exploitation of cheap labor as the poor get poorer as there income pays the debt there nation owes the west, and the . Before Suharto came to power Indonesia elite wanted to nationalize the economy and isolate themselves from the big corporations in the west. For the West Suharto was a gate way to the endless resources in Indonesia. Without any of the world knowing Britain directly aided Suharto in the mass killings, and supplied them with large amounts of arms. Suharto was so important to the Western powers that he was invited to London by the Queen. Over the years Suharto created a large debt with the western powers, when he finally resigned over thirty billion dollars were missing. Suharto had distributed the money to his corrupt allies and family members. Ever since then Indonesia is in debt to the IMF and World Bank. Every year the Indonesian government pays 1 billion dollars from workers wages to repay the debt that Suharto created. In an interview Pilger talks about a cycle that the workers in Indonesia cannot escape. Indonesia’s economy is so dependent on western corporations that companies such as GAP can pay one dollar an hour wages to their workers in sweat shops, but because the demand for work is so high in Indonesia workers must take what they can get to survive. The working conditions are not up to standards, but the unions in Indonesia are so closely tied to the western corporations that there is no protest from inside the sweatshops.

The second chapter, “Paying the Price”, deals with the horrible situation the Iraqis are in, as a result of “ the West’s medieval twelve-year long embargo since the Gulf War.” Pilger uncovers the true face of Iraq, and explains that they are not a “threat” as propaganda from the Bush administration after 9/11 pictured them to be. In this chapter Pilger says, “that the prosecutors of the so called “terrorists”: are themselves terrorists from a greater league and that their actions will, at the very least, produce more carnage and martyrs.” Pilger exposes the Propaganda that the US army and government were spreading before the 9/11 attacks and the bombing o Iraq. During the bombing of Iraq over half a million children were killed, Bush denies oil as the main reason for the Iraq invasion. The cities are in dust and ashes and all for “paying of sanctions” as Pilger says. The Bush administration has been shining a bad light on the so called “terrorists” ever since Bush senior was President.

The third Chapter, “The great game”, exposes how the western corporations are dependent on state power that protects western markets with military means. The Western Corporations can intervene all around the world, and sell their products, because they are being backed by state power (Air Force, US army). Pilger talks about a “fist behind the hand’, he means that for large corporations the world is safe when they have a “fist” like the marines or US Army to back them so they can flourish. Pilger looks back at the history of Western Corporations; he explains that the big powers at the time were fighting for territory, because that meant power. Western Corporations have no mercy when it comes to money Pilger says, in 1948 America had 50 per cent of the world’s wealth, but only 6 per cent of its Population, this example shows the corruption of the distribution of wealth across the globe. Pilger says it was a game to the Corporation leaders at the time.

In the last chapter, “the Chosen Ones”, Pilger goes back to Australia to part take in a thirty year feud between Aboriginal people and the Australian Government. John Pilger meets with Richard Murray a doctor who treats Aboriginal Patients, who make up 2 per cent of the population. The reason so many Aboriginals have these sicknesses, like rheumatic fever, kidney failure and diabetic blindness, is the circumstances they live in. Dr. Murray says, “Poverty and Dispossession” are the cause of these illnesses. John Pilger also reveals that the Australian government spends 25 % less per capita on Aboriginal health care compared to the rest of the demographic. Pilger sees Australia as the best example of a Nations history being and eradicated. This final chapter shows the mal treatment of Aborigines in Australia the neglect of human rights and respect to a race.