1.
Ahimsa
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Ahimsa means not to injure and compassion and refers to a key virtue in Indian religions. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hiṃs – to strike, hiṃsā is injury or harm, a-hiṃsā is the opposite of this, i. e. cause no injury, do no harm. Ahimsa is also referred to as nonviolence, and it applies to all living beings—including all animals—in ancient Indian religions, Ahimsa is one of the cardinal virtues and an important tenet of Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Ahimsa is a concept, inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy, therefore. Ahimsa has also related to the notion that any violence has karmic consequences. While ancient scholars of Hinduism pioneered and over time perfected the principles of Ahimsa, most popularly, Mahatma Gandhi strongly believed in the principle of ahimsa. Ahimsas precept of cause no injury includes ones deeds, words, classical literature of Hinduism such as Mahabharata and Ramayana, as well as modern scholars debate principles of Ahimsa when one is faced with war and situations requiring self-defence. The historic literature from India and modern discussions have contributed to theories of Just War, and theories of appropriate self-defence. The word Ahimsa—sometimes spelled as Ahinsa—is derived from the Sanskrit root hiṃs – to strike, hiṃsā is injury or harm, a-hiṃsā is the opposite of this, There is a debate on the origins of the word Ahimsa, and how its meaning evolved. Mayrhofer as well as Dumot suggest the word may be han which means kill. Schmidt as well as Bodewitz explain the root word is hiṃs and the Sanskrit verb hinasti. Wackernagel-Debrunner concur with the latter explanation, ancient texts use ahimsa to mean non-injury, a broader concept than non-violence. Non-injury implies not killing others, as well as not hurting others mentally or verbally, in classical Sanskrit literature of Hinduism, another word Adrohi is sometimes used instead of Ahimsa, as one of the cardinal virtues necessary for moral life. One example is in Baudhayana Dharmasutra 2.6.23, Ahimsa as an ethical concept evolved in Vedic texts. The oldest scripts, along with discussing ritual animal sacrifices, indirectly mention Ahimsa, the term Ahimsa appears in the text Taittiriya Shakha of the Yajurveda, where it refers to non-injury to the sacrificer himself. It occurs several times in the Shatapatha Brahmana in the sense of non-injury, the Ahimsa doctrine is a late Vedic era development in Brahmanical culture. Bowker states the word appears but is uncommon in the principal Upanishads, Kaneda gives examples of the word Ahimsa in these Upanishads. Other scholars suggest Ahimsa as a concept that started evolving in the Vedas
2.
Mahatma Gandhi
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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights, the honorific Mahatma —applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa—is now used worldwide. In India, he is also called Bapu and Gandhiji and he is unofficially called the Father of the Nation. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. Gandhi attempted to practise nonviolence and truth in all situations, and he lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a charkha. He ate simple food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest. Eventually, in August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab, eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to promote religious harmony, the last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78, also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating, among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest. Mahatma Gandhis birthday,2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday and his father, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi, served as the diwan of Porbandar state. The Gandhi family originated from the village of Kutiana in what was then Junagadh State, in the late 17th or early 18th century, one Lalji Gandhi moved to Porbandar and entered the service of its ruler, the Rana. In 1831, Rana Khimojiraji died suddenly and was succeeded by his 12-year-old only son, as a result, Rana Khimojirajjis widow, Rani Rupaliba, became regent for her son. She soon fell out with Uttamchand and forced him to return to his village in Junagadh. While in Junagadh, Uttamchand appeared before its Nawab and saluted him with his hand instead of his right. In 1841, Vikmatji assumed the throne and reinstated Uttamchand as his diwan, in 1847, Rana Vikmatji appointed Uttamchands son, Karamchand, as diwan after disagreeing with Uttamchand over the states maintenance of a British garrison. Although he only had an education and had previously been a clerk in the state administration
3.
Social change
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Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. Social change may include changes in nature, social institutions, social behaviours, Social change may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a change in the socio-economic structure, for instance a shift away from feudalism. Accordingly, it may refer to social revolution, such as the Socialist revolution presented in Marxism, or to other social movements. Social change may be driven by cultural, religious, economic, scientific or technological forces, Developmental psychology can play a role in social change. Social change comes about with tangible/intangible resource inputs as social investment. One source is random or unique factors such as climate, weather, for example, successful development has the same general requirements, such as a stable and flexible government, enough free and available resources, and a diverse social organization of society. On the whole, social change is usually a combination of systematic factors along with some random or unique factors, there are many theories of social change. Generally, a theory of change should include elements such as aspects of change, processes and mechanisms of social change. Hegelian, The classic Hegelian dialectic model of change is based on the interaction of opposing forces, starting from a point of momentary stasis, Thesis countered by Antithesis first yields conflict, then it subsequently results in a new Synthesis. Marxist, Marxism presents a dialectical and materialist concept of history, Heraclitan, The Greek philosopher Heraclitus used the metaphor of a river to speak of change thus, On those stepping into rivers staying the same other and other waters flow. What Heraclitus seems to be suggesting here, later interpretations notwithstanding, is that, in order for the river to remain the river, change must constantly be taking place. Thus one may think of the Heraclitan model as parallel to that of a living organism, a contemporary application of this approach is shown in the social change theory SEED-SCALE which builds off of the complexity theory subfield of Emergence. Daoist, The Chinese philosophical work Dao De Jing, I.8, water, although soft and yielding, will eventually wear away stone. Change in this model is to be natural, harmonious and steady, one of the most obvious changes currently occurring is the change in the relative global population distribution between countries. China and India continue to be the largest countries, followed by the US as a distant third, however, population growth throughout the world is slowing. Population growth among developed countries has been slowing since the 1950s, population growth among the less developed countries excluding the least developed has also been slowing, since 1960, and is now at 1. 3% annual growth. Population growth among the least developed countries has slowed relatively little, in much of the developed world, changes from distinct mens and womens work to more gender equal patterns have been economically important since the mid 20th century. Both men and women are to be considered to be contributors to social change world wide
4.
Violence
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This definition involves intentionality with the committing of the act itself, irrespective of the outcome it produces. However, generally, anything that is excited in an injurious or damaging way may be described as violent even if not meant to be violence. Globally, violence resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.28 million people in 2013 up from 1.13 million in 1990. Of the deaths in 2013, roughly 842,000 were attributed to self-harm,405,000 to interpersonal violence, in Africa, out of every 100,000 people, each year an estimated 60.9 die a violent death. Corlin, past president of the American Medical Association said, The United States leads the world—in the rate at which its children die from firearms and he concluded, Gun violence is a threat to the public health of our country. For each single death due to violence, there are dozens of hospitalizations, hundreds of emergency department visits, furthermore, violence often has lifelong consequences for physical and mental health and social functioning and can slow economic and social development. In 2013, assault by firearm was the cause of death due to interpersonal violence. The same year, assault by sharp object resulted in roughly 114,000 deaths, Violence in many forms is preventable. Strategies addressing the causes of violence can be effective in preventing violence. These three broad categories are divided further to reflect more specific types of violence. Violence is primarily classified as either instrumental or reactive / hostile, self-directed violence is subdivided into suicidal behaviour and self-abuse. The former includes suicidal thoughts, attempted suicides – also called para suicide or deliberate self-injury in some countries –, self-abuse, in contrast, includes acts such as self-mutilation. Collective violence is subdivided into structural violence and economic violence, unlike the other two broad categories, the subcategories of collective violence suggest possible motives for violence committed by larger groups of individuals or by states. Collective violence that is committed to advance a particular social agenda includes, for example, crimes of hate committed by organized groups, terrorist acts, political violence includes war and related violent conflicts, state violence and similar acts carried out by larger groups. Clearly, acts committed by larger groups can have multiple motives, however, in both research and practice, the dividing lines between the different types of violence are not always so clear. It is the most extreme form of collective violence and we know also ideological, religious and revolutionary wars. Since the Industrial Revolution, the lethality of modern warfare has grown, World War I casualties were over 40 million and World War II casualties were over 70 million. Violence includes those acts that result from a relationship, including threats and intimidation
5.
Nonviolent action
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This type of action highlights the desires of an individual or group that feels that something needs to change to improve the current condition of the resisting person or group. It is largely but wrongly taken as synonymous with civil resistance, each of these terms has its distinct merits and also quite different connotations and commitments. The modern form of non-violent resistance was popularised and proven to be effective by the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi in his efforts to gain independence from the British Empire, there are hundreds of books and papers on the subject — see Further reading below. From 1966 to 1999, nonviolent civic resistance played a role in 50 of 67 transitions from authoritarianism. Recently, nonviolent resistance has led to the Rose Revolution in Georgia, current nonviolent resistance includes the Jeans Revolution in Belarus, the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, and the fight of the Cuban dissidents. Many movements which promote philosophies of nonviolence or pacifism have pragmatically adopted the methods of nonviolent action as a way to achieve social or political goals. Nonviolent action differs from pacifism by potentially being proactive and interventionist, clayborne Carson, In Struggle, SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press,1981, mineola, NY, Dover Publications,2001, orig. Gene Sharp, Making Europe Unconquerable, The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and Defence, united Kingdom, Taylor & Francis,1985. ISBN 978-0-85066-336-5/ Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Michael Bröning, The Politics of Change in Palestine. London, Pluto Press,2011, Part 5, judith Hand, A Future Without War, The Strategy of a Warfare Transition. San Diego, CA, Questpath Publishing,2006, Michael King, The Penguin History of New Zealand. London, Penguin Books,2003, pp 219–20,222, 247–8, mark Kurlansky, Nonviolence, The History of a Dangerous Idea. New York, Modern Library / Random House,2006, david McReynolds, A Philosophy of Nonviolence. Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash, eds, civil Resistance and Power Politics, The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford, England, Oxford University Press,2009, adam Roberts, Michael J. Willis, Rory McCarthy and Timothy Garton Ash, eds. Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring, Triumphs and Disasters, Oxford, England, Oxford University Press,2016. Jonathan Schell, The Unconquerable World, Power, Nonviolence, New York, Metropolitan Books / Henry Holt and Company,2003
6.
Civil resistance
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Civil resistance is political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by civil groups to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion, it can involve systematic attempts to undermine the adversarys sources of power, cases of civil resistance can be found throughout history and in many modern struggles, against both tyrannical rulers and democratically elected governments. The phenomenon of civil resistance is associated with the advancement of democracy. Civil resistance is a long-standing and widespread phenomenon in human history, several works on civil resistance adopt a historical approach to the analysis of the subject. Numerous other campaigns, both successful and unsuccessful, could be included in a longer listing, in 1967 Gene Sharp produced a list of 84 cases. He has followed this with further surveys, in 2013 Maciej Bartkowski authored a long list of cases in the past 200 years, arranged alphabetically by country. It is not easy to devise a method of proving the success of different methods of struggle. Often there are problems in identifying a given campaign as successful or otherwise and their article noted particularly that resistance campaigns that compel loyalty shifts among security forces and civilian bureaucrats are likely to succeed. Some of the decisions on this are debatable. Similar difficulties arise in deciding whether a campaign is violent or non-violent, regimes transitioning from autocracy to democracy tend to be highly unstable, so an initial success for a movement may be followed by a more general failure. Some leaders of resistance struggles have urged the use of non-violent methods for primarily ethical reasons. Some have indicated that both of these types of factor have to be taken into account – and that they necessarily overlap. By 1954 this had led to the conviction that nonviolent resistance was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their quest for social justice. I was attracted to the way of non-violence, but not on moral grounds, the experience of civil resistance suggests that it can at least partially replace other forms of power. Some have seen civil resistance as offering, potentially, an alternative to power politics. The core vision is of non-violent methods replacing armed force in many or all of its forms, several writers, while sharing the vision of civil resistance as progressively overcoming the use of force, have warned against a narrowly instrumental view of non-violent action. She saw Gandhian satyagraha as a form of conflict and as contrasted both to violence and to methods not violent or just short of violence. It is generally difficult in practice to separate out entirely the use of civil resistance and it has sometimes been attacked as being planned and directed from abroad, and as intimately connected to terrorism, imperialism, communism etc
7.
Civil disobedience
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Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is a symbolic or ritualistic violation of the law, Civil disobedience is sometimes, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. One of its earliest massive implementations was brought about by Egyptians against the British occupation in the 1919 Revolution, Civil disobedience is one of the many ways people have rebelled against what they deem to be unfair laws. She gives a speech in which she tells him that she must obey her conscience rather than human law. She is not at all afraid of the death he threatens her with and it is perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent protest. A version was taken up by the author Henry David Thoreau in his essay Civil Disobedience, gandhis Satyagraha was partially influenced and inspired by Shelleys nonviolence in protest and political action. In particular, it is known that Gandhi would often quote Shelleys Masque of Anarchy to vast audiences during the campaign for a free India, Thoreaus 1848 essay Civil Disobedience, originally titled Resistance to Civil Government, has had a wide influence on many later practitioners of civil disobedience. The driving idea behind the essay is that citizens are morally responsible for their support of aggressors, in the essay, Thoreau explained his reasons for having refused to pay taxes as an act of protest against slavery and against the Mexican–American War. He writes, If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, I must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too. See what gross inconsistency is tolerated, public and typically peaceful resistance to public power would remain an integral tactic in modern American minority-rights politics. Henry David Thoreaus 1849 essay Resistance to Civil Government was eventually renamed Essay on Civil Disobedience, after his landmark lectures were published in 1866, the term began to appear in numerous sermons and lectures relating to slavery and the war in Mexico. Thus, by the time Thoreaus lectures were first published under the title Civil Disobedience, in 1866, four years after his death and it has been argued that the term civil disobedience has always suffered from ambiguity and in modern times, become utterly debased. Marshall Cohen notes, It has been used to everything from bringing a test-case in the federal courts to taking aim at a federal official. LeGrande writes that the formulation of a single all-encompassing definition of the term is extremely difficult, in reviewing the voluminous literature on the subject, the student of civil disobedience rapidly finds himself surrounded by a maze of semantical problems and grammatical niceties. Like Alice in Wonderland, he finds that specific terminology has no more meaning than the individual orator intends it to have. He encourages a distinction between lawful protest demonstration, nonviolent civil disobedience, and violent civil disobedience, the resistance to authority in South Africa was well advanced before I got the essay. When I saw the title of Thoreaus great essay, I began to use his phrase to explain our struggle to the English readers, but I found that even Civil Disobedience failed to convey the full meaning of the struggle. I therefore adopted the phrase Civil Resistance, often there is an expectation to be attacked or even beaten by the authorities
8.
Direct action
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Direct action occurs when a group takes an action which is intended to reveal an existing problem, highlight an alternative, or demonstrate a possible solution to a social issue. This can include nonviolent and less often violent activities which target persons, groups, examples of non-violent direct action can include sit-ins, strikes, workplace occupations, blockades, or hacktivism, while violent direct action may include political violence or assaults. Tactics such as sabotage and property destruction may be considered violent if people are hurt in the action, by contrast, electoral politics, diplomacy, negotiation, and arbitration are not usually described as direct action, as they are politically mediated. Direct action tactics have been around for as long as conflicts have existed, the radical union the Industrial Workers of the World first mentioned the term direct action in a publication in reference to a Chicago strike conducted in 1910. American anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre wrote an essay called Direct Action in 1912 which is widely cited today. In his 1920 book, Direct Action, William Mellor placed direct action firmly in the struggle between worker and employer for control over the life of society. Mellor defined direct action as the use of form of economic power for securing of ends desired by those who possess that power. Mellor considered direct action a tool of both owners and workers and for this reason he included within his definition lockouts and cartels, as well as strikes, over and over they were arrested, fined, and imprisoned. Till they finally compelled their persecutors to let them alone, —de Cleyre, undated Martin Luther King felt that non-violent direct actions goal was to create such a crisis and foster such a tension as to demand a response. The rhetoric of Martin Luther King, James Bevel, and Mohandas Gandhi promoted non-violent revolutionary direct action as a means to social change. Noteworthy, Gandhi and Bevel had been influenced by Leo Tolstoys The Kingdom of God Is Within You. By the middle of the 20th century, the sphere of action had undoubtedly expanded. Some sections of the movement used direct action, particularly during the 1980s. In the US, mass protests opposed nuclear energy, weapons, many groups also set up semi-permanent peace camps outside air bases such as Molesworth and Greenham Common, and at the Nevada Test Site. Environmental movement organizations such as Greenpeace have used direct action to pressure governments, on April 28,2009, Greenpeace activists, including Phil Radford, scaled a crane across the street from the Department of State, calling on world leaders to address climate change. Soon thereafter, Greenpeace activists dropped a banner off of Mt. Rushmore, placing President Obamas face next to other historic presidents, overall, more than 2,600 people were arrested while protesting energy policy and associated health issues under the Barack Obama Administration. In 2009, hundreds blocked the gates of the coal fired power plant that powers the US Congress building, following the Power Shift conference in Washington, D. C. Anti-globalization activists made headlines around the world in 1999, when they forced the Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 to end early with direct action tactics
9.
Petra Kelly
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Petra Karin Kelly was a German Green politician and activist. She was instrumental in founding the German Green Party, the first Green party to rise to prominence both nationally in Germany and worldwide, Kelly was born in Günzburg, Bavaria, in 1947, as Petra Karin Lehmann. She changed her name to Kelly after her mother married John E. Kelly and she was educated in a Roman Catholic convent in Günzburg and later attended school in Georgia and Virginia after her family relocated to the United States in 1959. She lived and studied in the United States until her return to West Germany in 1970 and she retained her German citizenship throughout her life. An admirer of Martin Luther King, Jr. she campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy and she studied political science at the School of International Service at American University, from which she graduated in 1970. She graduated from the European Institute at the University of Amsterdam in 1971, while working at the European Commission, she participated in numerous peace and environmental campaigns in Germany and other countries. After working for two years at the European Commission, she moved to an administrative post at the Economic and Social Committee, Petra Kelly was one of the founders of Die Grünen, the German Green Party in 1979. In 1983 she was elected to the Bundestag via the landesliste as a Member of Parliament representing Bavaria and she was subsequently re-elected in 1987 with a higher vote share. In 1981 Petra Kelly was involved in a protest of 400,000 people in Bonn against nuclear weapons. In 1982, Gerhard Schröder wrote a contribution in Die Zeit for the book Prinzip Leben, edited by Kelly and Jo Leinen, which discussed ecological problems and a possible nuclear war. In the same year, Kelly received the Right Livelihood Award. for forging and implementing a new vision uniting ecological concerns with disarmament, social justice, and human rights. On 12 May 1983 Kelly, Gert Bastian and three other Green Bundestag members unfurled a banner on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin, which said The Greens – Swords to Ploughshares, after being briefly arrested, they met with East German opposition parties. The East German authorities tolerated this since the West German Greens repudiated the NATO Double-Track Decision, in October 1983, Erich Honecker, the leader of the German Democratic Republic, met Petra Kelly, Gert Bastian and other Greens. Kelly wore a pullover with the words Swords to Ploughshares on it and she demanded the release of all prisoners of the East German peace movement and asked Honecker why he repressed something in the GDR which he supported in the West. Kelly wrote the book Fighting for Hope in 1984, published by South End Press, the book is an urgent call for a world free from violence between North and South, men and women, ourselves and our environment. The police determined that Kelly was shot dead while sleeping by Bastian, the last time anyone heard from the couple was on 30 September 1992 when Kelly sent a parcel to her grandmother. Kelly was buried in the Waldfriedhof in Würzburg, near the village of Heidingsfeld in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Kelly was positioned between the tropical ecologist Mike Hands and the national parks visionary John Dower. Essays on Environmentalism, Feminism, and Nonviolence, Parallax Press, Berkeley, California,1994 Kelly, Petra K. Nonviolence Speaks to Power, online book, almost complete text Wilsford, David, political leaders of contemporary Western Europe, a biographical dictionary pp. 230–236
10.
Nonviolent resistance
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This type of action highlights the desires of an individual or group that feels that something needs to change to improve the current condition of the resisting person or group. It is largely but wrongly taken as synonymous with civil resistance, each of these terms has its distinct merits and also quite different connotations and commitments. The modern form of non-violent resistance was popularised and proven to be effective by the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi in his efforts to gain independence from the British Empire, there are hundreds of books and papers on the subject — see Further reading below. From 1966 to 1999, nonviolent civic resistance played a role in 50 of 67 transitions from authoritarianism. Recently, nonviolent resistance has led to the Rose Revolution in Georgia, current nonviolent resistance includes the Jeans Revolution in Belarus, the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, and the fight of the Cuban dissidents. Many movements which promote philosophies of nonviolence or pacifism have pragmatically adopted the methods of nonviolent action as a way to achieve social or political goals. Nonviolent action differs from pacifism by potentially being proactive and interventionist, clayborne Carson, In Struggle, SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press,1981, mineola, NY, Dover Publications,2001, orig. Gene Sharp, Making Europe Unconquerable, The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and Defence, united Kingdom, Taylor & Francis,1985. ISBN 978-0-85066-336-5/ Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Michael Bröning, The Politics of Change in Palestine. London, Pluto Press,2011, Part 5, judith Hand, A Future Without War, The Strategy of a Warfare Transition. San Diego, CA, Questpath Publishing,2006, Michael King, The Penguin History of New Zealand. London, Penguin Books,2003, pp 219–20,222, 247–8, mark Kurlansky, Nonviolence, The History of a Dangerous Idea. New York, Modern Library / Random House,2006, david McReynolds, A Philosophy of Nonviolence. Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash, eds, civil Resistance and Power Politics, The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford, England, Oxford University Press,2009, adam Roberts, Michael J. Willis, Rory McCarthy and Timothy Garton Ash, eds. Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring, Triumphs and Disasters, Oxford, England, Oxford University Press,2016. Jonathan Schell, The Unconquerable World, Power, Nonviolence, New York, Metropolitan Books / Henry Holt and Company,2003
11.
Nonviolent revolution
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Nonviolent revolutions in the 20th century became more successful and more common, especially in the 1980s as Cold War political alliances which supported status quo governance waned. The use of forms of unofficial exchange of information, including by samizdat. Two major revolutions during the 1980s strongly influenced political movements that followed, the first was the 1986 People Power Revolution, in the Philippines from which the term people power came to be widely used, especially in Hispanic and Asian nations. In December 1989, inspired by the anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, in 1990, dissidents in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic started civil resistance against the government, but were initially crushed by Red Army in the Black January massacre. The beginnings of the nonviolence movement lie in the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Some have argued that a nonviolent revolution would require fraternisation with military forces, a peaceful revolution or bloodless coup is an overthrow of a government that occurs without violence. If the revolutionists refuse to use violence, it is known as a nonviolent revolution, if the revolutionists are willing to use force, but the loyalists negotiate or surrender to divert armed conflict, it is called a bloodless war. Peaceful revolutions that have occurred are the Bloodless Revolution of 1688 in United Kingdom, the People Power Revolution of 1986 in the Philippines, one theory of democracy is that its main purpose is to allow peaceful revolutions. The idea is that majorities voting in elections approximate the result of a coup, in 1962, John F. Kennedy famously said, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. George Lakey in his 1973 book and in his 1976 A Manifesto for Nonviolent Revolution, stage 1 - Cultural Preparation or Conscientization, Education, training and consciousness raising of why there is a need for a nonviolent revolution and how to conduct a nonviolent revolution. Stage 2 - Building Organizations, As training, education and consciousness raising continues, affinity groups or nonviolent revolutionary groups are organized to provide support, maintain nonviolent discipline, organize and train other people into similar affinity groups and networks. Stage 3 - Confrontation, Organized and sustained campaigns of picketing, strikes, sit-ins, marches, boycotts, die-ins, blockades to disrupt business as usual in institutions, by putting ones body on the line nonviolently the rising movement stops the normal gears of government and business. Stage 4 - Mass Non Cooperation, Similar affinity groups and networks of affinity groups around the country and world, stage 5 - Developing Parallel Institutions to take over functions and services of government and commerce. Gene Sharp, who influenced many in the Arab Spring revolutions, has documented and described over 198 different methods of nonviolent action that nonviolent revolutionaries might use in struggle. He argues that no government or institution can rule without the consent of the governed or oppressed as that is the source of nonviolent power, Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. argued this as well. 1930 – Salt Satyagraha in India in an attempt to overthrow British colonial rule 1968 – The Prague Spring, the Revolutions of 1989, Even though many of these revolutions did not take place entirely in 1989, they are usually grouped together as such. 1980–1989 – The Solidarity movement in April marshals popular resistance to communist rule, 1987–1989/1991 – The Singing Revolution – a cycle of singing mass demonstrations, followed by a living chain across the Baltic states, known as the Baltic Way. 1989 – The bloodless revolution in Bulgaria that resulted in the downfall of the communist government,1990 – The Golaniad – a protest in Romania in April by Bucharest students who demanded a non-communist government
12.
British Raj
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The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India, the resulting political union was also called the Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name. It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan and this area is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar desert. In addition, at times, it included Aden, Lower Burma, Upper Burma, British Somaliland. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948, among other countries in the region, Ceylon was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, the kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory, British India and the Native States. In general, the term British India had been used to also to the regions under the rule of the British East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858. The term has also used to refer to the British in India. The terms Indian Empire and Empire of India were not used in legislation, the monarch was known as Empress or Emperor of India and the term was often used in Queen Victorias Queens Speeches and Prorogation Speeches. The passports issued by the British Indian government had the words Indian Empire on the cover, in addition, an order of knighthood, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, was set up in 1878. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, during the partition of Bengal the new provinces of Assam and East Bengal were created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, there were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India, the larger ones had treaties with Britain that specified which rights the princes had, in the smaller ones the princes had few rights. Within the princely states external affairs, defence and most communications were under British control, the British also exercised a general influence over the states internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers. Although there were nearly 600 princely states, the majority were very small
13.
James Bevel
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James Luther Bevel was a minister and leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. He suggested that SCLC call for and join a March on Washington in 1963, Bevel later strategized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, which contributed to Congressional passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He initiated and directed some of the 1961 and 1962 voting rights movement in Mississippi, in 1967, Bevel was chair of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. He initiated the 1967 March on the United Nations as part of the anti-war movement and his last major action was as co-initiator of the 1995 Day of Atonement/Million Man March in Washington, DC. In 2005 Bevel was accused of incest by one of his daughters and he was tried in April 2008. Maintaining his innocence, Bevel was convicted of unlawful fornication, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after serving seven months he was freed awaiting an appeal, he died of pancreatic cancer in December 2008. He was buried in Eutaw, Alabama, Bevel was born in 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of Illie and Dennis Bevel. He was one of seventeen children and he grew up in rural LeFlore County of the Mississippi Delta and in Cleveland. He worked on a plantation for a time as a youth. He was educated at segregated local schools in Mississippi and in Cleveland, after high school he served in the U. S. Navy for a time and seemed headed for a career as a singer. Called in a different direction, he attended the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1957 to 1961 and he also joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. While at seminary, he reread Leo Tolstoys The Kingdom of God is Within You, Bevel also attended workshops at the Highlander Folk School taught by its founder, Myles Horton, who emphasized grassroots organizing. After the success of this action, and with the aid of SCLCs Ella Baker, activist students from Nashville, working on SNCCs commitment to desegregate theaters, Bevel successfully directed the 1961 Nashville Open Theater Movement. At the time the Open Theater Movement had success in Nashville, after buses and riders were severely attacked, including a firebombing of a bus and beatings with police complicity in Birmingham, Alabama, CORE suspended the rides. Diane Nash, the Nashville Student Movements chairman, urged the group to continue the Freedom Rides, Bevel selected the student teams for the buses. He and the others were arrested after they arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, eventually the Freedom Riders reached their goal of New Orleans, Louisiana, generating nationwide coverage of the violence to maintain Jim Crow and white supremacy in the South. While in the Jackson jail, Bevel and Bernard Lafayette initiated the Mississippi Voting Rights Movement and they, Nash, and others stayed in Mississippi to work on grassroots organizing. Activists encountered severe violence at that time and retreated to regroup, later efforts in Mississippi developed as Freedom Summer in 1964, when extensive voter education and registration efforts took place
14.
Civil and political rights
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Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure ones ability to participate in the civil and political life of the society, Civil and political rights form the original and main part of international human rights. They comprise the first portion of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the phrase civil rights is a translation of Latin ius civis. Roman citizens could be either free or servile, but they all had rights in law. After the Edict of Milan in 313, these included the freedom of religion. Roman legal doctrine was lost during the Middle Ages, but claims of rights could still be made based on religious doctrine. According to the leaders of Ketts Rebellion, all men may be made free. In the 17th century, English common law judge Sir Edward Coke revived the idea of rights based on citizenship by arguing that Englishmen had historically enjoyed such rights, the Parliament of England adopted the English Bill of Rights in 1689. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, by George Mason and James Madison, was adopted in 1776, the Virginia declaration is the direct ancestor and model for the U. S. Bill of Rights. The removal by legislation of a civil right constitutes a civil disability, in early 19th century Britain, the phrase civil rights most commonly referred to the issue of such legal discrimination against Catholics. In the House of Commons support for civil rights was divided, the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 restored their civil rights. In the 1860s, Americans adapted this usage to newly freed blacks, congress enacted civil rights acts in 1866,1871,1875,1957,1960,1964,1968, and 1991. Marshall notes that civil rights were among the first to be recognized and codified, followed later by political rights, in many countries, they are constitutional rights and are included in a bill of rights or similar document. They are also defined in human rights instruments, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Civil and political rights need not be codified to be protected, although most democracies worldwide do have formal written guarantees of civil, Civil rights are considered to be natural rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America that a free people their rights as derived from the laws of nature, the question of to whom civil and political rights apply is a subject of controversy. According to political scientist Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr. Custom also plays a role, the United States Declaration of Independence states that people have unalienable rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It is considered by some that the purpose of government is the protection of life. Ideas of self-ownership and cognitive liberty affirm rights to choose the food one eats, the one takes
15.
African Americans
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African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American, Black and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved peoples within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of 73. 2–80. 9% West African, 18–24% European, according to US Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities, immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term. After the founding of the United States, black people continued to be enslaved, believed to be inferior to white people, they were treated as second-class citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U. S. citizenship to whites only, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, the settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come. The first recorded Africans in British North America were 20 and odd negroes who came to Jamestown, as English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Typically, young men or women would sign a contract of indenture in exchange for transportation to the New World, the landowner received 50 acres of land from the state for each servant purchased from a ships captain. An indentured servant would work for years without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery, servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom and they raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or English settlers. By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of slavery when they sentenced John Punch. One of Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would own one of the first black slaves, John Casor
16.
Cesar Chavez
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Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the workers struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the late 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to recognize the UFW as the agent for 50,000 field workers in California. However, by the membership in the UFW had dwindled to around 15,000. He has since become an icon for organized labor and leftist politics, symbolizing support for workers and he is also famous for popularizing the slogan Sí, se puede, which was adopted as the 2008 campaign slogan of Barack Obama. His supporters say his work led to improvements for union laborers. Although the UFW faltered a few years after Chavez died in 1993 and his birthday, March 31, has become Cesar Chavez Day, a state holiday in California, Colorado, and Texas. Chavez was born on March 31,1927, in Yuma, Arizona and he was the son of Juana Estrada and Librado Chávez. He had two brothers, Richard and Librado, and two sisters, Rita and Vicki and he was named after his grandfather, Cesario. Chavez grew up in an adobe home, the same home in which he was born. His family owned a store and a ranch, but their land was lost during the Great Depression. The familys home was taken away after his father had agreed to clear eighty acres of land in exchange for the deed to the house, an agreement which was subsequently broken. Later, when Chavezs father attempted to purchase the house, he could not pay the interest on the loan and his family then moved to California to become migrant farm workers. The Chavez family faced many hardships in California, the family would pick peas and lettuce in the winter, cherries and beans in the spring, corn and grapes in the summer, and cotton in the fall. When Chavez was a teenager, he and his older sister Rita would help other farm workers and neighbors by driving those unable to drive to the hospital to see a doctor, in 1942, Chavez quit school in the seventh grade. It would be his year of formal schooling, because he did not want his mother to have to work in the fields. Chavez dropped out to become a migrant farm worker. In 1946 he joined the United States Navy and served for two years, Chavez had hoped that he would learn skills in the Navy that would help him later when he returned to civilian life
17.
Velvet Revolution
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The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from November 17 to December 29,1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia combined students, the result was the end of 41 years of one-party rule in Czechoslovakia, and the subsequent dismantling of the planned economy and conversion to a parliamentary republic. On November 17,1989, riot police suppressed a student demonstration in Prague and that event sparked a series of demonstrations from November 19 to late December. By November 20, the number of protesters assembled in Prague grew from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated 500,000, a two-hour general strike involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia was held on November 27. On November 24, the top leadership of the Communist Party, including General Secretary Miloš Jakeš. Two days later, the legislature deleted the sections of the Constitution giving the Communists a monopoly of power. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany, on December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected speaker of the parliament on December 28. In June 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946, the term Velvet Revolution was coined by Rita Klímová, the dissidents English translator who later became the ambassador to the United States. The term was used internationally to describe the revolution, although the Czechs also used the term internally, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Slovakia used the term Gentle Revolution, the term that Slovaks used for the revolution from the beginning. The Czech Republic continues to refer to the event as the Velvet Revolution, the Communist Party seized power on February 25,1948. No official opposition parties operated thereafter, dissidents published home-made periodicals, but they faced persecution by the secret police. Thus, the public did not openly support the dissidents for fear of dismissal from work or school. A writer or filmmaker could have his/her books or films banned for an attitude towards the socialist regime. These rules were easy to enforce, as all schools, media and they were under direct supervision and often were used as accusatory weapons against rivals. The nature of blacklisting changed gradually after the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachevs policies of Glasnost, the Czechoslovak Communist leadership verbally supported Perestroika, but made few changes. Speaking about the Prague Spring of 1968 was taboo, the first anti-government demonstrations occurred in 1988 and 1989, but these were dispersed and participants were repressed by the police. By the late 1980s, discontent with living standards and economic inadequacy gave way to support for economic reform
18.
Czechoslovakia
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From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. From 1948 to 1990, Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc with a command economy and its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949, and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May 1955. A period of liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by several other Warsaw Pact countries. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Form of state 1918–1938, A democratic republic, 1938–1939, After annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, 1939–1945, The region was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and its Allies, after the German invasion of Russia, Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations. 1946–1948, The country was governed by a government with communist ministers, including the prime minister. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union, 1948–1989, The country became a socialist state under Soviet domination with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the country became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a state of the Soviet Union. 1989–1990, The federal republic consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic, 1990–1992, Following the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Neighbours Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Germany Hungary Poland Romania 1918–1938 Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands, the eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather is mild winters and mild summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his ally, Edvard Beneš. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, nationalism became a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century
19.
Communism
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Communism includes a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism, anarchism, and the political ideologies grouped around both. The primary element which will enable this transformation, according to analysis, is the social ownership of the means of production. Likewise, some communists defend both theory and practice, while others argue that historical practice diverged from communist principles to a greater or lesser degree, according to Richard Pipes, the idea of a classless, egalitarian society first emerged in Ancient Greece. At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, in the medieval Christian church, for example, some monastic communities and religious orders shared their land and their other property. Communist thought has also traced back to the works of the 16th-century English writer Thomas More. In his treatise Utopia, More portrayed a society based on ownership of property. In the 17th century, communist thought surfaced again in England, criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, through such thinkers as Jean Jacques Rousseau in France. Later, following the upheaval of the French Revolution, communism emerged as a political doctrine, in the early 19th century, Various social reformers founded communities based on common ownership. But unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the emphasis with a rational. Notable among them were Robert Owen, who founded New Harmony in Indiana, in its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels, in 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. The 1917 October Revolution in Russia set the conditions for the rise to power of Lenins Bolsheviks. The revolution transferred power to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, in which the Bolsheviks had a majority, the event generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development, Russia, however, was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeois rule, the moderate Mensheviks opposed Lenins Bolshevik plan for socialist revolution before capitalism was more fully developed. The Great Purge of 1937–1938 was Stalins attempt to destroy any possible opposition within the Communist Party and its leading role in the Second World War saw the emergence of the Soviet Union as a superpower, with strong influence over Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. The European and Japanese empires were shattered and Communist parties played a role in many independence movements
20.
Revolutions of 1989
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The Revolutions of 1989 were part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is called the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term Spring of Nations sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848. Socialism had been gaining momentum among working class citizens of the world since the 19th century and these culminated in the early 20th century, when several states and colonies formed their own communist parties. Many of the countries involved had hierarchical structures with monarchic governments, Socialism was undesirable within the circles of the ruling classes in the late 19th/early 20th century states, as such, communism was repressed. Its champions suffered persecution while people were discouraged from adopting it and this had been the practice even in states which identified as exercising a multi-party system. The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw the first communist state in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, during the period between the world wars, communism had been on the rise in many parts of the world, especially in towns and cities. This led to a series of purges in many countries to stifle the movement, violent resistance to this repression led to a decrease in support for communism in Central and Eastern Europe. In the early stages of World War II, both Nazi Germany and the USSR invaded and occupied the countries of Eastern Europe after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Germany then turned against and invaded the USSR, the battles of this Eastern Front were the largest in history. The USSR joined with the Allies and in conferences at Tehran and Yalta, the USSR fought the Germans to a standstill and finally began driving them back, reaching Berlin before the end of the war. Nazi ideology was violently anti-communist, and the Nazis brutally suppressed communist movements in the countries it occupied, Communists played a large part in the resistance to the Nazis in these countries. As the Soviets forced the Germans back, they assumed control of these devastated areas. After World War II, the Soviets ensured that communists loyal to Moscow took power in the countries it occupied, the Soviets retained troops throughout these territories. The Cold War saw these states, bound together by the Warsaw Pact, have continuing tensions with the capitalist west, the Chinese Revolution established communism in China in 1949. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a spontaneous nationwide anti-authoritarian revolt, similarly in 1968, the USSR repressed the Prague Spring by organizing the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Labour turmoil in Poland during 1980 had led to the formation of the independent trade union, Solidarity, led by Lech Wałęsa, during the mid-1980s, a younger generation of Soviet apparatchiks, led by Gorbachev, began advocating fundamental reform in order to reverse years of Brezhnev stagnation. After decades of growth, the Soviet Union was now facing a period of economic decline and needed Western technology. The costs of maintaining its military, the KGB, subsidies to client states etc. further strained the moribund Soviet economy. The first signs of major reform came in 1986 when Gorbachev launched a policy of glasnost in the Soviet Union, and emphasized the need for perestroika
21.
Leymah Gbowee
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Her efforts to end the war, along with her collaborator Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, helped usher in a period of peace and enabled a free election in 2005 that Sirleaf won. Leymah Gbowee was born in central Liberia on 1 February 1972, at the age of 17, she was living with her parents and two of her three sisters in Monrovia, when the First Liberian Civil War erupted in 1989, throwing the country into chaos until 1996. As the war subsided she learned about a run by UNICEF. Training people to be social workers who would then counsel those traumatized by war, wrote Gbowee in her 2011 memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers. She did a training, which led her to be aware of her own abuse at the hands of the father of her two young children, son Joshua Nuku and daughter Amber. She fled with her three children, riding a bus on credit for over a week because I didnt have a cent, back to the chaos of Liberia, Peters Lutheran Church in Monrovia, where her mother was a womens leader and Gbowee had passed her teenage years. It was called the Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Program, and it marked the beginning of Gbowees journey toward being a peace activist, The THRPs offices were new, but the program had a history. Surrounded by the images of war, she realized that if any changes were to be made in society it had to be by the mothers. S. that specialized in peace-building studies. By late 1999, WANEP was actively seeking to involve women in its work and I was invited to a conference in Ghana, wrote Gbowee. At a follow-up WANEP conference in October 2000, Gbowee met Thelma Ekiyor of Nigeria, who was well educated, Ekiyor told Gbowee of her idea of approaching WANEP to start a womens organization. Thelma was a thinker, a visionary, like BB and Sam, but she was a woman, like me. There were women from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, no one else in Africa was doing this, focusing only on women and only on building peace. Ekiyor became Gbowees trainer and friend and she also was the one who announced the launch of WIPNET in Liberia and named Gbowee as coordinator of Liberian Womens Initiative. In the spring of 2002, Gbowee was spending her days employed in trauma-healing work and her children, now including an adopted daughter named Lucia Malou, were living in Ghana under her sisters care. Falling asleep in the WIPNET office one night, she awoke from a dream where she says God had told her, Gather the women and pray for peace. Some friends helped her to understand that the dream was not meant for others, as Gbowee thought, instead and their flyers read, We are tired. We are tired of our children being killed and we are tired of being abused. Women, wake up – you have a voice in the peace process and they also handed out simple drawings explaining their purpose to the many women who couldnt read
22.
Liberia
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Liberia /laɪˈbɪəriə/, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its west, Guinea to its north and it covers an area of 111,369 square kilometres and has a population of 4,503,000 people. English is the language and over 20 indigenous languages are spoken. The countrys capital and largest city is Monrovia, forests on the coastline are composed mostly of salt-tolerant mangrove trees, while the more sparsely populated inland has forests opening onto a plateau of drier grasslands. The climate is equatorial, with significant rainfall during the May–October rainy season, Liberia possesses about forty percent of the remaining Upper Guinean rainforest. It was an important producer of rubber in the early 20th century, the Republic of Liberia began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society, who believed African Americans would face better chances for freedom in Africa than in the United States. The country declared its independence on July 26,1847, the U. S. did not recognize Liberias independence until during the American Civil War on February 5,1862. The African American settlers carried their culture with them to Liberia, Liberia maintained and kept its independence during the European colonial era. In addition, President William Tubman encouraged economic changes, internationally, Liberia was a founding member of the League of Nations, United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity. Five years of rule by the Peoples Redemption Council and five years of civilian rule by the National Democratic Party of Liberia were followed by the First. These resulted in the deaths and displacement of more than half a million people, a peace agreement in 2003 led to democratic elections in 2005. Recovery proceeds but about 85% of the population live below the poverty line. The Pepper Coast, also known as the Grain Coast, has been inhabited by peoples of Africa at least as far back as the 12th century. Mende-speaking people expanded westward from the Sudan, forcing many smaller ethnic groups southward toward the Atlantic Ocean, the Dei, Bassa, Kru, Gola and Kissi were some of the earliest documented peoples in the area. This influx was compounded by the decline of the Western Sudanic Mali Empire in 1375, additionally, as inland regions underwent desertification, inhabitants moved to the wetter coast. These new inhabitants brought skills such as spinning, cloth weaving, iron smelting, rice and sorghum cultivation. Shortly after the Mane conquered the region, the Vai people of the former Mali Empire immigrated into the Grand Cape Mount County region, the ethnic Kru opposed the influx of Vai, forming an alliance with the Mane to stop further influx of Vai. People along the coast built canoes and traded with other West Africans from Cap-Vert to the Gold Coast, arab traders entered the region from the north, and a long-established slave trade took captives to north and east Africa
23.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
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Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a documentary film directed by Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. The film premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Documentary, the film had its theatrical release in New York City on November 7,2008. The film documents a peace movement called Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, organized by social worker Leymah Gbowee, the movement started with praying and singing in a fish market. Leymah Gbowee organized the Christian and Muslim women of Monrovia, Liberia to pray for peace, dressed in white to symbolize peace, and numbering in the thousands, the women became a political force against violence and against their government. Their movement led to the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia, the film has been used as an advocacy tool in post-conflict zones like Sudan, mobilizing African women to petition for peace and security. A group of women in Liberia, led by Leymah Gbowee. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, under Leymah Gbowees leadership, the women managed to force a meeting with President Charles Taylor and extract a promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana. Gbowee then led a delegation of Liberian women to Ghana to continue to pressure on the warring factions during the peace process. They staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace, Accra, asatu Bah Kenneth is featured in the film. She is currently Assistant Minister for Administration and Public Safety of the Liberian Ministry of Justice, the title of the film is drawn from Gbowee’s statement about Taylor and the rebels. The rebels frequented mosques, while Taylor claimed to be a devout Christian who, according to Gbowee, in 2009, women made up 15 percent of Liberia’s national police force. On June 19,2009, the film was featured on PBS on the Bill Moyers Journal Leymah Roberta Gbowee is the director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa, based in Accra. In 2007, Leymah Gbowee completed a degree in conflict transformation at Eastern Mennonite University. Leymah Gbowee was named one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, in 2009, she and the Women of Liberia were honored with the JFK Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
24.
Judith Hand
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Hand is an evolutionary biologist, animal behaviorist, novelist, and pioneer in the emerging field of peace ethology. She writes on a variety of related to ethology, including the biological and evolutionary roots of war, gender differences in conflict resolution, empowering women. Her lectures include recent developments in research, which may help us prevent war. Her book, Women, Power, and the Biology of Peace is an exploration of human gender differences with regard to aggression. Her web site, A Future Without War, a book by the name. Are devoted to the concept of and requirements for abolishing war, the website provides an extensive collection of essays and book reviews, issues a topical newsletter, includes a blog, and is a gateway to other related sites. Hand has been a member of the International Society for Human Ethology, ISHE is a professional organization whose members study human behavior and come from such diverse disciplines as biology, anthropology and psychology. Verbeek suggests that peace ethology is uniquely positioned to make an important contribution to the emerging science of peace. Recent studies show that children display peacemaking behavior that is remarkably similar in form and timing to peacemaking observed in non-human primates. In the past, researchers assumed that peace emerges, almost by default, Studies on the behavioral biology of aggression emphasized what led up to and happened during competition and aggression. Few studies investigated what happened afterwards, in 1979, Frans de Waal and Marc van Roosmalen found that chimpanzee opponents tend to seek each other out for peaceful contact shortly after aggression has ceased. Three decades of studies indicate that peacemaking, like aggression, is an aspect of primate social behavior. Peace is now seen as a concept worthy of study in its own right, Hand is a social activist committed to the abolition of war. Her argument for the ability of humans to achieve this goal is developed in Women, Power, other requirements for abolishing war and how long such a campaign might take are also explained on her website and in the paper, To Abolish War. From 1967 to 1975, Hand taught high school biology at Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, while still teaching, she began a Ph. D. program at UCLA and in 1979 was awarded a Ph. D. in Animal Behavior, also called Ethology. After completing her doctorate, she continued research as a Smithsonian Post-doctoral Fellow at the National Zoo in Washington. This research resulted in published papers on conflict resolution highlighting the use of behavior to resolve conflicts. Female gulls of the species she studied are always smaller than their mates, from 1980 to 1985, she was a Research Associate and Lecturer in the UCLA biology department teaching Animal Behavior and Ornithology
25.
War
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War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality, an absence of war is usually called peace. Warfare refers to the activities and characteristics of types of war. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to legitimate military targets. While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, as concerns a belligerents losses in proportion to its prewar population, the most destructive war in modern history may have been the Paraguayan War. In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths, down from 72,000 deaths in 1990, in 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties in the conflict, the word is related to the Old Saxon werran, Old High German werran, and the German verwirren, meaning “to confuse”, “to perplex”, and “to bring into confusion”. In German, the equivalent is Krieg, the Spanish, Portuguese, the scholarly study of war is sometimes called polemology, from the Greek polemos, meaning war, and -logy, meaning the study of. Studies of war by military theorists throughout military history have sought to identify the philosophy of war, asymmetric warfare is a conflict between two populations of drastically different levels of military capability or size. Biological warfare, or germ warfare, is the use of weaponized biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, chemical warfare involves the use of weaponized chemicals in combat. Poison gas as a weapon was principally used during World War I. Civil war is a war between forces belonging to the nation or political entity. Conventional warfare is declared war between states in which nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are not used or see limited deployment, cyberwarfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nations information systems. Information warfare is the application of force on a large scale against information assets and systems, against the computers. Nuclear warfare is warfare in which weapons are the primary, or a major. War of aggression is a war for conquest or gain rather than self-defense, the earliest recorded evidence of war belongs to the Mesolithic cemetery Site 117, which has been determined to be approximately 14,000 years old. About forty-five percent of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death, since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. The advent of gunpowder and the acceleration of technological advances led to modern warfare
26.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, with the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech, on October 14,1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, in the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled Beyond Vietnam. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D. C. to be called the Poor Peoples Campaign, Kings death was followed by riots in many U. S. cities. Ray, who fled the country, was arrested two months later at London Heathrow Airport, King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, hundreds of streets in the U. S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, King was born on January 15,1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. It was during this time he chose to be called Martin Luther King in honor of the German reformer Martin Luther, King had Irish ancestry through his paternal great-grandfather, as well as African ancestry. King was a child, between an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. King sang with his choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind. His mother was an accomplished organist and choir leader, and she took him to various churches to sing and he received attention for singing I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus. King later became a member of the choir in his church. King said that his father regularly whipped him until he was fifteen, King saw his fathers proud and fearless protests against segregation, such as King Sr. When King was a child, he befriended a boy whose father owned a business near his familys home. When the boys were six, they started school, King had to attend a school for African Americans, King lost his friend because the childs father no longer wanted the boys to play together. King suffered from depression throughout much of his life, in his adolescent years, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the racial humiliation that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure in the segregated South
27.
Jainism
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Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion belonging to the śramaṇa tradition. The central tenet is non-violence and respect all living beings. The three main principles of Jainism are ahimsa, anekantavada and aparigraha, followers of Jainism take five main vows, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. Jain monks and nuns observe these vows absolutely whereas householders observe them within their practical limitations, self-discipline and asceticism are thus major focuses of Jainism. The word Jain derives from the Sanskrit word jina, a human being who has conquered all inner passions like attachment, desire, anger, pride, greed, etc. is called Jina. Followers of the path practiced and preached by the jinas are known as Jains, Parasparopagraho Jivanam is the motto of Jainism. Jains trace their history through a succession of teachers and revivers of the Jain path known as Tirthankaras. In the current era, this started with Rishabhdeva and concluded with Mahavira, Jains believe that Jainism is eternal and while it may be forgotten, it will be revived from time to time. The majority of Jains reside in India, with 6-7 million followers, Jainism is smaller than many other major world religions. Outside of India, some of the largest Jain communities are present in Canada, Europe, Kenya, the UK, Suriname, Fiji, contemporary Jainism is divided into two major sects, Digambara and Śvētāmbara. Namokar Mantra is the most common and basic prayer in Jainism, major Jain festivals include Paryushana and Daslakshana, Mahavir Jayanti, and Diwali. The principle of ahimsa is the most fundamental and well-known aspect of Jainism, the everyday implementation of the principle of non-violence is more comprehensive than in other religions and is the hallmark for Jain identity. Jains believe in avoiding harm to others thoughts, speech. According to the Jain text, Purushartha Siddhyupaya, killing any living being out of passions is hiṃsā, Jains extend the practice of nonviolence and kindness not only towards other humans but towards all living beings. For this reason, vegetarianism is a hallmark of Jain identity, if there is violence against animals during the production of dairy products, veganism is encouraged. Jainism has an elaborate framework on types of life and includes life-forms that may be invisible. Therefore, after humans and animals, insects are the living being offered protection in Jain practice. For example, insects in the home are often escorted out instead of killed, Jainism teaches that intentional harm and the absence of compassion make an action more violent
28.
Hinduism
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Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
29.
Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
30.
Karma
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Karma means action, work or deed, it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual influence the future of that individual. Good intent and good deed contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deed contribute to bad karma, Karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth in many schools of Asian religions. In these schools, karma in the present affects ones future in the current life, as well as the nature, with origins in ancient India, karma is a key concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Taoism. Karma is the deed, work, action, or act, and it is also the object. Halbfass explains karma by contrasting it with another Sanskrit word kriya, a good action creates good karma, as does good intent. A bad action creates bad karma, as does bad intent, Karma, also refers to a conceptual principle that originated in India, often descriptively called the principle of karma, sometimes as the karma theory or the law of karma. In the context of theory, karma is complex and difficult to define, other Indologists include in the definition of karma theory that which explains the present circumstances of an individual with reference to his or her actions in past. The law of karma operates independent of any deity or any process of divine judgment, Buddhism and Jainism have their own karma precepts. Thus karma has not one, but multiple definitions and different meanings and it is a concept whose meaning, importance and scope varies between Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other traditions that originated in India, and various schools in each of these traditions. OFlaherty claims that, furthermore, there is a debate regarding whether karma is a theory, a model, a paradigm. Karma theory as a concept, across different Indian religious traditions, shares common themes, causality, ethicization. A common theme to theories of karma is its principle of causality, one of the earliest association of karma to causality occurs in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad of Hinduism. For example, at 4.4. 5-6, it states, The relationship of karma to causality is a motif in all schools of Hindu, Jain. Disinterested actions, or unintentional actions do not have the positive or negative karmic effect, as interested. Another causality characteristic, shared by Karmic theories, is that like deeds lead to like effects, thus good karma produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. This effect may be material, moral or emotional — that is, the effect of karma need not be immediate, the effect of karma can be later in ones current life, and in some schools it extends to future lives. The consequence or effects of karma can be described in two forms, phalas and samskaras. A phala is the visible or invisible effect that is typically immediate or within the current life, the theory of karma is often presented in the context of samskaras
31.
Parshvanatha
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Parshvanatha, also known as Parshva, was the twenty-third Tirthankara of Jainism. He is the earliest Jain leader for whom there is evidence of having been a historical figure. Circumstantial evidence including a description of the teachings of Parshvanatha in the Sayings of the Seers, Parshvanatha was born on the tenth day of the dark half of the month of Paush to King Asvasena and Queen Vamadevi of Benaras. He belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty and he assumed and began to practice the twelve basic vows of the adult Jain householder when he reached the age of eight. Parshvanatha lived as formal prince of Benaras and at the age of thirty and he meditated for eighty-four days before attaining Kevala Jnana under a Dhaataki tree near Benaras. His first disciples were his mother and wife, after preaching for 70 years, he achieved moksha at the age of one hundred atop Shikharji, which is known today as the Parasnath Hills after him. Parshvanatha was called purisādāṇīya, a name which shows that he must have been a genial personality, Marubhuti - Visvabhuti, the prime minister of King Aravinda had two sons, elder one named Kamath and younger one named Marubhuti. Kamath killed Marubhuti and died as a criminal, elephant - He was then reborn as an elephant in the forests of Vindyachal. Meanwhile, King Aravinda, after death of his minister Marubhuti, when the elephant came near Aravinda, he recalled his previous human life by the blessings of Aravinda and became calm. Kamath was reborn as a serpent this time, one day, when the elephant went to a river to quench his thirst, the serpent attacked him and he died the peaceful death of absolute renunciation. Sasi-prabha - Vajraghosha was reborn as Sasi-prabha in the twelfth heaven, Agnivega - After spending a luxurious life in heaven, he was reborn as prince Agnivega. He ascended the throne of his father which he renounced to lead an ascetic life. Kamath was reborn as a serpent again after hell and again killed the ascetic in Himalayas during penance, when he was a prince he saved two snakes that had been trapped in a log in an Kamath’s fire. Later, the snakes were reborn as Dharnendra, the lord of the kingdom of the nāgas. Dharnendra and Padmavati sheltered Parshvanatha from a storm sent by a Meghmali, according to the Kalpa Sūtra, Parshvanatha had 164,000 śrāvakas and 327,000 śrāvikās and 16,000 sādhus and 38,000 sādhvīs. He had eight ganadharas, Śubhadatta, Āryaghoṣa, Vasiṣṭha, Brahmacāri, Soma, Śrīdhara, Vīrabhadra, after his death, the ganadhara Śubhadatta became the head of the monastic order. He was then succeeded by Haridatta, Āryasamudra and Keśī, one of the question as mentioned in Śvētāmbara text was The Law taught by Parsva, recognizes but four vows, whilst that of Vardhamana enjoins five. Therefore, according to texts, Parshvanatha taught four vows instead of the presently famous five vows
32.
Tirthankara
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In Jainism, a tirthankara is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the dharma. The word tirthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha, which is a passage across the sea of interminable births and deaths. According to Jains, a tirthankara is an individual who has conquered the saṃsāra. After understanding the nature of the Self or soul, the Tīrthaṅkara attains Kevala Jnana. Tirthankara provides a bridge for others to follow the new teacher from saṃsāra to moksha, according to Jain cosmology, in each half of the cosmic time cycle, exactly twenty-four tirthankaras grace this part of the universe. The first tirthankara was Rishabhanatha, who is credited for formulating and organising humans to live in a society harmoniously, the 24th and last tirthankara of present half-cycle was Mahavira. History records the existence of Mahavira and his predecessor, Parshvanatha, a tirthankara organises the sangha, a fourfold order of male and female monastics, srāvakas and śrāvikās. The tirthankaras teachings form the basis for the Jain canons, the inner knowledge of tirthankara is believed to be perfect and identical in every respect and their teachings do not contradict one another. However, the degree of elaboration varies according to the spiritual advancement, the higher the spiritual advancement and purity of mind of the society, the lower the elaboration required. While tirthankaras are documented and revered by Jains, their grace is said to be available to all living beings, Tīrthaṅkaras are arihants who after attaining kevalajñāna preach the true dharma. An Arihant is also called Jina, that is one who has conquered inner enemies such as anger, attachment, pride and they dwell exclusively within the realm of their Soul, and are entirely free of kashayas, inner passions, and personal desires. As a result of this, unlimited siddhis, or spiritual powers, are available to them – which they use exclusively for the spiritual elevation of living beings. Through darśana, divine vision, and deshna, divine speech, they help others in attaining kevalajñana, the word tirthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha which means a fordable passage across the sea of interminable births and deaths. Tirthankaras are variously called Teaching Gods, Ford-Makers, Crossing Makers and Makers of the River-Crossing, Jain texts propound that a special type of karma, the tīrthaṅkara nama-karma, raises a soul to the supreme status of a Tīrthaṅkara. Five auspicious events called, Pañca kalyāṇaka marks the life of tirthankara, Gārbha kalyāṇaka. Janma kalyāṇaka, Birth of a tirthankara, indra performs a ceremonial bath on tirthankara on Mount Meru. Dīkṣā kalyāṇaka, When a tirthankara renounces all worldly possessions and become an ascetic, jñāna kalyāṇaka, The event when a tirthankara attains kevalajñāna. A samavasarana is erected from where he delivers sermons and restores sangha after that, nirvāṇa kalyāṇaka, When a tirthankara leaves his mortal body, it is known as nirvana
33.
Mahavira
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Mahavira, also known as Vardhamāna, was the twenty-fourth and last Jain Tirthankara. Mahavira was born into a family in what is now Bihar, India. At the age of 30, he left his home in pursuit of spiritual awakening, and abandoned worldly things, including his clothes, for the next twelve-and-a-half years, Mahavira practiced intense meditation and severe penance, after which he became kevalī. For the next 30 years, he travelled throughout the Indian subcontinent to teach Jain philosophy, Mahavira taught that the observance of the vows ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha is necessary to elevate the quality of life. He gave the principle of Anekantavada, Syadvada and Nayavada, the teachings of Mahavira were compiled by Gautama Swami and were called Jain Agamas. Most of these Agamas are not available today, jains believe Mahavira attained moksha at the age of 72. In Jainism, a Tirthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha which means a fordable passage across the sea of interminable births and deaths, according to the Jain texts, twenty-four Tirthankaras grace each half of the cosmic time cycle. Mahavira was the last Tirthankara of avasarpani, Samantabhadra, an illustrious Digambara monk, who lived in the 2nd century A. D. called the tīrtha of Mahavira by the name Sarvodaya. Mahavira is often called the founder of Jainism, but this was not the case because the Jain tradition recognizes his predecessors, in addition to that, Parshvanatha is accepted as a historical figure. According to Jain texts, Mahaviras childhood name was Vardhamāna, because of the prosperity in the kingdom at the time of his birth. He was called Mahavira because of the acts of bravery he performed during his childhood, Mahavira was given the title Jīnā, which later became synonymous with Tirthankara. Buddhist texts refer to Mahavira as Nigaṇṭha Jñātaputta, Nigaṇṭha means without knot, tie, or string and Jñātaputta, refers to his clan of origin as Jñāta or Naya. He is also known as Sramana, in the Gregorian calendar, this date falls in March or April and is celebrated as Mahavir Jayanti. Traditionally, Kundalpur in the ancient city of Kashtriya Kund Lachhuar is regarded as his birthplace, in the present-day Sikandra Division of Jamui district, according to Jainism, after his birth, anointment and abhisheka —carried out by Indra on Mount Meru. Most modern historians agree he was born at Kundagrama, now Basokund in Muzaffarpur district in the state of Bihar, Jain traditions date Mahavira as living from 599 B. C. to 527 B. C. Western historians date Mahavira as living from 480 BC to 408 BC, some Western scholars suggest Mahavira died around 425 BC. His height was seven cubits as per the description given in Aupapatika Sutra, as the son of a king, Mahavira had all luxuries of life at his disposal. According to the chapter of the Śvētāmbara text Acharanga Sutra
34.
Rishabhanatha
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Rishabhanatha also Ṛṣabhadeva, Rishabhadeva, or Ṛṣabha is the first Tirthankara of the present half cycle of time in Jainism. The word Tīrthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha which means a fordable passage across a sea, the Tirthankara shows the fordable path across the sea of interminable births and deaths. Rishabhanatha is also known as Ādinātha which translates into First Lord and he was born to King Nabhi and Queen Marudevi in Ayodhya. He is associated with his Bull emblem, the Nyagrodha tree, Gomukha Yaksha and he had two wives, Sunanda and Sumangala. Sumangala was the mother of sons and one daughter, Brahmi. Sunanda was the mother of Bahubali and Sundari, the sudden fatal death of Nilanjana, one of the dancers of Indra, reminded him of the worlds transitory nature and he developed a desire for renunciation. After being initiated as a Digambara monk, he is said to have wandered without food for a whole year, the day on which he got his first ahara, is celebrated as Akshaya Tritiya by Jains. He is said to have attained Moksha from Mount Kailash, adi Purana contains the information over legends related to Rishabhanatha. His colossal statues include Statue of Ahimsa, Bawangaja and those erected in Gopachal hill, Jain cosmology divides the Worldly Time cycle into two halves with six aras in each half. Twenty-four Tirthankaras grace this part of the universe in the period, known as duşamā-suşamā. The present half cycle being a case, Rishabhanatha, the first tīrthaṅkara was born at the end of the third period itself. This cycle will start reversing at the onset of utsarpinī kāl with the Dukhama-dukhamā being the first period, according to Jain texts, Rishabhanatha was born in the age when there was happiness all around with no work for men to do. Gradually as the cycle moved, and Kalpavriksha disappeared, people rushed to their King for help, Rishabhanatha is then said to have taught the men six main professions. These were, Asi, Masi, Krishi, Vidya, Vanijya, in other words, he is credited with introducing karma-bhumi by teaching these professions to householders to enable them to earn a livelihood. The institution of marriage is said to have come into existence after he married to set an example for humans to follow. In total, Rishabhanatha is said to have taught seventy-two sciences which include, arithmetic, the plastic and visual arts, Jain chronology places the date of Rishabhanatha at an almost immeasurable antiquity in the past. Rishabhanatha is said to be the founder of Jainism in the present half cycle, there is no doubt that Jainism prevailed even before Vardhamāna or Pārśvanātha. The Yajurveda mentions the name of three Tīrthaṅkaras - Ṛṣabha, Ajitnātha and Ariṣṭanemi, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa endorses the view that Ṛṣabha was the founder of Jainism
35.
Discourse on Voluntary Servitude
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The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, or the Against-One is the most famous work of Étienne de La Boétie. The text was probably around 1549 and published clandestinely in 1576 under the title of Le Contrun. The date of preparation of the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude is uncertain, according to his closest friend Michel de Montaigne, the speech was written when La Boétie was about 18 years old. The essay argues that any tyrant remains in power until his subjects grant him that and this relation between domain and obedience would be resumed later by anarchist thinkers. Lew Rockwell summarizes La Boétie’s political philosophy as follows, To him, why in the world do people agree to be looted and otherwise oppressed by government overlords. It is not just fear, Boetie explains in “The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, and that consent can be non-violently withdrawn. The thought of La Boétie was also taken up by many movements of civil disobedience, Étienne de La Boétie was one of the first to theorize and propose the strategy of non-cooperation, and thus a form of nonviolent disobedience, as a really effective weapon. Œuvres complètes, Editions William Blake & Co.1991, ISBN 2-905810-60-2 Discours de la servitude volontaire, Editions Mille et une nuits,1997. ISBN 2-910233-94-4 Discours de la servitude volontaire, Editions Flammarion,1993, ISBN 1-55164-089-9 The Politics of Obedience, The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, translated by Harry Kurz and with an introduction by Murray Rothbard, Free Life Editions,1975. ‘The Radical Humanism of Étienne de la Boétie’, Journal of the History of Ideas, ‘L’Énigme de la “Servitude Volontaire”’, Revue du seizième siècle. ‘Estienne de La Boëtie and the Politics of Obedience’, Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance, thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE, Cato Institute. Discours de la servitude volontaire, translated and with an introduction about its reception, vertoog over de Vrijwillige Slavernij Etiennedelaboetie. net – Website dedicated to the works and life of Etienne de La Boétie Ending Tyranny Without Violence by Murray N. Rothbard. Étienne de La Boétie, Against Voluntary Servitude – Discourse on the fall of tyrants Online-Exhibition
36.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets, and is regarded by some as among the finest lyric, as well as most influential, poets in the English language. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not see fame during his lifetime, but recognition for his poetry grew steadily following his death. Shelley was a key member of a circle of visionary poets and writers that included Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Love Peacock, and his own second wife, Mary Shelley. Shelley is perhaps best known for such poems as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Music, When Soft Voices Die, The Cloud. Shelleys close circle of friends included some of the most important progressive thinkers of the day, including his father-in-law, the philosopher William Godwin and Leigh Hunt. Though Shelleys poetry and prose output remained steady throughout his life, most publishers, Shelley became a lodestone to the subsequent three or four generations of poets, including important Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets such as Robert Browning and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He was admired by Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, yeats, Upton Sinclair and Isadora Duncan. Henry David Thoreaus civil disobedience was apparently influenced by Shelleys non-violence in protest, Shelleys popularity and influence has continued to grow in contemporary poetry circles. Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, Broadbridge Heath, near Horsham, West Sussex, England. He was the eldest legitimate son of Sir Timothy Shelley, a Whig Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1790–92 and he had four younger sisters and one much younger brother. He received his education at home, tutored by the Reverend Evan Edwards of nearby Warnham. His cousin and lifelong friend Thomas Medwin, who lived nearby and it was a happy and contented childhood spent largely in country pursuits such as fishing and hunting. In 1802, he entered the Syon House Academy of Brentford, in 1804, Shelley entered Eton College, where he fared poorly, and was subjected to an almost daily mob torment at around noon by older boys, who aptly called these incidents Shelley-baits. Surrounded, the young Shelley would have his books torn from his hands and his clothes pulled at and this daily misery could be attributed to Shelleys refusal to take part in fagging and his indifference towards games and other youthful activities. Because of these peculiarities he acquired the nickname Mad Shelley, Shelley possessed a keen interest in science at Eton, which he would often apply to cause a surprising amount of mischief for a boy considered to be so sensible. Shelley would often use an electric machine to charge the door handle of his room. His friends were particularly amused when his tutor, Mr Bethell, in attempting to enter his room, was alarmed at the noise of the electric shocks. His mischievous side was again demonstrated by his last bit of naughtiness at school, despite these jocular incidents, a contemporary of Shelley, W. H. Merie, recalled that Shelley made no friends at Eton, although he did seek a kindred spirit without success
37.
The Masque of Anarchy
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The Masque of Anarchy is a British political poem written in 1819 by Percy Bysshe Shelley following the Peterloo Massacre of that year. In his call for freedom, it is perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent resistance, the poem was not published during Shelleys lifetime and did not appear in print until 1832, when published by Edward Moxon in London with a preface by Leigh Hunt. Shelley had sent the manuscript in 1819 for publication in The Examiner, the epigraph on the cover of the first edition is from The Revolt of Islam, Hope is strong, Justice and Truth their winged child have found. Use of masque and mask is discussed by Morton Paley, Shelley used mask in the manuscript, and if then the tyrants dare, Let them ride among you there, Slash, and stab, and maim and hew, What they like, that let them do. Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you, Shelley elaborates on the psychological consequences of violence met with pacifism. The guilty soldiers he says, will return shamefully to society, women will point out the murderers on the streets, their former friends will shun them, and honourable soldiers will turn away from those responsible for the massacre, ashamed of such base company. A version was taken up by Henry David Thoreau in his essay Civil Disobedience, gandhis passive resistance was influenced and inspired by Shelleys nonviolence in protest and political action. It is known that Gandhi would often quote Shelleys The Masque of Anarchy to vast audiences during the campaign for a free India. Led by Anarchy, a skeleton with a crown, they try to take over England, but are slain by a mysterious armoured figure who arises from a mist. The maiden Hope, revived, then calls to the people of England, Men of England, heirs of Glory, Heroes of unwritten story, Nurslings of one mighty Mother, Hopes of her, and one another. The old laws of England—they Whose reverend heads with age are grey, Children of a wiser day, rise, like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you, Political authors and campaigners such as Richard Holmes and Paul Foot, among others, describe it as the greatest political poem ever written in English. Author, educator, and activist Howard Zinn refers to the poem in A Peoples History of the United States, in a subsequent interview, he underscored the power of the poem, suggesting, What a remarkable affirmation of the power of people who seem to have no power. Ye are many, they are few and it has always seemed to me that poetry, music, literature, contribute very special power. In particular, Zinn uses The Mask of Anarchy as an example of literature that members of the American labour movement would read to other workers to inform, lines from the poem inspired and are featured in the John Vanderslice song Pale Horse. Paley, Morton D. Apocapolitics, Allusion and Structure in Shelleys Mask of Anarchy, the Necessity of Response, How Shelleys Radical Poetry Works. Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol.27, pp. 45–69, the Making of the English Working Class. Shelley and the Poetics of Political Indirection, Poetics Today, Volume 22, Number 4, Winter 2001, pp. 765–793
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William Lloyd Garrison
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William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society and he promoted immediate emancipation of slaves in the United States. In the 1870s, Garrison became a prominent voice for the suffrage movement. Garrison was born on December 10,1805, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, under An Act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, Abijah Garrison, a merchant sailing pilot and master, had obtained American papers and moved his family to Newburyport in 1806. Embargo Act of 1807, intended to injure Great Britain, caused a decline in American commercial shipping, the elder Garrison became unemployed and deserted the family in 1808. Garrisons mother was Frances Maria Lloyd, reported to have tall, charming. She started referring to their son William as Lloyd, his middle name and she died in 1823, in the town of Springfield, Massachusetts. Garrison sold home-made lemonade and candy as a youth, and also delivered wood to support the family. In 1818, at 13, Garrison began working as a compositor for the Newburyport Herald. He soon began writing articles, often under the pseudonym Aristides, Aristides was an Athenian statesman and general nicknamed the Just. After his apprenticeship ended, Garrison and a printer named Isaac Knapp bought their own newspaper in 1826. One of their regular contributors was poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier, in this early work as a small town newspaper writer, Garrison acquired skills he would later use as a nationally known writer, speaker and newspaper publisher. In 1828, he was appointed editor of the National Philanthropist in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 25, Garrison joined the anti-slavery movement, later crediting the 1826 book of Presbyterian Reverend John Rankin, Letters on Slavery, for attracting him to the cause. For a brief time he associated with the American Colonization Society. Although some members of the society encouraged granting freedom to slaves, Southern members thought reducing the threat of free blacks in society would help preserve the institution of slavery. By late 1829–1830, Garrison rejected colonization, publicly apologized for his error, Garrison began writing for and became co-editor with Benjamin Lundy of the Quaker newspaper Genius of Universal Emancipation in Baltimore, Maryland. With his experience as a printer and newspaper editor, Garrison changed the layout of the paper, Lundy was freed to spend more time touring as an anti-slavery speaker. Garrison initially shared Lundys gradualist views, but while working for the Genius, Lundy and Garrison continued to work together on the paper in spite of their differing views
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Walter Wink
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Walter Wink was an American biblical scholar, theologian, and activist who was an important figure in Progressive Christianity. Wink spent much of his teaching at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. He is also known for coining the phrase the myth of redemptive violence, Wink earned a B. A. from Southern Methodist University in 1956, majoring in history, and minoring in philosophy and English. He completed his Master of Divinity in 1959 and his Ph. D. in 1963, ordained as a Methodist minister in 1961, he served as Pastor of First United Methodist Church, in Hitchcock, Texas from 1962–67. He then returned to Union Seminary as an Assistant Professor of New Testament, then Associate Professor of New Testament, after being denied tenure at Union, he began teaching at Auburn Theological Seminary, remaining there until his death, when he was Professor Emeritus. His faculty discipline was Biblical interpretation, in 1989–1990, he was a Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. Neal Stephenson likens some of Winks ideas to an epidemiology of power disorders, author Philip Yancey references Wink frequently in his work. One of Winks major avenues for teaching has been his leadership of workshops to church and other groups, based on his method of Bible study, and incorporating meditation, artwork and these workshops were often presented jointly with his wife, June Keener-Wink, a dancer and potter. One of Walter Winks sons—Chris Wink—is known as a member of the Blue Man Group. John the Baptist in the Gospel Tradition, Cambridge Univ, the Bible in Human Transformation, Philadelphia, Fortress Press,1973. The Powers Trilogy, Naming the Powers, The Language of Power in the New Testament, Philadelphia, ISBN 0-8006-1786-X Unmasking the Powers, The Invisible Forces That Determine Human Existence, Philadelphia, Fortress Press,1986. ISBN 0-8006-1902-1 Engaging the Powers, Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination, Minneapolis, ISBN 0-8006-2646-X Violence and Nonviolence in South Africa, Philadelphia, New Society Publishers,1987. Transforming Bible Study, second edition, Nashville, Abingdon,1990, proclamation 5, Holy Week, Year B, Minneapolis, Fortress Press,1993. Cracking the Gnostic Code, The Powers in Gnosticism, Atlanta, ISBN 1-55540-860-5 When the Powers Fall, Reconciliation in the Healing of Nations, Minneapolis, Fortress Press,1998. ISBN 0-8006-3127-7, Swedish edition, Healing a Nations Wounds, Reconciliation on the Road to Democracy The Powers That Be, Theology for a New Millennium, New York, ISBN 0-385-48752-5 Homosexuality and Christian Faith, Questions of Conscience for the Churches, Minneapolis, Fortress Press,1999. ISBN 0-8006-3186-2 Peace Is The Way, Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, ISBN 1-57075-315-6 John the Baptist in the Gospel Tradition, Wipf & Stock Publishers,2001. ISBN 1-57910-529-7 The Human Being, Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of the Man, ISBN 0-8006-3262-1 Jesus and Nonviolence, A Third Way, Augsburg Fortress,2003. ISBN 0-8006-3609-0 The System Belongs to God DVD, UMCom Productions, http, obituary by Richard Deats, Fellowship of Reconciliation,11 May 2012 Review of The Human Being, by D. Seiple, Union Seminary Quarterly Review, Vol 55,2001, pp. 178-183
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Indian independence movement
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The Indian independence movement encompassed all activities and ideas aiming to end the East India Company rule and the British Indian Empire in the Indian subcontinent. The movement spanned a total of 190 years, the early part of the 20th century saw a more radical approach towards political self-rule proposed by leaders such as the Lal, Bal, Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. The last stages of the struggle from the 1920s onwards saw Congress adopt Mohandas Karamchand Gandhis policy of nonviolence and civil resistance. Nationalist like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and Vinayak Damodar Sawarkar preached armed revolution to achieve self-rule, feminists such as Sarojini Naidu and Begum Rokeya promoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in national politics. Babasaheb Ambedkar championed the cause of the sections of Indian society within the larger self-rule movement. The period of the Second World War saw the peak of the campaigns by the Quit India Movement led by Congress, the Indian self-rule movement was a mass-based movement that encompassed various sections of society. It also underwent a process of constant ideological evolution, in 1971, East Pakistan declared independence as the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. European traders first reached Indian shores with the arrival of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498 AD at the port of Calicut, in search of the lucrative spice trade. Just over a century later, the Dutch and English established trading outposts on the subcontinent, the decline of the Mughal empire in the first half of the eighteenth century provided the British with the opportunity to establish a firm foothold in Indian politics. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India came either under the Companys direct rule, the Company subsequently gained control of regions ruled by the Maratha Empire, after defeating them in a series of wars. The Punjab was annexed in 1849, after the defeat of the Sikh armies in the First, in 1835, English was made the medium of instruction in Indias schools and many Indians increasingly disliked British rule. With the British now dominating most of the subcontinent, many British increasingly disregarded local customs, Puli Thevan was one of the opponents of the British rule in India. He was in conflict with the Nawab of Arcot who was supported by the British and his prominent exploits were his confrontations with Marudhanayagam, who later rebelled against the British in the late 1750s and early 1760s. Nelkatumseval the present Tirunelveli Dist of Tamil Nadu state of India was the headquarters of Puli Thevan, kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja was one of the earliest freedom fighters in India. He was the regent of the princely state of Kottiyur or Cotiote in North Malabar, near Kannur. He fought a war with tribal people from Wynad supporting him. He was caught by the British and his fort was razed to the ground, Rani Velu Nachiyar, was a queen of Indian Sivaganga in 1760–1790. She was the first queen to fight against the British in India, Rani Nachiyar was trained in war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam, horse riding and archery
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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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People Power Revolution
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The People Power Revolution was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines that began in 1983 and culminated on February 22–25,1986. There was a campaign of civil resistance against regime violence. The nonviolent revolution led to the departure of President Ferdinand Marcos and it is also referred to as the Yellow Revolution due to the presence of yellow ribbons during the demonstrations following the assassination of Filipino senator Benigno Ninoy Aquino, Jr. The majority of the demonstrations took place on a stretch of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, more commonly known by its acronym EDSA. The protests, fueled by the resistance and opposition from years of governance by Marcos. Corazon Aquino was proclaimed as the President of the Philippines after the revolution, some authors praised Marcos decision not to attack the protesters and to voluntarily leave the country for preventing a bloody civil war. Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected president in 1965, defeating incumbent Diosdado Macapagal by a margin of 52 to 43 percent, during this time, Marcos was very active in the initiation of public works projects and the intensification of tax collections. Marcos and his government claimed that they built more roads than all his predecessors combined, Marcos second term for the presidency was marred by allegations by the opposition Liberal Party of widespread graft and corruption. On September 23,1972, citing more than 15 bombing incidents, Martial law was ratified by 90. 77% of the voters during the Philippine Martial Law referendum in 1973 though the referendum was marred by controversy. The referendum had the results, As Marcos was barred from running for a third term as president in 1973. Rigoberto Tiglao, former secretary and a former communist incarcerated during the martial law, argued that the liberal. The new constitution went into effect in early 1973, changing the form of government from presidential to parliamentary, the constitution was approved by 95% of the voters in the Philippine constitutional plebiscite. Marcos also dissolved the Philippine Congress and shut down media establishments critical of the Marcos government, Marcos also ordered the immediate arrest of his political opponents and critics. In his undelivered speech upon his return from the US on August 21,1983, Aquino said, I am not a communist, never was and never will be. In 1978, while still in prison, Aquino founded his political party, despite warnings from the military and other pro-Marcos groups, Ninoy Aquino was determined to return to the Philippines. Asked what he thought of the threats, Ninoy Aquino responded, “The Filipino is worth dying for. ”At that time, Ninoys passport had expired. The passport carried the alias Marcial Bonifacio, Aquino became allies with Rashid Lucman as he supported the Muslim rebellion in Mindanao against the government. On August 21,1983, after an exile in the United States
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Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
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