A Reflection on the Films
Alvin Mejia Sept.12, 2003 Com 185.16 A Reflection on the Films "Indochine" and "Queen Margot" Everyday, whenever we read the newspapers, turn on the television, listen to the radio we are constantly acquainted to the reality of power struggle in every aspect of society today. For example, the struggle for power is evident in the spheres of politics, religion, economics and their interplay with one another. While powerful people constantly repress the weaker ones for the sake of claiming more power, many are struggling for survival, to live a life more bearable. "Indochine" and "Queen Margot" are two beautiful films based on true stories from history. The two films vividly captured how people undermine other values for the sake of power. Lessons from history tell us tales of the different detrimental and sometimes devastating effects of the struggle for power. Indochine is a film about Vietnam's struggle in trying to find liberation from the hands of the oppressive colonizers from France. Madame Devries represented Mother France in the film, she adopted a native girl whose name is Camille. Madame Devries had a rubber plantation which symbolized the constant sucking of the colony's resources for the sake of France. A cut had to be done every time you want to harvest rubber from the tree, which symbolizes the constant and forever engraved cut made by the
Catholic and Protestant, Nationalist and Unionist, Republican and
Northern Ireland has been through nearly a century of turmoil. Catholic, Nationalist, Republicans have been pitted against Protestant, Unionist, Loyalists in what has often been a bloody conflict. The difference in ideologies is that where Catholic Nationalists dream of a united Ireland, completely free from British influence, Protestant Unionists are very proud of their British ties and will do seemingly anything it takes to remain a part of the United Kingdom. After agreeing to disagree for nearly 400 years, in the 1960s things took a sudden change for the worse and tensions became visible in daily bloodshed. Why did these two sides become so polarized in the 1960s? Ancient hatreds is clearly an insufficient answer for it fails to explain why it was not until 1968 that violence became commonplace. It also fails to explain why amicability and peace has recently triumphed over conflict. So what were the factors involved in the beginning and ending of the Troubles? Although it is undeniably a combination of factors that led to the swelling and fading of violence - most of which will be addressed and evaluated - it is the sharp contrast between the levels of extremism during periods of peace and conflict that seems to highlight the biggest problem. As each respective community and their leaders made increasingly inflexible demands, the level of conflict would rise. As
The Brighton bomber
Section 1- The Brighton bomber Patrick Magee attempted to kill the former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet in 1984. He did this during the Conservative party's annual conference. He planted a bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton which the Conservative party were staying at. The bomb left five people dead and another 34 injured, miraculously. the Prime Minister and the cabinet managed to escape. Magee had stayed at the hotel before the Conservative party conference and planted a bomb in the room that Margaret Thatcher was later going to be staying in. He had stayed in the hotel three weeks before the bombing under the false name of Roy Walsh. Sussex police traced and eliminated 800 people from 50 countries who had stayed at the hotel in the month before the attack. The only person that could not be traced was Roy Walsh. Magee's true identity was discovered after a palm print from a hotel registration card matched that of Magee. The detectives didn't want to issue a public alert and waited and hoped that Magee would come back to the British mainland. Luckily for them whilst they were tracing another IRA suspect, Peter Sherry, they were led to Magee in a Glasgow safe house in 1985. He had also planned attacks on 16 other hotels around the coast. At Magee's trial in 1986 the judge recommended that he serve a minimum of 35 years in prison. Magee was sentenced for
Source based discussion on Ireland.
Ireland Coursework . Source D: A Roman Catholic describes her school days. On its own this source does not have sufficient evidence and does not explain why the army was sent to Ireland by the British. However 'she disliked the English all of her family had suffered at the hands of the British' in that quote she could be could be revealed as a biased women against the English and that many other Roman Catholics could be biased and it says ' she was very keen about Irish' so the type could be cultural. 'Her view was that they weren't Irish' this quote tells me that she wasn't very religious but she was very Irish. This extract was written by a Roman Catholic student about her vice principal. Although it does not mention why the troubles broke out in 1969 it does help a little because we know it was written in 1969 but the actual time could have before. Also Roman Catholics disliked and distrusted the English and the Protestants. Source E: A protestant cartoon. This source shows a female bound in ropes by a male. In this case the female is representing Erin (Ireland) and the male is representing a catholic priest. This is a cartoon of propaganda because it was drawn by a protestant and in the nineteenth century which shows that Roman Catholics and Protestants did not get along with each other for about 100 - 150 years before. It also shows (implies) That the catholic religion
How effectively did Irish Catholic and nationalist leaders advance their cause in the years 1801 – 1921?
How effectively did Irish Catholic and nationalist leaders advance their cause in the years 1801 - 1921? In 1800 Catholics were persecuted under the Penal Laws they could not vote, sit in Parliament or hold public office this was unusual because this persecution affected 6/7 of the majority of the Island. Nationalist leaders set out to change status quo. Wolf Tone stated, "Ireland is for the Irish" through this nationalism was born. There are two predominate strands of Nationalism throughout this period in Irish history. Constitutional nationalism, which was to work within the British Parliamentary system in achieving an Irish self-governing body, which would deal with Irish domestic leaving Foreign affairs to Westminster known as Home Rule, leaders such as O' Connell, Parnell and Redmond are commonly known as constitutional nationalists. Republican Nationalists felt differently in methods in achieving Home Rule. Republicans felt that working within British politics would achieve nothing so Republicans turned to violence to achieve their aims such as Wolf Tone and the Patriots, Mitchell/Stephens and the Fenians, Collins/De Valera and the IRA all these Republican leaders setting up paramilitary organisations to achieve their aims however which strand of Nationalism proved to be more effective in achieving their cause? Daniel O' Connell a professional
In what ways did the Irish Question change between 1800 and 1922?
In what ways did the Irish Question change between 1800 and 1922? The Irish Question changed dramatically between the years 1800 and 1922. The Anglican Ascendancy meant that Ireland was governed indirectly from England. The Ascendancy angered the Catholics, limited their rights and made them pay taxes to the Protestant church. This led to dissatisfaction amongst Catholics culminating in the 1798 Rebellion. This caused the British Government to become more involved with Ireland, as they began to fear that Revolution could occur. It revealed to them the weaknesses of the existing, divided system in Ireland and the need for the Question to be addressed. The Act of Union represented the first phase of the Irish Question. It was a response to the 1798 Rebellion and fears of Ireland possibly being used as a base for France to bring about revolution. It aimed to unite Ireland and England and to dissolve the Irish Parliament into the English Parliament. The British Government now had to take responsibility for Ireland, but it was still treated as a separate country and Duke of Wellington later described it as "the enemy's country". The divides between the English and the Irish and the Catholics and the Protestants that had existed before were strengthened to an even greater degree after the Act of Union. This was because Irish Protestants in the North gained both economically and
All these sources Refer to one city in Northern Ireland. Why did This City Become the Centre of the Civil Rights Movements in Northern Ireland?
Study Sources D E and F. All these sources Refer to one city in Northern Ireland. Why did This City Become the Centre of the Civil Rights Movements in Northern Ireland? The aim of the civil Rights Movement was to get everyone in Northern Ireland to have equal Rights. These included discrimination against employment, housing, law, voting and others. The Catholics of Londonderry faced a number of long and short problems, which saw many join the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. However many Protestants faced the problems as well. When it came to voting, Catholics faced problems with fair representation. For example, the 1961 census states that the population of Londonderry was 53 744 . Out of this 36 049 were Catholics and 17 695 were Protestants. After voting restrictions were applied, 14 325 votes were Catholics and 9 235 were Protestant votes. Most of the Protestants were given votes because of voting restrictions. If you lived in a council house or owned your own house then you were entitled to one vote and if you owned your own business then you were entitled to an extra vote.. this worked against the Catholics because the Protestant council gave the majority of the council houses to the Protestants and most of the businesses and houses were owned by the Protestants. Still Catholics should have won control of the city. In Source E you can see Catholics had the
The Irish Question
The Irish Question Q1. What are the main differences between the beliefs of republicans/ nationalists and loyalist/ unionists? Nationalists in Northern Ireland are generally Catholic, they see themselves as being Irish rather than British, they also see the island of Ireland as one place, and generally want it united as one state. In their quest to get a united Ireland with rule from Dublin, Nationalists have many different ways in how they intend to do this: there are Moderate Nationalists and the Republicans. The Moderate Nationalists have one main political party, this is the SDLP (Social Democratic Labour Party), the SDLP's current leader is a man named Mark Durkin even though the man best known in the SDLP is called John Hume, who was the driving force of the SDLP before he retired, another party leader whose name is Martin Morgan who recently was up for election to be an MEP and voice Northern Irelands views in Europe (the manifesto is enclosed). Moderate Nationalists aims, these include an all Ireland Nation (32 county State) with rule from Dublin. They want rule from Dublin because they would probably feel more at home and they also feel that they have a loyalty to Dublin and therefore it would only be right to have rule from there. Moderate Nationalists in Northern Ireland would like to be part of a majority in a 32 county state rather than a minority, in Northern
Why Did ‘Bloody Sunday’ Take Place? (Russian History Sources Question)
Why did 'Bloody Sunday' take place? a) A historian studying Bloody Sunday would probably find these two sources equally useful, depending on what they wanted to find out. Source A is an extract from the Tsar's diary on the 21st and 22nd of January 1905. It shows the historian the Tsar's perspective and opinion about what is happening at the time of this event. That the Tsar is either unaware of the situation in St Petersburg, or that he doesn't appreciate the significance of it, or he could have been uninformed of the situation. "Since yesterday all the factories and workshops in St Petersburg have been on strike. Troops have been brought in to strengthen the garrison. The workers have conducted themselves calmly hitherto. At the head of the workers is some socialist priest: Father Gapon." This was written by the Tsar on the 21st of January. It shows that the Tsar knew little about what was happening in St Petersburg, but is aware that something is happening and that the workers are on strike and are being lead by 'some' socialist priest: Father Gapon. This also shows that he isn't in touch with his people, as he has never heard of Father Gapon before and Father Gapon is reasonably well known as he took over the running of the St Petersburg Zubatov union in May 1903 and also formed the 'Assembly of Russian Factory Workers of St Petersburg' in 1904. This scheme helped the
Why Were British Troops sent to Northern Ireland in August 1969?
Why Were British Troops sent to Northern Ireland in August 1969? British leaders saw Northern Ireland as a growing battlefield; something had to be done to slow down the progress of fights and riots, which began breaking out in Ireland in 1969. This was due to the Civil Rights Protests formed by the Catholics who lived in absolute poverty, poor housing and famine and believed they suffered more than the Protestants. The Catholic population believed they were on the receiving end of unequal rights because of biased Protestant leaders who had, in the years passed, made unfair and anti-Catholic laws. These laws devastated the way of living for Catholics and made them very angry against Protestant communities. After the Civil Rights Protests had begun, Stormont used its only line of defence; its 'Royal Ulster Constabulary' (RUC) who were alleged to be completely anti-Catholic and only helped the Protestant people. The RUC were sometimes violent towards Catholics because the unit was mainly made up of Protestant people. At Craigavon Bridge in October 1968, the first main display of RUC bias was displayed as they attacked the protesters who had gathered to petition against unequal rights. The protesters had been banned from entering the Londonderry city centre but they refused to give up as they marched into the area and were ridiculed by Protestant bystanders. Fights broke out
