1) My top recommendation in this round-up is Anne Applebaum’s comparative essay, "In the Arab World, It's 1848 - not 1989." She begins with a quotation from an unidentified work about the tumultuous 1848 revolutions across Europe, a passage that applies not just to other years of tumult (1968, 1989) but to any of the revolutions commonly examined in a world history course. Here it is:
- "Each revolution must be assessed in its own context, each had a distinctive impact. The revolutions spread from one point to another. They interacted to a limited extent . . . The drama of each revolution unfolded separately. Each had its own heroes, its own crises. Each therefore demands its own narrative."
I think instructors of WH need to take what Stearns is saying here very seriously. If each uprising or revolution "demands its own narrative," is it wise to ask high school students--who have little knowledge of these narratives--to write an essay comparing them? While it’s OK (often stimulating) to think comparatively, keep the discussion open-ended and dispense with the required thesis statement!
REFERENCES
- Applebaum, Anne. "In the Arab World, It's 1848 - not 1989." Washington Post (2-21-2011). URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022103310.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions?wpisrc=nl_opinionsOR http://www.slate.com/id/2285696/
- Stearns, Peter N. 1848: The Revolutionary Tide in Europe. 1st ed. New York: Norton, 1974. Later paperback editions. Amazon.com offers a few introductory pages (http://www.amazon.com/1848-Revolutionary-Europe-Revolutions-Modern/dp/0393093115#reader_0393093115).
Contents of the Berkshire bundle:
- "Egypt" from the Encyclopedia of World History: an overview of Egypt in world history–from ancient times to the late 20th century
- "Civil Disobedience" from the Encyclopedia of World History: coverage ends about 2000; no discussion of Gene Sharp’s influence
- "Egypt" and "Middle East Peace Process" from Global perspectives on the USA
- "Political Science and Human-Computer Interaction" from the Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction; how computers build "associational communities" and thus provide a tool for mobilization
New York Times Coverage
1) In Times Topics the tag is "Middle East Protests (2010-2011)."
2) REMINDER: go to The Lede for "Updates on Middle East Protests." This is a convenient place to access video from several different sources (BBC, Al Jazeera, YouTube) and Twitter messages with breaking news. These go back to February 14-19, then resume with February 22. (To find The Lede go to the NYT home page, click on blogs.)
On the Twitter side of The Lede you can find news about the volatile situation in Libya--almost instantaneously posted.
- For example, yesterday (Feb 21) at 4:48 PM CST, Sultan Al Qassemi’s Tweet reported that Libyan Military Officers had issued a statement asking all members of the Libyan army to join the protesters. Apparently, this was only a faction of the officer corps–but it prompted me to go directly to Al Jazeera English to check out its Live feed.
- When I checked today (2:04 CST), Sultan al Qassemi had just sent Tweets saying that Libya’s Interior Minister was joining the anti-Gaddafi protesters and that he was urging th army to join them too.
This is especially useful if students know little about the events that have inspired protests across the Arab world. It mentions Khaled Said, whose brutal death inspired Wael Ghoneim’s Facebook page (where the instigating call for the January 25th protest in Egypt appeared).
4) The revolution has changed how Egyptians see themselves and perhaps that will be its most lasting impact. Mona El-Naggar shares the views of several Egyptians in her Week in Review article, yet she is does not evade the uncertainty of a process that is only beginning.
REFERENCE: El-Naggar, "The Legacy of 18 Days in Tahrir Square." NYT (2-20-11). URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/weekinreview/20tahrir.html?scp=1&sq=legacy%20of%20egypt&st=cse
5) For background on North African and Middle East countries where protests are taking place (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Iran) see "Challenges Facing Countries Across North Africa and the Middle East." Print copies to use as hand-outs with breaking news videos or articles about any of these countries.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/0217-mideast-region-graphic.html?ref=middleeast
6) The NYT video section includes an excerpt from a Blogging Heads dialogue between Matt Duss and Eli Lake ("Egypt’s Revolutionaries").
Go instead to the complete video at Blogging Heads because there you can sample any of the six segments and select what might be best for your class. The dialogue is "wonky" and would probably bore younger students (even most high school students) but it does model how discussion from different points of view can proceed in a civil manner. The second segment, "Eli sees two ideological prophets" mentions a book by Natan Sharansky and Ron Duermer, and then takes up the influence of Gene Sharp. Eli Lake knows quite a bit about Sharp as he has reported on Sharp’s followers in Serbia.
URL (excerpt): http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/02/16/opinion/1248069643954/bloggingheads-egypt-s-revolutionaries.html.
URL (complete dialogue): http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/34259?in=17:25
Bahrain
1) Nicholas Kristof has been reporting from Bahrain. For his columns and related videos just put "Kristof" in the NYT search box. These are moving accounts, with graphic footage. Just reading "In Bahrain, The Bullets Fly," where he describes the chaos and injuries in a Manama hospital, leaves little doubt that we all ought to be outraged. Also recommended is the video "Violence in Bahrain," narrated by Kristof http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/opinion/18kristof.html).
2) US relations with Bahrain, critical because the Navy’s Fifth Fleet’s base is situated there to protect shipping in the Persian Gulf, will be tense if the country’s Shiites win concessions. Ironically, it seems that the US military, wearing blinders for years about the degree to which Bahraini Shiites faced discrimination, is partly responsible for putting the US in a corner. This is reported in Michael Slackman’s article but send students to explore the briefs and documents at the website of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (URL: http://www.bahrainrights.org/en).
Slackman, Michael. "Dim View of U.S. Posture Toward BahrainiShiites Is Described." New York Times (2-22-11). URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/middleeast/22bahrain.html
Libya
Both The Lede and Al Jazeera English are excellent for breaking news. Yesterday I viewed AJE Live: the images were horrific but the sources and commentators had much to offer. The interview with the Libyan Ambassador Ali Ojli showed a man of great integrity, no longer willing to serve a dictator. David Owen (former British Foreign Minister) called for a UN resolution to create a no-fly zone to prevent Libyan planes from attacking civilian protesters, a possibility also discussed on BBC News (the half-hour program on some PBS stations). AJE’s coverage emphasized how Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is calling the shots (figuratively AND literally).
Libya’s Deputy Ambassador at the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi has resigned and called for action to stop the bloodshed. Show the video, "Ibrahim Dabbashi’s Press Conference" as a visual primary source, together with a breaking news article. Access the video from "Qaddafi’s Grip Falters as His Forces Take On Protesters" (URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/africa/22libya.html?ref=middleeast).
There is plenty of material on the web about Muammar al-Gaddafi. For a close encounter from the past see Charlie Rose’s 2001 interview with the idiosyncratic dictator on the CBS origram "60 Minutes II." A link is posted on the Washington Post web site (URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2011/02/21/VI2011022104674.html).
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