The development of ideas, beliefs, and religions illustrates how groups in society view themselves, and the interactions of societies and their beliefs often have political, social, and cultural implications.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain various reactions to existing power structures in the period after 1900.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

KC-6.2.V Although conflict dominated much of the 20th century, many individuals and groups— including states—opposed this trend. Some individuals and groups, however, intensified the conflicts.

KC-6.2.V.A Groups and individuals challenged the many wars of the century, and some, such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela, promoted the practice of nonviolence as a way to bring about political change.

KC-6.2.V.C Militaries and militarized states often responded to the proliferation of conflicts in ways that further intensified conflict.

KC-6.2.V.D Some movements used violence against civilians in an effort to achieve political aims.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

Responses that intensified conflict:

§ Chile under Augusto Pinochet

§ Spain under Francisco Franco

§ Uganda under Idi Amin

§ The buildup of the military–industrial complex and weapons trading

Movements that used nonviolence

§ Mohandas Gandhi

§ Martin Luther King Jr.

§ Nelson Mandela

Movements that used violence:

§ Shining Path

§ Al-Qaeda

§ Mohandas Gandhi

• 1921-Gandhi Given Leadership of Indian National Congress

  • • After the Amritsar Massacre, Gandhi dedicated himself to gaining self-rule for India

    • He reorganized the group with the goal of Swaraj through the use of nonviolent forms of protest (Ahimsa = non-violence)

• 1920s-1940s--Homespun Movement

  • • Gandhi argued that India needed to be self-sufficient and so they would not have to not rely on the British

    • called for Indians to give up buying British textiles and make their own clothes

    • Gandhi carried a portable spinning wheel with him so he could continue the practice himself while traveling

• 1930-The Salt March

  • • protest against the salt tax

    • Gandhi’s followers nonviolently marched to the British Salt Works in Gujarat where they were beaten by soldiers employed by the British army

    • brought worldwide attention to the Indian Independence movement and British cruelty

    • turned public opinion in Great Britain in Gandhi’s favor and led to his release from prison

    • Churchill opposed Mohandas Gandhi's peaceful disobedience revolt and the Indian Independence movement in the 1930s, arguing that the Round Table Conference "was a frightful prospect." Later reports indicate that Churchill favoured letting Gandhi die if he went on hunger strike.

      • • Churchill, "It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle-Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well-known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the Vice-regal palace... to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor"

• Government Act of 1935 and Elections of 1937

  • • Government of India Act of 1935 was a new plan for ruling India that involved more Indian participation in the government and free elections to select representatives from each province

    • 1937, the first elections took place

      • • The Indian National Congress candidates won a majority of the provinces, while the Muslim League did poorly in the election

• 1942 Quit India Movement

  • • demanded immediate independence for India

    • Gandhi urged the masses to act as an independent nation and not to follow the orders of the British

    • Jawaharlal Nehru joined Gandhi in his call for "An Orderly British Withdrawal" from India

    • resulted in the arrest of almost the entire leadership of the Indian National Congress

• 1947 -- Independence

  • • When negotiations broke down between Nehru and Jinnah, advocated a separate Hindu state

    • Gandhi goal of a unified secular India inclusive of Hindus and Muslims was lost

    • Gandhi refused to attend the independence day celebrations

§ Martin Luther King Jr.

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) relied openly on the Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi’s examples of passive nonresistance and boycotting in the struggle to win African-Americans their equality and independence in the United States

• modern civil rights movement in the United States showed the links between domestic and foreign policies

  • • The Soviet Union could and did use the appalling conditions of African-Americans to expose the weaknesses of the capitalist system in the United States

    • In virtually every sphere of life, southern U.S. states institutionalized segregation, a system of laws and customs designed to separate blacks and whites

    • in northern states, where African-Americans could usually vote, but informal segregation practices also influenced northern society

    • African-Americans contended with segregation and the loss of voting rights, widespread discrimination, and extralegal violence

    • U.S. politicians and lawmakers recognized the adverse propaganda value of this institutionalized racism during the cold war

• actions led by Martin Luther King

  • • the Montgomery bus boycott proved the effectiveness of Gandhi’s methods

    • lead numerous marches and demonstrations during the late 1950's and 1960's

      • • despite the violence visited on him and his followers, they went on to win major civil rights battles

• United States, pressured by the cold war and African liberation movements went on to accede rights to its black population

• Muhammad Ali's biggest fights were outside the ring

§ Nelson Mandela

Violent Resistance

• Mandela, then leader of the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC)

  • • considered a terrorist and a threat to the West

    • Mandela viewed as "the most dangerous communist" outside of the Soviet Union

    • was one of the most wanted men in South Africa at the time of his arrest

    • CIA trailed Mandela and tipped off South African security forces

• arrest of Nelson Mandela near Durban in 1962

  • • Mandela convicted of trying to violently overthrow the South African government

    • Mandela served 27 years in jail on Robben Island before being released in 1990

• Release from prison

  • • 1989 -- F.W. de Klerk released eight of the country’s most prominent anti-apartheid political prisoners

    • February 2, 1990, de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and other political organizations

    • February 11, 1990, Mandela is finally freed at the age of 71

    • After Mandela’s release, he pledged to continue his fight against apartheid and white domination

• President Mandela

  • • April 27, 1994, South Africans witnessed the first election ever in South African history where Black people were allowed to vote

    • The A.N.C. won more than 62 percent of the vote and Mandela was chosen as president

    • Nelson Mandela is Elected President

    • "Invictus" - Official Trailer

    • Nelson Mandela Dead: The True Story Behind 'Invictus'-ABC News

    • Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom Official UK Trailer (2013)

§ Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the May Plaza)

• Group of Brazilian and Argentinian mothers who gathered every week during the mid-1990s to bring pressure on the government to find their missing children

• Generally believed to have been seized by criminal gangs engaged in child prostitution and illegal adoption

• Often seeking loved ones who probably were executed by government or paramilitary death squads, such“mothers of the disappeared” have been active in many Latin American countries.

Activity:

1.) Identify an ideology that would have been supported by Augusto Pinoche.

2.) Identify an ideology that would have been supported by Salvador Allende

3.) Explain how the events described below are situated in the broader context of the Cold War.

Document 1

Source: Salvador Allende, president of Chile, farewell address during a military coup, 1973. (Allende makes a farewell speech shortly before the capture of the palace and is believed to have committed suicide.)

“My friends,

Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Chilean air force has bombed most of the radio towers. My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those in the armed forces who have betrayed their oaths.

I say to the workers: I will not resign!

Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always have shown to a man who gave his word that he would respect the constitution and the law. At this definitive moment—the last moment that I can address you—I hope that you learn this lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, and the reactionary forces of Chile created the climate in which the armed forces of Chile—with foreign assistance—retook power for those forces in order to continue defending their profits and privileges.

Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Go forward knowing that sooner rather than later, avenues will open again where free men will walk to build a better society.”

Document 2

Source: Augusto Pinochet: Villain to Some, Hero to Others. NPR: All Things Considered. December 10, 2006

Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was a disciplined soldier in a country where the military normally obeyed civilian rule. Even when other army officers began grumbling about Chile's left-wing president, Salvador Allende, Pinochet continued to follow the president's orders. In June 1973, Allende appointed Pinochet commander-in-chief of the Chilean Armed Forces.

Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean writer who once worked for Allende. He remembers answering the phone in Allende's office when Pinochet called.

"I said, 'Just a moment please. I'll find him. I'll find him,'" Dorfman says, "because I thought this is ours, this is Pinochet, he's our guy."

But in the end he was not the president's guy.

Allende was implementing socialist economic policies in Chile, with disastrous results. Gen. Pinochet finally agreed with other military officers that they had to stop Allende, and from that point on, Pinochet showed him no mercy.

On Sept. 11, 1973, he ordered a fierce ground and air assault on the presidential palace.

...

Document 3

Source: Interview of Augusto Pinochet with TIME Correspondent Charles Eisendrath. TIME Magazine 1 Oct. 1973

Democracy carries within its breast the seed of its own destruction. There is a saying that 'democracy has to be bathed occasionally in blood so that it can continue to be democracy.' Fortunately this is not our case. There have been only a few drops.

...

We will keep the status quo for a certain time, and then grant more liberty. But we don't want politics. The only party now is the Chilean party, and its members are all Chileans.

The political parties have only been recessed. The government has no partisan politics because if we were to have parties right away, we would again fall into contamination. But our doors remain open to politicians who have recognized abilities. The only condition is that these men do not mix their work with politics.

Key Takeaways

A.) Some Nationalist military leaders used violence to overthrow established power structures

• Augusto Pinochet coup d'etat of Salvador Allende democratically elected government

• Francisco Franco's coup d'etat of Spain elected leftist coalition government

• Idi Amin coup d'etat of Uganda's elected government of Milton Obote

B.) Some leaders used non-violence to challenge established power structures

• Mohandas Gandhi was one of the first to use non-violence to rally public pressure (this could be successful in a time of mass media)

  • • In the 1920s, Gandhi began to argue for the end of British rule in India

    • He led boycotts, marches, and strikes to hurt the British politically and economically

• Martin Luther King, Jr. used these same tactics to help bring pressure on the United States government to pass the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act

• Nelson Mandela was torn over the use of violence, but called for non-violence while in jail for 28 years and after when he became president of South Africa

C.) Some groups turned to violence to challenge established power structures

• Women's Suffrage groups in England before WWI

• Irish Republican Army

• ETA in Spain

• Al-Qaeda in East Africa and the Middle East

• Shining Path in Peru