Our Demise

The Noose tightens not just on me, but you.
I stare into the blank eyes of the world.
Your fear of the absent threat hatred grew,
From your consciousness this nightmare unfurled;



Oh we have made life in our own image,
We are the destruction, we are our end
Endless screams will be the lasting damage
Of the evils you cannot amend,
 
It is you not me that you should mistrust
You are the monster, you’ve made us animals.
The fire engulfs every one of us,
This fire that started from a candle


Out the Chimney my soul, ashes dispersed
My last breath to mankind “My curse- My curse”

Connections

In the propaganda display there was an illustration from the book The Poisonous Mushroom of a Jewish man luring innocent children with candy. The intention of this picture was clearly to strike fear in German households especially parents who were now concerned on how to keep their children safe from bad intentioned strangers such as Jews. In Maus on page 149 while Vladek is out on the street he encounters children who scream in fear “A Jew, a Jew!” and run to their mothers for safety. According to Vladek, mothers would tell their children that Jews will “catch you to a bag and eat you!”  When the children first shout that Vladek is a Jew, Vladek looks baffled at how even the children were converted to seeing Jews as monsters which shows how seemingly impossible it was to escape the Nazis. These passages reveal that propaganda was very effective and influenced an array of ages and it’s possible that the children’s fear of Vladek may have been due to them reading The Poisonous Mushroom or other propaganda that was targeted at children. It’s almost ridiculous to think that people were so gullible when told that Jews were pedophiles they would be utterly convinced it was true without any actual evidence verifying the claims.  This just proves how people reacted to supposed “dangers” and how much people were controlled by fear.

How can something like the Holocaust happen?

Many speculate on how an advanced country like Germany in the 20^th century could’ve conceived such an atrocious event as the Holocaust where an estimated 11 million people were eradicated in a nonsensical genocide.  One of the main explanations on why Hitler’s vision of a world without Jews started to become a reality was because of the simplification of differences, Good vs. Bad and Right vs. Wrong.  

Propaganda played a critical role in creating this anti-Semitism philosophy, the use of this tactic created fear which led to anger and eventually to hate. These ideologies become quite rooted in the people of Germany; Propaganda went as far as creating Children’s books such as The Poisonous Mushroom by Julius Streicher's Der Stürmer-Verlag which fortified anti-Semitism ideas. Like many other propaganda products The Poisonous Mushroom  took full advantage of using Jewish Stereotypes like “The Jewish nose is crooked at its tip” to try and illustrate how different and alien the Jews were. In addition the title itself The Poisonous Mushroom portrays Jews as a poison, a fungi spreading. The Nazis pointing out these stereotypes was an effective way to alienate them from the rest of the population and further contribute to the rise of anti-Semitism.

                The elimination of Jews and other minorities became an actuality not only because the Nazi’s put forth tremendous effort in the genocide but also because there was no opposition to the Nazi regime. The many bystanders of the Holocaust did not intervene for several reasons such as: they feared the consequences, many believed in the anti-Semitism ideas, but many did not speak out because they were not the victims therefore it was not their place to get involved. This is clearly demonstrated in the Poem First They Came by Martin Niemoller who was eventually thrown into a concentration camp. The poem expresses how even though the minorities were being persecuted he was not one of them, they were different, “I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;” But the continuing silence of the bystanders only allowed the Nazis to continue the crimes, “Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”, shows that ignoring the atrocities did not exclude him from them.

                Unconceivable events such as the Holocaust continue to take place today which only further confirms the fact that differences whether it is race, religion, or social status, continues to cause conflicts. The Rwanda Genocide was a most recent event where nearly 800,000 people were murdered because of social differences between the Tutsis and the Hutus.  The artifact is an interview of a Rwandan Genocide survivor: Immaculee Illibagiza who recalls the horrors of the event where the minority Tutsis was “slaughtered in their tracks”. Like the Holocaust the Rwandan genocide was caused by one group thinking it was superior over the other which led to tension and eventually mass murder.

Nato names Stoltenberg next chief

Jens Stoltenberg, Norway's ex-Prime Minister has been appointed as Nato's next secretary in general replacing Denmark's Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Many agree that the crisis in Ukraine has demonstrated the need for Nato to show strong leadership and that Stoltenberg will be able to continue that legacy. The crisis in Ukraine has created great concern recently because of Russia's huge military build up on the borders of Ukraine. The new Nato general who will officially take office in October 2014 will also have to lead the withdrawal of Nato-led forces currently held in Afghanistan.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26791044


"Nato names Stoltenberg next chief." BBC. (2014): n. page. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

Mass protest held in Taiwan against China trade deal

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan made a trade deal that will allow both China and Taiwan better access to invest more freely in each others markets. However at least 100,000 people have marched on the streets of Taiwan's capital Taipei to protest against the trade deal claiming that it will make Taiwan too economically dependent on China. The protesters say that it will hurt small businesses and job opportunities for the local people, and demand that the government pass a law to monitor all future deals with China. In recent years China has been Taiwan's biggest trading partner but many worry that stronger economic ties with China could threaten Taiwan since China formally regards Taiwan as their territory though they have been self-governing for several decades. 


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26809066


"Mass protest held in Taiwan against China trade deal." BBC. (2014): n. page. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

Syria crisis: UN says no aid improvement despite vote

Even though the Security Council passed a resolution last month that would increase aid deliveries, the UN has said that there has been no humanitarian improvement for the millions of Syrians who need it. Valerie Amos the UN humanitarian chief lays most of the blame on President Al-Assad's government which refused to give aid convoys access to the remoter areas. Since February 22nd there has been nearly 300 cases of sexual violence in the Damascus area alone, aid and assistance has only reached 6% of people living in besieged areas, 175,000 remain trapped by government forces, and 45,000 cannot escape due to opposition groups. Countries such as Britain and the U.S are discussing steps to punish the government under President Assad for what they consider an objection to the resolution.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26795153


"Syria crisis: UN says no aid improvement despite vote." BBC. n. page. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

Thailand: Into the Void

The high court of Bangkok has declared the February 2nd election invalid and has ordered a new vote which will surely deepen the country's political crises. For four months extreme protests have been ongoing in hopes to overthrow the government, killing 20 people. The government supporters or "red shirts" claim that they will stage major demonstrations if the prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is impeached. The constitutional court ruled that the February vote had violated the requirement which states that elections be completed in a single day, protests and disruptions did indeed prevent millions of Thais from voting, therefore according to the court an entire new election is required.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/21/thailand-into-the-void.html


Samuels, Lennox. "Thailand: Into the Void." Daily Beast. n. page. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.