Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid was a racial segregation policy that existed in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. It was created by the South African Bureau for Racial Affairs (SABRA). It is a policy in which racial segregation was allowed legally. It was created in 1948 in the general election of 1948. In it different races were segregated, sometimes by the use of force. Apartheid separated many public buildings. It only allowed one race in one building at a certain period of time. Also until 1990 anyone who was not white, was not able to get full citizenship and did not have the right to vote. Nelson Mandela was a South African independence leader who fought for independence for South Africa. In my opinion, Nelson Mandela was a hero because even though he spent 27 years in prison, he still kept fighting for South African independence. He is a man of peace and honor. I think if South Africa had not become an independent nation he would have kept fighting for independence for as long as he lived. The authors of the articles also believe he is a true hero, because he fought for the right thing freedom.

African Independence

The continent of Africa changed so much in 20 years because many European countries such as Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium wanted Africa's land for their own interest. These nations took control over much of Africa stealing their valuable natural resources such as diamonds, gold, silver, copper and rubber. This crippled the African nations' economy. These countries wanted to gain their independence. Some independence leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah made boycotts, speeches and non violent protests in order to convince Ghanan people to fight for their country and to become independent from the British. Kwame Nkrumah eventually became the prime minister of Ghana, and then president for life and led the country until his death.Another independence leader was Jomo Kenyatta who was a Kenyan nationalist who created and organization called the Mau Mau which is a secret society of people who try to scare British farmers to move out of the highlands. He became the president of Kenya and lead it. Most of the nations became independent by 1975 and governed their own countries with their own laws.

Film Lesson "The Right Stuff"

I really liked the movie "The Right Stuff" because it showed the amazing airplanes in cold war. It was interesting to see the two great powers of the world, the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Both of these powers tried to become first to put a man into space and the first man on the moon. When the US tried to send a monkey up to space the Russians laughed at them because they were unable to send a man into space. But the US were the first to send men to the moon. The planes they made were very sophisticated. They could fly at mach 2 which is about 1500 miles per hour, and these planes were able to fly above 100,000 feet. In my opinion, the Russians won the competition because of the fact that they sent a man up into space first and not a monkey. The scene of the planes flying in the sky definitely will help me remember the Cold War and the Space Race.

Nato and The warsaw Pact

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty. The NATO headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium. The major reason for the formation of NATO was that the countries involved wanted a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would help . The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949 to protect themselves from the Soviet Union.
In response to this, the Warsaw Pact was created on May 14, 1955. It consisted of the Soviet Union and its allied countries. These countries also made a treaty to protect each other and assist them if they needed it.The Soviet Union kept military personnel in the other countries of the alliance and kept them running socialist governments. It was the first step in an attempt to strengthen the Soviet Union's hold on its friendly countries. This program was undertaken by Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Bulganin after they took power in early 1955. Eventually the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991.

Film Lesson "Schindler's List"

The movie "Schindler's list" depicts the holocaust quite well . It describes how Jews lived through the holocaust. It was a very graphic and intense movie because in some scenes kids were taken away from their mothers and gassed inside the gas chambers, and only the strong people were allowed to live if they worked. The weak were immediately killed inside the gas chambers or burned in crematoriums. In my opinion, the most powerful scene is Auschwitz, because the way the Jewish people were treated in there was just horrible. They were starved, beaten and were forced to completely undress in front of the guards in sub zero temperatures. One image that will always stay in my mind is the scene where the little boy was trying to hide from the guards and fell into the dirty toilet whole. I felt sorry for this boy because I can imagine the fear he must have felt. I think "Schindler's list" was more powerful than "Night and Fog" because it had more graphic and dramatic scenes. From my point of view, Steven Spielberg has done a great job in showing us the suffering and the demise of the Jewish people in the holocaust.

Film Lesson "Night and fog"

The film Night and Fog is a French film with English subtitles about the holocaust. I was shocked by this movie. It was very graphic, especially the documentary. In the documentary real people were dying and being tortured. I found the film very powerful because I could not believe what I was seeing actually happened. Night and Fog and Schindler's list both have similar scenes. Jews are seen boarding trains to the Ghettos and to the concentration camps. I really felt sad watching these films because it reminds of how cruel and disgusting some people can be. I was horrified by watching what the Nazis had done to the Jews. Most of those people were innocent and did not deserve to be tortured and killed. The documentary illustrates the holocaust better than the movie because it showed more graphic and real scenes that actually took place.