In America, there is a long standing tradition of respect for individual rights that stem back to the days of the founding fathers. The tyranny that the British empire was enacting over the people in colonial America was unfair as well as uncalled for. In William Easterly’s work The Tyranny of Experts, this same dominion that the British empire had over the American colonies is amplified in different periods of history in places such as China and Africa. The repression of individual rights in the dictatorial nations presented by Easterly causes stunted economic growth of all the nations participating in this type of behavior. The snowball effect of loss of individual rights usually starts with the leaders of nations. In China’s case, after …show more content…
Lord Hailey who was overseer of the colonies in Africa was very adamant about taking away the individual freedoms of the native people until they could better control their own systems of government. In plainer terms, Lord Hailey has brought about the argument that if people are detrimentally poor, governments should step in and take away individual freedoms in order to protect the lives of the community. Though this may present itself to be a blessing that such kind rulers want to take over and provide a stress free way for the people to obtain necessities such as food and water, this is deceiving on the ruler’s part, since it conveniently does not provide a time in which the people will regain their rights. Surely this important guarantee for eventual rights for the people was not mistakenly overlooked by the nation. The British empire is making a mistake here with regards to economics as well. Even though they may not see it at the time, the stress of providing the colonies with food, water, and shelter puts an economic burden on Britain which could have easily been prevented if they would have given the African people the tools to start up their own government and then step out of the picture. A second grave issue was brought about when the British government was dealing with the colonials in Africa, the issue of racism. Of course in 1940 when this was all taking place, racism was still a huge issue in America, and from the looks of the British intercession in the African colonies, it was still a problem in Britain as well. The real reason for the restriction of the people’s rights was revealed by none other than Lord Hailey himself: “most Africans are still savages” (83). The British colonial overseers were not even giving the African populous a chance to prove that they are rational thinking individuals who deserve to be
Since the 1880?s, when European nations colonized Africa, Europe had almost complete control over the continent, but this changed during the 1950?s and 60?s. By 1958, ten African countries had gained their independence, and sixteen more joined the list in 1960 alone. Although these nations? gain of independence demonstrates the ability of blacks to overpower their white oppressors, Baldwin argues ?The word ?independence? in Africa and the word ?integration? here are almost equally meaningless; that is, Europe has not yet left Africa, and black men here are not yet free? (336). While black people had been legally free in the United States since 1863, two decades before the European colonization of Africa, they were still not truly free, almost a century later.
The first of many documents to address these contradictions is Document 3, focusing on James Otis. In Otis’ perspective, he noticed that the colonists based their authoritative rights on the belief that all human beings were born with natural rights. Otis states reasons as to why there is no reason for Africans
The British rule that was established in the colonies was oppressive and unfair. The British rule was immoral because Parliament contained a totality of British politicians who only cared about Britain’s wants and needs. The Colonists, “wanted the right to vote about their own taxes, like the people living in Britain. But no colonists were permitted to serve in the British Parliament.” (Ember) This unfairness led to many unwanted laws such as the Intolerable Acts and the Stamp Act. These laws did not benefit the colonists in any way, but the acts significantly helped the British. Laws and acts were forced
Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the legitimacy of the revolution of which it was built upon has perennially been in question. For example, in a 1999 issue of the International Herald Tribune, a prestigious scholar claimed that all of China’s tragedies are ‘sustained by a mistaken belief in the correctness of the 1949 revolution’ and that the future progress of China depends on the recognition that the revolution was a failure. However, the CCP government was certainly not perfect and its most significant failures were its political failures such as the Anti-rightist movement and the Cultural Revolution and also economic failures such as the great leap forward. Millions of peoples were falsely accused and persecuted during the political movements of the Mao period as the CCP focused on class struggle instead of economic development during the period and tens of Millions of peoples died due to starvation as there were widespread food shortages during the great leap forward movement.
The character of the United States is illuminated by the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wanted to build a government where people are free and where the government “derives its power from the consent of the governed and it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it” (Jefferson, 247). T...
Both Goldman and Walder make excellent points both backed by Pan’s book. The argument that Walder makes is very convincing: that government and all of its censorship is here to stay. The reaction to the reformers are usual overblown and extreme. They are also highly immoral and go against human rights. However, Goldman’s argument is much stronger. Since the rise of a semi-capitalistic society under the market reforms of the 1980’s and the Tiananmen Square protests the voices of political dissent and change have been on the rise, and from the examples provided, especially after the year 2000. The party has effectively been losing power thanks in large part to the internet and the rise of the lawyers like Pu. Therefore, the political status quo in China is changing, no matter what the party says.
...e original English goal to establish freedom and liberty to all people. Putting down a people because of their skin color is inherently superficial and naturally inhuman. However, regardless of racism’s conflict with the very foundations of America, it allowed for the English colonies to justify their incentive to prosper and to thrive with stability by degrading the African Americans to the lowest of classes.
Before the British arrived in Africa, they had sustainable economic, social, and political systems. These existing systems were destroyed the European’s quest to use Africa’s wealth for their own economic gains (Alcott). Prior to colonization many African states relied on agriculture to meet the level of subsistence, and selling or trading excess crops. The British did not recognize this type of economic system as a sufficient alternative method. They did not respect the African’s cultural differences and lifestyles; instead, they saw the lack of technology and modernization as merely unacceptable. They began to implant their own economic methods on the African’s without accounting for or respecting other lifestyles and methods of building a society. Instead of respecting ethnic differences across the continent, the British began to exploit them for their own
China’s policy of political imprisonment is a clear act of genocide. It is used to incite bodily and mental harm and inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Tibetan people. At times imprisonment even results in death. These crimes are all accomplished under the guise of being legal in Chinese law. A statement made by Amnesty International in 1996 cites these abuses:
"The wind of change is blowing through this [African] continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it" (Macmillan). This speech, made by the prime minister of England in 1960, highlights the vast changes occurring in Africa at the time. Changes came quickly. Over the next several years, forty-seven African countries attained independence from colonial rule. Many circumstances and events had and were occurring that led to the changes to which he was referring. The decolonization of Africa occurred over time, for a variety of complex reasons, but can be broken down into two major contributing factors: vast changes brought about in the world because of World War II and a growing sense of African nationalism.
Because of several acts that Parliament had issued during the 1760s almost every colonist became frustrated and upset with the new approach the British government had taken towards governing their colonies. E...
If we were to measure freedom by standards of nutrition, education and self-government, we might rank the United States and certain nations of Western Europe very high. But this would not be fair to other nations where education had become widespread only in the last twenty years. In many nations, a generation ago, nine out of ten of the people could not read or write. Russia, for example, was changed from an illiterate to a literate nation within one generation and, in the process, Russia's appreciation of freedom was enormously enhanced. In China, the increase during the past thirty years in the ability of the people to read and write has been matched by their increased interest in real liberty.
In 1985 one fifth of the worlds population was living under military controlled governments (Harper's Index Book), and it may around half now since China so brutally squashed its citizens' move toward democracy (Harper's Index Book). The reunificat...
Despite the death of Mao in 1976 and the trial of the Gang of Four in 1980, the Cultural Revolution continues to hold significant influence over China’s political decisions. This is particularly evident in 1989, during the Tiananmen Incident. Despite the celebration of the May Fourth student movement as the catalyst in the formation of the Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping (a victim of the Cultural Revolution) and other hardline Party members were adamantly against the gathering of students in Tiananmen Square. The experience of the Cultural Revolution has led Chinese political leaders to be cautious about large scale political movements, and student activism in particular. The lingering resonance of the Cultural Revolution is also evident in the fact that the CCP saw the need to address Mao’s responsibility while trying to maintain his legitimacy and importance as the ideological leader of the Party.