The Beat Generation

The Beat Generation

The Beat Generation, also known as the Beat Movement were a group of American writers who emerged in the 1950’s.The most influential members were Neal Cassady, Gary Snyder, William Borroughs, the poet Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.

The phrase Beat Generation was invented by Jack Kerouac, the leader and spokesman of the Beat Generation. The phrase was introduced to the general public in 1952 when John Holmes, a friend of Kerouac wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine called `This is the Beat Generation´.

The underlying philosophy was Zen Buddhism, visionary enlightenment and Amerindian CultureThe Beat Generation rejected the prevailing American middle class values and the academic attitude to poetry, feeling that poetry should be brought to people.A common theme that linked the Beat Generation was the need for withdrawal and protest.The Beats sought immediate expression in multiple, intense experience and beatific illumination like that of some Eastern religions like Zen Buddhism.The major Beat´s writings were Jack Kerouac´s On the road, Allen Ginsberg´s Howl, and William Borroughs´ Naked Lunch

Dadaism and Surrealism had a direct impact on the Beats. Dadaism with its attack on the elitism of the high culture and the celebration of spontaneity. Surrealism with its focus on revelations from the subconscious.

Ginsberg said that some essential effects of the Beat Generation could be characterized in the following terms:

• Spiritual liberation, sexual liberation, women´s liberation.

• .Liberation of the word from censorship,

• .Decriminalization of marijuana and other drugs,

• .The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form,

• .The spread of ecological consciousness,the notion of Fresh Planet,

• .Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization,

• .Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy as against state regimentation,

• .Attention to a second religiousness developing within an advanced civilization,

• .Respect for land, indigenous people and creatures.

To conclude, The Beat Generation influenced a lot of artists such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez ,Jim Morrison,etc. The Beat movement were followed by the hippies, an anti-war movement which led to the environmental movement, Deep Ecology and Earth First.

You tube: “Howl” part 1

“Howl” part 2

“Howl” part 3

Hippie movement (1960’s)

The Hippie movement appeared in the 60’s and it was related to their liberal attitude and lifestyle.

They questioned authority and traditional values and they did a cultural revolution.

The hippie culture did not want to conform to society and created their own world trying to escape from reality with drugs.

The hippie generation had influences on music, television and film. It made marks on practices, fashion, hairstyles, the arts, religion and meditation.

The hippies stood for peace, love and freedom and the only way to reached these was though love and tolerance.

It was important to bring virtue, humanity and brotherhood, so they approved the Civil Right movement and protested against Vietnam War.

They developed a close relationship to nature and concerned as environmental pollution, recycling and organic food.

The movement has peaked near the end of the 1960’s with Woodstock.

Woodstock

It was the most important music festival held in 1969 in White lake, New York. It had celebrated from August 15 to August 17 and there were 3 days of “Peace and Music”

That musical festival included different genres such as: Rock and folk, including blues-rock, folk rock, jazz fusion, Hard rock, Latin rock, and psychedelic rock styles.

At first organizers (Michael Lang, John P. Roberts, Joel Rosenman and Artie Kornfeld) decided to sell tickets, but a half million of people travelled to New York, the traffic was stuck and it was not enough secure and fence in the zone. So organisers decided that Woodstock would be free.

The field was covered in mud because of the raining weather, and the audience too. There were not enough bathrooms and comforts.

“Although the festival was remarkably peaceful given the number of people and the conditions involved, there were two recorded fatalities: one from what was believed to be a heroin overdose and another caused in an accident when a tractor ran over an attendee sleeping in a nearby hayfield. There also were two births recorded at the event (one in a car caught in traffic and another in a hospital after an airlift by helicopter) and four miscarriages” said the news.

Besides if we talk about liberal attitude, sex free and drugs in the 1960’s a medicine change the world.

Oral Contraceptives (the Pill) were allowed to be sold by FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

This medicine Helped empower woman to control her pregnancies and prevented illnesses (uterine and ovarian cancers).

Women were free to enjoy spontaneous sex without fear of pregnancy.

This medicine allowed women to decide when she got pregnant.

But when the Pill was introduced in 1960 only married women could buy it. In 1967 single women started to get this pill.

You tube: John Lennon “give a peace of chance” (interview)

Work prepared by Savoy and Bunym

Pop and Opt Art

Work prepared by Monjes and Aceto

Andy Warhol with Argentinian artist, Marta Minujin


"El dìa que me encontré con Andy Warhol en la Municipalidad de La Plata", oil on linen, 2007 by La Plata´s Artist Andrés Compagnucci

Older posts on the subject, here
Other related artists, here.

Human Rights

Work presented by Wendt Barrios and Grassino

Other posts in this blog from previous years: Gandhi,Luther King, Mandela

A view of South Africa

The following power point presentation is a letter written by a South African woman who grew up in the Apartheid era...she wrote it for us.

Growing up during the apartheid era

More on Apartheid in an older post.

South Africa and Apartheid

Apartheid

• Afrikáans words meaning separateness.
• It was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994
• Apartheid classified inhabitants into 4 racial groups “Black", “White", “Coloured", and "Indian“.

Precursor of Apartheid

• The British colonial rulers introduced a system of Pass Laws during the 19th century. This stemmed from the regulation of black people's movement from the tribal regions to those occupied by white and coloured people, ruled by the British.
• These laws prohibit the black people’s movement from one district to another without a signed pass.

Election of 1948

• Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times, but apartheid as an official policy was introduced following the general election of 1948.

• The Reunited National Party under the leadership of Daniel Francois Malan campaigned on its policy of apartheid. They won the election and Malan became the first apartheid prime minister.

Apartheid Legislation

• The first grand apartheid law was the Population Registration Act (1950), which formalized racial classification and introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of eighteen, specifying their racial group.
• The second pillar of grand apartheid was the Group Areas Act (1950). It determined where one lived according to race. Each race was allotted its own area.
• The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 prohibited marriage between persons of different races.
• Immorality Act of 1950 made sexual relations with a person of a different race a criminal offence
• The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953) established the separation of municipal grounds, transport and civil facilities for the different races.

Homeland System

• Under the homeland system, the South African government attempted to divide South Africa into a number of separate states, each of which was supposed to develop into a separate nation-state for a different ethnic group. The Prime Minister Verwoerd came to believe in the granting of independence to these homelands -Bantustans-
• Ten homelands were ultimately allocated to different black ethnic groups. Four of them accepted so-called independence
• The Black Homeland Citizenship Act of 1970 changed the status of black people living in South Africa so that they were no longer citizens of South Africa, but became citizens of one of the ten autonomous territories.

Forced Removals

• During Apartheid time, the government implemented a policy of 'resettlement', to force people to move to their designated "group areas“. Armed police and Army were used to force people move.
• Sophiatown, one of the few black urban areas, was removed and destroyed. Residents were forced out of their homes and taken to Meadowlands.Sophiatown was destroyed and in its place was built a white suburb, Triumph.

Petty Apartheid

• It describes the era of the 1950s when laws prohibited inter-racial sex and marriage and strictly segregated residential areas, schools, trains, buses, beaches, toilets, parks, stadiums, ambulances, hospitals, and cemeteries
• Blacks were excluded from living or working in white areas, unless they have a pass “dompass”. Without it, the person could be being arrested and trial for being an illegal migrant.

Coloured Classification

• The Population Registration Act was implemented to determine the 4 different racial groups but the system of classification was not reliable. For example, members of the same family found themselves in different race groups.
• The Coloured group included people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European descent. They were forced to live in separate townships.
• They played an important role in the anti-apartheid movement.

Women under apartheid and Other minorities

• Women suffered racial and gender discrimination. They had few or no legal rights, no access to education and no right to own property. African women can only work as agricultural or domestic workers.
• East Asian population didn’t belong to any of the 4 racial groups. Chinese people were classified as non white, whereas immigrants from Japan and Taiwan were considered “honorary white” and they have the same privileges as normal whites.

Conservatism.

The government alongside apartheid implemented a conservative social programme:

- Vices, like gambling and pornography, were banned.

- Most of businesses, shops selling alcohol couldn’t operate on Sundays.

- Abortion, homosexuality and sex education were restricted.

- Television wasn’t introduced until 1976 because the government viewed as dangerous.

Internal Resistance

The government responded to a series of popular uprisings and protests with police brutality, which in turn increased local support for the armed resistance struggle. Internal resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa came from several sectors of society and saw the creation of organizations dedicated variously to peaceful protests, passive resistance and armed insurrection, such as:

• ANC (African National Congress) 1949

• PAC (Pan Africanist Congress) 1950 formed by a group of disenchanted members of ANC.

• Black Consciousness Movement in 1970. It was created by tertiary students influenced by the American Black Power movement. Its leader was Steve Biko.

In parallel, there were uprisings (Soweto) and protests (students, labour unions, and workers).

International relations

Commonwealth: In 1960 Verwoerd announced a referendum on whether the country should become a republic. 52 percent of population voted “yes”. As a consequence of this change of status, South Africa needed to reapply for continued membership of the Commonwealth. African and Asian member states of Commonwealth opposed South Africa due to its apartheid policies. As a result, South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth on 31 May 1961, the day that the Republic came into existence.

United Nations: On 6 November 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, condemning South African apartheid policies. In 1966, the UN held the first of many colloquiums on apartheid. On 7 August 1963 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 181 calling for a voluntary arms embargo against South Africa, and in the same year, a Special Committee against Apartheid was established to encourage and oversee plans of action against the regime. In 1973, the United Nations adopted the Apartheid Convention which defines apartheid and even qualifies it as a crime against humanity which might lead to international criminal prosecution of the individuals responsible for perpetrating it. Besides, economic sanctions against South Africa were also frequently debated as an effective way of putting pressure on the apartheid government.

Organization for African Unity (OAU): In 1966, Prime Minister, Vorster, tried to redress South Africa's isolation and to revitalise the country's global reputation by the “Outward-looking” policy. The buzzwords for his strategy were "dialogue" and "détente", signifying a reduction of tension. In 1967, Vorster offered technological and financial aid to any African state prepared to receive it, asserting that no political strings were attached.

Western Influences

Nordic countries provided moral and financial support for the ANC. Countries like Sweden pronounced against the Apartheid: Olof Palme, Sweden’s Prime Minister declared: "Apartheid cannot be reformed; it has to be eliminated."

Other Western nations adopted a different position. Thatcher and Reagan followed a 'constructive engagement' policy with the apartheid government. Then Thatcher declared the ANC s terrorist organization. But by 1989, US favoured economic sanctions against South Africa, the release of Nelson Mandela and a negotiated settlement involving the ANC.

Total onslaught

By 1980, international opinions turned decisively against the apartheid regime. Then, considerable effort was put into circumventing sanctions, and the government even went so far as to develop nuclear weapons, with the help of Israel. In 2010, The Guardian Newspaper released South African government documents that revealed an Israeli offer to sell Apartheid South Africa nuclear weapons. Shimon Peres denied it.

Cross-border Raids

South Africa had a policy of attacking guerrilla-bases and safe houses of the ANC, PAC and SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organization) in neighboring countries beginning in the early 1980s. These attacks were in retaliation for acts of terror such as bomb explosions, massacres and guerrilla actions (like sabotage) by ANC, PAC and SWAPO guerrillas in South Africa and Namibia.

State Security

Black townships became the focus of the struggle between anti-apartheid organisations and the Botha government. The focus of much of this resistance was against the local authorities and their leaders, who were seen to be supporting the government. By 1985, it had become the ANC's aim to make black townships "ungovernable" (a term later replaced by "people's power") by means of rent boycotts and other militant action.

On 20 July 1985, State President P.W. Botha declared a State of Emergency in 36 magisterial districts. During this state of emergency about 2,436 people were detained under the Internal Security Act. This act gave police and the military sweeping powers. On 12 June 1986, the state of emergency was extended to cover the whole country. In 1987, the State of Emergency was extended for another two years. Much of the violence in the late 1980s and early 1990s was directed at the government, but a substantial amount was between the residents themselves.

The state of emergency continued until 1990, when it was lifted by State President F.W. de Klerk.

Final years of Apartheid

In 1978 the defense minister of the Nationalist Party, Pieter Willem Botha, became Prime Minister. The new government noted that it was spending too much money trying to maintain the segregated homelands that had been created for blacks and the homelands were proving to be uneconomic. In the early 1980s, Botha's National Party government started to recognise the inevitability of the need to reform apartheid. In 1983, a new constitution was passed implementing a so-called Tricameral Parliament, giving Coloureds and Indians voting rights and parliamentary representation in separate houses – the House of Assembly (178 members) for whites, the House of Representatives (85 members) for Coloureds and the House of Delegates (45 members) for Indians.

Black homelands were declared nation-states and pass laws were abolished. Black labor unions were legitimized; the government recognized the right of blacks to live in urban areas permanently and gave blacks property rights there.

Early in 1989, Botha suffered a stroke. He was succeeded as president by F. W. de Klerk. He moved decisively towards negotiations to end the political stalemate in the country and announced that he would repeal discriminatory laws and lift the 30-year ban on leading anti-apartheid groups.

De Klerk also promised to release ANC leader, Nelson Mandela, from jail. On 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison after more than 27 years in prison.

Apartheid was dismantled in a series of negotiations from 1990 to 1993, culminating in elections in 1994, the first in South Africa with universal suffrage.

In 1993, de Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa".

Finally, on 27 April 1994 an election was held and went off peacefully throughout the country as 20,000,000 South Africans cast their votes. The ANC obtained 62.65% and Nelson Mandela became the President of South Africa.

Work presented by Martínez and Paulenko

Bosnia civil war (1991-1995)

Bosnia civil war (1991-1995) final version

Work presented by Buey and Priore

Vietnam War

WAR IN VIETNAM

The involvement of the United States in Vietnam stemmed from its Cold War containment policy .After World War II, stopping the spread of communism was the principal goal of U.S. foreign policy.

TheRoad to war. In the early 1900s, France controlled most of resource-rich Southeast Asia. (French Indochina included what are now Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.) But nationalist independence movements had begun to develop. A young Vietnamese Nationalist, Ho Chi Min, turned to the communist for help in his struggle. During the 1930s, Ho´s Indochinese Communist party led revolts and strikes against the French.

The French responded by jailing Vietnamese protesters. They also sentenced Ho to death. He fled into exile, but returned to Vietnam in 1941,a year after the Japanese seized control of his country during World War II. Ho and other nationalists founded the Vietminh (independence) League. The Japanese were forced out of Vietnam after their defeat in 1945.Ho Chi Minh believed that independence would follow, but France intendend to regain its colony.

The Fighting Begins Vietnamese Nationalists and Communists joined to fight the French armies. The French held most major cities, but the Vietminh had widespread support in the countryside. In France the people began to doubt that their colony was worth the lives and money the struggle cost. In 1954, the French suffered a major military defeat at Dien Bien Phu. They surrendered to Ho.

The United States had supported France in Vietnam. With the defeat of the French, The United States saw a rising threat to the rest of Asia. President Eisenhower described this threat in terms of the domino theory. The Southeast Asian nations were like a row of dominos, he said. The fall of one to communism would lead to the fall of its neighbors. This theory became a major justification for U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War era.

Vietnam- A Divided Country After France´s defeat, an international peace conference met in Geneva to discuss the future of Indochina. Based on these talks, Vietnam was divided at 17º north latitude. North of that line, Ho Chi Minh´s Communist forces governed. To the south, the United States and France set up an anti-Communist government under the leadership of Ngo Dinh diem.

Diem ruled the south as a dictator. Opposition to his government grew.

Communist guerrillas, called Vietcong, began to gain strength in the south. Gradually, the Vietcong won control of large areas of the countryside. In 1963, a group of South Vietnamese generals had Diem assassinated. But the new leaders were no more popular than he had been. It appeared that a takeover by the Communist Vietcong, backed by North Vietnam, was inevitable.

The United States Gets Involved

Faced with the possibility of a Communist victory, The United States decided to escalate, or increase, its involvement.

United States Troops Enter the fight In August 1964, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson told Congress that North Vietnamese patrol boats had attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. As a result, Congress authorized the president to send U.S .troops to fight in Vietnam.

The United Stated had the best-equipped, most advanced army in the world. Yet it faced two major difficulties. First, U.S. soldiers were fighting a guerrilla war in unfamiliar jungle terrain. Second, the South Vietnamese government that they were defending was becoming more unpopular .At the same time, support for the Vietcong grew, with help and supplies from Ho Chi Minh, the Soviet Union, and China. Unable to win a decisive victory on the ground, the United States turned to air power. U.S. forces bombed farmland and forest.

The United States Withdraws during the late 1960s, the war grew increasingly unpopular in the United States. President Richard Nixon began withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam in 1969.

Nixon had a plan called vietnamization. It allowed for U.S. troops to gradually pull out, while the South Vietnamese increased their combat role. To pursue Vietnamization while preserving the South Vietnamese government, Nixon Authorized a massive bombing campaign against North Vietnamese bases and supply routes.

He also authorized bombings in neighboring Laos and Cambodia to destry Vietcong hiding places.

The last troops left in 1973.Two years later, the North Vietnamese overran South Vietnam. The war ended, but more than 1.5 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans lost their lives.

Adapted from "World History" by C. de Ortúzar.

Link to other older post in this blog of the same subject.