What different paths to freedom and equality did Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X offer to Black Americans? Why did each of them believe that their respective path would be long and dangerous
The backbone of Martin Luther King’s ideology was the principle of non-violence. The idea of non-violent resistance is was not brand new at the moment when M.L.King addressed it in his rebellious policy. The ideology of non-violence had already been preached by an outstanding Indian human and national rights activist Mahatma Gandhi. The non-violent rebellion proved very effective in India when fighting English colonialism at the middle of the twentieth century.
The proponents of this ideology usually encourage moral and ideological struggle against inequality, racial discrimination and segregation. Non-violent line of behavior and thought implies cultivation of friendly relations with an enemy, bringing the enemy to his personal persuasion of the inutility of fighting and violence. Violence begets violence while non-violence gives way to friendship and peace. Thus, the ideas of the great politician consequently turned into a wide non-violent movement of African-Americans.
As far as the policy of Malcolm X is concerned, it is drastically different from the one proposed by Martin Luther King. While the last fought for human equality assertion by means of non-violent resistance and establishment of friendly relations with an enemy, Malcolm X, an Islamic human rights activist, encouraged the advent of equality by any means possible, including radical actions.
Globalization has brought new global concerns, and increased interest in pre-existing problems as well. Choose one of the writings from pp. 504-515 (pp. 506-516 in the 6th edition) and explain what it tells us about one of these "global concerns." Does the author you choose offer a solution to the problem discussed? Why or why not
The process of globalization has its tangible repercussions in a variety of ways. The effect that globalization has upon our life, does not express itself in the realm of international relations only. The influence of globalization is omnipresent, and the sphere of art did not become an exception.
Terrorism as a claiming challenge of globalism;
Terrorism poses great threat for the whole world as the actions of terrorists cannot be forecast or somehow warded off. The world gets closer and unites in its struggle against terrorism.
As it usually happens, tragic events always give an impulse for some creative inspirations. Thus, a boost of artistic inspiration was induced by the events of the eleventh of September 2011, when the crash of the “twins” happened. A lot of artists made their names famous for the works of art they devoted to the tragic events.
The increasing international power of China;
Despite the chief objective of globalization being the integration of global community and the establishment of common legal values, it does not include the equality of states in the conduct of their international sovereignty. Besides that, globalization caused wide spread of ideas and replication of innovations all over the world. That is how the virtues of capitalistic economy of the European countries of the United States of America became relevant for the growing economy of China in the middle of the twentieth century. However, besides generating its new technological ideas and innovations, Chinese economists came to buy those ideas and apply them in the conditions of their “young” national economy complementing it with the communistic ideology and socialistic background.
That is where the international power of China takes its origin. Such intense political development of state did no only gave boost to the power of the state, but also formed a basis for a new cultural variation. The national art became excessively enriched by the communistic symbolics, which generally resembled the stylistic of the soviet artistic heritage with its rigid and scanty colors and harsh lines.
Globalism as a challenge to the ethical and cultural identity.
The most claiming and tangible effect which the process of globalization has had in the context of cultural realm, is the crisis of ethical identity of national cultures. The process of globalization gave way to the formation of new multicultural phenomenon called global culture or geoculture. The most civilized countries, particularly European ones, impose their own cultural standards upon other less sovereign and influential states. Thus, nowadays we have a set of political, ideological and cultural values, which are widely considered the only ones to be aspires to by the rest of the world. For example, the principle of democracy which was originally designated in the Constitution of the United States of 1775 has been enshrined in the majority of states’ constitutions. Since then, the USA has always been credited with the origination of this concept and the leading proponent thereof. Nowadays, the concept of democracy is widely considered to be the leading feature of legal and civilized states. Within the realm of the international law there is a requirement for all the states for the principle of democracy to be enshrined in the constitutions of all the newly emerged countries aiming to gain their inner sovereignty and international recognition.
In what ways do the painting and sculpture of the mid-Twentieth Century reflect a sense of alienation, anxiety, or emptiness? What may account for these feelings at this time?
Assessing the general image of the world in the middle of the twentieth century, it was largely influenced by the aftermath of the two great and terrible world wars. First and forehands, the thematic content of art altered significantly. War and related issues became the prevailing topics of artistic expression. Artists of the twentieth century strived to reflect the emotional exhaustion of people. Thus grey, black and white colors are the prevailing tones used by artists in their works. Besides that, the lines of painting are exceptionally straight and strict, the figures of people look more bulky, to mark the great exploit done by the people.
Some countries’ cultures were largely influenced by the erase of four empires in the aftermath of the First World War. For example, the Russian Empire was renowned for its rich cultural heritage, complemented by the great historical background. The art of the empire period was marked for its pompousness. Large focus was placed upon the royal family and the monarch himself.
When the Russian Empire crashed and the royal family of the Romanovs were shot down, not only the features of artistic and cultural background were altered. The entire conception of social morality, ethnical culture and identity were drastically changed. Artists were precluded from free creativity and compelled to carry out the only possible way of expression of their creative incentives.
As far as the sculpture of the twentieth century is concerned, it was also significantly influenced by the aftermath of the Second World War. At the first stage of reconstruction, with all the buildings ruined in the course of the war, there was a claiming necessity to establish a wide range of new houses for people to live. That is why, the architecture of the twentieth century is known for its monotonous style, when all the buildings looked like each other. Technically, there was no room for artists to apply their artistic skills.
As for nowadays, the art and architecture of our times is largely subject to the process of globalization, which means that a lot of elements of every national art are borrowed from the national architectural samples of other countries.
Besides that, a lot of artists today choose to apply some ethnical and folklore elements in their creativity.
The main focus was the architectural functionalism. It is characterized by the principle that architectural form should follow function, purpose of the building. Functionalism gave the world new types of buildings, flat with built-in equipment. Planning was carried out with the maximum expediency for labor and the creation of living conditions. Functionalist artists were V.Gropius (Germany), Sh.M.Korbyuze (France), X.Meyer (England). This trend is becoming international as simple lines, rationality easily adapted to national circumstances. These buildings became a kind of calling card of world architecture of the 50-60ies.
In socialist countries, primarily in the Soviet Union, the revival of peaceful and constructive life, universal celebration of the victory over fascism determined its nature, direction and the content of internal architecture of the first postwar decade. It inherits the concept of pre-war emotional and elevated architectural image, which uses classical forms in conjunction with the national peculiarities of the republics. Almost all efforts have been focused on creating very significant, unique pieces. In this spirit, administrative and residential buildings were erected.
