Raymond

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein

Tag: Humanities

     A young Cuban child holds his Fathers hand as he walks down the busy streets of Havana. Completely mesmorized by the people and sounds. Little did he know, that the events that would happen later this very day on this very street, would ignite a fiery flame in Cuba from within, catipulting him down a cliff of revolution and revenge that would forever change the history of Cuba.

     The Cuban revolution was a period of bloody conflicts between the people of Cuba and the government which took place in the 1950s. Although many see revolutions as a whole as unneccesary, bloody, and pointless battles that only lead to more deaths, the Cuban revolution actually led to several  significent and good changes in Cuba such as politics, economics, which still impact Cuba today. The Cuban revolution started on March 10th, 1952, where the former president of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista, led the Cuban Constitutional Army into staging a Coup d’etat, killing many in the process as well as overthrowing the government and becoming dictator of Cuba. What followed next was 7 long years of corruption and the brutal oppression of the lower class, where almost 20,000 Cubans were killed by the hands of Batista. However, these 7, long years also ignited the flame of revolution inside Cuba. Following Batista’s escape to the US and the Rebel victory in Havana, a man named Fidel Castro was installed into power. Unlike Batista, Fidel Castro instead used his power to try and rebuild Cuba from the ashes of what Batista has left it as. He began turning Cuba into a socialist state, starting with the redistributed land to the peasants, then reformed Cuban healthcare and education systems, emphasized womans rights, promoted gender equality, etc. However, although he made several great reforms, he also soured relations with many countries, such as the USA, which led to an invasion in which Fidel Castro quickly repelled. Although he made several mistakes which threatened Cubas into war with the USA, many of the reforms that he made are still exists Cuba today, showing us just how significent those reforms are.

Cuba: The revolution on the brink of global nuclear war

“Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this Hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.” -John F. Kennedy

This quote was made by John F. Kennedy on October 22nd, 1962, addressing the USA, and the world, of Soviet nuclear missiles located in Cuba. Although this may not seem such a big deal initially, this discovery catapulted the world into the darkest 13 days in history. Teetering at the edge of global nuclear war, this was the Cuban Missile Crisis.

However, what exactly was it? What caused it? And what happened after it? The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the many events and byproducts of the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban revolution started with a corrupt government, a man named Fidel Castro and his bloody struggle for freedom, then a scramble for the Island made by the two biggest superpowers in the world.  Of course, it wasn’t just these four factors that were involved in the Cuban Revolution. The video below shows us how complicated the revolution actually was, ranging from small skirmishes to massive government-funded invasions, from a failed assault on some barracks to the battle of Cuba’s capital city, and from how a simple rebel became president. This is the Cuban revolution in plain English.

Photo Citation:
Karlsson, Håkan. “Cuban Experiences: The U.S. Cuba policy since the 1959 revolution from a Cuban perspective”. University of Gothenburg, unknown editor, unknown publisher, 2022, p. 1

 

Analyzing key parts of the book “Shackles of the Deep”

 

Above are the notes that I have taken about central ideas and themes in the book Shackles of the DeepThe book Shackles of the Deep revolves around the rediscovery of the slave ship The Henrietta Marie, and follows the research of this particular ship as well as the transatlantic slave trade itself done by the main character, a black scuba diver. The main character travels to many different places to research this ship, and ultimatly uncovers many different secrets and hidden legacies about the Henrietta Marie – as well as the Transatlanic slave trade itself. Although the book was very informational and taught me many things that I have previously not known; it was structured in a way where it felt repetitve, such as the main characters travels to different locations to research about this ship, which made this book a slightly boring read.

I feel like I did not do as well on my notes as I could have on it. I wrote it sort of in a CER manner, which makes it dull and boring to read. Instead, I could have used the tactics we learnt in class, such as mind maps, charts, etc, and mixed it up with my current notes, which will make it much more interesting, and less “Cramped” to read. By doing that, I could also make it easier to understand what I am thinking, and lessen the amount I have to write, whilst being better.

 

 

 

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