response to background info

What I learned from my reading
I didn’t know too much about the background information of Southern Africa, so pretty much everything I read was new to me. I knew that it was a violent place, but only because of the movies I’ve watched. So I didn’t know why it was so violent. I didn’t know that they were in a struggle for independence from European colonies.

From Shannon’s
I found out a lot of facts about Southern Africa, like 1,000,000,000 of gold mined yearly and that they still segregate school systems. So besides mineral products used to gain money, they also raise animals like sheep and cattle, and grow crops. The precipitation is very low so crops are hard to grow.

From Shane's

From Shane's report I found out pretty much the same stuff as Shannon's plus a little more background history of South Africa and the first settlers to go there.

History of Southern Africa

The Apartheid Years

During the 19Th and 20Th centuries Europeans began to colonize Southern Africa. The Native people did not like the colonist at all. They tried to resist them by fighting but the colonist were to powerful and many native tribes were massacred.
The Apartheid

An apartheid is a policy based on discrimination against the black South Africans, that lasted until 1991. South Africa was originally home to many native tribes, but Europeans came in and stole the lands from the native people. I have a weird feeling that this has already happened in other places too. The European invaders didn't just steal land they also made the people there work for them as slaves. The slavery didn't last long, but unfortunately it was replaced by a radical form of discrimination. This form was based on the same principles that Hitler used in Nazi Germany. They separated everyone by race and put all the blacks, Indians and "coloreds" in isolated camps. They were still part of the country, but they had no voting rights and very little civil rights. The apartheid also limited the amount and quality of education the native South Africans got. They also had to carry passes that told guards and policemen they race, status and what they could or could not do. Eventually organizations came around to form a resistance toward the apartheid, but they didn't have much of an effect on it until the U.N. stepped in. One of the leaders of those organizations was Nelson Mandela and he used non-violent and civil disobedience to try to overthrow the current government. He was soon imprisoned for life. Eventually the current government couldn't handle all the uprisings and they had to step down. Nelson Mandela was released from prison and became the new President of South Africa.

Liberation Movements
Following the imposition of the white minority rule many South Africa, which now consist of Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, liberation movements began to spring up everywhere. Usually the tactic was brutal guerrilla warfare.
Namibia
In 1915 German South Africa and the Ovamboland came under the South African administration. The Ovambo people did not like this and had many unsucessful rebellion attempts. They eventually went under the apartheid policies and became South Frica's fifth province in 1949. They fought for many years to their indepence and with the help of the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) and the U.N. South Africa lost its control 1966, but despite this South Africa still controlled them until 1990 when they had a ceasefire. Namibia held elections and gave power to SWAPO.
Mozambique
Some of the most ferocious wars against colonialism were inMozambique. The Mozambique liberation front (FRELIMO) was launched to lead the guerrilla warfare. And After many years of violence, a coup in Portugal led to a change in power and they decided to listen to FRELIMO and in 1975 Mozambique gained its independence.

Zimbabwe
They tried to follow Mozambique’s FRELIMO success and started to gain some headway. The guerrilla tactics were working and fighting continued through the 1970s. By 1978 the Rhodesian (Zimbabwe) government knew they couldn’t win so they gave in and decided to have multi-racial elections in 1979. However, the two main black groups were excluded, and guerrilla warfare continued. Zimbabwe tries and is still trying to gain black minority rule but, the efforts just lead to violence and bloodshed. In 2002 a huge HIV infection spread throughout the whole region, while most of the countries were already facing famine and grave food shortages caused by drought and ravaged crops.
Botswana
This country was not hit with the surge of violence that hit all the other countries. It slowly gained independence and set up its own government. It went from one of the poorest countries to one of the most economically stable countries in Africa. Although the good economy, many people are poor and the serious problems like: high unemployment, overgrazing, and spread of HIV.

The rest of southern Africa went through similar events. Although Southern Africa is more economically stable then the rest of Africa, it is still plagued by violence and disease.

Africa- Free Write

Africa is a big continent filled with many dangers. Those dangers range from wild animals to deadly diseases. Those wild animals are lions, hyenas, and hippos. They also have diseases like aids, yellow fever, ebola virus and malaria that are found all over the continent. Africa is a third world continent which means it is very poor and it is filled with violence. It is home to the Sahara desert and the pyramids along with the sphinx. South Africa is pretty stable economically and isn't as violent as the rest of Africa. I would like to go to Africa to see all of the animals and natural wonders it has to offer. The fastest animal in the world lives there too, the speedy cheetah. My favorite football player reminds me of a cheetah because he is very fast, his name is Devin Hester.

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why is doris nuetral?

I think that Doris is neutral because she wants to tell an unbiased story. That is a good quality a writer can have. Even though she probably feels that the anglos did her ancestors wrong, but she wants to tell the story in their perspectives and not hers. She is just telling the story, not writing it. She is just trying to state the facts and try to figure out what those people were thinking.

movies

Babel- it is a multi perspective movie. It show how many little events my many people connect one big event.

Stranger Than Fiction- This movie is a 3rd person limited concept and it just shows how a story writer follows and narrates the life of a man.

The Forbidden Kingdom- This movies uses two different languages. It is about a boy who loves kung fu, and he is sent back through time to ancient china to give a magical staff back to its right owner.

 

Manhandling - The White cows perspective

Well my name is darla and im just a plain ordinary white cow. Usually all of us cows like to stick together and just roam the lands as one big herd, but there is always that odd ball in the group. As you can see, she is not only different due to her hair color but she is also wierd. She always is running off and playing with those other wierd animals that the humans call dogs. So usually all of my friends and I just like to get together and talk about all the wierd things she does. I personally like the way she runs, it always makes me chuckle. So today she be very interesting, because she is going to the torture pen to be poked with the burning sticks. So i decided that i better watch this from my very good hill seats. Oh this is so good i couldn't even pay for this entertainment, she is trying to crawl under the fence. OH, good golly gosh! this is priceless. The best part is coming, they are chasing her around, but ill have to admit she is making those humans look dumb. The humans are getting some grazy holding device now. She is done for, they got her to ground. Shucks, i can never watch the part when they actually brand them, it always gives me the heebie jeebies. She is one tough little cookie, but she is still wierd. She is actually going to try jumping the fence. I don't want to laugh, but i have to because she is stuck. She made it over, i am going to miss her when she gets on that metal container that takes the little ones away.

Do women use their advantages to gain things?

In the story, Bushranger we are introduced to a man named Starlight. Starlight is an interesting character because he is a robber, but he is also a gentle. During one of his robberies he robs a few girls that are in a coach and the young lady begins to sob and tell a sad story about how that’s all the money she has when she gets to the city. This story makes Starlight sympathetic and he gives her back her purse and a little more added to it. So I do think that girls use the advantages that they have to get benefits, but who wouldn’t. If I was getting robbed and all I had to do was shed a tear to get back the stuff stolen from me I would. Although this girl could have been actually crying due to the fact she was being robbed, but she probably knew that she could probably get Starlight to feel sympathetic and she succeeded. 

Australian Celebs

Isla Fisher

Isla was born in Sydney, Australia and she is an actress. She has been in the films Definitely, Maybe and Wedding Crashers. She is currently engaged to Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Borat.

Is Bloodshed Really Needed Over Land?

No, i don't think it is needed, but unfortunately it often happens. In the story Gurra, the native people are invaded by the white and forced away from there sacred lands. They could have easily settled on a deal, but instead the white men went straight to the guns and power. The main reason I thought there was violent conflict between the two was the fact they can't understand each other. They are so culturally diverse that it scared one another and since the white had a greater power they used it to conquer their fears. So i think that most of the white didn't want to kill them but were to scared to live with them. For example, you are in a open cage with the lion and you have a gun. The lion is just as scared as you so it roars but just stands there. Then you raise your and shoot the lion, but you could have just climbed the fence and left. So in the end you can avoid bloodshed, but it easier to take the easy way out. 

Bandicoot (Southern Brown Bandicoot)

Bandicoot (Golden Bandicoot

Bandicoot (Western Barred Bandicoot)

Bandicoot (Eastern Barred Bandicoot)