Books and documentaries recommendation

09-11, NOAM CHOMSKY

Noam Chomsky is an international personality for his intelectual and scientific activities and studies, but also because of his political activism and his critical position against the United States and other countries international politics. I have became an inconditional of Chomsky, and I very often read his section in the alternative diary “Rebelión”.

In the book we are treating, we can find many interview pieces, all dated days after the 09-11 attack. I have to say that in that days and after, I followed the news very closedly, and read a lot of opinions and analisys; that is why many of the information he treats in the book was alredy known by myself. Despite that, is seems very interesting to me the way things have happened exactly like Chomsky described then, and it makes the book, even six years later, an absolutly actual document. Things happened exactly like he predicted to happen, and the consecuences of the USA goberment actions had been even worse than how Chomsky supposed.

I want to remark the way Chomsky califies the USA as a terrorist state, and also how it was by then the only state condened for international terrism. It is very important for the citizenship, specially americans, to know the practices that the USA has been following along history, besides the practices it follows nowadays.

Such a powerful state will not be sustainable if it keeps on spreading terror and pain. It is necesary to establish control mecanisms, and take some power abroad that state that mantain that international position and that uses its war potencial to impose its opinion and way of doing. The UN should take part to stop american supremacy, and to become the organism of reference for international issues.

It is necessary to bring up the importance of building what is call “Peace Culture”, instead of “defense supremacy and war presion”.


BREVE HISTORIA DEL MUNDO: ERNST H. GOMBRICH

The perspective and focus of this book, written in 1935, makes it unique as an history text becase of the facility of the reading and the clarity of the writting the author uses. He describes historical events as a story made for youth.

It has been a perfect recomendation to me because, even tougth is not very “scientific”, it is quite useful to peple than, as myself, notice important lacks in their history knowledge.

History is very important to understand international issues in today´s world. I really belive that in spanish educational system, specially for those that choose tecnical specialisations, is absolutly insufficient. This book constitutes a good way to get a bases and make a history line in wicht set up all the important issues of our world history.

I think this book should be of obligatory reading at schools or high schools.


DOCUMENTAIRES: “MANDELA, SON OF AFRICA, FATHER OF A NATION” and “THE LAST JUST MAN”.

Documentaries constitute, in my opinión, a very strong way of citizenship sensibilization, specially now that TV is much more watched than what books are readed. All over the world, even in places where peolple do not have water suministration or all day´s electricity supply at their homes, you can find a TV in almost every single house.

My major actual interest is developmet and social justice, and that is the reason for my documentaries ellection at this point: África, the forgotten continent, the example of inequality and globalization failure.

As we could see in the documentaries like “Mandela” and “The last just man”, conflicts in Africa have been a constant in history. The origin of conflicts is very diverse and varied, but the consecuences in almost every case are devastating.

The genocide in Ruanda, where the international comunity did nothing to stop the masacre is not, unfurtunatly, the only example. The Congo Republic, the situation in Sudan or Ethyopy, the long civil war some countries have sustained for years, the awful droughts some countries suffer every once in a while, the insufficient or, in many cases inexistent, access to basis services like water, sanitation, electricity...

This is the reality in Africa, and we, westerns, keep on looking somewhere else. Is is necesary to bring up the situation to our mass media, and to set this issues in the first posicion of our political calendary. Since colonialism, western countries have interfered in african countries development, and it is our responsabily to take action to make changes. African people deserve dignity and the enjoy of a healthy and gratificant life.

We citizenship must demand justice and solutions for million of people that live in Africa and some other developing countries. Globalization is not working as it was expected to, and two thirds of world inhabitants are paying for the so called “well-being” of the other third. This situation must change: it is a political decision, and it is possible to reach a more equal world.

And it is worth it.