history
Past politicians, legislation and political movements have changed the course of history in ways both big and small. Welcome to our blast to the past.
The day the world got smaller
6:45am, a not-so-nutritious breakfast of cookies with chocolate chips and a banana was all I could grab, I was running late. I headed straight to my beloved pool for my morning training. There, my typical day by day it was about to start. I knew that according to my schedule, it was going to be a semi-tough day. 400mts warm up, 2 blocks of 200mts kick only (without fins), 3 blocks of 500mts + 200mts to relax and shake the stress on your muscles after that awful amount of meters between yells and our trainer’s orders. That’s how the day the world got smaller started to me.
Giovanni ProfetaPublished about 8 hours ago in The SwampThe Myth of Canadian Superiority
As a Canadian born long after America’s supposed “Golden Age,” I have grown up with the celebrated notion of Canadian superiority. In school, well-meaning teachers bragged about the inherent multiculturalism of Canada, referencing famous Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s famous Multiculturalism Act when discussing the legacy of racism in the United States. Canada was designated as some sort of shining beacon for anti-racism and inclusion, while the US was its wayward, bigoted neighbour.
Ilana QuinnPublished 3 days ago in The SwampThe Great Escape From Slavery Pt. 1
Written with the utmost respect & in loving memory of grammy, Ms. P, "Big Madea", who forever changed my mind and my life. I love you. 1921- 2004 <3
The Great Escape From Slavery Pt. 2
William and Ellen Craft (This is my favorite story.) William and Ellen married in Macon, Georgia, in 1846, but were owned by different slave masters. The two, madly in love, feared their separation and vowed to escape slavery.
The Great Escape From Slavery Pt. 3
The Pearl Incident The Pearl Incident is the largest non-violent attempted slave escape in American history. Though the escape ended disastrously, it helped end the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
The Tragic Plight of Enslaved Wet Nurses
Since slavery, the dehumanization of black people has been entrenched deeply in the social pyramid. One such is the tragic case of black mothers who were forced to breastfeed their owner's children at the expense on their own.
Kamna KirtiPublished 11 days ago in The Swamp
The Falling Man of 9/11
For one hour and 42-minutes, America watched in horror on Sept. 11, 2001, as the Twin Towers at One World Trade Center in New York City crumbled to the ground with thousands of people trapped inside after two hijacked airplanes enacted a terrorist attack on America.
Bay of Pigs
When John F. Kennedy became President of the United States on January 20, 1961, he inherited every policy decision that Eisenhower had yet to carry out. (1) One of these was the planned invasion of Cuba to depose Fidel Castro and the 26th of July Movement. The Central Intelligence Agency had recruited and trained Cuban exiles to conduct the invasion. The operation became known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion after the point that the Cuban exiles made their landing. The planning of the invasion began with the 1959 defeat of Fulgencio Batista, the former president of Cuba. The CIA believed that the use of Cuban exiles would work because of their perceived success in the 1954 coup against President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala. In the 1954 coup against Arbenz, the CIA had used disgruntled Guatemalan military officers and Agency provided air support to aid in the coup. In the Bay of Pigs, there would be no such saving graces. The air and artillery support the US promised was either canceled or so delayed that Castro's forces easily repelled the invading forces. Additionally, the CIA had no understanding of the environment in which they were operating. In Guatemala, there had been differing factions to exploit within Arbenz's government. In 1961 Cuba there were no such factions left on the island. This was due to any that had opposed the 26th of July Movement fleeing the island in the wake of losing their benefactor. This meant that the invaders had no support to meet them once they arrived. This led to the spectacular failure that is now associated with the Bay of Pigs. By 1961, the CIA had grown confident enough in its abilities to conduct such an operation. However, they operated with undeserved confidence, as they had not learned how to conduct such operations in hostile nations. It is by looking at the CIA's overconfidence in their ability to pull off the Bay of Pigs Invasion that we see how Fidel Castro and the Cuban government were able to assert their sovereignty, and become a regional power despite the lopsided odds stacked against them.
Eric AndersonPublished 12 days ago in The Swamp
What is Labor Day Anyway?
If you were to ask anyone around you "what does Labor Day stand for?" what kinds of responses would you receive? In asking friends and family, I received some "I don't knows" mixed with "a day off" and "hard labor." I always thought the namesake was the key, celebrating the efforts of American workers. I was right…kind of.
October JinPublished 13 days ago in The Swamp
Do Far-Right Parties Achieve Anything?
The rise of the far right in European politics has been noted throughout academia, as well as society in general. Parties across Germany, Poland, Hungary, France, Switzerland and Austria have gained unprecedented popularity with the voters, with the Swiss People’s Party reaching a high of 25.6% in 2019 and parties in other countries achieving over 12% of the vote (Buchholz, 2021). In this essay I will try to explore how these parties influence mainstream politics, and whether they can have a significant impact on policy. The first part of the essay will focus on an examination of the performance of the BNP in Britain from 2001 to 2005, the Front Nationale in France from 2002 to 2007 and the Lega Nord in Italy from 2001 to 2006. I will look at these parties through the lens of the issue of immigration, as this has been a major focus of these parties, but is also arguably the policy area, which the far right has in recent times targeted more than others. The second part will discuss several observations that academics have made surrounding the concept of contagion from these far-right parties. In this section I will try to examine several studies that have tried to map out the different rules and structures that either lead to a greater contagion effect, or stop parties from being able to have an effect on mainstream parties. In the last part I will examine the limited impact many of these parties have had, but also how some of them, like the Lega Nord, have actually upset the odds and achieved major success.
Alexander SelingPublished 16 days ago in The Swamp
Two Allies
In the face of an overwhelming threat to peace, justice and freedom arising from a militaristic and twisted foe, two great powers overcome their differences and follow the doctrine of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". What follows is economic cooperation, supply of vital equipment and machinery which furthers the war effort against the common enemy and leads, in the end, to victory over the dreaded force. Soon after this success however, the unthinkable happens, the two friends suddenly grow suspicious of each other. What once was an alliance with a common cause now more then ever seems cold, and the threat of conflict seems to hang in the air. Subsequently they begin operations to hamper the other, through foreign intervention, military activity and the spread of propaganda and influence, the two former allies vie for control and dominance over the other. If this story sounds familiar to you and you probably have reasonably assumed that I am referring to US-Soviet relations during, and after World War II, you would be wrong. The story I am referencing is actually a story which takes place around 480BC, in Greece. The Achaemenid Empire ruled the Middle East, its armies numbered in the hundreds of thousands and its territories stretched from Greece in the West, to India in the East. In 490BC, the hegemon of the east turned its attention towards the Greek city-states, and began its second invasion of Greece. Being confronted with an almost insurmountable force the two most powerful city-states, Athens and Sparta, banded together in a Hail Mary attempt at defending their homeland. This partnership resulted in the defeat of the Persian forces and their retreat from Greece. In the face of this victory, one would assume that all was well. Baffingly however, soon after the enemy had been repelled, old rivalries reappeared. As Athenian influence and power began to steadily increase as it expanded its dominion over most of Greece, Sparta became very weary of its former ally and so embarked on its own quest for allies against Athens, and military preparation. With this course of action both sides became more and more entrenched, tensions rose higher and higher, and eventually cause one of the most famous Greek conflicts, the Peloponnesian War. The pattern of this conflict, and the parallels that can be drawn to the dynamics of the Cold War are striking. The time between the Peloponnesian War, and the Cold War was over two thousand years, yet the mechanics of international relations don't seem to have changed much. Has the human race actually learned from its experience, or is it bound to repeat these patterns constantly. What conclusions could be drawn from this? Not every alliance is doomed to follow this course. The main issue with both of these scenarios is that the two main members had completely different ideologies. Sparta was a militaristic dictatorship, whereas Athens, was a trade-based democracy. The two had fundamental differences in values and as soon as the Persian threat had been eliminated, these came to the forefront and boiled over into conflict. Similarly, the USA and the Soviet Union were incompatible ideologically and so once Nazi Germany had been dealt with, they became suspiscious of each others intentions and the result was the Cold War. The lesson here is that the only reliable alliances are formed between nations that have similar foundations in terms of values, traditions and beliefs. NATO has become one of the strongest alliances in the world and most of the countries while having differences, agree on the fundamental value of freedom, democracy and peace.
Alexander SelingPublished 16 days ago in The Swamp
The Difference Between American and Japanese Perception of Nuclear Power
On August, 6, 1945, at 8:15 am the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima killing 140,000 people. This was the spark that started the Cold War. While most people, when learning about Hiroshima, go straight to the obvious effects of this tragic event and they ignore an impact, a long-lasting cultural impact that still resonates to this day.
Caleb CenderelliPublished 17 days ago in The Swamp
