liberation ideologies
"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed... There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair... Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured... Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself." These were the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as seen in his letter entitled Civil Disobedience in Defense of God-Given Rights, in which he argues the need for the American nation to live up to the ideal it professes but "imperfectly realizes" (Cohen 652). His letter was written in hope of provoking moral reflection and legal reform within the nation. It was a plea for liberation, utilizing deliberate self-sacrifice as a means to provoke such a change. However, Dr. King's example of an ideology based on liberation is only one of many. Fascism, Nationa
So where does the future of politics lie? I believe it lies in the next step in the evolution of our society. If I were to make a prediction of where our society was heading in my future, I would say that it is not towards anyone political ideology which we have studied. Rather, it is towards a global society, and the acceptance of our society as being comprised of social beings, and, to incorporate faith into the equation, the extinction of the capitalist dream of an accumulation of riches. By this I am not referring to a socialist, or Marxist political ideology, I am speaking of the next step in capitalism as being the evolution of capitalism to a global from, maybe that of a liberal socialism, which would disperse wealth to a global economy and yet not give way to total socialism, hence the extinction of capitalism. I believe that some form of our present liberal democracy, emphasizing the individual through the benefits and prosperity of capitalism, will remain as the engine of the new economy. With the idea that nationalism is based on a tradition of renewal, reform, and liberation, I would label it a politics of redemption. It has bound peoples and entire nations together under common call for change, or renewal to the positions, whether economic or political, which they believe they are entitled to. The objective factors have generally led nationalism throughout its history. And there is no room for compromise in objectivity. Just as nationalism is characterized by a demand for motivation, in the form of self-determination, liberation theology is characterized by a call or demand for action. Identified with the Catholic Church, especially in Latin America and other third world countries, liberation theology emphasizes social praxis of liberating countries such as Latin America from their economic dependency on the U.S. in hopes of modernizing it, and in turn, helping to avoid the increasing disparity. Its main doctrine holds that the church is a vital agency of history, molding historic conditions through praxis, or action. Its "correct action" is called orthopraxis, and it is the belief that the liberation should be enacted by the poor and that the church must be there to lead the revolutionary movement against capitalism. They seek to banish collective sin, the institutionalized exploitation of the poor by the upper class simply because they are the upper class, by working to "conscientize" the upper class, or in other words, making them conscious and aware personally, socially, and politically to the growing disparity. With no more in common than a desire for liberation and reform in a changing society, student radicalism in both America and France has affected both nations just as much as have the two forms of religious politics. Student rebellions in 1968, led by Tom Hayden and Daniel Cohn-Bendit in America, stressed the problem of specialization of education, which as Hayden stated, "leaves little room for sweeping thought." Yet the two student rebellions were not exactly alike, they differed in coherence with the contrast between the political cultures of the two countries. The differences are even apparent in their different slogans. American students yelled, "make love not war" and those in France yelled, "make love and revolution". The question in France was not whether to be a revolutionary, but rather, what kind of revolutionary one should be. France's tradition has characteristically been one of revolutions and major reforms, where America's tradition has been one of renewals. I believe that my faith plays an unquestionable role in all of this. In the years to come, I believe that Christianity will define the path of the future of our society. My belief is that in my life time the partnership of science and religion will be the least of amazing discoveries. I think that the Americas are heading for consolidation, so that North, Central, and South America will exist as on
Some common words found in the essay are:
Fascism Nationalism, American Dream, Roman Empire, Latin America, Feminine Mystique, Hugh Seton-Watson, Germany France, World Vision, Cohn-Bendit America, , objective factors, common desire, liberation theology, upper class, global society, future society, luther king, martin luther, martin luther king, social nature, objective factors led, student radicalism, dr martin luther, disobedience defense god-given, defense god-given rights,
Approximate Word count = 3649
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)
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