Philippine and South African Revolutions
Karima Burns Revolution Paper
Reading about the Philippine and South African revolutions in 1989 Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War’s End gave me a lot of insight that I hadn’t had previously. There were some key similarities that I’m going to examine. Including the dictator regime’s they were revolting against, the unique organizations that helped them to be successful, and how one was peaceful in a way that the other one truly was not. Though I think it is important to mention that I believe that South Africa’s revolution was unlike any other during this time and I will give my reasons for believing so.
From 1917 until 1989 the Philippines was under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. They had been a U.S colony until 1946 and America still had an immense amount of influence over the country and its leaders. Marcos had been the President since 1965, due to conflict between communist and the government he ended their established congress and put many of their politicians in prison. Amongst them was Senator Benigo Aquino, who would later serve as a very important symbol that helped to drive the revolution due to his assassination while trying to acquire democracy in the Philippines. There was so much tension between the government and the people that it would seem like it was only a matter of time before it became violent. It was because of the Catholic Church, Aquino’s widow Corazon, and lastly and equally important was the JAJA (Justice for Aquino, Justice for All) that it didn’t. Cardinal Jamie Sin was described in Padraic Kenney’s 1989 Democratic Revolutions as one of Pope John Paul the second’s closest allies, which without a doubt made him a very influential man. It was odd that he took such a strong stance on voting in the election that Marcos agreed to have. He went as far as to tell the people of the Philippines that it was just a political act that it was important to them as Christians to vote because it would be helping to make peace
Reading about the Philippine and South African revolutions in 1989 Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War’s End gave me a lot of insight that I hadn’t had previously. There were some key similarities that I’m going to examine. Including the dictator regime’s they were revolting against, the unique organizations that helped them to be successful, and how one was peaceful in a way that the other one truly was not. Though I think it is important to mention that I believe that South Africa’s revolution was unlike any other during this time and I will give my reasons for believing so.
From 1917 until 1989 the Philippines was under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. They had been a U.S colony until 1946 and America still had an immense amount of influence over the country and its leaders. Marcos had been the President since 1965, due to conflict between communist and the government he ended their established congress and put many of their politicians in prison. Amongst them was Senator Benigo Aquino, who would later serve as a very important symbol that helped to drive the revolution due to his assassination while trying to acquire democracy in the Philippines. There was so much tension between the government and the people that it would seem like it was only a matter of time before it became violent. It was because of the Catholic Church, Aquino’s widow Corazon, and lastly and equally important was the JAJA (Justice for Aquino, Justice for All) that it didn’t. Cardinal Jamie Sin was described in Padraic Kenney’s 1989 Democratic Revolutions as one of Pope John Paul the second’s closest allies, which without a doubt made him a very influential man. It was odd that he took such a strong stance on voting in the election that Marcos agreed to have. He went as far as to tell the people of the Philippines that it was just a political act that it was important to them as Christians to vote because it would be helping to make peace