Occupy protests’ ripples reach Harvard

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5aae33bc-069b-11e1-8a16-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1d1nl5qVh

By Shannon Bond in New York

Greg Mankiw had noticed for some years that the students taking his economics class at Harvard University seemed overly concerned about preparing for their careers. This week, things appeared to change.

On Wednesday, about 70 students walked out of Economics 10, the introductory class Professor Mankiw teaches, to protest at what they called a bias towards a destructive brand of free-market economics.

Prof Mankiw, who served as chairman of George W. Bush’s council of economic advisers and is an adviser to Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential contender, acknowledged that his résumé probably contributed to the decision to target his class, which at 700 students has the highest enrolment of any undergraduate course.“We found a course that espouses a specific – and limited – view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today,” they said in an open letter to him. “There is no justification for presenting Adam Smith’s economic theories as more fundamental or basic than, for example, Keynesian theory.”

The course, commonly knows as Ec 10, is a requirement for several undergraduate majors and carries a pedigree that is influential even by Harvard standards. Mr Mankiw’s predecessor was Martin Feldstein, who served as chief economic adviser to Ronald Reagan. Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and economics adviser to President Barack Obama, acted as a teaching fellow for the course in the 1970s.

The student protesters emphasised the course’s influence, writing: “Harvard graduates play major roles in the financial institutions and in shaping public policy around the world”.

Prof Mankiw told the Financial Times that while he disagreed with the protesters, he had “significant respect” for their activism. He said: “Over recent years, I’ve seen Harvard students becoming increasingly pre-professional. That they are sitting back and thinking broadly about social issues ... those are good questions for students to be asking, and to the extent that Occupy Wall Street sparks debate, that’s good.”

He joins a list of establishment figures targeted or caught in the crossfire around the Occupy Wall Street movement. Two clerics at St Paul’s Cathedral in London have resigned amid debate on evicting protesters from church land, while Jean Quan, the mayor of Oakland, California, is facing demands for a recall election over her handling of a local protest in which police have repeatedly used tear gas and rubber bullets against activists.

Prof Mankiw has written two widely used economics textbooks. In one, he called the idea that tax cuts pay for themselves “fad economics”, a position that raised eyebrows when he joined the Bush administration.

He said he taught “a mainstream economics course” without any political agenda. “I think most students appreciate that.”

By coincidence, the topic of Wednesday’s lecture was income inequality – one of the main complaints of the wide-ranging Occupy protest movement.

The Other Emancipation Proclamation - NYTimes.com

St. Petersburg, Russia, March 3, 1861

Four thousand miles from where President-elect Abraham Lincoln was counting down the final hours before his inauguration, the leader of a very different nation prepared for the most momentous day of his reign. Czar Alexander II rose before dawn and, dressed in his favorite cherry-red dressing gown, stood contemplatively by the window, watching the pale light grow in the square outside the Winter Palace. This morning he would set 23 million of his subjects free.

READ ON:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/the-other-emancipation-proclamation/

Danton movie discussion questions

1.      What do you make of the opening scene when Eleanore Duplay is teaching her brother to recite the keystone document of the Revolution, “The Rights of Man and Citizen”?

2.       In the central scene of the film, Danton and Robespierre meet in a hotel.  What do you think is the point of showing other guests who are then hounded out?

3.       What is the point of having Madame Desmoulins go everywhere with her infant in arms?  The Desmoulins are portrayed as being rather well off and probably had a servant or two to look after the baby.

4.       What does Robespierre’s speech at the Convention intend to show?

5.       What does the musical score add to the film?

6.       What do you think is the meaning of the final scene with Robespierre in bed?

7.       Some critiques claim that historical films reveal more about the period in which they were made than about the period they portray.  To what extent do you think this is true of Danton?

8.       However flawed it may be, what does Danton contribute to your understanding of the French Revolution?

Nationalism in 21st Century France

ARTS

‘Cultural Revolt’ Over Sarkozy’s Museum Plans

By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN

Published: March 8, 2011

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to open a history museum in Paris has stoked a debate over what it means to be French in a multicultural nation.  READ ON: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/arts/design/sarkozy-wants-his-history-museum-in-paris.html

Global Food Price Spike Adding to Civil Unrest, Some Say

A record high price in many food staples is pushing millions into poverty and contributing to unrest in countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said this week.

In January, global food prices hit their highest point in the 20 years since the United Nations first started tracking the cost of food. The spike in prices has pushed about 44 million people into extreme poverty since June, said Zoellick, speaking prior to a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in Paris Feb. 18-19.

READ ON: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/02/food-prices-spike.html

Demography is destiny

Why the world’s youth is in a revolting state of mind

By Martin Wolf

In Tunisia and Egypt, the young are rebelling against old rulers. In Britain, they are in revolt against tuition fees. What do these young people have in common? They are suffering, albeit in different ways, from what David Willetts, the UK government’s minister of higher education, called the “pinch” in a book published last year.

In some countries, the challenge is an excess of young people; in others, it is that the young are too few. But where the young outnumber the old, they can hope to secure a better fate through the ballot box. Where the old outnumber the young, they can use the ballot box to their advantage, instead. In both cases, powerful destabilising forces are at work, bringing opportunity to some and disappointment to others.

READ ON: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6577ca92-3b94-11e0-a96d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1F4u5wIqY

More's Utopia in Mexico

In 2006, while vacationing in Patzcuaro, a small town in Michoacan Mexico, I took this photo of a magnificent and intriguing mural in the town library. It was painted in 1942 by Juan O'Gorman and depicts some of the town's history and mythology regarding the conquistadores.

The priest in the center is a local hero, Father Vasco de Quiroga, a follower of Thomas More's Utopia, as you can clearly see. I was reminded of the mural while reading Chapter 14. Why do you think Thomas More's book is so prominent in the mural?

You can find a fascinating description of the mural on the web (follow the link), including an explanation of the mural's evident ambivalence towards the Conquest.

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1243-did-you-know-the-centenary-of-the-birth-of-artist-juan-o-gorman

Here's a brief excerpt:

"From the right, the Spaniards arrive, led by the allegedly barbarically cruel Nuño Beltran de Guzmán. They attempt to destroy the Purepecha culture, but it survives in a "mummified" form. The native American princess Erendira, the first Indian woman to ride a horse, breaks the siege of Pátzcuaro and rides for help from people living in nearby settlements and on the islands. A feminine Paul Revere! But her efforts are in vain and the Purepecha are tricked into surrender.

Elsewhere, scenes suggest the good and the bad sides of the Conquest. Overlooking the Spanish Inquisition, and a bonfire of Indian idols and codices, is a surrealist figure of a grotesque hand-with-eyes, symbolizing an empty head, a brain that doesn't think, an intelligence without control, an invasion.

The good is shown by several priests who brought education and crafts. They include, in a white tunic and red cloak, the first Bishop of Michoacán, Vasco de Quiroga, who had been influenced by the Utopian ideas of Thomas More. Vasco de Quiroga introduced large fishing nets and encouraged many crafts.

Careful study of the faces of those accompanying the invading Spanish forces will reveal portraits of Mussolini and Hitler. The Conquistadores, Fascists and Nazis are all considered equals..."

Read the rest: http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1243-did-you-know-the-centenary-of-the-birth-of-artist-juan-o-gorman

An Assassination’s Long Shadow

TODAY, millions of people on another continent are observing the 50th anniversary of an event few Americans remember, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.  READ ON:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17hochschild.html