One World

Today I wanted to take time from around the world to touch on something closer to home.

On Nov. 5, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a psychiatrist who was going to be sent to the combat zone in Afghanistan. Before he could be deployed, he chose to take a gun, kill 13 and wound at least 28 people at the army base in Fort Hood, Texas. Investigators said he would ignore some while firing many times on others. It is unknown at this time as to why he chose to hurt the people he did. All but one person he murdered were soldiers. Investigators said he fired more than 100 rounds.

Friends, family and neighbors said Hasan was giving away his belongings, saying “I’m not going to need them.” They thought perhaps that it had more to do with the fact he was being deployed; they never once suspected that it was because he planned to die.

Fort Hood is no stranger to violence. Soldiers have returned and committed suicide or murdered others — such as Sgt. Gilberto Mota who killed himself and his wife or Staff Sgt. Justin Lee Garza who committed suicide. However, this mass shooting is considered the worst the army base has faced.

When Hasan began shooting, the soldiers locked the doors that led to their family and friends in hopes to protect them from him. Many hid under tables and did their best to remain still. When police began to arrive on the scene, Hasan was seen running out of the building, chasing after a wounded soldier and attempting to kill him. Sgt. Kimberly Munley managed to get close enough to Hasan to gun him down. She was injured in the process but is said to be recovering.

Events like this are tragic and I often have a hard time wrapping my brain around them. It makes one remember how valuable life is and how much of a risk these soldiers are taking in trying to protect us. It is very easy to take their hard work and our freedom for granted. Last month held Veterans Day and although we used the day to remember soldiers everywhere I hope we can keep the memories even after the holiday.

As we enter winter break, do not forget to remember the soldiers who have fought for you to be able to stay home with your family in peace. President Barack Obama plans to be sending over 30,000 more soldiers to the Middle East. We should not ignore what is happening simply because it is occurring on the other side of the world and not in our back yard.

How a country famous for their culinary expertise can allow an American-based fast food restaurant take over may be surprising, but it’s sadly true.

McDonald’s announced earlier this week they are planning to open a restaurant inside the famous Carrousel du Louvre of Paris. The idea of French art and culture mixed with American fast-food seems a bit appalling. Yet, as shown in the company’s data, France is their top market outside the U.S. In, fact the location on the famous Champs-Elysees Avenue is the most profitable in the world. This begs the questions as to the affects of U.S.-driven globalization and the homogenization of cultures.

Certainly it is unavoidable for countries to be involved in each other’s lives. The Obama administration recently has been involving itself more in the current crisis in Guinea: On Sept. 28, thousands of citizens went to the Stade du 28 Septembre — the stadium named after Sept. 28, 1958, when Guineans declared independence — gathered in protest of Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara’s ruling. Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara took over last December through a bloody coup. The military went into the stadium and fired into the crowd, resulting in as many as 157 people’s deaths. Many women were raped by the soldiers as well. As Hillary Clinton said, “It was criminality of the greatest degree.” Although the U.S.’ involvement has not had much impact since their influence is rather limited in that area of Africa, the effort is not without merit.

With all this in mind, what can be defined as positive influence and what is negative?

To put all the blame on the McDonald’s Corp. would be wrong. There are other fast food chains or stores, such as Starbucks and Wal-Mart, that have branched out into other countries. These countries do welcome these corporations as evidenced by their permitting these businesses in their country. The question is, should capitalistic corporations be immersing themselves into other countries at risk of influencing their culture? We could argue the same thing with the military. Should capitalistic governments immerse themselves in the affairs of other countries?
It probably is not the best idea for American businesses to set up shop in foreign countries at the expense of the country’s culture. When they do so they run the risk of homogenization of cultures. The blending may result in a loss of what makes each culture uniquely different. If we lose the things that make the culture special we begin to lose the culture. The same problems can occur when different countries begin to immerse themselves into another country’s affairs.

Although in the example of Guinea, the U.S. has not had much impact, there still is the risk that the longer they stay the more they begin to influence the country. The blood should stop spilling with the new aide, but there are risks that if involved Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara could become angry and start fighting a new battle in which the people are caught between.

The questions of moral obligations, whether it is to protect human lives and democracy such as in Guinea or to preserve and help the economy as in with the corporations, is difficult to answer. There are always risks of the interferences causing conflicts.

Beijing is the capital of the People’s Republic of China and a large city full of opportunities for their youth. The city plays a vital role in China’s history and to this day continues to be a center of China’s art and culture.

Plant biology sophomore Yi Liu has her roots in Beijing. Although she is not a stranger to studying abroad, given her year spent in Finland, her college years are the first that she has studied in the United States.

Like most people from China, Liu is an only child. Chinese governmental policies regulate the number of children a couple may have expressing a preference of a limit of one child per family.

“There was a girl in my class that had a brother,” Liu explained. “We were all like ‘Oh my God, you have a brother? Can we see him?’ and we all went over to her house to see.”

The one-child-per-family policy does allow exceptions. Overall, it depends on the parents. If two only children get married, they are allowed to have two kids, while if the man has a brother and the wife is an only child the couple is allowed only one child.

As most children do not have siblings, they develop a close bond to their cousins, often considering them surrogate siblings. If an only child has two male cousins and one female cousin, they would say “I have two brothers and one sister.”

China’s government consists of several parties, with one of them overseeing the others as well as the country. Although there is an election to determine who holds that position in the party, the citizens of China cannot vote, only the other members of the party determine the results. The basis of the government was modeled from Russia.

“The government doesn’t allow you to not like them,” Liu said.

The regulations for the school system is also strictly organized by the party in power. It is structured in a way for the youth of China to get the most of their education. But if Liu had to choose between studying at the universities in China or studying at MSU, she’d choose MSU.

“Here people want to learn. (In China), many stop studying once they reach the universities because the pressure is less,” Liu said.

The pressure on the youth in China is high until the students reach college level. Students will study subjects such as physics and chemistry by middle school and are well on their way with the English language by the age of 9. Calculators are not used for math — everything is memorized. Students are expected to arrive an hour early for school to practice their problems as well as stay up late studying. It is not rare to have so much homework that a student is up past midnight studying.

“When (teachers) know you have three days for a weekend, they give more homework. It’s worse in the summer,” Liu said.

In the classroom, teachers move from room to room while the students stay in one room. A typical classroom size consists of around 40 students. The teachers are able to come up with problems quickly and the students are expected to answer just as quickly. All exams are timed and it is understood before starting that the student will not have enough time to finish. This is often why students work on memorizing tricks and answers prior to exams to make it easier.

“Here the teachers and students are sort of equal. (In China), the teachers are above the students,” Liu said. “You must respect them and they are always right. In Finland a teacher said ‘thank you’ when I turned in my homework and I was surprised. They don’t do that in China.”

In middle school everyone has the same classes that consist of a lot of science, math and the English language. When in high school students are allowed to choose if they want to continue studying science or study more art. After this choice, the classes are structured accordingly. Continuing with science and math is usually the popular way to proceed. Liu said the majority of Chinese international students at MSU are going into economy and finance and said she is considered odd for pursuing biology.

“I just think my mind is more for biology,” Liu explained.

When students do have free time, on those rare occasions, Liu said the popular thing to do is “KTV,” or karaoke. Besides karaoke, girls go shopping and guys like to play basketball, just as they do here in the U.S. However, the main focus is always school.

“Teachers used to say even if you stop, others keep going forward so you are going backwards,” Liu said.

Students don’t work and study, their job is to be a student. There are those who also participate in sports teams, such as soccer and basketball, but not football. These students have fuller, busier schedules than others.

Liu hopes to return to China after graduation to help work with the environment. In the meantime she is enjoying her time at MSU.

“You can do anything here,” Liu said with a smile.

Sept. 16 is a day of great importance and history for Mexico. On this day, 199 years ago, Mexico declared its fight for independence from Spain. While most of us believe that the famous Cinco de Mayo marks the independence day, it actually marks the celebration of a famous battle against the French.

Mexico has a separate day to commemorate the long battle for freedom that roots as far back as the famous Hernán Cortés coming to shore of Tenochtitlán and demanding to be treated like a king by the Emperor Moctezuma II. Despite the physical and mental torture they faced, the people of Mexico survived to create the federal constitutional republic it is today.

Rather than naming their independence day “The 16th of September” like we call our independence day here in the U.S., Mexico refers to this day as “El Grito de Dolores,” which translates to “the cry of Dolores.” The name derives from the cry given by Miguel Hidalgo, a priest from the small town of Dolores, on the balcony of Parish of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores. This cry is known as the battle cry of the revolution.

Hidalgo and 10 others became frustrated with the way the people of Mexico were being treated and decided to plan a revolt. Unfortunately, they were betrayed. This, however, did not stop Hidalgo from declaring war on the Spaniards. Just before midnight, Hidalgo ordered the bells of the church to be rung and his congregation to gather in the plaza. Upon a balcony he cried “Long live our Lady of Guadalupe! Death to bad government and death to the Spaniards!” Hidalgo and his followers went to the streets in open revolt the following day.

Hidalgo went on to lead the start of the revolution until his capture and execution. José Morelos, a fellow priest to Hidalgo, took over as the revolutionary leader in the Mexican Independence movement. In his first nine months he won 22 battles and captured almost all of the state of Guerrero. However, he soon fell to the same fate as Hidalgo.

Vicente Gurrero was the next in line to take command of the troops. Unlike Hidalgo and Morelos, Gurrero succeeded in overthrowing the Spaniards in 1824. Now that Mexico was free of Spain they had to decide on a type of government. At first the ideas of making Mexico a complete monarchy of its own sounded like a good idea. However, when the new proclaimed emperor, Agustín de Iturbide, began to favor the wealthy, Gurrero overthrew him. After more arguing and problems Gurrero took over and changed the country to be a federal constitutional republic and became the first president of the United States of Mexico.

Now the people of Mexico recognize the events with the re-enactment of the cry in plazas across the country. The current president of the country re-enacts it on the independence celebration that lands on his final year in office. This is often followed by a parade.

If you thought you heard some cries in the night, you most certainly did.

Here at MSU, student groups such as Culturas de la Razas Unidas and MEXA are incorporating El Grito into their La Semana Latina, or their Latino Welcome Week. The rock on Farm Lane is painted with the Mexican flag for today’s celebration and at midnight the student organizations raised the flag and did the traditional Grito cry.

Wednesday night they will be hosting an El Cine del Poder: Film Viewing and Discussion, in the G-8 Room of Holden Hall at 7 p.m. Friday will finish their week off with Latino Greek Showcase at the Kedzie Courtyard at 7 p.m.