Week 8 - Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age

This chapter helped me see that this economic boom in Latin America didn't really help many Latin Americans and was only exploited by the rich. This brought many revolutions, chaos, and blood during the boom and after the boom started to slow down. Much land was illegally taken from their owners by Porfirio Diaz's government and used to help build the infrastructure in Mexico and bring "modernization" to the state. This is one of the reasons why the Mexican revolution began and brought out figures like Emiliano Zapata, who inspired the Zapatismo movement. Zapata's slogan "Tierra y Libertad", which means Land and Liberty, is still widely used by the Zapatistas in their socialist views of regaining lands taken away by the Mexican government and achieve a greater democracy and social and economic benefits for the indigenous people. This reminds me of all the conflicts and issues that are present in North America with the indigenous people and North American governments. Although, these governments do try to give benefits to the groups that have been affected by colonization, they are still far away from resolving the issues revolving land. There is merit to the ideology that the land belongs to the first nations of North America but it is far from ideal to give these lands back. It will greatly affect the economy and will bring many issues! Who do we specifically give the land to? Who do we take land from? Should land owners who had nothing to do with colonization lose their property where in most cases was bought or gained in other ways? These are the same problems that would arise in Mexico or Latin America in general.

It was also interesting to read and learn in detail about Argentine's immigrant population growth, which was fueled by the 'modernity' race, and how it affected society and the revolutions within the country. It surprised me to find that many Argentine natives did to see immigrants in a good light. Even though this was due to a cleansing of ethnicity, these European immigrants were seen as alien who "spoke foreign tongues, ate alien food, did not celebrate the national traditions or owe any loyalty to Argentina". These immigrants did not have the right to vote but they largely formed the labour force in Buenos Aires. After World War One brought high commodity prices and lower wages, these middle class labourers went on strike and caused a great unrest in Buenos Aires. Many died and the strikes created strong right-winged groups which helped create a conservative movement in the country which put equality and human rights aside for capitalism and a hierarchical society.