Why Argentina celebrates May 25

May 25th is an important date in the history of Argentina. Before getti ng into this straight way let me give you a brief history about Argentina. South America was a huge attraction for the colonisers in Europe especially for the Spanish. It all started in the year 1526,Sebastin Cabot visited La Plata to make astronomical observations but somehow he lost his way and started to look into the rich resources in the country. His main objective which is to observe astranomy was overshadowed by his curiousity to learn about the country’s wealth, any human being would be tempted to be so and Cabot was not an exception. Having learnt about the the valuble resources in South America, many Spaniards decided to march towards this part of the world to explore. As a result of this, tiny colonial headquarters were formed but could not sustain long due to the internal pressures within the country. Other countries too started speculating about South American nations but Spain was determined enough to fight back for this newly found land. In 1534, Pedro de Mendoza organized an expedition and arrived at La Plata. He did try to lay a strong foundation of a Spanish Settlement in Bueno Aires in 1536 but could not hold upto the indigenious pressure and eventually suffered a great loss. Many like him tried to build a headquarters in the South America so that it would be of real help for the Spaniards but failed terribly in their attempts. Their fully fledged plans could not be executed the way they wanted it to be and the spanish empire’s attempt to capture these American nations saw a huge set back. It was only during the year 1580, the spaniards defeated the Indians. Sooner,many colonial headquarters were formed and Spanish rule was also imposed upon these people. Argentina along with other neighbouring nations like Paraguay suffered the imperial rule and was having tough times during the spanish regime. They were controlled by the viceroyalty of the Rio de la plata. This system of vice royalty was headed by Balstar Hidalgo de Cisneros. In May of 1810, things started to change in Argentina when a news reached Buenos Aires that the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII had been deposed by Napolean Bonaparte. Following this news, the government in Argentina had to face a lot of problems like unrest in Buenos Aires. When the main centre was attacked the other centres supported by the main centre was left without anything, like a ship let loose without an helmsman.

Using this oppurtinity local revolutionary parties tried to overthrow the imperial rule from their country but at the same time they were aware of the fact that every action they make will be closely monitored by the Spanish centres in Argentina so they made sure that even the slightest of their moves should not reveal anything that may affect the plan.

Amidst all these chaos in Argentina, the ruling government was forced to take some crucial decsions to prevent any further problems in Argentina. To change the whole scenario, a secret meeting was organised and it was also decided that people would request a public town meeting with Cisneros and this town meeting would later come to be called the Cabildo Abierto. On May 20, Cisneros met with the leaders of the Spanish military forces to discuss the issue but the military forces neatly clarified that they would not support him but encouraged to go ahead with the town meeting. The meeting was first held on May 22 and by May 24, a provisional ruling Junta which include Cisneros, Creole leader Juan Jose Castelli and commander Corneilo Saavedra was created.

May 25
The citizens of Buenos Aires did not want former Viceroy Cisneros to continue because was invlaid sine King Ferdinand, who had appointed the Vice royalty was not currently in power, so the original junta had to be disbanded and another Junta was created with other new members like Dr. Mariano Moreno. May 25 is the date celebrated in Argentina as the Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo or “May revolution day”. The May revolution actually started the process of independence for Argentina.On July 9, 1816 Argentina formally declared independence from Spain. Events in the week leading to the May 25th are celebrated as May week, Argentines celebrate their national holiday by abstaining from work. It is truly a huge week for Argentines.

DARK SIDE OF LEBANON

Lebanon for many is a beautiful country and it is indeed but all are not aware of the crisis it is facing. Lebanese history had some bright unoque features. It started off well for lebanon but unfortuantely it had to face the decline path. The country is located on the eastern side of the Mediterrean Sea, in the Middle East. It is a very small country spread nicely by beautiful valleys mountains and set widely with lush greenary, the country is a paradise. It is bordered by Syria in the North and East, by Israel in the South and the Mediterranean sea in the West. Adding value to the country is their culture and more importantly the mesmerizing beauty of the lebanese people. During the Stone age the inhabitants of this country like all the stone age people took shelter in the caves and the discovery of fire made them more independent.
The people living along the coast of Lebanon called themselves Cannaanites, others though identified them as Phoenicians. These people started one of the vital part in any society-trading, with middle east countries.The trading relation between Egypt is said to be a crucial one in their development path because the relation with this country was successful than any other. Phoenicians used boats to travel to Egypt which carried Pine, wood and Olive oil and in return they received gold, linen, ropes and grains. The trade between Egypt alone was not essential but also with Spain, Africa and Iraq made Phoenicians villages to grow as big cities.

Invaders

The cities of this country were prosporous until the colonisers arrived. Imperialism was a major threat for humanity even before 5000 years. East is always the centre of attraction for the West because of its rich resources. The Romans conquered the Phonecians somewhere during 64 BC. It is a naked truth that Romans were always good in architecture and to prove that they started in the process of beautification by erecting huge temples, arenas,theatres and porticos. For the Roman Empire the City of Beryte now Beirut, became the power centre.

Birth of Jesus Christ

The birth of Jesus Christ did make a difference in these countries.Most of the Phoenicians became Christians but still Christianity was not recognized by the Empire. The split in the Roman again created an impact in the nation’s politics.

The Entry of Islam

Islam from Mecca reached the country and started to spread and by the time Christians realized that there is a immediate danger for their religion there came a war which eventually saw the victory of the Islamic Empire. Lebanon became a major part of Islamic terriotory and Arabic was made as the official language.

The Ottoman Empire

Around 1300, a Turk of Mongol founded the Ottoman Empire and invaded Lebanese and Syrian territories. Since then Lebanon was part of the Turkish Empire until France administered the League of Nations and declared independence for Lebanon in 1941.

Lebanon in the 20th Century

Diversity of Religion in Lebanon is one of the main cause of worry for the governments.Culprits use this oppurtunity to spoil the unity of the Lebanese people. It is a country which reserves members based on their religion. Civil war had disturbed the peace of this nation.The President appoints a prime ministers and other cabinet members. The President must be a Catholic Christian , the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the speaker should be a Shi’a Muslim. This is how the Constitution of Lebanon is desihgned.
Business in Lebanon was thriving until the external forces devastated it completely.After the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the country lost peace and there were only problems and sufferings all over. The Headquarters in Lebanon of this organization paved way to Israeli invasions while the country was also suffering with some internal problems. Civil war in Lebanon started in the year 1975 and lasted till 1990. This war had one of the deadliest effect on the people of Lebanon claiming more than 150,000 lives. This war saw a huge set back in the nation’s economic progress. Ceasefire was agreed in 1976 only for a shorter period just because of the intervention of UN. The incidents which followed after were even more worse, the assasination of Bachir Gemayel witnessed huge political imbalance in the country.Israel invaded Lebanon time after time because they felt the danger of PLO guerrilas. During the year 1983, United States of America organised talks between Israel and Lebanon and to ensure the withdrawal of foreighn troops from the country. Israel refused to pull its forces from the South while Syria left more than 40,000 troops in the Northern Lebanon. Hostages were also held and during 1989, Arab League intervened and an agreement also was signed by the key parties to end the civil war.In 1990 hostages were released by Pro-Iranian group in Lebanon. Though there are lot of problems exists in the country still there is hope among the people that all the problems will end in this region forever. Huge Migration also happened during these years and a estimated three million people migrated to United States of America, many left Lebanon in the early 70’s itself. Now Syrian army withdrew the troops from Lebanon in 2005 after 30 years stay. Palestinians are still living in the camps of Lebanon. Israeli troops left Lebanon in the year 2000.There is still problems with these countries for Lebanon, and because of poverty and unemployment people involved themselves in sexual businesses. Many were forced to leave the country because of the damaged economy.
The Current Scenario in Lebanon is far better, it is defenitely not dark. Lebanese began their writing and writers like Khalil Gibran are a huge inspiration for the younger generations.Another name that has received world wide recognition in literature is Karim El-Koussa. Alexandre Najjar has produced number of poems, historical novels and narratives. Mikhail Naimy is also one of the popular writers in Lebanon. Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet has been translated into more than twent languages and have also huge recognition. Elias Khoury and Amin Maalouf have also achieved international success in literature.
Lebanese indulged themselves in Music, artists like Fairuz and Haifa have taken Lebanese music to a different level. Nancy Ajram,Marcel Khalife, Najwa Karam and Fadl Shaker have helped the music industry of Lebanon to see different boundaries.There are not enough movies made though, but the few movies they have made proves their Potential. Recently Caramel, a lebanese movie recieved critical acclaimation and i watched that movie it was too good. After Shave which received many awards also proved to be a succesful project around the world. Lebanon’s development in economy is also visible despite it’s problems with neighbouring countries. The Darkest side of Lebanon is over now, now it is still having its problems but hopefully let this beautiful nation sees some change atleast in this century.

Understanding Orientalism

The term Orient was framed by political forces that brought the orient into Western learning, Western Consciousness and Western empire. What does the term Orientalism actually mean?,many may wonder Orientalism is the study of the[ non-western ]eastern societies, cultures and even about mannerisms in the east. West’s colonial aspirations was fuelled by Orientalism. It is not a modern concept as it is around us as more than thousands years. Colonialism started to peep only when westerners started to have a look into Oriental philosophy, literature, art, architecture, language, culture,people and religion. The first Orientalists were 19th century scholars who translated the writings of the Orient and from then on Orientalist Scholars began their research in everything from literature to paintings, it became the object of study for the westerners. They began to see Asian men as weak and feminine but still dangerous for the white western women.

Orientalism was seen as a backward place and East was considered as a place irrationality.The west declared east -[Orient] as ignorant and dark,and they justified their actions by claiming that colonial expedition was needed to enlighten the east. These hungry westerners did not stop there but went on to claim oriental philosophy,art ,literature etc as their own and started to use it. Orientalism is synonymous with modern Chinese films, the Hindu religion,the Islamic culture and Japanese arts. East is referred as Orient whereas West is called Occident. West was seen as the dominant force and it referred to masculinity whereas the east was seen as a weak submissive force. Edward Said’s book Orientalism is one of the most important books for Post-colonial studies.Edward said questions the oriental thinking .

"My contention is that Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed over the Orient because the Orient was weaker than the West, which elided the Orient’s difference with its weakness. . . . As a cultural apparatus Orientalism is all aggression, activity, judgment, will-to-truth, and knowledge" (Orientalism, p. 204).
Said also wrote:
"My whole point about this system is not that it is a misrepresentation of some Oriental essence — in which I do not for a moment believe — but that it operates as representations usually do, for a purpose, according to a tendency, in a specific historical, intellectual, and even economic setting" (p. 273).

Orientalism is seen as a seperate and passive force,which displays feminine penetrability and supine malleability, to put this in simple words it means that Orientalism is a weak force that can be easily controlled. For instance the contemporary image of China, India and Japan in the eyes of the west is different but they use eastern arts and architecture.M.Buttrerfly a play written by David Henry Hwang has a lot of oriental stereotypes and later it was made into a movie. Rene Gillard is a civil servant who works for French embassy in China falls in love with a beautiful Chinese opera diva, Song Liling who is actually a man masquearding as a woman because in traditional Beijing opera females were banned from the stage. And then he later finds out that she is not a woman only in France. The streotyped image is present that Feminine east is weak whereas Masculine west is strong. Lots of assumptions can be made like Is Gillard a gay? What attracted him to Rene. East is seens always seen as a submissive element, West on the other hand was active and strong.

Provenance

How a creative writer finds his sources? How these fantasy writers are able to write hundreds of pages and how they are able to bring everything in coherence is the biggest question of all. To become a writer one has to determined enough to create something new and that determination is what is essential to become a writer. There cannot be anything without an origin and for a creative writer his conscious or even unconscious thoughts for that matter are the source. Sigmund Freud one of the noted psychoanalysts found this and had given it in his essay Creative Writers and Day-dreaming.

I hope people all are well aware of Sigmund Freud. He is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and defence mechanism of repression. He used the power of sub-conscious mind to treat the worries of patients. He gave new dimensions to sexual desires and is also known for his interpretation of dreams and he believed in the fact that dreams gives an insight of the unconscious desires. And more importantly he is also known for his Id, ego and Super ego a model which he used to divide human psyche.

Creative Writers and Day-dreaming is an essay which was published in the year 1908, which insists on one important element of -how a writer derives his source. He begins the essay stating that if someone asks a creative writer about the sources which helped him to finish his work Freud says for a writer to answer this question would be the toughest job.
..if we ask him, the writer himself gives us no explanation, or none that is satisfactory;

Freud in this essay have mentioned about childhood desires as the main reason for an ordinary person to become a creative writer. Children love to play and while they are playing they use their dreams to take a major effect in their play. He feels those are the first traces of imaginative activity. Children live in their own fantasy world with imaginative characters and that is the main reason why children are easily attracted to cartoons and other fantasy movies. They do not take up their real life seriously instead they take their play so serious.It is not that adults do not like to fantasize but are scared to do it because or rather ashamed.Wishes is what that determine our dreams and those unwished dreams make a person to build his world of fantasy. Freud says our dreams are nothing but our fantasies but he is not sure about that relation between these two though. Everyone dreams which means every single human being has desires and there are dreams which we are ashamed of but somehow we try to conceal that and pretend as if nothing has happened.These repressed wishes consequently moves back to our unconsious. Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams gives us a detailed knowledge about dreams. In the final part of the Creative Writers and Day-dreaming, Freud goes on to explain how these writers are egoistic by nature and their intention is potrayed in the work of art they create.

Life is a gift full of surprises

Birth is life, death is pain!

time decides everything

and everything is inevitable.

Life is given to you
do not harm others
show love and make love
peace will reach you.

Do not try to harm others.
Eternity is there,
enrich your soul with ecstasy
and bind yourself with joy!

Life is a gift full of surprises
Birth is life, death is pain!
time decides everything
and everything is inevitable.