2014 Nobel Peace Prize

Kailash Satyarthi and 17-year-old Malala Yousafzay have won this year's Nobel Peace Prize "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."

A parent's wish

Merry Xmas & a Happy 2014

2014 happy new year from Laurent Bouty

Though "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was originally written to protest the Vietnam War, it is known less as an anti-war song than what it has evolved into, which is one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time. 

The song was recorded just before Christmas in 1971, but its genesis can be traced to late 1969, when John and Yoko spearheaded an international campaign to protest the hugely unpopular Vietnam War. John and Yoko rented billboards and distributed posters in major cities across the globe, including Amsterdam, Athens, London, New York, and Tokyo. The billboards read, "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It), Happy Christmas from John and Yoko." 

http://youtu.be/Udc717AcSbo

Connectors/Linkers: Reason, Result, Contrast and Purpose

Connectors chart

Funny view of social media

Apart from finding a different viewpoint on the matter, what could we learn from those cartoon jokes?

First They Came...

 Image from Wikimedia Commons

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–  because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out– because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out– because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me– and there was no one left to speak out for me.
—Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1945

Martin Niemöller (pronounced Nee-mū-ler), born in 1892, served in the German navy as a U-boat commander during World War I. He was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1924 and showed early enthusiasm for Adolf Hitler’s ideas for the rebuilding of the German nation. However, once Hitler came to power in 1933, Niemöller quickly became a critic of the Nazi leader’s militant and anti-Semitic actions and his attacks on the Protestant churches in Germany.

Niemöller, along with other like-minded religious leaders—most famously Dietrich Bonhoeffer—formed a resistance movement called the Confessional Church. These leaders preached against Hitler and Nazism in the mid and late 1930s as WWII loomed. Hitler, seeking to silence any opposition, ordered the leaders of the Confessional Church arrested and sent to concentration camps. Niemöller was arrested in 1937 by Nazi authorities and sent first to Sachsenhausen and then to Dachau concentration camp. He stayed imprisoned until he was liberated by the Allies in the spring of 1945.

1. Who are “they” that Niemöller writes about, as in, “first they came for…”?

2. What does it mean when he says, “came for”? What do you think happens to the people that "they" come for in the poem?

3. What other groups did the Nazis “come for” before and during WWII?

4. What does he mean by, “I didn’t speak up”?

5. Why do you think Reverand Niemöller did not speak out to protect the people in the poem?

6. What do you think Niemöller’s purpose was for writing and speaking these lines throughout his life after the war?

Adapted from: 

http://www.nationalww2museum.org/education/for-teachers/lesson-plans/personal-responsibility.pdf

Another Link: http://bettysenglish2.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/first-they-came.html

Nelson Mandela

Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.

No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Lots of links from michellehenry:

http://www.henry4school.fr/History/mandela.htm