Political Struggle: Empowerment and Change Essay Example

some of the group members are not motivated enough to actively participate in the movement and work together towards a common goal(Schaeffer 177). This can really serve to diminish the activities of some of the group members. Another reason is where some of the members feel that other members are not making enough efforts to achieve the goals of the movement. This may further serve as a way to demoralize some members and as such inadequate efforts will be made. It is worth noting that diminishing activities among the members is a limiting factor towards the success of any social movement.

Additionally, a critical shift in goals or ideology of the social group will most probably lead to the demobilization of the group. As the movement recruit members, there is always a common goal in mind and the members are expected to work together to achieve that one common goal. However, along the way some of the members may feel the need to deviate from the set goals and turn to other goals(Schaeffer 203). This will in turn serve to divide the group between the those supporting the initial goals and those supporting the newly changed goals. These two groups cannot work as a single group and as such the movement will not reach far with these kinds of conflicts.

There are three different types of social movements as aforementioned and among these is the restrictionist movement. Restrictionist movements are the types of movements that are opposed to the idea of a democracy and social equality. These movements are known to carry out punitive actions against potential citizens by labeling them as threats to public health or

safety. Over the last century there have been various restrictionist groups some of which have dies but others still exist though try to keep a low profile. Examples of restrictionist movements include; immigrant restrictionists, anti-Semitism movements, and white supremacy movements.

Immigration has become a dominating issue in national debates especially in the developed countries. People are moving from their mother countries to the developed countries for different reasons ranging from economic crises, environmental disasters, political instability, religious intolerance, and search for good quality education, among others. While some people support the immigration of people and want the immigrants to stay, others are opposing not only illegal immigrants but also the legal ones. These opponents have formed anti-immigrant movements and they have shown more than just opposition to illegal immigration but also severe animosity to the legal immigrants. A good example is the United States where organizations like Center for Immigration Studies and Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) (Ioanide 198). These groups have manifested nativist tendencies which are dangerous, disgusting, and seriously misinformed. The anti-immigrant movements seem to be convinced that the influx of immigrants in the country would be very dangerous to the environment due to the myth and prejudice of “overpopulation.”

Another restrictionist movement was the movement championing for the white supremacy. A good example was the Ku Klux Klan otherwise known as KKK which believed that God intended the United States to be a nation of great English speaking race of whites with great ideas, one race, and one destiny (Wroe 24). Any other race including blacks, and immigrants from other nations like southern and eastern Europe, and Asia, or any other part without

ties to the Anglo-Saxon blood were believed to be inferior and had to be eradicated or deported for the purification of the supreme white race. Such vigilante groups formed and caused violence and committed murder against freed slaves and any other people who supported them. The Ku Klux Klan became the platform on which the southern resistance could oppose the implementation of Reconstruction-era policies establishing political and economic equality for the blacks by the Republican Party. They also denounced organized labor, immigrants, as well as Jews and Catholics.

In addition, racial anti-Semitism emerged centuries ago and served as a way to show animosity to Jews. Jews have been persecuted for a very long time even before the time of Hitler when they could have faced extinction if the World War II had not come to an end. Anti-Semitic publicists as well as commentators made efforts in order to defame the character of Eastern and native Jews and this provided a propaganda which promoted a legal ban on all Jewish Immigration (Wertheimer 31). Countries like Germany and Russia had been known for ages to promote prejudices and propaganda against the Jewish people. The Jews were considered unassimilable, abnormally twisted, and dangerous in their habits (Del 92). The restrictionist campaigns for anti-Semitism took place in three phases. The first phase was during the Imperial era, 1879 to 1881 and this is the first time when this restrictionist movement emerged. The second phase was the entire decade of the 1890’s and anti-Semitic parties in Reichstag were enjoying electoral and political success. The third phase was the years that immediately preceded the advent of the World War I. In Germany,

there were four new policies that were implemented by Bismarck towards the Jews and these were: the restriction of foreign Jews immigration, barring Jews from holding administrative positions, maintaining Christian character in schools, and renewing a religious census (Wertheimer 31).

Civil rights and women activism were among the social movements that dominated the era after the end of the World War II. However, these were not the only social movements that existed during this time. There were other movements such as anti-nuclear movement, the anti-eugenics movement, and organized labor movements.

The first nuclear weapon was evident after the bombing of the two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The catastrophic events that followed that action made a lot of people concerned. Seeing the effectiveness of the nuclear weapon in wiping the human race and causing other catastrophic events, members of the public became more concerned especially following the 1954 extensive nuclear testing in the Pacific. Women Strike of peace was formed as an anti-nuclear movement by approximately 50,000 women in 1961 and these women marched in various cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons (Moon 188). The Partial Test Ban Treaty was ratified by various countries in 1963 and this prohibited these countries from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. The Cold War was at its height during this time and there was a lot of tensions. The anti-nuclear movements were part of the post-World War II peace initiatives as countries never wanted to experience another major war especially due to the damages that had occurred. Since that time, a lot of restrictions has been made by the United Nations to restrict any

manufacture of nuclear weapons by any country around the world.

Many people would have believed that after the almost successful race purification attempts by the Nazis, the eugenics program in America would have died out after the Second World War. Surprisingly, the supporters of the involuntary sterilization program continued to promote it with great ardor (Kluchin 10). It became the new national campaign and North Carolina became the testing ground. Hitler also practiced this method to eradicate all forms of disabilities and impurities from the supreme Aryan race in Germany. The eugenics movement was based on the belief that some people were not “fit” to become parents like the mentally ill and people suffering from epilepsy. Therefore, hospitals, asylums, and homes were visited and the “unfit” were unwillingly sterilized. However, that was not the only group that received these involuntary sterilizations. Other groups like gays, lesbians, blacks, Latinos, and Indian Natives were sterilized as a “purify the white race” initiative. Anti-eugenics movements rose during this time and these were mostly organized by Catholics who were extremely anti-eugenic. These together with Jews and some scientists strongly objected to such practices as they saw them as racists, charlatans, and frauds. They preached their displeasure concerning these practices and this helped in bringing to an end such harsh, cruel, and inhumane practice.
Labor movements emerged with a strong force after the World War II came to an end.

Organized labor had failed to work before the World War II but after the war came to an end many laborers from different industries like steel, automobiles, textiles, and mining formed two major labor movements, the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) and American

Federation of Labor (AFL) (Alexander 4). Between 1945 and 1946, there was a wave of strikes that swept the United States. This seemed to bear benefits like increased wages and better working conditions. Even though these unions faced a lot of opposition, the workers were very determined to fight for their rights. Employers who had exploited workers for many decades were now forced to reconsider their terms of employment as far as salaries, wages, and health and safety were concerned.

Works Cited

1. Alexander, Robert J, and Eldon M. Parker. International Labor Organizations and Organized Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean: A History. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2009. Print.
2. Del, Valle S. Language Rights and the Law in the United States: Finding Our Voices. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 2003. Print. 92
3. Ioanide, Paula. The Emotional Politics of Racism: How Feelings Trump Facts in an Era of Colorblindness. , 2015. Print.
4. Kluchin, Rebecca M. Fit to Be Tied: Sterilization and Reproductive Rights in America, 1950-1980. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 2011. Print. 10
5. Moon, Danelle. Daily Life of Women During the Civil Rights Era. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2011. Print.
6. Schaeffer, Robert K. Social Movements and Global Social Change: The Rising Tide. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014. Internet resource.
7. Wertheimer, Jack. Unwelcome Strangers: East European Jews in Imperial Germany. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1991. Print. 31
8. Wroe, Andrew. The Republican Party and Immigration Politics: From Proposition 187 to George W. Bush. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Internet resource.