Fareed Zakaria's "Age of Revoluitions

 

Fareed Zakaria is a familiar face on television, but after reading his books I can appreciate a lot of thought has been given to what you hear on his CNN show.  This project has been in the works for ten years.  In a real sense it is a study leading to how we got to where we are now.

He designates the Netherlands as the foundation of a liberal Revolution that was successful.  Technologically they were advanced with windmills, dikes and ships.  They conquered what became the Dutch East Indies bringing new spices back to England.  The Dutch brought tobacco to Indonesia  and took advantage of the cheap labor  see http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/11/cigarette-girl.html  They developed a stock market, gave liberties to more citizens than ever.  They outflanked Spain and Portugal by exploring and settling Cape Town and Indonesia. 

England was the next successful revolution owing a lot to the Dutch William of Orange. who brought a lot of liberal changes.  The Industrial Revolution amalgamated many inventions, but also forced some cultural changes that advantaged women.  Political changes evolved to give more people a vote.  England went on to conquer much of the world and spread liberal ideas.   There was of course backlash.

Many of the democratic ideals were taken to America.  They objected to taxation without representation.  The American Revolution threw out the monarchy and substituted their own Constitution.  The indigenous and black slaves were left out, but the mainly European immigrants felt freer than ever before.  The United States have spread the ideals of democracy which have taken hold in some nations, but not all.

The French Revolution was considered a failure as a liberal event as a dictatorship soon followed.  Today we are feeling a computer revolution that in many ways has liberated us, but also has taken away our privacy and allowed ourselves to be manipulated. 

Hatred is still rearing its ugly face.  An interesting sidelight comes from perceived bigot, Marine Le Pen who uses the extreme Muslim view of homosexuals as a reason to keep Muslims out of her country.

Fareed feels Americans are losing their feeling of community that will hurt democracy.  We huddle in our homes to watch entertainment that we once sought in movie theaters.  Inequality has created segregation.  One solution would be to require some sort of national service.    

The world is more inter dependent than ever and we have a lot of mutual concerns such as climate change. A common referral for Fareed is Lee Kuan Yew who ruled in Singapore with three main ethnic groups, Chinese, Malay and Indian.  An effort was made to mix both housing and schooling so they would learn to get along.

Today China is challenging the United States with Russia and others causing complications. The future is uncertain and will require humans of not only intelligence, but also good will.

An interesting quote from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa:  "If we want things as they are, things will have to change".