Religious/Ethnic Breakdown in the Balkans
Jews
• Sephardic Jews (AKA ‘Spanish-speaking’ Jews)
o these were some of the first Jews who ended up in the Balkans after being driven out of Spain when Isabelle/Ferdinand defeated and expelled the Moors
o They actually emigrated from Spain to the Ottoman Empire because of the relatively high degree of religious freedom enjoyed by its inhabitants, as well as the fact that the ruling Muslims respected the Jewish immigrants' monotheism and piety—the Jews were even granted a degree of independence in the form of self-government
• Ashkenazi Jews:
o This sect came to the region after being expelled from various parts of Western Europe
o Some of the Ashkenazi settled in areas known today as Lithuania and Poland (and were later persecuted by the Russians); others moved into Austria-Hungary
o Enlightenment ideals and toleration decrees under the Hapsburg Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries ensured that the Balkans remained a generally peaceful place for Jews
BREAKDOWN BY BALKAN
• Yugoslav: very small Jewish population
• Greece: large Sephardic population
• Bulgaria: small Jewish population that enjoyed measure of autonomy
• Lasting Impressions:
o Balkan Jews had hand in creating the Israeli state in 1948
o The Balkan Jews were generally thought to be anti-secular and somewhat in opposition to more progressive Jews from Western Europe
Muslims
• The root of Islam in the Balkans is from the long reign of the Ottoman Empire
• Bosnia:
o became a part of the Ottoman Empire in 1463
o When Bosnia was handed back over to the Austral-Hungarian Empire in 1878, they were no longer under Muslim rule and so started the persecution
o Until WWII, when Bosnia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia and, later, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia—eventually Yugoslavia came under control of Orthodox Christian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims were subject to harassment and arbitrary persecution
o During WWII, the region was occupied by Germans, but it was the ultra-nationalist Serbs (who spearheaded a strong insurgency against the Nazis and eventually established communist rule) who oversaw to it that 100,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed during that time
o Many of the Bosnians persecuted during WWII ended up migrating to Turkey
o After the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (basically the Communist answer to NATO), Bosnia declared its independence, but the Serbs remained in power and oversaw the slaughter of over 200,000 Muslims
TO BE CONTINUED....
Monday, November 2, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Fearsome Saga of the Balkans Condensed (Sort of)
If the mention of places like Serbia and Montenegro strikes fear in your heart and blankness in your mind…
When I took on this topic, my ambitions were limited to the Balkan Wars that blared out from the teevee during my adolescence (and those about which I pretended to have a passing knowledge while signing onto resolutions during Model UN). It appears, however, that a workable understanding of the nineties’ Balkan skirmishes must include at least a brief discussion of the wars and territorial disputes during the late nineteenth century and beginning of the 20th century.
What is classified as ‘Balkan’ and why
There seem to have been 3 possible means through which a country became classified as a ‘Balkan’: location on the Balkan peninsula, proximity to Balkan mountain range (ooh side note—Balkan actually means mountain in Turkish!), or countries that were under the control of the Ottoman Empire. ***Don’t feel bad if this is incredibly confusing to you—the term ‘Balkanization’, meaning a disintegration of centralized order or unwieldy/ungovernable group of entities, was coined by cutesy op-eders (and maybe some statesmen) in order to honor the wacky border/territory/allegiance jumping characterized by the region.
In sum…
Balkan = countries on the Balkan Peninsula (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro) + Other Countries Sorta on the peninsula/along the Balkan Mountain Range/otherwise associated (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and Turkey)
Break Up of the Ottoman Empire→Independence of Balkan Nations→WWI→WWII→….
Ok, so the Ottoman Empire is basically what we think of culturally as Turkey, but, at the height of its power, it spanned three continents. Among the territories comprising its vast domain were the Balkan countries discussed above. It had a grand reign blabla, but lost Egypt, Greece, Moldavia, Walachia and partial control of Serbia in (relatively) quick succession during the Greek War of Independence, the two Russo-Turk Wars and the War with Muhammed Ali over Egypt.
So, what was left after this period of war within the Ottoman Empire?
• The Treaty of Berlin in 1878 recognized the complete independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. Also under the terms of this treaty: established Bulgaria as a somewhat independent state (but still formally under Ottoman control), broken up into 3 protectorates (including Macedonia)-->Slovenia and Croatia + Bosnia/Herzegovina = under control of Austral-Hungarian Empire.
• After the huge territorial losses of the late 19th century, a wave of nationalism spelled the end of the end for the Ottoman Empire (hereafter, ‘The Turks’): the Turks were driven out of Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo. Wait, but the Balkans’ unification was limited to the common purpose of expelling the Turks: the Serbs turned against Bulgaria and occupied Macedonia and Albania.
• ZOMG: so the whole ‘Franz Ferdinand was shot by the Serbian Princip’ event that triggered WWI was because of all of this mess!!!! The Purpose of FF’s ill-fated mission was to quell the unrest in B&H on behalf of the Austral-Hungarian Empire!
Death to the Austral-Hungarian Empire
The Treaty of Versailles rewrote boundaries in the Balkan universe, establishing the ‘Kingdom of the Serbia, Croats and Slovenes.' Turned out that the idea of drawing territorial lines encompassing these three ethnicities under authoritarian Serbs was about as good an idea as naming the new country the ‘Kingdom of the Serba, Croats and Slovenes’—and neither the territorial demarcations nor the name were long for this world. The state’s name was changed to Yugoslavia and its ruler, Alexander, was murdered in an act of defiance on behalf of the oppressed Croats in 1934.
When I took on this topic, my ambitions were limited to the Balkan Wars that blared out from the teevee during my adolescence (and those about which I pretended to have a passing knowledge while signing onto resolutions during Model UN). It appears, however, that a workable understanding of the nineties’ Balkan skirmishes must include at least a brief discussion of the wars and territorial disputes during the late nineteenth century and beginning of the 20th century.
What is classified as ‘Balkan’ and why
There seem to have been 3 possible means through which a country became classified as a ‘Balkan’: location on the Balkan peninsula, proximity to Balkan mountain range (ooh side note—Balkan actually means mountain in Turkish!), or countries that were under the control of the Ottoman Empire. ***Don’t feel bad if this is incredibly confusing to you—the term ‘Balkanization’, meaning a disintegration of centralized order or unwieldy/ungovernable group of entities, was coined by cutesy op-eders (and maybe some statesmen) in order to honor the wacky border/territory/allegiance jumping characterized by the region.
In sum…
Balkan = countries on the Balkan Peninsula (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro) + Other Countries Sorta on the peninsula/along the Balkan Mountain Range/otherwise associated (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and Turkey)
Break Up of the Ottoman Empire→Independence of Balkan Nations→WWI→WWII→….
Ok, so the Ottoman Empire is basically what we think of culturally as Turkey, but, at the height of its power, it spanned three continents. Among the territories comprising its vast domain were the Balkan countries discussed above. It had a grand reign blabla, but lost Egypt, Greece, Moldavia, Walachia and partial control of Serbia in (relatively) quick succession during the Greek War of Independence, the two Russo-Turk Wars and the War with Muhammed Ali over Egypt.
So, what was left after this period of war within the Ottoman Empire?
• The Treaty of Berlin in 1878 recognized the complete independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. Also under the terms of this treaty: established Bulgaria as a somewhat independent state (but still formally under Ottoman control), broken up into 3 protectorates (including Macedonia)-->Slovenia and Croatia + Bosnia/Herzegovina = under control of Austral-Hungarian Empire.
• After the huge territorial losses of the late 19th century, a wave of nationalism spelled the end of the end for the Ottoman Empire (hereafter, ‘The Turks’): the Turks were driven out of Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo. Wait, but the Balkans’ unification was limited to the common purpose of expelling the Turks: the Serbs turned against Bulgaria and occupied Macedonia and Albania.
• ZOMG: so the whole ‘Franz Ferdinand was shot by the Serbian Princip’ event that triggered WWI was because of all of this mess!!!! The Purpose of FF’s ill-fated mission was to quell the unrest in B&H on behalf of the Austral-Hungarian Empire!
Death to the Austral-Hungarian Empire
The Treaty of Versailles rewrote boundaries in the Balkan universe, establishing the ‘Kingdom of the Serbia, Croats and Slovenes.' Turned out that the idea of drawing territorial lines encompassing these three ethnicities under authoritarian Serbs was about as good an idea as naming the new country the ‘Kingdom of the Serba, Croats and Slovenes’—and neither the territorial demarcations nor the name were long for this world. The state’s name was changed to Yugoslavia and its ruler, Alexander, was murdered in an act of defiance on behalf of the oppressed Croats in 1934.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
THE JONESTOWN MASSACRE/CULT SUICIDE DEALIE
I. Who was Jim Jones?
--white trash from Indiana, his father was reputedly in the KKK.
--"voracious" reader as a child; extensively studied world leaders, demagogues, etc. Obsessed with death and religion at a young age.
--Honors student in HS. Attended Butler College.
--at age of 20 joined Communist Party, although he soon became frustrated with the negative connotation the term "communist" had in the US. (He was a Stalinist.)
--eventually he realized that if he were to espouse a hardcore religious angle, he'd be able to a) reach a wider audience and b) he'd have a steady stream of income from members of a potential congregation. He pinpointed devoutly religious African-Americans as potential members of his "flock".
--After being given a public position on an Indianapolis Human Rights commission (Indianapolis was still heavily segregated at this time), he accordingly set about on a campaign flamboyantly stressing integration. In his personal life, he adopted several non-white children as an emblem of his de-segregationist views.
II. The founding of his temple thingy
--*humorous tidbit* - he sold pet monkeys door-to-door to fund his church.
--he became preoccupied with the idea of nuclear war, and moved to Brazil scouting potential locales for his Temple/ministry while concealing his true, atheistic views.
--by the late 1960s, he was openly sermonizing that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment -- socialism." Jones also began preaching that he was the reincarnation of Jesus, Gandhi, Lenin, Buddha, etc.
--by the mid-70s he began openly admitting his atheism and openly denouncing Christianity. [I'm likin' this guy more and more!]
--1975 Jones was appointed as head of San Fran Housing Commission by Mayor Moscone. This afforded him unprecedented access to politicians/influence. Harvey Milk was an avid supporter of Jones, and he was quite close with Rosalynn (sp?)
--by this point his congregation consisted of ~1000 people. The tenets of his temple seem to have been: communal living; communal raising of children (including ritualistic beatings), humility, open disregard of Christianity, self-sufficiency re farming (the failure of their agriculture was a huge blow to Jonestown later on)
--along with his increasingly visible public profile came increased media scrutiny. Despite his having forged alliances with prominent members of the media, people were beginning to realize that something fishy was going on so he decided to move the whole kit and kaboodle to Guyana.
III. Jonestown settled
--Eventually due to media pressure, Guyana was chosen as the relocation site based (supposedly due to their connecting American big business with "creeping fascism"), but also likely because of the lack of a US-Guyana extradition treaty (?)
--
I. Who was Jim Jones?
--white trash from Indiana, his father was reputedly in the KKK.
--"voracious" reader as a child; extensively studied world leaders, demagogues, etc. Obsessed with death and religion at a young age.
--Honors student in HS. Attended Butler College.
--at age of 20 joined Communist Party, although he soon became frustrated with the negative connotation the term "communist" had in the US. (He was a Stalinist.)
--eventually he realized that if he were to espouse a hardcore religious angle, he'd be able to a) reach a wider audience and b) he'd have a steady stream of income from members of a potential congregation. He pinpointed devoutly religious African-Americans as potential members of his "flock".
--After being given a public position on an Indianapolis Human Rights commission (Indianapolis was still heavily segregated at this time), he accordingly set about on a campaign flamboyantly stressing integration. In his personal life, he adopted several non-white children as an emblem of his de-segregationist views.
II. The founding of his temple thingy
--*humorous tidbit* - he sold pet monkeys door-to-door to fund his church.
--he became preoccupied with the idea of nuclear war, and moved to Brazil scouting potential locales for his Temple/ministry while concealing his true, atheistic views.
--by the late 1960s, he was openly sermonizing that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment -- socialism." Jones also began preaching that he was the reincarnation of Jesus, Gandhi, Lenin, Buddha, etc.
--by the mid-70s he began openly admitting his atheism and openly denouncing Christianity. [I'm likin' this guy more and more!]
--1975 Jones was appointed as head of San Fran Housing Commission by Mayor Moscone. This afforded him unprecedented access to politicians/influence. Harvey Milk was an avid supporter of Jones, and he was quite close with Rosalynn (sp?)
--by this point his congregation consisted of ~1000 people. The tenets of his temple seem to have been: communal living; communal raising of children (including ritualistic beatings), humility, open disregard of Christianity, self-sufficiency re farming (the failure of their agriculture was a huge blow to Jonestown later on)
--along with his increasingly visible public profile came increased media scrutiny. Despite his having forged alliances with prominent members of the media, people were beginning to realize that something fishy was going on so he decided to move the whole kit and kaboodle to Guyana.
III. Jonestown settled
--Eventually due to media pressure, Guyana was chosen as the relocation site based (supposedly due to their connecting American big business with "creeping fascism"), but also likely because of the lack of a US-Guyana extradition treaty (?)
--
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