Occupy Portand Shutdown

As we experience the shutting down of the Occupy Portland protests, let's reflect back on social movements of the past. Answer one or more of the questions below.

Compare the Occupy Wall Street movement to a historic movement from the past: Tienanmen Square, Poland's Solidarity Movement, the Civil Rights movement, or the Arab Spring are a few examples. How are the causes similar or different to OWS? 

Oregon Live Photo Essay
Occupy Portland Participants Share Their Stories


Why do you think the Occupy movements did not escalate to extreme violence, as they did in Tienanmen Square or in Egypt?

Video: Egypt's protests explained

How could have the Occupy Portland movement been more successful?

Unemployment: Recession vs. Depression

Unemployment has been a major struggle during the recession, but it is nowhere close to as bad as it was during the great depression.

Compare current unemployment with unemployment during the great depression. 

New York Times: Unemployment Today vs. the Great Depression
Time: Unemployment Claims at 7-Month Low

Do you think a policy like the New Deal could improve the situation? 

Wikipedia: The New Deal

Veteran Unemployment

During this recession, unemployment has been a major issue. However, the situation has been even worse for young veterans coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq.  
 
How could we look at the success of the GI Bill after WWII as a guide for how we could improve the situation for the vets today? How could the current GI Bill be improved to make it as successful as it was in the 1950's?

Business Week: Unemployment for Young Vets: 30%, and Rising
GI Bill Website
Wikipedia: GI Bill

Welcome!

"History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are."
  -- Ken Burns

"History, in brief, is an analysis of the past in order that we may understand the present and guide our conduct into the future."  -- 
Sidney E. Mead

"History never repeats itself; at best it sometimes rhymes."
  --  Mark Twain

In this blog, we will look at present news stories and issues happening in the U.S. as well as abroad, and compare them to historical events of the past. How can similar past events help us interpret the events of the present? How can understanding past events help us further our understanding current events, and think of solutions for problems the world faces?

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Every few days, I'll post a news article about a current issue that we can relate to past events. I'd like you to choose a post and comment on it; either make your own comment, or respond to a fellow student's comment. 
• Your posts should be a paragraph in length, no less than 4 sentences. In order to get full credit, I'd like you to post at least twice a week. 
• You will need to create a google account in order to leave a post. Name your post Last name,First initial_title(optional). For example: Giebultowicz,J_Hello!

For your first post, choose a quote from the three quotations above and write a short paragraph about it.

Have fun!