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The dynamics of conflict - culture and conflict
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Introduction Conflict resolution has emerged to be a field whose theory and practice are pacing real-world events. It is of significance to understand the phenomenon of conflict to be able to establish the means of bringing the conflict under control and to bring out insights and concepts capable of bearing on actual conflicts. Hereby, conflict resolution relates to theories and approaches that can be useful in enhancing understanding of conflict and the practice of reducing violence and enhancing political processes to harmonize interests. This paper seeks to analyze the film, The Battle of Algiers, from a perspective of the theory of conflict and theory of identity. Films provide valuable illustrations of conflicts and conflict resolution making them useful in understanding conflicts. Movie Summary The film, The Battle of Algiers, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo mirrors the struggles experienced by Algeria for the nation to gain …show more content…
The differences in the cultures, shared history, beliefs and basic values between the occupying French and the locals worsen the conflict, as the issues being addressed are rather intangible and ambiguous. Based on such differences, the locals and the occupying French assigned themselves identities to their adversaries and themselves, contributing to the development of the notion that the fight was between “us” against “them.” In the conflict, the French assumed a particular identity that conflict with the very survival and basic needs of the identity of the locals. This prompts bad blood between them. In the end, the identity characterization pans out in the conflict. The best example of the extent to which the aspect of identity arises in the conflict is a scene where various NLF women take away their veils and wear like Europeans to appear like Europeans. Such would enable them manage to penetrate the territory of their French enemies where they would plant
The French and Indian War changed the economic, political, and ideological relations between Great Britain and the American colonies in many ways. Politically the colonist felt like they were deprived of representation, when Great Britain imposed unfair taxation without any say. Economically, many colonist were infuriated with the British because the British were starving them of many resources and making high taxes and tariffs. Ideologically, it brought feelings of discontent towards Britain. Boycotts during the war opened the eyes of the colonist. It showed them they had the ability to make a change and proved that they could unite together. The colonist no longer viewed Great Britain as the great mother country, but as a tyrant who looked to feed on the American colonies new sense of life.
It is 1957 and the Algerian war is at its prime as the FLN fight against an elite troop of ruthless French paratroopers. The Battle of Algiers is a portion of the Algerian war which was fought in order for Algeria to gain independence from France. The film starts off with the torturing of an old man to gain information on where the last of the freedom fighters, Ali Pointe is hiding. A large segment of the film is shot in flashbacks focusing on the past of Ali Pointe. Pointe was a ruffian with theft and drugs on his record; he joined the militants to assist in getting rid of the problems in Algeria associated with the French. With the flashbacks the film tells the struggles of the insurgents and the persistence of the French to end the war. It shows the transformation of the insurgency into a full out revolution. When the flashbacks ends and it is now present time Ali Pointe, along with the rest of the FLN leaders captured are beheaded. Through this, the FLN reciprocate and the insurgency becomes a full on national revolution with growth in numbers and support. The film ends with Algeria gaining the independence it strived for in 1962. The film is important in understanding asymmetric conflicts because despite being the weaker side, Algeria had proved itself to be much stronger than the French and had its newfound independence to show for it.
No one asked to belong to a particular religion, fate planned it all. ‘Un Sac de Billes’ is my favorite text because it is the only French book I can actually relate to. It is an autobiography written by renowned French author Joseph Joffo. The book chronicles his experience during the invasion of Paris by the Germans in 1941. Interpreting this text from a postcolonial and intrinsic perspective reveals particular elements relevant to a postcolonial or intrinsic study. Although the text foregrounds the once infamous German stance towards race and diaspora, it also reflects, from an intrinsic perspective, the themes and characterization of the text.
... captured Palestro's flag was cut into small pieces after the battle and those pieces were given to several persons. One of the pieces was in the Pula Navy Museum until 1918, when Italians looted it. It is said that the relatives of Nikola Karkovic still have a piece of that flag. The tradition of the battle of lissa existed for a long time on Croatian coast in the stories of sailors and in many folk-songs. Lissa [aka Vis] was known as the head-quarters of British Adriatic cruisers in the old French War. Lissa is an island, or rather a mass of hill and mountain, eleven miles long from east to west, and six broad from north to south, rising in some of its peaks to a height of nearly 2,000 feet. Its principal productions, according to the gazetteer, were wine, oil, almonds, and figs; bees, sheep, and goats were reared in great numbers by its inhabitants; -
Since its release in 1966, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers has divided critical opinion. The film which depicts the Algerian struggle for independence, was awarded the Lion d'Or at the 1966 Venice Film Festival and nominated a year later for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film. Despite this acclaim, the inherently controversial film was banned in France until 1971 due to its graphic portrayal of torture and repression during the war. Heavily influenced by the distinctive film style Neorealism, the politically engaged director sought to make a film which was produced and shot within a 'dictatorship of truth.' These neorealist aesthetics (hand-held camera, non professional actors) rendered such an extraordinarily accurate reflection of social reality that the film's original U.S. distributor inserted the disclaimer: "Not one foot of newsreel or documentary film has been used."
The battle of Saratoga was a significant turning point in the American Revolutionary War. This key conflict was, in fact, two significant battles that shaped America’s struggle for independence. The battles were fought 18 days apart in the same location - 9 miles south of Saratoga, New York. John Burgoyne, the British General, had an initial strategy to divide New England from the southern colonies. This was at first successful when the British took Pennsylvania, but hit a snag when Burgoyne met the Continental Army at Freeman’s Farm on September 19, 1777 - the first of the Saratoga battles. This was a tactical victory for the British, but it came at a price, as their casualties were heavy. It was known that the British won this Battle at Freeman’s Farm, but in actuality, they didn’t have many troops left. On October 7, in the Battle of Bemis Heights, the second Battle of Saratoga, Britain attacked America again as Burgoyne took the offensive. The troops crashed together south of the town of Saratoga, and Burgoyne's army was broken and his command captured. At this battle, the Americans were able to capture a large number of British troops, ultimately resulting in Burgoyne’s surrender on October 17, 1777. The Battle of Saratoga is well known to be “one of the most important victories of the conflict and an early success for the colonists.” The victory gave new life to the American cause at a critical time. Americans had just suffered a major setback at the Battle of Brandywine. They had also received news of the fall of Philadelphia to the British. Significantly with the success at Saratoga, France gained the confidence to enter the war as an American ally. The Battle of Saratoga was a war-altering conflict between the America...
The French and Indian war, also better known as the seven year war, was in 1754. It all began in the early spring of 1754 through 1763, when George Washington and some 160 Virginians and hand full of Mingo Indians started to move when they were concerned about the French military presence in their county. The battle first started when a Mingo chief, the Indian leader that was with George Washington in his campaign, led a unit of soldiers into a small French encampment in the woods. It was a very small battle but, the fight ended up with 14 French men wounded. While Washington was trying to get all the available information from their French dying commander to help their plans in the war, the Indians killed and scalped the remaining survivors including the commander.
“The Battle of the Bulge, fought over the winter months of 1944 – 1945, was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War Two. The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to split the Allies in two in their drive towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves” (Trueman).
due to the differing perspectives; and who the ‘victor’ of the situations was. Finally, this paper
At 2.40pm on Friday 21st July 1972, the first bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) exploded outside Ulster Bank in Limestone Road, Belfast (BBC, undated). Over the next ninety minutes, 18 more bombs exploded around the city, whilst a further 2 were defused and 2 failed to detonate. In total, 9 people were killed, including 7 civilians, and 130 were injured in the attack that later became known as ‘Bloody Friday’ (BBC, undated). The PIRA were a republican paramilitary group that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland during a period known as The Troubles after the British Army was drafted in to help with rioting between nationalists and unionists in 1969. As nationalists, the PIRA believed that the ‘Six Counties’
The aforementioned scenario is a scene from the movie The Battle of Algiers directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. The Battle of Algiers is a film that depicts the violence of colonialism and decolonization in French Algeria. The Wretched of the Earth is a book written by Frantz Fanon that depicts the same violence. In both sources, both Pontecorvo and Fanon discuss the necessity of violence in decolonization. Although the film and text discusses violence in colonization and decolonization on a different scale and depth.
Through an image of a flag being raised, which meant little to the troops, was transformed into one of the largest bond drives ever, this dramatic change of route for the troops who raised the flag showed how many contrasts there are between the reality of a war and an image of war. Clint Eastwood intertwined through his characters inner-most thoughts the contrasts of what the realities of war are and a photo that was of an American flags being raised staking a claim to that area of the island which meant nothing of the significant proportion it was viewed as back in their homeland America.
Sørli, Mirjam, Nils Gleditsch, and Håvard Strand. "Why Is There so Much Conflict in the Middle East? ." The Journal of Conflict Resolution 49.1 (2005): 141-165. JSTOR. Web. 8 June 2011.
If we extend this concept to IR we can see how identities had a major role in the Cold War, in particular if we analyse the ‘Red Scare’ Geopolitical divisions = clash of identities CONCLUSION To summarise, it has been noted that identities have a major role in wars (1) Definition of “identity” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press (2) Fearon, J. What is Identity (as We Now Use the Word)? , unpublished manuscript (Stanford University, 1999) (3) Burke, A. (2006): Identity/Difference. In M. Griffiths (ed.) Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics. London: Routledge, pp.394-6 --- Notes --- War is good?
Based on the constructivist view, the Civil War in Syria is initiated by the identity conflict between two groups which are the Assad’s regime and the rebel. Assad’s regime originates from minority Alawite, who made up 12 percent of the Syria population and also dominates most of the position in Syria government (citation). However, this identity conflict is not on religion based as the rebel’s side consists variation of group such as Sunni sect, Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other citizens. Besides, the Assad’s regimes as well consist of other society despite of the Alwite. Based on this condition, it is clearly portray that, even though a group is made up of multiple identities, they still can pursue t...