(Just to be sure I understand the reading…) In general, both India and South Africa endured lengthy journeys to gain independence from their previous European rulers. While both countries went through different struggles, they both underwent partitions.
India separated into two different countries due to religious conflict. The Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan. [This may be slightly embarrassing, but I was unaware of this fact. I had no idea that Pakistan and India was once one nation.] Upon discovering this divide of nations, I found the situation tragic. Many other countries have various populations of different faiths, and still were able to remain undivided. If these countries were able to set aside their differences, I think Pakistan and India could have done the same. However, the conflict may be much greater than what I suspect it was. Then again, maybe India was meant to become two separate countries. I am a believer of fate and destiny...the two major conflicting religions were destined to partition.
South Africa was already independent from Great Britain. “That independence, however, had been granted to a government wholly controlled by a white settler minority, which represented less than 20 percent of the total population; the country’s black African majority had no political rights whatever within the central state. Therefore, this struggle in South America is like fighting with a very good friend, instead of going against your common enemy. The end of this struggle led to the demolition of the apartheid and the eventual elected president of the inspirational Nelson Mandela. Like colonial India, however, South Africa also divided on the basis of race, ethnicity, and ideology.
The most interesting part is the fact that after gaining independence and gaining victory of their prolonged struggles, they still had internal conflicts and went through partitions. Independence should have led to liberation celebrations and for the most part, joy to these countries. It’s like winning a football game, then fighting against your own teammate.
Just as an accessory comment, the literacy rates in the table on page 712 really surprised me. I pictured them to be much lower, especially in the less developed countries. Most of them were relatively high, considering that the U.S.’s is recorded as having a 99% literacy rate amongst the adults. The Philippines has a recorded 93%,; Mexico 90%; and Tanzania 69%. In the Philippines, I know that even public schools have tuition rates, and because of this, many are not able to enroll in school. This was the case of both my parents: my father was unable to attend high school, and my mother only went up to the second grade. Of course, they were born long before 2004, but it is still a developing country and assumed the literacy rate would be much much lower.
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