Entry #26 - "The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Multiplication of Western Walls" by James Petras.

          James Petras is the author of more than 62 books published in 29 languages, and over 600 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, TempsModerne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely carried on the internet.

His publishers have included Random House, John Wiley, Westview, Routledge, Macmillan, Verso, Zed Books and Pluto Books. He is winner of the Career of Distinguished Service Award from the American Sociological Association’s Marxist Sociology Section, the Robert Kenny Award for Best Book, 2002, and the Best Dissertation, Western Political Science Association in 1968. His most recent titles include Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century (2001); co-author The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America (2000), System in Crisis (2003), co-author Social Movements and State Power (2003), co-author Empire With Imperialism (2005), co-author)Multinationals on Trial (2006).

He has a long history of commitment to social justice, working in particular with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement for 11 years. In 1973-76 he was a member of the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America. He writes a monthly column for the Mexican newspaper, La Jornada, and previously, for the Spanish daily, El Mundo. He received his B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Academic paper "The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Multiplication of Western Walls"

Click on the key concepts to listen

NATO

BAD WALLS

GOOD WALLS

RE-UNIFIED

Entry #25 - CLASS DIVIDE

Plot:
“Class Divide,” is a documentary which portrays the intersection of West 26th Street and 10th Avenue in New York City, two communities which are separated by much more than a boulevard. On one side there are Avenues, The World School, an elite private school, and multimillion-dollar luxury condos and on the other, there are the Elliott-Chelsea public-housing projects which are the home of thousands of underemployed and underserved residents mostly living below the poverty line.

An Eight-year-old, Rosa, looks out from the housing projects to the other side of the street, where the children of privilege question how they landed on top. Young people on both sides of the street struggle with their “haves” and “have nots”. On one side, the kids who live in Elliott-Chelsea housing bear witness to rising inequality that affect their lives. While Avenues students worry they will never match their parents’ achievements since they are aware that their status wasn’t earned. 

Yasemin, an Avenue student, after meeting Juwan an Elliott-Chelsea resident,  is inspired to create “115 Steps,” a photo and audio project featuring kids from both sides of the street. Avenues open its doors to Rosa and other children for a tour. The school’s decision to accept its first student from Elliott-Chelsea public housing speaks to a willingness to confront the imbalance between rich and poor and is a hopeful sign that with a continued conversation between students and community leaders, change can be embraced.

Personal reflection:

The movie reflects on the one hand how rich children belong to a social and economic class but they have not done anything to gain that privilege assigned at birth and on the other hand poor kids who find extremely difficult to change their lives.
I believe the film is among the material of the project "WALLS" in order to reflect the invisible walls that separate social classes. Although education should provide everyone, despite their economic income, with the same level of academic knowledge in order to provide the same opportunities for all students; poor people are at a disadvantaged position. We as teachers, in our humble position, must fight against these gaps of inequality by providing students with the same opportunities of education.