Global Challenges

Challenge: Gaining Rights and Equality for Women

• In Africa, small self-help associations developed among women

• In Chile, the fight for women’s rights was part of a movement against the dictatorship of Pinochet

• In South Korea, it was part of a democracy movement

The United Nations declared 1975 International Woman’s Year

But at the Beijing Conference in 1995, divisions emerged over inheritance

• Some wanted equal inheritance for daughters and sons

• But under Islamic law, sons receive twice the amount

And a Global Backlash

• Some felt feminism challenged traditional values

Challenge: Modernity’s Challenge to the World’s Religions

Fundamentalism

• A militant piety in every major religious tradition

• Term derived from U.S.A. where religious conservatives were outraged by challenges to Bible

• Called for a return to the fundamentals of the faith

Hindu Fundamentalism

• Hindu nationalism

• A politicization of religion

• In increasingly popular Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),Muslims were viewed as outsiders

Islamic Fundamentalism

• Against Western cultural intrusion

• Qu’ran and Sharia to provide guidance

• Jihad or struggle to please God

The Leading Figures of Islamic Fundamentalism

• Mawlana Mawdudi from India

• Sayyid Qutb from Egypt

• In Sudan, adopted Quranic punishments

• Egyptian Islamic Jihad assassinated Sadat

In Iran (1979) and Afghanistan (1996), Islamic movements came to power

Challenge: Confronting Poverty and Inequality through Religion

• Liberation Theology a) A Christian social action movement in Latin America

• “Socially Engaged Buddhism” in Asia

Challenge: Protecting the Environment

• Impact of Human Population

a) Quadrupling of world population in single century

b) Impact of fossil fuels 1. Global warming 2. Diminished habitats

The Romantic Poets

• Environmentalism began in nineteenth century with the Romantic poets

a) Denounced Industrial Revolution

Second-Wave of Environmentalism

• Began with Rachel Carson’s book – “Silent Spring” in 1962

a) Described the dangers of chemical pesticides on the environment and humans

Green Party

• German environmental movement that entered political arena

a) Opposition to nuclear power

Chikpo Movement in India

• “Tree-hugging” movement

• In the 1970s, an organized resistance to the destruction of forests spread throughout India and came to be known as the Chipko movement

• The name of the movement came from the word “embrace”, as the villagers hugged trees, and prevented contractors’ from felling them

The North/South Divide

• Global South felt environmental initiatives would curtail needed industrial development

a) U.S. refusal to sign Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions

A Challenge to Modernity

• Need for sustainability as opposed to endless growth