After Break Book Club, Tuesday 4/8

For extra credit, readers of the three books offered this semester will lead discussion questions in a "Book Club" type format (ask your moms). Still plenty of time to read even if you haven't started, especially The Golden Cage (just 250 pgs.) Below are the discussion questions. In the comment section, post what book you read. Also, non-readers for an opportunity for half-EC, post if you are willing to bring a breakfast-type of treat for our Tuesday Breakfast Book Club.


Discussion questions for Putin's Russia
1) Big terrorist attacks have in the past been used by the Kremlin to justify tightening its grip on power and curbing the opposition. The second war in Chechnya, in 2000, which helped to propel Mr Putin into his presidency, was accompanied by a move to bring Russian television under Kremlin control. In 2004, after the school siege in Beslan, in North Ossetia, Mr Putin scrapped regional elections. Using examples from the reading, what would the author predict for Russia's new north Caucasus policy? Why would this be a mistake according to the author? Do you agree?

2) Putin's more autocratic state is supposed to be a more effective state. The author emphatically answers that fear is the only public good that Putin's Kremlin provided effectively. Explain.

3) The author devotes considerable space showing how Putin's government did little to provide most basic state services. She argues hotly that the Russian Armed Services, rather than protecting civilians from terrorism or violent crime, have themselves become perpetrators of state terrorism. How?

4) Effective States have independent courts capable of enforcing the Rule of Law. Institutionally, does Politkovskaya see Rule of Law in Putin's Russia?

5) According the the author, Russian Courts served the interests of criminals and oligarchs. From our unit of study, did that seem to be reformed in Putin's Modern Russia?

6) By the author's account, Putin does not care about the people. She criticizes the political and economic system he has consolidated with true stories and reporting that probably cost her her life. But every day an Army private is hazed to death, a middle class family in Moscow drives to Ikea to purchase furniture for their newly renovated Dacha. Russian GDP grew steadily for 6 years under Putin, and the number of people below the poverty line dropped significantly. In your opinion, do the ends justify the means in Putin's Russia?

7) JusticeforNorthCaucasus.com wrote in 2001, "That Politkovskaya herself has withstood poisoning and harassment to tell the truth about Putin's Russia should give even the most pessimistic observer of Russian affairs hope." But in 2006, the author was murdered and the president called her, "a person of no significance." What does this say about the hope for modern Russia becoming a liberal democracy?

8) Some have claimed Politkovskaya's critique of Putin's Russia is over the top. One on-line reviewer called her, "Russia's Michael Moore." Do you find this analysis objective and legitimate, or illegitimate opposition propaganda?

http://www.slate.com/id/2151209/


Discussion questions for Red China Blues 1. Jan Wong tells us that all existing dictionaries and language textbooks were destroyed at the time of the Cultural Revolution. Why was this necessary? How effectively could a political system be shaped or controlled by such a measure?

2. When the author realises, early on, that she is not allowed the freedom to think, she says this is “only the beginning of my real awakening, a painful process that would take several years more.” Why was her awakening such a slow process?

3. If the author had grown up in China, do you think her doubts and questions would not have arisen in her student years? Or do you think her classmates went through similar “awakenings”?

4. In theory at least, the workers had better living conditions than intellectuals in China in the early 1970s. Does this strike you as any more unfair than the opposite situation?

5. Having completed the book, what are your feelings about Jan Wong’s informing on Yin (the girl who wanted help getting to the West) while she was still an unquestioning Maoist?

6. Could you characterize the four sections of the book? Do they differ in tone as well as content?

7. Broadly speaking, the first half of the book avoids overviews or hindsight, but in the second half the author adopts a more knowing perspective. What effect does this have for the reader?

8. The author says that the Tiananmen massacre could have been avoided: “An experienced mediator could have solved things so easily.” How different do you think life in China might have been after the demonstration if there had been no violence?

9. Do you think there is a post-Tiananmen effect on protest today in China? Using an example we talked about in class, support your answer.

 10. At the beginning of the book the author is writing largely about herself and her reactions to the political system. The last part of the book is more concerned with the stories of individuals living in post-Tiananmen Square China. What can you deduce from this? How much do you think she has changed, and how much has China changed?
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Discussion Questions for The Golden Cage


1. The book begins, and just about ends, with the words of Ali Shariati , the famous Iranian sociologist, who died under suspicious circumstances a year before the revolution said, “If you do not have the power to overthrow the rule of oppression, inform others of the oppression.” Is this the theme of the story? What does it say about Theocratic vs. Secular regimes?

2. In the prologue, the author writes of a group of women visiting the unmarked graves of their loved ones, political dissidents, so-called "counterrevolutionaries.""They did not cry. When people die the way their children did, you can only mourn them at home." Explain this powerful idea, "you can only mourn them at home"?

3. The author describe three different cages -- one of which, it could be said, currently encloses the entire country. Describe how you think the "cage" analogy describes the relationship -- psychological, spiritual -- that average Iranians have with the cage in which they now find themselves?
4. In a scene set in 1988, an imprisoned Javad says to his sister, "Do you really believe anything that's written in the newspapers these days? Do you think there is freedom, or truth, in those pages? Open your eyes -- they're all lies." How applicable is that description to the mass media in Iran? How do you think the average consumer of information in Iran understand or filter what they're told?


5. The mother of the central family is a renowned cook. With celebrated feasts and more, much attention is paid to food, meals, specific dishes throughout the book. Toward the end of the book you specifically address the rich meaning of flowers in Islamic and particularly Persian culture. What do you think is the significance of these illustrations in the story?

6. Consider the real-life story of the author, Shirin Ebadi who was the first woman judge in Iran (before the revolution of 1979), won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 but has lived in exile from her home since 2009; prevented by the current Iranian government from returning home without persecution. Do the images of food and flowers get to the heart of the author's personal story?

7. The cover of the book came under some criticism. None of the three brothers were clerics or wore turbans. Is the cover misleading, or is appropriate for the story?

8. Pick a brother (three brothers, three choices, one destiny). Which one would you be? Why?
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For your 10 points of EC, make sure you complete the discussion questions and then lead small group discussion break-outs as you "drop knowledge,'' on your fellow students.

"There is nothing inconsistent between Islam and Human Rights," -- Dr. Shirin Ebadi