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Committees and Topics Topics for these committees have been set for IAMUN 2007, however chairs have not. Be sure to contact us if you have nominations for chair positions. All background guides are now posted! Thank you so much for getting them to us in a timely manner! SOCHUM: Chairs: Moksha Atluri and Hannah Blume, International Academy Topics: The Cultural Revolution: Late 1968 Description: In 1966, Chairman Mao Zedong announced the beginning of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which would signify a change in China’s culture by rooting out “old," “capitalist,” and “Western” values and making sure that the entire Chinese population accepted socialism. The forces of the Cultural Revolution were primarily the Red Guards, a force of teenagers and young adults who set about to enforce the demands of Chairman Mao.
During the Cultural Revolution, the human rights of virtually every level of society were tossed aside in the campaign for a new set of values for China. Books, music, and various other forms of media and art that were deemed capitalist, rightist, or Western were censored and destroyed, and people who promoted them were imprisoned or tortured, as was anyone who was considered an enemy of the Revolution. Millions of young people, no longer able to go to school since Red Guards had effectively destroyed the entire education system, were forced into collective labor camps in either factories or the countryside in order to get an appreciation for the working class life. The Cultural Revolution killed, imprisoned, and tortured some of the most productive members of Chinese society, including most professors, professional people, artists, and writers. WHO: Chairs: Joe Michalak and Matt Mortellaro, Lakeland High School Topics: 1979 Nestle Boycott and Baby Formula Marketing: Early 1979 Description:The Nestle company became the subject of international attention in the 1970s when it began marketing its baby formula to mothers in third-world countries, encouraging them to switch from breastfeeding to their brand of baby formula. However, when the mothers mixed this formula with contaminated water, it resulted in a deadly combination that killed 15 babies per year. In 1974, the Bern Third World Action Group (AgDW) translates The Baby Killer by the organization War on Want, accusing Nestle of killing babies with their baby formula marketing policies. Nestle sues AgDW for libel; in 1976, AgDW is found guilty of libel for the title but not for the rest of the pamphlet, and the judge warns Nestle to change its policies regarding baby formula marketing. In 1977, seeing no change as recommended by the judge in Switzerland, the Nestle boycott is launched by US organization INFACT (the Infant Formula Action Coalition). Within a year, it has spread throughout the country as well as to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
In 1979 the real WHO, along with UNICEF, is meeting with government representatives, health organizations, campaigning groups, and various other organizations to call for an international marketing code and improvement in infant and young child feeding practices. ECOSOC: Chairs: Bhavika Chepuri and Kartik Sidhar, West Bloomfield High School Topics: The 1973 Oil Crisis: Late 1973 Description: In 1973, a worldwide oil crisis began when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), consisting of Egypt, Syria, and the Arab members of OPEC, decided they would no longer ship oil to any country that had supported Israel against Syria and Egypt in the Yom Kippur War. This meant that the United States, Japan, and most of the Western European countries could not buy any oil from the Arab states.
At the time of the oil crisis, almost all oil came from the Middle East – in essence, the countries that created the embargo. This resulted in a major economic crisis in the Western nations. People in the nations affected by the OAPEC embargo suffered sharply rising gas prices (the price of oil rose from $3 to $12 a barrel – or adjusted for inflation, from $10 to $40), as well as electricity brownouts and as a result had to cut down on their use of electricity and gas. Some argue that Michigan’s car industry has never fully recovered from the devastating blow of the 1973 oil crisis. Security Council #1: Chairs: Rose Bridges and Emily Thibodeau, International Academy Topic: Prague Spring 1968: August of 1968 Description: Czechoslovakia had been under the rule of their Communist Party since the end of the World War II and was one of the various Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe and a member of the Warsaw Pact. However, in January 1968, Alexander Dubcek in effect became the head of the country’s Communist Party. He introduced a wave of reforms including reducing censorship and freeing many political prisoners. His “Action Programme” included such ambitious ideas as a freer press, a switch to an emphasis on consumer over industrial goods, less Soviet control over the nation, and a multi-party government. Throughout the spring and summer of 1968, a liberated and very anti-Soviet feeling prevailed throughout Czechoslovakia, but particularly in Prague, where anti-Soviet opinions could appear in newspapers.
The Soviet government, and neighboring Warsaw Pact nations, felt threatened by the sudden move toward democracy in Czechoslovakia. Negotiations between the Czechoslovaks and the Soviets began in July, and on 3 August the Warsaw Pact nations met secretly to draft the Bratislava Declaration, which affirmed all the members’ commitment to the communist ideology against “bourgeois” ideals and “antisocialism.” On 21 August, between 5,000 and 7,000 tanks and 200,000-600,000 troops (primarily from the Soviet Union) rolled into Prague to both occupy the streets and sort out the “anti-socialists” in Prague. 72 Czechoslovaks died and hundreds were wounded. Eventually, Dubcek himself and many of his colleagues were arrested and sent to Moscow. Dubcek was eventually sent back to office in Prague, but he was forced to comply with Warsaw Pact ideas about how he should govern. Security Council #2: Chairs: Lukas Garske and Kavya Minama Reddy, International Academy Topic: 1968 Tet Offensive Description: The Tet Offensive was an attack by the communist forces of North Vietnam (the combined armies of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, NLF, and the People’s Army of Vietnam, PAVN or PALF), with the purpose of sparking a civilian uprising in South Vietnam that would topple the government. It began on 30 January 1968 and lasted for another two months. It consisted of a surprise attack on many cities throughout Vietnam, including the capital city, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and 26 provincial capitals, along with various other cities and small towns. One of the greatest atrocities of the Tet Offensive was the My Lai massacre, a major turning point in the public view of the war. U.S. troops were on a “search and destroy” mission to hunt out Vietnamese communists, particularly the 48th Viet Cong division. Instead, on 16 March the civilians of My Lai were murdered by the U.S. 11th infantry brigade, aka Charlie Company. The U.S. soldiers killed everyone they could see, including unarmed men, women, children and babies, and even families huddled in huts for safety. They even gang-raped women and tortured Vietnamese who bowed to greet them. At the end of the massacre, 500 Vietnamese civilians were dead, killed by American troops.
One of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War, the Battle of Hue, also occurred during the Tet Offensive. In the Battle of Hue, lasting between 31 January and 2 February 1968, the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces defeated over 10,000 Northern Vietnamese soldiers and claimed Hue for South Vietnam. During the North Vietnamese occupation of Hue, a massacre occurred particularly of government leaders, soldiers, civil servants, religious leaders, and various foreigners especially Americans, at the hands of the North Vietnamese. This resulted in the discovery, after the Battle of Hue, of mass graves contained 2,800 bodies identified as soldiers and prisoners of war. 1968 Security Council includes : Algeria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, France (v), Hungary, India, Pakistan, Paraguay, Taiwan (v), Senegal, the USSR (v), the UK (v) and the USA (v). (v) Indicates countries with veto power. SPECPOL: Chairs: Matt Pierce and Katie Clair, Lahser High School Topics: Biafran Secession of 1970: Mid-1970 Description: When Nigeria became independent from the United Kingdom in 1960, its constitution guaranteed that Nigeria was broken up into three regions defined by its main ethnic groups: the northern Hausa and Fulani, the southwestern Yoruba, and the southeastern Ibo. Ethnic tensions flared, however, when the military took over the country mid-decade, particularly between Ibos and Haufas. After 30,000 Ibos were killed fighting Haufas, Ibos fled to their homeland in the southeast and the leader of the Eastern Region, Colonel Emeka Ojukwu, declared it the free Republic of Biafra. They gained some territory, but were pushed back by the Nigerian forces, and millions died in starving and famine in the Biafra region. DISEC: Chairs: Greg Jones and Jack Rosette, International Academy Topics: 1964 Nuclear Race: Late 1964 Description: In the early 1960s, the threat of nuclear war was a major worry throughout the world. Up until that decade, the USA, the UK, and the USSR were the only countries that had nuclear weapons or the technology for them – scary since the two superpowers of the US and the USSR were on opposite sides of the Cold War. However, in 1960, France joined the “Nuclear Club” and tested atomic weapons on 13 February 1960. With the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the United States and the USSR almost launched into an actual nuclear conflict over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. This conflict made the desire for nuclear disarmament stronger and more widespread, especially in the U.S.
However, two years later, the situation didn’t appear to be getting any better, despite the signing of the Partial Ban Treaty in 1963 banning the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, outer space, and water by the US, the UK, and the USSR. China entered the nuclear age on 16 October 1964 with its first nuclear weapons test in the Lop Nor testing site in Sinkiang Province. With another nuclear power on the rise, the need for the UN to take action against further nuclear proliferation became ever more urgent. |
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