Context Mosaic, 1990-1998

Dominating Factors and Hidden Currents

Collapse of the Soviet Union

In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and 15 independent countries were formed with Russia being the largest. Russia's large population finally got a look at the Western world's lifestyle. Russia's teenage and young adult population was immediately drawn to this new lifestyle and began to work towards achieving it.

Factors that contributed to their adaptation of a Western lifestyle:
-Poverty level grew from 1.5% during the Soviet era to 39-49% by mid 1993.
-Life expectancy rate fell
-Rate of disease increased
-Drug abuse increased
-Advertisements of Western products aimed at Russians entered the country
-Western style music and entertainment became available
-Western style clothing became popular
Result of the Russian's adaptation of a Western lifestyle:
-Increase in migration to Western countries
-Increase in trafiking of Russian mail order brides to Western countries
-In 1999 the total population fell by 3/4 of a million people.

Sources of Information:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3996/is_200110/ai_n9001185/

Category Five Graph

Grunge Movement

Grunge music began in the 1990s in the Seattle Underground and became a social movement speaking out against consumerism sparking a new fashion trend (flannel, thrift shop finds, etc.) and becomes the voice for the angst-ridden youth

1992 - Nirvana's Nevermind CD replaces Michael Jackson as number 1 on the Billboard 200 and spurs the beginning of the huge 90's Grunge movement

1993 - Music performed by Grunge bands is played on MTV

1994 - Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, commits suicide and the short-lived Grunge music movement begins to fade

1999 - Rolling Stone magazine names Kurt Cobain artist of the decade

2001 - One of the last Grunge bands, Alice in Chains, disbands after the lead singer dies of a drug overdose


References

The 1990's Interactive Timeline. 11 Octobere 2009. http://cbsnews.com

Health Movement

1990 - Live Cell Therapy introduced

1992 - Nicotine patches are introduced to help people stop smoking

1996 - Scientists become optimistic that an AIDS vaccine is possible and will soon be discovered

1997 - New calculation improves radiation dose for individual cancer patients so that each patient's dose is individualized for their need

1998 - Parents begin banking their children's cord blood for possible stem cell possibilities

- Studies show that obesity is becoming an increasing problem in America

- Viagra is released to the public as a cure to impotence and spurs controversy as many insurance companies covered this latest medicine but not the Pill



References

"PEREGRINE: Improving Radiation Treatment for Cancer." Science and Technology Review (May 1997) p.4-11

Martin, Douglas. "The Nation: Thanks a Bunch, Viagra; The Pill that Revived Sex, Or at Least Talking About It." The New York Times. 03 May 1998. 04 october 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/05/weekinreview/nation-thanks-bunch-viagra-pill-that-revived-sex-least-talking-about-it.html

Anti-Federal Government/Domestic Terrorism

1991 - Rodney King is beaten by four white police officers

1992 - Militias form and arm themselves against the federal government
-On April 29 the Rodney King verdict resulted in the acquittal of the four police officers which resulted in the famous LA riots

1993 - First World Trade Center bombings

- Waco Texas standoff - causes militia and anti-government support to go up

1995 - Oklahoma City bombing - this bombing was carried out by a member of a Michigan militia

1996 - Members of the Montana Freeman (who had declared themselves no longer under the authority of an outside government) are arrested after an 81 day armed standoff with the FBI

- Centennial Olympic Park during the summer Olympics in Atlanta is bombed

- Ted Krazynski, the unabomber, is arrested in Montana

1997 - "Republic of Texas" militia group takes hostages and five are arrested


References

The Militia Movement. 11 October 2009. http://www.adi.org

Verhovek,Sam Howe. "Separatists End Texas Standoff as 5 Surrender." The New York Times 04 May 1997. Section 1 Page 1. 08 October 2009. http://nytimes.com/1997/05/04/us/separatists-end-texas-standoff-as-5-surrender.html

"Freemen surrender peacefully to FBI." 14 June 1997. CNN News. 06 October 2009. http://www.cnn.com/US/9606/13/freemen.11p/.

FBI 100 - First Strike: Global Terror in America. 11 October 2009. http://fbi.gov

Hamilton, Neil A. "Rebels and Renegades-A Chronology of Social and Political Dissent in the United States." New York City: The Moschovitis Group Inc, 2002.

"The LA Riots: 15 Years after Rodney King" 11 October 2009. http://www.time.com

"LA in Flames after 'Not Guilty' Verdict." 29 April 1992. BBC On This Day. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april29/newsid_2500000/2500471.stm

"Rodney King Trial Verdict Announced." 29 April 1992. This Day in History. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=987

Human Rights Movement

1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed February 11 after 27 years of imprisonment

- World Health Organization removes homosexuality as a disease

1991 - Civil Rights act of 1991 was signed by President Bush on November 21 - the act amended the Civil Right's Act of 1964 in order to strengthen federal civil rights laws

1992 - Americans with disabilities act became affective and prohibits employers from discriminating against hiring or firing of people with work disabilities

- On April 5 pro choice abortion activists rally in DC

1994 - The US Military enacted the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy as far as homosexuals in the army

- Nelson Mandella is elected president of South Africa and thus begins the Anti-apartheid movements in South Africa

- MAC cosmetics starts the MAC Aids fund

1995 - OJ Simpson is acquitted in the murder trial of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman

1996 - Romer vs Evans - Colorado's Amendment 2 which would have nullified gay rights laws that had previously been passed is ruled unconstitutional

- Defense of Marriage Act is passed - the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages

1997 - OJ Simpson loses his civil trial and is required to pay the Goldman family $8.5 million

1998 - Second Congo War in Africa begins - Pygmies are beaten, dehumanized and eaten

- Indonesian Riots - led to Chinese-Indonesians become the scapegoats and are killed, raped, shops are burned etc., leading to a huge emigration of Chinese from Indonesia

- Belfast Agreement is signed between Ireland and Britain extensively pushing for human rights and independence between the two countries

There was a dramatic increase in the number of companies funding human rights causes throughout the 1990s compared to all previous decades.

References

"Simpson Case." Encyclopedia of Modern American Social Issues. Kronenwetter, Michael. Santa Babara: ABC-CLIO, Inc, 1997. p.237

Reyntjens, Filip. "Briefing: The Second Congo War; More than a Remake." African Affairs, 98 (1999): 241-250

"DR Congo Pygmies appeal to UN." BBC News 23 May 2003. 11 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2933524.stm

"Ethnic Chinese tell of Mass Rapes." BBC Online Network 23 June 1998. 11 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/indonesia/special_report/118576.stm

O'Leary, Brendan. "The Protection of Human Rights under the Belfast Agreement. Political Quarterly Vol. 72, Issue 3 (July-Sept 2001). p. 353-366

"The OJ Simpson Case." 11 October 2009. http://www.cnn.com

Jones, Michael A. "An LGBT Person's Guide to the Contemporary History of the United States, 1981-Present. 11 October 2009. http://gayrights.change.org

"MAC AIDS Fund." 11 October 2009. http://maccosmetics.com

Google Timeline, "History of Companies Supporting Causes" 11 October 2009. http://google.com

Huebner, Timothy S. "Civil rights Act of 1990." (2005) http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/10184-CivilRightsActof1991.html

"Americans With Disabilities Act." June 2009. Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington. http://www.mrsc.org/Subjects/Legal/ada/adainfo.aspx

"Abortion Right Activists March on Washington." 5 April 1992. This Day in History. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=4895

"1990: Freedom of Nelson Mandela." 11 February 1990. BBC On This Day. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid.2539000/2539947.stm

Richelson, Jeffrey T. "Operation Desert Storm." 17 January 2002. The National Security Archive. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB39/

Technology Movement

1990 - Windows 3.0 is introduced with advanced graphics and color

- Hubble Telescope is launched

1992 - The World Wide Web is released to the public

1996 - New tools become available for the textile industry

- Computer Aided Fabric Evaluation

- Rapid Cutting of textiles via lasers

-Electronically embedded fingerprint in the textiles

1997 - Pathfinder module lands on Mars

- Dolly the sheep is cloned

- First DVD movies are released

1998 - The IMAC is introduced

- The first MP3 player is released

The research on these social movements was split up evenly between all three Category Five members. Megan Pile researched 1990-1992, Carlin Sweitzer researched 1993-1995 and Hannah Montgomery researched 1996-1998.


References

"U.S.Robotics Launches Breakthrough Pocket-Size Connected Organizer for PC Users; New Pilot connected organizer includes comprehensive PIM software with built-in. one-touch PC connectivity and instant response for $299." Business Wire, 29 January 1996.

"Tracing the Role of Carbon Dioxide in Global Warming." Science and Technology Review (March 1998) p.14-20

"The Safe Disposal of Nuclear Waste." Science and Technology Review (March 1996) p.7-16

"Genetic Engineering." Encyclopedia of Modern American Social Issues, Ed. Kronenwetter, Michael. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc, 1997. p.127-128.

"High-Tech Tools for the American Textile Industry." Science and Technology Review (July 1996) p. 20-23

Johnson, Larence B. "For the DVD, Disney Magic May Be the Key." The New York Times. 07 September 1997. 09 October 2009. http://nytimes.com/1997/09/07/movies/for-the-dvd-disney-magic-may-be-the-key.html

"1990-Present" 1990. The World Wide Web. http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/www.html

July 1990-March 1991. 1990's Recession. http://recession.org.history/1990s-recession

1990 Windows 3.0. Windows History: Windows Desktop Products History. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/WinHistoryDesktop.mspx