National Cohesion Quotes



Few non-Arab Muslims would publicly admit this historical truth, and at the time this view was shocking to the most religious men in Turkey. However it resonated with many of the average citizens. The entire Arab world had been subject to and controlled by Turkey, and amongst the Turks, the backward Arabs, were not very popular and were historically seen as underdeveloped colonial subjects.


At the time he was probably sincere as the whites—especially the farmers—had a great deal of know-how and provided a backbone for the economy. However, as he lost popularity, in order to hang on to power, he established a dictatorship and 20 years later pitted the Blacks against the whites destroying the economy and the country in the process. See related quote.


This is a remarkable quotation. Cixi attributed the great success of the Western nations and their power to their democracy, This was a time that many in England and Europe were still struggling with the degree that democracy was desirable and even in America there were many who thought American success was in spite of democracy, not because of it. Ironically, this view was rejected after Cixi by the rulers of China who concluded that heavy central rule was required to keep China stable, Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Chek gave lip service to the desirability of long range democracy but maintained dictatorial rule and in Chiang’s case a very cruel and corrupt dictatorship as well. When Mao and his Communists ousted Chiang, the too rejected political democracy, and a century after this Chinese Empress pointed the way, China had still not “connected the ruled with the ruling”.