The articles selected for this assignment must reflect international perspectives (they must be from the media of at least TWO different nations.)
Note: if you haven't completed the first part of this project, please select a nation and move forward with this assignment anyway. I'll be happy to help you chose one - just ask!
- Locate and summarize three articles on the (1) issue you have chosen as it specifically relates to the issue/event you chose. Be sure to explain when and where this event had/is having the greatest impact, who is most directly affected by it.
- Explain how this event relates to the political system in place (or systems in conflict) of your nation of study
- Summarize the role of leaders in managing this issue. Evaluate his/her/ their role in relationship to this issue.
- Explain how this problem/event relates to the government case studies we’ve covered in class thus far (U.S., Iran, UK)
- Cite your three internet or printed articles in MLA format( http://www.easybib.com/ ) will format citations for you in MLA if you have the necessary information.
This assignment must meet a minimum of 600 words. It must be typed and may be either emailed to me, posted to the blog or submitted on paper.This will count as TWO blogs and follow the generic blog rubric that appears on the right side of this page under “blog rubric”.
Due: Wednesday December 3 before class.
5 bonus points will be added if you submit by Monday December 1.
OPTIONAL Extra Credit Assigment:Write a film synopsis and review of any of the following films:
In the Name of the Father
The Madness of King George
The Queen
Braveheart
Michael Collins
Directions:
1. Summarize the plot.
2. Explain what it reveals about the political history of the nations it relates to.
3. Draw connections between the film and the information you learned in one of our recent units. 4. Conclude by evaluating the film and stating whether or not you would recommend it to other Government students.
16 comments:
Mike Orr
C Block
Genocide- any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Today genocide is taking place around the world in Zimbabwe, Darfur, Rwanda, and many other places. Genocide is still today having the biggest impact in Sudan, Darfur. Everybody living in Darfur is at risk of being killed by the “Janjaweed”, which is a government-supported militia recruited from local Arab tribes. They mostly target family with little boys in them, and what they do is they will kill the family take the kid and completely brainwash them to become killers who are no longer afraid of anything, and recruit them into the Janjaweeds. The Genocide relates to my nation of study, because the nation I chose was Darfur, which is the place that the genocide has the biggest affect on today.
The Government in Darfur is completely ignoring this genocide. In fact, the U.S. government is doing more to try and stop the war than Sudan’s government, with evidence from this quote. “As long as this is a will and the decision of the (AU) commission to take protection forces for the monitors, we are not going to block it," Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told Reuters on Tuesday in Addis Ababa which is hosting an AU summit. "(Though) we'd prefer not to take this step now". This government does not seem eager to stop anything, any time soon. Sudan’s political system is in the hands of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and the first vice president Salva Kiir, and it is sad to say that the government cannot control what is going on in Darfur today. If something like this was happening in the US, it would be our governments first priority to stop the genocide so it does not affect any more people than it has already did. Omar Hassan al-Bashir as the president has the complete right to get his army to stop the janjaweeds, but instead the United Nations are taking over his job, and doing it for him while he sits back and does nothing to help. Having this man as a president is a disgrace in my eyes, and he should be taken out of office as soon as possible, alone with the first vise president Salva Kiir. If what they said is true about them not wanting to take that step now in managing the situation, then are they just going to wait until there’s no more citizens left in Darfur to do something? This has to be one of the worst political systems out there, because the government is not helping what so ever.
This situation can be closely related to what is going on in Iran. In Iran all of the innocent communist citizens are being captured, for doing nothing but fighting for their country, and what they believe in. These innocent people were taken to prison for years, where they would be beaten whipped, and some of them shot. Although the government knew many of the prisoners in jail could be useful in the war, and were most defiantly innocent, they did not do anything to get them released. The Government finally released citizens who were trained to fly fighter planes, but only people who can fly them. In other words the government does not care about the citizens who are not being treated correctly, unless the government can get some use out the people. In Both of these situations the Government does not care about the innocent citizens that are being killed or taken in. Over all these governments should be shut down and get taken over by the US. Things would be much better and citizens would be much happier.
The Cites I used are not allowed to be posted. I will have them in class tomorrow =D ...
P.S watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dchqJ7bhCBA&eurl=http://www.darfurscores.org/darfur&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dchqJ7bhCBA&eurl=http://www.darfurscores.org/darfur&feature=player_embedded
Justin Lefkowitz
C Block
Colombia is very well known for its terrorist activities. Whether it is the FARC or the different drug cartels, Colombia is one of the least talked about countries when it comes to terrorist activities.
The FARC stands for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia. In English, this translates to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The FARC, also known as the People’s Army, is the oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped insurgency of Marxist origin in South America. Established in 1964 by the Colombian Communist Party, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was originally created to defend the at the time Communist-controlled rural areas of Colombia.
According to the official website for Global Security, the FARC is known for many different terrorist activities including bombings, murder, mortar attacks, kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, as well as guerrilla and conventional military action against Colombian political, military, and economic targets.
As of June 2008, the FARC approximately had around 9,000 to 12,000 armed combatants and several thousand more supporters. Most of these supporters come from the rural areas of Colombia. With numbers like these, the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez should start to get worried. If he continues to do nothing with the FARC, his approval rating will go down even more than what it already has.
On November 29, 2008, the FARC attacked a Putumayo town. This attack left two people dead and over thirteen wounded. The FARC members who initiated the attack planned to take two businessmen hostage. In the eyes of the FARC, their attack was a great success. The FARC kidnapped the two businessmen that they planned on kidnapping. When the police arrived at the scene, the FARC detonated a bunch of explosives. In the end, one civilian dies and 10 other civilians were wounded.
The FARC is a large force that needs to be stopped. If the Colombian government doesn’t deal with them quickly, then the FARC might grow even larger than what it is. If the FARC continues to grow, then maybe they will become a terrorist group like the Taliban or Al Qaeda.
One of the Colombian politicians who have tried putting a stop to what the FARC has been doing is the former Colombian presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt. Ms. Betancourt was once kidnapped by the FARC, and luckily, the Colombian government worked out a deal to get her free.
Ingrid Betancourt is now on a new mission. He goal is to visit the different capitals of South America including Quito, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Brazil, La Paz and Caracas, and talk to the leaders and Presidents of each country about the FARC. Ms. Betancourt’s goal is to spread FARC awareness and relay the idea that the FARC, the region's largest and longest-fighting rebel force, must lay down their arms.
If FARC awareness is spread, then maybe more countries might work together to help put a stop to their terrorist activities. If the FARC is stopped, then Colombia will become a much safer country. This would help allow a boom in Colombian tourism. With this boom, the approval rating for President Alvaro Uribe Velez might rise once again.
On November 30, 2008, in an effort to win over the people of Colombia, the FARC chose to endorse the pyramid victims' anti-government protests in the southern Colombian Putumayo department. According to Colombia Reports and the President, the emerging of the pyramids is linked to terrorism. The Colombian President stated that the terrorists are trying to gain strength from the pyramid situation.
Through all of the research that I conducted, I have come to the conclusion that the FARC is a major terrorist group that must be dealt with. The FARC is a communist terrorist group that has caused many of the problems in South America. President Bush or future President Obama should work with the Colombian President to help fix the problem with terrorists in Colombia. Maybe the UN should deal with the FARC.
Works Cited:
Betancourt on a New Mission:
"Betancourt on a New Mission." Colombia Reports. 29 Nov. 2008. Colombia News. 30 Nov. 2008 http://www.colombiareports.com/colombian-news/news/2194-betancourt-on-a-new-mission.html.
FARC Attack Putumayo Town :
"FARC Attack Putumayo Town." Colombia Reports. 29 Nov. 2008. Colombia News. 30 Nov. 2008 http://www.colombiareports.com/colombian-news/news/2192-farc-attack-putumayo-town.html.
Uribe: FARC Endorses Pyramid Protests:
"Uribe: FARC Endorses Pyramid Protests." Colombia Reports. 30 Nov. 2008. Colombia News. 30 Nov. 2008 http://www.colombiareports.com/colombian-news/news/2195-uribe-farc-endorses-pyramid-protests.html.
Christopher Morawed
C- Block
History
War- An active struggle between competing entities. Lebanon has been in an ongoing war with its biggest competition, in Lebanon’s eyes, Israel. Throughout the years, Israel and Lebanon have been involved in many conflicts and have both suffered many casualties and buildings destroyed. Lebanon lost bridges and buildings in the once immaculate capital, Beirut.
The first article I found that relates to war is pertaining to Israel Hitting Lebanon, although they did go back and fourth with hits and bombs. The article is called Israel Hits Lebanon in new raids. In this article it states that seventeen civilians have been killed in southern Beirut. This bombing cut off the city of Tyre from access. On top of this, Hezbollah sent rockets and hit Israel. This happened a day after Israel hit Lebanon and fifteen people were killed in this bombing from Hezbollah. The conflicts that they endure are very violent and are done within days of attacking one another. Each side does not waste time to attack their opposing enemy. This relates to our studies in class because they will be meeting in New York with the United Nations to try and come up with a peace treaty to stop all the fighting because it is getting out of hand.
The second article I decided to summarize that also connects with my county that I chose for my project, Lebanon. This article is also about war and the title is 2006: Lebanon War. Hezbollah was again the object that instigated the fighting that occurred in the Middle East relations. Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed by Hezbollah and two soldiers were caught also by the infamous Hezbollah. This started a 33 day war. This was a big war where Hezbollah hit Israel with an immense amount of rockets and Israel countered by attacking Lebanese towns and villages. The war ended after thirty three days however it was not ended with a treaty of any sort. Hezbollah however was very much intact whereas this article does not say the status of Israel. Another factor also came into the picture when they accused Iran with arming Hezbollah. This relates to our studies of Iran because we learned how they were interested in having nuclear arms and having the most powerful arms.
The third and final article I chose to summarize about the beautiful mountainous region of Lebanon I chose to summarize is called U.K: ‘damaged’ by Lebanon War delay. This topic may stray a little off topic with war between Israel and Lebanon, however we were learning about the United Kingdom’s government and I thought this article might help out a lot with relating between the two. At this time that the article was published, Tony Blair was the Prime Minister and he was criticized for calling a cease fire between Israel and Lebanon. I thought this article would be very intuitive because of the effect it has on the United Kingdom. The U.K’s reputation was damaged when the war wasn’t ended quickly. Also for talking with Hamas; so they decided to stop talking with them for a while.
"UK 'damaged' by Lebanon war delay." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6940331.stm>.
"2006: Lebanon war." "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7381389.stm."
Loretta Au
Block C
Pollution, Water and Waste Management/Health Crisis
Brazil has a long history of natural disasters, especially floods. Due to heavy rainfall on November 21 in Southern Brazil, mainly landslides, has caused about an increasing 100 deaths and currently 40 missing. The death rate can reach a potential of 150. "There are still a lot of people buried under tons of mud, which slid down mountainsides like spilled chocolate pudding," said Santa Catarina public security chief Ronaldo Benedeti. It is believed that deadly mudslides are still a risk because a continuous drizzle saturates the earth. Almost 80,000 people have had to leave their homes. Nearly 79.000 are displaced, 41,000 of them in Itajai, Brazil, where rescue efforts are focused due to waters reaching 9 meters above normal. The mudslides have driven many people away from home. The landslides have ruptured a major gas line from Bolivia, cutting off supplies to the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
Police have been letting people take food and water from stores because of the ‘drive to steal.’ Instead, police have been patrolling businesses and homes during the night. These targeted thieves paddle canoes to loot abandoned homes. Many have refused to leave their house to prevent looters. "We're all guarding our houses, because there are a lot of robberies," Carvalho said. "They're breaking in and taking whatever they can grab."
Drinking water has been scarce, especially in disaster zones. There’s been an outbreak of leptospirosis, a disease spread b exposure of water contaminated with the urine of infected animals. The time between a person's exposure to a contaminated source and becoming sick is 2 days to 4 weeks. Illness usually begins abruptly with fever and other symptoms. Leptospirosis may occur in two phases; after the first phase, with fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, or diarrhea, the patient may recover for a time but become ill again. If a second phase occurs, it is more severe; the person may have kidney or liver failure or meningitis.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew over some of the flooded areas and proclaimed the disaster one of the worst in the country's history. "I've never seen anything like this," Lula da Silva said. There are six cities in the affected region that remain cut off, causing blocked roads making it difficult to distribute aid in areas. The flooding is having an economic effect, with bridges, roads, houses and buildings destroyed. Instead, aid is delivered through helicopter. Many of these cities have been declared disaster zones. Recently, these isolated cities have been reunited to civilization as workers cleared mounds of debris that blocked the highways. A state of emergency has been declared in Santa Catarina and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has offered federal help. The government has pledged over 1 billion dollars to states affected by the flooding. The government is also helping by handing out food in cities where thousands line up. Local fire stations have also been assisting in distributing beans and rice. The government airlifted supplies to the most affected areas of Santa Catarina while trucks came with donated food and clothes. However, some say that the aid took too long. "We need more medicine, food and clothes," Carvalho said. "We're really suffering and there's a lot of people who have nothing."
The natural crisis in Brazil is similar to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The water has led many people to be homeless. Like in Brazil, many looting was also witnessed. Some say the government was slow to help in Brazil, as the case in the US. After New Orleans was demolished by the hurricane, it took weeks for the government to bring aid.
CITATIONS HAVE BEEN EMAILED TO YOU
MAC
Health care in Canada is a big issue in the U.S that Americans are talking about. They feel that the U.S should adapt to the Canadian health system. In the Canadian system it is illegal to sell health care and it is illegal to sell insurance for health care. Health care for Canadians is free although seven percent of the nation pays for public health care. Canadians government is able to keep the cost of health are under control. Here’s a quote from Brian Lee Crowley “ But they’re not very successful at reducing costs, and indeed, if Canada hadn’t enjoyed very significant faster economic growth than the United States in the ’70s and ’80s, we would’ve had the most expensive health care system in the world. It was our faster economic growth that was keeping us afloat”.
The second article is about the healthcare crisis. People who fly to Canada are impressed at the free and first-class medical care available to Canadians, rich or poor. Most Canadians income is towards the health system, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The system is slowly going broke. As calculated, Ontario will pay 85% towards health care by 2035. According to the article “ In 1984 Parliament passed the Canada Health Act, which affirmed the federal government's commitment to provide mostly free health care to all, including the 200,000 immigrants arriving each year. The system is called Medicare (no relation to Medicare in the United States)”. Canada does not have fully nationalized health care so if they need care they can get it from the United States.
I looked to search for the world’s worst health care system and according to huppi.com and Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. does not have the best health care system in the world - it has the best emergency care system in the worst. Part of the reason is because America has the highest level of poverty and income inequality among all rich nations, and poverty affects one's health much more than the limited ministrations of a formal health care system. Europeans are healthier than Americans is because they have reduced poverty, especially child poverty. If America improves its health statistics, it doesn’t only have to pass universal health care, but reduce poverty as well. The U.S. ranked dead last in health care satisfaction and they have a lot to work on because their citizens are not happy with it.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, OECD Health Data, 1993; OECD Health Systems: Facts and Trends, 1993.
Remaining statistic charts listed in Where We Stand, by Michael Wolff, Peter Rutten, Albert Bayers III, and the World Rank Research Team (New York: Bantam Books, 1992)
Farooq Hussain
C-block
The topic I have chosen is child rights issues. This problem is the source from which many of our global society’s problems stem from. Child rights issues include education, labor and child soldier problems. In many of the countries where there is political, or social unrest the economical conditions of the country aren’t stable. These countries are so busy fighting civil and international wars, that many people from that country abandon their priorities such, work, education, and family to help quell the turbulence going on in the nation. Therein lies the problem, where many children have to abandon their rights to support their families. Many countries spend a lot of the aid and revenue on military requirements and developing the nations resources however many of these struggling countries fail to acknowledge one main problem. The government does not spend enough to develop the education level of the nation. This was stated by a correspondent of bbc news:
“If more children are educated in Pakistan, then they may be freer to think on their own, instead of being brain-washed to think a certain way, as with condoning radical jihadism and the Taleban. These type of issues begin with education, so part of the solution to Pakistan's current status may just be to educate its youth. Again, economic aid is needed for this as many people in Pakistan are quite poor.”
Ms Hussain, USA
“However there has to be strict accountability or else any amount of aid will come to nothing eventually……. the military cannot be expected to undermine its own interest by allowing for the welfare of the people to take priority over national security.”
Shehzad Shah, Pakistan
What people do not realize how lack of education affects a nation. Due to this lack of education, many of these fundamentalist leaders, terrorists, and extremist movements are able to brainwash and manipulate illiterate people. The nation I am planning to study is Pakistan, and it has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. This lack of education hinders the development of a nation as a whole. It creates a huge divide between people; the literate and well to do, and the illiterate impoverished ones. The illiterate and impoverished ones are not able to move forward in society, hence they resort to other methods of finding purpose or significance in their lives. Many parents due to adversity sell their children, as slaves to craftsman and farmers. Many send them off to work sacrificing their education, so they can provide for a family. Some of these unfortunate souls stray to the wrong path where they rebel against the government and world who ignored them. They resort to fundamentalist violence and extremist groups, such as the Al-Qaeda or The Taliban.
A prime example of the effects of illiteracy would be the recent election in pakistan. Many people voted for the PPP(Pakistan Peoples Party) although the dominant promising leader of that party was killed, Benazir Bhutto. People voted out of sympathy and pride for a party that had no promise without its patriarch. The new leader selected Asif Ali Zardari, is known, and was convicted for embezzlement of funds from the state, and also was alleged to be involved in the murder of benazirs brother. This turnout epitomizes the naivety and lack of rational though in the Pakistani people. Ahmed of Swat valley, Pakistan states his opinions about voting between the militant party and the democrats.
“If the army can clear the area the people here will like the army; if militants can maintain peace, they will like the militants. A few, who have no knowledge, are brainwashed by militants in the name of Islam.
Because of the lack of education, people don't know who is who and what is what.”
Zamzam of larkana, punjab voted for Benazir to show her loyal to a party, and did not think about her vote, or if it would be worth it. She quotes:
“Larkana, where I live, is the homeland of Benazir Bhutto and I will vote for her party even though she is not here.
That is what I feel the people of Larkana want.
This is because we feel great sympathy after her assassination. But also, if you look back at the history of Pakistan, you will come to know that she and her family, especially her father, were icons of democracy.”
As these children and youth are recruited by the extremist organizations, they are exposed to an anti-western and warlike culture early on in their lives, and since they have no education to rely on or help them reason the beliefs being taught to them, they accept them. These people tend to develop a resentment towards non-religious or fundamentalist. As they are brainwashed these people do not accept many of the new practices to better their lives, such as medication, birth control and higher education. They consider them misleading and sinful.
Many of these recruits instill the same values in the people they are surrounded by, and soon the belief spreads between many of the illiterate people, as the fundamentalism provides them a false sense of self-righteousness and importance in the world. These societies develop into communities and as the values and beliefs spread soon they sweep an entire province or state. To further strengthen their hold with in the region, they establish extremist institutions and provide the people with welfare according to “Islamic law” as interpreted by them.
Although many of the more developed nation support the war on terror they do not realize the main source of the problem; lack of education. They maybe able to provide military aid and funds to the pakistani forces however it has not helped them defeat or quell the extremist militant forces in the Islamic republics. Fighting fire with fire has helped no one, therefore I believe it is about time we try a new approach towards ending terrorism. Providing help and reason to these unfortunate people may help lower the growth of these organizations. It will help many poverty stricken societies become independent.
Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7719123.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7242883.stm
http://www.heritage.org/research/asiaandthepacific/hl1029.cfm
Howdyyyy
Pollution/Water & waste Management
Approximately 1.1 billion people have insufficient access to clean water. Furthermore, it is said that over 60 percent of infectious diseases are water born, especially due to the fact that one needs some form of water to survive. Millions a re killed from water contamination each year, with links to intestinal infections from untreated sewage or fecal matter. Unfortunately, most of the contamination occurs in minor countries where systems are made to deal with sewage. The people that inhabit these countries are doing it to themselves in way, by dumping their untreated sewage into the same lakes and rivers they themselves use for bathing and drinking. It's not that there is a scarce water supply, it's that the supplied water isn't clean.
All water is recycled from rain, in Brazil dreadful downfalls of rain have been sweeping away cites. Thus far, the rain and flooding has killed over 115 people. The rain which has caused mudslides and flood has wrecked towns, leaving over 80,000 homeless. On a brighter note, Brazil is getting help from their government. President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva of Brazil prays to God to terminate the rain. He feels the people's pain, and wants to stat rebuilding the cities as soon as possible. He plans to allow the government to give access to the people towards their unemployment accounts to reconstruct their lives. Also, he may give farmers loans to aid their farmland. Furthermore, Preseident Luiz announced the aid of $830 million from the government's emergency fund, and $1.5 billion loan money from the Federal bank. President Luiz is taking a careful and wise approach, and wants a study to go under way to figure out what caused that drastic rain. This event completely relates to the United States and Hurricane Katrina who ravaged New Orleans in 2005. In that case, our government and President reacted very poorly. It took days to get aid down there. Also, Bush and his government didn't do all that they could've done, they control this country they could've done anything to help! On the other hand, I believe that President Luiz handled his country's situation in a calm and respectful way. It proved how stabled his government is to be able to handle that kind of crisis in that amount of time, dissimilar to the US.
Due to this fluctuation of rainfall, water contamination has significantly risen. Over 30 million people in Brazil have been affected. With the increase of contamination and the decrease of clean water is an indication of water shortage. In other words, although there is ample water, is undrinkable since it's dirty. Thus, Brazil's water networks are being shut down in various cities. Luisa Riberio of the local environment group has been promoting communication and preparation of the people in the nation's water management. With the water networks being closed means less water for the people. Due to the rainfall and distribution of water, the alteration is less overwhelming. However, the people don't have their OWN access to water. Despite the 1975 Water Source Protection Act that restrict settlements around "watershed areas", people are settling in illegal areas along rivers to have access to water, which is causing deforestation. Due to this, water became more contaminated due to sewage run off. In addition, contaminated is more expensive, given all the chemicals to treat that water. The cost to distribute the water has risen, since more Brazilians have become dependent on it. Improvements are in the works, expanding water resources, improving distribution, avoiding leaks, and promoting reasonable water usage. This situation is similar to the US. All my life, I've learned of ways to save water, through school and mostly by my parents due to the water bill. Be reasonable with water saves an abundance of money. In Brazil and the US, all over the globe, if aggression towards nature doesn't stop then the world will! ALso, pollution, especially in water has too end. Governments everywhere, specifically Brazil spend so much money on making water drinkable, but don't redeem sanitation in around water an importance. If they did focus more of the surroundings of water, the government would be able to reduce cost of water and promote better health.
Brazil's federal political systems manage water resources by splitting it up into different cities around the country. Those cities have given the management over to the people. By doing so, "Decentralization" from central to local government occurs to enable to focus more on the public health. One of the ways it improves public health is by upgrading the water quality. Similar to the United States, Brazil's federal government has guidelines to promote standards of environmental policy. It's Federal Constitution allows counties of federal and states laws to be passed for the sake of the environment. Counties or cities are able to tax of fine for cause of pollution, similar to the United States, which you'll notice signs of NO POLLUTING.
Overall, this mostly relates to what we've been learning in class by its effectiveness of the people of that certain country. In this case, people are dying due to pollution but in Iran and America's case people are dying due to war. I actually find it surprising to learn that more people are dying from pollution then war. It just comes to show that the world is killing themselves off. We created sewage contamination which has caused too man deaths. We've created weapons and hatred that have cost the lives of innocent people.
xoxo
kg
Princess Kimberly
CLENDENNING, ALAN. "Brazil leader asks God to halt rains, proposes aid." 1 Dec. 2008. Santa Cruz Sentinel. 2 Dec. 2008 http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/world/ci_11111922.
Osava, Mario. "Environment-Brazil: Eye on Urban Water Pollution." Inter Press Services. 31 Oct. 2008. News Agency. 2 Dec. 2008 http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35308.
Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, and Molly Lipscomb. "Decentralization and Water Pollution Spillovers:." 30 Nov. 2007. University of Colorado/ Yale University. 2 Dec. 2008.
Paige Parker
G-block
Poverty:
The poverty issue is seeded from many other global concerns. The mixture of poor wages, the lack of decent health care, and inflation in almost all products is what generated the issues of poverty. Also developing nations are in debt and poverty due to the policies of international institutions such as the World Bank because they required poor nations to cut back spending of development, education, and health. They also urged impoverished nations to increase import and exportation. By doing so countries lose out because they export commodities and raw materials which are cheaper then finished products, and then will import finished product which are more costly. This leads to less circulation of money in their economy and is a partial reason for dependant economies and poor nations. In El Salvador there 43 of every 100 working are under-employed. The minimum monthly wage is currently 183 dollars in retail and services, less than 180 dollars in industry and 85.5 dollars in the rural sector. Many find it hard to take care of their basic needs with such a small wage. Southern Asia has decreased there poverty levels but there has been a rise in poor children health. The millennium goals pledge to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty,” by the year 2015. However If current trends continue, the Millennium Development goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Also India is not on track to meet half its goals by 2015. In contrast, In East Asia and Southeast Asia, the number of people living under the extreme poverty line dropped to 18 percent in 2005 from 56 percent in 1990.
MLA format cited work:
Lee, Melanie. "Asia poverty level down, child health poor-UN report." Reuters. 11 Sept. 2008.2 Dec. 2008 http://www.reuters.com/article/homepagecrisis/idussin182794._ch_.2400.
Shah, Anup. "Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty." Global Issues. 29 Oct. 2008. Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All. 2 Dec. 2008 http://www.globalissues.org/article/3/structural-adjustment-a-major-cause-of-poverty.
Gutiérrez, Raúl. "Shah, Anup. "Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty." Global Issues. 29 Oct. 2008. Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All. 2 Dec. 2008." IPS. The Story Underneath.2 Dec. 2008 http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43355.
Conrad Mallien
Block C
12/3/08
Through the centuries, the people of Ireland have been in turmoil about their government. This is due to the fact that in the thirteenth century, the British invaded Ireland. Ever since, the Irish and British have been at odds. However, in 1921, civil war had broken out in Ireland. One side was angry about the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and one was for it. This had split the country in two ways. The first split was through land, now instead of a whole Ireland, there was a North and South Ireland, much like during the American Civil War. Secondly, the Irish people themselves were divided against each other. The end result of the Irish Civil War was that the anti-treaty forces were defeated. Even though the civil war was over, the people are still divided. Even now, there are many hate crimes in Ireland and the north and south still can never agree on most things. Though, political leaders try to agree on things it still will be a long time before any progress will be made. One of the articles I read is about the Bloody Sunday shooting. The time period between 1966 and 1999 was one of the worst and bloodiest times in Ireland. In 1973, the IRA had gone on a rampage shooting innocent civilians out of protest, this was known as Bloody Sunday. Finally, on April 10th of 1998, an agreement was made between the government and the IRA. This was called Good Friday. Sadly, thirteen weeks later, the single worst atrocity was committed. This was called the Omagh Bombing. A car bomb was set off in a busy shopping plaza. The bomb killed twenty-nine people including a pregnant woman and wounded 300 others.
Conrad Mallien
Websites URL:
*http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/15/omagh.bombing.anniversary/index.html
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/5097948.stm
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/troubles/the_troubles_article_01.shtml
*http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/n.ireland/overview.html
The English translation to the word kasarinlan in tagalog means independence. Jose P. Rizal was one who will be remembered as a Philippine national hero, according to Rizal, "Instead of aspiring to be a mere province, aspire to be a nation; develop an independent not colonial mentality; resignation is not always a virtue it is a crime when it encourages oppression. There are no tyrants where there are no slaves." The Philippine Islands went through numerous wars such as the Philippine Revolution, the Spanish-American War and the Philippine American War, until they gained their independent nation. During the 16th century it’s said that Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, claimed the island as Spain’s territory. Two decades later, Ruy López de Villalobos was sent to expedition the islands, calling them “Las Islas Felipinas” which is why it’s called the Philippine Islands. In 1565, the father of the Spanish colony in the Philippines, who would be Miguel López de Legazpi resided on the islands, marking Manila as the capital in 1571 and a Spanish City. By the 19th century, the Philippines became a province of Spain. Through numerous wars the Philippines has risen to become it’s own supporting nation.
Most third world countries deal significantly with the same problems, pollution, water and waste management, and poverty, the Philippines being one of them. The Philippines is an archipelago made up of over seven thousand islands and islets equaling 298,170 square kilometers. A goal set in the year 2000, of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for 2015 was to ensure environmental sustainability. In 2006, of those 298,170 square kilometers, fifty percent are shown to be classified forest land ; established timberland, established forest reserves, national parks, civil reservations, military reservations and fishponds. Three percent was shown as unclassified forest land while forty seven percent was alienable and disposable land. September 23rd of 2008, the United Nations Headquarters, located in New York City met to discuss the progress of these tasks. According to Goal 7’s fact sheet, “About 2.8 billion people, representing more than forty percent of the world’s population, live in river basins with some form of way scarcity. More than 1.2 billion of them live under conditions of physical water scarcity.” With the help of Green Empowerment, over one thousand dollars was raised so women and children on the island of Negros would have to walk down steep or dangerous hillsides in order to collect water. By donating $107 - $250 would bring clean running water to thousands of people in thirteen villages to encourage watershed conservations within these communities. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the current president of the Philippines also encourages the Philippines to become a clean and green nation. The World Bank states, “despite its government’s good intentions, rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization have far outstripped urban environment services and weak natural resource management systems have led to rapid degradation of those environments, too.” Poverty, another issue the Philippines encounters, like the United States, millions of civilians live under the poverty line. In the Philippines children younger than the age of ten but over the age of four, stand in the air polluted roads chancing cars down for money at red lights, and selling things like handmade potholders, baskets, candy, fruit and cigarettes to make money for their families.
CIA World Factbook. 20 Nov. 2008. 1 Dec. 2008 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/rp.html.
Forest Management Bureau. 2006. 31 Nov. 2008 http://forestry.denr.gov.ph/.
Global Giving Green. 25 Aug. 2008. 1 Dec. 2008 http://www.globalgiving.com/cb/green//pr/2000/proj1931a.html.
The United Nation. Sept. 2000. 1 Dec. 2008 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.
The United Nations. 25 Sept. 2008. 1 Dec. 2008 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/newsroom/goal%207%20final.pdf.
The World Bank. 2 Dec. 2008 http://web.worldbank.org/wbsite/external/countries/eastasiapacificext/philippinesextn/0,,menupk:332988~pagepk:141159~pipk:141110~thesitepk:332982,00.html.
Genocide,although harsh is a reality that most people face due to the cruelty of their tyrannical leaders. Inorder for a situation to be declared a genocide it must “According to the Genocide Convention of 1948, the crime of genocide is "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” Due to the genocide in darfur 400,000 people were killed by militia hired by the government. The president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, if found guilty will be charged with cause of genocide. Al-Bashir has denied the accusations and so have many of his supporters. Some Sudanese people believe that the situation going on in Darfur isnt enough to be called genocide.
Sudan is a nation known for it’s strong arabic influence, oil, and genocide. The Genocide in Darfur isnt the first bloody mishap to occur in Sudan. Sudan was colonized by the U.K but in 1956, they fought for independence. Due to it’s geographic location(Sudan is south of Egypt and borders the red sea which is apart of the middle east) sudan’s culture is strongly influenced by that of the middle east. In the 1970s, a civil war broke out in Sudan between the north and the south. The north of sudan was more influenced by the middle east while southerners were against anything arabic. This war ended in 1972 but occurred again in 1983. In 2003, rebellious groups performed acts against the government because they werent getting enough economical support. The sudanese government saw this as a threat and hired the Janjaweed(arabic militia) to kill civilians in Darfur. The Janjaweed have been said to commit rape,mass murder, and destruction to the people in Darfur.
Recently in the summer of 2008, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sent out a warrant for Al- Bashir’s arrest. “The prosecutor has since gathered evidence of the horrendous conditions of life in the camps, as well as the Sudanese government's obstruction of humanitarian relief aimed at the camps. This is fully consistent with the conclusion that the Sudanese government, acting together with the Janjaweed, sought to destroy the targeted groups in whole or in part.” Without evidence Al- Bashir couldn’t be tried in court because he has many supporters. The sudanese government has also made it imposible for anyone to record the mishaps of Darfur. If the conflicts in Sudan do not fully comply with the Genocide convention of 1948 than it will be impossible for the proscutor to issue a warrant for Al- Bashir’s arrest. The supporters of Al- Bashir have disagreed with the accusations. “A senior official in Sudan's security apparatus Sunday called the possible prosecution a "catastrophe," a "big mistake."Definitely, the rebels will try to capitalize on this," the official said. "No one will talk about the peace process anymore."What do you expect the rebels to say if the president is indicted? [They] will say, 'Let us see what happens before we enter into any serious negotiations,'" the official added. "So it produces a stalemate."
Although, the rebel groups performed acts against the government there was no need for genocide against poor helpless people. Instead of trying to wipe out the people in Darfur thhe sudanese government should have sought help from other nations or shared their wealth with the southern parts of Sudan. The conflict between whether or not Omar Al- Bashir is a criminal, will be solved as soon as the rest of the world is aware of the mishaps.
http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/11/28/genocide_in_darfur_let_the_court_decide/?page=full
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/07/13/darfur.welcome/index.html
Post a Comment