DBQ Middle Ages Essay

The Middle ages began after the fall of the Roman Empire. It can be defined as a time of minimal cultural and scientific achievements, suffering, feudalism, and power of the church. The labels for the Middle Ages that best describe the era between 500 and 1400 in Europe are the Dark Ages, the Age of Feudalism, and the Age of Faith. The Middle Ages should be labeled the Dark Ages because of the years of suffering that was inflicted from invasions. Invaders, usually from the North, would come into towns and completely lay waste to everything. These invasions made people live in fear and abandon their homes in refuge of safer places. In document one, â€Å"They sacked town and village and laid waste the fields†¦there is no longer any trade, only unceasing terror†¦the people have gone to cower in the depths of the forest or inaccessible regions.† Besides people’s homes being destroyed from invasions, many people were killed and their belongings and even loved ones taken. In document 3, â€Å"842, in this year there was a great slaughter in London and Quentavic and Rochester†¦843 the Northmen, with their boats filled with booty, including both men and goods, return to their own country.† The Dark Ages has a negative connotation to it, so this label rightly matches the terrible inv asions that occurred leaving families devastated. The Middle Ages should also be labeled the Age of Feudalism because of the absence of imperial authority that was replaced by local political organization known as the feudal system. The feudal system was based on loyalty and obligations between landlords in their vassals. In exchange for protection and land (fiefs) from the Lord, the vassle gave the Lord his loyalty, military service, and ransom if needed, as shown in the feudal obligations of document 4. After the fall of the Roman Empire, its territories in Europe had to protect themselves from outside invaders. To do this, these local kingdoms gave land to those willing to send knights in order to protect the kingdom. In Document two John of Toul is a vassle to the count and countess of Champagne and takes the Homage Oath, â€Å"I, john of Toul†¦will send to the Count and Countess of Champagne the knights who is service I owed to them for this fief which I hold.† Without the loyalty and service from the vassals to the landlord, the feudal system would crumble  leaving that territory defenseless against invaders and rival kingdoms. Finally, the Middle Ages should be labeled the age of faith because of the solid organization and power the Catholic Church demonstrated. The power of the church can merely be seen through its cathedrals as shown in document 10. A lot of money, materials, and labor were required to build the cathedral and only a wealthy and powerful organization could build them. The church even tried to limit warfare between landlords by decreeing days of peace when no battles or attacks could occur. In document 5, the Church believes in the word of God and called for the observance of the Truce of God, â€Å"on every Sunday, Friday, and Saturday, and on feast days no one may commit murder, arson, robbery, or assault.† Besides power, the Catholic Church had a lot of influence over people. Some people gave up the life they knew to follow God and join a monastic order. This is evident in document 8, an excerpt adapted from monastic vows taken by a brother that had an ordinary life but gave it up for a life with God. â€Å"I renounce my own will for the will of God†¦I accept all hardships of the monastic life†¦I promise to remain a monk in this monastery.† The calling of Crusades by the church shows its influence it had over people even in times of war. Pope Urban II was the head of the Catholic Church and he believed it was God’s will to call for a crusade to recapture the holy lands. In document 9, â€Å"your brethren of the Middle East are in urgent need of your help†¦the Turks and Arabs have attacked†¦they have occupied more and more of the lands of the Christians.† Document 8 shows the church’s religious influence while document 9 shows its political influence. In conclusion the Dark Ages, the Age of Feudalism, and the Age of Faith are labels that best describes the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages were low on cultural and scientific achievements and lived off of the knowledge from civilizations before them. Document 6, â€Å"it performs the function of the knowledge and treasures of what had come before.† Its output of creativity and originality did not in any way surpass the turmoil from invasions, political organization from feudalism, or the power of the church, to be known as a golden age. Document 7, â€Å"medieval culture was in perfect, was restricted to a narrow circle of superior minds.† To better understand that  the Middle Ages produced a low amount of cultural and scientific achievements I would need an additional document of a list of achievements produced during this era. I would be able to compare this to other achievements produced in civilizations during their Golden Age.

American Interventions Since World War Ii Essay

Since 1940, the United States has a long history of foreign interventions, long since leaving behind its former isolationism. Its motives have included the urge to fight fascist aggression, the desire to contain communism’s spread (and protect American economic interests), and preserving American access to plentiful Middle Eastern oil. Before December 1941, much of the American public favored isolation from world affairs, especially in the wake of World War I, to many a pointless conflict. However, others looked warily at the spread of fascism and militarism in Europe and eastern Asia. President Franklin Roosevelt believed by 1938 that the conflict would eventually draw in the United States, and he wanted to assist the United Kingdom in its war against Germany (which it fought with virtually no help beyond American aid programs like Lend-Lease). Roosevelt, aware that many Americans were wary of another futile war, framed the conflict in moral terms, presenting Hitler’s fascism and Japan’s militarism as evils that needed eradication by the forces of democracy. He cautiously began preparing the nation for war by expanding the armed forces and defense economy, aiding the British, and imposing embargoes on oil and metal sales to Japan, vainly hoping that Japan’s military-run government would desist from its aggressive expansion throughout eastern Asia. The Cold War began almost immediately after World War II, giving the United States no real opportunity to revert to isolationism. By mid-1945, the Soviet army had already occupied much of eastern and central Europe, claiming its right to â€Å"buffer nations† and using a dying Roosevelt’s agreement at Yalta to justify their domination of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and much of the Balkan region. Very quickly, the Soviet Union began expanding its assisting communist rebels in various nations, and the United States saw a threat not only to its own dominance but also to capitalist economies abroad (many tied to American economic interests). Aware that much of Europe was devastated and impoverished by the war (and thus vulnerable to Soviet influence), the Truman administration actively intervened in European affairs with aid packages like the Marshall Plan, the Truman doctrine (which led to American intervention in Greece and Turkey, where communist insurgents actively sought control and the British were unable to cope), and the creation of NATO as a military response to the Soviets. The Cold War also drove the United States to intervene further in Asia, after the communist takeover in China in 1949 and the outbreak of hostilities between North and South Korea in 1950 (which turned into a sort of proxy war between the United States and China). After a cease-fire halted the Korean conflict in 1953 (indeed, it has not officially ended and American troops remain there in large numbers), the United States followed the policy of containment, initially outlined in 1946 by George Kennan NSC-68 document. Accepting the existence of both the Soviet Union and China, American policy aimed to prevent communist expansion into other nations, particularly the newly-independent Third World nations that had been European colonies before 1945. This often involved behind-the-scenes support of various regimes (sometimes democratic, often authoritarian and repressive) Though Lyndon Johnson framed the Vietnam War in Cold War terms, using the â€Å"domino theory† to argue that halting communism in southeast Asia was pivotally important, the conflict’s roots lay in the mid-1940s, when the Vietnamese declared independence from France and fought an eight-year war for liberation, ending with France’s defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The United States, which began providing aid to France as early as 1950, increasingly viewed Vietnam’s fight to reunify under Ho Chi Minh through the lens of Cold War thinking, and Johnson approached the war as a battle against communist expansion, rather than as a guerrilla war for national liberation and unity. In the Middle East, American interventions generally concerned both the region’s rich oil supplies and the nation of Israel, whose independence the United States recognized within minutes of its declaration in 1948. American support for Israel was motivated in part by Truman’s sympathy for the Jews, given their horrific experiences under Nazism) complicated relations with Arab states and incurred long-lasting Arab mistrust of the United States. In addition, the United States (being the world’s largest oil consumer) was eager to protect the region’s vast oil fields from the Soviets and drove the United States to support dictators such as the Shah of Iran and later Iraq’s Saddam Hussein – with negative consequences in both cases. When communism ended as an international threat, American leadership increasingly viewed Arab extremism as the new threat to its hegemony. The Gulf War of 1990-1991 grew from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, which upset the region’s political status quo and jeopardized the West’s access to Kuwaiti oil. The current conflict in Iraq is a continuation of this, as well as an effort to assert American authority in a region which has long regarded the United States with suspicion and disdain. Economic and geopolitical motives were the chief factors behind American interventions abroad after 1940. The United States entered World War II to fight fascist aggression and expansion, while the Cold War was a struggle against both growing communist influence and the resulting threats to global capitalism and Vietnam transformed from efforts to help a colonial power to a Cold War fight. Finally, American activity in the Middle East has been motivated by a desire to keep the region a stable and dependable source of oil, as well as a desire to combat Muslim extremists aiming to undermine American domination. REFERENCES Boyer, Paul S. et al. The Enduring Vision. Third edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Goldfield, David et al. The American Journey. Third edition. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005.

Jan Steens Wine is a Mocker painting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jan Steens Wine is a Mocker painting - Essay Example In addition, the title leads the viewer to identify it in a day to day context. At the same time, the real meaning is still hidden beneath the artist’s individual freedom to mock at the hypocrisy of human beings. Besides, the painting can be evaluated as a torn out page from real life with full of pain and grief. Thesis statement: The elements of design that can be seen in Jane Steen’s painting Wine is a Mocker prove that the work is comical but its theme, appearance, portrayal of life and message proves to be a serious work (special references to the elements of design). Theme The theme is simple because it deals with the human attempt to escape from problems in day to day life. Some people consider that consumption of alcohol is helpful to have temporary escape from the real world. But the escape is momentary and the real world is still there. In the painting, one can see a drunken lady and four children trying to help her. One of the most important elements of design made use by the artist in the painting Wine is a Mocker (see appendix -1) is point. To be specific, the artist provided ample importance to simple elements in the work. For example, the dog in the work is an unimportant element but it symbolizes life in the street. In the work, except the children, no one is ready to help the woman. ... The crafty usage of space helps the viewer to perceive the painting as two dimensional. The appearance of women The appearance of the women in the painting proves that she belongs to the lower strata of the society. This is important because it reveals the artist’s sympathy towards the downtrodden. The texture of the painting is smooth because it is painted in oil on canvas. One can see that the drunken woman’s appearance, especially her dress, reveals her character. One can see that the value (from grey color to black color) of the art work proves that the artist gives ample importance to black color and its different shades like light black and grey. The importance given to black and its shades prove that the artist selected the same to veil the humorous theme and to unveil seriousness. The drunken woman’s dress reveals that she is so conscious about her dressing. If a drunkard is in rugged dress, none will try to laugh at him or her. When a well dressed indivi dual is under the influence of alcohol, all the people will laugh at him or her. The dominating colors in the art work are black, grey, red and white. The combination of these colors binds the different elements of the artist’s craftsmanship to an appealing art work. The drunken woman’s dress and appearance does not help her to escape from the comments of the mass. When one considers the basic principles of design, it is evident that the drunken woman is the focal point of the art work. All the other characters in the background and foreground organizes the two dimensional structure of the art work. Besides, all the other individuals that can be seen in the art work are

Child Labour Result Of Globalization Research Paper

Child Labour Result Of Globalization - Research Paper Example Child labor leads to violation of natural right of human beings, is unethical, increases poverty, damages the image of a nation and organization and causes health issues for children. Child labor is promoted because of its short term benefits including, decrease in poverty, increase and increase in economic development. This paper will discuss the impact of globalization on child labor, the consequences associated with it and the arguments in the favor of child labor along with a conclusion. Globalization Promotes Child Labor Introduction International labor organization defines child labor as tasks that are denying children with the right to have a childhood and tasks that are not good for the mental and physical health of the children (International Labor Organization (a), 2013). Globalization leads to increase in exchange of goods, services and ideas between different countries (Ritzer, 2012). Cigno states that increase in globalization has resulted in heavy debate over whether gl obalization is increasing or decreasing the incidences of child labor (Cigno, 2002). Those in the favor of globalization believe that globalization leads to decrease in child labor. ... They state that if parents perceive that the return of education is lower than the return gained through their child’s labor, they tend to send their children for work. Globalization leads to increase in incidences of child labor and child labor should not be practiced because it deprives children from deciding what is good and bad for them, it promotes poverty and intervenes in the cognitive and physical development of children, children are made to work in hazardous conditions, child labor is unethical and destroys the image of the nation that is practicing it. Body Globalization as a Cause of Child Labor Globalization has been held responsible for increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. World Bank states that the per capita income throughout the world of developed nations was 120 times higher than the poor nations during 1990 and this gap increased by 2 times within a period of 9 years (Raghavan, 2002). Since globalization leads to increase in the level of inequal ity as well as poverty, it even results in increased usage of child labor. According to the Government of India, a huge portion of the work that was paid and conducted outside the households have shifted to work that is being conducted within the households. Due to this, several activities such as making of carpets, matches and glass are conducted within the household and heavy populations of children are involved in this work. According to Kailash Satyarthi as the profits obtained from the international market rises, the use of child labor even increases and this is why there has been a tremendous amount of increase in the number of children working in industries that are export oriented in

Legal systems in Western countries recognize Essay

Legal systems in Western countries recognize - Essay Example Draft Introduction: Legal systems in Western countries recognize equal protection of the law. Therefore equality is not an issue.1 However, equality in practice cannot always be achieved as the equal rights of one group can conflict with the equal rights of another. (Discuss the purpose of equality laws and the tensions that can arise between sex-based rights and faith based rights). The UK recognized sexual orientation as a new sex-based right worthy of equal protection of the law.2 The expansion of sex-based equalities under the Equality Act 2010 is flawed however. Identify the purpose of the essay. Hypothesis: the Equality Act 2010, is a reminder of the tensions between the recognition and protection of equal rights in favour of one group against another.3 Faith-based and Sexuality-based Equality Laws The most common tensions between faith-based and sexuality-based equality laws is the rights of gays to the equal protection of the law and freedom of religion which generally includ es the right to discriminate against gays particularly the right to oppose same-sex unions and adoptions.

Policing of Aboriginal Communities with Emphasis on Canadian Policing Essay

Policing of Aboriginal Communities with Emphasis on Canadian Policing Examples. - Urban and Rural Differences in Policing in Canada and at large to be examined - Essay Example In Canada, aboriginal policing came into being a professional, reliable and responsible government body with the introduction of the First Nations Policing Policy (FNPP) in June 1991. The objective of First Nations Policing Policy is to provide aboriginal communities of Canada social security, order and individual safety on the basis of cost-shared funding by federal and provincial governments. It is aboriginal communities choice either to develop their personal police service or opt for a police service provided by a contingent of First Nations officers. The Aboriginal Policing Directorate ensures policing that is answerable to the desires of aboriginal people residing in rural and urban areas. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – the Canadian national police service has its Aboriginal Policing Branch that prepares culturally alert policing services agreeable to aboriginal people. It takes into confidence aboriginal organizations to come up to their needs and expectations. The RCMP absorbs aboriginal people in its recruitment and plans problem-specific programs relevant to aboriginal communities needs. Some of the programs include RCMP Aboriginal Youth Training Program (AYTP), Community Suicide Intervention Program, and First Nations Community Policing Service (FNCPS). The Community Policing Model is the result of severe criticism of the traditional model of policing, which was not sufficiently equipped to deal with the issues of aboriginal communities. Now, communities get support from the police in managing their risks. Both work hand-in-hand to solve the crime and law & order problems created by local inhabitants. In the Community Policing Model, the police don’t behave irrationally to cope up with law & order issues; it takes proactive steps to recognize and remedy, to establish peace. The police intervenes in the dialogue process to know the opinion of the community on touchy issues, first by holding general level

Disorder Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Disorder Paper - Essay Example The patient sees her thin body as fat. The patient starves oneself until the body weight dangerously drops lower than the normal weight of the average person, in accordance with one’s height. The psychological problem occurs when the patients starve themselves by taking only water diets, just like what Karen Carpenter did. The body is deprived of its need for solid food. With Karen Carpenter’s death, eating problems, such as Anorexia Nervosa, was scrutinized and well discussed in the press and in society (Lucas, 2004). The patient must do what society requires (to be thin) in order to be accepted (Simpson, 2002). Alexander Lucas (Lucas, 2004;3) emphasized â€Å"Hilde Bruch called anorexia nervosa a new disease that selectively befalls the young, the rich, and the beautiful. The widespread publicity that revolved around the disease—anorexia nervosa—in the 1970s awakened us to its existence and made it seem that an epidemic had begun. Some anorexic women are indeed rich and beautiful.† The author mentioned patients of the emotionally dysfunctional Anorexia Nervosa eating disorder include teenage girls living in a family having average income (Goozen, 2004). Many of the patients do not relate beauty with one’s weight. The disorder is third most prevalent chronic illness among teenage women. However the disease also affects women who are older. The disorder cropped up because of society’s impression that â€Å"thin is in†. However, starting one self of nutrition can precipitate to osteoporosis, a bone ailment (Golden, 2010). Further, Helen Malson (1998;112) reiterated â€Å"The thin body thus sustains a multiplicity of meanings and may signify a variety of (often conflicting) subjectivities. The discursive and physical management of the thin/anorexic body and the discursive struggle over its meanings can thus be understood as a management of identity. The

Where Do You See Yourself In 4 Years As An Elementary School Teacher Essay

Where Do You See Yourself In 4 Years As An Elementary School Teacher - Essay Example By learning I do not mean gaining in-depth knowledge of a subject or becoming a master in many fields. By this, I mean learning to understand the psyche of a rebellious 12-year-old or a shy first grader. Every student has his/her own special needs and a teacher is duty bound to identify those needs. Understanding young children do not happen through listening to lectures or analyzing books on child psychology. It can only be brought about by experience and patience while interacting on a one to one basis with the children you are working with. I intend to work towards building the confidence of my pupils, first of all in themselves, so they will always know that no goal is unreachable, and secondly in me so they will positively respond to my suggestions and advice. During my years as a student, I have always responded well to only those teachers who, apart from being excellent in their teaching, were also genuine. Many teachers undermine the perceptive powers of their students assumi ng that they can get away with just cursory replies to queries and in doing so unconsciously lose respect and faith of the children. Genuinely being interested and devoted to all of my students is my primary objective. In addition to earning their trust, I will also be able to easily make them pay heed to me. After all, it is easier to control a class with love than with a rod. A rod can indeed quite a noisy class but cannot make the minds attune to what is being taught. A holistic approach instead of a completely academic approach is required to reach out to the students, especially at such an impressionable age. Further, students at all levels have considerable attention deficit (not the syndrome) and at the elementary level more so. To keep them engaged throughout an entire period is quite a challenge in itself. In order to accomplish that I will put into practice a thoroughly interactive and imaginative approach.

Status of Women Empowerment in India Essay Example for Free

Status of Women Empowerment in India Essay Presented By Ankur Sharma Faculty:Institute of Rural Management, Jodhpur Meaning of Empowerment: On an individual level we see empowerment as building confidence, insight and understanding, and developing personal skills, for example, being able to analyze situations and communicate more effectively with others. Meaning of Women Empowerment:Women Empowerment means to inspire women with the courage to break free from the chains of limiting beliefs, patterns and societal or religious conditions that have traditionally kept women suppressed and unable to realize their true beauty and power. Women Empowerment In India:However indian economy is progressing in terms of GDP Per Capita Income but still women empowerment is a big concern for our country.Still conditions of womens are pathetic in our countries. There are many areas where we have to think about seriously should be taken positive steps to eridicate such kind of sociel evils from our society.As being an part of society,its our duty that we should also contribute to the society try to bring awareness among people.we should not underestimate womens just not only the basis of Physical strenth.Rather they are equally competent to us even in terms of their intellectual power or in terms of there emotional intellegence.Here we are discussing some major areas that requires a big concern: Domestic Violance: Domestic violence in India is endemic and widespread predominantly against women. Around 70% of women in India are victims to domestic violence according to Renuka Chowdhury junior minister for women and child development. National Crime Records Bureau reveal that a crime against a women is committed every three minutes, a women is raped every 29 minutes, a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes and one case of cruelty committed by either the husband or relative of the victim. | Domestic violence in India often happens as a result of dowry demands.According to Unicefs Global Report Card on Adolescents 2012, 57% boys in India think a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife while around 53% girls think that a husband is justified in beating his wife.Domestic violence is known to happen in Upper Class families as well as NRI families. Gender Discrimnation: Infancy to childhood The cultural construct of Indian society which reinforces gender bias against women, has led to the continuation of India’s strong preference for male children. Female infanticide, a sex-selective abortion, is adopted and strongly reflects the low status of Indian women. Census 2011 shows a decline of girl population under the age of seven, with activists estimating that eight million female fetuses may have been aborted in the past decade.The 2005 census shows infant mortality figures for females and males are 61 and 56, respectively, out of 1000 live births, with females more likely to be aborted than males due to biased attitudes. A decline in the sex ratio was observed with India’s 2011 census reporting that it stands at 914 females against 1,000 males, a drop from 927 in 2001 the lowest since India’s independence. The demand for sons among wealthy parents is being satisfied by the medical community through the provision of illegal services of fetal sex-determination and sex-selective abortion. The financial incentive for physicians to undertake this illegal activity seems to be far greater than the penalties associated with breaking the law. Childhood to adulthood (education): Education is not widely attained by the Indian women. Although literacy rates are increasing, female literacy rates lags behind the male literacy rate. Literacy Rate Census of India 2001 and 2011 Comparison Literacy for females stands at 65.46%, compared to 82.14% for males.An underlying factor for such low literacy rates are parents perceptions that education for girls are a waste of resources as their daughters would eventually live with their husbands families and they will not benefit directly from the education investment. Adulthood and onwards: Discrimination against women has contributed to gender wage differentials, with Indian women on average earning 64% of what their male counterparts earn for the same occupation and level of qualification. Discrimination against women has led to their lack of autonomy and authority. Although equal rights are given to women, it may not be well recognized. In practice, land and property rights are weakly enforced, with customary laws widely practiced in rural areas. Women do not own property under their own names  and usually do not have any inheritance rights to obtain a share of parental property. Education and economic development: According to 1992-93 figures, only 9.2% of the households in India were female-headed. However, approximately 35% of the households below the poverty line were found to be female-headed. Education: Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate.Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out.According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars, the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy. Under Non-Formal Education programme (NFE), about 40% of the centres in states and 10% of the centres in UTs are exclusively reserved for females. As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE centres were catering to about 7.42 million children, out of which about 0.12 million were exclusively for girls. urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys. According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless). Workforce participation: Contrary to the common perception, a large percent of women in India work. The National data collection agencies accept the fact that there is a serious under-estimation of womens contribution as workers. However, there are far fewer women in the paid workforce than there are men. In urban India Women have impressive number in the workforce. As an example at software industry 30% of the workforce is female.They are at par with their male counterparts in terms of wages, position at the work place. In rural India, agriculture and allied industrial sectors employ as much as 89.5% of the total female labour. In overall farm production, womens average contribution is estimated at 55% to 66% of the total labour. According to a  1991 World Bank report, women accounted for 94% of total employment in dairy production in India. Women constitute 51% of the total employed in forest-based small-scale enterprises. One of the most famous female business success stories is the Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad. In 2006, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw,who started Biocon one of Indias first biotech companies, was rated Indias richest woman. Lalita D. Gupte and Kalpana Morparia were the only businesswomen in India who made the list of the Forbes Worlds Most Powerful Women in 2006. Chanda Kochher Indias second-largest bank, ICICI Bank, and Morparia is the CEO of JPMorgan India. Land and property rights: In most Indian families, women do not own any property in their own names, and do not get a share of parental property.Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property.In fact, some of the laws discriminate against women, when it comes to land and property rights. The Hindu personal laws of mid-1956s (applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains) gave women rights to inheritance. However, the sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but the son will continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing marital harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home. After amendment of Hindu laws in 2005, now women in have been provided the same status as that of men. Crimes against women: Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010.Earlier, many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. Official statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women. Acid Throwing: The Thomas Reuters Foundation survey says that India is the fourth most  dangerous place in the world for women to live in as women belonging to any class, caste or creed and religion can be victims of this cruel form of violence and disfigurement, a premeditated crime intended to kill or maim her permanently and act as a lesson to put her in her place. In India, acid attacks on women who dared to refuse a mans proposal of marriage or asked for a divorce are a form of revenge. Acid is cheap and easily available and is the quickest way to destroy a womans life. The number of acid attacks have been rising. Sexual harassment: Half of the total number of crimes against women reported in 1990 related to molestation and harassment at the workplace. Eve teasing is a euphemism used for sexual harassment or molestation of women by men. Many activists blame the rising incidents of sexual harassment against women on the influence of Western culture. In 1987, The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner. In 1997, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of India took a strong stand against sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The Court also laid down detailed guidelines for prevention and redressal of grievances. The National Commission for Women subsequently elaborated these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers. Dowry: In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, making the dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However, many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides and murders have been reported. In the 1980s, numerous such cases were reported. In 1985, the Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the bride and bridegroom) rules were framed. According to these rules, a signed list of presents given at the time of the marriage to the bride and the bridegroom should be maintained. The list should contain a brief description of each present, its approximate value, the name of whoever has given the present and his/her relationship to the person. However, such rules are hardly enforced. A 1997 report claimed that at least 5,000 women die each year because of dowry deaths, and at least a dozen die each day in kitchen fires thought to be intentional. The term for this is bride burning and is criticized within India itself.  Amongst the urban educated, such dowry abuse has reduced considerably. Child marriage: Child marriage has been traditionally prevalent in India and continues to this day. Historically, young girls would live with their parents until they reached puberty. In the past, the child widows were condemned to a life of great agony, shaving heads, living in isolation, and shunned by the society.Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is still a common practice. According to UNICEF’s â€Å"State of the World’s Children-2009† report, 47% of Indias women aged 20–24 were married before the legal age of 18, with 56% in rural areas.The report also showed that 40% of the worlds child marriages occur in India. Female infanticides and sex selective abortions: India has a highly masculine sex ratio, the chief reason being that many women die before reaching adulthood.Tribal societies in India have a less masculine sex ratio than all other caste groups. This, in spite of the fact that tribal communities have far lower levels of income, literacy and health facilities.It is therefore suggested by many experts, that the highly masculine sex ratio in India can be attributed to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions. Ultrasound scans have been a major leap forward in the care of mother and baby, and with them becoming portable, these advantages have spread to rural populations. However, ultrasound scans can often reveal the sex of the baby, allowing pregnant women to decide to abort female foetuses and try again for a male child. This practice is usually considered to be the main reason for the change in the ratio of male to female children being born. In 1994 the Indian government passed a law forbidding women or their families from asking about the sex of the baby after an ultrasound scan (or any other test which would yield that information) and also expressly forbade doctors or any other staff from giving that information. However, in practice this law (like the one forbidding dowries) is widely ignored, and levels of the abortion on female foetuses remain high and the sex ratio at birth keeps getting worse. Female infanticide (killing of girl infants) is still prevalent in some rural areas.Sometimes this is infanticide by neglect, for example families may not spend money on critical medicines or even just by withholding care from a  sick girl. The abuse of the dowry tradition has been one of the main reasons for sex-selective abortions and female infanticides in India. Trafficking: The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was passed in 1956. However many cases of trafficking of young girls and women have been reported. These women are either forced into prostitution, domestic work or child labour. Other concerns: Health: The average female life expectancy today in India is low compared to many countries, but it has shown gradual improvement over the years. In many families, especially rural ones, the girls and women face nutritional discrimination within the family, and are anaemic and malnourished. The maternal mortality in India is the second highest in the world. Only 42% of births in the country are supervised by health professionals. Most women deliver with help from women in the family who often lack the skills and resources to save the mothers life if it is in danger. According to UNDP Human Development Report (1997), 88% of pregnant women (age 15-49) were found to be suffering from anaemia. Family planning: The average woman in rural areas of India has little or no control over her reproductivity. Women, particularly women in rural areas, do not have access to safe and self-controlled methods of contraception. The public health system emphasises permanent methods like sterilisation, or long-term methods like IUDs that do not need follow-up. Sterilization accounts for more than 75% of total contraception, with female sterilisation accounting for almost 95% of all sterilisations. Sex ratios: India has a highly skewed sex ratio this is attributed to the practice of sex selective abortions which kills approximately one million baby girls per year.The government stated that India is missing three million girls in 2011 and there are now 48 fewer girls per 1,000 boys than there were in 1981. Sanitation: In 2011 a Right to Pee (as called by the media) campaign began in Mumbai, Indias largest city.Women, but not men, have to pay to urinate in Mumbai, despite regulations against this practice. Women have also been sexually assaulted while urinating in fields.Thus, activists have collected more than 50,000 signatures supporting their demands that the local government stop charging women to urinate, build more toilets, keep them clean, provide sanitary napkins and a trash can, and hire female attendants.In response, city officials have agreed to build hundreds of public toilets for women in Mumbai, and some local legislators are now promising to build toilets for women in every one of their districts. Notable Indian women: Education: Savitribai Phule was a social reformer who along with her husband, Mahatma Jotiba Phule played an important role in improving womens rights in India during the British Rule. Savitribai was the first female teacher of the first womens school in India and also considered as the pioneer of modern Marathi poetry. In 1852 she opened a school for Untouchable girls. Arts and entertainment: Singers and vocalists such as M.S. Subbulakshmi, Gangubai Hangal, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle are widely revered in India. Anjolie Ela Menon is one of the famous painters. Sports: Although the general sports scenario in India is not very good, some Indian women have made notable achievements in the field. Some of the famous female sportspersons in Indian include P. T. Usha, J. J. Shobha (athletics), Kunjarani Devi (weightlifting), Diana Edulji (cricket), Saina Nehwal (badminton), Koneru Hampi (chess) and Sania Mirza (tennis). Female Olympic medalists from India include weightlifter Karnam Malleswari (bronze, 2000), Saina Nehwal (bronze, 2012), and boxer Mary Kom (bronze, 2012). Politics: Through the Panchayat Raj institutions, over a million women have actively entered political life in India.As per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, all local elected bodies reserve one-third of their seats for women. Although the percentages of women in various levels of political activity has risen considerably, women are still under-represented in  governance and decisionmaking positions. Literature: Many well-known women writers are in Indian literature as poets and story writers. Sarojini Naidu, Kamala Surayya, Shobha De, Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai are some of them. Sarojini Naidu is called the nightingale of India. Arundhati Roy was awarded the Booker Prize (Man Booker Prize) for her novel The God of Small Things. we have to understand that without empowering women in india we can not compete amongest developed countries.Most of the women thinks that if they are getting respect in family or from husband,they are empowered.But this misconception should be removed from our society. Women in India feel proud to display that they are well protected and pampered by their husbands without realizing that they are making themselves helpless. Such womens economic literacy is so low that they cannot play any role in familys decision regarding familys budget, savings and investments. To such women, the national budget discussion is for men only and soap operas are for them. Such women su ffer a lot if something untoward happens to their husbands. This type of extreme dependency is not good for the development of women. Women should remember that they are also rational, intelligent and thinking human beings. Dependent women are not empowered women. If modern women think that they are empowered, its a myth for them. Empowerment means to inspire women with he courage to break free from the chains of limiting beliefs, patterns and societal or religious conditions that have traditionally kept women suppressed and unable to realize their true beauty and power. In India, the empowerment process has already begun. We are now witnessing a steady improvement in the enrollment of women in schools, colleges and even in profession institutes. Their health is better as compared to earlier decades. In this decade, women are entering into the job market in increasing numbers. They are showing their skills even in non-traditional sectors like police, defence, administration, media and research fields. Twenty-six laws have been enacted so far to protect women from various crimes. The recent law on the protection of women against domestic violence satisfies the long pending demand of the women activities. In the political field, the reservation for women is a significant step forward towards their political empowerment. When thirty-three percent reservation for women in Parliament becomes a reality,  womens voice will be heard in the highest forum of democracy. The day, women of India will reach zenith in their empowerment. But a lot of work has to be done as there is a category of women (who consider themselves highly educated) that proudly accepts that they dont have digital literacy even though they own a computer, they cannot even operate bank accounts or make travel arrangements for family or handle hospital admissions even during emergencies. Even for a simple task like social visits or shopping generally they need the company of their husbands. Conclusions: Empowerment by itself may not place women on an equal footing with men. The greatest need of the hour is change of social attitude to women. Take the classic case of dowry. Dowry is still rampant in a virulent form even among the highly educated a girl may be, dowry is still demanded. Women’s empowerment means a lot, but the ultimate goal of the equalization of man and woman would materialize only when her complementary role is recognized by the society. Sources: A)Women in India: wikipedia.org/wiki B)Publish your Article.com,Writer : MrMaahir Virani C)Data for Domestic ViolanceMrs Renuka Chowdhery,Junior Minister for Women Child Development. D)Data for Education and Economic Development:National Sample survey data 1997. E) Workforce Particiaption:1991 World Bank Report. F)Acid Throwing:The Thomas Reuters Foundation Survey.

The McDonalds Corporation Essay Example for Free

The McDonalds Corporation Essay McDonald’s serves nearly 69 million customers everyday in 119 countries and employs more than 1.8 million people across the globe in corporate and restaurant positions. Â  The McDonalds restaurante began in 1940 as a BBQ eatery by Richard and Maurice McDonald. The present corporation that is McDonalds dates the founding back to 1955, when the first franchised restaurante was built in Des Plaines, IL by Ray Kroc. Presently, there sits 1 President/CEO along with 15 other board member to make up the McDonalds Corporation. Don Thompson took over as acting President/CEO of McDonalds in June of 2011 his board members include: Tim Fenton, Jose Armario, Peter Bensen, Rick Colon, Richard Floersch, Doug Goare, Dave Hoffman, Jim Johannsan, Edgardo Navarro, Kevin Newell, Steve Plotkin, Lee Renz, Gloria Santana, Jeff Stratton and Fred Turner. Headquarters are located in Oak Brook, IL and areas of influence include 119 countries, ranging from California to the Asian Pacific. McDonalds operates about 35,000 restaurantes worldwide and is worth an estimated 15.15 billion dollars. The main operations of McDonalds include: Indoor/Outdoor seating, counter and drive thru service, Auto-mac and McDrive pay.To accommodate the current trend for high quality coffee and the popularity of coffee shops in general, McDonalds introduced McCafe, a cafe style eatery to McDonalds restaurants in the style of starbucks. McCafe is a concept created by McDonalds Australia, starting with Melbourne in 1993. Today, most McDonalds in Australia have McCafes located within the existing McDonalds restaurant. In Tasmania, there are McCafes in every store, with the rest of the states quickly following suit. After upgrading to the new McCafe look and feel, some Australian stores have noticed up to a 60% increase in sales. As of the end of 2003 there were over 600 McCafes worldwide. Also meeting the latest trend of convenience McDonalds employed the McStop and McExpress, which are commonly located in Wal-Marts, back of Malls and shopping centers, Convenient stores/truck stops and gas stations. McDonalds brand mission is to be our customers favorite place and way to eat. Our worldwide operations are aligned around a global strategy called the Plan to Win, which center on an exceptional customer experience – People, Products, Place, Price and Promotion. We are committed to continuously improving our operations and enhancing our customers experience.

Impact of Climate Change on African Countries

Impact of Climate Change on African Countries The Effects of Climate Change on Volatile African Countries In the fall of 2015, United States Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders received an onslaught of criticism when he attributed the rise of terrorism, and the series of Paris terrorist attacks that had just left 130 dead, to climate change. Immediately following the presidential debate, numerous reputable political pundits, from Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan, to Republican Senator and former Chairman of Homeland Security Ron Johnson, voiced their disagreements with Sanders’ claim. In fact, soon after the debate ended, Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee was interviewed saying, â€Å"I get disappointed when people see momentum around [climate change] and try to attach an unrelated issue to it.†[1]  (Henry, 2015) In fact, in December of that same year, Foreign Policy magazine, a political journal revered for its impartiality, published an article titled, â€Å"Stop Saying Climate Change Causes War† refuting both Sanders’ claim, and others that sou ght to connect climate change to the still ongoing devastating Syrian Civil War. While Sanders’ cause-and-effect relationship may have been exaggerated, the relationship between extreme weather events, temperature anomalies, and violence is neither baseless nor uncorroborated. In fact, over the last half-decade, numerous studies have been released substantiating the linkage between climate change and armed conflict. In a 2017 study produced by the Brookings Institution, author Vesselin Popovski found that â€Å"a 1 percent increase in temperature leads to a 4.5 percent increase in civil war in the same year, and a 0.9 percent increase in the following year†Ã‚  (Popovski, 2017)   Just a year later, author Robinson Meyer of The Atlantic discovered that out of the ten countries most frequently mentioned in climate change literature, six of them also hold positions in the list of the world’s most violent countries.  (Meyer, 2018) While there is still little evid ence to support Sanders’ grandiose claim that climate change triggered the proliferation of terrorism in the 21st century, it is becoming increasingly evident that climate change will not just slightly alter current standards of living. The rise in temperature has inadvertently begun to promote civil unrest and violence in some of the most underdeveloped regions of the world. In order to theorize possible mitigation and adaptation strategies, it is important to recognize both the ramifications of climate change, and the role that industrialized countries have played in contributing to this global temperature increase. According to author Lynn Hewlett, whose chapter â€Å"Learning from Student Protests in Sub-Saharan Africa,† featured in Fees Must Fall, explains simply, â€Å"the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas creates carbon dioxide gas†¦ which traps the sun’s heart in the atmosphere and makes the earth warmer†Ã‚  (Lynn Hewlett, 2015)   Although the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report of a per-decade temperature increase of 0.2 °C may seem negligible, the consequences of climate change are difficult to overlook.  (IPCC Working Groups I-III, 2015) Escalating temperatures resulting from greenhouse gas emissions not only deplete natural resources such as arable land, potable water, and breathable air. The abnormal temperature rise over the past half-century has also contributed to rising sea levels, a global biodiversity loss, and more frequent extreme weather events, from prolonged droughts to incessant rainfall. Although there is still some debate surrounding human contribution to climate change, most climate change experts agree that humans are at least partially responsible for the stark temperature rise. According to a study conducted by Yale University in 2013, over 97% of 12,000 peer-reviewed papers on climate change argue that the temperature increase is indeed at least partially attributable to anthropogenic greenhouse emissions. (Marlon, 2013)   More disturbingly, however, is the role that industrialized nations, such as the United States and Germany, rapidly developing countries including India and China, and transnational corporations have all played in producing this environmental catastrophe. As reported in the 2017 Carbon Majors Database, a peer-reviewed study which compiled and recorded companies with the most greenhouse gas emissions, â€Å"over half of global industrial emissions since 1988 can be traced to just 25 corporate and state producers.†Ã‚  (Griffin, 2017) Despite the influence that industrialized nations and the currently modernizing BRICS countries have had on the current climate system, the brunt of climate variability has thus far fallen largely on African shoulders. Natural resources which were at one point plentiful throughout the continent have diminished greatly over the past half-century, which has led to desertification, widespread crop failure, and even violence. In his article, â€Å"’Who Wins from â€Å"Climate Apartheid?’ African Climate Justice Narratives about the Paris COP 21† author Patrick Bond points out that inland Africa is uniquely susceptible to climate change, which is projected to warm 6-7 °C by the end of the century, more than two degrees greater than the anticipated greater world average.  (Bond, 2016) Author Christian Parenti offers similar statistics to illustrate African susceptibility to climate change. As a member of the Maasai people living in Kenya explains, â€Å"In the 1970s, we started having droughts every seven years†¦ Now they are coming almost every year, right across the country.†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , Chapter 4, 2011)   Yet, as Patrick Bond and others argue, nascent African countries are vulnerable to the effects climate change not because of their location, but rather because of the lack of the infrastructure and resources that allow countries to face constantly changing environmental conditions. These issues are only intensified in Africa by pervasive government corruption and political instability. For example, although farming is the main source of employment for greater than 60% of the continent’s inhabitants, African malnourishment has worsened with each passing year.  (The World Bank, 2018) African farmers simply lack the funds to acquire high-yielding techniques, and are not provided with adequate infrastructure systems to produce sustainable quantities of food in unfavorable climates. Furthermore, African countries eager to cement their places in the global economy often impose pro-investment policies that prioritize multinational commercial agriculture over small-scale subsist ence farming. As the example above illustrates, many African countries exemplify what author Christian Parenti calls â€Å"Catastrophic Convergence:† a phenomenon where political, economic, and environmental disasters collide, compound, and amplify one another’s effects.  (Parenti C. , 2011) In these â€Å"conflict systems,† climate change generates violence in many forms, such as intrastate conflict between competing tribes, looting and piracy of Transnational Corporations, and mass demonstrations protesting environmentally destructive African governments. The long-term rise in global temperature, coupled with the recent preponderance of extreme weather events, has induced a natural resource deprivation across the globe. In fact, Parenti estimates that by the end of the century, the proportion of land in severe drought will expand from 3% to 30%. (Parenti C. , 2011) Therefore, ownership, allocation, and management of these increasingly scarce resources has become an issue of the utmost importance for countries and tribes across the globe. In vulnerable African states that lack basic infrastructural needs, however, this competition over access to remaining natural resources has erupted into armed conflict. In his 2011 book titled, Topics of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence, author Christian Parenti explains how climate change can induce violence by illuminating the current strife between the Turkana and the Pokot, two competing groups living in Kenya’s Pastoralist Corridor. For tribes living in the Pastoral ist Corridor, a mountainous and arid region in Western Kenya, cattle are the economic and cultural center of life. Yet, without water and adequate grazing land, Parenti writes, â€Å"the Turkana would disappear. â€Å"they would die or migrate to cities and their culture would exist only in the memories of deracinated urban slum dwellers.†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , 2011) Due to the area’s regular droughts and flash floods, coupled with deficient adaptation policies imposed by the Kenyan government, pastoralist groups are left no choice but to raid their neighbors and engage in violent behavior just to ensure their own future livelihoods. While it is difficult to estimate how many men have fallen in the Pastoralist corridor fighting over limiting resources, Parenti’s interviews of Kenyan pastoralists highlight the pervasiveness of climate-induced violence in these already tumultuous African states. Former Kenyan pastoralist Lucas Airong lost both his father and friends w hen he was a young boy by way of the Kenyan cattle wars. Although Ariong is now a local NGO leader, and is far removed from the Pastoralist Corridor, he still owns â€Å"about 50 cows†¦ all kept under the watchful eyes of armed men, his sons, and hired hands.†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , 2011) Since the Kenyan government has proven incapable of providing sufficient watering holes and adequate irrigation systems, local tribes such as the Turkana and Pokot are left no other choice but to engage in violent behavior. The diminishing supply of natural resources has the ability to spark both small-scale tribal clashes, such as in the Pastoralist Corridor, and large-scale civil wars, as illustrated by the most recent humanitarian crisis currently unfolding between the Christian anti-balaka rebels and the Muslim former Sà ©là ©ka rebels in the Central African Republic. Although no current CAR casualty report exists, the Associated Press reported in December of 2014, just seven months after the armed conflict began, that at least 5,186 fatalities were caused by the strife between the anti-balaka and the ex-Sà ©là ©ka factions.  (The Associated Press, 2014) While religious differences and the desire for political control were undoubtedly factors in instigating this conflict, former CAR Minister of Environment and Ecology and current CAR liaison for the World Resource Institute Paul Doko is one of many who attribute the ongoing Central African Republic civil war to resource scarcity. â€Å"What w e have been facing in the provinces,† Doko claims, â€Å"is a struggle between different militia for control over natural resources such as diamond, timber, ivory and others, rather than willingness to actually change politics.†Ã‚  (Bollen, 2013) In these remote provinces outside of the capital of Bengui, the feud over the country’s remaining resources has had devastating effects on local communities. Sà ©là ©ka commanders have forcefully removed, and even slaughtered, CAR citizens for control over the country’s â€Å"artisan timber exploitation, ivory poaching, and diamond mines.†Ã‚  (Bollen, 2013) Similar to the Pastoralist Corridor, armed conflict over natural resources is facilitated by the country’s weak governance and rampant poverty. In this politically fragile state, access to the country’s remaining natural resources is a critical step in attaining political influence and achieving economic prosperity. Climate change has also fostered violence between African locals and foreign corporations that exploit African workers and extract African resources. In their article titled, â€Å"Globalization, Land Grabbing, and the Present-Day Colonial State in Uganda: Ecolonization and Its Impact,† authors Pà ¡draig Carmody and David Taylor argue that the depletion of natural resources has increased their overall economic, social and political value in the global economy, which in turn has caused â€Å"ecolonization,† a phrase coined by the two authors which refers to the â€Å"ongoing colonization of different types of natural resources by those states, companies, and consumers that are able to exercise power in the global political economy†Ã‚  (Carmody & Taylor, 2016)   Due to continent’s largely untapped resource market and each country’s eagerness to finally enter the global economy, Africa has become one of the most popular destinations for foreign inve stment. Yet, this mass influx of foreign governments and transnational corporations (TNCs) has created resentment among many already impoverished and malnourished African communities. In resource-rich countries such as Somalia and Nigeria, locals have responded to the arrival of outside corporations with acts of looting, robbing, and piracy. In a 2014 journal study titled, â€Å"Fisheries, ecosystem justice and piracy: A case study of Somalia,† authors Rashid Sumalia and Mahamudu Bawumia argue that the recent rise in piracy off the coast of Somalia is the result of the destruction of the local fishing industry caused by increased foreign fishing presence, ineffective state governance, and unregulated toxic waste dumping. Foreign trawlers often overfish and, because of weak government enforcement of environmental policies, are allowed to dispose toxic and hazardous waste into Somalian waters. This in turn not only reduces the supply of available fish for Somalian natives, but also threatens the ecosystem’s future availability. (Sumaila & Bawumia, 2014) Confronted with increasingly barren fisheries, Somalian fishers, unable to overcome corporate technology and capital, are provided no other alternative but to engage in theft and piracy. This ongoing conflict between foreign entities and Somalian locals has made the Somalian coast the most dangerous body of water worldwide, closely trailed by the Niger Delta.  (Gaffey, 2016) With a crude oil production capacity of close to 2.5 million barrels a day, Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, and the sixth largest worldwide. Although the Niger Delta accounts for 90% of all Nigerian commercial crude exports, and makes up close to 70% of the government’s total revenue, the region remains one of the most dangerous in the world.  (NNPC, 2016) While government officials, Nigerian elites, and major Transnational Corporations such as Shell, Mobil, and Chevron all reap the economic benefits of crude oil extraction, the vast majority of Niger Delta inhabitants still live in abject poverty. To make matters worse, crude oil extraction has subsequently led to greater pollution in the river basin, the widespread destruction of subsistence crops, and the expropriation of residential territory. The unequal distribution of oil revenue, the blatant disregard for environmental preservation, and the policies preferential to multinational corporations have all led to the emergence of multiple militant organizations in the Niger Delta. While these militancy groups differ in composition and extremity, they all employ violent tactics to achieve the same goal: a greater control over the country’s limited resources. (Francis & Sardesai, 2008) Lastly, in recent years, grassroots protests have arisen in several African countries in an attempt to combat environmentally destructive governmental policies. Having been hampered by colonialism for decades, many African governments are now employing â€Å"top-down development models† that concentrate on expanding industrial modes of production as a way to cement their place in the global economy.  (Leonard & Pelling, 2010) While such policies will certainly help propel national economies in the long term, they tend to relegate certain, already marginalized, African communities. Such marginalization and ensuing protest is most apparent in Kenya, and in the Darfur region of western Sudan. In her publication titled, ‘‘’It’s More Than Planting Trees, It’s Planting Ideas’: Ecofeminist Praxis in the Green Belt Movement,† author Kathleen Hunt points to the Green Belt Movement, a nationwide environmental campaign in Kenya, to illustra te the role that African citizens frequently play in protesting environmental and political oppression. The Green Belt Movement (GBM) was established by Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai as a means to protest the country’s latest model of economic development, which relies heavily on trading the country’s already limited unsustainable resources, like timber, charcoal, and coffee. Hunt explains that such policies, which are not unique to Kenya alone but characterize much of the African continent, favor â€Å"national trade of raw materials over local community economies.† (Hunt, 2014) According to Hunt, Kenya’s keenness to enter the world market has both exacerbated local food insecurity and caused â€Å"deforestation, soil erosion, sedimentation†¦ [and] migratory shifts, as men moved in search for work in the white settlers’ plantation.†Ã‚  (Hunt, 2014) While these policies have indisputably afflicted the nation’s pop ulation as a whole, the Green Belt Movement has primarily focused on ensuring the rights of Kenyan women, who have traditionally been in charge of â€Å"managing the family’s land, food production, gathering water and fuelwood.†Ã‚  (Hunt, 2014) Established in 1977, the Green Belt Movement hasn’t only combatted environmental degradation through public demonstrations, however. Rather, the movement places an equally large focus on empowering Kenyan villages, from teaching locals how to properly plant trees to hosting community-wide engagement seminars. Despite the organization’s holistic and empowering approach, the movement has indeed encountered a considerable amount of violence throughout its history. Once the Green Belt Movement adopted a pro-democracy message to its platform, the Kenyan government began to use state force in order to stop the dissemination of their message. This was most apparent in 1992 when GBM forces joined fellow pro-democratic grou p, Release Political Prisoners (RPP), to protest the unjust torturing and indefinite holding of political detainees. While the demonstration was originally planned as a three-day sit-in on Uhuru Park, the two allied groups immediately encountered police violence. Fighting off the police’s tear gas and batons, many GBM and RPP members remained in the park for over eleven months.  (Hunt, 2014) Although the violence encountered at Uhuru Park was an anomaly for the Green Belt Movement, more frequent displays of violence stemming from environmentally destructive national policies can be found in the Darfur region of Sudan. With an almost entirely Arab population and government, Sudan Arab semi-nomadic pastoralists and non-Arab sedentary farmers have long shared the region’s natural resources. Yet, over the past half-century tensions have heightened as climate unpredictability has forced the two groups to compete over shrinking grazing land and evaporating watering holes. The current day humanitarian crisis, however, began in April of 2003, when a rebel group comprised of non-Arab members attacked El Fashir airport in North Darkur.  (Sikainga, 2009) This attack was the culmination of numerous non-Arab demonstrations advocating for better resource distribution and greater political representation in the Sudanese government. In response to this attack, president Omar al-Bashir acted swiftly, employing numerous autonomous militias to suppress non-Arab rebel groups. One ethnically Arab group, known as the Janjaweed, employed particularly heinous tactics to combat their non-Arab counterparts, including torture, arson, looting, and mass killings, deemed by many as â€Å"ethnic genocide.†Ã‚  (Human Rights Watch, Africa Division, 2004-2005) While the Darfur region has historically been volatile, this particular resource-related conflict, which pit marginalized sedentary farmers against the predominantly Muslim Sundanese government and its hired militias, has been deemed one of the worst humanitarian crises in the last century, killing more than 300,000 citizens and displacing more than 2 million (Taylor, 2005) If the immediate ramifications of climate change, such as desertification, droughts and food insecurity weren’t enough already to compel state actors to institute environmentally friendly policies, the examples listed above, from Kenya’s Pastoralist Corridor to Sudan’s Darfur, hopefully serve to illustrate the true gravity of unabated greenhouse gas emissions. Currently one-sixth of the world’s population is starving, and with global temperatures expected to rise anywhere from 4-6 °C by the end of the century, one can only assume the consequences of climate change will intensify in the near future.  (Holt-Gimà ©nez) In order to reduce malnutrition, maintain our current levels of biodiversity, and stop resource related conflicts altogether, major polluters and African countries must agree to sweeping and stringent reforms. Although mitigation strategies, which seek to drastically cut the production of greenhouse gasses through the implementation of gre en energy and the disengagement from the industrialized economy, are preferred by environmental activists worldwide, they have proven to be ineffective thus far, as Annex I countries, rapidly developing BRIC countries, and African central governments all refuse to make economic concessions in the name of environmental preservation.  (Jacobs, 2018) This was best illustrated at the 2011 Copenhagen Conference of the Parties (COP), an annual meeting between all member nations of the UNFCCC. The only agreement crafted at the conference, in which the United States, Brazil, South Africa, India, and China all decided to take â€Å"inadequate and voluntary emission cuts,† was conducted behind closed doors.  (Bond, 2016) The industrialized world’s stubborn refusal to include African countries in the decision-making process has been a recurring theme in nearly all environmental negotiations. The Paris Agreement of 2015, for example, did not even mention â€Å"climate debtâ⠂¬  payment for vulnerable countries, even though many African countries are already owed reparations for the damage levied by local climates.  (Bond, 2016) While occidental countries should be reprimanded for their unwillingness to take environmental action, it is important to note that African governments are also partially to blame for perpetuating climate change. Primarily concerned with enhancing the national economy, African governments have repeatedly favored large-scale corporations over local industries. This partiality manifests itself most clearly in the coastal city of Durban, South Africa.   Although the Durban population has expressed its vehement disapproval through frequent demonstrations and protests, the South African government has continued to invest in foreign industries nevertheless. As authors Llewellyn Leonard and Mark Pelling write, â€Å"state and industry interests [in Durban, South Africa] have continued to invest in projects that harm the local env ironment and human health† (Leonard & Pelling, 2010) This widespread government reluctance to reduce carbon emissions has rendered most proposed mitigation solutions, like La Via Campesina’s global food sovereignty movement, unfeasible. In his report titled â€Å"Seven Reasons Why the World Banks Plan for Agriculture Will Not Help Small Farmers,† author Eric Holt-Gimà ©nez explains how promoting global food sovereignty could help ameliorate food insecurity and resource deprivation facing African nations today. Providing citizens with the right to â€Å"determine [their own] food and agriculture policies† will not only keep local malnutrition from worsening, Holt-Gimà ©nez argues, but will also hinder transnational corporations from inflating commodity prices to unreasonable levels. (Holt-Gimà ©nez, Williams, & Hachmyer, 2015) Although an effective policy in theory, global food sovereignty hinges on rural and urban communities agreeing to directly exchange products and policymakers deciding to cut out transnation al corporations from the food supply chain. This course of action seems unlikely in Africa’s current economic climate, however. Challenging the TNC dominated neoliberal market will not only take decades to achieve, but will also severely impede on long-term national growth. Even though mitigation strategies such as reducing CO2 emissions and excluding transnational corporations from the global food supply chain are unlikely to be effective, climate-change induced conflict will decrease nonetheless if African communities are well adapted to fluctuating environmental conditions. Ensuring African resilience begins with the implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture and increased infrastructural support from NGOs and already developed nations. Rather than just simply advocating for emissions reductions, Climate-Smart Agriculture promotes resilience among African communities by providing farmers with new technology and agricultural techniques, such as â€Å"mulching, intercropping, conservation agriculture, crop rotation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The World Bank, 2013). While Climate-Smart Agriculture will certainly help attenuate the problems plaguing Africa today, infrastructural improvement is also required to curtail resource related conflict. In fact, when asked how to solve tribal violence in the Pastoralist Corridor, Lucas Airong responded with, â€Å"more wells. We need boreholes†¦ the issue is drought†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , 2011). Although both of these solutions require a collective and concerted effort on behalf of developed countries, they are more moderate than the mitigation plans rejected in the past. Even though these policies are mere strawman solutions and do not address the root cause of climate change, adaptation strategies are undeniably the best way to guarantee that the world’s most vulnerable nations are at least prepared to combat the consequences of climate change. Bibliography Bollen, A. (2013, December 18). Natural resources at the heart of CAR crisis. Retrieved from New Internationalist: https://newint.org/blog/2013/12/18/central-african-republic-natural-resources Bond, P. (2016, Winter). Who Wins from Climate Apartheid? African Climate Justice Narratives about the Paris COP 21. New Politics, pp. 83-90. Carmody, P., & Taylor, D. (2016). Globalization, Land grabbing and the Present Day Colonial State in Uganda: Ecolonization and its impact. Journal of Environment and Development, 100-126. Francis, P., & Sardesai, S. (2008). Republic of Nigeria: Niger Delta Social and Conflict Analysis. The World Bank. Gaffey, C. (2016, May 4). WHY WEST AFRICA AND NIGERIA HAVE THE WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS SEAS. Retrieved from News Week: http://www.newsweek.com/why-west-africa-and-nigeria-have-worlds-deadliest-seas-455714 Griffin, D. P. (2017, July 10). CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017. Snowmass: Climate Accountability Institute. Retrieved from Carbon Majors Database: https://www.cdp.net/en/articles/media/new-report-shows-just-100-companies-are-source-of-over-70-of-emissions Henry, D. (2015, November 11). GOP senators rip Sanders for linking global terror, climate change. Retrieved from The Hill: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/260465-gop-senators-rip-sanders-for-linking-terror-climate Holt-Gimà ©nez, E., Williams, J., & Hachmyer, C. (2015, Winter). Why The World Banks Plan for Agriculture will not help small farmers. Food First Backgrounder, 21(3). Human Rights Watch, Africa Division. (2004-2005). Entrenching Impunity Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur. Human Rights Watch. Hunt, K. (2014, July-August). Its More Than Planting Trees, Its Planting Ideas: Ecofeminist praxis in the Green Belt Movement. Southern Communication Journal, 79(3), 235-249. IPCC Working Groups I-III. (2015). IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Cambridge: Cambridge Unviersity Press. Jacobs, R. (2018). Slide 11. Climate Change and Resource Conflict. Leonard, L., & Pelling, M. (2010, February). Mobilisation and protest: environmental justice in Durban, South Africa. Local Environment, 15(2), pp. 137-151. Lynn Hewlett, G. M. (2015, December). Learning from student protest in Sub Saharan Africa. Fees Must Fall: Student Revolt, Decolonization and Governance in South Africa(43/44), 148-168. Marlon, J. L. (2013). Scientific and Public Perspectives on Climate Change. New Haven: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Meyer, R. (2018, February 12). Does Climate Change Cause More War? Retrieved from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/does-climate-change-cause-more-war/553040/ NNPC. (2016). Oil Production. Retrieved from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation: http://www.nnpcgroup.com/nnpcbusiness/upstreamventures/oilproduction.aspx Parenti, C. (2011). Chapter 4. In C. Parenti, Tropics of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence (pp. 39-53). New York: Nation Books. Popovski, V. (2017, January 20). Foresight Africa viewpoint: Does climate change cause conflict? Retrieved from Brookings Institute: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2017/01/20/does-climate-change-cause-conflict/ Sikainga, A. (2009, February). The Worlds Worst Humanitarian Crisis: Understanding the Darfur Conflict. Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, 2(5). Sumaila, R., & Bawumia, M. (2014). Fisheries, ecosystem justice and piracy: A case study of Somalia. Fisheries Research, 154-163. Taylor, S. (2005, February). Genocide in Darfur: Crime Without Punishment? The Atlantic. The Associated Press. (2014, September 12). Central African Republic: Death Toll in Massacres Far Exceeds U.N. Count. Retrieved from Mercury News: https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/09/12/central-african-republic-death-toll-in-massacres-far-exceeds-u-n-count/ The World Bank. (2013). Policy brief : opportunities and challenges for climate-smart agriculture in Africa. Washington D.C.: The World Bank. The World Bank. (2018). Women, Agriculture and Work in Africa. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.

Feminist Pedagogy: Not Just for Women Anymore Essay -- Education, Femi

Your responsibilities as teachers at this community college are very important in educating the dedicated students that attend your school. As an aging baby-boomer approaching retirement, no doubt like some of you in this room today, I recognize the importance of providing opportunities for growth and experiential learning in our young adults that will affect not only their lives, but those of everyone else around them. It is this distinguished group of graduates that will become our leaders, policy makers, doctors, lawyers and business people. The focus on learning moving towards a learner-centered approach and away from a teacher based will become increasingly important to this new generation of learners. Critical pedagogy is defined by philosophical education scholar Henry Giroux (Critical Pedagogy, 2011), as â€Å"an educational movement, guided by passion and principle, to help students develop consciousness of freedom, recognize authoritarian tendencies, and connect knowledge to power and the ability to take constructive action†. Many of us who were students of days gone by only know of traditional methods of schooling. What a critical pedagogy approach can do is create a learning environment for those individuals who have been disenfranchised by a traditional teaching methods because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or cultural beliefs. Such an environment fosters the capacity for critical thinking and reflection. One method of critical pedagogy is the feminist approach. I will explain the root of critical pedagogy in the feminist approach. I will then discuss feminist pedagogy and its practical applications in the classroom. Lastly, I will demonstrate that it is not exclusively for or about w... ...gress: Education as the practice of freedom, London: Routledge. Hudalla, J. (2005). Transforming My Curriculum, Transforming My Classroom. EdChange and the Multicultural Pavilion. Retrieved December 1, 2011 from http://www.EdChange.org/multicultural Shrewsbury, C. (1997). What is feminist pedagogy? Women’s studies quarterly, 25 (1,2), pp.166-173. Smith, M.K. (2002). Paulo Freire and informal education. The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved December 1, 2011 from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm Stage, F., Muller, P., Kinzie, J, Simmons, A. (1998). Creating learning centered classrooms: What does learning theory have to say? George Washington Univ. Washington, DC. Waller, A. (2005). What is feminist pedagogy and how can it be used in CSET education? Retrieved November 27, 2011 from http://fie-conference.org/fie2005/papers/1585.pdf Feminist Pedagogy: Not Just for Women Anymore Essay -- Education, Femi Your responsibilities as teachers at this community college are very important in educating the dedicated students that attend your school. As an aging baby-boomer approaching retirement, no doubt like some of you in this room today, I recognize the importance of providing opportunities for growth and experiential learning in our young adults that will affect not only their lives, but those of everyone else around them. It is this distinguished group of graduates that will become our leaders, policy makers, doctors, lawyers and business people. The focus on learning moving towards a learner-centered approach and away from a teacher based will become increasingly important to this new generation of learners. Critical pedagogy is defined by philosophical education scholar Henry Giroux (Critical Pedagogy, 2011), as â€Å"an educational movement, guided by passion and principle, to help students develop consciousness of freedom, recognize authoritarian tendencies, and connect knowledge to power and the ability to take constructive action†. Many of us who were students of days gone by only know of traditional methods of schooling. What a critical pedagogy approach can do is create a learning environment for those individuals who have been disenfranchised by a traditional teaching methods because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or cultural beliefs. Such an environment fosters the capacity for critical thinking and reflection. One method of critical pedagogy is the feminist approach. I will explain the root of critical pedagogy in the feminist approach. I will then discuss feminist pedagogy and its practical applications in the classroom. Lastly, I will demonstrate that it is not exclusively for or about w... ...gress: Education as the practice of freedom, London: Routledge. Hudalla, J. (2005). Transforming My Curriculum, Transforming My Classroom. EdChange and the Multicultural Pavilion. Retrieved December 1, 2011 from http://www.EdChange.org/multicultural Shrewsbury, C. (1997). What is feminist pedagogy? Women’s studies quarterly, 25 (1,2), pp.166-173. Smith, M.K. (2002). Paulo Freire and informal education. The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved December 1, 2011 from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm Stage, F., Muller, P., Kinzie, J, Simmons, A. (1998). Creating learning centered classrooms: What does learning theory have to say? George Washington Univ. Washington, DC. Waller, A. (2005). What is feminist pedagogy and how can it be used in CSET education? Retrieved November 27, 2011 from http://fie-conference.org/fie2005/papers/1585.pdf

Adolescent Drug Abuse :: Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse

Adolescent Drug Abuse Table of Contents I.) Introduction ................................................. 1 II.) Review of Literature ........................................ 2 A) Source 1 .............................................. 2 B) Source 2 .............................................. 2 C) Source 3 .............................................. 3 D) Source 4 .............................................. 3 E) Source 5 .............................................. 3 III.) Methodology ................................................ 4 IV.) Results of Information Gathered ............................. 4 A) Source 1 .............................................. 4 B) Source 2 .............................................. 5 C) Source 3 .............................................. 5 D) Source 4 .............................................. 6 E) Source 5 .............................................. 6 V.) Summary and Conclusion ....................................... 6 References I.) Introduction: "Crack, booze, pot, crystal- from the inner city to the suburbs to small towns, the world of the adolescent is permeated by drugs. When 'a little harmless experimentation' becomes addiction, parents, teachers, and clinicians are often at a loss. For this age group (roughly ages 13 to 23), traditional substance abuse programs simply are not enough" (Nowinski, inside cover). Today's society provides many challenges for adolescents that our parents never had to face. Pre-marital sex and pregnancy, alcohol abuse, and drug addiction have always been around but they have never been more available to adolescents than they are now. Adolescents are more on their own to take care of themselves with more and more single parent households. The problem of drug and alcohol is a major one. Teenagers feel a need to drink and do drugs to fit in to peer groups. The problem is widespread. The common thoughts that drugs are only in the city where the poor live but that is wrong. Any single person can get drugs from the inner city to the small rural towns of Texas and Nebraska. It doesn't matter where you are. There is a major need for adults to intervene and stop the problem at its beginnings, the adolescents. If we sit here and deny the fact that the problem is there then we are just setting ourselves up for disaster. II.) Review of Literature: A Source 1: The first piece of literature that I used was a book written by Dr. Joseph Nowinski entitled Substance Abuse in Adolescents & Young Adults. It was written at the Elmcrest Psychiatric Institute in 1990. The book described Dr. Nowinski's study of adolescent addicts of drugs and alcohol. It goes on to explain the need for the development of treatment plans for adolescents because conventional plans do not work on this age group. B) Source 2:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second source that I used was a journal article entitled â€Å"Prevalence of substance abuse in a rural teenage population.† It was written by Wade Silverman. This article was published in The Journal of Adolescent Chemical Dependency in 1991. This article presented the results of a survey done in a rural school system to assess the prevalence rates of substance use and related

Relations between Venezuela and the United States Essay

To create a speech/presentation about Venezuela-United States relations, with a focus on the regime of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Topic: Relations between Venezuela and the United States, with a focus on the Chavez administration. Purpose: To be able to analyze the roots of the current state of Venezuela-United States relations as well as its future, given the existence of the Chavez government. To say that relations between Venezuela and the United States are very shaky is already an understatement. This is because the foreign policy of the US in Latin America is a â€Å"rhetorically concealed fusion between popular elections and imperial appointments† (Landau 29). The US has a long history of overthrowing Latin American governments that show even the slightest hint of favoring the poor. As soon as they get word about a pro-poor Latin American leader, the US government would flex its political, economic and military muscles in order to replace him or her with a pro-US head of state. The end of the Cold War did not change this scenario. Since 1999, seven Latin American leaders were overthrown due to their pro-US stance. Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned from the Bolivian presidency in 2005 due to massive popular revolts over his pro-US economic strategies. Paraguay’s Raul Cubas stepped down in 1999 due to charges of corruption and involvement in the assassination of Vice President Luis Maria Argana. Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad was toppled from power in 2000 because of his adherence to free trade (Landau 29). The regime of Peru’s Alberto Fujimori ended prematurely in 2000 mainly due to his bloody suppression of anti-US political dissent. The collapse of the Argentine economy in December 2001 because of neo-liberal policies resulted in popular revolts that forced President Fernando de la Rua to resign (Landau 29). But Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is a Latin American leader that can be hardly described as a Washington lapdog. His pro-poor policies earned him immense respect and support from the Venezuelan masses, three consecutive presidential terms and harassment from the White House. The relationship between the US and Latin America has traditionally been that of a master and a slave. Since its first arrival on Latin America in the 19th century, the US clearly wanted nothing more from the continent but unlimited access to its natural resources (O’Brien 180). But changing political realities in the 20th century prompted the US to attain this objective in a more subtle fashion. For most of the 20th century, therefore, the US projected itself to Latin America as the â€Å"good neighbor† (Gilderhus 71) – an indispensable ally in the continent’s struggle against the Great Depression, the Axis Powers and Communism. But it was not until the postwar era that this â€Å"good neighbor† facade of the US became even more pronounced. Intensifying Latin American nationalism in the 1950s threatened US political and economic interests in the continent. The US, needing all the resources and allies it could get in order to challenge the Soviet Union in the global contest known as the Cold War, looked for an excuse to intervene in Latin America. Thus, American policymakers associated nationalism and Communism (O’Brien 181). This association between nationalism and Communism on the part of American lawmakers is valid to a certain extent. Prevailing economic conditions during and immediately after World War II led to the emergence of leftist politics and labor militancy throughout Latin America. In Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, for instance, postwar economic recovery and programs promoting industrialization resulted in the growth of manufacturing workers from about 50 to 60 percent. Increasing urban workforces, in turn, translated to larger and more militant labor movements that called for better working conditions and greater economic benefits. Furthermore, Communist parties in Cuba, Chile and Brazil obtained considerable gains in terms of membership and voter support (O’Brien 182). The aforementioned developments did not sit well with Latin America’s elite, who were fearful that leftist politics and labor militancy would make them lose their firm hold over the continent’s politics and economy. They therefore took advantage of the reemerging anti-Communist militancy of the US, using it as an excuse to roll back political reforms, outlaw Communist parties and crack down on independent unions (O’Brien 182). The American government, meanwhile, rewarded them by bestowing on them the political and economic leadership of their respective countries. A bloody, CIA-engineered coup in 1973 toppled the socialist regime of Chile’s Salvador Allende and ushered into power the pro-US Augusto Pinochet (Menjivar and Rodriguez 35). The US-backed Somoza dynasty ruled Nicaragua from 1937 to 1979, robbing the country blind and brutally suppressing all forms of legitimate political opposition (Leonard 1134). Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier became the dictators of Haiti from 1957 to 1986, living off generous amounts of political and military aid from the US (Leonard 243). The dictatorship of the Dominican Republic’s Rafael Trujillo lasted from 1930 to 1961, primarily due to his exploitation of US fears of Nazism during the 1930s and Communism during the Cold War (Leonard 244). Although socialism in Latin America declined in the 1990s, certain economic developments in Venezuela led to its resurgence in the country. Venezuela had abundant oil resources, but its oil industry was developed at the expense of equally important non-oil industries. As a result, the value of the Bolivar fuerte was dependent on fluctuating oil prices. Dropping oil prices forced the Venezuelan government to take out foreign loans and to debauch the currency. Inflation ensued, plunging the Venezuelan economy into poverty (Reid 161). Since Chavez was first elected President in 1998, Venezuela’s oil policy had represented â€Å"a dramatic break from the past† (Ellner and Salas 54). This was mainly because he used the country’s oil profits to come up with numerous social programs that were intended to help the most marginalized sectors of Venezuelan society (Ellner and Salas 54). One of Chavez’s first programs was â€Å"Plan Bolivar 2000,† a civilian-military program that included road building, house construction, mass vaccinations, land reform, the lowering of infant mortality rates, the implementation of a free state-subsidized healthcare system and a system of free education up to the tertiary level (Peet and Hartwick 192). By the end of 2001, the aforementioned program led to an increase in primary school enrollment by 1 million students (Peet and Hartwick 193). Chavez preserved his administration by using oil as a means of forging alliances with like-minded leaders. In 1999, he announced that the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company PDVSA and the Brazilian state-run oil and gas giant Petroleo Brasileiro were reviewing plans of forming a larger joint oil company. The result of these plans would be Petrosur, an enterprise that was situated on the southern cone of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Petrosur was intended to supply oil to countries under preferential financial terms, encourage large-scale infrastructure such as pipelines and refineries and coordinate oil distribution, exploration and processing. The profits of Petrosur would be used to subsidize social programs for education, healthcare and employment (Kozloff 105). Chavez’s populist reforms earned him a second term in 2000 and a third in 2006. But his manner of using Venezuela’s oil reserves did not sit well with Washington and the Venezuelan elite. Prior to Chavez’s regime, Venezuela was the second largest supplier of oil to the United States (Noreng 74). In addition, PDVSA was controlled by the Venezuelan elites (Ellner and Salas 122). Thus, it was no longer surprising if these two parties joined forces in order to expel Chavez from power. On April 9, 2002, the CTV (Venezuela’s largest trade union organization), Fedecamaras (Venezuela’s largest business federation) and board members of the PDVSA carried out a general strike against Chavez’s oil policies. Three days later, CIA-backed elements of the Venezuelan armed forces staged a coup against him. The coup succeeded in temporarily ousting Chavez and replacing him with Fedecamaras president Pedro Carmona Estanga. Widespread popular protests, however, forced Estanga to resign from the presidency to make way for Chavez (Trinkunas 206). But the CTV, Fedecamaras and the PDVSA would not allow themselves to be defeated. On December 2, 2002, they called for the resignation of Chavez by staging another general strike. The strike lasted for 63 days – the aforementioned parties were forced to finally call it off due to subsequent detrimental effects on the Venezuelan economy. The strike was said to have devastated the Venezuelan economy by costing the latter about 7. 6% of its GDP (Kohnstamm, Bao, Porup and Schechter 28). Venezuelan politics remained turbulent until Chavez consolidated his power by winning a 2004 referendum. Having obtained tremendous political support and immense oil-generated wealth, he then proceeded to strengthen pan-American socialism. He openly established strong political and economic ties with other Leftist leaders in Bolivia, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil. Despite being ridiculed by Bush’s officials as â€Å"Castro’s little buddy† (Landau 30), Chavez won about 63% of the vote in Venezuela’s 2006 national elections (Kohnstamm, Bao, Porup and Schechter 28). At present, it is very obvious that majority of the Venezuelan people continue to support Chavez. In February 2009, 54% of Venezuelans (O’Neill n. pag. ) supported an amendment that would scrap presidential term limits in their country (Llana n. pag. ). Simply put, he would finally be allowed to run for the presidency in 2012. This development is ironic, considering that they rejected in 2007 a constitutional referendum which included the said issue. Moreover, Chavez’s regime was recently criticized for its failure to address acute urban problems such as transport, crime and waste disposal (O’Neill n. pag. ). But the very existence of Chavez’s administration showed Latin Americans that it is possible for them to freely elect their own representatives, as well as choose the form of government which they deem appropriate (O’Neill n. pag. ). His open defiance of Washington’s dictates proved that a Third World nation, with sheer political will and unity of the part of its citizenry, can actually assert itself to the powerful nation on earth. Through Chavez, Venezuela showed that democracy is not measured in terms of how long a leader stays in power. Rather, it is whether or not this head was in fact chosen by the people and would truly serve their interests.