http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/5000-Hindus-flee-Pak-every-year-due-to-persecution/articleshow/35084313.cms
This article talks about how in Pakistan the minorities are not respected, this article focuses more on Hinduism. It mentions that the Hindus have been persecuted for a long time, and that there have been violent outbursts where their religious books are burnt. It has been called to attention that the minorities are always forced to leave, and the authorities do not enforce the few or almost null laws that protect minorities. lawmaker Ramesh Kumar Wankwani in defines of these minorities has proposed the idea in the parliamentary committee, were people were shocked about how they had not noticed the discrimination. Some of the offences have been: kidnaping of women, and forced marriage once converting religions, and over six incidents in the last two months have destroyed religious places or objects. This has forced around 5000 hindu people to migrate.
I can relate this to the French revolution, mostly to the september massacres and the reign of terror. In my opinion they are related because there were many executions and violent acts due to a persons beliefs, in the sense that they didn't support the revolution. We can see that at both times the people are afraid of being killed, or they might feel oppressed. We can see that in both situations the law doesn't really help them, or give them some sort of protection. The people in the French revolution probably didn't migrate since there was a huge economic crisis, therefore they couldn't migrate anywhere, along with the fact that it was extremely dangerous since it was in the middle of a war. Finding a new place to move to might have also been hard, so their only option would have been to turn to the authorities, yet they couldn't do that because the authorities were not in a suitable position to help. I believe that is why there was so much fear, because they had no options other than lay low or face the guillotine, but the hindus in pakistan have the voice to leave, apart from other possible solutions. We can see that discrimination has a large impact on people, and even more when it is violent. Hopefully as the world modernises so will its values until there comes a day were no one should have to be afraid or intimidated due to their beliefs.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Embrace of Atheism Put an Indonesian in Prison
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/world/asia/indonesian-who-embraced-atheism-landed-in-prison.html?_r=0
in this article, Joe Cochrane talks to us about the religious limitations in Indonesia. A man named Alexander Aan was raised in a muslim household, so when he mentioned to his parents and close friends that he was an atheist it was very unexpected, especially since Indonesia is a very religious country. Mr.Aan expressed his beliefs on an atheist Facebook page. Because of that he was sent to jail for running afoul of a 2008 law restricting electronic communications. He was later on released, but it is one of many cases were people are sent to jail because of their beliefs or how they express them. In the article they also mention that Indonesia is going through a change from authoritarianism to democracy, and the constitution grants freedom of religion and speech, yet we can se that people have the mentality of the previous government. christian, hindu, and buddhist minorities are present in Indonesia and have been victims of violent assaults due to the facts that they have different beliefs.
In my opinion this is outrageous, how can a person be deprived of their freedom due to their beliefs and the way they express them. This relates to the enlightenment, because at that time people were tortured for having different religions and the way they expressed them. the first amendment in the united states constitution states that it is prohibited to make any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, and so on. We are not talking about Indonesia, not the united states, yet if they are on a process of democracy the constitution should say something along these lines. It also infringes privacy in a way if Alexander posted this on Facebook were supposedly only certain people can see what he publishes. This is also clearly related with society since people show resentment towards those that practice another religion. I lived in Jakarta for two years, and it is a highly religious country, were people are not very open to strangers (unless they are involved with tourism.) and this relates to how people are discriminated because they are different. Here in colombia we can see this happening, yet not in such a radical way, but often the liberals are discriminated because we created the stereo type that if you are liberal you are in favour of the guerrilla and things like that. I would say that in order to get Indonesia to fully become democratic, they need to leave behind the discrimination and become more open to new ideas.
in this article, Joe Cochrane talks to us about the religious limitations in Indonesia. A man named Alexander Aan was raised in a muslim household, so when he mentioned to his parents and close friends that he was an atheist it was very unexpected, especially since Indonesia is a very religious country. Mr.Aan expressed his beliefs on an atheist Facebook page. Because of that he was sent to jail for running afoul of a 2008 law restricting electronic communications. He was later on released, but it is one of many cases were people are sent to jail because of their beliefs or how they express them. In the article they also mention that Indonesia is going through a change from authoritarianism to democracy, and the constitution grants freedom of religion and speech, yet we can se that people have the mentality of the previous government. christian, hindu, and buddhist minorities are present in Indonesia and have been victims of violent assaults due to the facts that they have different beliefs.
In my opinion this is outrageous, how can a person be deprived of their freedom due to their beliefs and the way they express them. This relates to the enlightenment, because at that time people were tortured for having different religions and the way they expressed them. the first amendment in the united states constitution states that it is prohibited to make any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, and so on. We are not talking about Indonesia, not the united states, yet if they are on a process of democracy the constitution should say something along these lines. It also infringes privacy in a way if Alexander posted this on Facebook were supposedly only certain people can see what he publishes. This is also clearly related with society since people show resentment towards those that practice another religion. I lived in Jakarta for two years, and it is a highly religious country, were people are not very open to strangers (unless they are involved with tourism.) and this relates to how people are discriminated because they are different. Here in colombia we can see this happening, yet not in such a radical way, but often the liberals are discriminated because we created the stereo type that if you are liberal you are in favour of the guerrilla and things like that. I would say that in order to get Indonesia to fully become democratic, they need to leave behind the discrimination and become more open to new ideas.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Politics, Religion and the Separation of Church and State: White House Pushes for Prayer at Town Meetings
http://www.globalresearch.ca/politics-religion-and-the-separation-of-church-and-state-white-house-pushes-for-prayer-at-town-meetings/5350819
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” this is the first amendment, in this article it mentions how it is constantly being violated. It talks about a law suit in Greece New York. were two women, Susan Golloway and Linda Stephens members of the town council, feel that it is a violation to have a prayer at the beginning go the meetings based on only the christian religion. The christian prayer at the meetings began in 1999 when the leader of the council decided to summon a clergy, and from then on this continued, against the ideals of the founding fathers since they believed that in order to achieve democracy the church had to be separated from the state.
It is not the first time that this amendment is violated, for example the supreme court allows prayers at legislative meets that are derived from only one religion. The fact that they are establishing a religion does affect people, since if they don't share the religion they might feel like a minority or oppressed due to the fact that they have different beliefs. For example when it comes to gay marriage most christians are against it, since religion states that it is unnatural, therefore the countries that are united with the church tend to make gay marriage illegal. Another example would be Obama who's healthcare program included giving the employees contraceptives free of charge, this was frowned upon from the right extremist groups who are against abortion or anything against conception. We can see how this is tied to the enlightenment because obviously the religious ties have a very important role in politics, since the politicians always want to have the majority of the population on their side, they have to please them, and when there is a established religion it is politically more convenient to follow the ideals of said religion. There is definitely controversy in the founding fathers amendment, and in a way it is constantly being violated, even by the state and the government branches.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” this is the first amendment, in this article it mentions how it is constantly being violated. It talks about a law suit in Greece New York. were two women, Susan Golloway and Linda Stephens members of the town council, feel that it is a violation to have a prayer at the beginning go the meetings based on only the christian religion. The christian prayer at the meetings began in 1999 when the leader of the council decided to summon a clergy, and from then on this continued, against the ideals of the founding fathers since they believed that in order to achieve democracy the church had to be separated from the state.
It is not the first time that this amendment is violated, for example the supreme court allows prayers at legislative meets that are derived from only one religion. The fact that they are establishing a religion does affect people, since if they don't share the religion they might feel like a minority or oppressed due to the fact that they have different beliefs. For example when it comes to gay marriage most christians are against it, since religion states that it is unnatural, therefore the countries that are united with the church tend to make gay marriage illegal. Another example would be Obama who's healthcare program included giving the employees contraceptives free of charge, this was frowned upon from the right extremist groups who are against abortion or anything against conception. We can see how this is tied to the enlightenment because obviously the religious ties have a very important role in politics, since the politicians always want to have the majority of the population on their side, they have to please them, and when there is a established religion it is politically more convenient to follow the ideals of said religion. There is definitely controversy in the founding fathers amendment, and in a way it is constantly being violated, even by the state and the government branches.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Four More Shipbreaking Workers Die in Bangladesh
http://ens-newswire.com/2014/04/04/four-more-shipbreaking-workers-die-in-bangladesh/?9
This article talks about the death of four workers in Bangladesh, India. They worked at a ship breaking yard. This job consists of breaking down old ships in order to recycle the parts or reuse the steel. Since this job deals with objects that are large and heavy, they need proper protection and protocol in order to prevent accidents. This indian company failed to provide the proper equipment, and once the accident that killed four workers and injured others occurred, the yard management tried to hide the bodies. One of the survivors stated that he could have saved some of the workers if there had been oxygen, this is one of the requisite of a basic first aid kit, a breathing device is necessary. They also mention that it is easier to deny all the casualties and incidents since there is no official record of workers. These companies hire around 200,000 people weather it is direct or indirect employment.It is said that in 2013 alone there were around 23 known deaths in the same ship breaking yard.
I connected this article to the industrial revolution and the invisible hand in many ways. The lack of safety measures is the same as those in a factory during the industrial revolution, the workers had no protective gear. There is also a lot of toxic waste, and the workers are exposed to these on a daily basis, these fumes can lead to sickness and even death, for example the workers who died due to inhaling carbon dioxide. Apart from terrible working conditions the workers are not registered, just like we read in class, the workers are not officially hired, since this way the company can avoid certain obligatory costs, like health care and less pay. Since there are so many workers, they don't receive the proper training, so they are more prone to accidents and malfunction of the machinery. This port doesn't have any inspectors, so the workers are unsupervised, this gives more risk since no one is aware of the workers whereabouts or if there are any safety breaches. This industry may have a large web of corruption behind it, but since there are no records or no one checks the working conditions, the workers can be mistreated, overworked, and even abused of. Just like in the industrial revolution, the owner of the establishment would state that they provided everything necessary, just that the workers chose not to use it. In this case the yard claims that ale safety measures and equipment were presented to the workers, yet they did not use them. The father of one of the dead workers mentions that they never had safety equipment, and that even one of the workers had previously alerted his family of the accident. After the accident an inspector declared that the accident occurred due to negligence and that the owner would have consequences, this is different than what would have normally happened in the industrial revolution, were all the people who enforced the law fell victims to bribe and corruption. The invisible hand is involved in this because these accidents wouldn't occur if the company had no ships to break. If we think about it, the owners of the boat benefit from selling it to this company since it will give them more money in exchange. There are clearly other yards that have better working conditions, yet they pay a lot less for the ship, therefore greed plays a curtail role between life and death.
This article talks about the death of four workers in Bangladesh, India. They worked at a ship breaking yard. This job consists of breaking down old ships in order to recycle the parts or reuse the steel. Since this job deals with objects that are large and heavy, they need proper protection and protocol in order to prevent accidents. This indian company failed to provide the proper equipment, and once the accident that killed four workers and injured others occurred, the yard management tried to hide the bodies. One of the survivors stated that he could have saved some of the workers if there had been oxygen, this is one of the requisite of a basic first aid kit, a breathing device is necessary. They also mention that it is easier to deny all the casualties and incidents since there is no official record of workers. These companies hire around 200,000 people weather it is direct or indirect employment.It is said that in 2013 alone there were around 23 known deaths in the same ship breaking yard.
I connected this article to the industrial revolution and the invisible hand in many ways. The lack of safety measures is the same as those in a factory during the industrial revolution, the workers had no protective gear. There is also a lot of toxic waste, and the workers are exposed to these on a daily basis, these fumes can lead to sickness and even death, for example the workers who died due to inhaling carbon dioxide. Apart from terrible working conditions the workers are not registered, just like we read in class, the workers are not officially hired, since this way the company can avoid certain obligatory costs, like health care and less pay. Since there are so many workers, they don't receive the proper training, so they are more prone to accidents and malfunction of the machinery. This port doesn't have any inspectors, so the workers are unsupervised, this gives more risk since no one is aware of the workers whereabouts or if there are any safety breaches. This industry may have a large web of corruption behind it, but since there are no records or no one checks the working conditions, the workers can be mistreated, overworked, and even abused of. Just like in the industrial revolution, the owner of the establishment would state that they provided everything necessary, just that the workers chose not to use it. In this case the yard claims that ale safety measures and equipment were presented to the workers, yet they did not use them. The father of one of the dead workers mentions that they never had safety equipment, and that even one of the workers had previously alerted his family of the accident. After the accident an inspector declared that the accident occurred due to negligence and that the owner would have consequences, this is different than what would have normally happened in the industrial revolution, were all the people who enforced the law fell victims to bribe and corruption. The invisible hand is involved in this because these accidents wouldn't occur if the company had no ships to break. If we think about it, the owners of the boat benefit from selling it to this company since it will give them more money in exchange. There are clearly other yards that have better working conditions, yet they pay a lot less for the ship, therefore greed plays a curtail role between life and death.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
rescuers lift some miners trapped in south africa
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/rescuers-lift-some-miners-trapped-south-africa-n31516
This article focuses on Some illegal miners and how they ended up being stuck in a gold mine near Johannesburg. Initially the rescuers pulled out 12 miners, and then another 30, who stated that there were supposedly another two hundred bellow. The company exploiting the mine is called gold one, it is a Chinese company. Many of the workers do not want to be reduced in fear of being arrested as soon as they reach the surface. Illegal mining is not rare in South Africa, the Chinese company stated that the workers were not theirs, that apparently they had tried to access the companies sector and the mine collapsed on them while they dug their way in.
I can relate this to the industrial revolution in a sense that there were many workers who were not in optimal conditions. Honestly I believe that the workers do work for the gold one company but this one pays them under the radar in order to save more money on things like safety precautions, taxes, the minimal wage, and other money consuming tasks. The company obviously benefits from these workers since they are probably desperate for the work, and will receive the most minimal pay. This has been going on since the industrial revolution and probably will still happen. The invisible hand did play a role here, by the mine collapsing, and the gold one company being so ironically close, the government or certain organisation will probably open an investigation into it to see if the miners are actually illegally working for gold one. This serves as a punishment since if it is so, the company will have to pay a large fine and suffer other consequences. The idea is that eventually companies will do the correct things so that they will not be punished by the invisible hand, but in my opinion there is a long long way to go.
This article focuses on Some illegal miners and how they ended up being stuck in a gold mine near Johannesburg. Initially the rescuers pulled out 12 miners, and then another 30, who stated that there were supposedly another two hundred bellow. The company exploiting the mine is called gold one, it is a Chinese company. Many of the workers do not want to be reduced in fear of being arrested as soon as they reach the surface. Illegal mining is not rare in South Africa, the Chinese company stated that the workers were not theirs, that apparently they had tried to access the companies sector and the mine collapsed on them while they dug their way in.
I can relate this to the industrial revolution in a sense that there were many workers who were not in optimal conditions. Honestly I believe that the workers do work for the gold one company but this one pays them under the radar in order to save more money on things like safety precautions, taxes, the minimal wage, and other money consuming tasks. The company obviously benefits from these workers since they are probably desperate for the work, and will receive the most minimal pay. This has been going on since the industrial revolution and probably will still happen. The invisible hand did play a role here, by the mine collapsing, and the gold one company being so ironically close, the government or certain organisation will probably open an investigation into it to see if the miners are actually illegally working for gold one. This serves as a punishment since if it is so, the company will have to pay a large fine and suffer other consequences. The idea is that eventually companies will do the correct things so that they will not be punished by the invisible hand, but in my opinion there is a long long way to go.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Nike Sweatshop History: Should Action be Taken
https://sites.google.com/site/americanlaborcrises/labor-crises/nike-sweatshop-action
This article focusses on the inhuman labor conditions in the nike factories. The trend setting brand is recognised world wide and is one of the most successful companies for athletic wear. In order to produce so many products to fulfil the demand they have various factories located world wide, mostly in China, Indonesia and Vietnam since there is such cheap labor. Since the workers there are in urgent need of work they will submit to terrible working conditions, like being exposed to chemicals, sexual, physical and verbal abuse from superiors, unhealthy and unsafe working conditions. Since they are so needy of the little income they get from this job, they cannot speak up for themselves and their rights and tolerate the abuse. Children have also been seen working in these factories, therefor it is considered child labor. nike has set high standards for itself since it is a leading company and is supposed to set high standards, so this behaviour is very disappointing.
I can relate this article to both topics seen in class so far, the invisible hand and the industry revolution. These two are sort of connected since they both form part of the concept of an economy. The nike sweatshop crisis relates to the industrial revolution since the workers are working for a low wage and are making products in mass quantities, it also shows how the workers are mostly low class that have no employment and are needy of that income. Child labor was also a hey role in the industrial revolution, and it can still be seen now a days since this revolution is basically the reason that we are so modernised now a days.
It relates to the invisible hand basically in the sense of supply and demand. Since there is high demand for the Nike products the company is forced to create a large supply. The company benefits from the cheapest labour possible, and the quality in nike products is generally good, at least in my experience. So when the company was paying the workers less then the minimum wage and gaining a huge profit out of the finished product the invisible hand punished the company, through manifestations and the media people began to boycott Nike and its sweatshop products, therefore Nike saw itself forced to change the working conditions in those factories. When nike increased the wages and started to improve the working conditions the clients stopped to boycott Nike and it returned to its normality, obviously with the constant observations of the authorities. In conclusion we can say that the industrial revolution is still partly present now a days, and the invisible hand is constantly monitoring the companies to make sure that all of the people benefit from the free economy.
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