martes, 18 de marzo de 2014

Free Fall in Syria

In the Newspaper The New York Times there's an article called Three Years of Strife and Cruelty Put Syria in Free Fall published on March 17, 2014. The article talks about how the Syrian civilians are fleeing into other countries in order to escape from the conflict.

It's now the fourth year since Syrians revolted in a peaceful way and turned out into a civil war between the government and the people. The government attacks the people in such a violent way that is opening a miserable path for the Syrian country.

There has been videos and photos of all the amazing atrocities that Syrian civilians are going through. According to The New York Times, "They capture appalling suffering on video and beam the images out to the world: skeletal infants, body parts pulled from the rubble of homes, faces stretched by despair, over and over."
n Syria, 700,000 homes are damaged or destroyed. Above, a road in Deir Ezzor in January.CreditAhmad Aboud/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Citation:
Barnard, Anne. "Three Years of Strife and Cruelty Put Syria in Free Fall." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/world/middleeast/three-years-of-strife-and-cruelty-put-syria-in-tailspin.html?hp&_r=0>.

Race

It is very easy to differentiate a Chinese person from an American personas but this isn't the only way of determining the race of an individual. The idea of race is a modern idea because in ancient time they weren't divided by physical appearances but by religion, status, or language. The first time we can see in practice a definition of race is when Americans created slavery demanding control over similar physical characteristics.  Although this beliefs were taking seriously in the past, in the modern age there is proof that there are no sub species in the human race, we are among the most similar of all species.
In The Power of an Illusion they show how there are no genes or traits that determine a persons race. The genes that determine the sin color are totally different to the ones that determine the hair color or texture in an individual, thats why we can base the definition of ones race in their skin color. 
Racism still exist and society has demanded better opportunities to the whites more the the black race which clearly shows how people don't understand the real definition of race. 

The following link is a way of defining race by Ian F. Haney in a different king of way.
http://racism.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=268:race010101&catid=14&Itemid=117

Citation:
PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm>.

domingo, 9 de marzo de 2014

Issue of the Defense Wall in Palestine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2lMJKEBXDA

This video is very interesting because it talks about the reasons behind the creation of the defensive wall surrounding Israel. It also talks how Israel supplies Gaza with fresh drinking water and electricity with actual reservoirs. This video is taken or taught by an Israeli point of view also from an American point of view because they are economically supported by the United States of America.

Reflection: Lemon Tree

In the movie Lemon Tree we can appreciate how Salma,  a Palestinian resident in the West Bank fights for her lemon trees planted by her great grand parents. The Israeli minister of defense builds a house right by her side and Salma's lemon trees are demanded as a security risk. Salma hires a lawyer to prevent the powerful man from having her ancestral trees removed, but there are little possibilities of winning the case against the Israeli minister.In addition Salma begins to fall in love with her lawyer which is inappropriate because she is a widow. Even though the minister wife clearly doesn't agree with her husband decision, Salma couldn't escape the Supreme Court declaration of cutting down her trees down to 30 cm tall. 

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has taken place for so long and the reasons of the conflict reside too back in history. In the movie we can see how Palestinian people are conditioned to follow orders from Israeli people even if their rules are unfair. The movie shows how religion and cultural beliefs clearly affects Salma's feelings and actions until she start doing what she likes without living under those ideas.



Picture taken from the movie Lemon Trees.

domingo, 23 de febrero de 2014

Refugees in Sudan

Sudanese refugees are persons from Sudan migrating to seek shelter outside their native country. Sudan has always been a territory consisted of several civil wars and environmental changes. This created a forced migration of the Sudanese population. The refugee is a person who is outside his or her country of origin or habitual residence because they have suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because they are a member of a persecuted "social group" or because they are fleeing a war. A person may also be called an 'asylum seeker' until recognized by the state where they make a claim.

There is a large number of Sudanese refugees in Egypt. Many Sudanese travel to Cairo to obtain official recognition of their refugee status from the UNHCR. The Sudanese refugees in Egypt fall under two categories: those who are waiting for their status-determination interview and those who have been rejected or who are self-settled. More of the 50 percent of Sudanese asylum seekers have their applications for refugee status rejected. The UNHCR in Cairo does not recognize polygamous unions, so they will not refer polygamists for resettlement to countries where polygamy is not permitted. All of these factors have contributed to the break-up of families, divorce, and the abandonment of children.


Conflict in Syria

Syria is a territory in the Middle-east that is surrounded by Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey. Syria way too many diverse ethnic and religious groups that leads to instability. Each on of the groups located in Syria wants to have economical, religious, and political control over the territory and that creates several wars and fights nowadays.

Right now, there is a war present in Syria consist of the government led by President Bashar al-Assad against the people that re demanding more economical, political, and civil freedom. This civil war is becoming an uprising event in history demanding too many death to the list. The Syrian Government defend their actions by declaring the opposition as terrorists that are trying to destabilize the country.

The President of the United States,Barack Obama, and many other important leaders  are discussing the pros ans cons o entering in a civil war in order to help Syria end this tragedy.

About Me

My name is Daniela Fajardo, I am currently a senior student at Colegio Panamericano. I am 16 years old and living with my mother. I would like to study Medicine because it's areas and purpose of research only can bring good to a community. In my free time I like to hang out with friends and sleep.