Poverty in South Africa

Poverty in South Africa

Eventhough South Africa is the main economy of Africa - almost a 25% of total GDP - it is from another point of view one of the worst economies in the world due to the poverty of most of the South African people.

Now you might be wondering why is it's economy that bad if they have been able to produce a lot, and there are many answers to explain this.

1. As we learned in classes, this area was enslaved by European people, nowadays more than the 80% of the arable land is owned by their descents instead of the native people.
   The misuse of land has brought great troubles for native people, most of them are homeless or live in places they don't own.
2. A big problem nowadays in the poorest areas is the health, particularly diseases spreaded through the water, these diseases affect specially children because their body ain't strong enough to fight the disease, this problem's main cause is the lack of drinkable water due to the combination of sewer water and drinking water.
3. Another issue is the misusage of money granted by other nations in order to help them, mostly used by corrupt governments to make weapons -particularly nuclear ones- instead of using it to fix some of the problems that are affecting negatively the people.  

Perhaps the biggest problem at the moment in South Africa is the education and infraestructure, as an effect           of the problems exposed above we find these "sub-problem" which is able to succesfully mantain the poverty for native people, as long as there isn't a correct use of the money there will never be a proper condition for children to grow up, most of them die before they are adults, and when they grow up they turn into a cheap manpower instead of a chance of change.
There is no chance for education for kids, therefore there is no chance to improve as long as corrupt governments and unfair money distribution exist.

Charles Chaplin why is he a big C?

This is the famous Charles Spencer Chaplin, also knows as Charlie Chaplin. He was a genius form the Silent Movie Age, and  he is now part of the Cinema Hall of Fame.

He made movies, that today are considerded master pieces, like

 "The Kid", "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator", the last one was his first sound movie.

I want to concentrate on his master pice "The grat Dictator", and show why he is and forever will be a genius.

Synopsis: Twenty years after the end of world war one  in which the nation of Tomainia was on the losing side, Adenoid Hynkel has risen to power as the ruthless dictator of the country. He believes in a pure Aryan state, and the decimation of the Jews. This situation is unknown to a simple Jewish-Tomainian barber who has since been hospitalized the result of a world war one battle. Upon his release, the barber, who had been suffering from memory loss about the war, is shown the new persecuted life of the Jews by many living in the Jewish ghetto.

 The lives of all Jews in Tomainia are eventually spared with a policy shift by Hynkel himself, who is doing so for ulterior motives. But those motives include a wish for world domination, as we can see on this part of the movie.

The barber, may be able to join forces to take control of the situation, they using Schultz's inside knowledge of the workings of the regime and the barber's uncanny resemblance to one of those in power.

As we can see, he was brave, and he recrated a historical moment.
 This movie brought a lot of critics and also the 

accusation from Senator McCarthy of been a communist, and he had to leave the USA for making such a scandall.

But through the years, this movie becomes a master peace, and that its what the Big C about, tracendental topics, and persons, who build the culture, like Chaplin did, and a lot of people inspired by his work is making know.

I want to leave this video with the final speach of "The Great Dictator", its really transcendental.

The "invincible" Armada.

The "invincible" armada.

 When King Philip II of Spain sent the Great Armada, to conquer England. That "great enterprise" was the result of Spain's battle for world supremacy in religion, trade and territory.

Catholics vs. Protestants

Religion was of prime importance. Spain remained Catholic and the fanatically religious Philip wanted to make England (and then Europe) return to the old faith.

 Supremacy in trade and sea power

  Spain's discovery of the New World opened up a huge source of trade, of which the English wanted a share. The growing expertise of English naval power was a threat to Spain's domination of the seas.

I believe in the execution of Mary Queen, by order of Elizabeth was shocked for all Catholic nations. Named by Mary Queen of Scots as her successor, Philip was ready now to establish himself as the rightful King of England (He had been King of England thirty years prior, as husband to Mary I).

Therefore war begins:

Spain	England
So, the Great Armada counted with 130 ships and more than 19.000 men of war, set sail of Lisboan; but their ships couldn`t resist the storm of the European’s sea.	The English fleet was swifter than the Spanish fleet: in the first encounter was notice their superiority in maneuver, Spain was lost.

             

                                                                  What would you think if the great armada wasn’t defeated by England?

Well, I think maybe today UK could be   catholic and not Anglican.

Maybe today Commonwealth doesn’t exist?   It Could be…

But the story was different.

 From the very beginning, disaster struck the "Invincible" Armada....

When the Spanish fleet lay anchored at the French port of Calais, the English sent fire ships and caused a general panic among the Spanish fleet. Then the Almighty blew with His wind and drove them up toward Scotland and away from England. The jubilant Queen Elizabeth turned it into a personal triumph.

 This is Portrait of Queen Elizabeth painted soon after the defeat of the Great Armada.

The unknow side of Congo.

As you may know Congo it´s a country located in central Africa, and in that continent there´s a lot of troubles with exploitation, mass-mutilations, state-sponsored slavery,murder and  genocide,

 because of that i´ll like to show you an incredible case of children´s mutilation that was uncovered, almost by accident, by Edward Dene Morel, a shipping clerk who noticed that outgoing cargoes to Congo were predominantly arms and ammunition. 
In that quest he was aided by a group of missioners who managed to photograph some atrocities, the most famous one was the picture that John Harris and his wife Alice took on their return from Congo in  August 1905.

(As you can see in the image there´s a lot of mutilated children that shows the violence in Africa and all the problems with it)

After that action lots of important people notice that all over the country millions and millions of people and children were dying for the action of the powerful countries and some of theme create campaigns to stop rapes and mutilations in the Congo, here´s a web-page where you can help with this petition: Petition

This action was one of the most important one for the history of the human rights and because of that we need to improve the photographers work and with that photos show all the horrible things that are happening in our world.

The Reform

Acts or Faith

When we talked about the legacy of Europe Empire in the last class, everyone said that was its type of economy or its language but we forgotten about the religion that Europe left. And that was one of the things that produce me more interest because the majority religion in Europe and in the world was Catholic and that reflects the huge influence of Europe in the other countries and this was also a fundamental part of the conquest by Europe. 

But the religion in Europe suffered a serious impact by The Reform and that change the entire history of Europe and obviously in the world.

The reform was a Christian religious movement started in Germany in the sixteenth century, which led to a schism in the Catholic Church to give rise to various churches and organizations grouped.

This occurred for various reasons like religious (corruption of clergy), social (excessive luxury) and political (strengthening national monarchies). 

There were two types of reform: one was the Protestant Reform and the second was a response of the above and it was the Catholic Counter-Reform.

The Protestant Reform proclaimed: the salvation by faith, free interpretation of the Bible, non-obedience to the pope, etc. Its most famous exponent was Luther.

And on the other hand there was the Catholic counter - reform who proclaimed: defend their beliefs, salvation by faith and good deeds, the main ceremonial Mass, obedience to Pope and all this by inquisition, etc.

This caused the separation of the European people and the separation of church and state, the abolition of special rights that had the clergy, allowed freedom of expression and freedom of worship.

The reform ended with the defeat of the Conservatives, who know the constitution of that time and the laws enacted by the Liberals.

Just a fight: Who is the best?

Over many years has spoken about discrimination against African Americans people. Always it has been said that African American people are discriminated, mainly by their skin color; sometimes it is true. But there is also discrimination on the part of African Americans to the Americans people, Spanish people, European people, etc. Some reasons for this is that African Americans are very talented to dance very well, to sing, they are very good athletes; in addition with that talent, they earn a lot of money; we know it, but they exaggerate, and they think that they are the best of the world.

It is plain to see that in mixed schools, African Americans separate from others by choice, because they feel higher, make groups and they say that the American people don’t have talent. normally we see pictures about them are with a lot of money, many jewels, luxuries, etc and popularly are called "Niggas".

For example, in some music videos of African American singers, only show people with same skin color.

We must end with the famous stereotype: The Americans people discriminated to African American people, because both are discriminated.

A Latino in USA

Have you ever noticed in movies that servant, laborer, gardener are Latino? Can you name me two films where the judge, doctor, lawyer is Latino? Clearly we see "gringos" blond and blue eyes being the center of attention, but never miss the squat brown, which takes little account, or just not good looking enough.

The American people have a mixture of positive and negative thoughts of Latinos but practically they based on stereotypes rather than reality and depend largely on what media non-Latinos are inform or entertain.

The media frequently generate a negative view of Latinos and immigrants. And several of these prejudices about the largest minority group in the United States are reflected in the characters represented in television or film.

Generally are the conservative media, considered anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, who continue pigeonholing into certain roles to the Latino community. For example, repeatedly on conservative radio speeches identifies Latino ethnic Americans as “the others". Also, there are more radical statements, which dehumanize Latinos comparing them with cockroaches and transmitting the idea that are the “American slag”; it creates methodologies to generate their listeners respond with rejection against these communities.

The image that many Americans have about Latinos and immigrants is that they are people who have too many children, who hoard many of the jobs available, who refuses to learn English, or who are money recipients of government welfare, also that the most part of Latinos are undocumented, in other words,  they entered USA illegally. The way Americans perceive is strongly related beliefs they have about the potential impact of immigration. Usually citizens assume that Latino immigrants have a negative impact on employment and educational status or the security of the population.

Stereotypes are born largely of ignorance. These are the result of fear of everything that is unknown. These thoughts generate intolerance. It is difficult to pigeonhole a group, give identity, Is it possible even to speak of identity in a globalized world?

The Irish Republican Army, "an old way of solving problems"

For an English presentation I had to do some research of Ireland, and I was surprised by all the troubles and different ideas of the nation they have, but the thing that surprise me the most was the creation of the IRA.

Ireland divided into two creating Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

The Ira was an Ireland terrorist group that wanted to erase the division of the two new Ireland's and go back to the traditional one. What was the problem with this group? the problem was that they were "terrorist" they hurt people (kids and older people) and they blamed and attack mainly England, because they thought that they were the reason of the division of Ireland, and the responsible for the economical problems they had.

IRA was supposed to disappear in 2005, in fact they made an arrangement to a cease-fire.

But, Why this kind of groups attack the people, and not directly the government? What can we do to prevent the creation of new groups like the Ira? Is the situation in Chile, in any way, similar to the one on Ireland? I think that there are lots of people that does not know how to act or how to express what they think, what they feel about the place where they live or the politics that rule them, or they just got tired of trying to be listen and realised that they would never be listen so they took action and start to attend and be part of groups like the IRA, feeling that they were doing things good, and that they were helping the people, like soldiers.

I also think that groups like the IRA are not the answer to all the problems that a country or a city can have, there are other ways to solve problems, and even if you have not been listen trough that way, then you have to form a bigger group and make the government hear, but the force will never be the way, the government has to change, has to improve and serve the people not the people serve the government.
Even though there are no longer active groups like the IRA in Chile, we have to keep in mind that we are going trough a difficult time, we are discovering that the people has a voice and that we can use it, the problem in Chile are the so called "encapuchados" they act in a wrong way, they can be students or just people from the street, or from who knows where that only want to destroy things and they only cause troubles, so although they are not a terrorist group they use violence and cause troubles for all the people that lives, or work near the streets where the mach is happening.

We have to realise that violence is not the way to solve things, and if we have something to say, we can say it, not shouting or destroying places, nowadays we have the Internet, and that is a pretty good tool and chance to say whatever we want to say and create followers, so we have to be careful with the things we said and try to work for a better community.

The sun rise, and im the same person.

My favorite song is Nada nuevo bajo el sol by Los Bunkers.
I love it because talks about how we try so hard  to get better,
It was writen by the Duran brothers, members of the band.
The video capt the atention because shows, differents situations of people hiding things, or trying to change their lifes.
This song has a very personal interpreteition, because the song talks about the things that we don´t talk, but how we try to get better every day, however we don´t change, because we are maybe to afraid to love, or get over the pass. People can related to the song, because everyone lies, and nobody wants to feel himself like a bad person. And everybody can undertend, becouse everyone have a moment when they feel alone, and lost.
The message is try to undertend  how we want sometimes that everybody accept us, but bay the end of the day we can´t hide our essence , we can  lie, and maybe convence others  that we are another  person, that  we don´t make big mistakes, but we do, and we try sometimes to change, and we try so hard.
This song help us to feel that we are not alone, that others try so hard everyday too, others feel the same. When the sun rise the next day, we are the same, and we keep trying, but nothing happens, and we are scared, im scared, and maybe if i was not afraid i wouldn´t wish to go back to the pass. Maybe like the song say, i just need somebody to be there, but not just anybody, someone who make me feel that when the sun rise im a new person, im not alone, and im not scared.

WHO YOU ARE

"Who you are" is a song wrote and sung by my favorite singer Jessie J.

This video is very simple, but use many things to draw my attention like the rain in your bedroom, that represents the worry in our life, but in the same time represents the hope.
She is alone in the room, being herself. 

Everybody see and feel this video in different ways, by means of our experiences, positive and negative things in the life, it is a typical song that touches the soul.

This video especially is to the teenagers, that they dont fall into the artificiality and they have a dream to strive for, that "its okey not to be okey" , this song says that.

It is a hopeful song, makes happy someone just listening to it.

"Tears don't mean you're losing
everybody's bruising
Just be true to who you are"

This song was very important to fans, because helps to out of depression and dispel to bad feelings.
This song is very important to me,  everytime I feel bad, I hear this song and I feel much better.

Jessie J.

JUST IMMERSE YOU AND ENJOY IT

One of my favorite songs is “Bajan” of the argentine blues and rock band called “Pescado Rabioso”, writer by the lead vocalist of the band, Luis Alberto "Flaco" Spinetta in 1973.

This was one of the first songs that I heard of "Pescado Rabioso" and it changed totally my  point of view about how enjoy, feel and interpreted the music that I had before.

"Bajan" produce me something beyond of the common and it's capable to make me feel, immerse and involve intensely in it.

For me is very difficult say the meaning of this song or any song because I've always thinking that we'll never be able to get into the mind of the writer so I just feel the melody, the rhythm and I get carry away by this.

However this could be interpreted like: we don't rush in the time because we lost every important moments and they'll never come back, praise for calm, not crossing the line into excess, to the madness, and that we have to pressing the brake, to stop a little bit. 

Here is the video of the song played in the "Bandas Eternas"  concert of 2009, in which one participated the "flaco" Spinetta with Gustavo Cerati. And it is one of the most important concerts because it was shortly before the accident that Gustavo suffered and then he went into a coma.

So: Why do you worry about the pass of the time if you can't appreciate the small and beautiful details of everyday?

WHERE IS THE LOVE?

"Where is the love" is a song wrote and sung by The black Eyed Peas.

In the video we can see different groups of people exposed to different kinds of  difficulties,discrimination ,violence. 

The video shows what happens in one day, in different places to different people, we are all the same, and we have the same routines, we face the same problems, but we still hurt each other pretending and believing " I am better than them" 

The reason I choose this song and this video is the phrase :

" But if you only have love for your own race

Then you only leave space to discriminate

And to discriminate only generates hate"

I feel that this song represents the life that millions of people are living , they don´t care about the rest. A lot of people don´t even "care" for their families, we are most of the time looking for hate and problems, we are looking for the "bad guys" we tend to see the bad in everywhere.

 We even search for love in the wrong places, we mix love & happiness with power, money, etc. We live in a world ruled by the capitalism, the more we have, the happier we are, but is that true? Is the love there? or its just an illusion?

I hope you enjoy the video and think about the world that we are creating,...the sky is the limit they said..we still have a long way to go