Social Welfare Institutions

It is the belief of many that Wal-Mart is God’s gift to mankind, well shopping wise at least but there are many things concerning WAL-Mart that they refuse to highlight. Over the years, there has been several lawsuits filed against them for discriminating against women: refusing to promote and pay equal wage to men and women working in similar conditions. Exploitation of laborers is prevalent in this company. They only employ those who are willing to work for little without disputing their wage and the fact that they do not receive health benefits. I mean, if you care so much about consumers why not pay them so that they can survive. Also, some people welcome the notion of new stores being built in areas but with the coming in of stores means that more people in small business are more likely to lose their business and their jobs as a resultof not being able to compete with Wal-Mart.  So whenever you hear about the all good and blessed Wal-Mart reconsider these facts and believe me there are many others!

There is no doubt that the economic situation in Jamaica is not the best in the world and this movie has brought it to light. It is extremely hard for the people of Jamaica to survive when the country is so fa in debt and borrowing more every day. Most of the countries foreign exchange comes about as a result of Tourism but that too has declined in recent years. Agriculture is not great either. The country exports things such as banana, bauxite and coffee but it is obviously not enough to suffice the country’s people. Many people will not say but alot of Jamaica’s poverty has to do with the government constantly using portions of the country’s money for their personal use. Corruption is rampant in many areas of the government and this has contributed to the sufferings. However, Jamaica is by no means the worst place. There are several people who live comfortable lives and possessing everything that the typical American family has. I personally believe that for any change tocome about the government has to be fair and think about the people who they should serve and not just for their personal gain. It will take a dramatic turn of events to get Jamiaca out of debt and in good standings but it is possible.    

The second film I chose to watch is on media. ” Fox News” The role of media in a democratic society is important as air is for birds. Without media, there’s no democracy. Certain people consider media as the fourth branch after the executive, legislative and the judiciary. But the role of Fox News in United States democracy life let people confused and ambiguous meaning in the views mind. Not all the television are concerned about this critic, only Fox new one the major network in the country. This media instead of informing the audience, chooses not to do so but mislead, misinformed listeners. The news are not faithfully present as it supposed to. Information is not objective, information based on the host opinions. For example the media can present or pay people to play certain role during the news to perform some roles to give a positive views to the audience and let them believe that this is really true. Fox does  not treat its guest with dignity, respect and worst Fox want you to believe what it believe no matter what. It humiliate, embarrassed challenge and discourage their guests , Fox is always rights and you always wrong no matter what. Thers’ no fairness in their reporting. Fox works for the Republican more than for the Democratic. Fox is able to take your statement and make it an opposite statement or distort it or make it  that you are wrong.

After watching this movie, I felt upset and revolt because it’s similar to most developing countries, where only the government is in control of the media and the opposition can’t not have access to it. All the information are in favor of the government. I could not believe such thing in  US, most developed and democratic country in the world.

The movie I chose to watch is “The battle of Algeria”

The movie is very interesting because it reminds me the difficulties that most colonized countries specially in Africa went trough to achieved their political independence but not economical because until now the economy of the colonized countries still controlled by the the colonizer. I’m going to specifically talk about the movie, it showed the fight between the French Army who is the occupier, the imperialist in other words and  from 1954 to 1960. The battle lasted for more than five years and the Algerians lost because they were not well organized to win the fight because of their lcak of strategies and the unorganized, inexperienced fighters. In this battle Algerian women played important role. I see throughout the entire movie the determination, the voluntary and the struggle of one people, as one nation to end the french imperialism in their country and conduct the destiny of the nation by the Algerians people. The decolonization war was similar to every french colonies where certain leaders were eleimnated  and their bodies never been recovered. I think of Patrick lumbouba from the Congo. The Algeria war was the worst one in Africa because too many people were killed by the French army and the no sanctions were taken to punish the french for that genocide.  

The link below is to this article I found very interesting.  It actually deals with what we were discussing in class about how democracy might be a good system, but it isn’t implemented as should be.  Being a possible cause as to why democracy does not work.  Also this article highlights the issue of privatization…I would like to discuss it in depth…Check it out…Let me know what you guys think…

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/world/middleeast/06kuwait.html 

I was thinking about what we talked about in class today about reforms and I was wondering, are reforms just Band-Aids for the broken ”system”?  Reforms fix the problem for now but they don’t help the “root” cause of the problem that the system has like a revolution (possibly because revolutions are too long and costly to push forward).  Maybe it’s a form of self-imposed ”cooling out” because we all think that our problems are solved because something changed but deep down we know that we only scratched the surface of our long list of problems but we’re content with that one thing being changed.  Sometimes it feels like people only come together to change something when something drastic happens that affects everyone in the country or state and not just a handful of people in the neighborhood.  But since there’s a reform, we feel like things are ok because that drastic thing that would affect a lot of people was fixed or avoided; forgetting that there’s other problems that could slowly hurt an equal amount of people because it’s not as visible.   

I watched the film “The Battle of Algiers” by Gillo Pontecorvo as one of my events. This film is a re-inaction of the civil war in French Algeria in the period of 1954-1960. This war of independence was fought by the Algerians against the French imperialism. This movie, unlike most war movies, shows both sides of the conflict, the conviction and struggles of the French army, and the urban guerrilla. Algeria needed to be decolonized and they were supported by other Arab countries. They used bombing, and shooting as forms of terrorism. Meanwhile, the French army supported the counter terrorism war and the campaigns of “pacification” and “public order operation” which can also be related to the “cooling off” process we talk about in class. This process involved posting barriers around the Algerian side and having soldiers along the barriers checking transit, segregating the Algiers from the French.

I noticed the women played a huge role in the battle. Because their culture prevents them to show their bodies, head and face which suggest respect, the French army couldn’t control them or check them. They were involved in arms and bombs trafficking. In one scene, some of the Algerian men dressed up with the tunics to disguise themselves as women to get close to the enemy and attack.

The Algiers lost the battle of Algiers, most of the organized guerrilla was broken down to nothing and many Algerian lives were lost. This seemed to have encouraged the people to work together and revolt against the imperial control of the French, resulting in the victory of Algiers in the War of Independence. The pressure from the army helped startle the civilians. Too bad the people had to go through intense struggles to unify their courage and fight. But it is also important to mention the significant difference in strength of both sides. So many countries in South America, Africa and Asia are going through similar struggles but don’t have the support to fight for them. The U.S. in the other hand, has so much power as a country, but the people are not motivated enough, or have too many individual motivations, resulting in their inability unite to fight for their rights and make a difference.

(sent by Jonathan M)

Alain Deneault, a post-doctoral student at UQAM (University of Quebec in
Montreal), is being sued by Barrick Gold because he mentionned in his book
reports by official organizations and NGOs alleging that, in Tanzania, the
appropriation of a mine by the company resulted in death of many workers. In
this academic work, the author also mentions the position of the company and of
the Tanzanian governement who claim that those events never happened. However,
the mining company considers that simply citing reports from organizations like
Human Rights Watch or Rights and Freedom should be considered as defamation.
Please take the time to consider how important this suit is in regards of
Academic Freedom.
Barrick files suit against publisher
KIRK MAKIN
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
May 1, 2008 at 4:57 AM EDT
The world’s biggest gold producer, Barrick Gold Corp., has sued a non-profit
Quebec publisher for $6-million over a book that alleges the company was
complicit in the gruesome deaths of 52 Tanzanian miners in 1996.
The lawsuit also accuses the publisher, Les Éditions Écosociété Inc., of
exploiting Barrick’s anger over the book in recent weeks to reap more publicity
for it.
In a statement of claim, Barrick accused the authors of the book, Noir Canada:
Pillage, Corruption et Criminalité en Afrique, of engaging in a carefully
orchestrated campaign to smear its reputation. It said the book falsely claims
that Barrick was involved in “involuntary homicide and genocide” at a mine site
in Tanzania.
“Their campaign of defamation has been carried on in Quebec and elsewhere in
Canada, and they intend to extend it to Europe,” the lawsuit alleges.
It also states that the authors - Alain Deneault, Delphine Abadie and William
Sacher - have attempted to apply a veneer of academic legitimacy to their
accusations by claiming the book was impeccably researched.
“Noir Canada is highly polished and heavily footnoted for the purpose of
conveying the misleading impression that the book resulted from extensive,
thorough and objective research concerning the business affairs of Barrick,” it
alleges.
Écosociété distributed 1,700 copies of the book last month, notwithstanding a
threatening letter from Barrick. The book reviews a series of abuses and crimes
in Africa allegedly committed by Canadian-owned companies.
Mr. Deneault said the lawsuit is an attempt to chill free speech: “It is a way
to intimidate small groups by using legal procedures,” he said.
The alleged tragedy at the Bulyanhulu mine site occurred in 1996, and involved a
group of independent workers known as artisanal miners. The Tanzanian government
issued an order forcing the miners to vacate the site, allegedly moving so
quickly to fill in mine shafts that 52 were buried alive.
In its statement of claim, Barrick says that, not only did the incident take
place three years prior to its purchase of the property, but the Tanzanian
government was acting legally at the time to remove a group that had no right
to be on site.

This documentary, produced by Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck, was about how the Republican Majority leader of the state of Texas attempted to sell out Congress. “The majority leader is a partisan position in a legislative body”[1]. Tom Delay took advantage of this position to do what he pleased. The first thing he did was take a small business vacation to Las Vegas with a group of lobbyist. He founded TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) and through this committee he raised money for Republican candidates. There was a big inflow of “soft money” from corporations to the committee. Soft money are “funds spent by organizations that are not contributed directly to candidate campaigns, and which do not ‘expressly advocate’ the election or defeat of a candidate.” [2]  There is no limit to how much soft money can be donated because it is not donated to the official campaign. This money was later found to be sent to Washington in the form of blank checks, and returned back to the candidates as “hard money” or expendable funds from individuals and political action committees. The corporations couldn’t support a specific candidate, but at the same time, they were publicly advertising their candidate of preference in T.V. commercials and magazine ads.

Tom Delay also proposed the re-distribution of districts in the state of Texas. His reason for this was to have more republican than democratic representatives in congress. President Bush loved Tom Delay! Texas Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle was responsible for the indictment of Delay in 2005 on criminal charges of conspiracy to violate election laws in 2002. Other more serious charges were dismissed, including money laundering and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

I didn’t understand the film entirely. Some of the political and law language was difficult to follow. But I can see how this film relates to this sociology class. Tom Delay is one example of who knows how many profit driven politicians have taken and are taking office today = George W. Bush. Government forces us to become dependent on oil knowing all its disadvantages, and only because the big oil companies that contribute to their political campaign are greatly profiting from the market. Meanwhile we cut back on de Department of Education, Department of Energy, Medicare… etc.

Texas’ DA Ronnie Earle stated “The root of all evil truly is money” and “this isn’t about Democrats and Republicans, it is about cops and robbers” and I agree with him.

[1] Wikipedia.com  Tom DeLay

[2] Wikipedia.com Soft Money

The movie “Life and Debt” by Stephanie Black clearly illustrates the most hurtful side effects of globalization in terms of third world countries. In fact as in this case Jamaica is being stroked with all these lending policies set by the International Monetary Fund, The world Bank and the American Development Bank. As the history shows us, countries like Jamaica who won their independence shortly after had to face even more drastic consequences of redevelopment. Those financial aids were given within a short time frame at a full interest rate, which eventually leads us to an escalating cycle of debt.     

The movie interestingly shows how the market forces set boundaries for the poor countries to export, or even to sustain their domestic needs, making it dependant on foreign products. How I basically understand it, is this whole idea of the survival of the fittest. The well prospering economies tend to determine bank’s lending policies, at the same time pushing countries like Jamaica into poverty. Speaking about poverty as we saw during the movie the outrageous contrast between Americans coming for vacation, and local communities. In other words the poor education system, lack of hospitals, and a very primitive hotel sewage systems and only few of the things that the tourists usually don’t see.

Another very important part of the movie is agriculture that could possibly provide people with income, only if it wasn’t competing with American products that are much cheaper. Having to agree with IMF terms Jamaica was required to charge higher interest rates to local farmers, therefore the costs of production were so high that many had to resin. One of many reasons why Jamaican economy is in such a terrible state is ultimately its exploitation of the labor force. The movie pictures horrifying working conditions at factories, where U.S products are manufactured. As a result of protest the country had to face large number of lay-offs, due to a vast influx of Asian workers. Nearly 18,000 jobs were list. Once again the movie “Life and Debt” presents the world battle over markets, in which the United States and its corporate clients are leading winners.    

After watching Life & Debt, I’m a little more appreciative of the rights and lifestyle that I have living in America.  We can travel with pretty much more ease than the people in Jamaica since they have to go through extensive searches and questioning before they can leave the country.  For us tourists, it’s easy to get in and it’s easy to get out while the natives yearn to leave and be tourists themselves.  I think it’s sad how people who have the money to travel, only get to see the beautiful, exotic, breath-taking sceneries of a country and not how living conditions actually are.  When and if people do see natives on the streets and outside their houses or stores relaxing, playing games, hanging out and whatever, they think that they have the easy life.  What tourists don’t realize is that life is far from easy for them since they’re forced to do nothing because there is nothing to do and they have no money to escape it.

A majority of the poor living conditions is due to globalization.  Many, if not all local producers of vegetation are pushed out of the local and national economy as more and more food is supplied to the country from foreign farmers.  This creates an unfair level of competition for local producers as products overseas tend to be cheaper than local products leading many to choose overseas goods.  At the same time, the IMF wanted Jamaica to devalue their currency leading to the prices of imported goods to rise which increased the country’s debt and decreased its ability to export.  With little money in their economy, budgets had to be cut leading to no new schools or hospitals, which is horrible for any country and none of the core states such as the US and countries in Europe will help impoverished nations like Jamaica.  The core countries want the profit and dominance over these smaller, less capitalized countries where they know that the natives or government will choose to deal with hardships of capitalism and comply to what they want rather than fight it and have nothing to live off of.  This exploitation of labor is why Third World countries are Third World countries.  And it’s sad how the more powerful countries don’t give a damn about what they’re doing to the people in those countries – they only see the beautiful, exotic beaches and landmarks, they don’t see what’s behind that curtain.  If they saw what’s behind the curtain, the core states in globalization may change but even that is questionable since core states are in the business for profit gain and globalization doesn’t help everyone as we’ve seen throughout this semester.

I felt so sorry for those people who were hired to work for such low pay. 30 us dollars for two weeks! Thats crazy. Americans are paid at least more than 100 us dollars per week. It is really unfair how they don’t even get near our minimum wage amount. That is why those countries remain poor. I saw their living conditions and I was just heart broken. I could never imagine myself living there. There were no hospitals and houses were in such poor conditions. Tourists who have money go there and enjoy the beautiful island. Yes it sure is indeed a beautiful island, but when you look inside, you find people who don’t have enough food to eat, clean clothes to wear, and you cant help but feel sorry. Like the lady said, they aren’t able to get out of that life style because they don’t have the money to. And the tourists have the money to get out, and where do they go? To somewhere where others are suffering and are not able to do the same. Tourists aren’t wrong for doing it because they just want to go somewhere to relax. But the people who live there don’t feel the same about the place. I just feel so bad that they are stuck there. There aren’t even enough jobs available for them to make money. People sit around all day doing nothing, watching tourists past by.

Even though I already had an idea of the completely different views of tourists and the residents living in Jamaica, I didn’t realize that it’s really that bad.  It seems like those people have no real way out.  They are barely surviving, and the whole country is in debt.  Because of globalization, which is great for the US, is bringing down the Jamaican economy. 

Because Jamaica does not have enough natural resources to trade with other countries, global economy is destroying its local economy.  In order to produce anything in the country they need to buy the supplies form other countries.  This is really ridiculous! 

On top of all of that the imports form the united states are cheaper than the locally made products.  I mean how are they supposed to expend their exports if the US is making these products cheaper?  And how are they supposed to cut down on the imports, if they do not have the resources to produce much?  It seems like they have no way out, while their debt is constantly increasing.

And why does the United States shows no interest in helping them out, but making it ever harder, to the point that they are completely helpless?  Of course profit!  That is all that people ever think about, and they are hurting a whole Island just to make a few extra pennies!  How could anyone be so cruel?

How can people be so selfish?  Why are we killings Jamaica’s economy?  For profit of course!   Its all about profit!

I don’t know what else Wal-Mart can do, besides buying back all the tapes. Yes, it might be a ludicrous amount of money to buy them all back, but I think it’s better than actually closing down all Wal-Marts. Like the government, businesses keep a lot of secrets from the public. This is shouldn’t be a surprise. Of course, they don’t want to scare people away. That’s the reason why certain information is only kept to themselves. And also, money has a big part to do with it. Since they’ve had the tapes for that long, it will only seem reasonable to bring them out, to get out of any financial problems they might be in. This is very sneaky of the Flagler Company.

I think that Wal-Mart is doing a great job, selling items for a lower price. If that’s how they make profit, they should continue doing it because, in order for a business to succeed, it must have profit. And I think that Wal-Mart has proven to a lot of other companies out there they it is possible to make profit. I don’t think that Wal-Mart will fall that easily.  

this article is interesting, it is an example of how the laws governing deebt defaults can be structured to either help the lender or the borrower…  in this case, maryland is passing legislation that greatly helps borrowers - people who own houses and face forclosure (debt default):

Maryland Greatly Lengthens Foreclosure Process

from naked capitalism by Yves Smith

Housing Wire provides this report:

Maryland governor Martin O’Malley joined with local elected officials and consumer advocates last week to sign emergency legislation that targets troubled borrowers in the state.

Perhaps the most immediate industry impact will be felt by just one of the three bills passed last week — the obscenely-long-named Real Property–Recordation of Instruments Securing Mortgage Loans and Foreclosure of Mortgages and Deeds of Trust on Residential Property bill. (Yes, that’s the actual name).

The legislation significantly lengthens the foreclosure process from 15 days to approximately 150 days, by requiring a lender to wait 90 days after default before filing the foreclosure action and to send a uniform Notice of Intent to Foreclose to the homeowner 45 days prior to filing an action.

It also requires personal service to notify a homeowner of impending foreclosure action, and requires that a sale may not occur for 45 days after service. A lender must also produce “proof of ownership” when filing a foreclosure action, according to a press statement put out by the governor’s office.

“Proof of ownership” has been a hotly contested issue in many courts as the number of borrower defaults have surged. Many judges are now requiring the actual mortgage note to be produced, when such requirements did not exist in the past and when such requirements may actually be contrary to existing law.

Nonetheless, it’s unclear what Maryland’s definition of “proof of ownership” is; calls to a few industry sources in the state were not returned by the time this story was published.

This is intersting:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/for-sale-the-video-archive-walmart-should-have-erased-807813.html

I wonder what is going to happen, but it makes you realize how much information is usually kept under tight control - and how dangerous it can be (for some) when information becomes available to the public…  What will happen? Will Wal Mart eventually just buy back all the footage for an insane amount of money?

One of the main topics we discussed in our last class was based on reading of digital diploma; whether or not we thought it was a bad idea. According to the article, Noble believed it was a bad idea. Throughout the article, he brought up several points about why having digital classrooms to achieve a diploma was a bad idea. Some points we brought were, class sizes will swell, staff will be reduced, salaries would be frozen, curricular activities would be cut, and tuition will become extremely expensive. Pretty much he says, students will be paying a whole lot more and will be getting a whole lot less. In many ways this is true. We got to school, not only to learn, but to increase our social circles. As a business, networking is a huge part of our lives. If all we did was stay home to study, not experience the world with our own two hands, where would we be? Noble also believes that if the digital diploma comes into effect, prices for the actual equipment, upgrades, maintenance, and technical and administrative staff are all going to soar. Hardware and software companies like Microsoft and IBM are all going to make billions off of this project. But besides these problems, theirs also the problem of how much information we’re actually going to learn on our own. I mean take blogging for example. This semester is the first time I’m actually using, or trying to at least, this type of communication to debate with other students in the class. But because of other classes, and work, and personal responsibility, finding time to actually read and write is limited. I can just imagine if I had to do this all the time to earn my diploma. I’m a huge procrastinator. I would probably wound up sending everything in at the last minute, and probably not absorb one thing. What kind of education is that? Besides students, what about the people who work in schools, where would they go? This software will probably only need a small percentage of teachers to actually grade to work, but what about the security officers, or the maintenance crew, or janitors? Where will they end up working?

Obviously I agree with Noble. But is there a positive side to this besides that fact that working men and women can obtain a degree while raising a family?

The idea of a Liberal Arts education is something that should be embraced in our society but unfortunately it is seen as something that one would be wasting their time on. It think that getting exposed to a Liberal Arts education makes a person more aware of their surroundings and also gives them an opportunity to figure out what they want to do with their lives.

So today in class we discussed bankruptcy and what some of the new laws were so since I wasn’t really sure of what they were I thought it would be a good idea to look them up and to see  what happens to your credit after your 7 years is up and this is what I found: If you miss one of your deadlines your bankruptcy could be dismissed,your things, including furniture, cars and other possessions, will be assessed at a higher value, inflating the overall value of your assets- and when you are worth more creditors can get more out of you. According to some of the sites I looked at it is easy to rebuild your credit after 7-10 yrs - you should pick up the pieces immediately. Filing for bankruptcy can help improve your credit score because your old debt is no longer against you after 7- 10 years.  The new law requires you to take a means test and a bankruptcy course.

http://www.bankruptcyformprocessing.com/credit_after_bankruptcy.shtml

http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/Chapter7NewLaw.htm

According to http://www.businessethics.ca/greenwashing/ - Greenwashing is defined as “a pejorative term derived from the term ‘whitewashing,’ was coined by environmental activists to describe efforts by corporations to portray themselves as environmentally responsible in order to mask environmental wrongdoings. The term ‘greenwashing’ was originally confined to describing misleading instances of environmental advertising, but as corporations’ efforts to portray themselves as environmentally virtuous have diversified and proliferated, so have charges of greenwashing.”

Democracy in briefest terms is usually defined as a government system/structure that is for the people, by the people and with the people.  In other words a system in favor of what the people want - the social welfare of all and so on.  (At least this is how it is “defined.”)

So why do I suggest that democracy is a form of greenwashing…

As John Stewart host of the Daily Show – puts it “A president freely chosen from a wide-open field of two men every four years; a Congress with a 99 percent incumbency rate; a Supreme Court comprised of nine politically appointed judges whose only oversight is the icy scythe of Death — all these reveal a system fully capable of maintaining itself. But our perfect democracy, which neither needs nor particularly wants voters, is a rarity.”

(Further reading available at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6072945/)

Without going to far off in history – just giving instances within the past year of U.S. history – I don’t recall efforts of going into war in Iraq being a “majority rule,” public decision.

Democracy includes a system of “chosen” public officials.  As abovementioned the Supreme Court houses nine “politically appointed judges.”  Everyone who plays a role in implementing laws or some form of decision making (Congress, Legislative and Executive branches, Supreme Court) are as we discussed in class “respected professionals” who meet a certain “standards” – who “meet at minds” – they accomplish a desired educational level, a way of life, - a culture sort of speak – by which they offer there knowledge and thoughts about certain issues – (but the fact is these “chosen professionals” are somewhat mentally submissive and/or brainwashed) which is why they are initially chosen.  They follow into the desired scheme of things – which then comprises into our democratic government. 

So do we (the people) truly have much disclosure, ability and consideration in the important decisions that affect us?  Or is democracy a democracy to these selected “public/professional officials” or anyone else who can buy control.  I would think then that this is just a facade – the reality is that just as in greenwashing, a democracy is an appealing and a sugar coated way of saying – “we decide (the government officials) – but let’s just act like you (the people/majority) have a say by giving having things such as polls and etc.

Again for example, our president – sure voters go outside and enthusiastically make “informed decisions” about whom they will favor, but in the end it’s really the Electoral College (selected professionals) who put in final say…

Democracy – aka greenwashing….I would like to say yes…