Spiritual Narratives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spiritual Narratives - Essay Example â€Å"As our Caucasian barristers are not to blame if they cannot quite put themselves in the dark man’s place, neither should the dark man be wholly expected fully and adequately to reproduce the exact Voice of the Black Woman† (Cooper, 1892 cited on vii). Allowing the black woman to speak for herself allows her to demonstrate that she was seizing her authority, claiming her rights as a free and thinking person and offering up her own personal story as a transformative tool for her readers on a political and spiritual level (xxix). Once the material has been introduced in this way, it is possible to read the texts to follow with greater understanding about the context in which they were written and why the writers concentrated so heavily on their subjects. Following the introduction, the book offers a collection of four black female writers, each speaking with their own voice and published from the original manuscript as much as possible. They are arranged in chronolog ical order from earliest to latest. The earliest writer is Mrs. Maria Stewart writing at 1835. She is followed by Mrs. Jarena Lee in 1849, Julia Foote in 1886 and ending with Virginia Broughton in 1907. As one reads through these various texts, this inner strength and desire to be a leader of men remains clear. The first book included in the set is entitled â€Å"Productions of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart† and was published by the Friends of Freedom and Virtue in Boston, Mass. in 1835. It is an autobiography that focuses primarily upon the reflections and revelations of the author following her conversion experience. The biography prior to this conversion experience is completed within a paragraph: I was born in Hartford, Conn. In 1803; was left an orphan at five years of age; was bound out to a clergyman’s family; had the seeds of piety and virtue early sown in my mind;

Artwork Essay Example for Free

Artwork Essay The â€Å"Self-Portrait with a bandaged ear† by Vincent Van Gogh and â€Å"The Two Fridas† by Mexican painter Kahlo Frida are depicting the artists’ deep hurt and emotional breakdown at losing their special person in life. However, the portrait â€Å"The Two Fridas† is representing the artist’s conflicting psychological mind more into details and straightforward than Vincent Van Gogh’s self-portrait â€Å"The Bandaged Ear. † In â€Å"The Two Fridas,† she uses various actions and clear setting to help viewers the theme of painting easily. The background is filled with the agitated clouds on the stormy dark sky and it obviously reflects her inner pain. Frida who sits on the left side portrays rejected Frida by her husband Diego Rivera. On the right, it represents loved and respected Frida by him. The two Fridas hold hands each other as if loved Frida tries to join unloved Frida’s suffering. It also implies her only companion is herself since she was six years old. She was isolated from other people due to her health problems. In â€Å"The bandaged ear,† Van Gogh pierces the viewer’s feeling using the facial expression rather than actions. His pale and thin face like Jesus Christ in a late medieval painting and every brushstroke that he made on the canvas tells his pitiful presence at the time. In fact, it is not easy to catching the purpose of the Japanese painting on the wall behind Van Gogh. For late 18th century, European artists considered the traditional Japanese art as a utopian aestheticism. So, he uses the Japanese painting for representing his lost paradise. Frida utilizes many symbolic and striking objects to illustrate her turmoil. The two hearts express her pain. The abandoned Frida’s heart is dying while the other Frida’s heart is whole. The unloved Frida is holding the surgical pincer to cut off a vein that travels through both Fridas’ hearts. Frida tries to stop the flow of blood from loved Frida on the right. Therefore, the blood is dripping on her white dress and it is the sign of danger of bleeding to death. In addition, her white dress is ripped open and it refers her broken relationship between Diego. Van Gogh simply uses fewer objects than Frida’s portrait. In combination of wearing a bandage across his ear to under his chin and his sallow skin imply his health condition is unwell. He may be shivering inside because he wears a coat and hat. Frida Kahlo has been associated with the surrealist movement which is the most influential movement in early 1900’s. This movement is influenced by Sigman Freud and Karl Max and they are well known psychologists. The surrealists believe the conscious mind repress the power of imagination so they are willing to depict their unlimited imagination. They expose the uncensored feeling as if in a dream. Also, they use many different kinds of symbols and colors to make art more details and straightforward. Unlike surrealist Frida, the impressionist artist Van Gogh conveys the subject of his art by demonstrating the techniques of loose brushstrokes that barely forms the figure and it makes his piece sort of like a sketch or â€Å"unfinished painting. He uses not many different colors but instead he focuses on putting shadows or highlights in color. Both of great self portraits portray the artists’ mental and physical collapse in their own stylistic and unique techniques. However, Kahlo Frida’s painting is easier to analyze the subject of artwork than Van Gogh’s painting. Because, she chooses varieties of symbols and colors to express her strange and violent imaginations and it definitely helps viewers easy to define her painful heart through her painting.

Investigating the rising population in UK prisons

Investigating the rising population in UK prisons The prison population in the UK has increased dramatically in recent decades. The number of incarcerated men and women in England and Wales rose over 65% between 1995 and 2009, going from 49,500 to 82,100 (Ministry of Justice, 2009). A comparable increase over a similar time period has also been seen in the USA, the prison population increasing 53% from 1,053,738 in 1994 to 1,613,656 in 2009 (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1995, 2010). In England and Wales this can be partly explained by tougher sentencing for drug-related crimes and violent offences against the person as well as a higher recall rate of offenders to prison due to the breach of their release agreement (Ministry of Justice, 2009); similar trends can be seen in the USA (Hanlon et al, 2007). Increasing prison population means that proportionally more parents go to prison and research has shown that there is a correlation between parental incarceration and negative outcomes for the offspring (Huebner and Gustafson, 2007; Foster and Hagan 2007). There are however no official records on prisoners families in the UK (Murray, 2005) or in the USA (Miller, 2006) and the available data is often unreliable due to the incompleteness and duplication of records (Miller, 2006). Lack of methodologically strong research means that the needs of prisoners families may be neglected, it is important to investigate how imprisonment affects this vulnerable group and which policies could ameliorate their situation (Dallaire, 2007). Incarceration may affect all family members, including parents, siblings and more distant relatives yet the developmental influences are greatest on the children of prisoners and therefore, for the purposes of this essay I define family as a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit (OUD, 2011). I aim in this essay to discuss the effects of imprisonment on prisoners family members during incarceration, first by exploring the current theoretical framework that helps to explain the consequences of parental incarceration and then by investigating the effects of parents imprisonment on children and the wider family, mainly drawing on studies carried out in the USA and the UK. There is an important difference in the observed impact between maternal and paternal imprisonment on the family and I will discuss this before finally identifying the limitations of existing research and suggesting how research could inform policies to help prisoners families. There are three main theoretical frameworks that try to explain the devastating consequences of parental imprisonment on their offspring: strain theory; socialisation and control theory and stigmatisation. Strain theory discusses how the deteriorating situation of family left behind by an imprisonment negatively affects a child. According to strain theory, the imprisonment of a parent may lead to difficulties in the familys financial status, whereby the remaining caretaker has less time and money to spend on the child (Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999). Children are forced to grow up faster as they need to take on new roles of responsibility; this may deter them from education and subsequently increase the influence of delinquent peers on their behaviour (Huebner and Gustafson, 2007). Also, as the burden of supporting the family has fallen into the hands of a single person, the imprisonment can cause an already financially and emotionally strained family to suffer further exertion, making the separation from the parent more traumatising than if the same event had occurred in a stable supportive family environment (Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999). However, parental incarceration may have a good effect on offspring if the parent was abusive and neglectful (Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999). Socialisation and control theory focuses not on the remaining support for the growing child but instead looks at the effects of the absence of the imprisoned parent on the development of the child. According to this second perspective, the incarcerated parent cannot contribute to the family life and may threaten the parent-child attachment, depriving the child from social support, a role model and parental supervision (Huebner and Gustafson, 20007). The remaining caretaker has an increased responsibility over the child (Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999) and reduced parental control over the offspring may increase the influence of delinquent peers and increase the likelihood that the offspring will engage in similar behaviour (Sampson and Laub, 1993). On the other hand, it is uncertain how good of a role model the incarcerated parent was in the first place. Finally, the stigmatisation perspective proposes that criminal behaviour leaves a mark on all family members and that parental incarceration may cause feelings of rejection and shame and could result in the social exclusion of the children (Foster and Hagan, 2007). Stigmatisation may also help understand the intergenerational effects of parental imprisonment: once the family is tainted as criminal the children are more likely to receive a biased treatment from the police and increase the likelihood of getting involved in criminal justice system (Huebner and Gustafson, 2007). The aforementioned theories are not mutually exclusive and it should be noted that there is a significant element of self- selection within these frameworks: families with an incarcerated parent versus those without one differ prior to the imprisonment (Foster and Hagan, 2007). The mechanisms that have been put forward to explain why parental incarceration is so influential for childrens criminality include: men and women with criminal backgrounds tend to marry and have offspring; children may imitate parents behaviour; bias of the police and courts; intergenerational criminality; environmental and genetic risks (Farrington, 2002). Thus, the effects of imprisonment may interact with and be confounded by the pre-existing differences between families (Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999). Dallaire (2007a) suggests that both contextual and incarceration related factors may affect children whose parent has been imprisoned, making the children whose parents have been imprisoned especially vulnerab le to negative consequences. Contextual influences include poverty and low parental education level, single parenthood, large family size, bad neighbourhood, fragile parental mental health and alcohol and drug abuse (Sameroff et al 1998). Parental incarceration elevates the risk factors related to: the likelihood of the separation of siblings and the placment of children into foster care; the imprisonment of the other parent; as well as the increased likelihood of the involvement of other family members in criminal behaviour (Dallaire, 2007). Contextual risk factors influence childrens educational outcomes and behaviour and when coupled with effects of parental incarceration the previously present problems become amplified, explaining the elevated risks of negative consequences for the children with incarcerated parents (Dallaire, 2007). Although generalisations can be made on how the imprisonment of a parent influences children, the actual consequences vary greatly between individual cases and can broadly be divided into three main categories: direct, mediated and moderating (Murray, 2005). Studies investigating the direct impacts on children emphasise the distress of separation, lack of knowledge about the parent and behavioural problems related to the child identifying with and mimicking the criminal behaviour of the parent (Murray, 2005). Bowlbys attachment theory (1973) explains these outcomes by postulating that parent-child separation negatively affects psychosocial development for children from all age groups, disrupts attachment security and may lead to internalising behaviours like depression and low self-esteem (Emery, 1999). In contrast, Murray and Farrington (2008) argue that it is not separation on its own that causes distress but the nature of separation. Research on children who are separated from a p arent due to illness, death or divorce suggests that while these causes help bring the family together, separation due to incarceration has a different effect because of the humiliation that is associated with it (Fritsch and Burkhead, 1981). Indeed, the longitudinal Cambridge Study of Delinquent Development revealed that young boys who had an incarcerated parent were nearly twice as likely to be incarcerated later in life than boys who were separated from parent for other reasons (Murray and Farrington, 2005). Furthermore, studies focusing on child-parent separation through divorce suggest that childrens problems did not result directly from the separation but rather from aspects related to it, such as conflict between parents, worsened economic situation and tensions in child-parent relationship (Emery, 1999). These could be seen as the mediated effects of parental imprisonment, which although indirectly, strongly affect the level of impact on children. Other indirect influences involve new caretaking arrangements, quality of caretaker-prisoner relationship, changing school and moving to a new home, which all are likely to result in unstable environment for the child (Murray, 2005). Another important aspect is the childrens concerns over the wellbeing of the parent because childrens knowledge about their parent is mediated via the caretaker and many younger children are being lied to or only told half truth about the parents whereabouts, which only adds to their confusion and insecurity ( Poehlmann, 2005). Not all children experience parental separation in the same way and their response to parental imprisonment depends on individual variables and moderating factors. Poehlmanns study (2005) on attachment security in children whose parent had been imprisoned concludes that older children and those who live in an environment with stable caretaking arrangement may be less affected than younger children. Similarly, Hanlon and colleagues (2005) concluded that supportive family environment protects children from destructive outcomes even if their parent was incarcerated substance user. Furthermore, Dallaire (2007b) argues that infants, school-aged children and adolescents face different risks owing to parental imprisonment. She suggests that infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to the direct effects of parental separation due to incarceration, whereas as schoolchildren and adolescents may suffer more from mediating imprisonment effects (Dallaire, 2007b). Moreover, the impac t of parental incarceration depends on the quality of relationship the parent had with the child before the separation. Murray (2005) suggests that the healthier the pre-existing parent-child relationship the harsher the impact of loss on children, whereas the imprisonment of an abusive parent may benefit the child. Factors like intelligence, character, ethnic background and sex may also play a role in how parental imprisonment affects children (Murray, 2005). Thus, individual characteristics and developmental stage of children have a big role in determining the effects of parental incarceration for an individual case. However, perhaps the most important factor could be whether it is the mother or a father who has been imprisoned, which will be explored in the next paragraph. It is difficult to estimate the number of children affected by parental imprisonment with any precision due to a lack of data, however it is natural to assume that a large proportion of the majority male population are fathers. Studies that look at the effects of their incarceration paint quite a pessimistic picture. Findings from a longitudinal study in USA school students reveal that fathers incarceration and poor education level sets in motion accumulation of disadvantages for the offspring, culminating in impoverished educational achievement, reduced political involvement and increased social exclusion (Foster and Hagan, 2007). Additional adversities include socialisation issues owing to fathers absence due to imprisonment and reduced financial support for the child (Foster and Hagan, 2007). Other studies suggest that the absence of biological father, not necessarily due to incarceration, is linked to childrens antisocial behaviour (Pfiffner et al, 2001). Interestingly, the incar ceration of biological fathers is also linked with higher rates of homelessness of daughters, as they may become victims of abuse of the new resident adult male (Foster and Hagan, 2007). Although there are several negative themes, which arise as a result of fathers being imprisoned, the consequences of mothers being incarcerated are far worse and have a greater impact on the lives of their children; there are several reasons for this. First, the increasingly punitive attitude towards crime has increased the length of sentences for women and having dependent children is not considered a special circumstance for a more lenient sentence (Wildeman and Western, 2010). Second, there are fewer prisons for women, which means that they are sent farther away from their family than men, posing further obstacles to children visiting their mother (Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999). Third, prior to incarceration the majority of women who commit crimes raise their children without a reliable partner, increasing the likelihood of siblings being separated and children being placed under non-parental care, whereas in case of paternal incarceration, children remain under the care of the moth er who helps to alleviate the stress of separation from father (Miller, 2006). Finally, adult children of incarcerated mothers had 2.5 times higher chances of being incarcerated than those of incarcerated fathers (Dallaire, 2007a). Thus, maternal incarceration seems to have a more severe effect on child-parent attachment and on childrens development than paternal incarceration. Although the majority of the prison population is still men, the female proportion of the population is on the rise (Hanlon et al, 2007; HM Prison Service, 2011a) and so the effects of maternal imprisonment are becoming an urgent matter that affects not only individuals but society as whole, raising the issue of whether mothers should have their parental responsibilities taken into account during sentencing and if a greater emphasis should be made to provide more local imprisonment to reduce the inequality experienced by convicted mothers and their families. In contrast to the evidence already put forward, it is important to note that not all children with parents in prison become criminals and many become fully functioning, law abiding members of society, despite the risks associated with parental imprisonment. Nesmith and Ruhland (2008) interviewed 34 children (the majority of whom were African American boys) who had experienced parental incarceration to hear their side of the story. Opposing the widespread opinion that living in a bad neighbourhood and having criminal family members may somewhat normalise unlawful activity for a child and poor academic performance, most of the children in this study had no difficulties at school and were aware of the negative connotations attached to imprisonment and preferred to keep their parents incarceration private. Children who knew others in their situation found it helpful to discuss their parents imprisonment with these peers, yet the majority did not know anyone with an incarcerated parent. Although the sample of this study may not be representative of children from different ethnicities and gender, it does emphasise the importance of looking at the issue of parental incarceration from different angles. A lot of research on the effects of incarceration on families has relied on the reports of inmates. However, as they are separated from their family they may not give the most accurate account of the adversities suffered by their children and partners. Other flaws include small and unrepresentative sample sizes and the small number of longitudinal studies concerned with this phenomenon. Also, some of the older research may be limited in their value today as the prison population may not reflect the general population, whereas nowadays the two have become more alike (Wildeman and Western, 2010). Parental imprisonment poses difficulties not only for children but also for the new caretakers. They become the intermediaries of the communication, visitation and feelings between the child and the incarcerated parent (Nesmith and Ruhland, 2008). If the caretaker and imprisoned parent do not get along then the children are unable to visit their parent, as individuals under the age of 18 must to be accompanied by an adult during the prison visit (HM Prison Service, 2011b). In case of fathers imprisonment the child will stay with the mother, and suffers less disturbance. Arditti (2003) and co-workers interviewed 56 caretakers visiting the prisoner, most of whom were either a female partners or wife to the inmate. The caretakers felt that it was them who were punished via the imprisonment of the father and expressed concern about their emotional and economic condition. Caretakers became single parents and often had to quit their job to take care of the children, making them dependent o f the welfare system (Arditti et al, 2003). This illuminates the fact that incarceration has unwanted consequences not only for the prisoners family but also for society. When the mother is imprisoned then grandparents are the most likely candidates who will resume care of children (Mumola, 2000). Although this arrangement is more desirable than alternatives, the grandparents who become the caretakers do so unofficially, limiting their access to external assistance and may be under extended financial, psychological and physical strain (Hanlon et al, 2007). Grandparents face issues like depression, poor health and general limitations in daily routine caused by health problems (Fuller-Thomson and Minkler, 2000). In addition, the support systems that help caregivers cope with such demanding responsibility are often limited in eligibility and may be inaccessible to grandmothers because of their fragile health (Hanlon et al, 2007). Grandparents do not receive the same financial help and legal rights as foster parents do and they need to pass the CRB check by the social services to become official caretakers of the children (Collett, 2011). The research on parental incarceration has important implications for public policy. Although research has done well to identify the most common problems of parental incarceration we are yet to learn the effects on groups with particular characteristics and finding willing participants may prove challenging (Miller, 2006). As parental incarceration exerts mainly negative outcomes on families and children, regular contact may alleviate the stress of separation and uncertainty about the parent. Unfortunately, prison visits are not always seen as a justifiable right of the family but rather as something that the prisoner must earn with good behaviour (Brooks-Gordon, 2003). A reduced number of visits is often related to longer distances between home and prison, high costs of travelling, unfriendly visitation rules, and costly phone calls (Murray, 2005). In the UK, a prisoners family may apply for Assisted Prison Visits Scheme, which means that low-income families get some of their travel costs refunded (HM Prison Service, 2011b). In addition, there are lot of online resources for families about support groups, prison visits and procedures, yet not all families may have access to the Internet and some older family members may not know how to find these resources. To help families cope with parental incarceration research proposes different support mechanisms like mentoring, church based services (Hanlon et al, 2007), peer-group support and education on prisons to alleviate the stress of uncertainty (Nesmith and Ruhland, 2008). In conclusion, imprisonment has an impact beyond the sentenced individual, causing grief to all family members. The economic and emotional strain on family often takes a toll on the quality of the relationships within the family left behind and between the incarcerated individual and family. Close family-prisoner ties make an immense contribution to the post-release success of the offender (Visher and Travis, 2003) yet imprisonment breaks down a large number of families, decreasing the stability of home environment for children and increasing the likelihood of re-offence (Wildeman and Western, 2010). Incarceration has the strongest effect on children, diminishing their educational achievement, social capital and outlooks for future. Governments should look more into alternatives to incarceration as increased prison population strips the funding from community services and translates into reduced opportunities for children with imprisoned parents and the disadvantages in their lives m ay lead them to become involved with criminal justice system. Thus, it is important to pay attention to the needs of prisoners families because if they are ignored, their problems will be postponed and manifest in intergenerational patterns of prison population in the future.

Essay examples --

Over the last few decades, the organizational role of management accountants has changed radically, along with the environment. Many of these changed management accountants undertake more advisory and strategic roles in their organizations. Their work has become more similar to that to business partners who are involved in both the everyday and the long term strategic decision making process. This essay will critically analyze the role of management accountants in the present day, as compared to their more traditional role in previous decades. First a distinction between financial accounting and management accounting must be made. Financial accountants are concerned with having financial systems put in place that allow them to maintain records, perform routine transactions, and produce year end reports (Cook 1995). Management accountants are more involved in using that financial information to improve management of the organization. Management can be defined as involved in â€Å"identifying, presenting, and interpreting information used for formulating strategy, planning and controlling activities, decision taking, and optimizing the use of resources† (Cook 1995). Historically speaking, management accountants have been viewed as â€Å"functional scorekeepers who are preoccupied with the past and reluctant to accept responsibility for decisions† (Parker 2002). The traditional role is one which concentrates on two main areas: supporting management decision-making and monitoring and controlling (Feeney & Pierce 2007). These management accountants focused primarily on the internal aspects of their work places, as well as a more statistical, financial and analytical perspective. Traditionally management accountants were not involved in decisio... ...e involved (Byrne & Pierce 2007), and operational managers may continue to consider the accountants to be in the role of making suggestions rather than decisions. Over the last few decades, the role of the management accountant has changed drastically. Traditionally involved in analyzing past decisions and statistics, present day management accountants have become more involved in forward thinking strategies and actual operational decision making. This leads to management accountants who perform a wide range of activities which might have been unheard of for them in previous years. However, this transition is not necessarily as straightforward as anticipated. These new kind of management accountants must overcome considerable challenges and conflicts in order to achieve the new role that is seen as both necessary and beneficial for the present business environment. Essay examples -- Over the last few decades, the organizational role of management accountants has changed radically, along with the environment. Many of these changed management accountants undertake more advisory and strategic roles in their organizations. Their work has become more similar to that to business partners who are involved in both the everyday and the long term strategic decision making process. This essay will critically analyze the role of management accountants in the present day, as compared to their more traditional role in previous decades. First a distinction between financial accounting and management accounting must be made. Financial accountants are concerned with having financial systems put in place that allow them to maintain records, perform routine transactions, and produce year end reports (Cook 1995). Management accountants are more involved in using that financial information to improve management of the organization. Management can be defined as involved in â€Å"identifying, presenting, and interpreting information used for formulating strategy, planning and controlling activities, decision taking, and optimizing the use of resources† (Cook 1995). Historically speaking, management accountants have been viewed as â€Å"functional scorekeepers who are preoccupied with the past and reluctant to accept responsibility for decisions† (Parker 2002). The traditional role is one which concentrates on two main areas: supporting management decision-making and monitoring and controlling (Feeney & Pierce 2007). These management accountants focused primarily on the internal aspects of their work places, as well as a more statistical, financial and analytical perspective. Traditionally management accountants were not involved in decisio... ...e involved (Byrne & Pierce 2007), and operational managers may continue to consider the accountants to be in the role of making suggestions rather than decisions. Over the last few decades, the role of the management accountant has changed drastically. Traditionally involved in analyzing past decisions and statistics, present day management accountants have become more involved in forward thinking strategies and actual operational decision making. This leads to management accountants who perform a wide range of activities which might have been unheard of for them in previous years. However, this transition is not necessarily as straightforward as anticipated. These new kind of management accountants must overcome considerable challenges and conflicts in order to achieve the new role that is seen as both necessary and beneficial for the present business environment.

Piracy in Somalia and Its International Implications

PIRACY IN SOMALIA AND ITS INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS In the past few years, pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have received a great deal of public attention. According to the London-based International Maritime Bureau, there has been an â€Å"unprecedented increase† in Somali pirate activity in the first 9 months of 2009. Until September this year 147 incidents were reported off the Somali coast and in the Gulf of Aden (separating Somalia and Yemen), compared with 63 for the same period last year. A total of 533 crew members have been taken hostage in 2009, out of which about 200 hostages are still being held by Somali pirates. I have chosen the topic of piracy for my essay as I think that in the context of the present world economy crisis it is a current problem which might affect all the participants of the global economy and it needs an urgent solution. In the first part of my essay I am going to present some data to demonstrate the importance of the problem, then I will focus on the background of the issue and present the different factors which have led to the appearance of piracy. After a detailed description of the pirates and their way of operation I will move on to presenting of the interests of the international community and the policies, strategies and instruments they have used to deal with the issue. At the end of my paper I will draw some conclusions and make a few suggestions for the future. Piracy has been a problem in Somali waters for at least ten years. However, the number of attempted and successful attacks has risen over the last three years. As the hijackings have increased in number, they have also become more sophisticated. The pirates are now able to capture larger targets as well. On September 25 2008, Somali pirates captured the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship transporting weapons to Kenya. This was followed one month later by the hijacking of the MV Sirius Star, the largest ship ever captured by pirates. The Saudi-owned supertanker was carrying about 2 billion barrels of crude oil, worth about $100 million. The ship was finally released on January 9 for a $3 million ransom. The series of hijackings has continued in 2009 too. It seems that this year the pirates have shifted from the Gulf of Aden, where dozens of ships were attacked in 2008 but which is now heavily patrolled, to the ocean between the African mainland and the Seychelles islands. In October 2009 Somali pirates captured a Chinese bulk carrier, carrying 25 Chinese crew members. In November they have seized a US tanker carrying $20 million of crude oil, which is considered the second-largest ship ever hijacked by pirates. The tankers 30-member crew was also kidnapped. In the same month, 9 pirates hijacked the Greek-owned tanker Maran Centaurus carrying 275,000 metric tons of Saudi Arabian crude oil and have taken it to a pirate port along the coast, where they typically hold the boats for ransom. The 300,000-tonne ship was hijacked about 1,300 km from the coast of Somalia and there were 28 crew members on board which are all held hostages. According to the IBM, in October and November alone, 38 ships have been attacked and 10 hijacked. There are several factors which have made Somalia the perfect environment for piracy, which I am going to present below. First of all, if we want understand why piracy works in Somalia, we have to know something about the geography and history of the country. Officially called the Republic of Somalia, Somalia is a country situated in the Horn of Africa, bordered by  Djibouti  to the northwest,  Kenya  to the southwest, the  Gulf of Aden  with  Yemen  to the north, the  Indian Ocean  to the east, and Ethiopia  to the west. Due to its strategic location, in the past the country was an important centre of commerce. Even today, about 16,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, carrying oil from the Middle East and goods from Asia to Europe and North America, so we can say that one of the most important trade routes of the world can be found in this area. In addition, the long, isolated, sandy beaches of the country are also advantageous for pirates to operate. Another factor which helps piracy to flourish is the political anarchy which still rules in Somalia. For almost 20 years, the country has endured political chaos and bloodshed. The  Somali Civil, which began in 1991 as a revolution against the repressive regime of Siad Barre, has caused instability throughout the country. The northern parts of the country declared their independence, although it was neither recognized by the central government, nor by the United Nations. Subsequent fighting among rival warlords resulted in the killing, dislocation, and starvation of thousands of Somalis. Since 1991, 350,000-1,000,000 Somalis have died because of the conflict. Hatred and lack of trust among the landlords and their clans has prevented the organisation of a functioning central government. From  2006-2009 Ethiopia  was also involved in the conflict. In January 2009, Ethiopian soldiers withdrew from Somalia, leaving behind an  African Union  contingent of peacekeepers to help the fragile coalition government and its troops enforce their authority. Following Ethiopia's withdrawal from Somalia, the southern half of the country fell into the hands of radical Islamist   rebels, who still control a big part of the country. The political situation is still chaotic in Somalia. The present government, led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is the 16th administration to „govern† the country since the collapse of the Barre regime. Order still hasn’t been restored, Somalia is governed by anarchy. Because of the lack of an effective central government and national economy, Somalia is still one of the world’s poorest countries, where the estimated GDP is around $600 per year. According to the World Bank, in 2008 73% of the country’s population lived on a daily income below $2. The country’s 10 million people are starving, and they would hardly survive without the food aid provided by the developed countries. In a country where survival is at stake, it is no surprise that piracy has become a fast and easy way to make money and it could develop into a frightening business. To sum up, we can say that Somalia’s chaotic political situation, the lack of an effective central government, the poor state of the economy and poverty have all created an environment which was perfect for piracy to appear. But who are these â€Å"heroes† and how do they operate? In most people’s minds, the image of piracy is associated with characters like Jack Sparrow or Captain Cook. Pirates are often seen as rebellious young men who are victims of the society, but have the courage to stand up for themselves and create a different way of working on the seas. Actually, there is some truth in this kind of perception. According to Eric Hobsbawm, a British historian, â€Å"social bandits† are â€Å"outlaws, drawing on community support, using criminal methods to challenge the present hierarchy of power and wealth. † Most of the Somali pirates are 20-35 years old and come from the region of Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Somalia. It is estimated that there are at least five pirate gangs and more thousands armed men. A BBC report divided them into three main categories: local Somali fishermen (the â€Å"brains† of the operations because of their skills and knowledge of the sea); ex-militiamen (used as the â€Å"muscle†) and technical experts who are able to use electrical equipment, such as GPS devices at a professional level. It is a fact that since the country’s collapse in 1991, there has been a great amount of illegal fishing practised by a lot of countries along the Somali coast. During the regime of Siad Barre (1986-1992) Somalia received aid from several countries to develop its fishing industry. Local fishermen had fixed prices for their catch and the fish was exported because of low demand for seafood in Somalia. However, after the fall of the Barre regime, due to the Somali Civil War the income from fishing decreased. Traditional coastal fishing became difficult, because foreign trawlers started fishing illegally along the Somali coast and depleted the fish stocks. Local fishermen became desperate. They started to band together and were determined to protect their resources. They started attacking foreign trawlers, the crew of which soon fought back with heavy weapons. As a result, fishermen turned to other types of commercial ships and soon discovered that piracy was an easy way to make money. At the moment, piracy is Somalia’s most â€Å"lucrative business†: ship owners are willing to pay huge amounts of money for the release of their hijacked vessels. In addition to this, starting with the early 1990s, Somalia’s long, remote coastline has been used as a dump site for dangerous toxic waste from a lot of European and Asian companies. The European Green party presented before the press and the European Parliament copies of contracts signed by two European companies – an Italian-Swiss and an Italian firm – and representatives of warlords, to accept 10 million tones of toxic waste in exchange for $80 million. For European companies this is a very cheap way of getting rid of their waste: while waste disposal costs in Europe are about $1,000 a tonne, this way it only costs them $2,50 a tonne. The effects of this dumping are already visible in Somalia. According to a report by the UN Environment Programme, there is an extremely high number of cases of respiratory infections, mouth ulcers and bleeding and unusual skin infections among the inhabitants of the area – diseases related to radiation sickness. It is clear that this situation represents a very serious environmental risk not only to Somalia, but to the whole eastern Africa region. Many of the pirates call themselves the Somali â€Å"coast guard†, claiming that their aim is to defend their communities from overfishing and to protect the coastline from toxic dumping of nuclear waste by foreign ships. In an interview one of the pirate leaders explained: â€Å"We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish and dump in our seas†. The problem of overfishing is still a very serious problem is Somalia. It is estimated that Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million worth fish from Somali waters. On the other hand, Somali pirates collect about $100 million yearly from ransoms. This, according to Peter Lehr, a Somalia piracy expert, can be seen as a â€Å"resource swap†. Of course, a great number of pirates are only taking part in these operations for the money, and their families which they can feed this way. As one of them, nicknamed Milk Sucker says: â€Å"Sometimes doing a bad thing is the only way to improve the situation for yourself and the people you love†. Some of the pirates can’t even swim, their only task is to shoot straight. A lot of young Somalis take part only in a couple of operations, hoping to make enough money to move to the West or maybe to persuade an ethnic Somali woman with a EU passport to marry them and move to the UK. As for the techniques used by the pirates, we can notice that they are getting more sophisticated and more effective. They are using the latest high-tech equipment, like GPS, MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defence Systems), RPGs and satellite phones and they are well-armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s. They usually operate using small skiffs with powerful outboard engines, but now they regularly use â€Å"mother ships† to increase their range. These â€Å"mother ships† take them into the shipping lanes, several hundred miles offshore. Then they launch small speedboats to haul themselves up onto the deck of a ship. They can often seize a ship without firing a shot. After capturing it, they sail the hijacked ship to the Somali pirate hub town, Eyl and take the hostages ashore where they are well-looked after until ransom is paid. It is reported that the pirates never harm their prisoners; they behave like â€Å"perfect gentlemen† with them. They even hire caterers on the Somali coast to cook pasta, grilled fish and roasted meat, which western hostages might like. Once ransom is paid, they release ships good humour. According to the Kenyan foreign minister, in 2008 pirates have received about $150 million in ransom, which is used to fund future operations. In a recent startling Reuters report we can read that the pirates have started to make the money to work for them, setting up a stock exchange â€Å"that has drawn financiers from the Somali Diaspora and other nations. † The bandits' bourse is a small building in the once-small fishing village of Haradheere, about 250 miles northeast of Mogadishu, which has developed into a luxury town by now. As a former pirate named Mohammed puts it, â€Å"The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials †¦ we've made piracy a community activity. â€Å" Unfortunately, it has become clear that the activity of pirates is linked to warlords on shore. After seeing the profitability of the business, these leaders started to facilitate pirate activities, sharing the profit with the pirates. These â€Å"Godfathers† and clan leaders are closely related to Somalia’s president in Mogadishu, Abdullahi Yusuf, who also originates from Puntland. Estimates are that at least six ministers in the Puntland government are involved with the pirates. The only group which is publicly against piracy is the militant Al-Shabaab, a Salafist group founded this decade as a militia attached to the Islamic Court. They say that such crimes are forbidden under the Islamic law. However, according some reports, militant Islamist groups also get their share of the profit. The pirates involvement with these organisations is making the situation even more alarming, because all the financial help given by the West to the Somali authorities to put an end to piracy might just help it to flourish. All in all, it is clear that piracy is not a problem that the fragile Somali government can solve alone and international help is needed. How does all this affect the international community? Besides enforcing international law, there are several other reasons to stop pirate activities. The first is Somalia itself. The country needs about 200 tonnes of food aid a year which is mostly delivered by sea. Without the naval escorts and the regular delivery of aid, Somalia’s food stocks are seriously threatened, so ensuring the safe delivery of food aid should be a number one priority for the international community. Stopping piracy may also reduce the money available for weapons, so indirectly it can lead to the end of the internal war. Piracy has a very distressing effect on international trade as well. In addition to the growing ransom, companies whose cargos do not reach their destinations, lose money. As a result, there is a growth of insurance for all ships which need to pass through the Gulf of Aden. The constant danger of pirate attacks has already made some shipping companies to choose a longer, but safer route, around the Cape of Good Hope, as it happened in the case of AP Moller-Maersk, one of Europe’s largest shipping companies after the hijacking of Sirius Star. The extra weeks of travel and fuel can lead to the cost of transporting goods, which is a really serious concern now, at the time of a global economic crisis. Another reason is related to the environment. Pirate attacks can cause major oil spills in a very sensitive ecosystem. As pirates become bolder and use more powerful weapons, tankers could be set on fire or sunk, which can result in an environmental catastrophe, destroying marine and bird life for many years to come. Last, but not least, there is a risk that the pirates themselves can become agents of terrorism. There are assumptions according to which pirates are connected to the Al-Shabaab movement, which is believed to have links to Al-Qa’eda. According to some reports, Al-Qa’eda militants from Iraq have chosen Somalia as a new base from which to launch attacks. Terrorism at sea can take many forms, for example direct attacks on ships, hostage dramas, but also hijacked ships used as potential weapons. Terrorist networks can use the financial funds from piracy to fund their operations worldwide. It is obvious, that even if there is little chance for the worst scenario, it is best to prevent it while we can. The international community has recognized that enhanced international efforts are necessary in order to reduce the number of attacks. The growing cases of piracy have focused the world's attention on Somalia and have shown that the crisis going on in a fragmented state is spilling out of its borders. The military response to piracy has shown that countries which haven’t been able to cooperate with each other can unite their forces for a common cause. A maritime conference was also held in Mombassa, where they discussed the problem of piracy and tried to give regional and world governments recommendations to deal with the danger. In January 2009, an important regional agreement was adopted in Djibouti by States in the region, at a meeting organised by IMO. The Code of Conduct concerning the Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden recognized the extent of the problem of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the region and the states signing it declared their intention to co-operate, in a way consistent with international law, in the repression of piracy and armed robbery against ships. Most countries have preferred prevention: various navies have sent war-ships into the area to escort commercial vessels. At the beginning, this way of defense was more individual than collective, but the persistence of the attacks has led to the development of a collective security system. NATO got the task of escorting convoys transporting the humanitarian aid of the World Food Programme towards Somalia. Once they were in the Gulf of Aden, they also protected other merchants ships, by their presence. Later NATO handed the job to Operation Atlanta, the first common maritime mission by the European Union. Military counter-piracy operations are performed by vessels from the Combined Task Force 150, a multinational coalition  naval  task force   in charge of monitoring and inspecting a range of security issues, such as drug smuggling and weapons trafficking, as well as piracy. Several countries, including India, Russia, China, Norway, Australia, France, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, South Korea, Malaysia and even Japan chose to join the coalition and send warships to the Gulf of Aden. In January 2009 the US navy established a new multi-national naval force to confront piracy off the Somali coast. The new unit was called Combined Task Force 151and it was a spinoff of the existing Task Force 150 in the region. This section of the coalition forces was aimed at focusing exclusively on pirate groups (leaving Combined Task Force 150 to focus on other destabilizing activities, such as drug smuggling and weapons trafficking). It was hoped that by designating a new unit to combating piracy in Somalia, anti-piracy efforts would be more successful. Unfortunately, this effort is having only a limited impact. Although some pirates are scared off by the sight of military ships and helicopters, coalition warships are often in the wrong place at the wrong time. In addition, pirates are flexible and change their tactics easily: data from the Maritime Bureau shows that at present they are conducting their operations further out in the Indian Ocean. Besides, this is a very costly solution which is difficult to support in the long term. After the hijacking of an Egyptian ship and a huge Saudi supertanker, the Arab League organized a summit for countries overlooking the Red Sea, with the participation of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, Jordan, Djibouti and Yemen. At the summit the participant states discussed several solutions for the problem of piracy, suggesting different routes and looking for a safer passageway for ships. They might also assist the current NATO anti-piracy efforts together with other nations. However, we shouldn’t forget that the Arab League has long tried to draw Somalia more closely to the Arab world. It has made a financial support for the Transitional Federal Government, conditional on its entering negotiations with Al-Shabaab, intending to spread Islamist influence in the area. In June 2008 the United Nations Security Council passed a declaration authorizing nations that have the agreement of the Transitional Federal Government to enter Somali territorial waters to hunt pirates. In 2008 the Security Council adopted two resolutions, 1846 and 1851 allowing for the first time international land and sea occupations of Somali territories in the pursuit of pirates. These resolutions extended the power of the states and lead to greater coordination of their efforts. After the Council resolution 1851, the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia was established on 14 January 2009 to facilitate and coordinate actions among states and organizations to deal with piracy. At the moment 46 States and seven international organizations take part in the Contact Group. Through its four working groups, the Contact Group addresses specific issues related to military and operational coordination, legal issues, shipping industry awareness and public and diplomatic information. UNODC (the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) participates in the Contact Group and its Working Group on Military and Operational Coordination, Information Sharing and Capability-Building. UNODC acts as secretariat to Working Group on Judicial Issues, to which it has provided various forms of support. UNODC has prepared an analysis of the legal and practical challenges involved in prosecuting suspected pirates and is gathering nformation on relevant national legal systems, including those of coastal States. In spite of the fact that laws to combat piracy at sea exist, a lot of states do not seem to use them in practice. Only France has chosen to combat piracy directly. The first case was the seizing of a yacht in April 2008, which started with negotiations for the release of 30 hostages and followed by the capture of six pirates in Somali territory. The second case took place in September 2008 to free a couple taken hostages. This action also led to the arrest of six pirates, who are awaiting trial before a French court. Britain and some other countries have found a superficial and convenient way of treating the pirates: they have negotiated a treaty with Kenya, according to which all those suspected of piracy are handed over to that country. A few months later other countries followed Britain’s example, negotiating similar agreements. These agreements are a useful step, but they do not solve the problem. The Kenyan prison system is in terrible condition, corruption is high, there are strong delays in the call of trials and legal aid is very limited. It is a paradox indeed that states which are entitled to prosecute the arrested pirates delegate this right to a country which is unable to assure a fair trial to these criminals. In spite of the united efforts of different nations, it has become clear that the piracy problem cannot be solved at sea, because it is rooted on the shore, in the ongoing conflict and political instability of the country. As Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations expressed at an international donors’ conference: â€Å"Piracy is a symptom of anarchy and insecurity on the ground. (†¦) More security on the ground will make less piracy on the seas† Any lasting solution to the problem has to involve ensuring stability, development and an effective criminal justice system in Somalia. If the states had invested the time and resources they now spend to stop piracy in reconstructing the Somali society and economy, they probably wouldn’t have to cope with these problems. However, there are always new opportunities that shouldn’t be wasted. Martin Murphy in his article â€Å"Somali Piracy: not just a Naval Problem† claims that the highest costs of piracy to Somalia and the international community are not economic, but political. As I mentioned earlier, it seems that almost all layers of political life in Somalia are involved in piracy, including the Islamist groups. Islamism is getting stronger and stronger in Somalia and it can soon get hold of the entire country. The Al-Shabaab movement has a clear intention to use Somalia as a base for spreading Islamist influence in the region. If this tendency continues, a worst possible outcome would be an Islamist government, which is strong enough to control piracy, but also strong enough to make Somalia safe for violent Islamist groups. So, what can be done to stop, or at least to decrease piracy in the Horn of Africa? Somalia is a clan-based society. Therefore, a possible solution would be to deal with the sub-state entities in order to create a unitary state in the future. In these negotiations the coalition should clearly commit itself to repress piracy in return for allied political and economic support. This way it would be possible to cut off all the political players in Somalia from their external sources of weapons and thus pirates would be trapped between more effective land-base policy by the Somalis and maritime policy by coalition member navies and soon they would have no place to hide. Recent efforts have shown that there is a will to act together. We can only hope that the states will find a way to deal effectively with the problem before it is too late. Links, references: Roger Middleton: Piracy in Somalia. Africa Programme, October 2008 http://www. chathamhouse. org. uk/files/12203_1008piracysomalia. df Marina Chiarugi  and  Daniele Archibugi: Piracy challenges global governance. Open Democracy,  9 April 2009 http://www. opendemocracy. net/article/piracy-challenges-global-governance George Grant: Somali pirates can't be beaten at sea. The Guardian, 18 November 2009 http://www. guardian. co. uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/18/somali-pirates-ransom-puntland Galrahn: Somalia Piracy – A Backgrounder April 8, 2009 http://www. informationdissemination. net/2009/04/somalia-piracy-backgrounder. html Rubrick Biegon: Somali Piracy and the International Response. FPIF (Foreign Policy in Focus) January 29, 2009 http://www. pif. org/fpiftxt/5827 Georg-Sebastian Holzer: Somalia: piracy and politics. Open Democracy, 24 November 2008 http://www. opendemocracy. net/article/somalia-piracy-and-politics Johann Hari: You Are Being Lied to About Pirates. The Huffington Post, December 2009 http://www. huffingtonpost. com/johann-hari/you-are-being-lied-to-abo_b_155147. html Can Somali pirates be defeated? BBC News, 20 November 2009 http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/8371139. stm Sam Gustin: Bandit Bourse? Somali pirates hijack oil tanker, organize ‘stock market' Daily Finance, December 1 2009 http://www. dailyfinance. om/2009/12/01/bandit-bourse-somali-pirates-hijack-oil-tanker-organize-stock/ Martin Murphy: Somali Piracy : not just a naval problem . Centre for Str ategic and Bugetary Assessments, April 16, 2009 http://www. csbaonline. org/4Publications/PubLibrary/B. 20090417. Somali_Piracy/B. 20090417. Somali_Piracy. pdf Piracy in Somalia: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia Aiden Hartley: What I learned from the  Somali pirates. The Spectator, 6 December 2008 http://www. spectator. co. uk/essays/all/3061246/what-i-learned-from-the-somali-pirates. thtml

Why People Fear Old Age essays

Why People Fear Old Age essays In todays society every one wants to look young and attractive. We want to be able to stay independent, and in touch with modern times. Old age has become a social problem in our time. The reality of getting older is manifested through stereotypes and myths. Common stereotypes of aging view the old as out to the pasture, over the hill, and all washed up. We want to be able to stay youthful and enjoy life to its fullest. No matter what lengths we go to, to stay young, there will always be that fear in the back of our minds of getting old. Because of this we often look at aging as a negative perception. We fear the mental and physical decline. The thought of not remembering our past or even friends and families is scary, what is there to like about forget all the wonderful memories that took us so long to accumulate. And then theres the fear of physical decline, knowing that we risk the chance of not being as youthful as we would like to be. Missing out on all the fun of playing with the grandchildren, taking long walks at night or even those bike rides that we once enjoyed. The thought loneliness, being unwanted, or becoming a burden and dependent upon our friends and family members is another reason we fear getting old. It seems like when we get older our friends tend to diminish and our interests seem to clash with the younger generation, so they stop coming around as much. Then theres the thought of having to rely on other people to help us in our daily activities. The last thing we want is for someone to have to take care of us, and loosing our independence. No more being able to jump in the car and go to the store or friends houses. Finally theres the thought of disease and death, which people state are their biggest fears or old age. Who wants to think about all the health problems we will have to look forward to and all the doctors visits and pills that accompany these pr ...