BabsOwnOpinion

The Dilemma Faced by Woman Immigrants

2010-05-07T01:13:00.000-07:00

Globalization has completely changed the roles of women worldwide. Even though the rising international interconnectedness has culturally, economically and politically led to the improvement of women's status within societies, globalization has drastically engendered the feminizing of emigration. In other words, the number of women crossing the globe have amazingly surpassed the number of men lately. Knowing that people from rich countries increasingly need Third World women to fill domestic jobs such as nurses and nannies, who take care of their children and parents, as both men and women are working at the same scale in rich countries, women from less developed countries (LDC's) are massively emigrating to more developed countries (MDC's). This emigration is largely understandable because working in MDC's is the only way for those poor women to enhance their parents' and children's conditions of living.
People from the Third World are experiencing a desperate poverty, and men workers tend to abandon their wives and children as they cannot afford their families' needs with their very low budgets. Since poor women cannot rely on their husbands anymore and women's works are more needed than men's works in rich countries nowadays, they decide to wear the roles of breadwinners and migrate to MDC's to help financially their families. However, although those women become financially very helpful to their families living in Third World countries, they cause enormous prejudice to their own children, and perhaps their countries of origins.
Women immigrants left their own children with their mothers and sisters at home, and come to richer countries to take care of rich people's children just for money. And children from LDC's are very affected by their mother's absences, which is observable through their behaviors. For instance, many women immigrants' children tend to do poorly in school, be violent, or become withdrawn from the world due to lacks of maternal affection. This issue may be an obstacle to the development of poor countries since those "desperate" children are tomorrow's leaders.
Globalization seems to make rich countries richer and poor countries poorer. Therefore, women immigrants need those jobs to help their families, but their children are enormously affected by their mother's physical absence. Even though the money sent by their mothers allow them to get a better life, it does not replace the maternal affection that those children need to be happy and perhaps successful.
It's true that a child should grow up in an atmosphere of happiness, love, and understanding to increase his chances to succeed in life, but it's also true that those jobs allow women immigrants to guarantee for their children a better education and health, and therefore, a better life. To solve the problem, actors of globalization should develop programs that would improve Third Word countries' economies. If they make it happen, poor women will stay next to their children and give them the love and care they need instead of emigrating to major economies' countries.

My Top 3 Political Songs

2010-05-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

1. Tupac - "Changes" (1998)
Tupac Shakur' song, "Changes," was released in his album Greatest Hits, and became one of his most famous songs promoting peace and equal justice. Tupac deplored the racial discrimination and the police brutality that minority groups such as Black people were victims of in the United States, and advised the government to focus its efforts on making beneficial changes to society instead of discriminating. The song includes strong and revolutionary messages such as: "...the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks." Not only does this verse denounces the police brutality and reveals how hard life could be if you are black in the United states. Tupac also insinuates through this verse that a black guy is more likely to go to jail than a white guy. In addition, when President Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, the line "We ain't ready to see a Black President" from this song was the first thing that came to my mind; then I realized that this day was a great Victory for the Black community as well as the other minority groups living in the United States.

2. Bob Marley - "Redemption Songs" (1980)
This is my favorite song of all time, a song that motivates and galvanizes me when I am discouraged. The song is one of Marley's most famous songs, with lyrics derived from a speech given by the Pan-Africanist orator Marcus Garvey. Marley claims the freedom of Africa from imperialism as well as the imperatives of African Unity for economic, social and political development. Look at these lyrics, "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery / None but ourselves can free our minds." Bob Marley encourages people to look within themselves for the freedom that will set everyone free. In other words, we must stop allowing people to kill each other for slight differences. Many leaders all around the world have become dictators and kill their opponents or members of ethnic groups that they did not belong with as they become mentally enslaved; those leaders have made their populations experience a new form of colonization, a reason why many countries, particularly in Africa that possess all resources to become developing countries are still underdeveloped countries. I cannot stop listening to this song...it made me like Marley's philosophy to better the humanity by uniting them.

3. The Clash "Know Your rights" (1982)
"Know Your rights" is a song by The Clash released as a single from their upcoming album at that time, Combat Rock. The singer, Joe Strummer, talks about the three rights that every individual should be aware of. Here are the three rights revealed through these lyrics, "The right not to be killed, Murder is a Crime! Unless it is done by a policeman or an aristocrat / The right to food money, providing of course, you don't mind a little investigation, humiliation, and, if you cross your fingers, rehabilitation / The right to free speech as long as you're dumb enough to actually try it." I liked this song the first time I listened to it because Joe Strummer ironically portrays and denounces actions of the government that violates the U.S. citizens' civil rights. I think this song is politically very powerful since the band's political sentiments are reflected through their music.

Check them out on Youtube if you have time then tell me what you think about these songs...Hope you'll enjoy listening to them.

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Impact on Environment

2010-05-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

The explosion then sinking of a BP offshore drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, caused an oil spill. An estimated 5, 000 barrels, the equivalent of 210, 000 gallons, spews into the ocean every day since April 22. This fast oil spreading on the ocean has already caused catastrophic damage and could become one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history ever since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, the oil tanker that spilled of the coast Alaska. Beside the economic consequences of this oil spill, we ought to fear the negative effects of ocean pollution on global environment.

The extinction of several species are predicted. Hundreds of species of wildlife are at risk from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the bad weather is moving the oil closer to shore, but also April is the time for those species to reproduce. Among the 400 species that could be at risk of extinction due to this oil slick are birds, sea turtles, whales, dolphins, and brown pelicans, which can live and survive nowhere else in the world.
The birds, the most heavily affected by the oil spill, have their feathers covered with thick black oil preventing them to migrate. Sea turtles such as the Leatherback turtle, the Loggerhead turtle, the Green turtle, and the Hawksbill turtle, are also threatened as they cannot nest anywhere else. Whales such as the Bryde whale and some other whales living in that area could swallow large amounts of oil as they eat, and then die out; the dolphins living in that region could eat contaminated fish, and then die out too.

In my opinion, environmental problems such as oil spills by tankers are serious threats to the environment, particularly biodiversity. Industries should be more worried about the negative consequences of their activities on the ocean. They must try to reduce ocean pollution to protect our environment and prevent global warming. Plus, the U.S. Govt and BP should clean this oil up as soon as possible because when the thick black oil remains on the surface of the ocean too long, it blocks oxygen and sunrays crucial for the survival of marine life.

Arizona: Racial Profiling Is Racist

2010-05-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

On April 23, 2010, the Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the Immigration Bill SB1070, and the law is creating a controversial debate in the United States. Under the new immigration law, Arizona police can to stop and question anyone they suspect to be illegally in the United States; therefore, all immigrants in Arizona must carry their documents wherever they go, and those who cannot provide immigration documents showing they are legally in the United States could be jailed for up to 6 months, fined $2500 and deported. The companies and people that knowingly hire illegal immigrants or transport them to their jobs are also targeted by the Arizona police under this law.

Opponents of this law argue that this law is unconstitutional, and it will engender a culture of racial profiling in US; whereas, supporters of this law such as Senator McCain say this law is necessary for national security purposes.

Americans should boycott Arizona State and other states in US that might plan to similarly install anti-immigrant legislation; boycotting Arizona State will make Congress and the Supreme Court understand this law must not be passed as the state of Arizona will be economically weakened by this boycott; also, the deportation of those illegal immigrants will cost a lot of money to the US Government.

This anti-immigration law is purely racist because racial and ethnic profiling is purely racist. How would you feel if you constantly got mistakenly arrested every time you see police officers in the street just because you look Hispanic or African, and you are suspected of being undocumented?...Nobody would like to see his US citizens' rights to be violated. For instance, the first person who got arrested under this law was a truck driver who looked like Mexican but who was actually a US citizen. The truck driver was arrested under the pretext he did not have enough paperwork on him though he showed documents such as his commercial driver's license and SSN.

In my opinion, illegal immigrants are not the right persons to arrest but people who knowingly hire them are, and they should be gone after mercilessly. Wouldn't it be more beneficial for the country to stop the drug dealer rather than the guy smoking a joint of marijuana? The answer is YES! I also think Congress will not pass this law because both Democrats and Republicans have Latinos representatives and need Latinos' voters to win elections, but also_no matter what anti-immigrants lobbyists might say_ Democratic and Republican businesses are the companies that hire those undocumented workers to make greater economic profits. In addition, Arizona State should not go after one group of illegal immigrants but everybody to promote equality in the United States.

Help Haiti Earthquake Victims by Donating

2010-04-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck Haiti causing catastrophic damage to Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. More than 250,000 residences and 30,000 buildings, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the UN HQ and the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, were either destroyed or severely damaged. The Haitian Government reported that an estimated 230,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and more than 1,000,000 had become homeless.
The whole world has been chocked by this tragedy that caused the death of thousands of people; therefore, countries all around the world have massively provided aid, including rescue workers, doctors and supplies, to help Haiti earthquake victims. NGO's such as the American Red Cross and UNICEF have also responded to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and sending rescue teams, medical teams and other supplies to Haiti.
The U.S. President, Barack Obama, charged the former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to coordinate efforts to raise funds for Haiti's recovery. From overseas, the Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade, proposed free land to interested Haitians. Organizations such as the Yele Haiti Foundation, created by Wyclef Jean, are collecting donations to help those affected by the earthquake.
In my opinion, the earthquake occurred in a country where most people are desperately poor, but also a country that has been both weakened for years by a political instability and struck by natural disasters. Therefore, the Haitians need extremely our help to rebuild their country, and then put Haiti back on its feet.
Please, keep donating to help the children and families devastated by the earthquake!

Stop The Madness: Driver Fined for Her Clothing

2010-04-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

A 31-year old woman driver wearing a black hijab, the Islamic veil that covers the face but leaves the eyes exposed, was fined 22 euros ($31.50) by the traffic police for "driving in uncomfortable conditions." The incident occurred on April 2 in the western city of Nantes, France. The French Muslim woman, who has been driving wearing her hijab for nine years, got arrested by the police in the street of Nantes. She said, " two policemen pulled me over demanding that I uncovered my face for identification purposes." Then, one police officer told her: " I was making a report because of your clothing...for not having a clear field of vision." The police officer argued that her clothing posed a safety risk to her driving.
This incident reminds me one of our class discussions, which was about a teacher who has been reprimanded by the school administration after some students denounced his clothing pretending it was religiously to0 offensive.
This type of arrest or remark is pure discrimination since her eyes were not covered, and she could see just as the other drivers because her field of vision was not obstructed. If wearing a hijab while driving is prohibited by the government, all religious people wearing any kinds of religious clothes or objects must not drive or must be fined for the promotion of equal justice; also, all the motorcyclists wearing crash-helmets as well as the policemen wearing crash-helmets while driving motorcycles must not drive as the crash-helmets can limit their field of vision too.
In my opinion, an individual should not be arrested or reprimanded for his or her clothing because it is unconstitutional and unlawful; and if such law, the ban of the full veil, was proposed in any country, this country's government must not pass that law because it is an infringement on "Humans Rights."

Teacher, Treat Your Students Equally!

2010-04-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Our today's class discussion was about "race" and "ethnicity." In the first day of class, a college professor said to her White American students that: "I will grade you harder on your essays than any other student since you were born here and had access to a better quality of education!" In other words, the teacher will not pardon her white students certain grammatical mistakes that the other students (i.e. Blacks, Hispanics, Arabs, etc.) make in their essays. The question-debate in class was whether the teacher should grade the white students' papers harder than the rest of students?
I totally disagree with this teacher's statement.
First of all, it is against the colleges' rules to apply stereotyping or racial discrimination among students. Several schools' testing centers remove the candidate students' names on the exams and replace them by numbers until the teachers grade them all in order to promote equality. The teacher must adopt the same method while grading her students' papers; she must not grade her students based on their race or gender...she should not even make that kind of statement to avoid creating inequality within the class. In fact, the other students will more likely make less efforts in their essays pretexting either English is not their first language or they are blacks or hispanics.
Second of all, by challenging white college students to work harder in their essays, the teacher automatically creates a lack of motivation among the other racial-ethnic groups; we all know that motivation is the key factor of a student's success. In other words, motivated students devote more time and efforts to learn, and perform better than their less motivated classmates.
Finally, the teacher's statement may increase violence at school. White students may become victims of aggression as the minority groups believe that the teacher favors white students while grading; therefore, gangs and clans based on ethnic groups will increase and fight each other within the school.
In my opinion, a fair teacher should grade his or her students based on the grading criteria and the efforts made by students in their exams_that way, the teacher promotes equality among students and avoids racial discrimination.

Is Big Brother Watching?

2010-04-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Big Brother is a fictional character in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state where the ruling elite, The Party, uses absolute power over the inhabitants; a total power including pervasive government surveillance, public mind control and the infringement of the citizens' rights, is observable through our government's actions nowadays. The overly-controlling tentative of the US government to increase surveillance since September 11 with the creation of the Patriot Act reminds us the phrase "Big Brother is watching you."

The Patriot Act has increased the power of surveillance and investigation to government agencies engendering a gigantic threat to the individuals' civil liberties and privacy; the Patriot act gives to the US government the power to access to a person's medical, tax, library and financial records, telephone,e-mail communications, to confiscate property of terrorists, and finally, to get into people's houses and conduct secret searches. for instance, the National Security agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans: an infringement of citizens' rights.

Big Brother is watching since the News on TV are manipulated, and several social networking where people communicate with their families, friends and colleagues such as "Twitter" and "Facebook,"allow the National Security Agency to know people's activities and violate their privacy. Knowing that a well-informed public is dangerous to any government, their agents monitor the television programs to control our mind. For example, TV channels show tons of reality shows, movies, or entertaining programs that keep us away from the government's actions. Is Big Brother Watching? Yes, he is!

China Manipulates Its Currency to Its Advantage

2010-04-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

During a time where industrialized and developed countries are struggling to recover from the recession, China's economy is amazingly growing. China keeps the renminbi low making it an undervalued currency, which causes its exports to become inexpensive and its imports, expensive in foreign markets. Therefore, China makes a trade surplus in its exports to the detriment of the other countries' currencies, an action that enormously affects the global economy.

The members of the Group 20, which regroups economically powerful countries, tries to have China (member of the G 20) to reconsider its currency policy in order to bring stability in foreign exchange with the intermediary of the I.M.F. However, China avoids international trade policies of the W.T.O's and I.M.F's reports by using global trade policy, and repels the major economies' propositions. The international transactions such as imports and exports between China are only advantageous for China, and I.M.F. has no powerful trade tribunal that can stop China since it does not borrow from this organization.
Knowing the United States owes a great amount of money to China mainly through interest on bonds, and the U.S. needs to keep trading with China in order to pay its debt and stabilize its economy, China intentionally responds negatively to President Obama's call of "more market-oriented exchange rate." Instead, China proposes currency interventions known as stimulus, which are to beneficial to the other countries for global demand. China, which only filed 3 cases in its first seven years since it joined the W.T.O in 2001, recently starts filing more cases to counter-attack the other countries' complaints, particularly the United States and western countries.
Because China manipulates its own currency to its advantage, its foreign exchange reserves dramatically climbed to $590 billion in 2008; interest on bonds and currency fluctuation helped China achieve economic growth.

The Clash of Civilizations Blocks Globalization

2010-03-29T02:15:00.000-07:00

Through history, there have been civilizations that are so fundamentally different from one another that no interaction between them could be possible. The concept of globalization, which connotes the elimination of barriers between states as well as the acceptance of a new form of civilization, represents an obstacle for many civilizations. The Islamic World as well as the other civilizations consider globalization the exportation of Western economic and cultural values; therefore, those civilizations see globalization as a threat to their beliefs since they already have their own religious beliefs about which economic and cultural values should prevail globally.

Many societies believe that the actors of globalization are driven by self-interests and imperialistic ideologies rather than humanitarian purposes. Thus, the "clash of globalization" becomes a huge and perpetual issue that all civilizations have to deal with as it politically, religiously and economically provokes revolt and tension among those nations.
In addition, the intra-conflicts are problems that blocks the triumph of globalization. There are so many "divided countries" such as Korea (North vs. South), India, or a part of the world such as the Middle East, where the inhabitants are permanently struggling and fighting either for religious purposes or lands. Several "coup-d'etats" in Africa originated from ethnocentric beliefs. for instance, an ethnic group might fight to death to avoid a member of another ethnic group to become president in their country, which creates instability and chaos in many African countries.
The "clash of civilizations" is an issue that is hard to solve because not only does it exist an enormous intolerance among the different civilizations, but also each civilization puts the blame on the other civilizations for all the wrongs that occurs in the world.