Violence In Modern Colombia Takes Place In Many Forms. The Three Major

Violence in modern Colombia takes place in many forms. The three major categories are crime, guerrilla activities, and attacks committed by drug traffickers. Violence has become so widespread and common in Colombia that many people have now become numb to it. The Colombian economy has also benefited from the illicit drug trade; however violent it may be. During the 1970s, Colombia became well known, as one of the world's most important drug processing, production, and distribution centers for marijuana and cocaine. The shrubs and plants from which both drugs are derived from and processed has been well known in Colombia for centuries, but until the 1970s drug refiners and traffickers had not taken full advantage. The chewing of coca leaves was very well known in the South American Inca Empire in the 11th century. The Incas, the Colombian Chibchas and other local ethnic groups have always attributed mythical and religious power to the bush and to the alkaloids that were extracted by its leaves by chewing on them. The existence of a drug, cocaine, which could be chemically extracted from large volumes of leaves was not discovered until 1884 by an Austrian ophthalmologist. Marijuana is a drug extracted from hemp, a plant from which coarse fibers are also obtained for the manufacture of cloth, cordage, and sacking. The development of marijuana in Colombia took place in the mid 1940s during the administration of President Mariano Ospina Perez. The government at this time imported various fibers producing species from different parts of the world in an attempt to improve the postwar textile industry. The imported fiber plant included cannabis sativa (hemp) from Asia, and jute and sisal from Mexico. The Ministry of Agriculture was distributing these plants throughout the countryside of Colombia, and peasants and farmers were encouraged to plant them. During this same period, the consumption of marijuana was beginning to become a problem among the Bohemians in Medellin. As a result of this increasing drug problem, especially among the Bohemian members of the middle and upper class, on March 11, 1946, the Ospina administration passed the nation's first anti- drug law, Decree No. 896. This law prohibited the cultivation, distribution, and sale of coca and marijuana, and ruled that all local and regional governments had to destroy all coca and marijuana plantations (Osterling). Colombia has not always been a violent country. It should be noted that in the past, Colombia experienced periods of peace and tranquillity. During this time, the levels of violence were lower than many European and American Countries. Colombia has gained international fame as one of the major centers in the world for drug trafficking. Anytime a country has a problem with drug trafficking, crime is always high. In 1973, homicide was the seventh highest cause from death, but since has become the first since 1990. More than 165,000 have had a violent death between 1980 and 1990. During this decade, the homicide rate was 77.5% per 100,000 people. In comparison, the United States has been regarded as a violent country, but yet the homicide rate was only 8.0%. Contributing to this violence in Colombia is the possession of firearms. Colombians possess more than three million firearms, and more than half is possessed illegally. This adds greatly to the crime and violence in Colombia (Posada -Carbo). It is extremely difficult to measure the magnitude, type, and location of violence in Colombia. Another problem in measuring the amount of violence is that not all violent cases are reported. It must also be noted that any media report of violence must also be read with caution; for it may or may not have occurred. Violence seems to be a nationwide phenomenon. Almost all aspects of the Colombian population experience some degree of violence. Almost everybody is a potential victim; violence does not prefer a particular socioeconomic class, profession, race, or ethnic group. However, some geographical locations have been more prone to violence. The entire Cauca River Valley, including the cities of Cali and Medellin, and the areas between southern Cundinamarca, southeast Tolima, and northeast Haila, seem to have been the most violent (Chepesiak). According to some Colombian observers, intimidation and revenge has caused many to look the other way when violence occurs. It has also cause many

all quiet essays

all quiet essays Imagine being in an ongoing battle where friends and others are dying. All that is heard are bullets being shot, it smells like gas is near, and hearts race as the times goes by. This is similar to what war is like. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator, Paul Baumer, and his friends encounter the ideals of suffering, death, pain, and despair. There is a huge change in these men; at the beginning of the novel they are enthusiastic about going into the war. After they see what war is really like, they do not feel the same way about it. During the war the men experience many feelings especially the loss of loved ones. These feelings are shown through their first experience at training camp, during the actual battles, and in the hospital. Training camp was the first actuality of what war was going to be like for the men. They thought that it would be fun, and they could take pride in defending their country. Their teacher, Kantorek, told them that they should all enroll in the war. Because of this, almost all of the men in the class enrolled. It was in training camp that they met their cruel corporal, Himelstoss. The men are in shock because he is so rude to them; they never thought that war would be this harsh. Paul and two of his friends are ridiculed the most by him. They have to lie down in the mud and practice shooting and jumping up. Also, these three men must remake Himelstoss bed fourteen times, until it is perfect. Himelstoss puts the young men through so much horror that they yearn for their revenge. Himelstoss is humiliated when he goes to tell on Tjaden, and Tjaden only receives an easy punishment. Training camp is also the first sign of change in the men. From this experience they become t ougher, which is needed while fighting in a war. Also, they start to see the other aspects of war, such as death and destruction. Training camp is just a glimpse of what war really is. Th...

Air Forces Northern incident awareness and assessment playbook Essay Example for Free

Air Forces Northern incident awareness and assessment playbook Essay Science (824) , Play (788) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints ?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is the combatant command that is responsible for security and defense. They conduct Defense of the Civil authorities through providing capabilities to the DOD, Department of Defense from their land, air and sea components in support of the leading federal policies geared towards responding to any homeland security threat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Among the capabilities that the DOD brings to their operations is the ISR and IAA. There is no difference between these two terms only that the term IAA has just been coined by the USNORTHCOM to denote the application of ISR when it is applied domestically to support the homeland security. The ISR operation mainly consist of flying both manned and unmanned platforms which are set to revolve over the battle field top provide a clear picture of the situation underneath. During the wartime, this picture could include the location of roads and deposition of the enemy and also the information that may be required so as to target the enemy. ISR provides a clear picture of situational awareness that could not only be used strategically to gain the full picture but also tactically to gather intelligence information that are useful in engaging individual targets. The situation awareness that is provided by the IAA/ ISR becomes a significant force multiplier which the commanders have been known to highly rely on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are many obstacles to realizing full potential for the ISR in homeland security. Currently there is statutory, doctrine, ethical and policy obstacles that exist to prevent ISR from reaching their full capacity for the homeland security provision.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Improved doctrines will see the department of Defense improve their ability to deliver IAA capabilities to the local, tribal, state and also the federal entities. The consumers all over the country and also the whole world will benefit from improved IAA capabilities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The most significant ethical issues come secondarily where IAA capabilities are employed domestically. This is because it is known that all the American citizens enjoy freedoms of privacy, expression and they expect this to be fundamental and be respected in the best way possible. The American citizens highly value their freedoms and hence loath ideas that seem to threaten their constitutional protection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In publicizing the use and purpose of IAA, I think there is a big ethical consideration in it because the citizens will get to know the function of IAA and how they function. They will not think that their freedoms are being infringed on but know that this is a military operation and that is how they are and should be carried hence in so doing, there will be no blame game between the government and the citizens. USAF. (2007). Air Force doctrine document 2-9; Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. Washington, D.C.: United States Air Force. Air Forces Northern. (2010). Air Forces Northern incident awareness and assessment playbook. Tyndall AFB, FL: USAF. USNORTHCOM Public Affairs. (2008, September 18). Hurricane response.

The New Deal by Paul Keith Conkin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The New Deal by Paul Keith Conkin - Essay Example The author stresses that it was of the effort of Roosevelt, that the American people were able to realize the reasons for Great Depression and began to accept it as an inevitable one. The opening chapter introduces us to Franklin Roosevelt and all about his political actions. The book also explores the New Deal's measures in the third chapter by stressing that all the attempts which were taken to put an end to the problem of unemployment in real sense met with failure. The author tells that though the intension and the notion of such actions were acceptable, the implementation was not proper. This is the real cause of the failure according to the author. Not much is indicated or explained about the suffering of the impoverished, unemployed workers in particular. Later, the author expresses his conception about the Welfare State and this part is very interesting. Conkin does not view the New Deal as a class conflict; rather his treatment is analytical and more sophisticated. We could see throughout the book, Conkin tries to give importance to the implications of the social welfare and places the labour relations in the second place as opposed to the leftists. Later, we are provided with some account of the welfare legislation, which according to the author has promised much and delivered little.

Paper review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper review - Essay Example The article also emphasizes on the motivation of employees in the workplace in order to achieve organizational success. To bring a sense of direction in the article, the introduction then discusses about the social change brought about by innovation. This change affects individual behavior in an organization as well as the organization’s work design. Individuals, therefore, have to change their attitude and behavior in order to successfully utilize innovation. The study in the article develops a model about the influence of the social environment on the adoption of innovation. Other previously formulated innovation-acceptance models have also been referred to. The study in the article has three listed specific objectives. Generally, the broad objective is to analyze the impact of social factors on the adoption of innovation at the individual level. The specific objectives seek to look into the impact of peers and the social network as well as the moderating effect brought about by age and gender. The research methodology is also well laid out. Data was collected from the entire management personnel at the University of South Australia. Online survey questionnaires were used as the primary procedure for data collection during the study. Microsoft outlook was also used because of its relevancy in the field of study. The types of questions used in the questionnaires were well varied to involve a wide scope of study and a pilot study is done to pre-test the study instruments. The measurement of constructs was done through modified measures that suited each particular construct in the study. Statistical analysis was then done in order to test the model. The results obtained from the study show the important role that the social network plays in the formation of attitude towards innovation. Apparently, positive attitudes influence the usage and adoption innovations, especially in the workplace.

The Benefits of Living in America. Essay -- USA, ESL essays

Fireworks cracking and lighting up the sky, hot dogs cooking on the grill, and a cold drink in a red, white, and blue paper cup. It is the forth of July, Independence day, the day Americans put all of their worries to the side to celebrate the freedom of the country that they live in, America. Those who live in the USA may experience more freedom and comfort then those who live in other parts of the world. America is highly praised for their education, diverse crowds, and socially accepting everyone despite their race, religion, or special needs. Many people from all over the world come to America to get a better education then the one being offered to them by their own country, mainly because of it's elite schools, endless study choices, and flexablility. Having the choice of where, what...

Metaphor in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

The beginning of the 19 the century is characterized by strong discrimination and oppression of women in society meaning that women were something like private property being able only to keep house and to bear children. Gilman comes from a long list of freedom fighters for women’s rights and they were concerned with the role of women in society and, especially, in family interactions. The authors made an attempt to create new ideal of free and independent women. Her works are full of symbolic meanings persuading women to change their lives, to be provided with opportunity to receive proper education and job, to have suffrage. They simply wanted men to listen to them. (Lane 1990) â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† highlights the issues of control and attack of women in society. It is necessary to admit that the author appears rather symbolic for all women. She objects to the fact that women are expected to keep house, to bear children and to obey men’s orders. Consequently, men are privileged enough as they have proper education, job opportunities and are allowed to make decisions in contrast to women. As Gilman says women are in the prison of acquiescence, simply because of personal weakness that contribute to the suppression of women as well as because of a combination of society’s control. (Gilbert 1996) The authors on the example of main heroine provide detailed overview of 19th century society; especially they tend to show the ills of society, culture of those times and attitudes towards women. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† tells a story of a young woman, narrator, who has driven insane by too loving her husband. The author surely highlights that blatant sexism is present in society. The short-story shows that women are afraid of expressing their feelings in order not to baffle husbands or to make them angry. In order to achieve the desired expression and to better illustrate the social order of 19th century society Gilman uses symbols and metaphors. (Gilman 1989) Throughout the short-story the author shows symbolically that females are restrained in the American society. For example, the main heroine is simply imprisoned in the room with the yellow wallpaper. It is seen that the house is surrounded by â€Å"gates that lock† and at the top of the stairs the gates prevent narrator from leaving top floor.   Bars on the windows provide an idea that freedom is limited and all is need to break down the constraints, because window is, obviously, symbolizes mental limitations, not physical ones. The author shows that heroine is provided with no opportunities to escape and lots of women in those times were kept â€Å"in their place† in American society. (Rex 1996) The narrator is obliged to follow rigid schedule being not able to deviate from it. The image of narrator is metaphor of all women who were considered not to be intelligent enough to make up their own decisions. The narrator and women in general were physically week and hysterical and, therefore, were treated as children. The narrator is also placed in child’s nursery. She is forced by her husband to sit in her and â€Å"to rest†, as he thinks she is unintelligent and sill: â€Å"he called me a blessed little goose†. (Gilman 1989, 5) Of course, such attitude was extended to most women and was not confined to the main heroine in the story. Actually, the yellow wallpaper is metaphor itself as it is used symbolically. The yellow wallpaper symbolizes societal oppression of women in American society. The pattern on the wallpaper represents male-dominated society which deprives women their rights and freedom: â€Å"by moonlight, it becomes bars, she says, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be†. (Gilman 1989, 13) The narrator wants to show that pattern on the yellow wallpaper is the actions of narrator’s husband, brother, and doctor who forced main heroine to be locked in her room and to do nothing but idling. Apparently, these people are willing to aid the narrator, to imprison her in her room upstairs. Women’s imprisonment is described metaphorically by using woman’s image of bars behind the pattern in the wallpaper. The heroine realizes that these bars imprison women and choke off their lives.   Therefore, the image of yellow wallpaper only magnifies the problem being experienced by the heroine. Ostensibly, the pattern on the wallpaper isn’t simply pattern for a children’s room, as Gilman firstly notes, it is presented as a mind-numbing quality attracting unbalanced mind: â€Å"[The pattern] slaps you in the face, knocks you down and tramples on you. It is like a bad dream. I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still†. (Gilman 1989, 13)   The author shows that women were unable to struggle: â€Å"And she is all the time trying to climb through†¦ nobody could climb through that pattern – strangles so†¦ they get through, and then the pattern strangles them†. (Gilman 1989, 15) Pattern on the yellow wallpaper and the fact that the main heroine achieves her freedom and independence, though the price appears too high: insanity in return for long-waiting freedom and independence – author’s metaphorical illustrations that women were strongly oppressed and suppressed in American society. (Gilman 1989) Other characters in the short-story notice that there is something strange and unusual with the yellow wallpaper: â€Å"I’ve caught him several times looking at the paper! And Jennie too. I caught Jennie with her hand on it once†. (Gilman 1989, 13) As it is noted wallpaper is a metaphor of women’s suppression, the actions of John, narrator’s husband represent the way many men and women of the time period dealt with this oppression. Obviously, John is an image of all men in American society who thinks that women are inferior to men and thus should be treated with delicacy not to do harm for them. Actually, John treated her wife as private property and a second-sort thing. Metaphorically, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a horror story for women, because the narrator drives insane in the end symbolizing that it is the only way to escape. If to look deeper in the context, it is apparent that the narrator illustrates literally women were routinely oppressed in those times. Treatment of husbands and pattern on the wallpaper symbolize prison for most women. Gilman warns men that such treatment can lead to nothing but disastrous results. (Gilman 1989) Works Cited Gilbert, Kelly. (1996). â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†: An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings. USA: Bantam Classic Books, 1989, 1-20. Lane, Ann J. (1990).To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. USA: Thomson Place, 1990. Rex, T. (1998). Metaphor in The Yellow Wallpaper.