Helmut Walser Smiths The Butchers Tale

Introduction The state sponsored, bureaucratic and systematic murder and brutal persecution of over six million Jews in the holocaust by Nazi regime has been a major distressing issue in the history of the world.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Helmut Walser Smith’s The Butcher’s Tale specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The sacrifice of individuals by fire as the Greek word Holocaust suggests was an act by the Nazi under the leadership of Adolf Hitler who in 1933 had risen to power and who believed that compared to the Jews, Germans were racially superior and that the latter were a threat to the racial German community. This paper analyses local relations between Jewish and non-Jewish populations in Germany from the perspective of Helmut Walser Smith’s The Butcher’s Tale and how it contributed to the Holocaust. A brief overview of the origin of Holocaust from the Butchers tale Different s tudies have revealed the causes of holocaust to have been attributed by many factors some of which include demonization of the Jewish community, the rise of the Nazi and the fact that Hitler hated the Jewish society. However, Smith in his book the Butcher’s Tale indicates that it begun from the murder of a youth called Ernst Winter in a German town, Konitz in 1900.[1] He posits that while strolling in Konitz, West Prussia, two residents of the area discovered the dismembered dead body of Ernst Winter carefully tucked in a package and dumped besides a lake. The discovery of the body drew national attention and sparked off a series of events and suspicions on the involvement of the Jews. Rumors began spreading that perhaps some visiting Jews might have had a hand in the killing of the youth and that it was a Jewish ritual murder. The police force in Berlin became convinced that the Jews were involved in the murder, a consideration that was witnessed by the accusations leveled b y a Berlin police inspector along with his allies against a Jewish Butcher called Hoffman. The accusations among other tense issues led to the rise of mobs in Konitz who began to violently attack Jews in the area. The violent chaos in Konitz drew the presence of the army which came to quell the violence. Smith creates an understanding from the series of events that were happening that it was the beginning of a process that led to the Holocaust. A town which had earlier on been peaceful turned violent with neighbors turning against one another.[2] It is imperative to note that from the outset, anti-Semites were bent on turning the murder suspicion against the community of the Jews. It was evident that there was no connection of the murder with any Israelite. The police who as earlier indicated had become so engrossed in the issue were accused of plans to shield the Jews.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More That same year in June, agitations and other excesses from the anti-Semitic groups were witnessed in different places like Komarczyn, Tuchel, Butow, stolp, Czersk and Konitz where Jewish homes and synagogues were set on fire. Many Jews who sought help from the courts did not receive justice as their sentiments were met with hostility. Those who tried to fight back were apprehended and given heavy sentences. The Holocaust The events that culminated the Holocaust in Germany saw the country perceived as a genocide state since the killing processes that occurred were directed by the sophisticated bureaucracy of the country. During that era, many institutions in Germany collaborated key among them being the interior ministry and parish churches and the finance ministry which played important roles of supplying records of birth to Nazis showing which individuals were Jewish, confiscated their property and delivered denaturalization and deportation orders. Many Jewish stock holders, academics and workers were disenfranchised and fired while students were denied admission in colleges. Individuals who reached the concentration camps went through untold sufferings in the hands of German authorities. Scholars reveal that while the motivation behind the genocides of the holocaust might have been surrounded by non-pragmatic, abstract and mythical ideologies, the systematic slaughter of the Jewish community was systematically carried out in Nazi occupied territories. These areas by 1939 had a total population of over nine million Jewish citizens. Over three million Jews were killed in Poland while about five million died in Eastern and Central Europe.[3] Other hundreds of thousands were murdered in Greece, Yugoslavia, Belgium, France, Netherlands and the Soviet Union. The fate of Jews in Germany was already drawn as their properties, arms, security, and even lives were taken away with human rights and dignity completely absent from German authorities. Though having stayed and contributed towards economic development of Germany, the Jewish community found itself under attack by their closest friends, the Germans. Their property, shops, warehouses and even security were withdrawn and were left to live like slaves in the mercy of a ruthless and merciless German society. Besides, reports given by German authorities were falsified and failed to give to the entire world the suffering that Jews were undergoing.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Helmut Walser Smith’s The Butcher’s Tale specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The picture of the events created by Smith in the book the Butcher’s Tale generates the impression of a friend turned into an enemy and therefore making it easy for Germans to totally destroy thousands of Jews.[4] A time came when Hitler argued that the Jews were making life for Germans difficult by occupying their land, using their resource s and even taking employment opportunities that were meant to be for Germans. However, as other scholars narrate, Jews had greatly supported the economic progress of Germany. The argument by the scholars further point at the ruthless mechanism that Germany used to make Jews be viewed by local people as enemies and thereby legitimized the need to eliminate them. Smith’s clear reflection of the manner that orders to destroy Jews properties were executed, ruthless, brings out the picture of a highly polarized Germany of the greatest enemy of the time, Jews.[5] Smith reports that the level of destruction of properties and lives the Jewish community in most towns in Germany was extreme. However, the world was made to understand that they were few and not worth getting major focus. A motion was passed to have the Jews excluded from participating in any German cultural event and that for every damage they had caused they pay one billion as fine. This evidenced that their human right s were no longer observed. The Jews were even not expected to defend themselves because the state was correct and no opposition could be tolerated. The publication by Smith reflects a view of totalitarian states in the classic period. For Germans, Hitler made them belief that the Jews were the greatest, worst and most dangerous enemies that required not just beating, but killing in a holocaust. The publication further reflects a continued replica of Bismarck’s view and preference of running with Iron and blood as outlined in the Bismarck Germany. The need to protect the honor of Germany Protection of German blood and honor was directed at Jews because the society considered them as enemies and therefore poised to destroy the sacred German orientation. From Hitler’s perspective, the German race and its purity was at the brink of getting assimilated by the Jews.[6] He forbade Germans from marrying and forming relationships with Jewish women. As such, the Jews became Isol ated and could not relate for development purposes. This was a sure way of bringing their hardworking nature and efforts into jeopardy. Imposing greater fines as the publication indicates was highly frightening and it clearly indicated that Jews were completely unwelcome in the country and an indication of more sinister actions, holocaust to come. However, Smith’s the publication only indicates measures that Hitler intended to take against the Jews, it fails to cite what Jews had done to warrant such ruthless treatment.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Besides, Hitler appeared to have lived his words as expressed in the Hitler Youth Quex where he sought to challenge existing authorities and give Germany high pride. Notably, Hitler laws carry forward emergent classical typical model of bad leadership in the name of protecting one’s own people. Former German leader in late 19th century, Bismarck had indicated the need for Germany autonomy and its self independence without external influences. In this case, Jews were considered as outsiders and therefore only affecting negatively the progress of Germany and its people. Like in Hitler’s efforts to conquer and expand the territory of Germans as expressed in the Butcher’s Tale, Hitler is seen as a person who did not care the feelings, emotions, suffering and losses of others as far as in his perceptions, Germans would benefit. Racial Definition of 1933 This decree created the first definition of racial discrimination which increased and culminated to ultimate decisi on to destroy Jews and their property in trial to protect German honor. The decree is a strong undercurrent that drove all people in Germany to remain highly faithful to Hitler by executing his orders without questioning and making his ideas come to reality. This decree, as the first racial move by the Nazi administration to discriminate against non-Germans set the pace for latter rules such as Laws for the protection of German blood and German honor. By seeking to redefine people in Germany on the basis of race, the decree only created animosity and made the entire Germany population to run wild against non-Germans especially of Jewish descent. The decree could also be described in analyst’s considerations of totalitarianism where a leader’s view points was absolute and always correct. The decree, as drawn, was final and all people in Germany had to classify themselves either as Germans or non-Germans, with the latter requiring approval for one to live in Germany. Ado lf Hitler and the Nuremberg laws The creation of Nuremburg laws by Adolf Hitler reflects his intolerance with Jews and their behavior mediated by international nations and guided towards offending and taking away Germans pride. The laws were meant to incite and poison Germans against Jews who they had lived earlier on as one family. By considering that Jews existence in Germany was a problem, Hitler, as manifested in many historical accounts caused the Jews to start suffering as their land, property and other belongings were taken away.[7] As they became entirely dependent on the Germany authorities because they could not be involved in economic production, Hitler was able to even make his created scenario appear to be real to Germans. The notion of external influences and how the Jews were being manipulated to defy Hitler and existing authorities could be understood as part of the Hitler’s efforts to show the world that Germany was back and could not be dictated to, like it happened during the Treaty of Versatile. By indicating that the laws he presented were supported by the people, Hitler reflected the thin difference between him and the people. In him was Germany and Germans had him in their hearts, a factor which he thought was unchangeably the will of the people. Nuremburg laws were set up with the notion that it was meant to come up with a legislative solution to the problems that the Jewish society was facing. While it was already clear that the Jews were already a problem and an urgent solution was important, Hitler used the laws to legitimize his actions against the Jews and gathers even greater support by accusing them to his people. However, international observers opposed his move and incited the Jews against such laws, a consideration that saw Hitler react by subjecting Jews to Holocaust which saw massive numbers of Jews being killed. The Nuremburg laws are a replica of the laws that sought to protect German blood and honor from Jews inter ference. Hitler in both cases moved to set out conditions that would oppress the Jews and support Germans. From Smith’s perspective, it could appear that the Jews had made gross moves to undermine the German administration.[8] As Bismarck indicated in his speech on Bismarck Germany, there was strong move to ensure that more Germans were in control of resources to make it easy to mobilize them in the war to conquer neighbors. Jews, having acquired large quantities of wealth largely from their efforts and enterprising nature could not have evaded being the first target in the looming fight to revenge for WWII and expand Germany beyond its boarders by then. Conclusion To sum up, the discussions in this paper were based on the thesis statement ‘The state sponsored, bureaucratic and systematic murder and brutal persecution of over six million Jews in the holocaust by Nazi regime has been a major distressing issue in the history of the world’. It is evident form the di scussion that the death of a young boy and the violent riots by Christians claiming the murder was ritual was one of the major factors that led to the Holocaust. As indicated, the blood-libel charge that was witnessed during the holocaust has for many centuries haunted many Jews. The book the Butcher’s Tale offers lessons for leaders in the modern society to keep off vices like ethnicity and racism which impact negatively on the peaceful existence of a community. Bibliography Smith, Walser. The Butcher’s Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town. London; W. W. Norton, 2002. Footnotes Walser Smith, The Butcher’s Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town. (London; W. W. Norton, 2002), p. 5 Ibid. p.56 Ibid. p.78 Ibid. p. 18 Ibid. p.43 Ibid. p. 58 Ibid. p. 84 Ibid. p. 154. This essay on Helmut Walser Smith’s The Butcher’s Tale was written and submitted by user Taryn Singleton to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Light and calculate refractive Essays

Light and calculate refractive Essays Light and calculate refractive Essay Light and calculate refractive Essay In this experiment, a mechanism is prepared to observe the refraction of light and calculate refractive index of water according to the data taken from the experiment. Refraction means the bending of a wave resulting from a change in its velocity as its moves from one medium to another. Since the frequency of a wave cannot change, independent of the source changing its frequency when it originally emits a wave. This change in wave velocity must result from a change in its wavelength in the second medium. [1] As shown in the diagram, when the waves encounter an oblique interface, both their direction and wavelength change. In the instance illustrated, the wavelengths shorten and the reflected rays â€Å"bend toward the normal† as the wave enter the shallow or slower medium: To quantify the degree of refraction, a dimensionless quantity called index of refraction (n) is introduced. Since the refractive index (optical density) of air is equal to 1 (, refractine index of water is equal to sine of angle of light in medium of air ( over sine of angle of light in medium of water (. That’s why slope of the graph vs gives the approximate value of refractive index of water . Figure : Graph of vs Since is proportional to , the graph which is given above is linear. According to the graph above, slope of best fit line gives the experimental value of refractive index of water, slope of worst line with greatest slope gives the maximum value of refractive index of water and the worst line with least slope gives the minimum value of refractive index of water in this experiment. Uncertainty of refractive index of water : Percentage error calculations: CONCLUSION EVALUATION In this experiment, refractive index or in other words optical density of water ( is aimed to be found by the help of parallax method. When an ultrasonic wave passes through an interface between two materials at an oblique angle, and the materials have different indices of refraction, both reflected and refracted waves are produced. [3] It can be also told that when any wave strikes a boundary, some of the energy is reflected and some is transmitted or absorbed. [4] This also occurs with light, which is why objects seen across an interface appear to be shifted relative to where they really are. Because, when two or three dimensional wave travelling in one medium crosses a boundary into another medium, the transmitted wave may move in a different direction than the incident wave as shown in the figure below. This phenomenon is known as refraction. For example, if you look straight down at an object at the bottom of a glass of water, it looks closer than it really is. Another good way to visualize how light and sound refract is to shine a flashlight into a bowl of slightly cloudy water noting the refraction angle with respect to the incident angle. Figure : Refraction of wave passing a boundary Refraction takes place at an interface due to the different velocities of the acoustic waves within the two materials. The velocity of sound in each material is determined by the material properties like density for that material. In optics, the ration of the speed of light to the speed (v) in a material is called the index of refraction which is shown with â€Å"n†. Refractive index is also defined as; Snell’s law of refraction describes that when light passes from one transparent medium into another with a different index of refraction, part of the incident light is reflected at the boundary. The remainder passes into the new medium. If a ray of light is incident at an to the surface, the ray changes direction as it enters the new medium. This change in direction or bending is called refraction. Figure : Light refracted passing from air into water Figure above shows a ray passing from air into water. Angle ? 1 is the angle the incident ray makes with the y-axis which is perpendicular to the surface and that angle ? 1 is called the angle of incidence. Angle ? 2 is the angle that the refracted ray makes with y-axis and that angle is called angle of refraction. The angle of refraction depends on the speed of light in two media and the incident angle. Snell’s law declares that; (where n: refractive index of the medium) According to that equation is the angle of incidence and is the angle of refraction. It is clear from the equation above that if than, . This equation of Snell is also known as law of refraction. In the experiment, a straight line is drawn at the middle of the paper and upside of the line is marked as medium of water and downside is marked as medium of air. A transparent semicircular container is put in the part of the medium of water. At last needles are sanked into the paper as shown in the figure below and angles with y-axis are measured. Figure: Mechanism of the experiment In order to find the refractive index of water ( Snell’s law of refraction is used. In the equation refractive index of air ( is taken 1. 00. [5] By using the slope of the best fit line in the graph of vs , refractive index of water is found out to be 1. 331. Maximum value of refractive index is found 1. 400 with the worst line of maximum slope and minimum value is found 1. 251 with the worst line of minimum slope. Uncertainty of the measurement is 0. 074 with the formula of . Furthermore, in 0th trial angle between y-axis in both medium of water and air is 0 °. That means the angle between x-axis is 90 °. There is no refraction just because of the light is perpendicular to x-axis. During the percentage error calculations literary value of refractive index of water is taken 1. 334 (i. e 4/3). [6] So the percentage error is calculated with the formula of and it is found 0. 2 % which is really low error. Difference between expected value (1. 334) and experimental value (1. 331) is 0. 003. The results of the experiment is not different from the expected value of optical density of water. In the graph of vs , the best line passes through point â€Å"0†, that shows there is no systematic error in the experiment. In addition, best fit line of the graph passes through all error bars, that shows there is no random error as well. Furthermore, there are some limitation which affects the results of the investigation. Firstly, the amount of water in the semicircular container is very important. The container should be full of water and there shouldn’t be any empty place in the container. Because it can affect the observation of refraction in water. Thus, adding more water to the container to make observations better can make the observation more effective. Another error source can be the thickness of the semicircular transparent container. In this experiment refraction of light between two different media is observed. However, wall of the container is another medium. That’s why, the thinner the semicircular container is, the more effective the results are. So using a thinner transparent container can be a solution for that limitation. Moreover, using thinner container can be helpful for the observer who looks from the medium of air to see the needle. On the grounds that thinner wall of container makes the observations easier for the experimenter by creating a clear visual material. The temperature of water is an important factor which affects th results of the experiment. Because of that, refractive index values are usually determined at standard temperature. A higher temperature means the liqiud becomes less dense and less viscous, causing light to travel faster in the medium. This results in a smaller value for the refractive index due to a smaller ration. A lower temperature means the liquid becomes denser and has a higher viscosity, causing light to travel slower in the medium. This results in a larger value for the refractive index due to a larger ratio. In addition, refractometers which are laboratory or field devices for the measurement of an index of refraction usually takes measurement for standard temperature (298.15K/25 °C). That’s why, making experiment at standard temperature gives better results. Moreover, refractive index of vacuum which is a measurement of standard temperature is taken used during the calculations. Therefore, during the experiment paying attention to the temperature and trying to make it constant at 25 °C makes the results better. Another limitation is the thickness of the needles. Using thick needles can be misleading for the results of the experiment by affecting observations of refraction. So, thinner needles can solve that error source.

Financial managerment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Financial managerment - Essay Example Overhead Cost driver ?’000 Percentage Overheads cost Ouse Lendal Clifton Ouse Lendal Clifton Set up costs Number of production runs 350,000 30% 20% 50% 105,000 70,000 175,000 Machine related costs Number of machine hours 900,000 23% 18% 59% 211,765 158,823 529,412 Receiving costs Number of receipts 350,000 7% 10% 83% 25,000 35,000 290,000 Packing Number of deliveries 650,000 36% 14% 50% 234,000 91,000 325,000 Engineering Number of production runs 750,000 30% 20% 50% 225,000 150,000 375,000 800,765 504,823 1,694,412 Overheads Cost per Unit: Per unit Overhead cost = Overheads absorbed / Production volume Production volume (units) Overheads absorbed (?) Per Unit Overhead Cost (?) Ouse 9,000 800,765 89 Lendal 3,000 504,823 168 Clifton 1,500 1,694,412 1130 Cost Per Unit and Profit per Unit: Ouse Lendal Clifton Direct Material Cost per Unit (?) 30 40 15 Direct Labour Cost per Unit (?) 40 60 40 Overheads Cost per Unit (?) 89 168 1130 Total Per Unit Cost (?) 159 268 1185 Selling price per unit (?) 300 400 500 Total Direct Labour Cost (?) (159) (268) (1185) Profit per Unit (?) 141 132 (685) TASK 2: Traditional Full Costing: Full costing is defined as a method of costing of products in which all the manufacturing costs are included in the cost of the products being manufactured. The raw materials, direct labour involved in the production of the product and all fixed and variable products become the part of the items produced. Full costing is also termed as absorption costing. Activity Based Costing: Activity Based Costing is a costing method in which the consumption of resources are traced first and then charged to final products. However, the resources are not directly assigned to manufacturing products in this costing... Direct material cost and direct labour cost are allocated to the products in a similar way in both types of costing methods. These cost elements are allocated to the products as per their production volume. Each of these elements is allocated to each unit of the product that is manufactured. However, the overheads are absorbed in both of these products differently. In full costing method, the traditional approach is adopted while allocating costs to the product units. The approach is simple in which the resources are assigned directly to the units produced. A single volume measure is usually selected on the basis of which all overhead costs are allocated to the products. Thus, this allocation may depend upon a volume measure which may not be suitable for the purpose. Consequently, allocation of overheads may not be suitable and may reflect unrealistic cost of the products. In Activity Based Costing methodology, the overhead costs are accumulated and assigned to the activities of the production and non-production departments. The costs of these departments are then allocated to the product units.

American Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

American Politics - Essay Example They act as spotlights when they highlight a particular issue that is being advocated by different political parties and their members. Lastly, they perform the role of talent scouts as they publicize the private as well as the public lives of politicians. The most commonly and overplayed function of media is the role of being spotlights as they tend to highlight different issues in order to gain public attention. This can be both good and bad for the American government and the political system. This role becomes challenging for the government because due to this role, the public gains awareness about different issues and some of these issues might not have been made public or the government may want those issues to remain hidden from the public. Since issues are spotlighted by the media, certain fractions of the government try to gain public backing for these issues in order to force the government to tackle these issues. For example: the issue of gay marriage has been highly highlighted by the media and this has provided certain political fractions and public members to gain support from the public for the acceptance of gay marriages as a legal form of

Politics of Illegal Immigration

Politics of Illegal Immigration Topic 3 – Illegal Migration to Europe by Sea Synopsis: Illegal migration, â€Å"the presence on territory of a Member State, of a third-country national who does not fulfill, or no longer fulfils the conditions of entry as set out in Article 5 of the Schengen Borders Code or other conditions for the entry, stay or residence in that Member State†[1], is a pressing reality for the European Union and will increasingly affect a wide range of issues. The significance and complexity of illegal immigration by sea is rivaled only by the lethargy with which EU institutions and member state governments have acted. This document will provide a background of the current situation, introduce and explain relevant EU institutions and briefly explain the effects that illegal migration by sea has on the EU system. In confronting these challenges at the eleventh annual Chicago International Model United Nations, delegates should recall the words of Chicago’s master urban planner, Daniel Burnham: â€Å"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir mens blood and probably will not themselves be realized† Background of Illegal Migration by Sea: In assessing the status of migration to Europe by sea, it can be affirmatively stated as existing in a state of permanent crisis. The Migration Policy Centre further cautions that the relationship between challenge and opportunity in migration as a whole is unbalanced by illegal sea migration, and notes in its annual report to the EU that â€Å"while well-managed migration may foster progress and welfare in origin- as well as destination countries, its mismanagement may put social cohesion, security and national sovereignty at risk†.[2] The Migration Policy Institute[3] delves into more details and articulates some of the key aspects of this crisis, citing the negative impact of â€Å"undermining the rule of law, fostering labor exploitation, increasing poverty (by taking jobs away from native workers or adding to the numbers of poor in a country) , and putting pressure on public services.†[4] Operating within this state of affairs is the current situation in 2014, which the EU’s external border security agency Frontex’s[5] annual risk analysis calculates to be a record-breaking year for illegal sea (as well as air and land) migration.[6] In its report, Frontex notes that: â€Å"Migration towards the EU in 2013 was characterised [sic] by three main phenomena: a significant increase in the number of Syrians arriving, a steady flow of migrants departing from North Africa and heading across the Mediterranean to Italy, and a sharp increase in detections of irregular migrants on the Western Balkan route.† This seemingly ever increasing volume of migrants finds its constant in its ever changing composition. Separated by geography and language, thousands of illegal migrants attempt the journey into the EU for the same reasons. In an effort to be readily accessible to delegates, these reasons are briefly and broadly listed here: War and other forms of violent conflict/civil breakdown Fleeing human rights abuses, including but not limited to: Genocide/Massacres/Ethnic Cleansing Political/Religious/Societal persecution Trafficking/Child Labor/Slavery Economic chaos Delegates should continue to be mindful that this list is neither intended to, nor is, a comprehensive summation of the motivations and external factors behind illegal migration by sea (or any other route) into the EU. Geopolitics of Illegal Migration by Sea Given the geopolitical nature of migration, a visual data map is useful in understanding written analysis in terms of distance, geography and other, more human factors. In addition to understanding the data map provided here, delegates would be prudent to seek out and understand a variety of maps and data. Illegal migration by sea into Europe makes international headlines regularly and EU policymakers have been under both political and public pressure for several years now. However, the national governments of EU member-states respond to illegal migration in a wide variety of ways. As the Schengen Agreement[7] has removed internal borders, it is the external border that requires extensive collaboration between national and EU institutions[8]. Frontex’s annual reports provide greater understanding of the macro-level patterns of migration. One of the important things that can be discerned from the reports is that while the migrant corridors are constant (such is the nature of geography), their appeal is volatile and subject to change with the tides and crosscurrents of European, African and Middle Eastern geopolitics. In 2009, the greatest number of illegal migrants entered the EU after coming ashore in Albania. In 2012, this eastern Mediterranean route had shifted south to Greece . In 2013 and at the time of this writing in 2014, the majority of sea-faring migrants seek to reach Europe through Italy, Malta, Spain or Greece. [9] For these migrants, UNHCR data indicates that the most common current starting point is Libya.[10] Libya’s attractive qualities include a present state of lawlessness and a long, unpatrolled Mediterranean coastline. Terminology As with any complex issue involving the institutions and apparatuses of a bureaucracy, illegal migration to Europe by sea is fraught with important differences in terminology. There are currently 28 EU member-states, resulting in 28 different immigration policies. And while the MPI notes that that some of the elements of those 28 systems are â€Å"in the process of harmonization (notably asylum)†[11] it concludes that â€Å"ultimately, unauthorized migrates are categorized as such by the states into which they migrate, and EU Member States have not reached a common definition of this migrant population†. [12] In this climate of disharmony among the member-states, this section is intended to provide delegates with introductory remarks pertaining to some of the tools the EU and member-states employ with regards to the topic at hand. MARE NOSTRUM A military/humanitarian effort by Italy that operates in the Mediterranean. Launched in response to a highly published episode in October 2013 during which 360 drowned off the coast of Lampedusa, a small Italian island situated half-way between Sicily and Africa, Mare Nostrum has been a humanitarian success[13] and an economic burden Italy resents. In the same vein, Mare Nostrum is not only a drastic reversal of a long standing Italian policy on returning migrants at sea to Libya, but a point of contention between Italy and the EU. During an August 2014 G6 meeting, Italy’s interior minister, Angelino Alfano held a press conference during which he stated that â€Å"with regard to immigration, Italy has once again shown itself to be a world champion in hospitality, But he added that, if the European Union and its border management agency did not take over the operation, the Italian government will have to take decisions on the matter[14]. FRONTEX Officially, the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, Frontex â€Å"promotes, coordinates and develops European border management in line with the EU fundamental rights charter applying the concept of Integrated Border Management†[15]. However, Frontex’s successes in vigorous data collection and risk analysis has been tainted by criticism of its responsibilities and parameters. For example, Frontex currently has no mandate to search for or rescue migrants at sea and has maintained that â€Å"this remains a competence of Member States†[16]. However, Frontex does have primacy in coordinating cooperation between member-states that do conduct such operations and this discrepancy is problematic, to say the least. EUROSUR Eurosur (European Border Surveillance System) is an information network designed to reduced barriers to the exchange of information between EU member-states. Specifically, information that pertains to â€Å"unauthorized border crossings and to the risks to the lives of migrants, cross border crime, crisis situations and suspect vehicles at external borders†[17]. Eurosur is slated to be fully operational by December 1, 2014. Delegates are encouraged to keep this in mind as the conference will be ongoing during the first few weeks of a full realized Eurosur. What is already readily apparent however is that Eurosur will be no more or less than what Frontex and member-states make of it? While it could prove useful in early detection and rescue of migrates, it also has the potential to bring to the fore a question that the EU, and this committee must grapple with. Namely, what specifically do to with those who have been rescued? Conclusion Illegal migration by sea gives a new name to an old problem. The movement of peoples in search of a better life. In doing so it has exposed an unnerving lack of solidarity among EU member-states even as the tools and institutions of the European Union increasingly overlap. But the union is nothing without the national governments of member-states and this conclusion leaves delegates with more questions than answers. For example, if the financial burden of sea rescue operations was spread across the EU, would the Mediterranean members expand their programs or would an EU budget merely replace, rather than complement a national one? Questions like this, as well as possible answers are to be any delegate’s most stalwart companion before and during the conference. [1] European Commission, â€Å"Directive 2008/115/EC on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals.† Official Journal of the European Union (L 348 2008), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L2008:348:0098:0107:EN:PDE [2] http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/docs/MPC-RR-2013-009.pdf [3] The Migration Policy Centre is an research institution affiliated with the European University Institute, Florence while the Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC [4] http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/TCM-irregular-migration-europe [5] [6] http://frontex.europa.eu/news/frontex-publishes-annual-risk-analysis-2014-wc71Jn [7] The Schengen area allows freedom of movement for all travelers, irrespective of citizenship. Schengen comprises all EU member-states with the exception of the UK and Ireland. EU member-states Cyprus, Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria are legally obligated to join and are in the process of implementing the Agreement. Additionally, European Economic Area (EEA) states Switzerland, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway are within Schengen. [8] http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/docs/MPC-RR-2013-009.pdf [9] http://frontex.europa.eu/news/frontex-publishes-annual-risk-analysis-2014-wc71Jn [10] http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/TCM-irregular-migration-europe [11] Ibid [12] Ibid [13] With 62,982 people rescued by the operation thus far according to figures released by Italy’s Interior Ministry [14] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/15/italy-coalition-government-angelino-alfano-immigration-tension-mare-nostrum [15] http://frontex.europa.eu/about-frontex/mission-and-tasks [16] http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/200-frontex-search-rescue.pdf [17] Memo 13/864 of the European Commission of October 8, 2013

Has technology shaped our society? Essay

When we look back to the mid 1930s, we’ll see that the US was facing a very difficult time. After the gigantic losses on the New York Stock Markets, the economy was on its way to an all time low. The unemployment rates were astronomically high, leading to even worse conditions. ‘But why did this happen?’, we may wonder. Well, there is a very simple answer to that question. Just before the economical downfall, many people worked on the land, in the agraric sectors. But technology had, as it always has, a cheaper answer to the quest for lower costs. Many people were replaced by machines, making the land-owner able to provide the same amount of products with fewer workers on the land. This lead to the gigantically high unemployment rates, which on its turn lead to an extremely high amount of overproduction (after all, people with no jobs could hardly spend much money on primary and secondary needs, let alone tertiary needs). This had a great impact on society back then. Because of the great poverty, people had to change their lives. And so many people did, leading to a different kind of society, with different kinds of relations. However, not only then, but also nowadays technology has its impact on society. At present many countries in the world face a hard economic time. With large gaps in the consumers confidence in the United States and Europe the short-term prospect does not look very colorful. This, evidently, changes the way society works. Especially when one considers that we currently live in a consumer society, and when consumers lack faith, so does society. But how did we come to live in a consumers society? Let’s look back a while. After World War II, there began to evolve a large need for machines that make life easier. Cars, airplanes, household-machines (such as vacuum cleaners, ovens, microwaves), televisions, you name it and it was produced. It began to become a hype, to always have better material possesions than the people in society around you. Having the maniest, newest material possesions stated that you were wealthy. And wealthyness made people respect you. And even today, when we look at cars, cellular phones and computers we still want the  best to make an impression on the people around us. If this advancement in technology hadn’t been here society would simply have looked completely different. We would not have tried to squeeze out every cent of our incomes to pay for a vacation trip that is better and longer than last years. We would not massively have ran to our banks for even larger loanes, for which we ‘only’ have to pay 11% interest, in order to buy that all-important house on Martha’s Vineyard. If we would not have been so hungry for wealth there wouldn’t be so many poor people existent as today. In the US alone, over 17 per cent of the population lives life below the poverty line. And why? Because they didn’t realize that when they lost their jobs they wouldn’t be able to pay for their huge debts they had from their loanes. By the way, would it be a coinsidence that the US contributes the most to the technology sector, and also has the largest consumers society in the world? Surely, we realize these facts, but still we remain in the same pattern, seeking life happiness in material possesions. This pattern is all caused by the technology sector, making people want more than they can have. It has shaped our society into a consumers society.

A Brazilian Fashion Model’s Death Due to Eating Disorder

For Ana Carolina Reston Marcan was from kleinsaf been her dream to be supermodel, this dream became reality. At 21, in 2006, she made the headlines around the world. Not for her modeling career, but for her painful death, attributed to â€Å"complications due to anorexia. Jundiai town, Sao Paulo, Brazil. A brown-haired teenage girl walks on to the stage at the local beauty contest. Below, her parents, wedged at the front of a cheering audience, clap enthusiastically as a judge slips a green and white sash over their daughter's head and pronounces her the Queen of Jundiai, 1999.Her mother wasn't surprised: ‘The other girls were podgy and had bottoms,' she said later. ‘She won because she was slim and elegant. ‘ It doesn't seem an earth-shattering achievement. But for 13-year-old Ana Carolina Reston Marcan it was one step nearer her dream of becoming a supermodel. It would take Reston (who dropped Marcan from her professional name) seven years to ‘arrive', by w hich time she would be working as far afield as Hong Kong and Japan, for designers as well known as Giorgio Armani and Dior.But it was on 14 November last year that she finally crossed over from being a successful catwalk model to appearing on the cover of every magazine and newspaper in Brazil, and making headlines around the globe. Not for her modelling, but for her agonising death, attributed to ‘complications arising from anorexia'. In a year in which both ‘skinny chic' (wearing oversized clothes on tiny body frames) and the American size 00 (an emaciated UK size two, or a waist the same as a typical seven-year-old's) was the height of fashion in celebrity-land, Reston's demise seems all the more poignant.She was also the second model to die from an eating disorder during 2006. In August, at a fashion show in Uruguay, 22-year-old Luisel Ramos suffered a heart attack thought to be the result of anorexia. Although anorexia isn't the preserve of the fashion industry, it 's hardly surprising that Reston's death has shone a spotlight on the way the business treats its models, and more significantly, on how destructive our current perception of female beauty can be. Reston's short life began in Pitangueiras private hospital in Jundiai on 29 May 1985.She was born into a comfortable, middle-class family; her father, Narciso Marcan, worked for a German multinational while her mother, Miriam Reston, sold jewellery. They were neither desperately poor nor offensively rich and lived in a small but elegant bungalow on the outskirts of town. From an early age Reston wanted to be a model, partly in order to provide her family with a better life. It's not clear why she felt such responsibility, but in the early Nineties her father was diagnosed with both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and was later made redundant.Even before then, though, her mother remembers the young Reston spiriting bras and high heels from her closet and pirouetting around the house in them, asking people to take her photograph. Then one day in 1999, on the school bus home, she spotted a sign announcing a beauty contest for the Queen of Jundiai. She leapt off and signed herself up. A few weeks later she took her mother on an all expenses-paid luxury trip to Rio – her prize for winning the competition. When they returned, a fashion agent offered to introduce her to Ford, one of Brazil's top modelling agencies, for a fee of ? 100. The family accepted.Reston's career took off almost immediately and it soon became apparent that she had her eye on the big prize – becoming a supermodel, like fellow Brazilian Gisele. Reston's friends thought that for the more glamorous catwalk and editorial modelling she was, at just over 5ft 6in, too short. But she wouldn't be put off; she altered her height on her publicity shots and claimed she was just over 5ft 7in. And she seemed to get away with it. In July 2003, after four successful years at Ford, she signed to Elit e, one of the biggest agencies in Brazil, a move which catapulted her from teenage wannabe to serious model.Still Reston wanted to work abroad, and in January 2004 she finally made her first trip overseas. She was sent to Guangzhou, a Chinese city not far from Hong Kong, for three months. But although no one can pin an exact date on when she began to suffer from anorexia, one former booker, who refuses to be named, believes that it was here things started to unravel for the then 18-year-old. Reston, like so many other teenage models, travelled unaccompanied by either a personal friend or family member, someone who could help her negotiate a way through the lonely castings, where personal criticism came as standard. She arrived in China,' explains a booker, ‘and the guys looked at her and said, â€Å"You're fat. † She took this very personally. ‘ Her unhappiness was evident in the letters she sent home. In one to her mother, Reston describes arriving in ‘that big place'. She goes on: ‘I [felt] so small, the city so big. I didn't understand anything†¦ It didn't go right. I failed. ‘ Her confidence was being destroyed. Back in Brazil, Reston's descent into anorexia (which ultimately resulted in her shrinking from 8st to 6st) became all too obvious.When Laura Ancona, a journalist at the Brazilian fashion magazine Quem, befriended Reston towards the end of 2004, she sensed immediately that something was wrong. Reston, she says, only ever drank fruit juice, and after her death was found to have survived on a diet of apples and tomatoes. As Ancona recalls: ‘She said, â€Å"I can't eat any more. † She told me she tried to eat but felt like vomiting. She knew she had a problem, but didn't know what she was suffering from. I think I was the first person to explain it to her – I knew she was anorexic, because someone in my family had suffered in the same way. According to Ancona, Reston's condition was common knowledge. ‘Everyone knew she was ill,' she says. ‘The other girls, the agencies, everyone. Don't believe it when they say they didn't. ‘ Reston's aunt, Mirtes Reston, who plans to present a petition to the government demanding steps to monitor the modelling industry, is more direct. ‘These girls are white slaves,' she says. ‘We want models to have rights. At the moment they are given no pension, no support†¦ They just take the person away from their family and abandon them far away. ‘In his private clinic in Jardins, a leafy, upmarket neighbourhood of Sao Paulo, psychologist Dr Marco Antonio De Tommaso, who voluntarily runs a fortnightly drop-in clinic at two of the city's largest modelling agencies, Elite and L'Equipe, is preparing some notes on eating disorders. Tommaso has spent 11 years working with models and given consultations to nearly 2,000 of them, including some of the country's most famous faces. He also treated Reston. Tommaso's take on the fashion industry, and what he calls the ‘dictatorship of beauty', is bleak.He regards Reston's experience as typical, citing in particular the way in which ‘new faces' are parachuted into the most demanding and adult of worlds when they are unable to cope. ‘They experience lots of changes all at the same time,' says Tommaso. ‘They move city, they move state, they start living alone, and the work is very demanding. Everything happens very quickly, and it is all so unpredictable. ‘ There are no official studies to prove the link between the fashion industry and eating disorders, but many experts point to a clear correlation between the two.In a letter from 40 doctors at the Eating Disorders Service and Research Unit at King's College London to the British Fashion Council last October, Professor Janet Treasure wrote: ‘There is no doubt there is cause and effect here. The fashion industry showcases models with extreme body shapes, and thi s is undoubtedly one of the factors leading to young girls developing disorders. ‘ This is borne out by Tommaso's experience. ‘If someone is just a tiny bit bigger than the industry demands,' he says, ‘they are treated as if they were morbidly obese.This encourages a pattern of beauty that is absolutely unreal. ‘ Such pressures, he continues, lead many such women to build up what he calls ‘an arsenal of anorexia': special diets, prescription and illegal drugs, starving themselves. He remembers one young model even using pills for fighting intestinal worms in order to lose weight. Journalist Laura Ancona is not surprised: ‘I've lost count of how many times I've seen models vomiting in the toilets [at fashion events], or sniffing cocaine, or 13-year-old girls fainting because they're not eating properly. Anorexia is obviously not an illness exclusive to the fashion industry, or Brazil. According to the Norwich-based Eating Disorders Association, bet ween one and two per cent of young adult women worldwide suffer from the eating disorder and most, like Reston, are 15-25 years old. It kills somewhere between 13 and 20 per cent of its victims. It's not known exactly what causes anorexia, but Tommaso asserts that, for young models at least, professional demands can be a ‘very strong factor'. There are other pressures, too.As Tommaso points out: ‘Often, low-income families begin to see their offspring as the chicken that lays gold eggs and expect them to support the entire household. The models, in turn, begin to push themselves harder and harder, placing greater demands on their bodies in the hope they will earn more money. ‘ Certainly Reston faced problems at home. The family's life savings had been stolen in 2002 and because they only had her sick father's pension of around ? 250 a month to live on, Miriam Reston looked increasingly to her daughter's income. She was my crutch,' she explains, sitting in the break fast room of her sister's pousada, or guesthouse. By 2004, the 18-year-old Reston was supporting her entire family. And despite her experiences in China, she continued to dream of travelling the world modelling, in order to earn more money to help her mother build a new house. In August 2005 Reston called her employers at the Elite fashion agency and told them she was leaving – she had received an offer from an agent to work in Mexico.They urged her to stay, arguing that the Mexican modelling market required voluptuous girls, whereas Reston was now an increasingly skinny model. ‘She wasn't listening to anyone any more,' says her former booker. In Mexico things went from bad to worse. On her second day there Reston emailed home that she was sharing an apartment with 17 other models and was very unhappy. Other Brazilian models who bumped into an increasingly miserable-looking Reston at castings began to worry about her emotional state. One of them, Cynthia, left a note fo r her: ‘Girlie, we're very worried about you.Please come out with us or stay at home and eat something – eat whatever you want, OK? ‘ Eventually, Reston became so unhappy that Lica Kohlrausch, the owner of L'Equipe, was persuaded by some of Reston's concerned friends and colleagues to pay for her to fly back to Brazil. ‘We brought Ana back after she did some work for Giorgio Armani and a representative rang me to say she was too thin,' Kohlrausch told the press after Reston's death. ‘It worried me and I acted immediately, but I didn't see any physical signs of anorexia when she came back. On her return, Reston went to work in Japan for three months. When she came home again, in late 2005, she was barely recognisable – gaunt and colourless. As Miriam Reston recalls, ‘I looked at her and said, â€Å"My daughter, what have they done to you? † I wish these people could see what they have done to her. She didn't deserve this. ‘ Now seriously worried about her health, Reston's family sent her to stay with an uncle on the Sao Paulo coast. He, too, knew that something was very wrong. On a note dated 19 January 2006, he set out a daily routine for Reston to follow as part of her recuperation.It read: 1 Wake up, pray. 2 Strong, positive thoughts. 3 Pray. 4 Always feed yourself. 5 Pray. Despite the family's intervention, Reston continued eating less and less, and work opportunities began to ebb away. By the middle of last year, her career as a model had virtually ground to a halt. Instead, to try and make ends meet, she was handing out fliers advertising nightclubs in Sao Paulo, earning just over ? 10 a night. But there was some comfort – she fell in love with a 19-year-old model from Sao Paulo, called Bruno Setti. I didn't know what love was until you kissed me,' she wrote to him, just over a month before her death. ‘Thank you for giving me the hugs that make me secure and the conversations that comfo rt me. ‘ On Friday 29 September, Dr Tommaso sat waiting in a room at L'Equipe, with a list of six models he was due to see that afternoon. Reston was booked in for her second appointment. But as the minutes ticked by, Tommaso got the feeling it would be another no-show. ‘I thought it was a shame,' he sighs. ‘The agency contacted her and she said she'd forgotten.Maybe it was true, maybe it was the anorexia. We can't be sure. ‘ In Jundiai, meanwhile, Reston complained to her mother that members of the agency were pestering her to see a doctor. ‘She told me they were going mad [saying she was ill],' recalls her mother. ‘Everyone was telling her she was ill†¦ But, like all these girls, she denied it was a problem. ‘ But her mother was pretty sure by then that Reston's health problems needed to be addressed sooner rather than later. And then suddenly, it was too late. At home on Sunday 22 October, Reston began to complain of a pain in her ki dneys.Miriam Reston didn't know it, but for the last couple of months her daughter had been taking a cocktail of potent prescription drugs, for pain relief and slimming. Reston was admitted to the Samaritano Hospital in Sao Paulo and two days later, on 25 October, she was moved to the Hospital Municipal dos Servidores Publicos, where almost immediately she was admitted to the intensive care unit, where she spent her last 21 days. Her demise was agonising, a plastic tube inserted down her throat, unable to tell anyone how she felt, although the tears in her eyes must have made that pretty obvious.Patches of her once long brown hair had fallen out, too. Her death certificate, for which relatives paid around 50p, cites her time of death as 7. 10am and lists the cause of death as ‘multiple organ failure, septicaemia, urinary infection'. Coldly it adds: ‘Leaves no children. Leaves no property. Leaves no will. ‘ Within hours of her death Ana Carolina Reston Marcan was fa mous across the world. Her death made her a martyr in Brazil – her image was splashed across the front pages of virtually every newspaper and magazine, and across the international media.Jundiai's teenage beauty queen had become the emaciated model who had starved herself to death. Debate raged. There was an outpouring of emotion from other anorexic girls who saw in Reston a piece of themselves; and, simultaneously, a bitter rebuke from pro-anorexia communities, whose members see anorexia as a lifestyle choice. Reston's boyfriend requested her page on the popular Brazilian blog site Orkut be deleted after her death because it was targeted by anorexia supporters posting offensive comments.Critics of the fashion industry, on the other hand, held her up as an example of how it was destroying the lives of young, would-be models, and in the weeks that followed, the deaths of two further Brazilian girls in similar circumstances, one a fashion student, brought further calls for the regulation of this notoriously mysterious business. Already, changes seem to be taking place. Following Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos's death, models with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18 – classified as underweight by the World Health Organisation (between 18. and 25 is considered healthy) – were banned in September from Madrid Fashion Week. In the wake of Reston's death, Brazilian models now require medical certificates in order to take part in catwalk events. The Italian fashion organisation Camera Della Moda Italiana is also considering introducing measures to prevent any catwalk models at risk appearing at Milan Fashion Week in February. More recently, the British Fashion Council, which organises London Fashion Week, has prepared similar guidelines that it will eventually send to all designers and modelling agencies.It is late afternoon and in the cobbled centre of Pirapora do Bom Jesus, Miriam Reston Marcan pulls up the shutters of her new jewellery shop â €“ recently named ‘Ana Carolina Metals' – and goes inside. Weeping, she picks up a letter written by her daughter shortly before her death, but which was never sent. ‘†If I could, I'd like to go back to being four, clinging on to you as if I were still in your womb, so that nobody could harm me,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ it reads, in curly, teenage handwriting. â€Å"But God wanted my life to change. â€Å"‘ Reston sighs. ‘I didn't know what my daughter had could kill, but I knew it had to be treated. But my daughter rejected me, she said she was OK. ‘ She stares up at a portrait of Ana hung at the back of the shop – part of an advertising campaign which has now become a sort of shrine to her deceased daughter. ‘Do you know what I think at night time? ‘ she asks. ‘I think that she's in the ground and the ants are eating her. I don't know how I'm