Social Unrest in the Bahamas Essay Example for Free

Social Unrest in the Bahamas Essay The principal causes of working class unrest and increasing dissatisfaction were the same throughout the British Caribbean Region colonies: low wages; high unemployment and under-employment; arrogant racist attitudes of the colonial administrators and employers in their relations with black labourers; lack of adequate and proper, in most cases, any representation; and no established structure for the resolution of industrial disputes by collective bargaining. Furthermore the unfairness shown towards black labourers would later result too many complaints and little or no positive response. Black labourers continued to seek some kind of equality due to the fact that most of their work at the same performance level as those who were white. ? Political Struggles: The Bahamas, like many other countries that are apart of the Commonwealth, had representative assemblies based on the bicameral system of the mother country. Each colony had a governor who represented the monarch, an appointed upper house, and an elected lower house. The electoral franchise, however, was extremely restricted, being vested in a few wealthy male property holders. Colonial acquisition and administration were not neatly and easily accomplished. The Burma Road riot, however, was more than an isolated act of venting. Although a powerful symbol of black agency that has been referenced again and again in the political struggles of Bahamian blacks, the riot was more than a symbol. The riot also kindled the development of a pro-black consciousness in the country, a necessary precursor to black rule and independence. The majority black population in the Bahamas could literally dismantle the edifices of minority white rule, if sufficiently provoked. The fissure that was created in 1942 would widen over the next few decades and within a quarter of a century it became a gapping hole that the majority black Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) walked through to victory. ? ? High unemployment and under-employment: By the early nineteenth century, blacks constituted at least 80 percent of the population in the Bahamas. Majority falling in the unemployment or the under-employment category. Around this time whites were considered more qualified leaving most blacks with little work options. For example, middle class blacks had a better chance to receive a well paying job than any equally qualified ‘grass root’ Bahamians. ? Racism: Even after emancipation, Caribbean societies inherited a rigid racial stratification that was reinforced by the unequal distribution of wealth and power. The three-tier race structure, which existed well into the 1940s and in some societies beyond, upheld the belief of European racial superiority, although most West Indians are of African descent. Racial discrimination was prevalent throughout the Bahamas in the 1930s and the 1940s. Black Bahamians were treated as subhuman in this country. It appears as if the suffering of the black masses, which were mostly living in abject poverty. For example, in the general strike in 1958, white taxi drivers were granted license to transport tourist from the newly opened airport located on Windsor Field. This started began the ‘Quiet Revolution’ which was gave the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) a chance bring the issues of the nation in the presence of the House of Assembly. Low Wages: Black labourers were reluctant to work but were mostly given low wages. Blacks were paid less than white labourers which began uproar in most cases. The government was forced to impose martial law (where the police are given extra powers to arrest) and establish curfew fearing that the black labourers would take out their frustration on local whites. In relation to racism, foreign workers were paid 8 shillings per day versus shillings for local workers (Burma Road riot). Although many have suffered discrimination in many ways, this seems to be the most effective and injustice of them all. Bahamians were willing to work but they were unwilling to remain submissive to the white government or merchant class order. This was because of the difference of wages between black Bahamians and the merchant class order. The white government tried to negotiate the improvement of the wages, however, the Bahamians still suffered from the discrimination. Things such as owning a property was difficult because they never met the outstanding payment due to low wages. Foreign workers were paid more than black locals; overlooking the fact that the some black locals work harder to be paid that the small amount of money. In conclusion, during the nineteenth century, common causes of working class unrest were extremely obvious because of the many riots and the constant discrimination against blacks and whites. The inequality of each factor represented how Bahamians suffered to find a job that would offer them a respectable a wage and to muster their strength to create a political party that can proudly present the frustrations of the black Bahamians in the House of Assembly. Black Bahamians wanted to elevate black people to a position of racial equality and to promote democratic values for all Bahamians. Successfully the Bahamas looked forward to an outstanding future. The black majority party (PLP) won the government making Lynden Pindling the first black Premier of the Bahamas. Sir Milo Butler became the first Governor General of the Bahamas. The Bahamas has greatly improved since the 1930s and the 1940s. The country didn’t face anymore labor discrimination and most importantly racial tension. The Bahamas grew even more and hadn’t faced any more struggles and strife. The 1930s and the 1940s were forever engraved in the Bahamian history because it was a time that the Bahamas had to fight for what was theirs in pride and strength. 1. You are a member of the Taxi Cab Union during the General Strike of 1958. Give an account of your experience. In November 1957 the government had once again betrayed us by granted license to white taxi drivers to transport tourists from the newly opened airport at Windsor Field. As a black Taxi cab driver and a member of the Taxi Cab Union, it wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling to be discriminated public ally by the government. We were not going to tolerate this injustice act us Taxi Cab drivers. So we all came together and planned to use our Taxi cabs as blockade across the road leading to the airport. It seemed risky but it was worth it. The question â€Å"What was I thinking? † lingered in my mind for a couple of days but I had to do it for the sake of my family, my colleagues, my job, and my country. The strike officially began in January of 1958. We formed a blockade with our vehicles across the road lading to the airport exactly like we had planned. Many other workers came outside to support us as well. The leader of the Bahamas Federation of Labor and a known heroic figure, Randol Fawkes, called for all hotel workers, sanitation workers, government workers, teachers and public servants to strike, in order to force the government to address the labor issues of the country. The General Strike was to last sixteen (16) days. Bay Street owned tour companies were given the exclusive right to transport tourists to and from the hotels. Obviously, this move, if allowed to go unchallenged, would have destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of black Bahamian independent taxi drivers. The General strike was a peaceful, non-violent revolution of the labor laws of this country. The strike had its intended outcome. New labor laws including the Trade Union and Industrial Conciliation Act were passed. A labor department was set up giving ordinary workers more rights. Discriminatory labor practices were also banned. The black majority got a right to vote. In 1959 all Bahamian men over were allowed to vote. In 1961 legislation was passed that allowed women over 21 to vote. As Bahamians we struggle to get what we want but it was a strong fight to what we deserved. Life had changed ever since then all because we didn’t tolerate the racial attitudes and unfairness of the white government.

Transcendentalism Essay -- essays research papers fc

Transcendentalism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many people have theories and philosophies about life in general. There have been hundreds of thousands of books published by many different people on the ideas of people in the past and the present. Transcendentalism falls in amongst all of these ideas. There have been articles, essays, poems, and even books written about this subject. Transcendentalism has effected many people since the philosophy was first introduced. The idea was complex and hard to grasp for many commoners and therefore it was understood by few people, and some would think that the idea was not understood at all and that was part of the idea. Henry David Thoreau once stated about himself, â€Å"I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations† (Reuben 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even the people that called themselves â€Å"transcendentalists† had only their own thoughts of what transcendentalism was, which in turn were based on the thoughts of others. So, transcendentalism is defined as a philosophy. This philosophy was uniform for everyone that believed in it. This is a difficult concept to comprehend because the philosophy called for people to trust themselves and their own thoughts, which meant that even though transcendentalists held the same central idea, all of their individual thoughts branching off transcendentalism contradicted the other transcendentalists. In Paul Reuben’s web site, Noah Porter made this statement about transcendentalism:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The word Transcendentalism, as used at the present day, has two applications. One of which is popular and indefinite, the other, philosophical and precise. In the former sense it describes man, rather than opinions, since it is freely extended to those who hold opinions, not only diverse from each other, but directly opposed. (1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These transcendentalists all had different opinions on the different things in life, but they believed in the philosophy of transcendentalism. According to Webster’s Dictionary, transcend means to go further than, or to go past. This would give transcendentalism the definition of an idea beyond other people’s ideas, or even possibly beyond this earth. The idea of transcendentalism is definitel... ...ed to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of traditional authority† (American 1). The major players in the transcendentalist movement are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. They shared ideas such as self-reliance, and ideas about how there is a divine being that controls every person. They influenced many other writers and they even had an effect on the American society, then and now. Transcendentalism was a philosophy and a way of life. It will continue to be this as long as we have access to the great minds of the transcendental movement. Works Cited â€Å"American Literary and Philosophical Movement.† The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition. 1 Jan. 1993. Atkinson, Brooks. Walden and other writings of Henry David Thoreau. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1950. Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1926. Reuben, Paul. Towards a Definition of Transcendentalism. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transweb/tr-aldef.htm Runes, Dagobert D. A Treasury of Philosophy. Chicago, IL: Spencer Press Inc., 1955. Von Frank, Albert J. Transcendentalism. The Reader’s Companion to American History. 1 Jan. 1991.

Natural Resources and Energy in the Rainforests

The beauty, majesty, and timelessness of a primary rainforest is indescribable. It is impossible to capture on film, to describe in words, or to explain to those who have never had the awe-inspiring experience of standing in the heart of a primary rainforest. Rainforests have evolved over millions of years to turn into the incredibly complex environments they are today. Rainforests represent a store of living and breathing renewable natural resources that for eons, by virtue of their richness in both animal and plant species, have contributed a wealth of resources for the survival and well-being of humankind. These resources have included basic food supplies, clothing, shelter, fuel, spices, industrial raw materials, and medicine for all those who have lived in the majesty of the forest. However, the inner dynamics of a tropical rainforest is an intricate and fragile system. Everything is so interdependent that upsetting one part can lead to unknown damage or even destruction of the whole. Sadly, it has taken only a century of human intervention to destroy what nature designed to last forever. The scale of human pressures on ecosystems everywhere has increased enormously in the last few decades. Since 1980 the global economy has tripled in size and the world population has increased by 30 percent. Consumption of everything on the planet has risen- at a cost to our ecosystems. In 2001, The World Resources Institute estimated that the demand for rice, wheat, and corn is expected to grow by 40% by 2020, increasing irrigation water demands by 50% or more. They further reported that the demand for wood could double by the year 2050; unfortunately, it is still the tropical forests of the world that supply the bulk of the world's demand for wood. In 1950, about 15 percent of the Earth's land surface was covered by rainforest. Today, more than half has already gone up in smoke. In fewer than fifty years, more than half of the world's tropical rainforests have fallen victim to fire and the chain saw, and the rate of destruction is still accelerating. Unbelievably, more than 200,000 acres of rainforest are burned every day. That is more than 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost every year! More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is already gone, and much more is severely threatened as the destruction continues. It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year. If nothing is done to curb this trend, the entire Amazon could well be gone within fifty years. Massive deforestation brings with it many ugly consequences-air and water pollution, soil erosion, malaria epidemics, the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the eviction and decimation of indigenous Indian tribes, and the loss of biodiversity through extinction of plants and animals. Fewer rainforests mean less rain, less oxygen for us to breathe, and an increased threat from global warming. But who is really to blame? Consider what we industrialized Americans have done to our own homeland. We converted 90 percent of North America's virgin forests into firewood, shingles, furniture, railroad ties, and paper. Other industrialized countries have done no better. Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, and other tropical countries with rainforests are often branded as â€Å"environmental villains† of the world, mainly because of their reported levels of destruction of their rainforests. Why should the loss of tropical forests be of any concern to us in light of our own poor management of natural resources? The loss of tropical rainforests has a profound and devastating impact on the world because rainforests are so biologically diverse, more so than other ecosystems (e. g. , temperate forests) on Earth. Consider these facts: †¢A single pond in Brazil can sustain a greater variety of fish than is found in all of Europe's rivers. †¢A 25-acre plot of rainforest in Borneo may contain more than 700 species of trees a number equal to the total tree diversity of North America. A single rainforest reserve in Peru is home to more species of birds than are found in the entire United States. †¢One single tree in Peru was found to harbor forty-three different species of ants – a total that approximates the entire number of ant species in the British Isles. †¢The number of species of fish in the Amazon exceeds the number found in the entire Atlantic Ocean. The biodiversity of the tropical rainforest is so immense that less than 1 percent of its millions of species have been studied by scientists for their active constituents and their possible uses. When an acre of tropical rainforest is lost, the impact on the number of plant and animal species lost and their possible uses is staggering. Scientists estimate that we are losing more than 137 species of plants and animals every single day because of rainforest deforestation. Surprisingly, scientists have a better understanding of how many stars there are in the galaxy than they have of how many species there are on Earth. Estimates vary from 2 million to 100 million species, with a best estimate of somewhere near 10 million; only 1. million of these species have actually been named. Today, rainforests occupy only 2 percent of the entire Earth's surface and 6 percent of the world's land surface, yet these remaining lush rainforests support over half of our planet's wild plants and trees and one-half of the world's wildlife. Hundreds and thousands of these rainforest species are being extinguished before they have even been identified, much less catalogued and studied. The magnitude of this loss to the world was most poignantly described by Harvard's Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist Edward O.  Wilson over a decade ago: â€Å"The worst thing that can happen during the 1980s is not energy depletion, economic collapses, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired within a few generations. The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly that our descendants are least likely to forgive us for. † Yet still the destruction continues. If deforestation continues at current rates, scientists estimate nearly 80 to 90 percent of tropical rainforest ecosystems will be destroyed by the year 2020. This destruction is the main force driving a species extinction rate unmatched in 65 million years. As human beings continue on the quest to find more efficient and economical ways of creating a better life, the world at large is feeling the effects. Searching for new land to build and to grow crops on has created a predictable disturbance to the biogeochemical cycle in rainforests. The biogeochemical chemical cycles in a rainforest rotates through both the biological and the geological world, this can be described as the biogeochemical process. Of course a rainforest takes hundreds of thousands of years to become lush and tropical, while it takes big business a matter of hours to demolish the land and begin building, farming or drilling oil wells on. The plants and animals in rain forest either remain undiscovered, become extinct or are lost to the destruction of the heavy machinery used to clear the land. This has an immense effect on the biogeochemical cycles in the rainforest. Reservoirs are affected and the trees of tropical rain forests are unable to bring water up from the forest floor that would naturally be evaporated into the atmosphere. This is a cycle that is necessary for the whole planet. Oxygen is released into the atmosphere by autotrophs during photosynthesis and taken up by both autotrophs and heterotrophs during respiration. In fact, all of the oxygen in the atmosphere is biogenic; that is, it was released from water through photosynthesis by autotrophs. It took about 2 billion years for autotrophs (mostly cyanobacteria) to raise the oxygen content of the atmosphere to the 21% that it is today; this opened the door for complex organisms such as multicellular animals, which need a lot of oxygen. (McShaffrey, 2006) This is typically the responsibly of trees in a rainforest to carry chemicals from the land into the atmosphere. Human beings are having a major impact on this action being completed. During the clearing of these rainforests, humans burn the area to be excavated and the carbon cycle in the area is then disrupted. Fossil fuels release into the atmosphere excess carbon dioxide. More carbon dioxide is then released into the air and the oceans eventually causing a common condition called global warming. Global warming simply means that the carbon dioxide produced in the atmosphere is permitting more energy to reach the Earth’s surface from the sun than is escaping from the Earth’s surface into space. Reference http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm

Historical Developments in Philosophy Essay - 1189 Words

University of Phoenix Material Philosophy Matrix | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |†¦show more content†¦| |Political |Study of nature structure and | |Totalitarism, Marxism, |Adam Smith, Thomas Hobbes, |Nature of government, legitimacy| | |moral justification of state. | |communism, facism, conservatism,|Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill|of rule, dominion on rule scope | | | | |liberalism | |of governmental authority. | |Structuralism |Looks at interactions of |Structuralism did not last long |Phenomenology, Marxism, |Wilhem Whundt, Edward B Titchner|Language, Anthropology, social | | |elements or structures to build|past titchners death, |Show MoreRelatedLeopold Von Ranke972 Words   |  4 Pagesseries of critiques against the philosophy of history. 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