New Zealand

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/keyruh12/Documents/New%20Zealand.doc

While studying abroad last semester, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to many countries and cities all over Europe. While traveling and staying in various hostels, I met some incredible individuals from all over the world who shared many interesting stories with me about what they had seen in their personal travels, as well as stories and information about where theyw ere from specifically. One girl I met in a hostel in Nice, France was a Russian girl named Nava who had been living in New Zealand for the past 10 years. She called herself a Kiwi, what New Zealanders refer to themselves as.

 

^Not this kind of Kiwi 😉 

 

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/keyruh12/Documents/New%20Zealand.doc

She was traveling around Europe and eventually returning to Moscow by herself for three months. My traveling companion and I invited her out to dinner with us, as she was just a bit older than us and we figured she could use some company! At dinner, we discussed the idea of feeling safe while traveling around the world. She told us that compared to New Zealand, Europe seemed like a scary place. She told us all about New Zealand laws, crime rates, and gun laws, and compared to what I was used to hearing about from living in the United States and France, her stories were so surprising to me. One story small fact she had to share with us was about finding lost car keys on the beach. With New Zealand being an island, many people obviously go to the beach, and consequently lose belongings like car keys. She told us that she’s never heard of anyone’s car being stolen, ever. The police and honest citizens return keys and lost belongings to lost and found stations all over the country and people can usually always retrieve lost items. This surprised me because in the United States, even here on campus for a smaller scale, if something is lost, there’s a good chance you won’t find it, whether it be because someone has stolen it or no one was honest or proactive enough to return it. We’re always saying, “it’s nice to know there are still good people out there,” when someone does a good deed, whereas with Nava and fellow Kiwis, it is just commonplace. She also told us that New Zealand is one of the safest countries in the world, which I verified on Lonelyplanet.com. I looked up crime rates in New Zealand and was floored by how little crime there is. One fact speaks for itself: There were zero homicides in the 2011-2012 year. Compared to the city of Chicago, with hundreds of murders a year, I was so surprised, and happy that somewhere on earth still believes in peace over violence. More surprising statistics like this one can be found on the website here : http://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/resources/crime-statistics/00-national-2011-12-crime-stats.pdf . 

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/keyruh12/Documents/New%20Zealand.doc

I just wanted to comment and write about a fact that I found very interesting, as I had never heard of New Zealand being such a safe and peaceful country. Not to mention it is beautiful and serene. I can’t wait to travel there one day and experience it for myself. 

*

*New Chums Beach, Nava said it is the most beautiful in New Zealand!

 

Africa

Africa is a continent brimming with 57 countries and seemingly endless cultures within its borders.   Just one of these unique countries filled with its own unique cultures is Senegal, located in the West of Africa on the Atlantic Ocean.

This country specifically interests me because of its French influence. There is also a rich Islamic influence, similar to the Algerian mix of French and Islamic influence. Senegal today is ranked 155 out of 187 on the Human Development Reports list. One indicator that factors into this list is literacy. As of January this year, still more than half of Senegalese adults are illiterate. The government has made efforts in decreasing this problem, yet the funding wasn’t enough and the problem still persists with progress going slowly. A problem at the root of this issue is the lack of children in school. According to afrolNews, 2.7 million children are not in school. When the French gave the Senegalese people their independence in 1960, schooling became less of a governmental responsibility and at that time, only 34% of men and women could read and write. In 1990, programs were instituted to try and help improve the literacy rates with the help of foreign aid, with the intention of increasing the literacy by 5% a year. These programs helped achieve the 47% literacy Senegal has today, but this is still drastically lower than it needs to be. Among the challenges still facing the Senegalese to overcome this literacy problem is the lack of infrastructure, teachers, and social issues facing girls especially. There  simply aren’t enough schools, with large enough classrooms to house all students. Also, there is a huge lack in adequate, trained and motivated teachers for these students. Lastly, the girls of Senegal face a huge problem.

“Early marriage and pregnancies, domestic work, and abusive teachers are all serious concerns that can contribute to take girls out of schools.” Girls are at greater disadvantage in this country, and any hope for the population’s literacy to improve would require governmental and continued foreign aid to invest in better programs to fix these amongst other problems.

 

More reading:

http://www.afrol.com/articles/37084

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

East Asia

In class we learned about the “Great Leap Forward”, the social and economic campaign put together by the Communist Party of China during the years of 1958 and 1961.

The aims of this campaign were to quickly and efficiently transform the country’s previously agrarian economy to a communist one. This campaign was led by Mao Zedong and he based it on the Theory of Productive Forces, a widely utilized Marxist economic theory that emphasizes a “technical change can beget social change”. I wanted to learn more about the changes this brought to the Chinese people after being implemented. Primarily, private farms were outlawed and agricultural collectivization and rural industrialization became the mandatory priority. This became the downfall of the Great Leap Forward. Historian Frank Dikotter explains, “coercion, terror, and systematic violence were the very foundation of the Great Leap Forward”. Although the original intent of the Great Leap Forward was to stir up peaceful competition to surpass the United States and United Kingdom, similar to the Soviet Union’s goal. The idea for China’s industrial and agricultural sectors to run parallel came with the idea of people living in communes.

These self sufficient cooperative living situations were part of the Communist mentality, that everyone should work together to provide for themselves to maximize production. These communes were more like a prison though, as anyone who tried to leave or escape were subjected to punishment. China’s Great Leap Forward plan was a large failure, and lead to the worst famine the country and world had ever seen. The agricultural policies set in place by the government failed, and too much focus was placed on industrial production, and their people suffered as a consequence. Industrial production did increase though, but this did not overshadow the gross loss of life. It was a stain on the already frowned upon Chinese government.

 

Read more:

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/great_leap_forward.htm

http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/960314/china.shtml

Southeast Asia

The Republic of Singapore is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Singapore’s eponymous capital is home to many of the huge worldwide businesses that make Singapore one of the Four Asian Tigers. Singapore is the world’s fourth leading financial center, and depends on its top five busiest port to aid in business dealings across the globe. One of these ports is home to the Jurong Shipyard, a fully owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, and prides itself on being a “one-stop total service” in ship repair, shipbuilding, ship conversion, rig building and offshore engineering and construction (JSL website). Monday, December 3^rd, 2012, at 10:30 a.m., a terrible accident occurred within the Jurong Shipyard. “Preliminary findings indicate that the jack-up mechanism of one of the legs of a three-legged jackup rig had failed, causing the rig to tilt to one side”, News Asia reported. Eighty-nine workers, primarily from India and Bangladesh were injured, and luckily no one was killed. The Singaporean Ministry of Manpower will be investigating any possible problems with the rig and what caused it to tilt as it did – and inquire as to if negligence on the part of Jurong Shipyard Limited was the root of the problem. I found it interesting that Singapore, a city-state surrounded by so many Communist countries like China and Vietnam that Singapore could operate so efficiently like successful democratic countries like the United States. Also, the Ministry of Manpower is quite similar to our own Department of Labor. The Ministry of Manpower will most likely follow up on all workmen’s compensation-type claims that are filed as a result of this shipyard incident. Their mission statement is “To achieve a globally competitive workforce and great workplace, for a cohesive society and a secure economic future for all Singaporeans.” It is because of these highly held standards, regardless of incidents such as the Jurong Shipyard incident, that continue to keep the Singaporean economy at its top worldwide position.

 

Additional Reading:

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/shipyard-accident-one-the-worst-hawazi-20121203

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1240786/1/.html

http://www.mom.gov.sg/

 

 

South Asia

South Asia is an area that flourishes with different cultures, landscapes, and lifestyles. In class, we learned specifically about India and their different city structures. One that is of particular interest to me is the bazaar city. I delved further into the idea of an Indian bazaar city and found that there are many, each with its own unique flavor and markets. Bazaars usually sell traditional Indian clothing, foods, spices, small toys, musical instruments, flowers, amongst many other things. Indian people look to these to satisfy their daily shopping needs, and tourists visit to marvel at the lively atmosphere and aesthetic experience. I came across one bazaar in particular that piqued my interest – a Street Bazaar called the Gandhi Bazaar in the city of Bangalore. Lonely Planet describes it as a lively place full of “light, color, vibrancy and chaos” – all one could hope for within a bazaar. This bazaar opens at sun up and closes around 9 at night, bustling all day. With flickering lights strung throughout and tinkering music throughout, the Gandhi Bazaar is a great place to walk through. Living vicariously through the articles and tourist blogs I’ve read about the Gandhi Bazaar, one can find many things to do along this lively street. Especially during times of the Dasara and Diwali festival times of year, the Bazaar is overflowing with the colors of the rainbow. Something specific to keep an eye out for in this bazaar are Puja items. Puja is a Hindu religious offering ritual done on a variety of occasions and settings. In the Gandhi Bazaar, one can find decorative offering plates and various hand made candles made for Puja ceremonies.

            As a bazaar is reliant on both of its formal and informal economy members to survive as a bustling place for business, one can expect slight governmental resistance. In January of 2012, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike administrative body demolished a number of unauthorized shops in the Gandhi Bazaar to keep up with maintenance and structural laws. They (the BBMP) also said that these unauthorized vendors, like those who sell flowers along the street, were blocking the footpath and not taking advantage of the space allotted to vendors like this. Affected vendors organized and held protests to illustrate their disapproval. As do most members of the informal economy, the vendors relocated to different bazaars or set up shop in a different area of the Gandhi Bazaar, and the informal sector lives on until another BBMP cleansing comes through. 

 

More reading:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelblogs/1315/47155/Gandhi+Bazaar?destId=356328

http://news.oneindia.in/2012/01/24/bbmp-razes-landmark-shops-in-gandhi-bazaar.html

http://www.gobangalore.com/article/content/gandhi-bazaar-festival-shopping-paradise

 

PS – I’m trying to add pictures and can’t figure it out with the new design! See reading websites for cool pics of the bazaars!

Middle East

Syria

 

The Middle East is an historically known place for extreme unrest, due in part to religious and political disagreements that have spanned generation after generation. Over the past year, unrest in Syria has been at the forefront of the news reports coming from the Middle East. The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict between those loyal to the current government and those who are rising up against it, who are demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad. Al  Jazeera recently published an article about this ongoing conflict on October 28, 2012.

According to most reports, over 40,000 troops and civilians have been killed thus far and an end to the violence is being sought. This past weekend, in honor of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, a temporary cease-fire was negotiated. This temporary truce was brokered by the United Nations and the Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in honor of the holiday, however, the cease-fire didn’t ever come into effect. This truce was put into place in hopes of perhaps being the catalyst for a final end to the conflict, but since the truce officially started, at least one hundred people have been killed in a car bomb explosion, church bombing, and shootings in the suburbs of Damascus. Its an unfortunate reality of civil wars that the chance of either side backing down is a slim. This 19-month conflict has done nothing but kill and destroy – an obvious detriment to the progression of any society. Several previous efforts have been made to negotiate an end to the terror in Syria, but neither side has ultimately been able to compromise. The current regime under al-Assad has a “damned if we do, damned if we don’t” attitude towards any proposed cease-fires, which is why they are ineffective. Arab League envoy Brahimi himself has even called his mission to end the conflict “impossible”. The end of this conflict and the arrival of peace is all the civilians of this war torn nation are asking for. Those seeking peace have the support of the world, evident from the backing of the United Nations. In addition to religion and politics, socioeconomics also plays a role in these disputes. Popular opposition against the government is stronger in the nation’s cities with the highest poverty levels and cities suffering from droughts. Inequality arose after free market policies were put into place by Bashar al-Assad’s predecessor, and only got worse underneath the current President. The implemented policies only favored a small minority of the populations, mostly those who had governmental connections, and those in the merchant class that mainly lived in Damascus and Aleppo. Repercussions of these inequalities could be seen in the decrease in the nation’s standard of living, especially in the cities. These inequalities historically are precursors of uprisings – like that of the USSR and in France under King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s rule.

Policies such as these are not beneficial to the citizens, the economy, or the nation as a whole. Those receiving the “short end of the stick” and disagreeing with the policies are not going to support the nation’s government, and in turn, creates unrest within a country, that sometimes escalates to levels like the ones we are seeing today in Syria. Policies of equality ultimately will bring about peace and harmony to nations and should be sought after actively to in turn promote worldwide peace. As I mentioned though in my post about Russia, in such an imperfect world, optimistic outlooks such as worldwide peace are not impossible, but slightly unrealistic. The world watches on in hope that Syria’s conflicts are brought to an end quickly and peacefully, and perhaps can set an example for other nations currently suffering through unrest.

 

 

 Read more:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidesyria/2012/10/201210288294673631.html

 

 

 

 

Russia

Learning about Russia in class has been a focal point for me, as I have never been to Russia before, yet it is a location I have dreamed of traveling to. In learning about Russia’s past history with a Communist regime, present day world relations are especially interesting. The Russian government made a decision to not sign the Kyoto 2 environmental treaty, signed by America and many other countries in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases, and be more environmentally “green” in every way. Canada and Japan also refused to sign on to part 2 of the Kyoto Treaty. The United States and China have also not agreed to the obligations required by the treaty – so Russia does not exactly stand alone.

The Kyoto Treaty, while beneficial for the whole world in its intentions, is difficult to support for major world players like the United States simply because its more costly to be environmentally un-friendly, for lack of a better word. Supporters, however, say that in refusing to commit, Russia is forfeiting the potential to have a successful carbon market, as Russia currently has over 30 billion euros worth of carbon dioxide. Currently, representatives from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, several state-owned banks, and the Economic Development industry have asked the government to reconsider its decision. The Kyoto Protocol seeks to have its signatories commit to reduce their carbon emissions to five per cent below their 1990 levels, which would obviously contradict the Russian sale of their accumulated carbon dioxide. Russia, as do many other countries, face a difficult situation. Being environmentally friendly is at the top of most governments’ lists these days, as the evidence of global warming is building and those in power are called to action by their citizens. However, a government, and industry for that matter, can’t change its practices overnight. Not to mention, it’s incredibly expensive to do so. Governments of today, like the United States, are in the process of switching over to more greener practices across the board – and paying the price. A whopping $50 billion was invested by the United States government in green technology, and Europe doubled that. I find it slightly contradictory in a sense that the United States won’t sign the Kyoto Protocol yet has invested so much into green technology. Russia’s emissions have fallen significantly below their 1990 levels, but this is mostly attributed to an industrial collapse after the fall of the Soviet Union. At the most recent environmental meeting in Durban, Russian governmental representatives decided the Kyoto Protocol “did not suit their interests”, but assures that they are “seeking to meet the government’s commitment to increase the efficiency of energy consumption to GDP by 40% by 2020”. No country has a perfect record, and we can only hope that every country, government, industry, and individual actively seeks to reduce their carbon footprint.

 

Read more:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/special/environment/eng/business-lobbying-for-kyoto-emissions-role.html

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/11/the-kyoto-ii-climate-change-treaty-implications-for-american-sovereignty

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/12/world/renewables-finance-unep/index.html

Europe

Paris, je t’aime

The past spring semester, I was lucky enough to travel abroad and study in Paris, France for five months. I had an incredible experience and was able to travel around the entirety of Europe while there. I saw so many amazing and diverse cities, which is one of the main reasons I took this course – to learn more about some of the places I had visited, and also to learn about places I would like to go. Here are a few pictures from my travels:

Eiffel Tower at Night

Overlooking the Charles Bridge

Cliffs of Moher

Tube stop in London

Although it is hard for me to pick my favorite city in Europe, Paris was my home and has always been my favorite ever since I was little. It is a magical city with an unbelievable amount of history and culture and I will love it forever. <i>Paris, je t’aime</i> is a French film I had seen prior to going to Paris ( I actually watched it, and several other French films in preparation for my trip ) and loved its unique take on different scenarios occurring throughout the city. <i>Paris, je t’aime </i>was released in 2006 and is touted as one of the most uniquely made foreign language films of all time, and one of my personal favorites. <i>Paris, je t’aime </i>was a collective project of twenty different directors and producers, each creating their own five-minute segment that made up the film. Each disparate element is brought together by transitions that start with an introduction and the last shot of the previous scene and ends with the first shot of the following – which I thought helped carry the themes throughout the film even though the individual scenes were not related. The overall theme is Paris and that love brings us all together. The tagline speaks for itself and to the general themes of the film in its entirety, “One City. 10 Million Hearts. One Love Story. One Film.” Each scene usually follows two or more characters whom become involved for various reasons – one woman faints next to a man’s car; teenage boys cat-calling out to a young girl; meeting on the metro. What makes this film so beautiful, in my opinion, is the amazing portrait of the city of Paris being painted throughout the film. Each scene and situation is filmed in a different part of Paris, and the title of the scene corresponds to the location in Paris, like “Quai de Seine” or “Montmartre”. This is an art house film so each director takes great care to showcase the beauty of Paris in each scene, and highlight the unique qualities about each different location, like the beautiful Seine River near the Notre Dame, or the winding streets of Montmartre. If you love Paris, you will love this film because of how nostalgic you get watching it. And if you haven’t been to Paris and see this film, you most certainly will want to visit afterwards. 4 stars!

Central America

In class we learned how Central America is one of the poorest areas of the world. Democracy is a treasured privilege in this region, along with many, if not most of the liberties we have in the United States. Even small privileges like putting out the garbage and having it efficiently collected in the morning!

What we’re used to!

There is a current situation in Panama that has left its citizens plugging their noses. Previously a responsibility of municipalities, the Panamanian government took over control of garbage collection duties after the municipalities had been consistently behind, due to what they say, was a lack of actual garbage trucks. The government, to help solve this problem, promised to supply more trucks and even created the Urban and Household Authority to facilitate current garbage collection procedures and to monitor other urban issues. They added over 20 more trucks to their fleet, and also increased waste receptacles throughout the city to help solve the problem.  The Urban and Household Authority, while receiving 82 million dollars worth of government funding, has seemingly failed to do its job that was assigned to it nearly two years ago when this garbage dispute began in January of 2011. The government has recently stepped back in due to increased garbage pile ups occurring throughout Panama City. Garbage pile ups are a huge urban issue in nearly every city across the world. Another specific example that stands out in my mind is the slums of India, featured in the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, where they show entire neighborhoods built on gigantic piles of garbage.

 

Waste collection obviously has a direct correlation to a city’s health standards, because if there’s loads of garbage around the whole city, germs and sickness will spread. Another waste management failure is the city’s Plan B. Setting the garbage on fire when it is not collected is not the solution to the problem either. Toxic, black smoke polluting the city’s air is only exacerbating the overall problem. It is imperative for Panama City to resolve its waste collection problem before the overall cleanliness and well being of the city deteriorates. Not only is this affecting their citizens, but also their economy. Tourism supplies a healthy amount of money to the Panamanian economy every year, and reports of the filth of the city have made its way into newspapers in other countries. No tourist is going to choose to come to a dirty, stinky city.

Garbage Beach in Panama…Not somewhere I’d like to sunbathe!

North America

            Sweet home, Chicago. Right? Wrong. Chicago, aka the Windy City, has always called corruption in politics to mind when spoken, but more recently, violence and crime have replaced the usual political jibber jabber that dominates the news. Crime is one of the most important urban issues a city can focus on, and with crime rates being so high in our beloved city, I thought there wasn’t a better subject to focus on for my North American blog post. Having turned 21 this summer, I was excited to venture out into the city and explore Chicago’s bustling nightlife scene in neighborhoods like Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Wrigleyville and Bucktown. However, after one of my friends was mugged, and hearing about the violence that was occurring each and every weekend in the city, my intentions of exploring the night life scene were quickly squashed. I was very comfortable with my life in the suburbs – a product of the decentralized way of life suburbanites had grown accustomed to after leaving the city to settle down with a family away from the hustle and bustle. Cities develop in a sort of a pattern, like Burgess’ or Hoyt’s models we learned about. Those with wealth and standing congregate in one area, with the businesses in another, and those without wealth or standing in another. Chicago, unfortunately has over 260,000 people living in Chicago that are considered to be living below the Federal Poverty Line (http://www.beloitdailynews.com/news/poverty-). As we all know, where there is poverty, unfortunately there is also crime. As of July 23, 2012, http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/12217-chicago%E2%80%99s-murders-for-2012-likely-to-exceed-2011 Chicago has had nearly 300 people murdered. This year has seen a 38% rise in homicides since last. This correlates with those living in poverty, which also correlates with minorities. According to the Chicago Tribune, minorities are also suffering the most from this spike in homicides. It is a situation that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel seeks to make better every day while in office, especially Mondays, as weekends hold the highest number of killings. Chicago Police Commander Lynette Helm has increased patrols in the most afflicted areas to try and staunch some of the gang activity that inevitably leads to these murders, especially on the South Side of Chicago (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/july-dec12/chicago_08-01.html). Chicago is currently on pace to top last year’s number of homicides, but we’re all hoping for the best. I would like to get back to enjoying Chicago for the beautiful city it is!