Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Imperialism In The Dominican Republic

Imperialism In The Dominican Republic Imperialism according to the definition of The Dictionary of Human Geography is the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.(Johnston: 375) Europe is often accordable for its interest in gaining economic fulfillment and development and doing so by seeking out countries with rich land and obtainable territory. The Dominican Republic was a victim to European imperialism because of its possession of rich farmland and beautiful coast that provided an outstanding selling and trading ground. Affluent in tobacco and sugar, countless oversea investors and financiers made their way to the Dominican Republic to get a piece of the profit and establish their own businesses, especially towards the eastern side of DR which was accountable for the surplus creation of sugar. As wealthy as this country was in its goods such as tobacco, sugar and coffee, the y were incapable of withstanding a secure, unwavering economy. During the Dominican Independence War in 1844, the Dominican Republic was given independence from Haiti. Before this war, the entire island of Hispaniola had been underneath Haitian ruling for over 20 years. Helping to first inspire and then lead the war was a young, talented, nationalist named Juan Pablo Duarte. Together with Matà ­as Ramà ³n Mella and Francisco Del Rosario Sà ¡nchez, he established a group of individuals in 1838, devoted to oppose the invasion of Haiti, called La Trinitaria (The Trinity). Despite efforts to stay under the radar, the group was soon discovered and renamed itself La Filantrà ³pica (literally The Philanthropic, in Spanish), and continued its silent fight against the Haitians. With the help of a liberal Haitian party, the revolt made a giant step forward by overthrowing President Jean Pierre Boyer. Unfortunately, the Trinitarios had called a bit of attention to them and were noticed by Boyers stand-in, Charles Riviere-Hà ©rard who banished Duarte off the island after imprisoning multiple members of the Trinitarios. Though the rebels begged him to return, he could not because of an illness but this did not stop them. By February of 1843, they had decided to take matter into their own hands and by February 27th, 1844 the Dominicans were celebrating their independence. Part 2 Once The House of Bourbon had replaced the House of Habsburg in Spain in 1700, economic reforms that were newly introduced had begun to restore trade in Santo Domingo. (Leonce: 264) The restrictions that had initially been placed between Spain and the colonies were loosened and relaxed by the crown. In 1737, the last flotas sailed; soon after, the monopoly port system was abolished. These changes encouraged a large boost in emigration from the Canary Islands, especially by the middle of the century. There was a jump in the resettlement of the northern part of the colony and tobacco plantation in the Cibao Valley, even the importation of slaves was renewed. All of this led to the increase of Santo Domingos population which grew from 6,000 to about 125,000 between the years of 1737 and 1790. In this new population count, about 40,000 were white landowners, around 25,000 were black or mulatto freedmen, and almost 60,000 were slaves. Unfortunately, next to their wealthy French neighborin g colony, Saint-Domingue, which would become the wealthiest in the New World and held a population of almost four and half times greater? The principal market for Santo Domingos beef, mahogany, tobacco and hides exports was offered by the colonial elites of St. Domingue when restrictions on regal trade was relaxed. During the Haitian Revolution 1791, many rich urban families that had been associated with the colonial bureaucracy left the island, while most rural farmers and cattle ranchers, hateros as they were known locally, stayed. Spain saw this as a chance to take control of the entire, or at least, some of the western third of the island as to seek a convenient alliance with the British and the unruly slaves. However, after the French and slaves reconciled, the Spanish were conquered by Jacobin General Toussaint Louverture and by 1795, France claimed control of the entire Island under the Treaties of Basel. In 1801, LOuverture declared the eradication of slavery, on behalf of the French Republic, Soon after this, Napoleon dispatched an army which took over the entire island, taking it over for a few months. In October 1802, Mulattos and blacks rose up against these French once again and were victorious in November 1803 and declared Saint-Domingue the independent republic of Haiti on January 1, 1804. Even after this defeat, a small French stronghold remained in Santo Domingo. They managed to reestablish slavery and numerous Spanish colonists returned. In 1805, after crowning himself Emperor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines invaded Santo Domingo but was forced to retreat when faced by a French naval squadron. In their retreat, the Haitians sacked the towns of Santiago and Moca, killing most of the people who lived there. Due to this act, there has been animosity between the two countries for two centuries. Before Dominican independence, there was a period of time called, The Haitian Occupation. There were several independence plots prior to this but they all failed and on November 30, 1821, when Josà © Nà ºÃƒ ±ez de Cà ¡ceres who was Santo Domingos past Lieutenant-Governor (which was top administrator), declared the colonys independence. Cà ¡ceres appealed that the new state gain admission to the republic of Gran Columbia, Simà ³n Bolà ­var, and though it passed and the Dominican Republic was now free from under Spains rule, in the February of 1822, led by Jean-Pierre Boyer, Haitian forces invaded nine weeks soon after. While the Haitians, had abolished slavery, much like how Toussaint Louverture had also done two decades previously, the Haitians had also nationalized most private property. This even include the property of landowners who fled in the beginning of the invasion; Church property; even property that belonged to previous rulers, the Spanish Crown. In attempt to boost profit, Boyer placed a large emphasis on cash crops rather than crops that were grown for consumption and had them grown on large plantations. He had the tax system reformed and allocated foreign trade. While it did increase the production and sales of sugar and coffee, Dominican farmers still strongly opposed this new system. Universities were shut down and lower levels of education also collapsed; the Haitian army was drafting many young Dominican men, especially from the ages of 16 to 25-years-old. These poor men were not even being treated in their camps properly, were heavily unpaid and had to forage and sack from local Dominical civilians. As much as they might have wanted to fight back and claim their freedom, they were without a leader and lacked the necessary guidance to revolt. Part 3 While it is true that the Dominican government has improved and made some substantial progress, according to the State Departments Country Report on Human Rights Practices focused on the year of 2004, human rights records are still fairly pitiable. Press reports on EFE News Service states that in 2004, there were 160 more people killed by the hands of police than there was in 2003. Sadly, not only is the use of physical abuse and torture continuing but even the conditions of prisons have ranged from poor to harsh when the fact is that there are overcrowded prison stations that are being made to held only 9,000 inmates are instead holding over 13,000. These horrid conditions only make a bad situation worse and the tension and the discomfort caused by being so close can only make angry people angrier. A result of 26 injuries and 133 deaths was the product of a fire that rival gangs set to show their discontent with their present situation in The Higà ¼ey jail, which was built in 1960 to house 80 inmates, but according to the director of prisons, Juan Ramà ³n de la Cruz Martà ­nez, it had a population of 426 on the morning of the fire.(NYT: There is also a social problem of human trafficking in the Dominican Republic. There is an approximated 50,000 women from the Dominican Republic apart of the overseas sex industry. After Thailand, Brazil and the Philippines, this is the fourth largest number in the world. Countless women from the Dominican Republic are trafficked to Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria. In fact, almost 10% of the 500 to 600 visas issued every year from the Netherlands to the Dominican nationals are for prostitution. There is a vicious cycle of women in the sex industry and the average age of women entering the sex industry from the Dominican Republic is between 24 and 28 years old. On average, these women have only completed primary school. When asked, most Dominican prostitutes give two main motivations for being in the sex industry; those who have children say it allows them to provide for their children. Then there are those without children who proclaim that they are doing it to buy a piece of land or a house for their parents. Most of the trafficked women also reported that their husband, father or boyfriend did not know exactly what kind of job they would be performed overseas, but did not ask; usually the husband, father or boyfriend received the money fro m the women abroad. Some of the women who returned to the Dominican Republic had been deported by the police while others were able to escape from the traffickers with the help of friends. Still many women are trapped and have no financial means of returning home, because they have no savings and are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Most of the trafficked women said that if they had known what they were actually getting into, they would have never went. It is only an undersized amount of the women that are actually able to hoard away money to bring back home with them, with amounts that range from US$300 to US$10 and this is after roughly one year in the sex industry. Some women are welcomed home when they return because they sent money from overseas and their new jewelry and clothes, or their familys new or improved house is an incentive for other young women to go into the sex industry. Part 4 A well-known commanding officer in the army, Rafael L. Trujillo, established supreme political control in 1930 and though he encouraged, economic growth and development for the country, only he and his supporters actually benefitted from it and it worked more to severely repress the domestic rights of civilians. Dishonesty and negligence to important details led to corruption and major economic tribulations. The Organization of American States took control of the situation and implemented political endorsements against the Dominican Republic as a consequence of Trujillos involvement in an endeavor to eliminate President Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela in the August of 1960. Within the borders of the Dominican Republic are about one million Dominicans and Dominican-Haitians whose treatment is the cause for the international criticism the Dominican Government has been receiving in the last few years. With influence from and similarity to the way Rafael Trujillo, benefitted from the work of others, the Dominican government continues to under-work undocumented, migrating Haitians and accept cheap labor. More than 90% of the countrys seasonal sugar workers and two thirds of its coffee workers are Haitians or Dominicans of Haitian origin. (Ribando: 3) The Directorate of Migration forced the deportation of more than 12,000 Haitians (including children) in 2002, in the Dominican Republic. According to President Fernandez and many other Dominican officials, the deletion of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in early 2004 has caused the increase of the amount of illegal migrants that were heading to D.R. which then caused an even larger strain on the already strained Dominican economy Part 5 Since independence in 1844, the United States has greatly influenced the Dominican Republics political standing in military. In the early 1900s, the U.S. sent their troops out into several nations and in an attempt to restore the initial civil order, entered such places as Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and namely, the Dominican Republic. According to representatives of the United States at the time, they needed to take control of the finances in these nations so help prevent the possibility of uproar or chaos caused by money. The Dominican Republic is actually known for having the second largest economical standing in the Caribbean and Central American region. While previously known mostly for their sugar production, their bountiful economic growth is subjugated largely to services such as their telecommunication system. After the assassination of tyrant, Trujillo, as a result of the fear felt by the possibility of reprisal by Trujillos allies, one of the three later 20th century emigration waves began in 1961. In effort to end the civil war in 1965, the United States began a stronger military activity in the Dominican Republic. Due to this movement, travel restrictions were slackened which made obtaining a United States visa, which was once a reasonably difficult job, much easier. In the year 1966 to the year 1978, the emigrations continued which were stimulated by high rates of unemployment and political subjugation. Succeeding arrivals of immigrants to the United States were introduced and welcomed in the country by previous immigrants to the nation who had joined together and formulated a group. In the early 20th century, prices, the value of a dollar and the rate of unemployment all increased and supplied the third wave of emigration which continues to hang pretty high in the Dominic Republic to this very day.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Stress: Unavoidable Necessity :: Essays Papers

Stress: Unavoidable Necessity Experiencing stress is a very common sensation. It is easy for everybody to describe its symptoms, but defining stress itself is more complicated because stress requires psychological and medical concepts to give an exact and understandable definition. "Stress is a specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium. It is a physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension" (The New Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language). Scientists started to think, in the late nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, that diseases are caused by external factors, like bacteria, thanks to the discovery of Rudolph Virchov, a German physician, and Louis Pasteur, a French doctor. However, the mental aspect was totally ignored at this time (Levi 15-16). The study of stress is inseparable from the study of psychology or psychiatry, which were not recognized before medicine started to change. Indeed, medicine specialization was born because the tools for examining patients were too sophisticated for any doctors to know how to use all of them. As a result, heart doctors, eye doctors, ear doctors, etc., appeared (Levi 16). While medicine became more and more efficient because doctors were increasingly qualified in their own skills, scientists started to be aware that in addition to their bodies patients had a mind which could suffer and influence the development of a disease. Psychiatry was born (Levi 16-17). Clea rly, science realized that stress could affect the body. Everybody should be aware that a disease could occur because of a mental problem, especially because of stress. This health issue will be discussed by explaining, on the one hand, what can cause stress by taking into account the nervous system, the psychosomatic tendencies, and the modern world. Then, on the other hand, the effects of stress and how the body reacts against it will be looked at. Finally, some solutions to fighting stress will be presented. Where does stress come from? Most scientists agree that stress is the result of a situation where too many problems or difficulties take place at the same time. For the person who lives in such circumstances, it becomes impossible to manage and to find any solutions for his or her difficulties. As a result this person feels oppressed by the situation and becomes stressed. Of course, everybody reacts in a different way in the face of unfortunate events, and for many people it is easy to manage stress, which is the normal reaction, without any damage to the body.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Benefits and Risks of Using the Internet Essay

What are the benefits and risks of using the Internet as a source of informationwhen writing assignments for Master’s programmes? Searching for information on the Internet is a methodology when writing essays for Master’s programmes. Obviously, both the advantages and disadvantages of this methodology can be found. The merits of using the Internet are obvious. It is very likely that MSc students are able to find more materials on the Internet quickly and conveniently. The huge amount of information is just a click away from the assignment writers. As for MSc students, they can search the e-library of their university and other data base from around the world. Furthermore, all of this work can be done at home within few minutes. Besides, the information on the Internet is always more vivid than that in books, because the forms of information are various. There are video materials, audio materials, image materials and so on. In these forms, it is more easily for students to understand the theoretical content of their programmes, because Master’s programmes are hard to understand. On the other hand, I would agree that there are drawbacks to using the Internet. Admittedly, because of convenience, the writers tend to rely on souce materials instead of creating by themselves. What’s worse, some writers even plagiarize other people achievements. In addition, some materials from the Internet may be inaccurate or even wrong, which might mislead MSc students. In sum, students are the beneficiaries of the Internet, although misusing the Internet as a source of information is harmful. Therefore, MSc students should use the Internet carefully in terms of finding source materials for assignment.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy - 1318 Words

Jordan Kriegel Basic Philosophical Questions November 2, 2017 Cogito Ergo Sum Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy and his questioning of our existence in reality is a question which philosophers have tackled throughout time. Cogito ergo sum or I think therefore I am, a phrase brought about by Descartes is the backbone of his whole philosophy of our existence in reality. As long as we are thinking things, we exist. When we look at this approach to our existence we must first deny that any sensory data that we receive is believable or it is conceivable that it is false. This means that we can’t really know that anything we perceive through our senses is actually an accurate interpretation of reality. After we’ve established that our†¦show more content†¦Everything else, which he has learned throughout his entire life and believed in, is to be thrown out because it is not known clearly and distinctly. Descartes method and theory on knowledge was well planned and carefully thought out. It is evident that he spent a great deal of time d etermining the principles that he would use as determinants for judging whether a specific idea was justified and true. Descartes has an apparent determination to prove his theory on his individual existence in the world and the existence of God to backup and prove himself and his theories. At the beginning of meditation two, Descartes is stuck in the middle of nothingness. He has nothing, nothing to believe in and everything around him he regards as false. This is because he cannot believe what he has learned and he is also unable to trust his senses due to the fact that they deceive him. He feels like he is drowning in a whirlpool and cannot reach the top and get out nor can he put his feet on the bottom and stand. Everything in the world at this point he has called into doubt, including himself. Everything that he has ever seen, learned or thought is now external from what he deems to be true. In the beginning of the third meditation, Descartes proclaims that he is certain he is a thinking thing based on his clear and distinct perception, and he couldn’t be certain unless all clear and distinct perceptions are true. Before diving into the existence of God, Descartes introducesShow MoreRelatedDescartes Meditations On First Philosophy807 Words   |  4 PagesConner Ruhl Professor Copley Philosophy 1000C 4 May 2015 Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes was the first great philosopher of the modern era, He had a new approach which was focused on scientific and mathematical truths. Descartes came to reject the scholastic tradition, one of which he was educated, due to his pursuit of mathematical and scientific truth. 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