Jackson 1 Essays (2752 words) - Cuba, Americas, Politics

Jackson 1 What impact did the Cuban revolution have on Afro-Cubans and race relations in Cuba? Describe the experience of African American radicals and nationalists in Cuba. In March 1959, two months after the conquest of state power, Castro broke the conspiracy of silence on racism in Cuba by confronting it head on. His first step was to abolish the old private school system and establish a well-funded public school system that was completely integrated. Economic and social conditions for Blacks improved dramatically when the revolutionary government decreed the Agrarian Reform and Urban Reform Laws, which gave the land to small farmers, and lowered ren ts in the cities by 50 percent. Laws were enacted and enforced prohibition discrimination in jobs, scho ols, housing, and medical care. In Cuba, race prejudice would be a punishable offense. Official Cuban census figures say black and mixed-heritage people are about 35 percent of the island's population, but a quick stroll around any Cuban town will provide visual confirmation of just how many Cubans of color deem themselves "white" . That may not be surprising, given that r ace is not an objective scientific category, but rather an organizing principle of political power both before and after the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Cuba (pre-Fidel) had been a place where multiracial alliances coexisted with persistent, entrenched rac ism and vast racial inequality. The last pre-revolutionary president, Fulgencio Batista, was a mulatto who may have had some Chinese and Indian blood. While he may have firmly ruled that system of inequality, he was, demographically speaking, more inclusive than were the white revolutionaries who overthrew him. But once the rebels won and tens of thousands of the wealthiest whites fled to Florida, Castro emphasized independence from American capitalism, improvements in healthcare, and literacy drives and he also told Jackson 2 American journalists in January 1959 that his new government would work to erase racial d iscrimination once and for all. In 1962, a North American survey found that 80 percent of black Cubans were wholly in favor of the revolution, compared to 67 percent of whites. The ensuing years saw visible gains towards social equality. The entire country was literate, regardless of color, a nd the 1980s, saw a generation of young black Cubans whose parents had been sugarcane and service workers enter the workforce as doctor s, engineers and professionals. Still, despite major economic and social gains, b lack Cubans remained unrepresent ed in the political leadership. In the years between Castro's ascendance and the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, race was an issue kept under the rug. During the Black Power Movement, the African American organization that established the most significant relations with Cuba was the Black Panthe r Party. The B lack P anther P arty was a radical Marxist organization which was inspired by the Cuban rev olution. Huey P. Newton, cof ounder with Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party , wrote in his autobiography: "For Castro guerrilla warfare was a good form of propaganda. Walking armed through R ichmond was our propaganda". For many Black Panthers , Cuba symbolized a perfect example of how a socialist system could succeed in offering equal oppor tunities to all its citizens. Socialist Cuba also became a safe place for those panthers who wanted to escape from the illegal activities of John Edgar Hoover's Counter Intelligence Program, a nd starting from 1967-68 many members of the Black Panther Party m embers went into exile in Cuba. Among the African Americans in exile in Cuba there were some of the most prominent leaders of the Black Power Movement such as Eldridge Cleaver, Hu ey P. Newton and Assata Jackson 3 Shakur. Cleaver came to Cuba in 1968 to avoid arrest and sp ent eight months on the island. His story is particularly interesting because, as the Minister of Information of the B lack P anther P arty , he had high expectations from the alliance with the Cuban government: he hoped that the Cubans would organize a military camp for the training of Af rican American revolutionaries. The project failed because the Cubans decided not to transform their political support for the African American

COMPANY ASSIGNMENT 2015 Essays - Petroleum Politics, Free Essays

COMPANY ASSIGNMENT 2015 Essays - Petroleum Politics, Free Essays The plummeting price of oil is still the biggest energy story in the world. The oil price has fallen by more than 40% since June, the price of Brent crude as in Diagram 1.This comes after nearly five years of stability. At a meeting in Vienna on November 27th the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which controls nearly 40% of the world market, failed to reach agreement on production curbs, sending the price tumbling. Also hard hit are oil-exporting countries such as Russia (where the rouble has hit record lows), Nigeria, Iran and Venezuela. Why is the price of oil falling? The oil price is partly determined by actual supply and demand, and partly by expectation. Demand for energy is closely related to economic activity. It also spikes in the winter in the northern hemisphere, and during summers in countries which use air conditioning. Supply can be affected by weather (which prevents tankers loading) and by geopolitical upsets. If producers think the price is staying high, they invest, which after a lag boosts supply. Similarly, low prices lead to an investment drought. OPECs decisions shape expectations; if it curbs supply sharply, it can send prices spiking. Saudi Arabia produces nearly 10m barrels a daya third of the OPEC total. Four things are now affecting the picture. Demand is low because of weak economic activity, increased efficiency, and a growing switch away from oil to other fuels. Second, turmoil in Iraq and Libya, two big oil producers with nearly 4m barrels a day combined has not affected their output. The market is more sanguine about geopolitical risk. Thirdly, America has become the worlds largest oil producer. Though it does not export crude oil, it now imports much less, creating a lot of spare supply. Finally, the Saudis and their Gulf allies have decided not to sacrifice their own market share to restore the price. They could curb production sharply, but the main benefits would go to countries they detest such as Iran and Russia. Saudi Arabia can tolerate lower oil prices quite easily. It has $900 billion in reserves. Its own oil costs very little (around $5-6 per barrel) to get out of the ground. The main effect of this is on the riskiest and most vulnerable bits of the oil industry. These include American frackers who have borrowed heavily on the expectation of continuing high prices. They also include Western oil companies with high-cost projects involving drilling in deep water or in the Arctic, or dealing with maturing and increasingly expensive fields such as the North Sea. But the greatest pain is in countries where the regimes are dependent on a high oil price to pay for costly foreign adventures and expensive social programmes. These include Russia (which is already hit by Western sanctions following its meddling in Ukraine) and Iran (which is paying to keep the Assad regime afloat in Syria). Optimists think economic pain may make these countries more amenable to international pressure. Pessimists fear that when cornered, they may lash out in desperation World's largest oil exporter is forcing prices lower to win back market share but the high-risk strategy will test the house of Saudi like never before. Saudi Arabia has won the opening battle of its radical oil strategy by forcing prices lower. But the kingdom is about to enter into a dangerous new phase in its war to regain control of the worlds oil market. Saudi succeeded in bullying the other members of the (OPEC) into continuing to pump their current quota of 30m barrels per day as its first objective. The kingdoms veteran oil minister Ali Naimi clearly believes is necessary to shut down the cartels biggest rivals in Russia and the shale oil fields of Dakota. With 13pc of global oil reserves and the cheapest production costs, the kingdom believes that it can still buy back the market and secure higher prices over the long term. This is one of the most important policy initiatives by Saudi Arabia in the modern era. If victorious, Saudi Arabia will emerge stronger after re-asserting its global significance as the custodian of the worlds primary energy source. Besides, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, the architect of OPECs strategy to

How Do You Calculate Your GPA Step by Step Instructions

How Do You Calculate Your GPA Step by Step Instructions SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips How exactly do you take a document as complicated as your transcript and shrink it all down to one number? If you are wondering how to take all the final grades you've gotten in high school and figure out your GPA, then this article will show you exactly how to make that calculation. I'll take you through step by step. What Is a GPA? Most likely, in your high school classes, your final grades are given as letters (A-, B+, etc.) or as percents (92, 85, etc. out of 100). A GPA, or grade point average, first converts those letters or percents into numbers, then averages these numbers together. Because it's made up of all your grades, your GPA is one of the most important factors for college admission. It is a good indicator of your intelligence, work ethic, perseverance, and willingness to push yourself. GPAs are useful for colleges to easily compare you to other students who graduated from your school, and to all the other applicants. Why? Well, imagine you're an admissions officer who is looking at thousands of college applications. Would you rather go through each transcript, add up all the A's and all the B's, and then compare that to the next person, and so on forever? Or would you rather just have an easy summary number that could be used for a quick comparison across the board? Your GPA is that quick summary number. // Turn the hard to eat ingredients of your transcript into the gooey smore deliciousness of a GPA. Probably not with an open flame, though. The Difference Between Weighted and Unweighted GPA There are two main types of GPAs: weighted and unweighted. When schools use unweighted GPAs, they use a scale that goes from 0.0 to 4.0 and doesn't take the difficulty level of classes into account. However, some schools use a weighted GPA model, which takes class difficulty into account by using a scale that goes from 0.0 to 5.0. This gives higher numerical values to grades earned in honors/AP/IB classes. Suppose Jeremy gets an A in standard-level US History while Lakshmi gets an A in AP US History. With unweighted GPAs, both A’s are treated the same- each becomes a 4.0. On the other hand, with a weighted GPA, Jeremy's A would convert to a 4.0, while Lakshmi’s A would convert to a 5.0 to show that her class took a lot more effort to ace. // This article focuses primarily on explaining and calculating unweighted GPAs. For more information on weighted GPAs, check out our other article. Sure, you can pick them up, but doesn't it help to know how much each weighs? How Do You Calculate Your Unweighted GPA? The first thing to do in order to calculate a grade point average is to convert each of the final class grades you’ve gotten so far in high school into the right decimal. Here is the standard unweighted scale for doing this: Letter Grade Percentile GPA A+ 97-100 4.0 A 93-96 4.0 A- 90-92 3.7 B+ 87-89 3.3 B 83-86 3.0 B- 80-82 2.7 C+ 77-79 2.3 C 73-76 2.0 C- 70-72 1.7 D+ 67-69 1.3 D 65-66 1.0 F Below 65 0.0 Then, perform the following calculation: Add all the converted decimal grades together – this is your sum. Count the number of classes you’ve taken. Divide the sum by the number of classes, and you have your unweighted GPA // In the next section, we'll go through an example calculation of an unweighted GPA. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Step of an Unweighted GPA Calculation Let me show you an example of how to calculate an unweighted GPA so you can see how this will look inpractice. (To see how to calculate a weighted GPA, check out our other article.) We'll use a sample transcript for incognito CIA operative John Doe. #1: Convert Grades Into Decimals In order to learn how to calculate a GPA, let’s first convert John's letter grades into numbers: 9th Grade 10th Grade th Grade 12th Grade 3.0 4.0 4.0 3.0 4.0 3.0 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.7 3.7 4.0 3.7 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 3.3 3.0 3.3 3.3 4.0 3.7 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.7 4.0 3.0 3.0 2.7 4.0 3.0 // Let’s also count how many classes he took each of those years: 9th Grade 10th Grade th Grade 12th Grade 10 classes 10 classes 8 classes 6 classes #2: Calculate Individual Year GPAs To get each individual year’s GPA, all we need to do is divide the sum by the number of classes. If this division ends up with a long decimal, simply round to the nearest tenth: 9th Grade 10th Grade th Grade 12th Grade 35 / 10 = 3.5 35.7 / 10 = 3.57 27.7 / 8 = 3.46 19.7 / 6 = 3.28 #3: Calculate Cumulative High School GPA To get a cumulative GPA for John’s entire high school career, we add up the sums for all the years and divide by the number of classes he took over all those years: 35 + 35.7 + 27.7 + 19.7 = 8.1 (sum of all final grades) 10 + 10 + 8 + 6 = 34 (total number of classes taken) 8.1 / 34 = 3.47 (GPA) So, his GPA for all of high school is 3.47. Pro tip:the cumulative GPA is NOT an average of each year because the number of classes taken each year is different. // #4: Calculate GPA Submitted to Colleges (Optional) Finally, if we wanted to figure out the GPA that John would send out on his college applications, we would do the same process, but leave off senior year. Since applications go out in the beginning of 12th grade, those final grades don't make it into the application GPA: 35 + 35.7 + 27.7 = 98.4 (sum of final grades from 9th to th grade) 10 + 10 + 8 = 28 (number of classes taken from 9th to th grade) 98.4 / 28 = 3.5 (college application GPA) John’s application GPA is 3.5. Is nicely done, John! What’s Next? // Interested in diving even deeper into the differences between weighted and unweighted GPA? Check out our guide to the benefits and drawbacks of both. Want to see step-by-step weighted GPA calculation? Let us show you how it’s done. Curious how your GPA compares? See what a good or bad GPA score is, and how you stack up against the average high school student. Want to improve your GPA?Check out our in-depth guide to raising your grades, from a writer who got a perfect 4.0 GPA. Read it for free now:

Constitution of three countries Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Constitution of three countries - Research Paper Example The judicial branch as outlined by the constitution has been given the responsibility of ensuring that the constitution is well implemented by the help of the court system and judges. This research paper will look at the constitutions of Britain, Kenya, and China and compare them with that of the United States. Through this, it will be realized that each country’s constitution varies when it comes to the court system, but at the same time, there are some similarities that exist. Keywords: Constitution, Court System, United States, Kenya, Britain, China, America, Term Limit, Age Limit Introduction Constitutions have existed for decades. Among the earliest constitutions is the constitution of England, which was written in 1215 in England (Thomas, 2008). This essay compares and contrasts the constitutions and court systems of three countries, which are Britain, Kenya and China, with that of the United States. The courts have the responsibility of ensuring that the constitutions a re well implemented, either by the government or by the people or citizens of a particular country. What is a constitution? A constitution is referred to as â€Å"a written set of rules for a country† (Thomas, 2008, p. 6). ... It has been discovered that most of these constitutions are very similar in some ways. The people who wrote the United Sates constitution worked really hard to make the best system of rules they could. Structures of the Court Systems of the United States, Britain, Kenya, and China United States Court System Structure Court of Last Resort or the Supreme Court: This is the most superior court in America and the final place where litigants can file appeals for their cases (â€Å"Introduction to the Court System,† 2003). The appeals received in this court are mainly from the middle appellate courts (â€Å"Introduction to the Court System,† 2003). Appeal Courts: These courts come in between the Supreme Court and the trial courts and are found in the federal governments. Their jurisdiction is broader than the Supreme Court’s. They are responsible for reviewing the facts and the law of a case. They are also referred to as the intermediate or middle appellate courts (â⠂¬Å"Introduction to the Court System,† 2003). Trial courts: They are typically known as courts of general or original jurisdiction; this is usually where a case starts. The judges and juries of these courts are given the responsibility of listening to witnesses, examining the evidence, and giving rulings. If the parties involved are not satisfied, they then appeal to the Court of Appeal, and later to the Supreme Court. These courts are given names according to the types of cases they handle and their locations. These courts are also found in the federal government (â€Å"Introduction to the Court System,† 2003). Britain’s Court System Structure The structure of the British court system is rather complex

Coperate social responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Coperate social responsibility - Essay Example This paper describes almost all the CSR activities of these two companies. Beside that paper also provides a descriptive view of stakeholder models of these two companies. Finally there is a comparative analysis of CSR activities of Microsoft and Tata. This comparison is made on the basis of their operating zone and industry in which they are operating. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been defined in various ways over the time. Most experts believe that the foundation of CSR is good corporate citizenship. It is also believed that CSR is founded on acknowledgement by the organizations that they need to clearly understand and manage the massive influences of business on the society in order to benefiting both society and company as a whole (Marsden and Andriof, 1998). According to McIntosh and Andriof refers to the understanding of the corporate leaders regarding the fact that each and every activity of an organization has flow-on effect on both inside and outside of the company. Company’s activities would have effect on everything starting from customers to communities and environment. Several management writers argue that corporate social responsiveness deal with the capacity of any business organization to respond to various social pressures (Foley, Jayawardhena, October 2001). In this paper CSR would be discussed in the context of two multinational companies, one is from a developed economy and another is from a developing economy. Microsoft is chosen as the representative of developed economies and TATA is chosen as the representative of developing economies. Software giant Microsoft provides software service and creative business solution to its huge customer base. The company was founded in 1975 by Bill gates and Paul Allen. Various products of Microsoft include different versions of windows, MS-DOS, Office XP, .NET, 2007 Office system etc. (AEA Member Directory, n.d.).

The New Deal and Its Triumph Essay Example for Free

The New Deal and Its Triumph Essay The New Deal and it’s Triumph The 1930’s were a time of despair, poverty and distress and those who lived during this time believed it would be better to die, than to continue to live this way. When Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office in 1932, the United States was in the most disconsolate moments of the Great Depression. However, he brought with him a promise, a promise to make things better through a series of reforms he was planning on implementing known as the New Deal. In the first one hundred days following his inauguration as president, FDR, had already put into place a variety of programs, all with the goal to briskly improve the lives of those that had been most affected by the Great Depression and boost the economy. Through these programs FDR hoped to create jobs, lower the amount of people living on the streets, and most of all, uplift the spirits of the American people which had taken the biggest hit of all. The New Deal was a success because even though many minorities were overlooked, the overall population was influenced in a significant positive manner through job creation and governmental aid despite having negative effects in other areas of the country. Although the New Deal was an overall success in the United States, a significant amount of the minorities, especially the African Americans and Native Americans were neglected as opposed to the rest of the population. During the Great Depression, 50% of the African American citizens became unemployed, due to the fact that they were the first to be fired, and the last to be hired. Furthermore, many of the programs put into place by the New Deal, by improving the lives of other Americans, would damage and harm those of the African Americans. For example, as the excerpt from the Gilder Lehman Institute of American History online textbook , when the AAA was put into place between 1933-1934, more than 100,000 black workers who made their living as sharecroppers and tenant farmers were forced off the land (document B). When African Americans had a job, such as in the WPA, their working conditions would be incredibly harsh and unmerciful. These men were forced to work under harsh circumstances and if they didn’t they would lose  their job. A WPA foreman in the South being interviewed by a questioner from the Federal Writer’s Project claimed that, â€Å"As a matter of fact they cannot be sick for more than five days in succession. If they are†¦ they are automatically dropped from the rolls† (document H) demonstrating that these workers cannot afford to be sick if they want to be able to maintain their jobs. Additionally, even though the Black Cabinet was formed during these years, no civil rights reforms became law during the 1930 since the New Deal had no intention of working towards the civil rights movement. Another minority that was significantly overlooked and even negatively impacted was the Native Americans. As Document G mentions, â€Å"Many Indian problems remain unresolved, but every one has been addressed†. Sometimes, by addressing these problems, the government would actually hurt the Native Americans. For example, the Navajo Reduction Program forced hundreds of Indians to kill or sell thousands of their sheep and other forms of livestock; therefore raising the tension between the Native Americans and the government. The New Deal, even though it helped and lessened the economic problems throughout the country, actually weakened the situation of many minorities such as the African Americans and the Native Americans. The overall population of the United States was significantly enhanced by a number of the programs put into place by FDR through the New Deal. Roosevelt made the purpose of these programs and what he intended to do with them clear through he Fire Side Chats. For example, in one of these many chats, he claims, that â€Å"First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men, to go into forestry and flood prevention work (document B) † He planned to do this through programs he implemented a short time after such as the CCC and WPA, which gave jobs to young men all over the country, whether they were skilled or not. Slowly, the effect became clear not only in the amount of young men with jobs, but also in the overall attitudes of those in America, which had begun to lose hope. As George Dobbin, he declares that â€Å"It’s the first time in my recollection that a President ever got up and said, ‘Iâ€⠄¢m interested in and aim to do somethin’ for the workin’ man (Document C)† Norman Thomas would have agreed with this whole heartedly since one of this main  objectives was to try and support the industrial worker and to improve their conditions. The results of these programs being put into place were obvious, as unemployment statistics were brought to light. In only two years, the unemployment rate had gone down from 20.6 % to a 14.2% (document E). These percentages strongly supported the idea that the New Deal programs were helping boost the country’s economy once more. Finally, many of these programs brought assistance to other areas of living. For example, the WPA brought hot lunches to schoolchildren and would serve 500,000 meals a day (document D). This made it possible for many children, living in detrimental conditions, to eat at least one nutritional meal a day. Huey Long, a past governor of Louisiana, would have agreed with this hot-lunch program due to the fact that he believed in the re-distribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, and in this case the money is being targeted to those of more humble background. Many programs put into place by FDR such as the CCC and the WPA significantly improved the wa y of life of hundreds of Americans. Eventually, even though the New Deal brought with it a lot of progress and improved life conditions, there were some areas of every day life it was not able to amend completely. One of these was the spirit of the American people. Songs such as â€Å"No Depression in Heaven† performed by the Carter Family showed the true feelings of those that were still struggling to survive. Lyrics such as â€Å"out here the hearts of men are failing† or â€Å"no orphan children crying for bread, no weeping widows toil or struggle, no shrouds, no coffins, and no dead (document E)† demonstrated how desperate and disconsolate many of the people are still and how they feel that it would be better to die, than to continue to live this way. Other negative impacts of the New Deal on the United States was the continuous discrimination towards woman and the fact that they were paid lower wages by many of the programs put into place such as the WPA or the PWA. Additionally Alden Stevens mentions that, â€Å"the New Deal Indian administration is neither as successful as its publicity says it is,† (document G) showing how improvements were not made in all areas of life in the United States. Furthermore, programs such as the TVA destroyed the environment by flooding hundreds of acres of land in order to build dams and reservoirs. The New Deal did not bring with it only positive effects towards the country. It had  negative connotations as well, those which could be observed in different, minor aspects of every day life. When FDR put into place the New Deal, he had three goals in mind. These were reform, recovery and reconstruction. He pretended to do this through various programs he implemented right away, which included the CCC, the WPA, the SSA, and much more. Slowly the effects of these programs began to be seen all over the country and the overall response was that yes, this program was working. People stopped living on the streets and began working, those who had lost everything now had insurance, and unskilled workers were now learning skills they needed in order to get a job. Even though many minorities were overlooked, and not all aspects of life in America were improved, the general impact of the New Deal was a positive one. Therefore, the New Deal was a success, because through this Roosevelt was able to create jobs and provide governmental aid, despite having slight negative effects in other areas of the country.

What is Economics? :: Economic Systems Economy Scarcity Essays

Economics, in one aspect, is the study of how individuals, societies, and countries manage to deal with the problem of scarcity. Scarcity is a problem within economics because the wants of people are unlimited and the resources available to fulfil those wants are finite (Sloman, 2001). The answer to scarcity is efficiency which Gowland and Paterson (1993) described as the most benefit from a certain amount of scarce resources. Within the economic system, there are several types of economies, each generating a different level of efficiency. It is said that an economic system that has allocative efficiency, productive efficiency, and equity will be effective. Along with the latter mentioned, the division of labour and comparative advantage, when exploited also bring about the effectiveness of a system. Within an economic system there are two contrasting ideals: the market economy and the planned economy. A free-market or laissez-faire economy makes decisions on an individual level with minimal government intervention. On the other hand of the spectrum lies the planned economy where all economic decisions are made by the government (Sloman, 2001). Both economies have their advantages and disadvantages. In a free-market economy there is freedom of choice, high incentives, and the belief in consumer sovereignty, yet, there are problems such as inequality of income, macroeconomic instability, and the chance of market failure. Likewise, though a planned economy has advantages such as low levels of unemployment and equal distribution of income, there is a loss of personal freedom and lack of consumer choice. Many people feel that efficiency lies in the free-market economy where one can easily answer the questions what should be produced, how it should be produced, and for whom. However, the problem with this ‘capitalist’ economy is that poverty and boom and bust cycles reduce progress (Economic Systems: How Societies adapt to Problems, 2003). â€Å"If you care about economic efficiency, you should like free markets†¦But they would also believe the second one should be qualified, in addition to its stabilisation and distribution functions, governments will be needed to correct market imperfections†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rhoads, 1999, p.66) Rhoads (1999) mentions how a market economy leans towards more efficiency but needs the government sporadically, a combination which makes the so-called mixed economy. A mixed economy which leans towards laissez-faire, as in the case with the U.S or the United Kingdom, is rather successful. On the contrary, countries, such as Burma or North Korea, which slant towards a planned economy, lack progress. Along with allocative efficiency, how resources should be allocated, productive efficiency, which production method should be utilised, and equity, â€Å"specialisation and exchange are both necessary to have an efficient economy† (Demmert, 1991 p.3). Specialisation comes in the