Peace-Building and Community Development in Uganda Essay Example for Free

Peace-Building and Community Development in Uganda Essay Community development is a multi-faceted activity that has different ends. It also has different requirements depending on the needs of people inside the community. Development can be achieved through sustaining small and medium businesses, ensuring education for all, managing inclusion and diversity, keeping peace and order, and creating comprehensive disaster management. Through these, a community like Uganda can be sustainable. In Uganda, the dehumanizing aspects of slavery in the South and racial discrimination in the North are more than just the beatings, but also the parting of children from their mothers, the denial of education, and the sexual abuses of slave masters (Davis, 2004). The civilization that developed in Uganda reflected the variety and contrasts found on the continent. The peoples of Uganda differ greatly in language, customs, and appearance. The geography of this huge continent also shows sharp contrasts. Along the Nile River, which flows from the tropical forests of Central Uganda through the deserts of the north, several early civilizations developed. One of the most influential regions was Sahara. Sahara’s political, economic, and cultural influence had an effect on the history of other kingdoms. Later, empires based on trade grew up in the region of Sahara (Davis, 2004). Patterns of settlement and trade were influenced by the varied climates and natural sources of the Uganda continent. The hottest and wettest regions of the continent are near the equator, in the basin of the Congo River. Heavy rainfall and warm humid air encourage the growth of lush rain forest. Near the edge of the rainforest is the savanna, an open grassland dotted with shrubs and scattered clumps of trees. The savannas provide land for farming and herding. These grasslands are also home of Uganda great herds of wild animals, gazelles, giraffes, wildebeests, zebras, lions, and elephants (Davis, 2004). Racism in Uganda has been associated with reduced spirits, lower efficiency and a greater probability to experience terrible stress and nonappearance in the major activities in a community. People who go through racism speak of having feeling of timidity or letdown and lowered levels of self-esteem. Minorities who sense that their identity and culture are not cherished may also live through lowered levels of self-confidence and self-respect and think that they have are not welcome in a neighborhood or community. This mindset may bring about a feeling of denunciation of their own values, language, and ultimately their culture, and an ensuing loss of individuality (Hooks, 1994). In Uganda, the ways of thinking of people concerning cultural miscellany of their communes differ extensively. Amongst a number of minorities, there is a devotion to a deepened insight into cultural diversity and multiculturalism. Some â€Å"mainstream† people are anxious about variations and sense antipathy towards people of color. If the person of color is suffering discrimination of any sort, he or she may feel forlorn and miserable. He or she may also attempt to evade incidents where racist activities could happen, and pretend to be unwell or be anxious of deserting their homes (Kressel, 2001). In some nations, significant segments of the population reject coexistence with minorities in equal terms. These minorities have faced discrimination in such areas as housing, education, and employment. Although no scientific proof supports racist claims, racism is widespread and has caused major problems throughout the world. Racism is most often used to justify the creation of political or economic systems that encourage or maintain the domination of one racial group over another. Such beliefs were long used to rationalize the enslavement and persecution of people viewed as inferior (Stoessinger, 2002). Throughout history there have been persecutions and atrocities that can be described as cases of genocide. The Russian pogroms (persecutions of the Jews) during the late 1800s and early 1900s were an example of genocide. During World War II, the Germans practiced genocide. They killed about six million European Jews. Victims of the Holocaust went through dehumanization simply to make the killing of others psychologically easy for the Nazis. Many victims of the Holocaust suffered from various experiments which eventually led to the death. Some of the experiments were things such as: sun lamp, internal irrigation, hot bath, warming by body heat, hypothermia, among others (Clemens and Purcell, 1999). In recent years a debate has raged over the question of whether opportunities for black economic advancement are more affected by race or class position. Sociologist William Wilson believes that racial discrimination has become less important than social class in influencing the life chances of black Americans (Hinkle, 2004). He says that civil rights legislation and affirmative action programs have substantially lifted the cap historically imposed on black social mobility by segregation, resulting in greater educational, income, and occupational differentiation: Blacks with good educational backgrounds and job skills rapidly moved into the American middle class; blacks with limited educations and job skills became the victims of dehumanization and welfare dependency. Now poor urban blacks find themselves relegated to all-black neighborhoods where they are further dehumanized and socially isolated from mainstream American life (Zanden, 1993). According to Maiese (2003), the United Nations defined peace-building as an interplay of â€Å"capacity building, reconciliation, and societal transformation†. For other organizations, the short-term goals are more evident; peace-building revolves around promoting peace in an immediate situation. The United Nations drew up an international convention in 1948 that made genocide a crime. On Dec. 9, 1948, the United Nations passed the Genocide Convention, which was designed to overcome the claims of Nuremberg defendants that they had violated no law. The convention made genocide a crime. The next day, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Fifty years later, in 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda became the first international court to pass a guilty verdict for the crime of genocide. The verdict related to crimes committed during the 1994 conflict in Rwanda (Kim, 2004). In 1999, there was already a convention, called the Geneva Spiritual Appeal, which made history in collecting in one venue the Catholics, the Jewish, the Buddhists, the Muslims, the Protestants, and the Orthodox Christians. Then again, there remain Christians, Animists, Muslims in conflict in Nigeria; Christian-Muslim discord still abounds some parts in Asia as Indonesia and the Philippines; Buddhists and the minority population of the Hindus Tamils are at odds in Sri Lanka; and incredibly, Animists and Witches are cursing each other in Uganda (Reich, 1998). Sometimes, it is appropriate to entitle these conflicts nationalist ones, because they impact on the endeavors to build nation-states, in which the majority gets the state. More like the winning territory takes over or designs the administration. Defining such a nation is typically by linguistic or religious yardsticks. Hence, we have the Ugandans in the continent of Africa singled out as the inferiors by tongue and by faith, and Germans differ from the French by their verbal and non-verbal communication (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). Perhaps theres a tendency of people growing to be defensive about their identity if they sense that it is under cordon. There is really not a single ultimate peace resolution plan that can referee the unrest. Attempts had been made like the 1999 Convention but the conflict is not exclusively attributable to spiritual diversity alone. It may be distributed among ethnic feuds, religion-based worldviews, economic modifications, and political coalitions, among several others (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). On having the United Nations’ enforcement of globalized paradigms, they would need to try harder. Peculiarities factor in on the extent of their reception. If the countrys fragile, they are more likely to get involved. If the countrys sturdy, they are more likely to lag behind and perform diplomatically around the edges. The key is not to establish globalized benchmarks but to develop local, internal avowals (Stoessinger, 2002). They said there is only one Bible and a million interpretations. But there is a single quotation in it that speaks of harmony: a house divided against itself cannot stand. Proclaiming a house partitioned to be a condominium cannot be expected to work out when many of the occupiers want instead to demolish the edifice entirely and put up their own, unattached houses. Speaking of houses, local religious sects could construct and ring a Peace Bell at the beginning and end of their spiritual observation. Ugandan victims could ask their municipality to formally declare their observance of the day (Kim, 2004). It would also be certainly wise for any intercontinental organizations to use workforce from countries that went through related experiences, rather then using the abstract approach brought by peacekeeping squads from Western nations to intervene in Uganda. One specific strategy possibly is to have this staff encourage the people inviting other faith traditions to join them in a prayer service for peace in Uganda (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). International treaties should make it easier for local organizations to get concerned in the region of Uganda where genocide is concentrated without misplacing valuable time as they wait for the pronouncement of the United Nations Security Council, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, or the Organization of African Unity (Reich, 1998). But it should always be made a point that the auxiliary time is spent on deepening interfaith commitments to dialogue and cooperation for promoting peace. In the 1990s, Jewish groups pressured those who had profited from the Holocaust to compensate Holocaust victims or their descendants. Groups that paid reparations included the German government, certain Swiss banks, and some German companies (Clemens and Purcell, 1999). In the country Uganda, Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager played the hero in the lives of thousands having different cultural backgrounds. In the middle of European colonization in Rwanda, Paul made an uncompromising initiative to communicate with the most relevant redeemers from the camp of Brussels’ headquarters. This way, he succeeded in playing the peacekeeper among the threatened people he hid in their hotel (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). The United Nations also played an indispensable role in Uganda. Led by Col. Oliver, the organization gets to know what is actually happening but not to make contingent actions and resolutions to put a stop to genocidal cases that mete out Rwanda. He stood the middleman between the U. N. superiors and the people under the wings of Paul Rusesabagina (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). However, it was also evident that the situation could have gone smarter if the likes of Paul Rusesabagina and Col. Oliver were given ample attention or at the very least, not ignored. Apart from the United Nations, a multitude of support and private-owned groups advocate against dehumanization and as such, campaign for a zero-dehumanized world and for a healing process to start with (Stoessinger, 2002). For instance, Interact Worldwide is an advocacy-driven virtual institution with the purpose of building support for and implement programmes, which enable marginalized people to fulfill their rights to sexual and reproductive health. Redefining Progress works with a broad array of partners to shift the economy and public policy towards sustainability; that they can measure the real state of a country’s economy, our environment, and social justice with tools like the genuine progress indicator and the ecological footprint; that they design policies to shift behavior in these three domains towards sustainability; and that they promote and create new frameworks to replace the ones that are taking us away from long-term social, economic, and environmental health. Other popular organizations include The Family Alliance to Stop Abuse and Neglect, National Down Syndrome Congress, Resources for Children of Holocaust Survivors, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Reebok Human Rights, among many others (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). Prejudice provides for the safe release of hostile and aggressive impulses that are culturally tabooed within other social contexts. By channeling hostilities from within family, occupational, and other crucial settings onto permissible targets, the stability of existing social structures may be promoted. This is the well-known scapegoating mechanism, another common method to dehumanize (Zanden, 1993). In Uganda, scapegoating resulted in the inhuman treatment of Ugandan tribes like Tutsi. Bound by his duty-based ethics, Paul Rusesabagina could be pictured having utter, intrinsic moral commitments to some external source to carry out certain actions, notwithstanding his particular situation and personal goals (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). The ways of thinking of people concerning cultural miscellany of their communes differ extensively be it in Rwanda or in some other place in the world. Amongst a number of minorities, there is a devotion to a deepened insight into cultural diversity and multiculturalism. Some â€Å"mainstream† people are anxious about variations and sense antipathy towards people of color. If the person of color is suffering discrimination of any sort, he or she may feel forlorn and miserable. But with Paul Rusesabagina around, the people kept safe in Uganda were saved not only from the harm of genocide but from the deadly bias posed against them by the larger society that is morally wrecked and uncharitable (Carter, Gwendolen, and Herz, 1991). An inherent debate has raged over the question of whether opportunities for black economic advancement are more affected by race or class position. Some believe that racial discrimination has become less important than social class in influencing the life chances of Ugandans. Civil rights legislation and affirmative action programs have substantially lifted the cap historically imposed on black social mobility by segregation, resulting in greater educational, income, and occupational differentiation: Blacks with good educational backgrounds and job skills rapidly moved into the middle class; blacks with limited educations and job skills became the victims of dehumanization and welfare dependency. Now poor urban blacks find themselves relegated to all-black neighborhoods where they are further dehumanized and socially isolated from mainstream Ugandan life (Hooks, 1994). The risk is that when chauvinistic behaviors and attitudes are allowed to go unimpeded in any environment, a climate cultivates which sees these incidents as natural and so permits racism to become deep-rooted. Whereas not many complaints are collected every year, this should not be compared to a low frequency of racist incidence. Inadequate understanding of legislation, fear or apprehension on the part of victimized minorities to disclose racist activities or disinclination by parents to engage in legal amends are factors that may thwart the conveyance of official complaints. As well, formal treatments for grievances of racism are not constantly suitable, with arbitration usually being considered as a preferable substitute (Kim, 2004). Racism has been a steady problem in Uganda all through time. Other forms of racism are, perhaps, less obvious. The hierarchical structure, academic elitism, and the whole way of life of mainstream society are directly opposed to cultural values and world views. How all this conflict is experienced by people of color can only be explained adequately by the citizens of the society themselves; it will be different depending on their past experience and even non-existent for others, but the suppression of the values and way of life of the mainstream society will adversely affect everyone because racism against these people of color eats at the hearts of the dominating as well as the dominated people (Hinkle, 2004). Peace-building can concentrate on resolving current issues between constituents. It involves moderating by authorities or other members of the community to maintain understanding between parties. On the other hand, it is also creating a society where the constituents are educated and transformed so that they do not only know peace but also lives peace. In these terms, education plays an integral role. This creates a community which is not only dependent on intermediaries but with self-regulation of peace as well. In the end, a community filled with peace-loving citizens is a community where peace has been built (Stoessinger, 2002). Personally, if I were a member of a certain low-income urban neighborhood similar in nature in Uganda, I would offer my full knowledge of the end and the means to achieve it. As part of the will for a â€Å"sense of community,† I will take the initiative to conform to shared leadership or become servant leaders. After all, a leader providing positive reinforcement is a leader creating a positive climate and peace-loving attitude all over a community. So long as there will be provision of opportunities that allow me to exercise responsibility and creativity in our common endeavor, my active participation would include extensive information dissemination, be it online or via available physical infrastructures, and active civic participation.

Creationism and Public Schools Essay -- essays research papers fc

Creationism and Public Schools   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The issue of whether creationism should be taught in public schools, rather than evolution, is a new one. It has only been in the past fifty years that it has even been in debate. Public school science classes, when discussing the origins of life on Earth, coincided with Sunday school classes. Students learned that the Earth, universe and everything else was created in seven days, by God, as stated in the Old Testament. It was not until recently with the rise of scientific reason and equal rights organizations did these teachings become questioned. The argument spurs from each person’s personal belief, and that is where things get complicated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To successfully teach creationism in public schools, you have to decided a definitive creationism story to base it on, and with Christianity, this is a problem. Protestant fundamentalists will interpret the Bible as literally as possible. While Catholics and Orthodox Jews will interpret it as they see fit. This is a basic element of religion. Each group has its own views and interpretations of the Bible, and these groups will never agree on one specific idea. Therefore, how could you base a lesson on an idea that varies depending on who you are talking too?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Evolution on the other hand, is based on evidence that in the scientific field is not debated. Tangible proof has been established for evolution. It is a widely accepted theory, that most with an understanding of it, accept it as fact. Unlike creationism, the ideas that found evolution are not subject to personal opinion, they are stated as factual information, and the ideas are not questioned by those who believe it. With creationism, you introduce debate between students and teachers on how the Bible should be read. The class then becomes a theology class, instead of a biology class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are some who try and teach creationism as a science, calling it â€Å"Creation Science.† They state that God created the Earth and that God also created evolution as a means of self preservation. They alter the original story in Genesis to fit Darwin’s theory on evolution. Linking creationism to evolution and acknowledging the existence of evolution makes this pseudoscience sound more plausible and scientific. This is referred t... ...ism has no place in a public science classroom. Students do not need to be sheltered from learning the origins of life on Earth. Science explains the origins of life with the theory of evolution, and what better place to learn about evolution than in a science class? Religion explains the origins of life with creationism, and what better place to learn about creationism than in a religious environment? Science should stay out of churches, and churches should stay out of classrooms.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bibliography Abramsom, Paul Creationism.org Creationism FAQ 2004. Paul Ambramson. http://www.creationism.org/topbar/faq.htm Arthur, Joyce. Creationism: Bad Science or Immoral Pseudoscience?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1996. Joyce Arthur. http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/gish.html BibleGateway.com Deuteronomy 21:18-21 :: King James Version   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2003. Gospel Communications Network. http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Deuteronomy+21:18-21 Teaching Science, Not Dogma: The Creationism Controversy 2001. Anti-Defamation League http://www.adl.org/issue_religious_freedom/create/creationism3.asp

Ethical and Socially Responsive Business Essay

Describe key areas of the selected company’s code of conduct that are of significant importance to the business, and explain why. The first question we should ask ourselves â€Å"what is ethics?† I think ethics are a collection of principles and practices that a business believes in, statements and more specific policies about conduct to give employees, partners, vendors, and outsiders an idea of what the corporation stands for and how it’s staff should conduct themselves . The Cheesecake Factory was established in the 1940s by Oscar and Evelyn Overton. In 1972 they open their first business store to Los Angeles, CA known as the Cheesecake Factory. Now The Cheesecake Factory has over 170 locations around the world. Having such a large corporation like Cheesecake Factory brings a lot of ethical and business problems when it comes to having such a large stores and staff. We should always remember that everyone has their own set of moral ethics that they live by at tend to take those same ethics to the work place. When writing a code of ethics it is important that these will cover every staff member from the top of the corporation to the lowest lever employee. Key areas that are of significant importance to The Cheesecake Factory start with the general standards of conduct in how all its employees will be treated by fellow employees and by management. The standards deals the basic values that we all have, with the expectation of building trust, loyalty, honesty, respect, and a high level of professionalism within the company. The cheesecake Factory has an established code of ethical conduct that is an essential factor in maintaining a proper balance in the human aspect of ethics and the link to the business success. Corporate leaders and managements need to be careful about their behaviors and how they make important decisions. Although all areas of the Cheesecake Factory’s code of ethical conduct is important for the success of the company, there are a few key areas of the company’s code of ethical conduct that are of significant importance for The Cheesecake Factory. 1-The first occurs in Article IV, in the â€Å"Conflicts of Interest,† section that pertains to transactions and investments. This specifically states that an officer or a director† should avoid participating in any transaction or investment that conflicts with, or gives the appearance of a conflict with, the interest of the company.†(Reference 1) This is key in maintaining ethics because a person who is in a leadership / management positions must be loyal to only their organization; otherwise, all decisions that are made and act are suspect as to the integrity of the choice, especially concerning money matters. 2- A second key area of The Cheesecake Factory’s code of ethical conduct that is of significant importance is in Article V, in the â€Å"Compliance with Company Policies and Procedures,† section that pertains to confidential information. It is very important and essential for the success of any company and business especially, the confidentiality of information, especially for third parties, be maintained. This leads to another key area that is also in Article V of the company’s code of ethical conduct. In the section that pertains to insider trading. In the section that deals with prohibiting insider trading it states that, â€Å"An officer or director shall observe the Company’s policy prohibiting trading on the basis of material, non-public information.†(Reference 1) 2.Explain the key steps that the company should take to ensure that employees follow the code of conduct. There are some key steps that a company can take in order to ensure the employees follow the code of conduct. 1-The Cheesecake Factory should have a â€Å"compliance department† that handles all disputes and investigations regarding violations of the code of conduct. This specific department at Cheesecake Factory should have designated employees that govern the entire company’s employees and handle any issues that arise. 2-The Cheesecake Factory can  take to ensure the employees follow the code of conduct is to have each employee sign and date, the code of conduct when they hired and give it to the employee a copy and keep another copy in the employee files. This makes it possible for the employee and the company to be on the same page from the beginning of the working relationship. This process can repeat every year for the existing employees to follow the code of conduct. 3-The Cheesecake Factory can take to ensure the employees follow the code of conduct is complete mandatory â€Å" Business ethics† training videos for new and existing employees every year. These videos make sure reminder of all employees’ business ethics and code of conduct. 3. Suggest three (3) ways in which the restaurant can engage in socially responsive activities in the community within which it operates The Cheesecake Factory can engage many socially responsive activities in the local community. 1-The Cheesecake Factory can donate foods to local food banks, soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Restaurants always have extra food that does not used for any reasons or left over foods. As a respectful company being able to donate fresh food to shelters and feeding someone who is unable to have a meal, would be wonderful social responsive project and activity. 2-The Cheesecake Factory could engage in socially responsive activities in the community would be to help raise money for a local non-profit organizations, charities, children hospitals or cancer associates. This could be done by donating money, ask costumers to participate or fund rising which will show that the company is giving back to the local community in which it is a part. 3- The Cheesecake Factory could engage in socially responsive activities in the community would be to offer free meals to shelters for specified holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. 4- Also Cheesecake Factory could run campaign for â€Å"Local Food Drive† to contribute as a company and ask their costumers donate dry and canned foods to reach local families who needs help .This is one of excellent way of giving back to the local community. References: 1. (March 16, 2004) The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated. Amended and Restated Code of Ethics for Executive Officers, Senior Financial Officers, and Directors. Retrieved from: http://investors.thecheesecakefactory.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=109258&p=irol-govconduct. 2. (January 2001) C.B. And R.L. â€Å"The Legal Environment of Business: Text and Cases: Ethical Regulatory, Global, and Corporate Issues.† Cengage Learning, 8th edition. 3. (January 2012) Ferrell, O.C. And John Fraedrich. â€Å"Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases.† Cengage Learning, 9th edition.

Should Sports Aerobics Be Accepted Into Our Community At...

When a baby is born, girls are wrapped in pink and boys are wrapped in blue. Boys play with trucks and girls play with dolls. Already straight away the children are shown the stereotypically ideology of how male and females are represented. This essay is about how hegemony is represented in sport aerobics. Hegemony is the subconscious dominance of one group over another powerless group in society. I.e.; Males view sports aerobics as being feminine in nature. This leads to our hypothesis which is how males see sports aerobics, which is usually very girly or the stereotypical gay. Females are seen as the subordinates in todays society and male are seen as the dominant. This essay is also going to suggest how to get sports aerobics to be accepted into our community at Nambour High School and how you will break down the social barriers of sports aerobics and to show how there can be less hegemony in schools. Thirty-six students from Nambour High were interviewed from grade 7-12 in this process to see who they think is more dominant and what they said if they were asked to participate in sports aerobics. This essay will challenge the stereotypical beliefs and participation in sport aerobics. Evidence will be provided to show how hegemony is in sports and how it can be stopped. In today’s society males are more dominant in many contact sport and females are more dominant in non- contact or flexibility sports. That is how hegemony is seen in our society. Stereotypes gender roles