Haikus

1. White crystals falling
From the dark heaven released
Into the cold night

2. When all is asleep
A white blanket enshrouds earth
Excitement is near

3. South Africa the
Stage for the world to unite
Golden globe in sight

Arms And The Boy

Let the boy try along this bayonet-blade
How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood;
Blue with all malice, like a madman's flash;
And thinly drawn with famishing for flesh.

Lend him to stroke these blind, blunt bulled-heads
Which long to muzzle in the hearts of lads.
Or give him cartridges of fine zinc teeth,
Sharp with the sharpness of grief and death.

For his teeth seem for laughing round an apple.
There lurk no claws behind his fingers supple;
And God will grow no talons at his heels,
Nor antlers through the thickness of his curls.

Page 167

This passage is taken from the point in the book when McMurphy confronts the acutes with the fact that they are all voluntary patients.

Themes:

Living vs. Apathy
Be a man
Sanity vs. Insanity
Perspective vs. Perspective

Characters:

McMurphy- the only committed, cant believe that all of his efforts were for nothing, change in his personality from being calm and relaxed to being angry and frustrated, cannot believe that the acutes are voluntary,
Billy Bibbit- voluntary, apathetic, wallows in self-pity, scared of truth

Motif:

Big vs. Small- ties to themes: be a man and living vs. apathy

Language:

Diction: simple language, slang ("nuts"), jargon (committed-important as it drives the passage)
Syntax: short sentences (express Billy Bibbit's fear and desperation)

Imagery:

Sensory imagery (Bibbit's reaction) ties to Sanity vs. Insanity
Figurative ("His face boiling tears")-> Theme: Be a man

Rhetoric:

Repetition (characters use it to emphasize their point)- McMurphy ("nuts"), Billy ("You think", "Neither")

Structure:

1.Paragraph: McMurphy's reaction on the acutes
2.Paragraph: Billy Bibbit's response- clash of different perspectives- theme: perspective vs.perspective
3.Paragraph: Description of Billy Bibbit's actions-> theme sanity vs. insanity

History of money

The video discusses the history of money and how it evolved during that time. Back in the 1700s people used to pay with physical gold and silver in exchange for goods. Then, however, they started realizing that this is not a very handy thing and notes were introduced which represented a certain amount of gold and silver and became the new currency. This idea developed over time until the 1970s when money became mostly fictional. Banks could give out loans based on a 9:1 ratio of loan money to actual reserve money. By doing this, the banks created more money than actually existed and earned a higher profit on their loans. Today, all of the money is fictional. Banks only hold a tiny amount of money in their reserves and make loans on a fictional base.

Modest Proposal Draft

A Modest Proposal
FOR THE ABOLISHMENT OF MODERN COLONIZATION AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF RESOURCE TRADE
Just imagine the following scenario: You are a child of approximately 10 years old who has to work all day in a copper mine. The people who told you to work in the copper mine are from abroad and sailed over to Africa in order to extract copper and other mineral resources and bring it back home. They are armed and force your people to do this job every day. If someone does not obey to their commands, he gets whipped or even shot. You are living in constant fear because you do not know what is going to happen the next day. Three of your brothers are already dead because of overexertion. You wonder how long you will survive in this hell which used to be your beloved home.

I have to admit that this scenario is hard to imagine for us who live in the Western part of the world. Yet, there are parts in the world like Africa in which this seemingly absurd scenario is in fact reality. When I was informed by these alarming circumstances in Africa, I knew that I had to step forward and take actions in order to fight these inhumane and utterly devastating conditions.Colonization is still a present issue in this world. Back in the past it used to be practiced by our ancestors and today this is done by large corporations which colonize the poor countries and exploit the native people.It is thus up to us, inhabitants of the developed world, to gather our courage in order to fight the evil called colonization and promote freedom and equality in the world.Therefore, I suggest the following strategy: We should wipe out the African continent by the use of biological weapons so that the large corporations can extract all the resources on the continent, yet without colonizing and exploiting the local people.

Now, people might ask the question where we should get biological weapons from, but I can assure all critics that every nation which has these weapons in their possession will happily cede them because our purpose would give them an opportunity to test their weapons and find out how much harm they can indeed create.

Aside from the abolishment of modern colonization, my plan has to offer many other advantages which I am going to elaborate on in this proposal.
Due to the termination of the African population, it is now less costly for the corporations to extract the resources on the continent. There are no such things as trade barriers or tariffs. In economic terms, this will lead to the firm’s supply curves to increase so that they can sell resources in greater quantities at lower prices. This will of course benefit the Western economy, because other firm’s costs would decrease as well since they can acquire the resource they need more cheaply. So in effect, there would be a general fall in the price level in the economy which could be accompanied by economic growth in the future. Given, the horrendously high inflation rates in today’s economy, my plan would definitely please the economists and be accepted by everyone who is concerned about our wealth and well-being.

A few weeks ago, I was told by a well-known professor for population research that one of the biggest evil in the world is overpopulation. I am convinced that my plan could solve this problem as we would reduce the world’s population and create new living space in Africa. I am especially concerned about places like India and China which are literally flooded by crowds of people. Therefore I suggest that we ship Chinese and Indian people over to Africa where they can start a new life. This plan, however, can only be realized by the help of the Chinese and Indian government who would have to pay for the fares and make all the ships and boats in their possession available to transfer the people over to Africa.Although I am aware that my plan might evoke a lot of opposition, I am firmly convinced that there are enough smart-thinking and innovative people out there who acknowledge my intent as a mile stone in the defense against the extinction of the human race.

Not only we can save humankind from extinction due to overpopulation, but we could also open up a new chapter in the technological advancement of the human species. The Indian and Chinese people in Africa are the key to this staggering success. Over time, these two population groups will mix and create a new Indo-Chinese race which will be the most intelligent group of people in the world. They will become the new elite workforce on the African continent which will be transformed into the epicenter of technology research as well as be used as a test ground for international space agencies and nuclear weapons manufacturers.I and my fellows are positive that this strategic move will lead to advancement technological advancement from which all nations could benefit.

Conclusion

modest proposal outline

Modest Proposal Outline:

We should wipe out Africa, so that it is easier for large corporation to extract all the resources on the continent without colonizing and exploiting the people .

The colonization of Africa in the past by Western countries and today by large multinational corporations is a blemish in human history.
Therefore, I suggest to wipe out the whole population on the African continent so that there is no such thing as colonization anymore. Africa will be a neutral continent which does not belong to anyone,
which is a peaceful country , open to tourists and of course multinational corporations as a free raw material source.

Advantages:

There is no such thing as colonization anymore, we are able to erase the cruel and violent memories of past colonization
There are no infringements against human rights anymore
No child labour
It is less costly for the corporations to extract resources
Lower resource costs for firms, causes their aggregate supply curve to shift out which means more output at lower price level
Overpopulation is certainly not a problem anymore, it is now possible to ship people from India and China over to Africa where they can mix and create a new indo Chinese race which will have the most intelligent people in the world
They become the new elite workforce on the African continent which will become the epicenter for technology research of any kind and will be used as test ground for international space agencies and nuclear weapons manufacturers

How?

Economic arguments (lower cost for firmes etc.)
Absurdity (creation of a new race)
Irony (mixing two different races which is identical to what the colonial powers did to African tribes of different ethnicities)
Listing
Naming (?)
Statistics about overpopulation

articles for presentation

Articles for presentation:

1. The IMF is hurting poor countries:
I found this article on the guardian.co.uk website. It was written by Mark Weisbrot and published on Wednesday 13 May 2009.
The article talkes about the issue that many developing countries face when they try to borrow money from the IMF. The IMF usually places loan conditionalities on the borrowing country which can be seen as requirement that the country has to fullfil in order to receive the disbursement.A recent example is Latvia which missed a 200 million Euro disbursement, because it could not reduce its budget deficit to 5% of its GDP for this year as required by the IMF. The country is not desperately trying to meet the goals set by the IMF by closing public hospitals and schools, however this attempt prompts street protests.In Washington, politicians are planning to equip the IMF with an 108 bn appropriation in order to help developing countries.

2. The bank the world needs
I also found this article on the guardian.co.uk website. It was written by Nancy Birdsell and published on Thursday 3 May 2007.
The article talks about the fact that the World Bank right now is not able to address and tackle global issues, because it lacks the mandate and the financial instruments. Therefore, the member governments have to sit together in order to rethink the role of the bank and make it a strong and effective institution that the world needs. The article states that the global economy does not need a new institution, because the World Bank has great potential. It has two key strengths. The first one is its solid expertise which is highly valued by many countries and secondly its ability to provide global public goods. Therefore, it is up to the member countries to make effective use of the World Bank.

3. Collateral Damage
I found this article on the nytimes.com site. The article appeared in the editorial and was published on 19 October 2008.
The article focuses on the third world countries which have also become victims of the financial crisis. However, this is not the countries fault as their domestic economies are heavily dependent on rich countries’ economies which means that an economic slowdown in the world’s richest countries has considerable effect on developing countries as well. That’s why the rich countries should be prepared to provide rescue money to poorer countries that did not actually cause the crisis, yet have been hit hard as well.

Globalization and its discontent

Globalization and its discontents by Joseph Stiglitz

In his book, the former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, takes a very critical look at globalization. Based on his experience in the world economy, he tries to eradicate the wide-spread view that globalization only brang about positive things such as an improvement in the standard of living of people or the alleviation of poverty only to name a few. In his study, Stiglitz focuses on the failures of globalization and speaking of those introduces three world organizations , the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO, which he consideres as the driving forces behind the failures being committed.While hopes for development of third world countries were high, reality has turned out to be cruel and relentless. Contrary to all the promises of alleviating poverty and raising the standard of living in developing countries, globalization has actually caused the chasm between rich and poor to increase. Furthermore, the countries which indeed profit from open trade and free market policies are the rich and industrialized countries whereas poor countries have to suffer even more and burden the externalized costs produced by the West. Stiglitz believes that the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO’s policies hinder developing countries from building up a growing and healthy economy. Those institutions which were put in place to assist developing countries in that transition process do not act as representatives of their interests. Coupled with loans are usually extensive conditionalities which the borrowing country has to commit to in order to receive the loan. These loan conditionlaties tend to be very demanding and especially witnessed at the example of African countries such as Ethopia have proven to be devastating for the prevalence of democracy and local economic growth. On the other hand, they allowed for the enrichement of multinational corporations. The IMF’s response to economic development was the idea of a market economy, without the installment of institutions to ensure the protection of local businesses. The IMF urged developing countries to liberalize their local markets causing their economies to destabilize by massive inflows of short-term investment capital. Inflation followed causing dramatically rising interest rates. As a result widespread bankruptcies were on the agenda, followed by massive unemployment and the prompt withdrawal of foreign capital. Left alone to deal with the economic disaster, the countries also have to cope with social unrests, famines and contaminations due to infectious diseases.The author decries that the IMF and the World Bank’s policies are driven by rich countries’ greed and striving for profits which greatly exceed their social awareness of third world countries which are in need for development.On the other hand, Stiglitz gives examples of countries which successfully managed the transition from a developing to a growing economy. China and South Asia, nowadays the two greatest emerging markets, resisted IMF conditions and declined any of its money. The author views South Asia’s denial of aid from the IMF as key to a successful development.In spite of the fact that globalization has not kept many of its promises, Joseph Stiglitz believes that globalizaton can in fact bring about positive change and enrich everyone in the world, even the poor. Yet, he emphasizes that it is fundamental to rethink the approach and the ideas used to manage globalization. Therefore, it goes without saying that a change in the structure of the IMF, World Bank and WTO is unavoidable. In the past, these institutions have abused their exclusive rights and priviliges which had devastating consequences for many developing countries and the environment. Stiglitz argues for a reform of the IMF and the World Bank as they lack accountability and transparency. These obscure organizations made arguable decisions to overcome legal barriers which helped them to realize the idea of rapid market liberalization. Furthermore, the author demands the extension of voting rights to developing countries which are clearly underrepresented among the member countries. Given the present global situation marked by problems like overpopulation, pandemics and economic disasters, the need for equitable growth is more urgent now than ever. The methods and approaches taken to tackle these problems should be specific for every developing country. Change has to happen gradually and selective policies should be adopted which would meet and benefit an individual country’s needs. According to Stiglitz, it is even more important to promote the prevalence of democracy which he consideres the base for successful development. A strong political background is the solid fundament for a country’s aim to achieve economic growth and development.

ELAIC vs POB

The authors’ focus on detail is represented in the extensive study of their characters. Disregarding the human vs. animal aspect, Oscar and the lion pride are both exposed to unusual circumstances which force them to give up the life they knew before and undergo a drastic life change. The main characters represent a bigger group of people which has experienced the same destiny at the terrorist attack of 9/11 or the Iraq war. Thus, the two books are similar in the way that they focus on the situation of a few characters which characterizes the lives of millions of people in the world.

The author’s idea to integrate more than one storyline is a striking aspect in his book “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. This idea enhances his message to the reader and follows a big theme in the book which focuses on the different ways that people cope with tragedies. As opposed to “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, the comic only has one storyline. However, the author still manages to distinct between the different characters in the pride which makes the fact that the lions represent a group of people more believable. Either way both authors make effective use of the structure in their books to support their ideas and messages to the reader.