Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Three Primary Issues in St. Louis Area

The Improvement of St. Louis Downtown: After a hundred years, since the World’s Fair, St. Louis downtown has been deteriorating and disappointing.  The city has many abandoned, unattractive buildings, very limited public transportation, and other factors that result in visitors to re-evaluate St. Louis’s expectations.  Organizations that can contribute to the rebuilding of St. Louis downtown are North Grand Neighborhood Services and Rainbow Village, a non-profit organization that can provide safe and affordable homes for people in the St. Louis Area.  In addition, I have read multiple articles on “Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + the Arch + the River;” this is an international design competition organized by national park supporters and design community from both Missouri and Illinois.  This was a 10-month competition that allowed architects and designers to create new ideas for the city as well as maintaining the “character-defining” features of specific sites.  The winner with the best, logical design has been chosen; the construction of downtown is supposed to complete by 2015.
Check out the finalists designs (pretty neat): http://www.cityarchrivercompetition.org/competition/finalists/
Racial Tension: It is evident that during the 1950s as the minority population increased in St. Louis, the whites moved out of the urban communities to more commuter towns; this is also known as the White Flight.  However, now, people are exposed to mixed-race schools, hospitals, and other facilities after passing the Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 and other laws.  What shocks me is there is still this racial tension or discomfort between races (specifically white and black); in other words, in some counties and specifically in the St. Louis metropolitan area, there is this sense of separation between races. 
Affording Education: After much research, I realized that there are many school districts like St. Charles County school districts that are being closed due to poor educational systems.  Also, in these schools, there are cases where families cannot afford for their childrens education or if families cannot fulfill the payment, children are pulled out of the school.  I feel children being pulled out of school would increase their chances of falling into the wrong hands because there education would be mostly influenced by the surrounding community (the streets) - without mentors or any role models.  Organizations that would help stimulate or challenge the children’s minds are A Better World, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Band Together, and other organizations. 

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Research Question(s) for Human Rights Project

Research Questions:
Main question: How and why have regulations about women participation in journalism in Iran changed before and after the Iranian Revolution (specifically after the 2005 Iranian presidential election between Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)?

Main Question: In Iran, why are journalism agencies run by Iranian women more censored than agencies run by men?  What is the difference if both (men and women) agencies publish bias views about the government or possible controversial topics?  

Specifically, how has the writing pieces in newspapers changed before and after the revolution? (Violation of Article 19)

Why did Iranian women restrain themselves from protesting against their limited freedom to express in writing?

Sources:

1)   I will have to find books or articles on the specific time frames (before the Iranian Revolution and after the Revolution).  Compare and contrast the social and political structure of Iran before and after the revolution.  I can find more sources on when Shah Reza Pahlavi was in power and then after the Islamic of Republic took over.
2)   The Role of Journalism in Iran
a.   The censorship of writing (before and after)  
b.   The role of women in newspaper staff vs. men
c.   Specific examples in the government’s changed attitude towards women having a higher occupation role (affiliated with government, newspaper editor, etc.).
3)   Specific cases where Iranian women protested against their limited freedom to freely write and express.  This will give me an insight on the possible outcomes of people who challenged the policies created by the government.  

Sunday, November 21, 2010

International Human Rights Research Proposal


I am really interested in researching about women and journalism under the Islamic Republic of Iran. Two years and a half ago, I read An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah by Farah Pahlavi which not only discussed about her personal life with the Shah, but the drastic shift from the monarchy of the Shah to the Islamic Republic also known as the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Since then, I have been fascinated and read articles and books about the change in the political and social infrastructure of Iran after the revolution. However, an area I have not delved into as much is women in Iran. Women in Iran is such a vast topic to cover; therefore, I thought journalism and women in Iran would be interesting to research. Especially, after attending last September Roxana Saberi's talk about the tension with Iranian women running journalism agencies or having the ability to freely express in Iran, I have become even more intrigued to learn more about Iranian women journalists before and after the Iranian Revolution (specifically after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005).

2) Sources that Sparked My Interest:

Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran by Roxana Saberi

Women, Religion, and Culture in Iran edited by Sarah Ansari and Vanessa Martin

3) Currently, I have no questions that come to mind.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Current Events on the Democratic Republic of Congo

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/world/africa/04congo.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=DemocraticRepublicoftheCongo&st=cse&scp=3
Frenzy of Rape in Congo Reveals U.N. Weakness - October 3rd 2010

In this article, it discusses that there have been mass rapes by Rwandan rebels and rebel groups in the Congolese army in the DRC.  For example, it explained about rebels raping at least 200 women for three days starting from July 30th, 2010, and unfortunately, the U.N. peacekeepers had not taken any action.  Essentially, the peacekeeping force still seems to be "failing at its most elemental task: protecting civilians" (Gettleman).  The U.N. peacekeepers, at first, were not fully aware that the Congolese Army has been stationing in different villages convincing men to join the army and raping women. The reason why the U.N. peackeepers have not been able to protect all the civilians is the lack of communication to the villages; there is no cellphone services or electricity to let people know what is happening in each village.  Even though these villages do not have cellphone services, why have they not addressed other ways to effectively communicate or access information in the villages?  During King Leopold's time period, the white men would barge into homes, pulling out women and children; similar to now, the Congolese army and rebels would go into the homes without permission and rape the women.  Unfortunately, there is still a lack of equality between men and women, for there is no women soldiers in the force; therefore, women do not feel empowered to fight against these attacks.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/10/05/congo.rapes.arrest/index.html?iref=allsearch
Alleged leader of Congo militia linked to rapes is arrested - October 6th

This article specifically discussed about an armed rebel group accused of "committing mass rapes" and that they were arrested Tuesday morning (October 5th).  Then, the U.N. proposed an investiagation on the mass rapes that have been committed by the Congolese rebel groups, for the U.N. peacemaking force has been failing to provide protection to the civilians.  Between July 30th and August 2nd, at least an estimate of 300 civilians had been raped in the Walikale region of North Kivu province.  One of the reasons why these rebels would attack innocent civilians are to punish the locals who did not support their views or considered them as traitors. Even though the U.N. is issuing an investigation, there is not enough resources to pinpoint all of these attacks.    

Monday, September 20, 2010

Small Group: Discussion on King Leopold II pg. 115-139

During the discussion, an idea was that King Leopold II continued to expand on his methods by isolating the ethnic groups from the reporters and using weapons to manipulate the Africans to work.  As he continued the construction of the Congo, he made sure to censor any writing pieces or newspapers about his plans.  A question is will King Leopold II go bankrupt or unable to manage the finances, and if so, what will he do?  Also, will King Leopold II's plans in the Congo be revealed to the Europeans?  

Group discussion: I felt that with having a smaller group, I felt more comfortable sharing my ideas, and I am able to analyze with a few responses than a whole group.  Also, we felt everyone was able to participate whereas in a bigger group, there is a possibility that only a few people would not speak.  One way to improve the discussions are to have questions that can really expand your thinking.  However, the questions were good!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

King Leopold's Ghost - Thoughts and Questions

In King Leopold's Ghost, what stood out to me was the section that described Henry Morton Stanley.  Although it mentions specifically about his motives before and after the death of his wife and father, the author applies major themes that occurred in that time period such as the "epidermic" or the fact that women had to disguise their names as men in order to enlist in the military or in order to have equal rights as men - Alice (25).  Specifically with women, he emphasized Stanley's uncomfortable zone with the woman who he thought was a man.  Another example, not from the book, is a woman called George Sand who is known to be the first French woman to gain a major reputation through her writing (Time: 1830s-1840s).  Her real name was Aurore Duplin, but if she was to put her real name on her publications, then not many people would have read it.  This is that men did not think that women should have the power to rise to that level of intelligence or high professions such as a writer, business, etc. 

2 Questions:

1) In the perspective of Africans and Europeans, how has "the dawn of ocean navigation" affected them? (In other words, now that Europeans can travel by ocean, how are the Africans affected)?

2) What were women's role in society while men voyaged to different lands? (Could be implied)