Impact of mining on indigenous communities Essay Example for Free

Impact of mining on indigenous communities Essay Indigenous Peoples pertains to any ethnic group who occupy a particular geographic area by which they have the most primitive historical association (Maybury-Lewis).   Though the term itself does not have a standard definition, the above description is most commonly used to characterize the term indigenous peoples. The common characteristics shared by the indigenous peoples include subsistence-based production which involves indigenous group’s most basic way of production such as agricultural, pastoral, and hunting and gathering (Maybury-Lewis). The usual lifestyle which the indigenous people are said to have is more of a nomadic means. Though indigenous communities are considered only as minority, they can be found at almost all climate regions across the globe. Indigenous Peoples have a very wide range of concerns that are mainly associated with their relationship and interaction among other cultures and civilizations. Though reports said that the promotion of the indigenous peoples welfare is being upheld in many parts of the globe, still there are indigenous communities which experience human rights abuse. Among the most known concerns of the indigenous peoples include land ownership, access to natural resources, protection of the environment against environmental exploitation and degradation, political autonomy, poverty, healthcare services, and racial or cultural discrimination (Maybury-Lewis).

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"All Quiet in the Western Front†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the movie, â€Å"All Quiet in the Western Front,† Paul is an average eighteen-year-old male who enlists in the Army and is sent to fight in WWI, which changes his views and makes him an adult. Everybody in Paul’s hometown is supportive of Paul and his peers enlisting think it is a great opportunity to be able to fight in the war. At basic training, they are shown what military life is like from their drill sergeant who treats him and his friends incredibly rough. Paul returns home, he has a totally different outlook on life and his earlier life style.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paul and twenty of his classmates enlisted in the Army to go fight in WWI. Paul was then very close to his family and friends. One of his high scho...

Factors that may lead to abusive Essay

Everyone can be victims of abusive behaviour. There are many factors that may lead to abusive situations, it could be physical that are seen clearly, some are hidden and some are emotional that the victim needs to talk to someone about. Abuse may be a single act or many acts. It can occur in any relationship and may be the result of deliberate intent, ignorance or neglect. It may be a criminal offence, such as rape, assault or theft. (http://myway.trafford.gov.uk 2014) Abuse is where the abuser may find joy or thrill by doing the actions they do, for instance if their life is going downhill, they may not want to be the only one to do so, so they put someone down either by physical, emotional, or even sexual abuse. Some of the key risk factors for abuse include: family conflict, dependency, isolation, carer stress, addictive behaviours and physiological problems. (http://www.eapu.com 2014) People more vulnerable of abusive situations: -physical disabilities -communication difficulties, may not hear the abuser, may not be able to stand up for his or her self, they may not see the abuser or that someone is going towards them, they won’t be able to talk to someone about it because they could have doubts -learning disabilities, may not know that they are being exploited or abused so its easy to be taken advantage off -mental health problems -people with dementia, affecting the intellect and physical functions, this could cause unpredictable psychological or physical behaviour. -dependency, i.e. on carers -social isolation, people usually have fewer contacts on the outside world (http://www.caerphilly.gov.uk 2014) Personal problems cause frustration, things such as addictions to drugs and  alcohol can modify behaviour and add to the bad feelings leading the individual to abuse someone. Usually if one partner in a relationship is earning more money the other partner will feel disempowered, also typically in men, if their wife/partner earns more than them it doesn’t abide to the stereotypical view of the male being the provider so they can become very aggressive and use financial abuse to make themselves feel better i.e. denying or stealing their partners money so they feel bigger and more powerful. Environmental problems such as poor housing or overcrowding could potentially lead to abusive situations because, if there is overcrowding, the abuser may need more space and abuse someone so they leave. Someone with poor housing is easy targets for abusive people as they may live on the streets, the abuser may think that because they live on the street they have no feelings or family and take advantage of them just because they are lesser off than the abuser, so the abuser may feel a sense of priority over them. An adequate increase on carer stress may push the carer too far and abuse someone. The carer may lack understanding of the ageing process, illness, disability and/or needs of the vulnerable adult. The carer may blame the victim of financial problems as they have a low income or debt problems, although it is not the victims fault, this could lead to the carer possibly blackmailing someone for more money, abusing the victims money, providing them with financial problems. Another aspect of abusive situations is personal stress; the carer may be looking after two generations, his or her own children and a dependent adult, they may feel that are not getting their own time meaning they feel isolated, and may take advantage of someone and the carer may feel disempowered and trapped. If someone rejects help, then they are even more vulnerable. In some families abuse is considered the normal reaction to stress, and it may continue from generation to generation, for instance if a child has done something wrong they need to be disciplined, some families would confiscate something and some families may physically abuse, i.e. smacking. A child who was previously abused may now be a carer and repeat the cycle of abuse  to a dependent parent or child. The risk of abuse is greater where the vulnerable adult: Has an unusual behaviour, for example they may stay in their safe zone a lot more, they don’t want to leave as they feel they can’t trust anybody Rejects help, they may have family there for them or friends but they may feel they can cope themselves, they break down communication between them and everyone else Is socially isolated i.e. does not have other friends or visitors Unable to complain, for example because of hearing disabilities and other communication barriers May have low self-esteem, so lacking power in relationships Bay be less likely to be served well be the criminal justice system, possibly because of past criminal convictions (http://myway.trafford.gov.uk 2009) (http://www.safefromharm.org.uk 2014) Bibliography http://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/pdf/Health_SocialCare/POVA/Predisposing_factors_which_may_lead_to_abuse.pdf 2006 Date accessed 23/09/14 http://www.eapu.com.au/elder-abuse/risk-factors 2014 Date accessed 23/09/14 http://myway.trafford.gov.uk/i-need-help-with/keeping-people-safe/safeguarding-adults/safeguarding-adults/understanding-safeguarding/types-risks-and-indicators-of-abuse.aspx 2014 Date accessed 24/09/14 http://myway.trafford.gov.uk/i-need-help-with/keeping-people-safe/safeguarding-adults/safeguarding-adults/understanding-safeguarding/types-risks-and-indicators-of-abuse.aspx 2009 Date accessed 28/09/14 http://www.safefromharm.org.uk/wps/wcm/connect/occ/Safe+From+Harm/Professionals/What+is+adult+abuse/SFH+-+Prof+-+T+-+risk+factors 2014 Date accessed 28/09/14

How The U.S. Electoral College System Works

The Electoral College is not a college in the sense that the word is generally used. Instead, it is the important and often controversial process by which the United States selects the President of the United States every four years. The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College system as a compromise between having the president elected by Congress and having the president elected by the popular vote of qualified citizens. Every fourth November, after almost two years of campaign hype and fundraising, more than 100 million Americans cast their votes for the presidential candidates. Then, in the middle of December, the president and vice president of the United States are actually elected. This is when the votes of only 538 citizens—the electors of the Electoral College System—are counted.   How It Works When you vote for a presidential candidate, you are in fact voting to instruct the electors from your state to cast their votes for the same candidate. For example, if you vote for the Republican candidate in the November election, you are really just picking an elector who will be pledged to vote for the Republican candidate when the Electoral College votes in December. The candidate who wins the popular vote in a state wins all the pledged votes of the states electors, in the 48 winner take all states and District of Columbia. Nebraska and Maine award electors proportionally. The National Archives explains: Maine has four Electoral votes and two Congressional districts. It awards one Electoral vote per Congressional district and two by the statewide, at-large vote. Nebraska has five Electoral College votes, three awarded to the district winners, and two awarded to the statewide popular vote-getter. Overseas territories of the United States, such as Puerto Rico, have no say in presidential elections, even though their residents are U.S. citizens. The Electoral College system was established in Article II of the Constitution and was amended by the 12th Amendment in 1804. How Electors Are Awarded Each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives plus one for each of its two U.S. senators. The District of Columbia gets three electors. State laws determine how electors are chosen, but they are generally selected by the political party committees within the states. Each elector gets one vote. Thus, a state with eight electors would cast eight votes. There are currently 538 electors, and the votes of a majority of them—270 votes—are required to be elected. Because Electoral College representation is based on congressional representation, states with larger populations get more Electoral College votes. Should none of the candidates win 270 electoral votes, the 12th Amendment mandates the election be decided by the House of Representatives. The combined representatives of each state get one vote and a simple majority of states is required to win. This has only happened twice: Presidents Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and John Quincy Adams in 1825 were elected by the House of Representatives. Faithless Electors While the state electors are pledged to vote for the candidate of the party that chose them, nothing in the Constitution requires them to do so. In rare instances, an elector will defect and not vote for their partys candidate. Such faithless votes rarely change the outcome of the election, and laws of some states prohibit electors from casting them. However, no state has ever prosecuted someone for not voting the way they were pledged. The 2016 election saw the most ever faithless electors, as seven were cast; the previous record was six electors who changed their votes, in 1808. When the College Meets The public casts their votes on the first Tuesday after Nov. 1, and before the sun sets in California at least one of the TV networks likely will have declared a winner. By midnight, one of the candidates will have probably claim victory and others will concede defeat. But not until the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, when the electors of the Electoral College meet in their state capitals to cast their votes, will there really be a new president- and vice president-elect. Why is there such a delay between the general election and the Electoral College meetings? In the 1800s, it took that long to count the popular votes and for all the electors to travel to the state capitals. Today, the time is more likely to be used for settling any protests due to election code violations and for vote recounts. Criticisms of the System Critics of the Electoral College system point out that the system allows the possibility of a candidate actually losing the nationwide popular vote but being elected president by the electoral vote. A look at the  electoral votes from each state  and a little math will show you how. In fact, it is possible for a candidate to not get a single persons vote in 39 states or the District of Columbia, yet be elected president by  winning  the popular vote in just 11 of these 12 states (The number of electoral votes is in parentheses): California (55)New York (29)Texas (38)Florida (29)Pennsylvania (20)Illinois (20)Ohio (18)Michigan (16)New Jersey (14)North Carolina (15)Georgia (16)Virginia (13) Because 11 of the 12 states listed above account for exactly 270 votes, a candidate could win these states, lose the other 39, and still be elected. Of course, a candidate popular enough to win California or  New York  will almost certainly win some smaller states. When It Happened Five times in Americas history presidential candidates have lost the nationwide popular vote, but been elected president  in  the Electoral College: In 1824, 261 electoral votes were available, with 131 needed to be elected president. In the election between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson—both Democratic-Republicans—neither candidate won the necessary 131 electoral votes. While Jackson won more electoral and popular votes than Adams, the House of Representatives, acting under the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, selected John Quincy Adams as the sixth President of the United States. Bitter over the process, Jackson and his supporters proclaimed the election of Adams a â€Å"corrupt bargain.†In 1876,  369 electoral votes were available, with 185 needed to win.  Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, with 4,036,298 popular votes, won 185 electoral votes. His main opponent,  Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, won the popular vote with 4,300,590  votes but won only 184 electoral votes. Hayes was elected president.In 1888, 401 electoral votes were available, with 201 needed to win. Republican Benjamin Harrison, with 5,439,853 popular votes, won 233 electoral votes. His main opponent,  Democrat Grover Cleveland, won the popular vote with 5,540,309  votes but won only 168 electoral votes. Harrison was elected president.In 2000,  538 electoral votes were available, with 270 needed to win.  Republican George W. Bush, with 50,456,002 popular votes, won 271 electoral votes. His Democratic opponent,  Al Gore, won the popular vote with 50,999,897  votes but won only 266 electoral votes. Bush was elected president.In 2016, a total of 538 electoral votes were again available, with 270 needed to be elected. Republican candidate Donald Trump was elected president, winning 304 electoral votes, compared to 227 won by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. However, Clinton received about 2.9 million more popular votes nationwide than Trump, a margin of 2.1 percent of the total vote. Trump’s Electoral College victory was sealed by popular vote wins in the perennial swing states of Florid a, Iowa, and Ohio, as well as in the so-called â€Å"blue wall† states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, all Democratic strongholds in presidential elections since the 1990s. With most media sources predicting an easy victory for Clinton, Trump’s election brought the Electoral College system under intense public scrutiny. Trump detractors tried to protest his election and petitioned electors to cast faithless elector votes. Only two listened. Why the Electoral College? Most voters would be unhappy to see their candidate win the most votes but lose the election. Why would the  Founding Fathers  create a constitutional process that would allow this to happen? The framers of the Constitution wanted to make sure the people were given direct input in choosing their leaders and saw two ways to accomplish this: The people of the entire nation would vote for and elect the president and vice president based on popular votes alone. A direct popular election.The people of each state would elect their members of the  U.S. Congress  by direct popular election. The members of Congress would then express the wishes of the people by electing the president and vice president themselves. An election by Congress. The Founding Fathers feared the direct popular election option. There were no organized  national political parties  yet, no structure from which to choose and limit the number of candidates. Also, travel and communication were slow and difficult at that time. A very  good candidate  could be popular regionally but remain unknown to the rest of the country. A large number of regionally popular candidates would thus divide the vote and not indicate the wishes of the nation as a whole. On the other hand, election by Congress would require the members to both accurately assess the desires of the people of their states and to actually vote accordingly. This could have led to elections that better reflected the opinions and political agendas of the members of Congress than the actual will of the people. As a compromise, the Electoral College system was developed. Considering that only five times in the nations history has a candidate lost the  popular national vote  but been elected by electoral vote, the system has worked well. Yet the Founding Fathers concerns with direct popular elections have mostly vanished. The national political parties have been around for years. Travel and communication are no longer problems. The public has access to every word spoken by every candidate every day. These changes have led to calls for reforms to the system, for example, so that more states have a proportional allocation of electoral votes to more accurately reflect the popular vote.