Dowry, the act where a woman gives money, goods or state to her husband in marriage; was seen as a way of providing goods or money for the stablishment of a new household or family, with the purpose of helping the husband to maintain and feed the family. Thus, the husband had certain property rights in his wife's dowry. Simply put, the purpose of the Dowry was to provide an incentive to the husband for not harming his wife.
However, greedy husbands (and their families) mostly in India started to kill and harm their wifes demanding more goods or money, and a very clever (...) way of killing their wifes (Bride Burning) acquired certain notoriety in the country, which caused the total prohibition of the Dowry payment by the Indian Law.
Bride Burning is a common form of domestic violence that occurs when the wife's family refuses to pay additional Dowry to the husband and his family. Then, the husband and his family (most of the times) murder the wife with kerosene or gasoline (because it's cheap) by dousing the woman and setting alight causing the death by fire.
This issue has gotten a public health problem in India; it is said that every year Indian Police recieve more than 2.500 reports of bride burning.
No matter if it is cultural or not, the total misunderstanding of the concept cannot be an excuse for demanding things, and in the most extreme case, for killing a woman.
lunes, 22 de marzo de 2010
HIDING TIANANMEN SQUARE
Two decades after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, this event still remains a taboo in China.
Censorship by the domestic government has become stronger and toughter than ever reaching newspapers, internet and all kind of media. Chinese press is actually forbbiden to make any statement referring this event. Even the citizens are prevented from making any research on the internet to find out what happened in the Tiananmen Massacre on June the 4th of 1989. Any attempt to find out either on Baidu or Sohu (Chinese search engines) is automatically blocked and the result is the sistem getting reinitialized.
Even if Google.cn is used for doing the same research, the results found are about Tiananmen Square as a historical place; nothing related to June the 4th. Results related to the event are blocked even in Google, and clicking on them gets the system reinitialized.
Furthermore, if the press wants to make any statement or reference about that date, a special permission from the government is required, otherwise jail and lost of job is the penalty.
Most of protests (specially in the Olympic Games of 2008, that was seen as a way of wiping out the memory of the people) are made from abroad; those who have mentioned any sight of this tragical event in China are in jail and today 31 journalist and 48 cyber-dissidents are currently in prison for "illegaly divulging a state secret abroad". The government is accused by all means for harassing journalists with abusive measures and for not letting exiled journalists to return to China safely.
Censorship by the domestic government has become stronger and toughter than ever reaching newspapers, internet and all kind of media. Chinese press is actually forbbiden to make any statement referring this event. Even the citizens are prevented from making any research on the internet to find out what happened in the Tiananmen Massacre on June the 4th of 1989. Any attempt to find out either on Baidu or Sohu (Chinese search engines) is automatically blocked and the result is the sistem getting reinitialized.
Even if Google.cn is used for doing the same research, the results found are about Tiananmen Square as a historical place; nothing related to June the 4th. Results related to the event are blocked even in Google, and clicking on them gets the system reinitialized.
Furthermore, if the press wants to make any statement or reference about that date, a special permission from the government is required, otherwise jail and lost of job is the penalty.
Most of protests (specially in the Olympic Games of 2008, that was seen as a way of wiping out the memory of the people) are made from abroad; those who have mentioned any sight of this tragical event in China are in jail and today 31 journalist and 48 cyber-dissidents are currently in prison for "illegaly divulging a state secret abroad". The government is accused by all means for harassing journalists with abusive measures and for not letting exiled journalists to return to China safely.
FROM USA TO CANADA
Back in the XIX century, Canada was far from what it's considered today: a great destiny. It was the United States of America the country that would fulfill everyone's expectations; it was not cold, far, and most important, it was not insignificant.
However, a rapid expansion in the economic sectors that boosted the domestic economy demanded people from overseas, people different than the commonly preferred inmigrants (UK's finest and Americans) so they could keep developing using both domestic and overseas workers. Therefore, Canada started to choose who could get in and who couldn't based on skills (as today) and endly this policy led the country to have the highest rate of legal immigrant workers.
Canada today is considered one of the greatest places to live and work. Not only for its policy towards immigrants (which are recieved and treted with respect) but for its job opportunities for people from overseas. It's quite interesting how a well developed policy for atracting immigrants has led the country to have a solid domestic economy, an excellent quiality of life, lots of job opportunities. No matter how difficult it is, Canada is an example of how dealing with migrations might result in benefits for the host country; the rest of the countries should learn from this.
Another fact is that, Canada has managed to maintain the different cultures intact, instead of becoming a melting pot, the multiculturalism is seen everywhere, and more than that, pluralist multiculturalism. Its cultural richness makes also the country attractive for foreigners, which are the ones who bring good (and sometimes bad) things.
Info taken from: The Past and Future of Immigration to Canada, by David Verbeeten
However, a rapid expansion in the economic sectors that boosted the domestic economy demanded people from overseas, people different than the commonly preferred inmigrants (UK's finest and Americans) so they could keep developing using both domestic and overseas workers. Therefore, Canada started to choose who could get in and who couldn't based on skills (as today) and endly this policy led the country to have the highest rate of legal immigrant workers.
Canada today is considered one of the greatest places to live and work. Not only for its policy towards immigrants (which are recieved and treted with respect) but for its job opportunities for people from overseas. It's quite interesting how a well developed policy for atracting immigrants has led the country to have a solid domestic economy, an excellent quiality of life, lots of job opportunities. No matter how difficult it is, Canada is an example of how dealing with migrations might result in benefits for the host country; the rest of the countries should learn from this.
Another fact is that, Canada has managed to maintain the different cultures intact, instead of becoming a melting pot, the multiculturalism is seen everywhere, and more than that, pluralist multiculturalism. Its cultural richness makes also the country attractive for foreigners, which are the ones who bring good (and sometimes bad) things.
Info taken from: The Past and Future of Immigration to Canada, by David Verbeeten
sábado, 13 de marzo de 2010
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