Syria

Denne uken var det min tur til å være nyhetsvakt i klassen. Oppgaven var å følge med på nyheter gjennom uka, og trekke fram de viktigste sakene. Jeg skulle ha ansvar for utenriksdelen, og jeg valgte å fokusere mest på kampene som foregår i Syria. Oppgaven kan du lese mer om her.

Den siste tiden har det vært store uenigheter mellom president Al-Assad sitt regime og demonstranter som forlanger at presidenten går av. Konfliktene ble etter hvert så voldsomme at FN sendte ut sin tidligere leder, Kofi Annan, som fredsmegler og han kom opp med en sekspunktsplan for å stoppe de blodige opptøyene i Syrias gater. Hovedpunktene i planen går ut på at alle de tunge våpenene skulle være ut av de store byene innen 10.april og at våpenhvile skulle tre i kraft fra klokken 06.00 12.april. I følge NRK skal avtalen også legge til rette for demokrati, dialog og endringer i den syriske grunnloven. Nå, noen timer etter at våpenhvilen startet, meldes det om at situasjonen har bedret seg og at det er mye roligere forhold i landet. På den andre siden, meldes det om fire drepte personer etter at våpenhvilen begynte, men dette er ikke bekreftet. Kofi Annan, FNs spesialutsending, har fått skriftlige lovnader om at det syriske regimet skal følge sekspunktsplanen. FN velger også å sende en gruppe observatører til Syria for å holde et øye med situasjonen.

Denne saken er relevant i forhold til skolearbeidet fordi vi tidligere, først og fremst i samfunnsfag, har jobbet med revolusjoner og hvordan land har forandret styresett fra diktatur til demokrati. Vi har også skrevet en artikkel om den arabiske våren i norsk, og konflikten i Syria kommer som en følge av denne.

Kilder:

• http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.8070258
• http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.6931818
• NRKs nyhetssendinger

Mississippi Burning

Before Christmas we watched a movie called Mississippi Burning in my class. In January we had a task about the movie. I chose to write about the hatred against blacks in the Southern states of America. Here is my text.

I have chosen to write about the hatred against blacks in the South. I am going to discuss this statement: Whites in the South all hated blacks and thought they were inferior.

I disagree with this statement. First of all, I think that many people thought black and white people deserved the same rights, but they were too afraid to say anything. One example from Mississippi Burning is, when Agent Anderson talks with Mrs. Pell. She does not like all the hatred in Mississippi and other states. However, she is to afraid to help the police, and when she finally says something to the police, her husband beats her.

Racists all over USA used fear as a weapon. I think this is one of the reasons why many white people did not dare to talk with the police. They could be lynched or tortured if they were seen speaking to the police. The racists, and especially, the Ku Klux Klan, had very brutal methods to make people fear them.

As said earlier, I do not think that whites in the South all hated blacks and thought they were inferior. On the other hand, I think that people in the South learned to live with the hatred, although they thought it was wrong. In one scene of the movie, Mrs. Pell tells Agent Anderson how all white kids learned that black people were inferior. I think that some people realised that this was wrong when they became older, but they did not say their opinion. In this situation, we can learn from brave men like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King jr. King played a huge role in the civil rights movement, because he dared to say his opinion out loud.

As a conclusion, I disagree with the statement because racists in the 60’s used fear as a weapon, and that is why many people thought it was easier to not say anything, in stead of telling their opinion.
If you want to know more about Mississippi Burning, read more.

Jens P(96)

Arne Ness' deep ecology

In religion and English we have worked with Arne Ness and causes of pollution. Arne Ness thought that people have to treat every living organism the same way. All humans are parts of the nature, and trees and ant have the same rights to grow up as humans have.

    The way people live today ruin the wildlife and their natural habitats. One important thing we can do to change this, is to stop hunting just for fun. Today overhunting is a seriously threat to wildlife. A well known example is unnecessary hunting for horns and tusks from elephants and rhinoceros. This is not something people have to do for living. Supporters of the deep ecology think that we have to ask us self, is everything we do important? Is it essential for us? Can we live without it? If we can live without it and it destroys the nature or the habitats for some other organism, we have to stop. Do not have fun on others expense. We have to put us in their position. Will we be treated like that? Do we want to lose our home? Further, it is important to stop using animals to test new consumer goods. Animals do not deserve this treatment.

 Animals that live in the rainforest are threatened by the deforestation, and people can help so much by doing so little. According to Searching 10, 75 000 trees can be spared each week by recycling the Sunday edition of the Ney York Times. If people all over the world start to recycle for example paper, this will help a lot. Imagine how this can help all the animals in the rainforest. If we don’t save the rainforest, there will be big changes in the climate. Furthermore, pollution is a big threat to wildlife. Chemical waste from big factories and normal people is destroying the quality of air, soil and water. This is also ruining for humans, because animals and plants give us a lot of food and other necessities. The chemical waste also causes holes in the ozone in atmosphere. Ozone protects us from the sun’s dangerous rays. There are already ozone holes over the North and the South Pole and this can spread.

As a conclusion I think that people have to change their way of living and listen to Arne Ness’ thoughts. He says many important things and the world will be changed if we don’t think of the environment.

Sources:

•  Horisonter 10
• Searching 10

Jens P(96)