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Hazrat Abdul-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr r.a was the eldest son of Hazrat Abu Bakr r.a, the first caliph in Sunni Islam. His mother was Um Ruman bint Amir ibn Uwaymir ibn Zuhal ibn Dahman and he was the full brother of Hazrat Aisha R.A. He and three other children of Hazrat Abu Bakr namely Abdullah, Aisha and Asma were born sometime between 595 AD to 600 AD. It is said that he had a good sense of humour.
Unlike the rest of his family, including his father Hazrat Abu Bakr r.a and sister hazrat Aisha r.a, he did not convert to Islam until the Treaty of Hudaybiyah in 628 AD.
Four generations of the family of Abdul-Rahman had the distinction of being the companions (sahaba) of the Prophet Muhammad namely Abdul-Rahman, his father Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, his grandfather Uthman Abu Quhafa and his son Abu Atiq Muhammad. It was believed that no other family held this distinction.
Participation in battles
While still a non-Muslim, Abdul-Rahman fought from the side of Quraish in the Battles of Badr and Uhud.
In the Battle of Badr, he had an opportunity to kill his father, Abu Bakr, but he turned in another direction. Years later, after becoming Muslim, he told his father about it. Thereupon Hazrat Abu Bakr replied: “If I had had such an opportunity, I would not have spared you.
In the Battle of Uhud before the fighting began, he came forward and threw down a challenge for a duel. Hazrat Abu Bakr accepted the challenge, but Rasool s.a.w stopped him, saying, “Sheathe your sword, and let us continue to profit by your wise counsels.”
After becoming a Muslim, Abdul-Rahman participated in all the battles fought by the Muslims and gained fame as a fierce warrior, especially in the Muslim conquest of Syria. He was one of the Mubarizun champions and fought duels in the battles for the Muslim army. The mubarizun unit of the Rashidun army was composed of elite warriors who were champion swordsmen, lancers and archers. In the battlefield his role was to undermine the morale of the enemy before the beginning of the battle by slaying their champions in duels.
In the Battle of Yamama he killed Muhakkam al-Yamama, the General commanding the forces of Musaylima.
In the Battle of Yarmouk, the Commander in chief of Byzantine force chose five selected warriors from Byzantine side, and they challenged the Muslims to duel. It was Abdul-Rahman who accepted the challenge. Scores of duels were fought on the plains of Yarmouk. Abdul-Rahman killed all of them one after the other
At the Battle of Busra in Syria, he entered the city of Busra through a subterranean passage and then dashing towards the city gates opened them for the main Muslim army to enter.
Under the standard of Islam Hazrat ‘Abd Ar-Rahman’s habits became more bright and shining. He was loyal to his conviction, completely determined to carry out and follow what was right and true, refusing all kinds of flattery and servility. All these manners were the essence of his personality as well as his whole life. He never abandoned his principles even when tempted by a desire or influenced by a fear.
Even on that terrilble day, when Mu’aawiyah decided to force the pledge to Yaziid by the sword. On that day, a message was sent to Marwaan, the governor of Al-Madiinah. It included the oath of allegiance which was to be read aloud in the mosque so that all the Muslims would hear it. Marwaan did what was ordered. When he finished reading it, Hazrat ‘Abd Ar-Rahman Ibn Abi Bakr turned the atmosphere of silence and depression which covered the mosque into one of loud opposition and firm resistance saying, “By Allah, it’s not the welfare of Muhammad’s nation that you are seeking. On the contrary, you want to turn it into a Heraclian rule. When Heraclius dies another follows.”
‘Abd Ar-Rahman could clearly see the dangers awaiting Islam if Mu’aawiyah was to carry out his desire. He could see how the transfer of power within Islam was changing from one based on national consultation by which the nation chooses its leader , to one of autocracy, by which emperors are imposed upon the people, one after the other.
“Abd Ar-Rahman had hardly finished these firm and loud resisting words when a group of Muslims hurried to support him.
However for some compelling reason which occurred later on, they all were forced to hold a position of silence towards this pledge of allegiance which Mu’aawiyah decided to take by force of sword.
But Hazrat ‘Abd Ar-Rahman continued to resist loudly. Mu’aawiyah sent him someone with 100,000 dirhams, hoping to please him.
Ibn As-Siddiiq threw the money and said frankly to Mu’aawiyah’s messenger, “Go back to him and tell him, it’s not ‘Abd Ar-Rahman who is going to buy his life by losing his faith.”
As soon as he heard the news that Mu’aawiyah had set off towards Al-Madiinah, he left it heading to Makkah.
Allah wanted to save him the temptation of such a situation and its bad results. He had hardly reached the borders of Makkah when his soul submitted itself to Allah’s appeal. Men carried the body and buried it in Makkah, which had witnessed his pagan past but also witnessed his conversion to Islam, the conversion of an honest, free, and brave man.
Some sources claim that Muawiya ordered Hazrat Abdul Rahman r.a to be poisoned for opposing Yazid’s succession.
Death
He died in 666 AD. He was buried in Mecca. | https://aalequtub.com/hazrat/ |
Karna is the first son of Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata.
He is also a close friend of Duryodhana, the eldest of the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra who are together called the Kauravas. Duryodhana is the story’s prime antagonist, and Karna becomes his prime ally in his machinations against the Pandavas.
In this post, we will answer the question: Was Karna stronger than Bhima?
Karna is stronger than Bhima with bow and arrow. But Bhima is the better all-round warrior. Bhima and Karna clash repeatedly during the war, and on occasions that Bhima wins, he does so by converting the bow-and-arrow duel into a hand-to-hand combat. When the battle stays strictly archery-based, Karna wins.
Read on to discover more about whether or not Karna was stronger than Bhima.
(For answers to all Karna-related questions, see Karna: 41 Questions about the Mahabharata Hero Answered.)
Ten Thousand Elephants
Bhima has always been the strongest (physically) of all the Pandavas. Some of the anecdotes that are told about his early childhood reflect this. For instance, Kunti apparently drops him by mistake when he is a mere infant onto a rock from a height, only to see that the rock has been shattered and Bhima unharmed.
After the Pandavas and Kunti return to the palace, Bhima quickly takes on the mantle of chief tormentor of the Kaurava brothers. He hurls uprooted trees at them. He picks them up and throws them against walls. And so on.
While the Mahabharata describes these events in a loving tone, the modern reader will not miss the tell-tale signs that Bhima is in fact a bully.
In addition, when Duryodhana and his brothers hatch a plot to him some poison and throw him into the river, Bhima gets rescued by the Nagas who live underwater. Their king gives him a potion to drink.
This not only detoxifies him and saves his life, but also gives him – reportedly – the ‘strength of ten thousand elephants’.
Bhishma’s Appraisal
During his pre-war appraisal of the two sides, Bhishma classifies Bhimasena as an atiratha, and also states that he is the best all-round fighter among all the assembled heroes. He is good with bow and arrow, with mace, sword, spear, and with his bare hands.
Bhima’s fighting strategy during the war reflects this ability. He is routinely jumping out of his chariot to accost his enemies with close-combat weapons, like a sword or a lance.
(Related Article: Mahabharata Episode 37: Rathas and Atirathas.)
Sometimes, he pummels elephants to the ground with his fists. He picks up chariots and tosses them aside. He wrestles. He punches. He does everything.
While Arjuna is the chariot-warrior with exceptional bow-and-arrow skills, Bhima is the man you’d vote for if you did not know the format of the battle beforehand.
Karna’s Skill
On the other hand, Karna is known to be a chariot-warrior only. He does not exhibit any particular fondness for fighting on his feet. Also, while his skill with bow and arrow is good enough to match Arjuna during his younger days, by the time the Kurukshetra war arrives, he is only one of those ‘better than ratha but less than atiratha’ heroes.
Bhishma once says about Ashwatthama that while he has the potential to be an atiratha, his temperament holds him back. The same can be said of Karna.
In other words, it depends very much on a given day whether Karna is fighting at a ‘ratha’ level or an ‘atiratha’ level. And this is liable to change over the course of a day with his mood.
With that said, if the battle between him and Bhima is strictly archer-based, Karna is skilled enough to defeat Bhima on most days. If a hundred such duels took place, Karna will win ninety of them.
Simulated Battles
If the duel were to be strictly close-combat based, Bhima will defeat Karna hundred times out of hundred. Only four other characters in the Mahabharata universe are said to be comparable to Bhima in foot-fighting: Jarasandha, Kichaka, Duryodhana and Shalya.
Even with these men, Bhima can be expected to win eighty of hundred challenges. But with Karna he will win all hundred.
This is not a criticism of Karna. Bhima will even consign Arjuna to the same fate.
But real battle is not a simulation: there are no rules preventing participants from using their environment to their benefit, and from mixing up the format of the fight every now and then.
What if we start off Bhima and Karna on chariots on an arid plain (no trees or rocks for cover) but with the choice of changing up the format as they see fit?
Karna will prefer to fight from atop his chariot the whole time, because that is his strength and comfort zone. His strategy will be to keep Bhima from leaving his chariot for as long as possible. The longer they both fight from their respective vehicles, the likelier Karna’s victory becomes.
However, Bhima knows this too. His strategy will be the reverse: to leave his chariot at the first opportunity and to use as many different weapons as he can.
In such a simulation, the scales will even out a little. Karna will perhaps win seventy of these duels out of a hundred.
Real Battles
During the war of Kurukshetra, Bhima and Karna clash on several occasions. The scenario in a real war is much like the last simulation we discussed above, where both heroes have the choice to mix up things.
However, there is one important distinction. In a real war, Karna and Bhima are not going to be alone going at each other on a deserted plain. There is plenty of noise surrounding them. Animals and foot-soldiers abound everywhere they look. Bhima’s potency as a close-combat fighter therefore increases dramatically.
He can now use soldiers of his own army for cover. He can duck behind an elephant to dodge Karna’s arrows. He can even pick up an elephant or a horse and directly hurl it at Karna.
In such a chaotic environment, Bhima’s versatility is as precious as Arjuna’s marksmanship. The odds increase enormously in his favour. Out of a hundred ‘real battles’ of this sort, Bhima will perhaps win seventy.
Forgiving Bhima
Bhima and Karna face off against each other four times during the Kurukshetra war. Bhima wins two of these battles, one of them ends without a result, and one goes in favour of Karna.
It is instructive to note that on both the occasions that Bhima wins against Karna, he uses unconventional methods – like running around the side and beating Karna’s horses into submission with a mace – while on the one occasion he loses, Karna manages to keep him on the chariot the whole time.
(Related Article: Mahabharata Episode 35: Karna Rejects a Bribe.)
This victory against Bhima allows Karna to keep his promise to Kunti – that of not wishing to kill any of the Pandavas besides Arjuna. After he strips Bhima of his armour, he hooks his bow around Bhima’s neck and says:
‘Go and fight alongside Arjuna, you glutton. You do not belong on the battlefield.’
(Incidentally, these words by Karna exemplify his generous-yet-vain nature. He is being generous to Kunti – and to Bhima – by sparing his life, but he also utters words of contempt while displaying this generosity. Karna’s mean streak is always bubbling under the surface.)
Conclusion
In conclusion therefore, Karna is more powerful than Bhima – but only if they’re going to be fighting from their chariots. If Bhima is allowed to improvise, he is skilled enough to defeat Karna.
This is by no means a certainty, though. Karna does defeat Bhima on one occasion during the Kurukshetra war and spares his life to honour his promise to Kunti.
Further Reading
If you liked this post, you may find these interesting also:
- 60 Mahabharata Episodes that Tell You the Whole Story
- 300+ Mahabharata Stories to Thrill, Delight and Enchant You
- Karna: 41 Questions about the Mahabharata Hero Answered
- Draupadi: 46 Questions about the Mahabharata Heroine Answered
- Arjuna: 51 Questions about the Mahabharata Hero Answered
Enjoy! | https://sharathkomarraju.com/was-karna-stronger-than-bhima/ |
The President's Design Award 2012 is now open for nominations. The President's Design Award is Singapore's most prestigious award that is accorded to designers and design projects, in recognition of their design excellence.
Into its seventh year, the President's Design Award has honoured 20 designers and 47 designs across all design disciplines, including advertising design, visual communications, architecture, urban design, fashion design, furniture design, interior design, landscape design, product and industrial design.
The awards invite the public to nominate the designers and design projects that they think have made significant accomplishments or pushed new frontiers in Singapore's design landscape.
The deadline for nominations is May 18, 2012. | https://www.dexigner.com/news/24843 |
LSINC President, Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr. of Huntsville Awarded Prestigious National Honor
HUNTSVILLE, AL — LSINC Corporation, an innovator in engineering design, product development, manufacturing services, and business strategies, is proud to announce that LSINC President, Robert Lightfoot, Jr., has won the prestigious Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy in recognition of his exceptional service to this country and its space program. Named after the father of modern rocketry, this trophy is awarded annually by the National Space Club and Foundation to an individual or group determined to have made significant impact on space activities over the past year. The award will be presented to Mr. Lightfoot at the 62nd Annual Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C. this spring. Hosted annually since 1958, this major event brings together nearly 2,000 members of the government, space industry, and educational space community.
Mr. Lightfoot’s NASA career spans 30 years, including serving as a test engineer, program manager, Marshall Space Flight Center Director, Associate Administrator – the top civil servant in the Agency – and NASA’s Acting Administrator under two presidential administrations. Upon retirement, Mr. Lightfoot continued his career in innovation by joining LSINC Corporation as its President.
Applying his 30-year NASA career experience, Mr. Lightfoot contributes his expertise to the LSINC team and our clients’ objectives. His extensive knowledge in managing federal agencies through times of significant change allows him to implement strategies and eliminate barriers to positively impact the innovative growth of our clients. In a speech at a recent Challenger Center Annual Conference, Lightfoot said, “Just as we stand on the shoulders of greatness to look toward the next horizon, we’re also building a foundation today for the next generation to achieve its milestones.” The LSINC team benefits from Lightfoot’s leadership and his drive for excellence as a part of his contribution to the company’s culture. “We congratulate him on this well-deserved honor and applaud his service to our country, our space program, our company, and our community,” said Alicia Ryan, CEO, LSINC Corporation. | https://www.lsinc.com/uncategorized/national-space-club-and-foundation-announces-winner-of-2019-goddard-trophy/ |
Download or read book Shaping Sustainable Fashion written by Alison Gwilt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a practical guide to the ways in which designers are creating fashion with less waste and greater durability. Illustrated throughout with case studies of best practice from international designers and fashion labels and written in a practical, accessible style, this is a must-have guide for fashion and textile designers and students in their areas. | https://www.honyararado.com/read/shaping-sustainable-fashion/ |
Feb.
8
Kate Betts Interview
KATE BETTS began her history-making career in fashion as a reporter covering perfume and lingerie for Women’s Wear Daily and W magazines in Paris. Kate has referred to those early years as a “baptism by fire”, but believes that you have to learn about the people and processes in the fashion industry in order to truly understand fashion and make a significant impact.
And impact the world of fashion publishing she did.
After a few short years “on the beat” in Paris, Kate was appointed bureau chief for Fairchild Publications, but one successful year later, in 1991, she left to join the Anna Wintour team at American Vogue in New York City. As Vogue’s Fashion News Director, Kate increased Vogue’s news coverage and created the very successful Index section for the fashion bible.
After almost a decade at Vogue, Kate accepted the prestigious title of Editor-in-Chief at rival publication and America’s oldest fashion magazine, Harper’s Bazaar. The youngest ever to edit Bazaar, Kate left Bazaar after two rather challenging years, and began writing for The New York Times before being appointed editor of Time‘s Style and Design, a special supplement that was published six times a year in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Now a respected international journalist and fashion insider, Kate was uniquely qualified to write the book about first lady Michelle Obama’s style.
In Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style, Kate explores the authenticity behind Mrs. Obama’s signature style, and makes the case that style and intelligence matters. In addition, Kate, as a person whose career ascension was one of the most talked about, understands the challenges and responsibilities our first lady endures since being thrust into the international spotlight. Indeed Everyday Icon puts the past two years’ fashion critiques into context and helps us understand the global impact and historical significance of Michelle Obama’s trendsetting wardrobe.
Personally, I find both women fascinating and was honored to interview Kate about Everyday Icon. I want to thank Kate for being so gracious and kind to me during the interview process. And now, without further ado…
With so many books on the First Lady’s style published within days of the Obamas entering the White House, why did you decide to write a book about Michelle Obama?
Mrs. Obama’s style inspired me–and by style I don’t only mean what she is wearing, but also the way she presents herself to the world. When I saw the Obamas on the world stage for the first time at the Inauguration and later on their first trip together to Europe I was amazed at the impression they made on people. I wanted to examine Mrs. Obama’s style, in particular, in the context of history, first ladies and the broader cultural context.
Why the title Everyday Icon?
Because Mrs. Obama is iconic in her position as the first African American first lady, and yet also so accessible in her style.
In researching for Everyday Icon, did you uncover any surprising, little known historical facts about first ladies and fashion?
Oh yes! When I interviewed Nancy Tuckerman, Jacqueline Kennedy’s best friend and her social secretary in the White House for the final eight months, I learned that Jackie had been so precise about her style choices to the extent that in boarding school she even sketched the looks she wanted to wear to debutante parties in her text books. I was also very surprised to learn that Grace Coolidge was forbidden to speak publicly by her husband. She made an impression on people only with her appearance and her energy.
Did you have the opportunity to meet with the First Lady to discuss Everyday Icon?
No, I was told by the First Lady’s press office that she does not do interviews for books. But I did get a chance to join the press pool at the White House and to follow her around to many events in the White House, including the first state dinner. I also met her at the Time 100 dinner in May 2009. She was the keynote speaker that evening and she was incredible.
You’ve said that the First Lady is “precise in her public image”, but what fashion missteps has Mrs. Obama made?
She did once take a wrong turn on the South Lawn while walking first dog, Bo, and she ended up in front of a bank of cameras. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, no make up or anything. Of course, it wasn’t so much a fashion misstep as literally a wrong turn on an early morning walk. But it was probably a lesson for her about the intense scrutiny she would have to learn to accommodate.
Why do you think that a majority of women feel that the First Lady is “just like us” when she has a fondness for French designers and other luxury brands?
Because she also has a fondness for J.Crew, H&M, and Talbot’s. But mostly because she enjoys fashion and actually wears quite simple clothing when you think about it. Her style favors simple, easy shapes. Nothing too complicated, except, of course, the more glamorous evening dresses she wears to state dinners.
In your opinion, is Michelle Obama’s style similar to Jackie Kennedy’s style during the White House years?
Only in the simplicity of it. Jackie’s style was much more formal, Michelle is very casual. That said, there is no question in my mind that Michelle is taking style cues from Jackie–her use of color, her preference for simple shapes like the sleeveless dress, her flat shoes. These were all Jackie signatures.
Diana Vreeland famously advised Jackie Kennedy on fashion during her White House years, given the opportunity, what would you add to the First Lady’s wardrobe?
Gosh, that’s a tough one. I think Mrs. Obama gets it right most of the time. Her instincts are spot on when it comes to fashion. I know there are many American designers–both young and not so young–who would love it if she wore their clothes, even just once!
Outside of the sales boost for retailers like J. Crew and White House Black Market, how has the First Lady impacted fashion culturally?
She has certainly allowed women to be more feminine–and almost frivolous–with fashion. She’s got that brio and confidence when it comes to clothes and I think that’s incredibly infectious. It’s almost as if she’s telling us to just try it, try wearing color, floral prints, a feminine dress or skirt, or a cardigan instead of a jacket. I do believe a younger generation of women in the workplace are following her lead and I think that’s great.
Having lived here for 15 years, I can tell you that Washington is definitely more fashionable than the rest of the country thinks, but for the most part, the designer power suit still rules. So, how has the First Lady’s style impacted fashion in the political sense?
She’s shown women that it’s OK to stand out, we don’t all have to look like lemmings, following some mythical dress code and falling in line behind the dull, dowdy pantsuit. As Michael Kors said, she really has redefined what’s appropriate and it’s about time.
How smart were the First Lady’s instincts when deciding to champion little-known or younger fashion designers like Rodarte?
In this economy, when young designers and entrepreneurs have such an uphill battle to get recognition and to be successful, it was an incredibly smart and inclusive thing to do.
What were you most surprised to learn about Michelle Obama when writing Everyday Icon?
I was very surprised to learn that she had modeled in student fashion shows at Princeton! I went to Princeton and I don’t remember much of a fashion scene there. Also, to model in a fashion show does demonstrate a pretty keen interest in fashion as well as a lot of confidence.
What do you believe the First Lady’s legacy in fashion will be?
Confidence. She wears it well and her motto “wear what you love” is very liberating and empowering for women, especially women who think they have to dress a certain way–whether they are fashion victims or corporate soldiers who are afraid to stand out.
After writing a book that most assuredly will become a part of historical record, what’s next for you?
I would love to write another book, not necessarily a memoir but some combination of memoir and fashion history book.
Sounds like an intriguing concept, so I have to ask, if you were asked to write your memoirs, what would the title be?
Designers, Deadlines, and What I Ate! That’s sort of a joke, but not really. I am as obsessed with food as I am with fashion and I love to cook.
Interviewed January 2011 by Yolanda, editor of Zavvi Rodaine.com
© Zavvi Rodaine.com 2011. No part of this interview may be used or reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the Editor of Zavvi Rodaine.com.
Photos courtesy of Jorge Guerrero/Getty/Time, Inc. | https://zavvirodaine.com/2011/02/kate-betts-interview/ |
The President's Design Award 2010, Singapore's most prestigious design accolade, is open for public nominations.
Running for the fifth consecutive year, the President's Design Award represents the pinnacle of design recognition in Singapore's design sector.
Established in 2006, the President's Design Award honours significant achievements and contributions of Singapore's design talents.
The Award recognises excellence in two categories, Design of the Year and Designer of the Year, across all design disciplines including advertising design and visual communications; architecture and urban design; fashion design; furniture design; interior design; landscape design; and product and industrial design.
It is awarded to designs and designers who have pushed the envelope to create a significant difference to the community through designs that improve quality of life.
Their contributions should have also enhanced human potential and national competitiveness, moving beyond mere aesthetics.
Deadline for nominations is May 14, 2010. | https://www.dexigner.com/news/20352 |
Now in its seventh edition, Clerkenwell Design Week (CDW) celebrates the distinctive and creative London quarter. Set across three days, CDW hosts the best in design from around the world and features a huge range of home-grown talent.
A Focus on Britain's Emerging Design Talent
New Designers 2016 showcased the exciting work of graduate designers emerging into the creative industry, hosting two prestigious awards presentation evenings in recognition of new talent. With a nod to interior trend predictions for 2017 and 2018, design fused an exploration of recycling and colour, and evoked a growing desire for sustainability and privacy.
What's Trending at 100% Design 2016?
This year we exhibited at 100% design in Olympia, as part of London Design Festival 2016. 100% design provides the perfect exhibition space for interior designers, architects and industry professionals; it is the ideal place to source unique designs, inspirations and trend directions for future projects. | https://www.focus-sb.co.uk/tag/design-events-london |
TED's Ten:10 – Design Activism
In this final strategy we encourage designers to leave behind the product and work creatively with the consumers and society at large. It is about designing events and communication strategies beyond product design to increase consumer and designer knowledge about the environmental and social impacts of fashion and textiles. Here, the textile designer becomes a ‘Social Innovator’. We reflect on how much has changed for textile designers, and how much potential for the future there is!
“...new ways of thinking about how design can catalyse, nurture, enable and activate positive societal changes towards more sustainable ways of living and working….” (Fuad-Luke, A. 2009)
Examples: | http://www.tedresearch.net/10-design-activism/ |
Spanish Fashion System Program for International Designers, organized by ISEM, brought together 34 young designers to provide an in-depth global picture of the Spanish fashion industry.
September 21, 2016
BIAAF Courses
BIAAF & Central Saint Martins
12 young fashion designers have travelled to London in order to make a crash course in the prestigious fashion school ‘Central Saint Martins’.
November 02, 2015
BIAAF Courses
FASHION BUSINESS PROGRAM FOR INTERNATIONAL DESIGN STUDENTS
BIAAF, ISEM and El Corte Inglés get together to create an unforgettable experience for 12 young designers. | https://biaaf.com/actualidad.php?idioma=en&tipo=Cursos |
Heowhan Simulation. Photography by Jens Langkjaer.
STYLE SHARING
‘Style Sharing’ explores the symbiotic relationship between Korean and British styles. Showcasing the work of Korean designers inspired by British life, it will highlight distinctions between classic ‘Britishness’ and ‘Hallyu’ – a Korean term for South Korean culture’s popularity in the West.
Progressive and fast-paced modern life provides the backdrop for the exhibition, exploring the cultural exchange between Korean Culture and British Life.
The garments will reveal the relationship between British and Korean fashion, showing both how close – and how diverse – the countries are stylistically; blurring and contrasting the boundaries of fashion and culture.
Films by Eoin Glaister
Satellite Venue:
Korean Cultural Centre UK, Grand Buildings, 1 - 3 Strand, London WC2N 5BW
17 February - 4 April
Mon-Fri 10:00-17:00, Sat: 11:00-17:00
——
Designers include: Ha Sang Beg, Heohwan Simulation, Hyunsoo Heather Park, J Koo, J Moon, Nayoung Moon, rokh. | https://design.britishcouncil.org/projects/IFS/IFS2015/korea2015/ |
Durban born, self-taught photographer Aart Verrips began his career as a pastry chef student in France. Captivated by the allure of fashion photography, Aart has been busy building his professional career behind the lens. At just 24 years of age, Aart has gained recognition for his daring and provocative style, and stripped-back aesthetic. He has collaborated with many fashion designers to conceptualise and shoot lookbooks, most notably Rich Mnisi’s SS17 menswear collection which was published in Vogue Italia. His editorial work has been published in GQ, Marie Claire, Vogue, Men’s Health, Woman’s Health, Client, and Yearbook Fanzine. Aart’s debut solo exhibition questioning masculine beauty standards and our chase for perfection was shown at Hazard Gallery, Johannesburg, earlier this year. | https://www.lustre.global/cape-town/news/4-11-2017/1220023/rise-photographer-aart-verrips-latest-work |
On April 6, 2018, the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council (CBIC) announced that they have selected Perrone Robotics as one of the finalists for its “Innovator of the Year” award. The recipient of the award will be determined at a gala to be held on May 24, 2018.
According to the CBIC, the “Innovator of the Year” award “recognizes an individual organization for its creativity and resourcefulness in the development of a new product, service or product candidate, and can also include the means by which its innovation will reach its end user.”
Perrone Robotics is proud to be nominated for this prestigious award, and is pleased to receive this recognition as a leading Charlottesville-area technology company that is developing innovative products and services. | https://www.perronerobotics.com/perrone-robotics-selected-finalist-innovator-year-award-cbic/ |
Kate Nash, a popular singer-songwriter, musician and actress was brought up in Harrow.
Kate Nash gained popularity in 2007 after the release of her second song, Foundations, and has released four albums throughout her career. She has also starred in numerous films, tv shows, and documentaries, including Netflix’s ‘GLOW’. She has won many awards, including a prestigious Brit Award for Best Female Artist in 2008.
As a feminist and activist, Kate has used her large influence to bring about change. She created the ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll for Girls After School Music Club’ to inspire women and has also been appointed Global Ambassador for the ‘Because I am a Girl’ initiative by Plan USA. Her music also reflects on her feminist values, as seen with her 2012 song ‘Under-Estimate the Girl’ and her third album, ‘Girl Talk’.
Kate Nash also has a strong presence in the fashion industry, modelling for clothing companies and frequently spending time at both New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week. She sees fashion as art and has worked with many prominent designers for her tours.
Kate Nash has embraced her Harrow upbringing. The music video for her song ‘I Hate You This Christmas’ includes many of Harrow’s notable spots, including Harrow Skate Park, Harrow-on-the- Hill, and Trinity Bar, in Station Road. | https://harrowonline.org/2022/07/15/kate-nash-the-influential-singer-from-harrow/ |
Seed is the essential part of the food system that begins the process of feeding our communities. ACH Seeds is proud to be a part of the agricultural industry and thanks growers for the crucial role they play in sustaining our world. As the current situation with the pandemic develops, we are demonstrating our continued support to our customers and communicating that we are proactively implementing processes to ensure there is no delay during this planting season. Seed deliveries to customers are on track to meet the planned schedule.
We are striving toward balancing operational needs and the safety of our customers and staff by:
- Following COVID-19 coronavirus recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control regarding handwashing, and social separation, and
- Following all national, state and local rules and orders regarding this pandemic.
ACH Seeds’ continued commitment and support to its customers is important to all of us. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your seed or business needs, please reach out to your local Independent Sales Agent or ACH Seeds sales manager. | https://www.achseeds.com/resources/ach-seeds'-response-to-covid-19.html |
Transport for NSW keeps our State moving by providing safe, integrated and efficient transport systems. We put our customers at the centre of everything we do – and we do a lot. We connect people, communities and industry and manage how they use our road, rail and maritime networks and services, and even active modes like walking and cycling. The work we do connects the journeys you take every day.
We are a state government organisation made up of more than 28,000 people and we're in the middle of delivering the largest transport infrastructure program in Australia's history. We work across planning, policy and procurement, harnessing data and technology to develop smarter and more adaptive transport solutions.
That means job opportunities in metropolitan and regional areas right across NSW – you have the chance to be part of creating a lasting legacy that will benefit generations to come.
About Us
The Office of the Secretary supports our leaders to develop and deliver the vision and strategy for Transport for NSW. We provide a range of services including strategic advice, executive communications, government and cluster relations, and general business, executive and Cabinet support.
The opportunity
This is an exceptional opportunity for a senior public sector Executive to work in the Office of the Secretary and join the Chief of Staff leadership team, working closely with senior leaders and stakeholders across the Transport Cluster, Government and Industry.
The Director Strategic Issues and Engagement is a key leadership role that supports successful relationship management and issues resolution across the Cluster. You will lead and manage a proactive and reactive approach to strategic issues, strategic projects, stakeholder engagement and communications. You will be integral in anticipating, mitigating, understanding, monitoring, and managing strategic issues that have the potential to impact the Transport Cluster, by focusing on addressing issues promptly and driving improvements with an enterprise view. Fostering a culture of shared leadership, you will uplift, lead, and empower a high-performing team in the provision of strategic issues management, engagement, and communications.
Your responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:
- Partnering with the Chief of Staff to assess environmental considerations and Cluster priorities, informing the Branch’s strategic direction, near term focus and the development of relevant issues and engagement strategie.
- Leading Strategic Issues and Engagement for the Transport Cluster, building enterprise capability across the practices of strategic issues management; strategic project delivery; whole of enterprise stakeholder coordination; and Executive communications, providing strategic leadership and direction to the Branch and ensuring the timely delivery of outcomes.
- Leading the Branch in delivering strategic projects as identified by the Chief of Staff.
- Establishing a Cluster stakeholder function, providing an enterprise-wide view on external engagement, informed by stakeholder leads at Group level and effectively leading external priority relationships for the Secretary, working closely with the Chief of Staff.
- Providing strategic direction to inform the Secretary’s communications and engagement.
- Establishing and embedding engagement at a whole of Branch level with crucial partner groups across the Cluster.
- Providing timely advice to the Chief of Staff, taking a multi-dimensional view in identifying immediate and longer-term risks, options, pathways, and potential impacts while ensuring effective engagement with internal and external stakeholders.
- Demonstrating shared leadership values across the Office of the Secretary and wider Cluster, ensuring an integrated, informed, and collaborative approach with the Office of the Secretary leadership team to support the Secretary.
Please click here to view a copy of the role description.
About You
You will be an experienced Senior Executive in Government, working in complex, high profile, and dynamic operating environments.
You will bring significant high-level advisory experience demonstrating practical issues management from a multi-dimensional perspective with proven ability in taking an inclusionary approach, effectively assessing and balancing perspectives to inform risk and options.
You will have exceptional stakeholder engagement and relationship skills and be highly adept in managing a diverse group of senior stakeholders and relationships across Government.
You will bring strategic and forward-thinking capability, coupled with sound experience leading a high performing business function.
You will be regarded as a professional who thrives maintaining a high level of stakeholder liaison and exercising sound initiative and judgement in a complex and fast-moving setting with multiple moving parts.
You will be a proven people leader with experience inspiring and directing teams and fostering a collaborative, inclusive and supportive team culture.
You are a passionate Director looking for an opportunity to drive and lead impactful change that betters the lives of the NSW community.
Salary and Benefits
This is a Transport Grade TSSE (Band 1A) offering an attractive remuneration package.
For more information on Employee Benefits at Transport for NSW please click here.
Interested?
Joining Transport for NSW, you’ll have access to a range of unique government benefits in a flexible work environment like no other. If you’re ready to step into this meaningful and rewarding role, we want to hear from you!
How to apply
To apply for this position, please submit a resume and cover letter and address all questions within the online application.
For any enquiries, please email Nicole Cain at [email protected]
Applications close: 11.59pm Sunday 28th August 2022
We are the community we serve
We are committed to being an inclusive, diverse and flexible workplace where differences are valued. We welcome people of all backgrounds, experience and abilities.
We enable our people to work in ways that work for them. Working virtually and from different locations including regional locations, staggering work hours and job sharing are just some of the ways our people can work flexibly.
Please contact the Talent Specialist below if you require any adjustments to be made to how you interact with us throughout the recruitment process or would like to discuss flexible work options.
For any enquiries, please email Nicole Cain at [email protected].
We’re certified as a Family Inclusive Workplace
Our flexible work practices and policies for parental leave, employee and family wellbeing and family care enable us to provide genuine support for our people to thrive at work and at home.
Working with Transport gives you access to a range of benefits that help you balance work with the things that matter to you. Look through our Employee Benefits Guide to learn more.
Apply today to register your interest!
Find out more about Transport for NSW at https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/about-us.
Take a look at our application tips video series for plenty of great information on navigating and acing the application and recruitment process here at Transport.
Our COVIDSafe Measures Policy
All Transport for NSW workers are required to have:
- appropriate evidence of being fully vaccinated with a TGA approved COVID-19 vaccine; or
- an approved medical contraindication.
You will be required to show proof of your COVID-19 vaccination status or apply for a medical exemption prior to securing this role. | https://jobs.transport.nsw.gov.au/job/Sydney-Director-Strategic-Issues-and-Engagement-NSW-2020/779226110/ |
The United States government is a massive employer, and is always looking for qualified candidates to fill a wide variety of open employment positions in locations across the country. Below you’ll find a Qualification Summary for an active, open job listing from the Other Agencies and Independent Organizations. The opening is for a Chief Information Officer in Washington, District of Columbia Feel free to browse this and any other job listings and reach out to us with any questions!
Chief Information Officer – Washington, District of Columbia
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Other Agencies and Independent Organizations
Job ID: 121297Start Date: 07/12/2019End Date: 07/26/2019
Qualification Summary
To qualify for this Executive-level position, you must have substantial specialized experience, which is defined as:
Rating:
If you are found minimally qualified, you MUST submit a separate, concise essay (no more than 5 total pages), that addresses your experience applying the four Executive Competencies to the organization. The Executive Competencies include:
Developing team and organizational capability: Coaches and mentors staff; supports staff development; solicits feedback to improve own performance and pursues professional development; identifies and applies lessons learned; builds capacity to work across cultural differences; adapts style to work with diverse team members; identifies ideas and approaches that support improvement; and, manages change efforts.
Accountability: Demonstrates through words and actions integrity, trust, and a commitment to serve the public; understands CFPB’s mission, why the agency exists, and how own and others’ roles contribute to success; honors commitments; takes responsibility for own actions and the work of the team; models ownership of problem solving; complies with, ensures others comply with, and manages internal control systems; and, complies with external rules and regulatory requirements.
Demonstrating and sharing expertise: Stays current with and appropriately applies expertise; ensures staff have access to expertise; shares subject matter guidance; applies expertise to ensure work is sound, aligned with objectives, and meets requirements; uses expertise to evaluate the adequacy of work and identify sound opportunities for improved consumer protection; uses expertise to identify improvements; applies best practices in diversity and inclusion strategies, systems, policies, etc.; and, maintains an understanding of the wide diversity that exists among consumers and utilizes this knowledge to apply technical expertise to service the full range of stakeholder needs.
Managing quality results: Provides work that is responsive to stakeholder or mission requirements; understands who stakeholders are; keeps stakeholders informed and educated; resolves stakeholder concerns; collects and acts on feedback/data to improve quality, efficiency, or responsiveness; anticipates stakeholder needs and proactively addresses them; balances stakeholder requests against capacity; and, recognizes situations when work or services can and cannot be provided and clearly and tactfully says no to requests when necessary.
Your essay should include where and when the qualifications were obtained, and the organizational setting in which the experience was acquired (e.g. organization size, level, and assigned fiscal resources). A panel of Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) will assess each applicant’s responses to determine best qualified applicants for the position. A representative from the Office of Human Capital will contact you if you are found minimally qualified, and you will have 48 hours to submit your narrative.
Alternatively, you may submit your narrative with your application, simply attach your narrative under the ‘cover letter’ or under a Narrative Response attachment category link before submitting your application.
Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview.
If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)) you must receive a score of90 or better to be rated as “well qualified” to receive special selection priority.
If you’d like to submit a resume or apply for this position, please contact Premier Veterans at [email protected]. All are free to apply!
Post a job on LemonWire. Email [email protected].
Want to advertise on listings like this? Email [email protected]. | https://lemonwire.com/2019/07/21/chief-information-officer-job-in-washington-district-of-columbia-other-agencies-and-independent-organizations-2/ |
Website LD Network
is looking for an apprentice to provide support and interaction to clients and clinicians within LD Network to ensure staffing solutions are provided with precision and accuracy.
The main duties include the following:
- Support staffing solutions for all client account management matters working closely with Account Management, Sales and Transforming Care teams to support business retention and growth
- Dealing with all inbound enquiries working with team members ensuring these are dealt with promptly and efficiently and meet the needs of our clients.
- Exceeding the expectations of our clients by going above and beyond to deliver service levels
- Building and maintaining a relationship with the clients and clinicians based on our values and supporting them to achieve their goals
- Learning the different aspects of the business and how they all fit together
- Healthy and productive workplace relationships – non negotiable
- Seeking and recording insightful feedback and information from both Clinicians and clients
- Identifying clinicians who have not worked in a while and proactively reaching out to them
- Communicating updates on all activities across the shift and shift handovers
- Become an expert with all business systems, accurately recording clinician and client information for business use
- Maintain a focus on immediate (24 hours) demands whilst monitoring the progress of medium (one week plus) and long term (one month plus) requirements
- Maintain clear communications with clinicians and to ensure they are compliant to support internal and external client support needs
Salary:
£4.81 per hour
Hours:
Monday to Friday
Total hours per week: 37.5 hours a week
Skills:
The applicant must:
- Clear and concise written and spoken communication skills
- Strong time management and organisational skills
- Demonstrable problem-solving skills
- Demonstrable customer service and interpersonal skills
- Strong administration and computer skills
- Ability to manage multiple tasks and changing priorities
- High attention to detail
- Emotional intelligence
- Open to learning new behaviours
Personal attributes and other requirements:
- Career focussed and eager to learn
- Proactive and organised. Enjoys working with people
- A problem solver who is self-motivated and flexible
- Enjoys working in a fast paced, team environment
- A strong team player demonstrating loyalty and commitment to the company, clients, and teams
A-player attributes include:
CULTURE: Company values through behaviour
COLLEAGUE: Ideal Team Player virtues which includes Hunger, Humility and People Smarts
COLLABORATION: The power of working with others
COMMITMENT: Passion, loyalty & longevity
CAPABILITY: Aptitude & ability to learn
COMPETENCE: Skilled at the level required
CONTRIBUTION: Delivery of desired outcomes & bottom-line value added
Apprenticeship Training:
The Customer Service Specialist Apprenticeship Standard (Level 3) contains the following elements:
- Customer Service On Programme Learning
- Customer Service Knowledge sessions
- Functional Skills English Level 2
- Functional Skills maths Level 2
- Customer Service Gateway to End Point Assessment
- Customer Service – End Point Assessment
About the employer:
At LD Network we are proud to say we are ‘people-led’ – meaning that people come first. Core values of Family, Impact and Teaming are at the centre of our ‘Make It Personal’ culture – which drives all our policies, processes, systems, and services as well as behaviours and results. We believe a ‘cultural fit’ is equally as important as skills, experience, and competence and so we hire, measure, and reward our people on this basis.
E T S House
Emperor Way
Exeter
EX1 3QS
To apply for this job email your details to [email protected]. | https://www.trainingsouthwest.co.uk/job/apprentice-customer-service-specialist-3/ |
Building and providing a first class Client Service function globally. The Client Services Manager will be responsible for maintaining day-to-day contact with our clients, responding to events, writing and issuing client communications, coordinating investment reporting and any fund related activities, The main objective from a team perspective is to ensure that our investors receive excellent client service.
- Maintaining a first class client service
- Delivering an outstanding client management experience to institutional clients
- Acting as the key point of contact for investor queries
- Working with specific fund teams and mandates, building relationships and knowledge of the funds to support our investors proactively
- Managing existing client relationships: ensuring contact plan activities are carried out, responding to client queries and requests promptly and effectively, working with clients on issues and projects, ensuring client expectations are met
- Proactively anticipate clients’ requirements by maintaining regular contact and communicate any concerns to the sales and investment teams
- Co-ordination and compilation of the quarterly investment reports ensuring accuracy and complete reports; these must meet set timeframes and client deadlines, adding value where possible
- Organisation and co-ordination of client meetings and where appropriate corporate related events
- Maintaining information on the in-house client relationship management system ensuring that it is complete and accurate for each client
- General client relationship management – keeping clients up to date with news and any new initiatives
- Managing relationships with internal stakeholders – investment teams, finance, performance, research, sustainability, legal, risk, marketing, distribution and compliance
- Ensuring AML / KYC and compliance obligations are met and kept up to date in line with corporate policy and in accordance with local regulation
- Liaising with third parties to ensure technical support is received on all issues concerning administration, investment accounting and custody. | https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/jobs-UK-London-Client_Services_Manager_EMEA.id05776067 |
This two-page primer, written by management professor Marie-France Turcotte, provides an introduction to key terms and reading materials for exceptional stakeholder engagement. It also features the four steps of any successful stakeholder engagement plan.
Share this primer with senior managers in public relations and community engagement.
An organization can build support for its actions and avoid social backlash through stakeholder engagement. Interacting with stakeholders enables an organization to identify and address their concerns, which reduces the risks and deadlocks that can result from misunderstandings. By proactively engaging its stakeholders and identifying potential problems before they arise, the organization will operate in a more stable sociopolitical environment.
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identification of stakeholders
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dialogue with the stakeholders
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internal stakeholders (shareholders, employees, etc.);
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external stakeholders (suppliers, customers, etc.);
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coordinating authorities (governments, professional associations, etc.).
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Involve stakeholders by providing them opportunities to share views and concerns directly;
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Improve the management and scope of activities carried out by the organization while legitimizing the decisions it makes. | https://www.3blmedia.com/news/4-steps-engaging-stakeholders |
As our Family Support Worker, you will be working with families, in particular children and young people (CYP) aged 0 – 17 who may have experienced or witnessed domestic violence and abuse and are supported in Next Link’s Community services and accommodated within our Safe Houses.
Key duties and responsibilities of our Family Support Worker:
Provide a high quality service and co-ordinated package of on-going emotional and practical support to CYP who are suffering effects from the trauma of, or have experienced domestic abuse
Provide personal welfare support to CYP and to ensure that families in the safe house are provided with a safe, supportive and welcoming environment and to maximize the family’s safety when providing support in the community
Responsible for co-ordinating and managing play and educational activities for children in the community and safehouses
Work with children and young people to help them to become integrated into a new or existing community or safehouse
Providing support for families through family court proceedings.
Develop positive, trusting relationships with CYP of all ages and work in a child focussed way
Liaise effectively and collaboratively with all appropriate agencies relating to CYP / family welfare
Carry out assessments that effectively establish the support needs of CYP/ families using our services
Complete a written support plan with the CYP and their mother
Recognise, respect and address the needs of service-users who face particular barriers when seeking help to access the service, including those from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds
This is not an exhaustive list of your duties and outlines the general ways in which it is expected you will meet the overall requirements of this post.
What we are looking for in our ideal Female Family Support Worker:
Ability to build and develop supportive relationships with abused women and their children maintaining professional boundaries
Experience of carrying out needs assessments and delivering outcome focused support to families in an engaging and empowering way
Ability to proactively organise and develop child centred activity programme that meets the needs of diverse CYP
Ability to communicate effectively, both written and verbal, with a range of people
Ability to work as part of a team demonstrating a flexible approach including a commitment to being part of a rota and on-call system
Ability to be calm and resilient whilst under pressure and to remain optimistic and persistent
A full driving licence and access to transport
If you are passionate about ensuring vulnerable women have a safe, comfortable place to live, please apply now to join us as our Family Support Worker and contribute to the valuable work Next Link and its wider services, delivering hope and support to survivors of domestic violence and abuse.
Please download the application pack from our website and complete the application form. Please submit your application by 9am on 13th February 2023. Interviews will be held on 17th or 20th February 2023. | https://www.voscur.org/jobs/103982 |
TechnoServe Inc is a leader in harnessing the power of the private sector to help people lift themselves out of poverty.
A nonprofit organization operating in 29 countries, we work with enterprising men and women in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries.
By linking people to information, capital and markets, we have helped millions to create lasting prosperity for their families and communities.
Founded over 50 years ago, TechnoServe has been named the #1 nonprofit for fighting poverty by the ImpactMatters charity rating agency.
Job Description
- Role: Country Manager, Ghana
- Location: Accra, Ghana
- Timing: 6 months
Background and Project Purpose
- The Country Manager in Ghana will supervise the successful implementation of current programs.
- H/She will manage TechnoServe Ghana’s operational and fundraising strategies, to grow the country program, run the overall country operation, and manage internal and external stakeholder relationships.
- High-performing local program implementation teams, administrative staff, and regional program management resources will support this position
Primary Functions & Responsibilities
The Country Manager is expected to effectively manage all aspects of country operations including:
Program Development:
- In collaboration with regional leadership and program development teams, executing a business strategy aligned with TechnoServe’s global and regional strategies, maintaining, and building strong relationships with a wide range of donors, and proactively developing and delivering upon a robust pipeline of new program opportunities to grow the country platform and scale TechnoServe’s impact.
Stakeholder Representation:
- Establishing and maintaining strong relationships with relevant in-country stakeholders, including government ministries, private sector companies, business associations, and civil society organizations; securing their support as needed; representing TechnoServe at internal and external functions.
- Also establishing and maintaining strong working relationships with internal divisional, regional, and HQ teams.
Compliance Leadership:
- Representing TechnoServe in all legal matters at the country level and ensuring TechnoServe retains and consults with qualified local legal counsel as needed
- Ensuring that TechnoServe is properly registered and complies with all related regulations.
Program Oversight:
- Coaching and supervising leaders and managers of programs for the successful delivery of results
- Ensuring timely submission of internal reports and corporate measurement
- Ensuring timely submission of high-quality donor reports with the support of the divisional back-stopping team
- Supporting country-level adaptation and use of program management tools
- Working with program staff to identify and address technical assistance needs.
Required Skills or Experience
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 12 years of relevant experience; or a Master’s degree with a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience.
- 5 years’ implementation and management experience relating to large-scale projects with responsibility for all aspects of operations including HR, Finance, and Procurement.
- Proven ability to fundraise/work with donor organizations and professionally and proactively represent an organization.
- Experience working in developing countries
- Excellent communication skills in written and spoken English, including report writing and presentations.
- Ability and willingness to travel up to 20% and internationally as necessary.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Significant operations experience, including experience in budget development and management
- Private sector experience and/or overall business acumen
- Strong people management skills and experience with a record of recruiting and retaining top talent as well as the ability to quickly address performance and/or behavior issues.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
- Entrepreneurial and inspirational, with a demonstrated ability to build and maintain high-performing teams in stressful contexts.
- Ability to build strong relationships with colleagues and stakeholders.
How To Apply
If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact Human Resources at [email protected]
CLOSING DATE: December 23, 2021
As part of our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability, and all other protected classes.
We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation, and we vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.
NOTE:
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD AN APPLICANT PAY MONEY TO ANYONE IN GETTING A JOB WE HAVE PUBLISHED
WhatsApp & Telegram Job Alert
To get daily Job Alerts on Whatsapp, Join Our WhatsApp Group via the link below. | https://newsnowgh.com/technoserve-inc-calls-for-job-applications/ |
As we celebrate Human Rights Day on December 10—the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—we are taking the opportunity to reflect on the role of business in shaping a future in which human rights are respected and protected in both law and in practice.
Business touches the lives of people in diverse ways, from workers to customers to community members throughout global value chains. Ensuring respect for human rights across these many touchpoints has never been more important.
The past few years have seen enormous changes in the business and human rights landscape. The emergence and intensification of destabilizing dynamics like climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, political instability, socioeconomic inequality, and the rapid growth of new technologies with yet unknown human consequences heighten the risk that business activity will adversely impact people. At the same time, businesses are under increased public scrutiny for their human rights footprint, face growing regulatory and legal pressures to proactively manage and remediate these impacts, and are increasingly expected to disclose both human rights impacts and management measures.
Looking Back: Taking Stock of the First Decade of the UNGPs
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) offer guidance to companies on how to manage human rights risks associated with their business activities and value chains amidst these global challenges. Unanimously endorsed by governments 10 years ago in June 2011, the UNGPs lay out the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. They provide guidance on the steps businesses should take to avoid infringing on the human rights of others and to address adverse impacts with which they are involved (Principle 11).
Over the past decade, the UNGPs have given companies a shared roadmap for respecting human rights and spurred progress toward this goal in a business context, demonstrating that changing ways of doing business to reduce harm to people is possible. Yet gaps between aspirations and implementation still remain, leading to the continued occurrence of human rights abuses despite corporate commitments to the contrary. This is due in part to the scale and complexity of today’s global challenges, as well as barriers to change such as corporate capture of the state, lack of meaningful corporate human rights disclosure, and business models with inherent human rights risks.
Looking Ahead: Ensuring Respect for Human Rights in the Next Decade
The UNGPs and its key concept of human rights due diligence provide a powerful normative and practical tool for companies to tackle inequalities and realize a just and sustainable future for all—including in the context of “building back better” from the COVID-19 crisis and the just transition to a low-carbon economy.
The roadmap for responsible recovery during times of crisis, released last month by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, emphasizes the role of business, including financial institutions, in addressing our most pressing global challenges in the next decade.
The roadmap sets out key action areas for strengthening business respect for human rights in the coming decade and leveraging the power of business enterprises to overcome the shared challenges of today and tomorrow. These include strengthening and mainstreaming human rights due diligence across value chains, increasing collective action to tackle systemic challenges, ensuring alignment between the UNGPs and the development of standards and regulations, strengthening access to remedy, deepening stakeholder engagement, and better tracking of progress.
To help companies fulfill their human rights responsibilities and align with the vision set out by the UNGPs and the UN Working Group’s roadmap, BSR has released a series of deep dives on the emerging issues and approaches that are critical to realizing the promise of the UNGPs and closing the gap between aspiration and action.
This month, we released our final installment: an update to our human rights assessment approach. Grounded in the UNGPs, our approach guides companies through the process of identifying and prioritizing their salient human rights risks and impacts. This is the critical first step for business to prevent and mitigate harm to people.
As stated in the UN Working Group’s roadmap, “Respecting people and the planet, by preventing and addressing adverse impacts across business activities and value chains, is the most significant contribution most businesses can make toward sustainable development.”
As we say goodbye to 2021 and move into 2022, we look forward to supporting business across sectors throughout the globe to fulfill the vision set out by the UDHR by shaping a rights-respecting future.
Topics
Let’s talk about how BSR can help you to transform your business and achieve your sustainability goals. | https://www.bsr.org/en/blog/the-future-of-business-and-human-rights |
Gov. Greg Abbott is asking 500,000 Texas educators to weigh in on what Texas needs to do to prevent the next school shooting.
In response to the May 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting, when a gunman killed 10 people and injured 13, Abbott announced a new survey Wednesday for educators on preparedness for active shooter situations and other crises. It will inform the largest needs assessment on school safety in Texas history.
The resulting needs assessment advise inform lawmakers of “ways in which the State of Texas can further support educators' needs regarding safety, mental health, and violence in schools,” according to a press release. Lawmakers passed a number of school safety measures last year that strengthened mental health initiatives for students and allocated money to districts toward “hardening” their campuses.
"The State of Texas remains committed to ensuring our educators and campuses have the support they need to address safety, mental health, and threats of violence in our schools," Abbott said. "This survey is a vital part of that commitment, and I encourage all potential respondents to participate. This will assist in our continued work to secure our schools and proactively address mental health among our students.”
The survey and assessment are being conducted by Sam Houston State University and the Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University, and funding for the survey has been provided by the governor's public safety office. The efforts are a continuation of the School and Firearm Safety Action Plan Abbott released after the Santa Fe shooting.
“I am grateful to Sam Houston State University and the Texas School Safety Center for their leadership on this important initiative,” Abbott said. “Together, we will ensure the safety and security of our students and teachers.”
The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. It is not clear whether the survey results will be publicly available or when the needs assessment will be completed. | https://www.marfapublicradio.org/2020-03-05/gov-greg-abbott-asks-500000-texas-educators-to-weigh-in-on-preventing-next-school-shooting |
The Ronald McDonald House of the Red River Valley supports families whose children are receiving medical care in the Fargo-Moorhead area by providing home-like comfort, support and care for families.
Vision
Expand our presence through community partnerships to provide exceptional care and comfort to an increasing number of families.
Core Values
- Heart – We serve our families in a caring manner, being sensitive to their needs, and striving to meet those needs through compassionate and gracious hospitality, demonstrating to them that RMHC-RRV is truly their home away from home.
- Integrity – We employ the highest ethical standards, demonstrating honesty and fairness in every action we take. We honor the public’s trust through conscientious management of RMHC-RRV resources.
- Exceptional Service – We are committed to excellence in all that we do, constantly seeking ways to improve our services and enhance the lives of our families, being vigilant to proactively assess and meet their needs.
- Partnership – We strive to develop long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with our donors, volunteers, community, and guests through open and honest communication of our successes and needs and recognition of their participation, knowing that without their valued, trusted, and passionate involvement this work could not exist.
- Team – We work as one to achieve the mission of RMHC-RRV, respecting and building on the unique roles, talents and professionalism of each member of the team and united in our commitment to provide our families with exceptional service.
RMHC-RRV History
Fred and Fran Hill found themselves hearing words no parent wants to hear, “Your child has cancer.” As they navigated their journey to heal their sick daughter, Kim, they slept on benches, ate from vending machines and desperately tried to keep their daughter from seeing the physical and emotional strain they were going through. All around them, they saw other families doing the exact same thing. They learned that many of the families had traveled long distances to bring their children to the medical facility and the cost of hotel rooms and eating in restaurants was more than many of them could afford. They knew there had to be a better way.
October 1974 – The first Ronald McDonald House was opened in Philadelphia in 1974.
1977 – A social worker in Fargo, Wayne Allard, noticed that too many families with sick children in Fargo were sleeping on floors or in their car due to financial issues. With the help of a mother of a child with leukemia, he set out to change this.
December 1982 – The first Fargo Ronald McDonald House was opened at 1234 N. Broadway. At this new house, six families per night could have a warm bed and the support of others in the same situation. It is a beautiful, cozy and warm facility with six private guest bedrooms; a large, fully stocked kitchen; laundry facility; playroom; deck and playground area and other common areas as well as an office and separate living space for the resident managers.
May 2005 – The second Fargo Ronald McDonald House was opened at 1330 18th Avenue South to meet our increasing demand. This second location allowed us to double our capacity and we can now serve up to 12 families per night from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and beyond.
May 2018 – Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Red River Valley found a new home at 4757 Agassiz Crossing S. in Fargo. Throughout the years, the demand for the Ronald McDonald House continued to grow alongside the growth of the pediatric facilities. With this growth and need to address concerns in the first two houses, RMHC began to look toward building a new Ronald McDonald House in Fargo as a replacement of the two current Houses.
With the unwavering support of a RMHC founding partner, Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Red River Valley fundraised for a 17 guest room, 30,000 square foot facility.
Thanks to generous support of over 500 donors, and the hard work from the team at Foss Architecture and Nor-Son Construction, Inc., the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Red River Valley opened in May 2018.
Executive Director Corner
Read more about the happenings of RMHC from Executive Director Jill Christopher. | https://rmhcfargo.org/about-us/our-story/ |
Households in Canada had the highest debt level ever when measured as a portion of disposable income in 2015’s second quarter, Statistics Canada announced September 11.
The ratio of household credit market debt to disposable income rose from 163% in Q1 to 164.6% in Q2. This means that for every dollar of disposable income households brought in, they owed almost $1.65.
As interest rates have fallen in the country, more Canadians have gone further into debt. Households borrowed a total of $26.3 billion in the quarter, which was up $3.7 billion compared with Q1. One of the reasons Canadians have gone further into debt is because interest rates have fallen, making borrowing more attractive.
Here in the Lower Mainland specifically, more individuals are becoming concerned about their finances as a result of owing so much more, said Lana Gilbertson, personal bankruptcy trustee at MNP Debt.
Gilbertson said she is seeing an increase in the number of families and individuals looking to file consumer proposals. These proposals are administered by bankruptcy trustees but are not full bankruptcies; they involve offering to pay creditors a percentage of what is owed or extending the time it takes to pay debt.
“[These families] are working, so they haven’t seen job losses or other life events that would cause an interruption in income, but they’ve been carrying high levels of unsecured debt for so long and they simply can’t do it anymore,” she said.
Benjamin Reitzes, senior economist and vice-president economic research at BMO Capital Markets, said the StatsCan data isn’t as alarming as it sounds.
“There’s little need to fret about households’ ability to carry all that debt, as the household debt service ratio – interest and principal as a share of disposable income - rose a modest 0.2 percentage points to 14.1%, not far from the 10-year average, though further increases would start to ramp up our level of concern,” Reitzes said.
Household net worth also hit an all-time high, reaching 768% of disposable income. This is up 0.7 percentage points compared with the previous quarter. | https://biv.com/article/2015/09/canadian-household-debt-ratio-hits-highest-level-r?fb_ref=Default |
It’s been a long nine months and for most of us (well, those who work behind a desk!) we have spent it working remotely from home. With the vaccine on the horizon what does the future of home/office working look like? And, what percentage of us actually want to go back to the office?
When the pandemic first started I was happily delivering courses from either our Cardiff venue or, at least once a month, from a central London location. Today, all of my training takes place via Zoom or Teams or WebEx. The same applies to our tutors who are spread out across south Wales – all delivering from their homes. What has been quite interesting is that our geographic spread has increased and we have had attendees from North and Mid Wales, the north of England, the Southwest, London, Belgium, Poland and, of course, South Wales!
But, with vaccines being deployed, and new ones being authorised, will this way of working become the ‘new normal’?
The recruitment firm Hays, working alongside the Chartered Institute of Marketing, conducted a survey which looked at marketers’ attitudes to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. It found some very interesting results:
- 55% say that they will request to continue working remotely
- Only one in five say they either won’t request flexible working (14%) or say it’s not possible because of their job (5%)
- The proportion which won’t request flexible working is highest among the under 25s (32%) and lowest among the over 55s (9%)
Whilst the stats may surprise some people, other surveys have found even higher numbers of people wanting to work from home. An Iometrics/Global Workplace Analytics’ Global Work-From-Home Experience Survey found that:
Seventy-six percent of global office workers and 82% of U.S. office workers say they want to continue to work from home, at least weekly, when the pandemic is over (approximately 75 million U.S. employees).
And what about the benefits of home working?
In a Harvard Business Review article (Our Work-from-Anywhere Future) Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury highlights how companies like Twitter, Facebook, Shopify and Siemens have all decided that they will make remote work permanent even after the vaccines are available. For individuals these were some of the benefits that he identified:
- The ability to live anywhere in the world
- Better quality of life – for some people this might include the ability to live where they want, whilst for young people it might mean that they become digital nomads.
- Cost of living was another factor for some people – just consider the cost of buying/renting a house in different parts of the UK or the world.
- Immigration issues might factor in for others
He further went on to identify benefits for organisations and these included:
- Employee engagement
- Workers are more productive
- Office space costs (obviously) go down
- Employee churn rate goes down
Whilst it’s obvious to focus on employees and the organisation, the author has also considered the impact on society and some of these benefits include:
- The brain drain which occurs in many parts of the country could be slowed down
- The environment benefits – less commuting = a cleaner environment
I’m not sure where but I read an article which said that the pandemic has condensed 10 years of development – in terms of how remote learning might have played out – into nine months. It goes without saying that work will never quite be the same after the pandemic has played out but it will be interesting to see how companies adopt what they have experienced over the last nine months and incorporate that into their ‘new normal’. | https://marketingtommedia.co.uk/remote-working-and-the-future-of-work-and-even-training/ |
In honor of Hispanic Heritage month, I dug into our Compass data and pulled out 5 trends I found interesting, and hope you do too!
1. Minnesota's Hispanic population is one of the fastest-growing
The Hispanic population of the United States is 54 million, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority. In Minnesota, the Hispanic population has climbed from 54,000 in 1990 to 271,000 in 2013. Today, one in twenty Minnesota residents identify as Hispanic.
2. As a group, Hispanics are much younger than Minnesota’s overall population, and an increasing share are native born
The number of Hispanic children in Minnesota has quintupled since 1990, and Hispanic children now comprise 8 percent of Minnesota’s under 18 population. The median age of Hispanic residents is 24 compared to 38 for Minnesota overall. Sixty-two percent of Minnesota’s Hispanic residents are native born and 91 percent of Hispanic children under age 18 are native born. About half of native-born Hispanic children have parents who are immigrants.
3. Most Hispanics reside in the lower half of the state
The Twin Cities region is home to nearly 180,000 Hispanics. In greater Minnesota, the highest proportion of Hispanics live in southern Minnesota and central Minnesota, in part, drawn by employment opportunities in farming, processing, and manufacturing plants.
4. High school graduation rates are on the rise, but still low
Similar to the nation, high school graduation rates for Minnesota's Hispanic students have climbed over the last decade. On-time graduation rates in Minnesota rose from 33 percent to 58 percent, but remain well below the overall state average of 80 percent. Just 16 percent of Minnesota’s Hispanic population age 25 and older has a bachelor’s degree, compared to 33 percent of Minnesota’s overall population.
5. A high proportion of Hispanic adults are working, but earn below average
Seventy-one percent of Hispanic adults in Minnesota are working, the 6th highest percentage in the nation, but still 5 percentage points below the share of all adults in Minnesota who are working (76%). And, on average, Hispanics fare far worse when they get their paychecks; the median income of a Hispanic-headed household is $18,000 less than the overall state median household income. About 1 in 4 Hispanic residents live in poverty, more than double the poverty rate for all Minnesotans.
This article contains additional American Community Survey census data not found on the Compass web site. | https://www.mncompass.org/data-insights/articles/minnesotas-hispanic-population-5-interesting-trends |
With confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus increasing by the day, state governments across the country have heightened restrictions for movement and business. Many are now living under shelter-in-place orders, with non-essential businesses shuttered and strong recommendations to only leave the house when it is absolutely necessary.
These changes to normal daily activities have impacted not just where people work, but the state of their mental health as well. CivicScience surveyed thousands of U.S. adults employed pre- COVID-19 about their experience in the last week–on the job and in their mind.
Even with the increased restrictions for many, 43% of employed U.S. adults are still working as usual, or more. Twenty-four percent are working as usual or more, but remote.
As the data show, over two thirds (69%) of working U.S. adults have some level of concern over their employment situation, due to the spread of coronavirus. Concern is highest for professionals and those in the service industry.
Meanwhile, 42% of U.S. adults at large are employed in a job that requires them to leave their home during the pandemic.
With so many shifts and potential changes for many individuals’ employment situations, it is important to understand the impact on mental health.
Worry on the Rise
Since February, U.S. adults at large have experienced a striking increase in worry. In the last month, worry has risen from 48% to 62%. And, as it turns out, worry is nearly just as high amongst those who are working as usual or more, but remotely as those working as usual or more but not remote. But we’re seeing the highest level of worry among those who are not working but still getting paid.
Those who are most concerned about their employment situation as a result of the current crisis have also experienced the most worry in the last week. And given the sharp increase in worry over the past month, it is likely that this feeling is not going away any time soon.
Staying In, Stressing Out
Stress is also taking a major toll on U.S. adults, with the number of individuals experiencing this emotion rising sharply in the past month.
In February, 55% of U.S. adults had felt some level of stress during the average recent week. That percentage has risen to 62% in just one month’s time.
We observe the highest stress levels in the past week from those who are still getting some sort of compensation, but not currently working. Those who are still working as usual (or more) and those who are working the same or more than usual, but remotely, respectively, are high up on the stress meter as well. While working from home is the ideal for some, it does create a change in routine–especially under the current circumstances–and an adjustment period that could be further increasing stress levels, amidst the daily developments of this health crisis. Perhaps the most stressful part of this situation is breaking routine, and not knowing what’s next.
Naturally, stress is a major factor for those who are also concerned about their employment situation. That said, just over half of U.S. adults who are not concerned about the stability of their job are also feeling stress. This suggests that while the potential for losing a job clearly heightens stress levels, overall stress is especially high, as this pandemic continues to spread.
It is also worth noting that stress is highest right now amongst U.S. adults aged 18-34, as well as those who are neither parents nor grandparents. While popular opinion suggests that younger adults are less willing to be inconvenienced by shelter in place guidelines, the data challenges this notion, revealing that this group could in fact be one of the most vulnerable to stress during this tumultuous time, given they are a large part of the U.S. workforce.
As it stands, those working as usual or more (remote or not) and those concerned about the consistency of their employment are navigating the highest levels of worry and stress. The study observes that staying indoors may cause more feelings of isolation, stress, and worry than those who get to stick to their routines, even amid the pandemic. With this combination of emotions dominating the current state of mental health, it is easy to feel as though the end is nowhere in sight. Add to this the fact that levels of excitement and happiness have fallen dramatically in the last month, and it becomes even more clear that the emotional toll of this pandemic is being felt across the board. | https://civicscience.com/remote-workers-are-nearly-just-as-worried-as-their-counterparts-amid-covid-19/ |
A report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project has released data on mobile usage in the US and how it relates to age, gender, ethnic origin and income.
The report found that 91% of Americans over the age of 18 now own a cell phone, with 60% of these individuals using them to access the internet, and 50% downloading apps.
It also showed that 57% of American adults use their cell phone to go online – a figure that has doubled since 2009.
85% of mobile phone owners in the 18-29 bracket used their device to go online, with over half saying it was their primary way to access the internet.
Aside from phone calls, texting remains the most popular use for cell phones.
Since mid 2009, the percentage of people texting has risen from 65% to 81%.
The ethnic group who sends and receives the most text messages is Hispanic, and the age group most likely to text is (unsurprisingly) the 18-29 year olds.
Three out of five Hispanic users said they used their phone most often to go online.
The report was based on a survey of 2,252 adults, and the age groups reviewed were 18-29, 30-49, 50-64, and 65+.
The survey also factored in education attainment and household income, and reviewed three races/ethnicities; White (Non-Hispanic), Black (Non-Hispanic) and Hispanic.
Here are some other findings of the report:
- Individuals who download apps onto their cell phones has increased from 22% in mid 2009 to 50% in mid 2013.
- Video calls have also increased in popularity, from 7% in 2010 to 21% in 2013.
- The group who text the most in relation to their education attainment is those who attended college (86%).
- Similarly, 88% of those who have a household income of $50,000 or over send and receive the most text messages, in comparison to those who earn less than $30,000 per annum (78%).
- Women access the internet on their cell phone less than men do.
- Those who have household incomes of over $75,000 use the internet on their cell phone more than any other income group.
- In relation to apps, the group who had the highest percentage of downloads were men (52%), 18-29 year olds (77%) and those who had attained the highest possible education and were earning the highest household income.
- 15% of adult Americans aren’t online.
- The study found overall that mobile internet usage was up 8% from 55% in April 2012.
To look at the Cell Internet Usage report, go here. | https://www.globaldatinginsights.com/mobile/08092015-this-is-how-much-americans-use-their-mobile-phone/ |
The Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex has published four EUROMOD working papers relevant to the Citizen’s Basic Income Debate.
1. Diego Collado has written Financial work incentives and the long-term unemployed: The case of Belgium.
Although many of the household incomes of long-term unemployed (LTU) people in Belgium are below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, their potential in-work incomes may limit the room for increasing their often inadequate out-of-work benefits. The reason is that in the presence of substitution effects, changes in the difference between the incomes obtained when working and not working may affect the likelihood of taking up work. To study whether this is the case, we analysed the effect of changes in participation tax-rates (PTRs) on the likelihood of transitioning from long-term unemployment to more than half a year of employment during the seven two-year episodes that took place between 2005 and 2012. PTRs operationalise substitution incentives by measuring the proportion of household earnings taken in (effective) tax and withdrawn benefits when a household member moves from unemployment to employment. We found that a 10 percentage point increase in the PTR (e.g. due to an equivalent decrease in replacement rates or increase in tax rates) decreased the likelihood of transitioning by around four percentage points. This effect is sizable taking into account that the baseline probability of taking up work for more than half a year was nine per cent (it was 13 per cent when including transitions to six or less months). (p.24)
The paper does not find a similarly significant effect for marginal effective tax rates (METRs): the total withdrawal rate due to income taxation and the withdrawal of benefits for individuals in employment.
2. Miko Tammik has written Baseline results from the EU28 EUROMOD: 2014-2017.
The research finds that of all the EU countries the UK has the highest proportion of METRs due to the benefits system (figure 4 on p.38 and table 8 on p.39).
3. James Browne and Herwig Immervoll have written Mechanics of replacing benefit systems with a basic income: comparative results from a microsimulation approach.
This is a longer description of the research behind the OECD paper, Basic Income as a policy option: Can it add up? The Basic Income scheme tested in both the OECD paper and the EUROMOD working paper abolishes most means-tested benefits, rather than retaining them and recalculating them, and finds some disadvantages of doing that. To read our review of the OECD paper, click here. A similar critique would apply to the EUROMOD working paper.
4. To read updated microsimulation research on an illustrative revenue neutral Citizen’s Basic Income scheme that leaves the means-tested benefits system in place, and that reduces inequality, reduces poverty, avoids significant losses for low-income households, takes a lot of households off means-tested benefits, and brings a significant number of households within striking distance of coming off means-tested benefits, click here. | https://citizensincome.org/news/four-euromod-working-papers/ |
Despite citing reduced income and social interaction, Irish employees appear to be happily embracing the brave new world of working from home. Employers take note.
Almost half of workers now working remotely have already accepted a salary reduction or expect one in the near future as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
A new survey carried out on behalf of the National Recruitment Federation (NRF) has found that similarly 50pc of workers are already experiencing lower household income, or expect to, as a result of lower personal pay or a working partner being unpaid or on reduced pay.
Those experiencing reduced earnings were more likely to work in sales (77pc) or professional services (51pc), to be Dublin-based (53pc), and to be on a salary scale under €50,000.
“The notion of a remote working revolution in the future must be seriously examined by employers”
However, 73pc, over 7 in 10 now working from home have seen their overall outgoings reduced, or are saving money as a result.
Cohorts that appear to be benefitting most in terms of savings include those in suburban or rural areas, those who are always office based, and those who normally use either public transport or their car to get to work.
The survey was carried out nationally last week, by research company Opinions. It questioned individuals working from home on their experience of remote working and the practical and emotional impacts. Income change and future finances and employment prospects were also examined.
Job security in a brave new world
On future job security perceptions, just 1 in 4 of workers, 25pc, are very confident of the security of their role after the crisis; although almost half, 46pc, appear quite confident.
Of the 24pc not confident at all of their job prospects, this cohort includes those living in urban areas, people who have already taken a pay cut, or expect to, and those whose pay is currently supplemented by a Government subsidy.
Over 4 in 10 working from home report that the nature of their role has changed considerably due to Covid-19, beyond just working from a different location. Dramatically changed work practices and the nature of work now done remotely was most likely to affect people under 35 years old, those in the C2DE social grade and those reporting a salary cut.
4 in 10 working remotely claim that Covid-19 disruption is causing them to evaluate their job and consider a new or different role elsewhere, or a new career or training opportunity. Similarly, those most likely to be reviewing their career potential now include the under 35s, those in urban areas, people who have taken a salary cut or whose role has changed as a result of working from home.
Remotely happy
Despite financial worries and changed career prospects, the National Recruitment Federation survey reveals polarised experiences of working through Covid-19, NRF President, Donal O’Donoghue says.
59pc, or almost 6 in 10 people now working remotely, say they are happier as a result, he explains.
“On balance, it seems, we are happier working from home; and, almost 7 in 10 say they would be happy to work remotely in future. So, leaving aside economic concerns, the notion of a remote working revolution in the future must be seriously examined by employers”.
While 68pc said they would be happy to work remotely in future, with occasional office meetings, only 3 in 10, 30pc of workers that never work from home in ordinary circumstances, say they are likely to ask their employer for such an arrangement.
Those reported to be most happy with remote working are living in rural areas, or working in professional services and advisory or consultancy roles. Suburban residents in executive or operational roles and those over 55 years old were most likely to be less happy working from home.
Pros and cons of working from home
Questioned on the positive aspects of working from home, 81pc agreed they were safer, in terms of the spread of Covid-19.
In terms of the work experience, not having a daily commute was the top benefit, referenced by eight out of ten working from home.
Not needing to dress or appear in a certain way, such as clean shaven, was selected as a positive aspect by 57pc, while 47pc felt they were not spending as much on lunch and incidental shopping.
The flexibility to work when it suits appeals to 45pc of respondents, but only 34pc felt that increased productivity at home and getting through more work was a benefit.
On the question of productivity levels, almost twice as many working remotely feel they are less productive than more productive. While 40pc say they are similarly productive now that they are working from home, a similar proportion (39pc) feel they are less productive as a result.
However, one fifth, 21pc of workers, feel they are actually a lot more productive at home.
Missing social interaction?
Missing social interaction with work colleagues is identified as the number one negative or challenge experienced to date by 54pc of those working from home. Interaction with colleagues for professional reasons or practical work supports emerges as a main challenge for slightly fewer, at 47pc.
42pc say it is harder to get motivated and in the frame of mind to work, while distraction from other family members is a problem for 36pc and distraction from children bothers 32pc.
Unsurprisingly, distraction from children is the number 1 negative experienced to date by parents working from home.
More than one in 5, 21pc, is hampered in working from home by poor or no broadband connectivity, an issue flagged by the National Recruitment Federation as significant in terms of encouraging the remote working model in Ireland.
Many factors in play at the moment, such as job security and distraction from home-schooled children would not normally exist for remote workers, Donal O’Donoghue explains.
“Post Covid-19, we expect cost-savings and logistics issues like reduced commuting to tip the balance in favour of working from home for many. Interaction with colleagues, socially and professionally, can still happen with various technologies, although outside of the main urban areas reliable broadband infrastructure will be crucial”.
New ways of working
With the pandemic likely to prompt new ways of working in the future, employers will also look at the fact that 4 in 10 workers claim they are less productive working from home currently.
Again, this is more a product of the lockdown and the unique circumstances we find ourselves in, than of remote working, the NRF President says.
“Increasingly, global data in the recruitment sector confirms that remote workers are more productive than their office-based counterparts. Out of the office, they report less distractions and less stress, largely due to greater autonomy”.
The fact that working remotely is making 4 in 10 evaluate their job and consider a different role or career elsewhere will also be food for thought for many employers, Donal O’Donoghue says.
“Enabling some sort of home working arrangement would appear sensible, both from an employee satisfaction and productivity perspective. Time and money savings for employees make economic sense and employers will also reckon in the need for less office space and infrastructure for remote workers too!”
Working at home impacts survey
Carried out by Opinions.ie, fieldwork for this study ran from 13 April to 16 April 2020. The representative sample of 512 individuals included those living alone, couples, and families with children, in urban and rural settings countrywide. | https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/remote-working-ireland-national-recruitment-federation-social-income-happiness/ |
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T h e P h i l i p p i n e s '
National Profile of the Poor
WHO THE
POOR ARE
42.9% strong materials
2.4 million of the poor households nationwide had strong roofing materials. Strong materials for the roof refer to the construction materials made of galvanized iron, aluminum, tile, concrete, brick, stone or asbestos.
47.7% light materials
2.7 million have outer walls made of light materials such as bamboo, sawali, cogo, nipa, and anahaw.
1.5 million poor households are vulnerable to natural or human-induced disasters because the roof and walls of housing units are made entirely of light materials.
2
out of
5
individuals are living in poverty.
Out of the 67,011,704 individuals assessed during the
third nationwide household assessment,
45% or 30,397,224 are residing in a poor household.
More than one million have no
access to electricity.
908,002 or 16.2% of poor households use
kerosene as their source of lighting.
Poor households that use fuelwood for
cooking comprise 86.4% or 4.9 million
of the total poor household population.
Assets owned by
most poor
households:
In terms of sex-distribution, proportion of male poor individuals is higher (15,698,419) compared to females with 14,698,805.
21.4%
Employed
78.6%
Unemployed
A huge percentage of poor women in working-age group are unemployed.
Four in every ten assessed women are poor. Of the 14.7 million women identified as poor nationwide, 8,027,574 are in economically productive age group. Ironically, 78.6% of them have no reported occupation.
54.8%
of the total poor
individuals are in
working-age and are
supporting the other
half (
45.2%
) who are
either young or old
dependents.
Out of the 30.4 million individuals
identified as poor nationwide, majority
or 16.7 million belonged in economically
productive age or working age group
(15 to 64 years old).
45.2% are poor individuals in dependent age group (under age 15 and over age 64):
94.8%
young age group (0 to 14 years old)
5.2%
old age group (65 years old and above)
Despite a high case of poverty among children,
69.7%
of the total poor children are attending school.
More than half of the total school aged children (3 to 17 years old) identified as poor are attending school with 10,564,167.
Almost half of the total poor senior citizens in the country are in employment.
Senior Citizens are considered particularly vulnerable since they are physically more frail. Despite this, 41.4% or two out of five poor individuals belonging in this sector have reported occupation.
36
in every
100
poor youth are not in employment and education (NEE).
The youth sector has the highest share to the 16.7 million economically productive age poor individuals with 50.7%. However, 35.6% of the total poor youth are both not in employment and not attending school or NEE.
POVERTY AMONG OTHER SECTORS
FARMERS
Mixed crop and livestock farm laborers, crop farm laborers, and corn farmers constitute the biggest portion of poor farmers in the Philippines.
Farmers’ (aged 15 years old and above) share to the total poor individuals (aged 15 years and above) is 16.3% or 2,826,062. Most farmers work for private households (32.1%), while 26.6% are self-employed without any paid employees.
FISHERMAN
55.6% of poor individuals belonging to this sector are self-employed fishermen without any paid employees.
The fishing industry provides employment to 3 out of 100 poor individuals aged 15 years old and above. This is equivalent to 604,639 or 3.48% of the total poor individuals in both working age and old age groups.
PERSONS WITH DISABILITY (PWDs)
19.1% or 36,761 PWDs who are aged 15 years old and above have reported occupations.
Almost one percent of the total poor individuals or 271,672 are considered PWDs nationwide. PWDs are also beneficiaries of different social protection programs and services. Out of 242,425 households with at least one member with disability, 89.2% declare to be recipients of grants or services from Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) and Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), among others.
SOLO PARENTS
64.3% or 346,494 households are headed by solo parents.
There are 583,769 poor individuals (aged 18 years old and above) declare that they are solo parents. At the household level, 538,686 poor households have at least one member who is a solo parent.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (IPs)
Highest magnitude of poor IP households is in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao with 102,412.
There are 4,056,240 IP individuals that are residing in a poor household. Unemployment among poor IP individuals aged 15 years old and above is higher in number (1,238,541) than the recorded 1,064,084 poor IP individuals with reported occupation in the same age group.
OTHERS
82 in every 100 poor households have received assistance from social protection programs.
81.98% of the total poor households or 4,589,964 declared to be recipients of social protection (SP) services or beneficiaries of SP programs, to include Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth), Day Care Services, Supplementary Feeding, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and Subsidized Rice, among others.
WHERE THE
POOR ARE
The Listahanan 3 project was implemented in 81 provinces, 145 cities, and 1,489 municipalities, covering a total of 42,045 barangays nationwide.
Despite the many challenges faced during its implementation, including the declaration of national public emergency brought by the pandemic, natural calamities, among many others, the project has successfully assessed a total of 15,487,655 households through house-to-house interviews. Of this figure, 36% or 5,599,091 households were identified as poor.
Poor Households
See full magnitude of poor
⟶
Majority of the poor households are found in rural areas.
The results of Listahanan 3 proved the disparity between living in urban and in rural settings. Percentage of poor to assessed households in rural barangays is slightly higher (38.3%) than in urban with 31.9%.
Nearly two million poor households still live in areas where clean water is physically scarce. | https://listahanan.dswd.gov.ph/listahanan3/ |
23rd April 2018
The UNHCR Seeds for Solutions (SfS) project is designed to enhance the economic security of both Malian refugees and the host community in the Sahel region of Burking Faso, through interventions in the dairy sector and support to micro-enterprise initiatives. Evidence for Development have been involved in assessing the impacts of the SfS project since 2014, and we have recently completed the fourth study in a series of household economy surveys in Goudebou and Mentao camps. This longitudinal study is of great interest as it provides a rare study of a group of refugee households over time and aims to identify key factors determining household well-being and progress towards economic self-sufficiency.
The 2018 study was conducted in January-February and used the same Individual Household Method (IHM) as in previous studies. This has enabled us to compare household income levels between studies, as well as information on demography, assets and livelihood activities.
A ‘distance support’ protocol, which was initially piloted in 2016, was used for the data collection: the core team of interviewers in Burkina Faso were trained by EfD between 2014 and 2015, and subsequently supported remotely whilst in the field. This has proved to be a highly effective method of working, with important lessons and implications for working in areas where access for non-national staff is limited.
The report of this work ‘Milk Solutions for Livelihoods and Self-Reliance, Burkina Faso: IHM Evidence (2018)’ is available to view or download here
No comments yet. | https://efd.org/news/measuring-livelihood-changes-among-malian-refugees-in-burkina-faso/ |
KARACHI: As many as 70.3pc of the country’s labour force “works without any written contract or agreement”, according to a research report titled “Poverty and Inequality amid a Pandemic in Pakistan – An analysis of labour market”.
This lack of economic documentation leaves a large proportion of the labour market vulnerable, as they remain unprotected by the law and at a greater risk of falling into the perils of poverty.
“With 50pc of the world’s GDP in lockdown, all kinds of markets are faced the ultimate test. The case of Pakistan’s labour market is no different,” stated the report compiled by Sarah Nizami and Muhammad Shahid Waheed, researchers at the Applied for Economics Research Centre in Karachi.
The report also covers how ‘working from home’ culture is furthering the scope of inequality in the country. “To work from home and to keep safe during a pandemic is a luxury not all can afford. When it comes to earning from home, the inequality is of two kinds, first being economic inequality while second being geographic.”
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY
As per the authors’ analysis of the Labour Force Survey 2017-2018, only 8pc of the first three quintiles, i.e. the poorest, poor, and middle-income group, have the opportunity to work from home.
Managers have almost 89pc opportunity to work from home in comparison to zero per cent in the least earning occupations.
White-collar jobs, with most opportunities to earn from home, are not only the highest-paid but are also the most secure.
GEOGRAPHICAL INEQUALITY
The study further analyzes the inequality between geographical locations. “While employees in some regions of the country have the luxury to obey the travel restrictions and work from home, the regions full of factories and lab workers do not have the same privilege.”
Justify this further, the report stated, “If poor families could somehow work from home, packed space and a higher number of household members could spread the infection faster and make working from home difficult.”
According to the latest Household Integrated Economic Survey of Pakistan, the average household size in the poorest quintile is 8 members per house while in comparison the average household size in the richest quintile is 4.8 members.
As per the study in major cities of Sindh, the percentage of people who can work from home is highest in Karachi with 20pc, Hyderabad 12pc and Sukkur 11pc. In Punjab, the highest percentage is found in Lahore (21pc), followed by Rawalpindi (20pc), Multan (13.2pc), Faisalabad (9.5pc) and Sargodha (8.6pc). In KP, the highest percentage is in Peshawar (19.6pc) while in Balochistan; the percentage for Quetta is 29.2pc, the highest in the country. For Islamabad, the figure stands at 24pc.
INDUSTRIAL ANALYSIS
As per the study, a strong majority of Sindh’s vulnerable workforce is found in the argriculture, forestry and fishing sectors (25.2pc). This is followed by manufacturing (21pc) and construction (20.2pc).
For Punjab, the majority of the vulnerable labour force lies in manufacturing with 31.2pc, followed by 21pc in construction and 14.7pc in agriculture, forestry & fishing. In KP and Balochistan, construction industry tops with vulnerable labour at 36.5pc and 30pc, respectively. Manufacturing comes next in KP by 18.6pc, while the second in Baluchistan is agriculture (16pc).
The study further highlights how a significant proportion of the labour force does not have a written contract or agreement. This is due to the informal nature of the job or tax evasion on the part of the employer.
“While most secure jobs are with the federal or provincial governments, it is important to note that less than 25pc of the country’s population has permanent jobs. As seen, the biggest percentage (70.3pc) of the country are those who ‘work without a written labour contract or agreement’, thus becoming the most vulnerable group in the time of crisis.”
The report concludes that the most vulnerable occupation group in all provinces are the minimum wage essential workers who work without formal contact. | https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/04/17/pakistans-70pc-labour-force-working-without-formal-paperwork-report/ |
Hiring remote disabled workers could help close the labor gap, economist says
The end to America’s nationwide labor shortage is still not in sight, but some economists suggest that having a more diversely-abled workforce in today’s hybrid work culture could help solve it.
The switch to working from home or through a hybrid model as a result of COVID increased the rate of employment for disabled workers. According to the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), disabled individuals between the ages of 25-54 "are 3.5 percentage points more likely to be employed in Q2 2022 than they were pre-pandemic. In contrast, non-disabled individuals were still 1.1 percentage points less likely to be employed."
“The ability to hire remotely allows firms to not just hire workers in their local labor markets but hire workers across the country and in some positions even across the world," Adam Ozimek, chief economist at EIG, told Yahoo Finance. "That is helpful [for the labor shortage]. Firms that embrace remote work will find themselves less subjected to an inability to hire."
The roots of the current worker shortage are linked to the coronavirus pandemic, which wiped out half a million jobs from the U.S. workforce, and the Great Resignation, which took hold after the pandemic. If every unemployed worker filled a job opening, there would still be about 4 million open jobs, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Industrial states like Texas and Ohio are two examples of places that have an extreme labor shortage where more than 200,000 workers are needed. Meanwhile, Washington is the only state in the U.S. that has a surplus of workers.
“The labor shortage is obviously a huge economic problem, but it's also a big opportunity for people with disabilities,” John Robinson, CEO of Our Ability, told Yahoo Finance.
Pre-COVID, 6.3% of disabled individuals worked from home versus 5.9% of non-disabled individuals. Working remotely increases productivity for workers with disabilities because it eliminates challenges such as commuting to work and other environments that can be difficult to navigate.
“I'm 3-foot-8, no arms, no legs," Robinson said. "It's easier for me to communicate here where I can type and have all my assets in front of me. I don't have to worry about carrying a briefcase. I don't have to worry about getting in transportation. So technology has really leveled the playing field for people with disabilities, and I'm just one example of that."
Why it's an advantage
Historically, unemployment rates have been far worse for people with disabilities compared to other demographic groups, according to the Center for American Progress. As of 2022, there are approximately 61 million people living with a disability in the U.S., an “untapped workforce," according to Robinson.
Employment rates for disabled workers, which were already rising before the pandemic, surpassed that of abled workers in remote jobs post-COVID. With a tight labor market, application screening for jobs is less aggressive, which would previously disproportionately affect disabled candidates, as employers would be less likely to accommodate workers with disabilities.
Data shows that there's an upside to employing disabled individuals — according to a report published in Nature, "people with disabilities are often more likely to find appropriate solutions to complex and unexpected problems. This is because they are coping with sometimes difficult personal situations in environments that are not always meant to accommodate their specific requirements."
“Companies are able to thrive when they employ the best talent and actually select the right people for the role versus the best of a narrow, limited pool," Yvonne Cower Yancy, chief administrative officer and head of workplace at Understood.org, told Yahoo Finance. "In fact, the business case for disability inclusion is extensive. In addition to higher profit levels, it also can result in increased employee retention and engagement, increased productivity, a variety of new perspectives to solve existing problems, and more."
Benefits like closed captioning, flexible working hours, medical breaks, and using one’s own assistive technology help produce the best quality of work, accelerating financial growth for a business, she noted.
Essentially, having a disability gives these individuals an advantage over their non-disabled colleagues because of their different perspectives and environments.
"Given that a company’s ability to identify creative and innovative solutions can give it a competitive edge, not hiring people with these sought-after capabilities certainly poses a financial threat to businesses," the report stated.
Both Ozimek and Robinson are optimistic that the remote work trend and higher employment of disabled workers will continue to grow in the future.
“We're seeing the drag on the financial markets because of the labor market," Robinson said. "So if we can present people with disabilities into the labor market in a more equitable way on a long-term basis and use remote work to do it, we can grow our economy, and we can get out of these inflationary times."
—
Tanya Kaushal is a data reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter. | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hiring-remote-disabled-workers-close-labor-gap-171536921.html?utm_source=elinfonet |
Linklaters has formalised its global agile working policy, with employees able to work remotely for up to 20-50% of their time. This is despite the fact that Linklaters signed a lease agreement for its new circa 350,000 sq. ft London headquarters at 20 Ropemaker Street just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Under the new global policy employees will be able to work remotely as long it is communicated to teams in advance and operational roles are fulfilled.
A statement out today (25 August) said: “The policy captures the lessons learned from remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic, reflecting that high-quality work can be delivered whilst working remotely, supported by the firm’s longstanding investment in robust technology. This is a long-term agile working policy, intended to apply beyond Covid-19 restrictions and offices will continue to follow the most recent Covid-19 guidance applicable in their jurisdiction on returning to the office.”
Linklaters says that it is also further encouraging open and continuous dialogues across the firm on what agility individuals might want as they return or consider returning to the office, including:
Flexible start and finish times;
Modified daily ‘core’ hours; and
Modified hours to allow for commitments outside of work.
This follows key changes to the firm’s UK formal flexible working policy enabling any employee to request a formal flexible working arrangement, no matter how long they have been employed by the firm, without having to explain the reasons for their request.
In February Linklaters announced that it had signed the lease for 14 floors 20 Ropemaker after eight years of planning. The magic circle firm will move into its new state of the art global headquarters in 2026 and we’re told that there is no change to the amount of space it is taking.
Andrea Arosio, managing partner of Linklaters in Italy and member of Linklaters’ Global People Committee, said: | https://legaltechnology.com/2020/08/25/linklaters-formalises-global-agile-working-policy/ |
11. What assessment he has made of the potential effect of paying universal credit to households rather than individuals or women experiencing financial abuse. (902570)
For a minority of claimants, including women who may be victims of financial abuse, alternative payment arrangements can be made. We can split payments to members of the household, where necessary, under universal credit. Furthermore, jobcentre staff are trained to identify vulnerable claimants and can signpost individuals, at their request, to local domestic abuse support organisations for further help and support.
Research carried out earlier this year by the Trade Union Congress and Women’s Aid, “Unequal, Trapped and Controlled”, found that universal credit had far-reaching implications for women experiencing financial abuse and, in particular, that the single household payment could leave women and their children in financial hardship. Current arrangements could make it difficult for victims to declare the need for a single household payment for fear of their abuser finding out. Will the Secretary of State commit to asking all claimants automatically if they require an alternative payment arrangement, including the choice of paying their landlord directly, to ensure that women and children are protected from destitution and homelessness?
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. I think we all agree that there is no room for domestic violence or abuse in a civilised society in the 21st century. Advisers are well trained and look out for victims. They look at who has care and responsibility for children and, where appropriate, can split payments or make them more often than once a month—certainly they can be treated differently from those in normal circumstances. | https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-12-07/debates/15120711000021/UniversalCredit(PaymentArrangements) |
Pretoria: The percentage of learners who attended no fee schools increased from 62.4% in 2013 to 65.4% in 2014, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Wednesday.
Delivering the results of the 2014 General Household Survey (GHS) Statistician General Pali Lehohla said that the percentage of learners who were exempt from paying school fees increased from 0.4% in 2002 to 65.4% in 2014 with Limpopo at 92% and the Eastern Cape at 81.5% having the highest proportions of learners exempt from paying school fees.
Learners that were least likely to benefit from the no fee system were in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Nationally, 33.4% of individuals aged five years and older attended an educational institution with approximately 87% of South African individuals above the age of five years who attended an educational institution, were in either primary or high school, while 4.9% attended tertiary institutions.
The lack of money for fees remained as the primary reason a large proportion of people in this age group were not studying.
When coming to access to water, the percentage of households that have access to piped water was at 90% in 2014, compared to 85% in 2002.
Nationally, 61.4% of households rated the quality of water related services they received as good however satisfaction has been eroding steadily since 2005 when 76.4% of users rated the service as good.
According to the survey which was conducted between January and December 2014, an estimated 46.3% of households had access to piped water in their homes in 2014 while a further 27% accessed water within the yard while 14% relied on communal taps.
Electricity
The GHS revealed that 86% of households in South Africa had access to mains electricity in 2014. Nationally the percentage of households that rated electricity supply as good have decreased to 66.5% nationally from 68% in 2013.
Sanitation
According to the survey, nationally, the percentage of households with access to “RDP standard sanitation” increased from 62.3% in 2002 to 79.5% in 2014. The majority of households in the Western Cape (94.6%) and Gauteng (90.9%) had access to adequate sanitation.
Despite the improved access to RDP standard sanitation facilities, many households continue to be without any proper sanitation facilities.
Main source of income
The survey revealed that more people continued to rely on state coffers as the percentage of individuals that benefitted from social grants increased from 12.7% in 2003 to 30.2% in 2013 before declining slightly to 29% in 2014.
The percentage of households that received at least one grant increased from 29.9% to 45.5% in 2013 before slightly declining to 44.5% in 2014.
Meanwhile, the report also showed that 18.1% of South Africans were covered by a medical aid.
The report also showed that 69.3% of households went to public clinics or hospitals first when household members fell ill or got injured.
The study found that 81.7% of households that attended public healthcare facilities were either very satisfied or satisfied with the service they received compared to 92% of households that attended private healthcare facilities. | https://africanewswire.za.com/%EF%BB%BFmore-children-attending-no-fee-schools-survey-2/ |
Background: Spatial analysis has been vital in mapping the spread of diseases and assisting in policy making. Targeting diarrhea transmission hotspots is one of the potential strategies for reducing diarrhea cases. This study aimed to examine the spatial-temporal variations and to identify the modifiable determinants of diarrhea while controlling for the spatial dependence in the data. Methods: An ecological study on diarrhea data from DLHS-3 and NFHS- 4 in India. Moran’s I and LISA were used to detect the spatial clustering of diarrhea cases and to test for clustering in the data. Spatial regression was used to identify the modifiable factors associated with the prevalence of diarrhea. The study comprised of the prevalence of diarrhea among the children below the age of five years (U-5 s) across different states in India. The determinants of diarrhea were obtained using spatial lag models. The software used were GeoDa 1.6.6 and QGIS 2.0. Results: The presence of spatial autocorrelation in DLHS-3 and NFHS-4 (Moron’s I = 0.577 and 0.369 respectively) enforces the usage of geographical properties while modeling the diarrhea data. The geographic clustering of highprevalence districts was observed in the state of UP consistently. The spatial pattern of the percentage of children with diarrhea was persistently associated with the household with a sanitation facility (%) (p = 0.023 and p = 0.011). Compared to the diarrhea cases in the period 2007–2008, no much reduction was observed in the period 2015–2016. The prevalence of diarrhea and percentage of household with sanitation were ranging between 0.1–33.8% and 1.3–96. 1% in the period 2007–2008 and 0.6–29.1% and 10.4–92.0% in the period 2015–2016 respectively. The least and highest prevalence of diarrhea being consistently from Assam and UP respectively. Conclusion: Despite improvements in controlling spread of diarrheal disease, the burden remains high. Focus on widespread diarrheal disease control strategy by addressing the social determinants of health like basic sanitation is crucial to reduce the burden of diarrhea among U-5 s in India. The identification of hotspots will aid in the planning of control strategies for goal setting in the targeted regions. | http://eprints.manipal.edu/152597/ |
The United States Census Bureau recently launched the Household Pulse Survey (HPS) to chart the social and economic effects of COVID-19 on American households. HPS is a 20-minute online survey sent to households scientifically chosen to represent the entire population. Selected individuals are asked questions to determine how their lives and livelihoods and those they live with have been affected by the ongoing crisis.
Created in collaboration with five other federal agencies, HPS provides weekly data reports on employment status, food security, population health, and other critical metrics. Begun in late April, these reports make it possible to track the impact of COVID 19 on Arkansas’s working-age population from early May to early July.
Table 1
Table 1 shows a substantial increase in the percentage of working-age Arkansans reporting a loss in household employment income since March 13. From May 19 to July 7, working households reporting losses in employment income increased steadily from 41.5% to 46.9%.
Table 2
Although the overall percentage of working-age adults in Arkansas who reported working in the last seven days increased slightly from 38% to 40.9%, the report rate fluctuated significantly during the nine weeks covered by Table 2. During June 2-9, the percentage of those who reported working fell to 33% but jumped to 43% three weeks later before plateauing at just above 40% by July.
Table 3
Table 4
Table 3 indicates that the percentage of working-age adults who report that their household sometimes or often does not have enough to eat varies widely from week to week but does not appear to follow any specific pattern. In contrast, Table 4 charts a steady increase in the rate of Arkansans that report that they have a harder time accessing food since March 13 despite some volatility in the fourth and fifth weeks of the reporting period.
Table 5
High rates of working-age adults in Arkansas believe themselves to be in fair or poor health. Table 5 places the percentage at 29.7% for the end of the reporting period, a 13% increase since mid-June, and nearly ten percentage points above the national average for the same period.
Additional links: | https://arstatedatacenter.youraedi.com/the-household-pulse-survey-and-arkansas-part-1/ |
Climate change is having a rather unusual side effect, according to a paper published in the journal Wilderness and Environment Medicine last month – and we're not sure you're going to like it. Rising ocean temperatures are disrupting the habitats of marine life, encouraging venomous creatures like lionfish, crown-of-thorns starfish, and species of jellyfish to expand their habitats.
The paper was a retrospective analysis of various studies and medical literature concerning climate change, toxicology, and projections specific to venomous marine animals, including jellyfish, sea snakes, frogs, fish, and starfish. Collectively, the studies predicted an increase in population numbers (particularly those of jellyfish and crown-of-thorns starfish) and an extension in range (specifically that of sea snakes and lionfish).
The bad news – these changes combined with human population growth and coastal development may increase unfriendly confrontations with the venomous beasties.
But not all species will be affected in the same way. “The big pattern is that there isn’t necessarily a pattern,” co-author and PhD student Isabelle Neylan at the University of California, Davis (previously of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill), told National Geographic. Most animals, she added, won't necessarily increase in number. Instead, their ranges will be pushed northwards or southwards as water in their current habitats closer to the equator gets too hot. And not all will be able to adapt to the changes.
Toxic frogs, for example, are seeing populations plummet as a result of climate change. This, the researchers say, is because of their sensitivity to temperature change or any other small tweak to their environment.
"If temperatures continue to rise to record levels over the next decades, it is predicted that the populations of these once plentiful and critically important animals [toxic frogs] to the aquatic ecosystem will decline and their geographic distributions will shrink," the study authors explain.
Sea snakes are set to be another victim. Worldwide, numbers of many of the planet's most poisonous land and aquatic serpents are on the decline. Saying that, there are a few exceptions to the rule and biologists have noted increased numbers in states like California and Hawaii.
So, who will be the winners? Jellyfish, for one. The results of the analysis suggest they are likely to increase in range and number thanks to warmer temperatures and higher acidity levels. The non-native lionfish, too, could see its range extend from Florida to the Carolinas and Georgia. Meanwhile, crown-of-thorns starfish, which are terrorizing the Great Barrier Reef, are inching southwards from the Indo-Pacific waters to the shores of northern Australia.
“These species have human interest because they’re poisonous but they reflect the broader patterns that we’re seeing – range shifts, abundance changes, either declines or increases – and that is upsetting the balance of what we would normally see in the ecosystem," explained Neyland. | https://www.iflscience.com/climate-change-is-having-a-rather-unusual-effect-on-venomous-sea-creatures-50084 |
Shifts in the reproductive strategies of marine species can result from ecological disturbance and often lead to either harmful or adaptive population−level effects. Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) can exhibit remarkable plasticity in spawn density and spatial distribution, shifting in response to both climatic and anthropogenic pressure. To test alternative factors leading to recently observed and previously uninvestigated deep spawning events (−30 m, 8 x the preceding 25-year mean), we surveyed spawn sites varying in motorized boat traffic, predator density, and sea surface temperature, and conducted a field experiment to test depth effects (at −3, −15, and −30 meters) on the survival rates of herring eggs exposed and protected from predation. We found herring spawn to −44 m, and strong evidence for a positive relationship between depth of suitable habitat and maximum spawning depth (with a possible link to surface temperatures), which was magnified when spawner density was high. This result is consistent with historical records of fisheries independent survey data collected from 1989 to 2015, showing an increase in maximum spawning depth with greater biomass of spawners. Finally, experimental evidence indicated that egg survival decreased, on average, by 20 % at −30 m relative to −3 m depths. If declining trends in spawning distribution continue as sea temperatures rise, the prevalence of deep spawning events may expand as herring become further concentrated into deep fjords and smaller geographic areas, adding further risk to already declining stocks.
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This thesis may be printed or downloaded for non-commercial research and scholarly purposes. | https://summit.sfu.ca/item/17619 |
The American pika, a small, herbivorous, conspicuously cute mammal related to rabbits, is extra-sensitive to climatic changes. Warmer temperatures threaten pikas by shortening the period available for them to gather food, altering plant populations where they feed and reducing insulating snowpack that protects them from cold snaps. Warming can also cause pikas to overheat, a dangerous condition that may lead to their premature death.
Building on a recently completed five-year U.S. Geological Survey project that examined effects of climate shifts on the pika across the Sierra Nevada, this project focused on filling critical information gap by determining the availability of the pika’s food resources in Yosemite. In addition to helping protect the pika, results from this research help inform park-management decisions and expand scientists’ understanding of the effects of climate change on Yosemite’s alpine ecosystems.
Your support helped scientists conduct important research to better understand, and protect, a threatened species and its precious high-altitude habitat.
Completed in partnership with Yosemite National Park. | https://yosemiteconservancy.org/wildlife-management/protect-american-pika-2015 |
DescriptionThere is considerable interest in factors controlling “warm-edge” limits – the lower elevation and latitudinal edges of a species' range. Understanding whether conservation measures can mitigate anticipated change in climate requires consideration of future climate as well as species interactions. We explored niche relations of martens and fishers at their southern range margins to understand their spatial and temporal dynamics, and how they may be affected by climate change. We used large-scale non-invasive surveys and home range data from radio-marked individuals to explore the spatial dynamics of each species. Marten and fisher were allopatric in the northern/wetter regions but sympatric at intermediate latitudes with lower precipitation. In the driest/southernmost region only fishers occurred. Martens were not detected when annual precipitation was < 900 mm and rare where minimum temperatures exceeded 4 °C. Fishers were absent where spring snow was > 650 mm. Classification trees, accounting for multivariate interactions, supported these results. Where sympatric, ~ 70% of a marten's home range overlapped with at least one fisher but martens tended to avoid this area. In sympatry, marten expanded their niche into areas with reduced snowpack, warmer temperatures and uncharacteristic lower elevation habitats. Future climate scenarios predict conditions that favor fishers, but our data suggest martens may be capable of shifting their niche somewhat to warmer and less snowy habitats. The conservation of interacting species at their warm range limits will require land managers be aware of interspecific tolerance, how each may respond uniquely to future climates, and how potential climate refugia can be integrated with existing habitat.
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CitationZielinski, William J.; Tucker, Jody M.; Rennie, Kerry M. 2017. Niche overlap of competing carnivores across climatic gradients and the conservation implications of climate change at geographic range margins. Biological Conservation. 209: 533-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.03.016. | https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/54481 |
A warming global climate could likely cause sudden, potentially catastrophic losses of biodiversity in regions across the globe throughout the 21st century, finds a new study that includes contributions from a UConn researcher.
The findings, published today in Nature, predict when and where there could be severe ecological disruption in the coming decades, and suggests that the first waves could already be happening.
The study’s lead author, Alex Pigot of the University College London Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, says, “We found that climate change risks to biodiversity don’t increase gradually. Instead, as the climate warms, within a certain area most species will be able to cope for a while, before crossing a temperature threshold, when a large proportion of the species will suddenly face conditions they’ve never experienced before.”
Pigot and colleagues including Cory Merow from the University of Connecticut, Christopher Trisos of the University of Cape Town, South Africa and the National Socio-Environment Synthesis Center – SESYNC in Maryland were seeking to predict threats to biodiversity over the course of the 21st century, rather than a single-year snapshot. They used climate model data from 1850 to 2005, and cross-referenced it with the geographic ranges of 30,652 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and other animals and plants. The data was available for areas across the globe, divided into 100 by 100 km square grid cells.
Merow, a quantitative ecologist in UConn’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, says they monitored the temperature increases based on projected changes due to global warming for each spot in a species’ range.
“For a single species we were able to determine, at each location in its range, the year when it is expected to get warmer than it can tolerate,” he says. “Then we did that with thirty thousand species and combined the results.”
They used climate model projections for each year up to 2100 to predict when species in each grid cell will begin experiencing temperatures that are consistently higher than the organism has previously experienced across its geographic range, for a period of at least five years.
Trisos says, “The historic temperature models, combined with species ranges, showed us the range of conditions that each organism can survive under, as far as we know.”
Merow adds, “Across the globe, when species are exposed to new temperatures and climate, die-offs happen rapidly. When one species goes, a lot of other species go with it. We found this pattern of abruptness and we tried to get rid of it by exploring different modeling decisions to be sure it wasn’t an artefact, but it’s consistent.”
The researchers found that in most ecological communities across the globe, a large proportion of the organisms will find themselves outside of their niche (comfort zone) within the same decade. Across all of the communities, on average 73% of the species facing unprecedented temperatures before 2100 will cross that threshold simultaneously.
The researchers predict that such unprecedented temperature regimes will begin before 2030 in tropical oceans, and recent events such as mass bleaching of corals on the Great Barrier Reef suggest this is happening already. Higher latitudes and tropical forests are predicted to be at risk by 2050.
Pigot says these findings highlight the urgent need for climate change mitigation, by immediately and drastically reducing emissions, which could help save thousands of species from extinction. Keeping global warming below 2°C effectively “flattens the curve” of how this risk to biodiversity will accumulate over the century, providing more time for species and ecosystems to adapt to the changing climate – whether that’s by finding new habitats, changing their behaviour, or with the help of human-led conservation efforts.
Merow adds, “We hope that our findings could serve as an early warning system, predicting which areas will be most at risk and when, that could help target conservation efforts and improve future model projections. It may be valuable to develop a ten-year monitoring program – similar to what climate scientists do, but for biodiversity – which could be updated regularly based on what actually occurs.”
The study was funded by the Royal Society, the National Science Foundation (USA) and the African Academy of Sciences. | https://today.uconn.edu/2020/04/climate-change-cause-sudden-biodiversity-losses-worldwide/ |
Congratulations, 2012, you’re the hottest year on record!
The National Climate Data Center, released data this week showing that temperatures across the U.S. averaged 3.2 degrees above their 20th Century average. Nineteen states–including Texas–had their highest annual average temperatures ever recorded.
Last year’s wet winter and mild spring fooled us into thinking that the drought and extreme heat were behind us. But the last three months of 2012 were some of the driest in history and predictions are rife that 2013 will bring continued, possibly intensified drought.
In our front yard, “winter” visited for a few days following Christmas, but the “freeze” didn’t even die back our Frostweed plants. Our milkweed, pruned in early December, sports new chutes, suggesting our downtown environment is even warmer than thermometers reflect. Over at the Milkweed Patch on the San Antonio River Museum Reach, we observed Monarchs and Queens in abundance in late December.
The continued drought and warm temperatures beg the question: Will Monarchs and other butterflies continue to migrate if they and the plants that sustain them can survive warm winters?
“Climate change – in the near term – is not going to change the monarch migration,” Dr. Chip Taylor relayed via email. Over the long haul, though, it’s inevitable that climate change, coupled with the decimation of the Mexican roosting sites, pervasive insecticides, and an increase in genetically modified crops will decrease the numbers of Monarchs and impact their migration habits.
Dr. Karen Oberhauser, PhD in Ecology at the University of Minnesota, suggested that Monarchs “might not need to (or be able to) move,” given the changing climate. “But that could expose them to potentially lethal conditions, when, for example, the southern US experiences an unseasonal freeze,” she added.
Oberhauser, who has been studying Monarchs since 1984, also mentioned undesirable colonies of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, or OE, a protozoan disease that infects Monarchs and other milkweed feeders. OE is present in the landscape but seems to especially flourish on Tropical milkweed in southern climates late in the year. In colder climates and the wild, milkweeds die off in the winter, apparently purging OE to a large degree. But in places where freezes don’t kill off milkweed, OE becomes a problem and can be lethal to Monarchs.
“Some species are increasing their range, but one problem with that is that other species that they need to survive might not move at the same rate,” said Dr. Oberhauser.
“Just because it warms up, doesn’t necessarily mean Monarchs. . . won’t migrate, ” Dr. John Abbott, Curator of Entomology for the Texas Natural Science Center at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote to us in an email. “It may be so genetically programmed, that they have no “choice.”
One butterfly species in England has fared extremely well in the face of climate change. The Brown Argus butterfly has increased its range in England 50 miles north in the past 20 years thanks to warming temperatures. According to a study made possible by English citizen scientists over many years, the Brown Argus has flourished because it adapted its diet and now eats wild geraniums, which formerly only thrived in especially warm summers. Prior to the warmer weather, Brown Argus caterpillars ate primarily Rock Rose.
The Brown Argus’ adaptation to a new host plant and that plant’s wider availability caused by warmer temperatures thus allowed the butterfly to expand its range at twice the average rate of other species, the study found. Change or perish.
“Sudden changes resulting in a species being in an area where it wasn’t or when it wasn’t previously will almost invariably have an affect on other species,” cautioned Dr. Abbott. “So it’s a cascade.”
According to the IO9 blog, a website devoted to science, science fiction, and the future, insects are well poised to take advantage of climate change. Why? Because they are well suited to quick adaptation and in the case of those with wings, able to move to new environments. And, as cold blooded creatures, they will have a longer eating/growing/reproductive season with longer, warmer seasons.
Embrace it. Odds are more mosquitoes, ticks, fire ants–and hopefully butterflies–are coming our way, if this warmer weather pattern continues. One sure thing: change will continue to be the only constant. | https://texasbutterflyranch.com/2013/01/10/as-the-earth-heats-up-what-does-it-mean-for-monarch-and-other-migrating-butterflies/ |
The Croton School District is committed to providing our students with all the tools necessary to become active participants in their own learning.
We strive to create an environment where all Croton-Harmon students will develop the habits of mind and social skills to become lifelong learners, able to contribute to the well-being of society. Our technology infrastructure is designed to support this vision.
Technology is integrated into quality learning experiences and students are using a variety of real-world authentic resources throughout the curriculum. We offer a wealth of data-base resources, web resources and installed programs to help support our teachers and students. We are committed to educating all of our students with the tools necessary to be critical thinkers and problem solvers in the 21st century. | https://www.chufsd.org/Page/21 |
In my latest article for Fusion Yearbooks, I offer some practical ideas for encouraging questioning in the classroom. If we want future generations of students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers, they must learn the importance of questioning – which is sadly a skill often discouraged by educators.
Here are links to some of my other Fusion blog posts: | https://engagetheirminds.com/2016/09/12/how-to-encourage-students-to-question/ |
Welcome to our website, Three Chopt Families and Visitors.
It is an honor to begin my eighth year as Principal of Three Chopt Elementary. Although this year begins in an unusual way, we continue to pride ourselves in building a personal relationship with every child and every family. We believe this leads to increased student achievement and academic growth as well as an environment where every child feels valued.
The mission of Three Chopt Elementary School is to embrace each child as an individual, to foster lifelong learning, and to prepare each student to be a responsible contributor to society. We believe that each child is unique, and to develop this characteristic we provide a variety of social, emotional and educational opportunities which encourage growth as well as prepare our students to become critical thinkers, problem solvers, and innovators. Our students will be a part of a profound learning experience that develops not only their minds, but also their many talents. Our goal is to prepare our students to be #LifeReady as they move towards greater independence.
It is our belief that students benefit when school, parents, and community work together collaboratively. Our teachers are outstanding; our students are eager to learn; and our community is supportive and involved. We welcome your involvement with us in the education of every child here at Three Chopt, and I encourage you to become a part of our school community as we begin this school year virtually.
We look forward to partnering with you to continue to make Three Chopt the best place for children to learn and develop to their highest potential whether it be virtual or in person. Our staff is dedicated to supporting every child and family as we journey through the virtual opening of our school year.
Sincerely, | https://threechopt.henricoschools.us/principals-message/ |
Farmingdale State College, a campus of the State University of New York, is a public comprehensive college of applied science and technology. At Farmingdale, students, faculty, and staff form a community committed to diversity and excellence in learning, scholarship, research, and service to society. The educational experience at the College provides students with a foundation of knowledge and skills so that they may be imaginative, critical thinkers and successful problem solvers, who are motivated by a spirit of inquiry and recognized for innovative achievement throughout the region, state, and nation. Offered by outstanding scholar-teachers and professional staff members, a Farmingdale State College education, embracing ethics, culture, and aesthetics, empowers graduates to be exemplary citizens,?scholars, professionals, and leaders in an increasingly diverse and interdependent world. | https://app.collegerecon.com/farmingdale-state-college/2242 |
The mission of the Carroll ISD Library Program is to empower learners to graduate as critical thinkers, competent problem solvers and lifelong learners who contribute productively, creatively and ethically to society.
This mission is accomplished by:
- Providing access to information and ideas in all formats.
- Providing a learning environment that fosters competence, creativity and stimulates interest in reading, viewing and using information and ideas.
- Involving students in guided, inquiry-driven research using resources in all formats.
- Demonstrating effective leadership strategies in the administration of the library program and in making connections to the broader learning community.
The CISD librarians strive to offer a balanced collection that represents all of our students and their families and supports the wide range of reading interests. Not every book is for every reader. If you have a concern about a particular book or other media, please email me at [email protected]. | https://www.southlakecarroll.edu/domain/402 |
WHAT YOU'LL DO
As a Lead Project Management in the Global Design Studios team, you will be a strategic thinker and visionary leader who understands people, design, business, and technology and is able to combine them all to propose solutions tailored to the project’s needs.
You will collaborate closely with your colleagues, requesters, and internal departments, overseeing and managing incoming requests received through the Design Studios internal project management tool.
You will work on multiple projects in parallel and lead projects with an international team where necessary. You’ll pair with a team of creative specialists from multiple dimensions, establishing the frameworks and vision that will guide the outcome for new experiences, all while building deep stakeholder relationships.
During the project you will be in charge of all operational tasks such as managing internal and external resources, monitoring deadlines and iterations, organizing vendors, and checking invoices.
You’ll also negotiate and monitor deadlines, oversee the weekly DS metrics reporting, and coordinate and plan the capacities of the PM team.
You’ll be responsible for independently carrying out administrative tasks in close coordination with the Operations Manager and driving our quality assurance process, including providing feedback to the relevant line manager.
Your tasks will also include coordinating meetings such as client meetings and scoping calls, creating and updating manuals for the PMs, and managing communication among PMs, as well as developing and implementing trainings, holding meetings, brainstorming sessions, and sprints, and managing project timelines in collaboration with Design Studio Managers.
As a PM Lead, you will guide Project Management Specialists in the team, providing guidance, direction, upskilling, and support throughout their career development.
YOU'RE GOOD AT
YOU BRING (EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS)
YOU'LL WORK WITH
A career in design at BCG involves bringing deep strategic, user experience and visual expertise into product development, helping to deliver breakthrough products that engage and inspire.
We have extensive knowledge of design thinking and human-centered design, and are fluent in the latest technological innovation.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
We are Design Studios, an in-house creative agency comprised of cutting-edge professionals creating premium designs. We are a global, multidisciplinary team of design strategists, creative leaders, and digital experts.
We craft powerful design stories for BCG to deliver inspiring solutions to our clients’ challenges. As part of BCG, Design Studios partners with consultants and clients to shape our brand by elevating our work through the power of design.
We offer guidance and orientation through a strategic and audience-centric approach, and apply design, technology, and media solutions to take BCG’s achievements to the next level.
As bold design leaders, we are fresh, punchy, and playful, while committed to delivering premium business excellence. We recognize how to transform complex ideas into compelling visual experiences, and how to activate new commercial opportunities at the intersection of business and design.
We value innovation, co-creation, inspiration, and the business impact that design achieves. We believe in the art of the possible and applying creative solutions to business challenges.
We believe we can advance the world by conquering its complexity through a universal human language design.
WHO WE ARE
BCG pioneered strategy consulting more than 50 years ago, and we continue to innovate and redefine the industry. We offer multiple career paths for the world’s best talent to have a real impact on business and society.
As part of our team, you will benefit from the breadth and diversity of what we are doing today and where we are headed next.
We count on your authenticity, exceptional work, and strong integrity. In return we are committed to supporting you in discovering the most fulfilling career journey possible and unlocking your potential to advance the world.
BCG Design Studios are thought and solution partners to the consulting teams. We operate at the intersection of creativity, design and technology, exploring innovative and impactful interactions with clients.
With the help of advanced tools and creative thinking, we fuel their imagination, making the extraordinary possible and the possible, extraordinary.
Spread across the globe with three design hubs in Bangalore, Madrid and Atlanta, our eclectic teams of right-brain thinkers, designers, strategists and storytellers come together to craft solutions and experiences of great impact.
We are keen to find like-minded thinkers, problem solvers and designers who share the same passion for making a positive impact on the world with the strong belief that creativity has the power to inspire, transform and shape a better future. | https://neuvoo.es/view/?id=b5466c5730fd |
With a focus on a strong elementary core curriculum that includes a firm foundation in reading, writing, math, science, social studies, art, music and physical education, staff members strive to meet the needs of the well-rounded student. Teachers empower students to be effective problem solvers and critical thinkers across all content areas. They differentiate instruction through small group reading, writing and math, providing individualized education. The school prioritizes the need to engage students, staff, parents and all community members at high levels and promote innovative thinking among the entire school community.
Ridgeview Elementary School serves a diverse community of students that include preschool through fifth grade. It's home to two preschool classrooms, and a growing number of English Language Learners from a variety of language backgrounds. Educators support students with various learning challenges and strengths. In addition to supporting at-risk students, staff members provide support for advanced learners, ensuring all students are pushed to their fullest potentials.
Extracurricular
The school offers a variety of extracurricular activities, including before and after school Champions program, Husky football through the Falcon Youth Football Club, basketball through Ascend Youth Sports, jump rope, cheerleading, Scouts, cooking, karate, drawing, student council, Junior Achievement, choir, Battle of the Books, Reading Counts, Eduss Math, Lexia Reading Club and others.
Community
A supportive parent population and Parent-Teacher Association is one of the school's greatest assets. They work tirelessly to sponsor various school activities including fun, family events and fundraisers, which provide supplemental resources for students and teachers. These fundraisers have provided funds to support the school goal to increase, update and improve the technology throughout the school.
References
- ↑ "Enrollment Guide 2014-2015." D49.org. Falcon School District 49, 7 Mar 2014. Web. 7 Mar 2014. <http://d49.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/2198345/File/Central%20Enrollment/2014Enrollmentguide.pdf>. | https://community.d49.org/Ridgeview_Elementary_School |
The mission of South Milwaukee Middle School is to empower learners to grow academically, socially and emotionally by developing and supporting independent thinkers and problem solvers who strive for excellence in the classroom and community. Our staff is dedicated to creating learning environments that promote growth, challenge, and success. Our curriculum provides students the opportunity to be challenged in an environment that supports their growth. South Milwaukee Middle School is extremely proud of our students and staff and we look forward to further developing partnerships with our community.
School District Mask Policy
Student and staff safety is our number one priority.
The School District of South Milwaukee is requiring masks for students 3-years of age and older while on school premises. This includes all buildings at all times and grounds during the school day, including prior to school and after school. Masks or face coverings are required for all staff, students, and visitors while in the school buildings and on school grounds. Masks must be worn in hallways upon entering and exiting.
Below are links to the Mask Policies approved by the School Board on October 7th and the 6-12 Student Face Covering Policy and Disciplinary Action document. | http://ms.sdsm.k12.wi.us/ |
The Elementary Teacher Education Program is a comprehensive program designed to prepare teachers who are capable of working effectively with children of diverse backgrounds grades kindergarten through eighth grade. Our program of study was created with the New Mexico State Department of Education competencies as a foundation, aligned with standards from appropriate national organizations representing the content areas, and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education programs (NCATE).
Our goal is to prepare teacher-leaders committed to understanding and working with children and adults in culturally diverse public school settings. We approach our work from a critical, inclusive and student-centered perspective of care, with culturally responsive pedagogies and collaboration that promotes best practices. We expect our teachers to be reflective practitioners who are critical thinkers and creative problem solvers, who create and implement curriculum and instructional practices that are socially relevant and aligned with national, state and local standards.
Our elementary education program begins with foundational courses in psychology, fine arts, early childhood education, special education, multiculturalism/multicultural education, human growth and development, and the uses of instructional technologies; and proceeds to courses in pedagogy within the various content areas such as literacy/reading, science, mathematics and social studies) which includes public school classroom-based practicum experiences. Students are also required to take 6-8 credits of Spanish or obtain certification of a working knowledge of a Native American language in order to satisfy foreign language requirements of the program, and to be better prepared to teach on the culturally and linguistically diverse borderlands and in the Southwest in general. The program culminates with a full-time, fifteen-week public school-based student teaching experience with mentoring from school and university representatives. Upon completion of the program, and successful completion of the New Mexico Teachers’ Assessment exam, candidates are well prepared to apply for a K-8 state licensure and successfully work with diverse students and school communities in New Mexico and throughout the country. | https://tpal.nmsu.edu/degree-programs/concentrations/elementary-education.html |
The Visual Arts Program seeks to develop and nurture the creative potential of our students. In the early years of learning, creative process is encouraged over the product. Children learn to collaborate, explore new media, become visually aware and freely create in their own way as they become critical thinkers, designers and problem solvers of the future.
Art and culture is the focus of studio projects that are central to history, art, and design. Students are guided through the Elements and Principles of Art: drawing and painting, ceramics, hand-building with clay, puppetry, 2D and 3D concepts while exploring various techniques and learning new skills.
Visual art curriculum is aligned to STEAM and core curriculum in which students have an opportunity to make digital videos and experiment with building. Students learn about master artists of the past and present, work with community artists: Folk and Contemporary, gain self-expression to write about their art, and are artists in the field while applying skills acquired in class. | https://www.balboaacademy.org/visual-arts/ |
2016 was a great year for enhanced visitor experiences at the top of Lake Superior, and in 2017 we are excited to initiate a Visitor Experience Strategy (VES). This strategy will assist in further defining product development and promotion actions to contribute to achieving Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) goals for the next three to five years!
The VES will guide us by identifying where our infrastructure and investment should be placed to ensure potential visitors have a positive experience. Some of the focus for the VES will be north shore communities, highway corridor (lookouts, signage and points of interest), and lake access.
As part of the process towards the establishment of Lake Superior NMCA, Parks Canada in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and stakeholders, will create a VES to ensure the marine conservation area meets its potential as a world class tourism destination. The VES will assist in providing a path to success by creating and enhancing experiences for visitors along the north shore of Lake Superior. These experiences will support Parks Canada’s mandate and attract visitors to discover, experience, and appreciate this healthy marine environment!
A consultant will facilitate a series of meetings and workshops with participation from Indigenous groups, regional partners, stakeholders, and Parks Canada staff. The results of these meetings and research will provide a clear vision of how we can successfully enhance regional tourism initiatives along Lake Superior NMCA.
For more information on the VES you can contact acting Visitor Experience Manager, Sylvio Pelletier.
- Date modified : | https://parks.canada.ca/amnc-nmca/on/super/info/bulletin/19 |
Home to more than 850,000 people, Fiji is one of the most populated islands in the South Pacific.
Its forests, mountains and coral reefs, spread across 300 islands, contain a wealth of biodiversity.
But as the effects of climate change intensify, Fiji’s natural resources are at risk. Swift action is needed to protect them so they can support the island’s rapidly growing population.
Fiji’s food security is threatened by climate change impacts such as increasingly intense weather events. In the aftermath of Cyclone Winston in 2016, CI has been working with smallholder farmers and coastal fishers in Ra Province to promote sustainable practices, grow rural economies, and improve yield and fish catch.
CI is working to secure Fiji’s crucial watersheds, beginning with the establishment of the Sovi Basin Protected Area in 2008. As Fiji’s largest terrestrial protected area, it helps conserve some of the last standing cloud forest in the country and provides fresh water to more than 330,000 people. The Sovi Basin is secured by a US$ 3.9 million endowment trust fund with support from FIJI Water and the Global Conservation Fund.
Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific Islands region. The economy relies on natural resources such as timber, fish, gold, copper and hydropower; a growing tourism industry; and payments from Fijians working abroad. The tourism and agriculture sectors are among the largest employers and are heavily reliant on a healthy and productive natural environment.
Fiji is home to the third-largest number of threatened endemic species and the largest remaining intact, unprotected forests in the entire Polynesia-Micronesia biodiversity hotspot (which contains about 4,500 islands). Nearly 50 percent of Fiji’s forests are intact, and 87 percent of Fiji’s land is owned by indigenous Fijians.
EditText:Unsustainable management of local fisheries, overfishing and inshore poaching have depleted fish stocks and degraded marine habitats. Without the tools and skills for enforcement and monitoring, communities are ill-equipped to cope, jeopardizing a vital resource for Fiji's economy and livelihoods of coastal communities.
EditText:While more than 50% of Fiji's landmass is still forested, the country faces significant challenges for national capacity for forest and land management. Insufficient legislation, illegal logging and lack of monitoring continues to adversely affect native and plantation forests.
EditText:Fiji and other Pacific islands are on the front lines of climate change, experiencing unpredictable weather and sea level rise. Together, these impacts have degraded Fiji’s coasts, destroyed natural resources and threatened the safety of Fijians.
EditText:CI collaborates with communities to improve natural resource management and livelihoods, from the mountains to the coasts to the sea, an approach we call “ridge to reef to ocean.” As part of this work, we provide technical support to policy makers on forest and fishery conservation; work with communities to improve livelihoods; and promote the connectivity of ecosystems with no net loss of biodiversity or ecosystem services.
The Lau Seascape is the next frontier for marine exploration and management. In close partnership with the Fiji Locally Mananged Marine Area Network (FLMMA), CI aims to implement a ridge to reef to ocean approach to conservation that takes, economic, environmental and societal factors into account. Through research and scientific collaboration, CI is gathering data to understand the biodiversity, and natural resources of the Lau Islands. CI aims to foster the local stewardship of the area and its resources by supporting effective co-management between communities and the government.
Read “Treasures of the Lau Islands” about a CI-led Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) conducted in the Lau Seascape.
EditText:In Fiji, 87 percent of land is owned by indigenous Fijians and administered by the iTaukei Lands Trust Board (TLTB). With support from the Fiji Water Foundation and Global Conservation Fund, CI Fiji secured a 99-year lease with the indigenous Fijians and the TLTB to protect the 16,340-hectare (40,377-acre) Sovi Basin. The Sovi Basin Endowment Trust Fund enables sustainable management of the basin, a milestone for financing large-scale land conservation in the Pacific. Capitalized in 2013, the trust fund has been making payments to communities to lease the land, to the National Trust of Fiji to manage the fund, and to TLTB to manage the lease so that all stakeholders benefit.
EditText:Since 2014, CI has been an active partner to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization on engaging communities and landowners in conservation, and the establishment of a protected area in the Greater Tomaniivi. Once established, the Greater Tomaniivi Conservation Area will span approximately 6,200 hectares (15,300 acres). Tomaniivi is important to CI Fiji’s long-term vision of a “conservation corridor” connecting key biodiversity areas across the country. CI is also expanding our work from Viti Levu to Vanua Levu by working with communities in the Greater Delaikoro area to protect approximately 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) around Mount Delaikoro and Soro Levu.
EditText:CI has been working in Ra Province since 2009 on the Nakauvadra Community-Based Reforestation Project. The land in Nakauvadra is owned by communities residing in the adjacent Yaqara Valley. CI has engaged 28 communities to replant trees in 1,135 hectares (2,800 acres) of important habitat, establishing six community-run tree nurseries to do so. CI also developed 16 community model farms to improve food security and boost household income.
It is estimated that under current trends, 75 percent of Pacific coastal fisheries will be unable to meet local food needs by 2030, and by 2035, Pacific Islanders will be dependent on tuna for a quarter of their food security needs.
With funding from the Asian Development Bank, CI is installing nearshore-anchored fish aggregating devices (FADs) beyond the reefs in Ra Province to give the communities greater access to tuna. This effort aims to improve local food security and livelihoods, reduce fishing pressure on vital reef fisheries and increase community resilience to tropical cyclones and climate change. CI is also training communities in safe FAD fishing and sustainable fishing practices. | https://www.conservation.org/where/Pages/Fiji.aspx |
UCLA Anderson MBA students conduct Applied Management Research (AMR) projects in lieu of a thesis. The nation’s first business school field study program, AMR partners students with top organizations to solve a key strategic problem. The Center for Global Management sponsored four UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 teams to work with Conservation International, which partners with indigenous groups internationally and pairs local expertise with student consultants.
This story is one of the four by students who collaborated with CI to help find sustainable solutions to enhance economies in environmentally sensitive parts of the world. UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 AMR students made their final presentations on March 9.
By Miriam Leah Feygenson, Yuhei Iwasaki, Vasiya Krishnan, Anubhav Mishra, Harshita Mishra (Class of 2018)
In 2015, the United Nations set an ambitious goal for the entire globe by the year 2030: to “transform our world by ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for all” through sustainable development. To align with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development goals, Guyana entered into partnership with Conservation International, a globally renowned NGO, to improve and expand the country’s existing sustainable development program catering to its numerous indigenous communities.
Conservation International, in collaboration with Guyana’s Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs (MoIPA) and the Kanuku Mountains Community Representative Group (KMCRG) of Region 9 (one of 10 administrative regions of Guyana), are piloting a program called Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) in order to create a standardized methodology for an impactful and successful sustainable development of the indigenous communities in Guyana.
CI-Guyana commissioned our AMR team to assess the feasibility of blockchain technology to solve a major challenge in the implementation and scaling of the Community Development Plan (CDP) in Guyana. The SDF acts as the backbone on which the CDP functions.
Some of the critical challenges for both the indigenous communities and MoIPA include lack of project management tools and experience, and the fact that the communities are remote. The goal of our project is to determine whether blockchain technology will help alleviate some of these challenges, and whether it can be implemented, especially in Guyana’s hinterland.
We kicked-off our project by conducting interviews with our client and their stakeholders and with industry experts with experience implementing blockchain technology in low-tech countries. To further our understanding of geography-specific challenges, two of our team members flew to Guyana (Georgetown and Lethem, capital of Region 9), where they met government officials and other stakeholders key to SDF implementation.
Having interviewed members of the Ministry, employees of CI-Guyana and indigenous community leaders, we concluded that blockchain was not the answer to SDF implementation at this moment. By the same token, we learned that a robust project management tool with low technology complexity could greatly help people on the ground, among both the ministry and indigenous communities.
This trip was extremely valuable, as we decided to pivot our project scope to deliver further value to our client and the indigenous communities collaborating with them. Field study provided us incredible life experiences in a country where we came to understand the true impact technology could foster at grassroots levels, creating a positive impact on the lives of indigenous people. | https://blogs.anderson.ucla.edu/anderson/2018/03/the-project-management-key-to-sustaining-guyanas-indigenous-communities.html |
This blog is part of a series of blogs examining key elements of the Scottish Government’s Future Fisheries Management Policy Intent Paper, which was published on 1 October 2020. The paper sets out the government’s response to stakeholder views on the Future of fisheries management in Scotland national discussion paper. This blog focusses on how the paper addresses the socio-economic sustainability of coastal communities.
Coastal communities face uncertain times. The potential impact of Brexit and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on coastal industries is yet to be fully realised. This impact is likely to be particularly felt by inshore fishers who have seen markets for their produce vanish due to COVID-19 restrictions and face the potential of trade tariffs and barriers due to Brexit. Meeting the needs of these communities may require fresh approaches to fisheries management.
Will quotas be managed for the benefit of coastal communities?
Scotland’s fishing quota is highly concentrated and has been criticised for not providing enough opportunity for smaller inshore vessels. There are historical and operational reasons for this quota distribution. However, there have been calls for changes in the way quota is managed to integrate social and environmental criteria in allocating quotas. The diagram below shows how quota is allocated between the UK’s fisheries administrations.
Most quota in Scotland goes to ‘Sector’ vessels. These are mostly larger vessels targeting pelagic (mid-water) and demersal (bottom-dwelling) species. This quota is managed by Producer Organisations who are membership organisations made up of fishers. Some quota is also allocated to the ‘non-sector’. These are mostly smaller vessels.
The charts below show why a relatively small number of large vessels hold most of the quota. There are only a small number of vessels in Scotland capable of targeting and catching pelagic stocks which make up around 65% of Scotland’s landings.
The policy intent paper notes strong support from stakeholders for the need to “ensure that the wider economic and social benefits from fishing activity are realised” and the need to “maintain fishing opportunities in the community, shared fairly around the coast”.
The Scottish Government states these considerations will be “key drivers” in developing proposals on future “additional” quota opportunities. It also states:
“we will amend the current economic link licence condition to establish an economic link through quota gifting, or meeting a landing target, to ensure that fishing opportunities provide an overall benefit to Scotland. This will help encourage greater landing of catch into Scottish ports. We intend to have this in place by early 2022.”
The UK Fisheries Bill contains a ‘national benefit objective’ which requires that
“activities of UK fishing boats bring social or economic benefits to the United Kingdom or any part of the United Kingdom.”
It is not clear how this will work in practice but a requirement to land 65% of catches in UK ports is one approach introduced as an amendment in the House of Lords during passage of the Bill.
Furthermore, there is no certainty over how much “additional” quota will be gained for Scottish vessels through UK post-Brexit fisheries negotiations with the EU and other independent coastal states (primarily Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands). The paper states:
“We envisage in the early years issuing a call for quota where we will consider on a case by case basis the benefits to be achieved by allocating some quota separately from the current Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) system. We will not allow this quota to be seen as an ongoing entitlement as opposed to a national resource.” (emphasis added)
It is not clear whether this will mean that large pelagic and demersal vessels already in possession of a large proportion of quota will not be entitled to additional quota. Or indeed whether existing quota allocation between different fleet sectors will remain the same. If so, expectations for a post-Brexit fisheries boom may not be met for a sector that has campaigned hard over the potential benefits of leaving the CFP.
How will coastal development be financed?
In the current economic climate, coastal communities face diminishing access to funding for industry and coastal development. After 2020, EU funding sources such as the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) will no longer be available.
Scotland received 44% (€107.7 million) of the UK allocation of the EMFF between 2014 and 2020. The EMFF has been an important source of finance for economic growth in coastal communities, for sustainable development within the fishing and aquaculture sectors and conservation of the marine environment.
The interactive map below shows the total value of EMFF funding allocated to projects by constituency region.
Developing new approaches to raise finance and replace EMFF funding will be a key challenge. The Policy Intent paper states:
“Our immediate focus is on securing a fair funding settlement to replace EMFF for Scotland, and for that funding to be fully devolved to Scotland to allow us to design an approach suited to Scotland’s own circumstances and policy priorities.”
Going forward, we will build on the suggestions received and consider how a new funding system would work for all of Scotland’s fishing and seafood interests, along with wider marine priorities.”
The paper also notes stakeholders’ suggestions that funding should come from new sources such as fishing levies, offshore windfarm licences, renewables seabed leases, or a revised landing taxation.
In July 2020, the Scottish Government made available £9.7 million of Scottish Crown Estate marine asset revenues for coastal communities to assist with the impact of COVID-19. This was distributed to local authority areas which have coastlines, with funding based on their share of the adjacent sea area.
Strengthening local management of inshore fishing
Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFGs) are the main fora for providing a voice for inshore fishers in developing fisheries management measures. Marine Scotland states that RIFGs “aim to improve the management of inshore fisheries in the 0-6 nautical mile zone of Scottish waters, and to give commercial inshore fishermen a strong voice in wider marine management developments.”
Unlike Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) – their equivalent in England – RIFGs are non-statutory and therefore do not have byelaw-making or enforcement powers for fisheries management and conservation. Instead they are a forum for gathering views of inshore fishers to influence government decision-making.
Their absence of a statutory footing has drawn criticism for lacking transparency and involvement of wider marine stakeholders in developing fisheries management plans.
The policy intent paper states:
“There was positive support for our proposals to strengthen local management with Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFGs) taking on a more formal role in decision-making and an expansion of their scope to 12 nautical miles (nm) […] RIFGs can become the main vehicle for delivering our vision for local management that is strong, resilient and capable of evidence based decision making.”
The paper does not provide a commitment to provide a statutory basis for expanding the role and responsibilities of RIFGs. Without this, RIFGs lack the resources to enable strong local management of inshore fisheries.
Providing a statutory footing for RIFGs would lead to improved funding and resources. This could potentially improve opportunities for collaboration on science and data collection to inform fisheries management and conservation and encourage partnership working with wider marine stakeholders.
However, If their scope is expanded without a statutory underpinning, there is also potential for RIFGs to gain more influence in marine decision-making without corresponding duties for transparency and accountability.
Coastal communities have been hit hard by the impact of COVID-19 and face further uncertainty over the potential impact of Brexit. The short-term and long-term fallout from these impacts will require a rethink over how support is provided and how coastal communities fit into wider Scottish Government ambitions for a green recovery. | https://spice-spotlight.scot/2020/11/26/the-future-of-fisheries-management-in-scotland-4-sustainable-coastal-communities/ |
Cite this paper as:
Ross H, Rissik D, Jones N, Witt K, Pinner B, Shaw S. . Managing for the multiple uses and values of Moreton Bay and its catchments. In Tibbetts, I.R., Rothlisberg, P.C., Neil, D.T., Homburg, T.A., Brewer, D.T., & Arthington, A.H. (Editors). Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future. The Moreton Bay Foundation. Brisbane, Australia. Available from: https://moretonbayfoundation.org/
DOI
10.6084/m9.figshare.8085710
ISBN
978-0-6486690-0-5
Abstract
Managing Moreton Bay involves a complex set of organisations and regulations which broadly reflect the historical build-up of Aboriginal customary uses and meeting of cultural obligations followed by a set of uses of this marine space for fishing; shipping and transport; maritime safety; conservation of marine ecosystems, birds and marine species; and water quality. Until now, management has been focused on regulating uses and managing their co-existence and potential conflicts, with some acknowledgement of ‘rights’. While this is important, utilitarian and ecological values are only two of a potential set of values the public may hold towards waterways. This paper summarises the history of management of Moreton Bay, then considers how Moreton Bay and relevant aspects of the catchments are managed. It suggests new ways in which a wider set of values can be considered in management, and opportunities for communication with the interested public.
Keywords: governance, collaboration, partnership, history, communication, stewardship, shared responsibility
Introduction
Moreton Bay is managed as the sea country of the Quandamooka, Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi and Kombumerri (members of the Yugambeh peoples), under Aboriginal customary law, and since 2011 some of it has had formal recognition under the Quandamooka native title decision (1). Meanwhile it is managed as a marine park, and as a fishery, a Ramsar site, as well as for shipping, recreation, and multiple other uses. We argue that prior to policies for and regulation of these uses, Moreton Bay was a ‘commons’, to which the non-Indigenous public had open access and unrestricted use. Alongside formally recognised organisations with policies and management responsibilities, there are numerous citizen science groups, environmental education centres, and ‘care’ groups.
Its catchments, similarly, have overlays of management from the many original owners–custodians to governments with responsibilities for urban planning, environment, agriculture and water supply, to the 11 catchment management committees belonging to the Brisbane Catchments Network, to numerous Landcare and other groups, and to the individual landholders and industries adopting ‘best management practices’ on land they control (2).
This paper explores the many forms of management of this complex marine and freshwater system. In doing so it takes an expanded view of ‘management’ that goes beyond the formal perspective based on legislation, policies and plans formed by governments, to incorporate the actuality of Indigenous management and many voluntary activities by community organisations and NGOs. In doing so, we suggest that voluntary efforts (Nasplezes et al. (2), this volume), underpinned by people’s values towards waterways (Ross et al. (3) and Pinner et al. (4), this volume), should be recognised for the significant contribution they make towards the management of Moreton Bay and its catchments.
Management is not a straightforward matter of governing ‘functions’. It involves managing people as well as their activities and impacts. Yet we know very little about how people value waterways and marine spaces, what they mean in their lives, and their activities in marine spaces. This information is important for management, demonstrating voter support for formal management levers such as legislation and policy relating to the protection and restoration of waterways, the extent of voluntary stewardship, and the public’s priorities. A river, or marine park and its coastline offer many opportunities for people to enjoy these settings—from good places to experience nature, walking, reflecting, canoeing, surfing, fishing, hang-gliding, jetskiing, bird watching and meditation, to having wedding photos taken. Different cultural groups, ages and genders may relate to these places in different ways. People may value marine and waterway spaces in multiple ways including through capture and use of their resources, through feelings of affection and care, in aesthetic appreciation and inspiration, for learning and exploration, in spiritual reverence, or for physical and mental challenges (3–5). On the basis of the multiple values held towards the waterways, and the many government, Indigenous and community interests involved in their management, we argue for a more integrative approach to waterway management.
We thus interpret ‘management’ broadly to include policies, plans and programs intended to influence environmental outcomes over an area or resource or human behaviour (the conventional ‘government’ view of management), and tangible actions directly affecting that area or resource by any party, not necessarily a government. It can include managing public information and understanding (e.g. awareness raising), as well as stewardship by landholders and voluntary groups (2). Campaigning by lobby groups aims to influence management, and should also be considered part of the management system.
Managing Moreton Bay and its catchments
We can view the management of Moreton Bay in terms of changes over time (Table 1). As new forms and purposes of management have been added to preceding ones, a series of ‘overlays’ has arisen in which different management regimes exist over the same set of waters. In this view, Moreton Bay began and continues as an Aboriginal-managed domain. It is also a former commons that has been transformed through legislation limiting public access and use, a set of fisheries for a range of species ranging from whales to mud crabs, a marine park that includes an internationally recognised Ramsar site, as well as a marine space requiring management of shipping and boating. Moreton Bay is an important element of the regional economy with continual growth and expansion of infrastructure to accommodate increasing international trade. Privatisation of government-owned assets, such as the port and airports, as well as substantial recreation-based commerce and tourism, has resulted in the private sector being an instrumental player in the management of the Bay. Additionally, the proximity of the Bay to Australia’s third-largest city has resulted in challenges to water quality and increased the interaction of a range of business and industries with the catchment and Bay. Across all of these are mixes of Aboriginal, local government, state and federal government jurisdiction, community-based stewardship and citizen science groups, and advocacy groups, sometimes acting in combination. The catchments similarly are domains of Aboriginal management, and under multifunctional and overlapping management regimes embracing planning, urban and regional management, mainly under local and state governments. The waterways are managed for water supply (urban and irrigation), water quality, and as transport corridors. Because water is regarded as a public good, seldom subject to property rights, management often has to rely on collaboration (6). From the late 1990s, a unique collaboration of government, non-government and science organisations, Healthy Waterways, developed to improve water quality in Moreton Bay and its catchments. In 2016 this joined with another collaborative body, SEQ Catchments (one of Australia’s 56 regional bodies for natural resource management) to form Healthy Land and Water. This collaboration combines strategic initiatives with on-ground opportunities for working across land to sea. The SEQ Regional Plan 2017 provides a blue-print for the sustainable development of the SEQ region for the next 50 years and includes substantial recognition of Moreton Bay and its stakeholders, and a range of strategies to support sustainable outcomes.
Evolution of management
Throughout its history, Moreton Bay, its islands and its catchments have been managed by a set of Aboriginal Traditional Custodians according to customary arrangements based in a holistic belief system in which humans and the natural world are closely related. Environmental management is a customary responsibility and informed by deep traditional ecological knowledge. For example, the peoples of Moreton Bay were active stewards of oyster beds (7). Table 1 provides a timeline of significant events in the management of Moreton Bay.
Table 1: A timeline of significant events in the management of Moreton Bay
|Date||Law/Regulation|
|1862||Regulation of oyster cultivation (Oyster Fisheries Act 1863)|
|1888||Regulation of dugong fishing (Queensland Fisheries Act 1887)|
|1952||Coombabah Lake closed to taking of fish|
|1959||Swan Bay closed to taking of fish|
|1962||Commercial whaling ceased at Tangalooma|
|1968||Commercial turtle fishing ceased. Turtles designated as protected under Queensland Fisheries Act by order of Council.|
|1969||Commercial dugong fishing ceased. Hunting continued for recreational, subsistence and ceremonial purposes.|
|1969–1971||11 ‘fisheries habitat reserve’ declarations in Moreton Bay|
|1982||Marine Parks Act 1982 provided for the declaration and management of marine parks.|
|1983||All fisheries habitat reserves re-declared as either fish habitat reserve or wetlands reserves; Coomera, Coombabah and Bribie Island wetlands reserves declared.|
|1986||Pumicestone Passage Marine Park declared|
|1988||Northern Moreton Bay Marine Park proposed|
|1990||Marine Parks Regulation made|
|1991||Second Draft Moreton Bay Strategic Plan released (the first document to specify a need for a marine park over the whole area)|
|1992||Nature Conservation Act 1992|
|1992||Myora Extension Fish Habitat Reserve declared|
|1993||Moreton Bay Strategic Plan gazetted
|
Moreton Bay Marine Park gazetted
Moreton Bay Ramsar site declared
|1994||Maritime safety included under the Transport Operations (Maritime Safety) Act 1994|
|1995||All fish habitat reserves and wetland reserves re-declared under new Fisheries Regulation 1995 as ‘fish habitat areas’|
|1997||Pumicestone Passage Marine Park revoked and Pumicestone Passage included within Moreton Bay Marine Park
|
First zoning plan for Moreton Bay Marine Park implemented
|1998||Pumicestone Channel Fish Habitat Area declared (amalgamated Pumicestone Passage and Bribie Island Fish Habitat Areas)|
|1999||Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999|
|1992||Myora-Amity Banks Fish Habitat Area declared (amalgamated Myora and Myora Extension)|
|2003||Grey Nurse Shark areas declared under the Fisheries Act 1994 and Marine Parks (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan 1997|
|2009||Second Zoning Plan for Moreton Bay Marine Park implemented|
Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River were critical to the early and continuing settlement of South East Queensland. Following non-Indigenous incursion into the region, Moreton Bay appears to have been treated as a ‘commons’, that is, under open access (Aboriginal ownership and management arrangements not being formally recognised at the time). There was a strong utilitarian focus on the Bay with animals and fish being exploited for commercial and recreational purposes, and other recreation especially yachting. Following the near extermination of dugong under unrestricted hunting from the 1850s, restrictions commenced in 1881 (commercial dugong hunting was prohibited altogether in 1969). Commercial whaling occurred from 1952 to 1962, with a base at Tangalooma on Moreton Island. The closure was a commercial decision, related to over-exploitation, not a policy decision.
Fisheries management in Queensland, including Moreton Bay, commenced with the Oyster Fisheries Act 1863, which licensed the cultivation of oysters (17). Habitat protection commenced in 1951 with the closure of Coombabah Lake (Coomera catchment, Gold Coast area) to fishing. From 1969, the mechanism of declaring fisheries habitat reserves was adopted to protect fish habitats: seven were declared that year and a further four in 1971. A further four were declared in 1983, and a distinction introduced between fish habitat, and wetlands, reserves. It is important to note that these protections were put in place by fisheries managers with the goal of sustainable management of fish stocks rather than protection of biodiversity more generally, and they have a single purpose, that is, protecting fish habitat.
Coastal planning commenced under the Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995. This assisted the development of plans to protect coastline habitat and prevent impact from coastal processes. The coastal plans, however, were not integrated with habitat protection measures with many components operating with different specialisations and at different scales or marine parks.
Protection of migratory birds commenced in 1981, through an agreement with Japan, and agreements with China (1988) and Korea (2007) followed. A Partnership for the Conservation of Migratory Waterbirds and the Sustainable Use of their Habitats in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway was launched in 2006 and enables sharing of information, and collaboration between all sectors with an aim to protect migratory birds, their habitats and the livelihood of people dependent on them. Ramsar protects wetlands and their resources, an important component of bird habitat. These various agreements recognise the global dynamics of migratory shorebirds, but there is a long way to go, and numbers of several migratory birds utilising Moreton Bay have declined (8).
There was no systematic protection of Moreton Bay’s waters prior to 1993. A marine park over the northern part of the Bay was first proposed in 1988, and strategic planning commenced in 1989. The first Moreton Bay Marine Park, with minimal protection by today’s standards, was declared in 1993. Much tighter zoning was introduced in 2009. Public acceptance was difficult in both periods, with mixed public support and some sharp divisions between viewpoints favouring conservation versus unrestricted access to recreational and commercial fishing and related pursuits. This may be a legacy of the periods in which Moreton Bay was a commons with open access. The public has been obliged to accept and adapt to new regimes involving losses of former freedoms, and attitudes may be slow to follow the legislative changes. Indigenous people throughout Australia have always treated their estates – land and sea – as common (shared) property, operating under specific cultural rules, rather than as open access.
From 1994, maritime safety became part of the mixture of management arrangements under the Transport Operations (Maritime Safety) Act 1994. There were antecedents in some legislation promoting navigation safety under the Harbours Act 1955.
Aboriginal management over a large part of the Bay has been strengthened with a new level of formality under the 2011 native title settlement providing Quandamooka (Stradbroke Island, Moreton Island, the southern Bay islands and associated waters, and parts of the mainland coast south from the Brisbane River) with a combination of exclusive and non-exclusive (use) rights over land and water. The Australian and state governments, two city councils (Brisbane and Redland), and a range of commercial interests, including mining, fishing, infrastructure providers and oyster growers, participated in the negotiations. This determination places the Quandamooka peoples (Dandrubin Gorenpul, Ngugi and Noonucal) in a much stronger position for managing their country; in many cases other organisations must now negotiate with the native title holders over particular issues of land and water use. The native title parties have formed an association, The Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, to coordinate their decision-making and activities, and provide a point of liaison with other organisations.
The current management situation
We argue that there are two types of management over Moreton Bay and the waterways of the catchments. There is an overt and official type, focused on legislation and formally appointed bodies, as well as an unofficial and overlooked set of contributors focused on Indigenous, voluntary non-Indigenous, and advocacy efforts. There is some overlap between these roles, where governments offer funding to voluntary organisations. The formal, government-led, management focuses on Moreton Bay Marine Park; fishing (traditional, recreational and commercial); shipping, navigation and marine safety; and meeting water quality objectives. Here the state and local governments are prominent, though their responsibilities require regulation and management of others.
The overlooked, unofficial, dimensions of management include the contributions of Aboriginal Traditional Custodians, activist organisations and peak bodies, stewardship and citizen science groups, science organisations, and some recreational groups. Blending across these are two former collaborations, now merged as Healthy Land and Water. Healthy Waterways focused on strategy, monitoring, and encouragement of implementation partners towards improving water quality in Moreton Bay and the catchment rivers. SEQ Catchments, as a regional body for natural resource management, had a broader natural resource management brief, and by mutual agreement focused more on on-ground works, including support of local stewardship organisations. It also gained influence over urban and regional planning by having its natural resource management plan adopted as the regional plan’s natural resource management component. This represents a shift towards a governance approach for managing Moreton Bay whereby collaborative relationships are sought among government and non-government actors to work effectively to manage natural resource systems. Table 2 shows the many forms of management extant over the waters and coastal land of Moreton Bay and the catchments.
Table 2: Managing parties, foci and forms of management over Moreton Bay and its catchments
|Geographical scale||Managing party(ies)||Focus or function||Nature/type of management|
|Aboriginal|
|Local||Aboriginal Traditional Owners and their organisations||Holistic care for their country, including land and marine areas, and species||Customary stewardship activity, following cultural responsibilities and using traditional ecological as well as local knowledge|
|e.g. incorporated Traditional Owner associations; native title representative bodies||Managing specific areas (e.g. native title lands and waters, and one Indigenous Protected Area)|
|Being involved as partners in a wide variety of programs and actions (e.g. the Moreton Island oil spill in 2009)|
|Specific land and water initiatives (e.g. restoring Myora Springs on Stradbroke Island)|
|Can involve campaigning|
|Associations provide capacity and logistical ability for the management actions|
|Governments|
|Federal||Federal ministers, government departments (environment, heritage responsibilities)||Specific international conservation agreements:||Signatory to international agreements|
|National habitat management agreements|
|Ramsar agreement: governs wetlands (including any area of the Bay and surrounding areas with depth of less than 6m)||Practical management delegated to state governments, which must report, and deal with threats|
|Bilateral migratory bird agreements :||Declaration of species and habitats for protection|
|· CAMBA (China Australia Migratory Bird Agreement)|
|· JAMBA (Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement)|
|· RKMBA (Republic of Korea Migratory Bird Agreement)|
|National conservation legislation|
|Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 : governs nationally recognised threatened species and habitats||Environmental impact assessments over certain types of development with international implications (e.g. Toondah Harbour development)|
|Airports||Air navigation, infrastructure (airports), air safety|
|Brisbane’s airport adjoins and has impacts on Moreton Bay and designated wetlands (e.g. expanding runways involve sand extraction, local aquatic impacts)|
|State||Minister, department, responsible for fisheries||Commercial fisheries (specific types)||Fisheries management legislation :|
|Recreational fisheries (including charter fishing boats)||· Fisheries Act 1994 , Fisheries Regulation 2008 (except for fish habitat areas)|
|Note: In 2012 fish habitat areas and marine parks were brought under a single portfolio.||Policies, resource access rights and quotas, allowable technologies (types of gear etc.), management of bycatch, science and monitoring|
|State||Minister, department, responsible for the environment||Marine park||Marine park legislation and implementation roles:|
|· Marine Parks Act 2004 : governs establishment and management of Moreton Bay Marine Park (established 1992 though with low levels of protection).|
|· Moreton Bay Marine Park Zoning Plan 2009 (rezoned the marine park to increase the level of protection)|
|Management activities include zoning and enforcement; behaviour codes (e.g. boat speeds); science and monitoring; commercial activity (e.g. sand extraction)|
|Environmental protection; water||Environmental protection legislation :|
|· Environmental Protection Act 1994|
|· Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009|
|Sustainable development of water in rivers, streams, wetlands, lakes, aquifers, estuaries and coastal areas; monitor water quality and ecosystem health|
|Coastal management and development||· Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995|
|· Coastal Protection and Management Regulation 2017|
|State||Water resources, supply and treatment||Bulk water supply||Infrastructure and logistics towards water supply system, including dams|
|Implications for water quality including sediment delivery affecting dams, water treatment, Moreton Bay|
|Water supply (retail, to some but not all local government areas)||Water management in catchment|
|Sewage treatment||Implications for water quality in rivers and Bay|
|Recycled water|
|State||Minister, department, responsible for maritime safety||Shipping and maritime activity||Ports, shipping routes and channels, navigational beacons, pilots|
|Regulate use of waterways including speed limits, boat licences, vessel registration|
|Maritime safety (e.g. smaller boats)|
|Boat-sourced pollution||Manage vessel-sourced pollution|
|State||Minister, department, responsible for planning||· Planning Act 2016 , Planning Regulation 2017|
|Land-use planning and development assessment, towards ecological sustainability|
|Implications for Marine Park, coastal zone, water quality in catchments|
|Local||Elected councils and staff for councils adjoining and covering waters and islands for Moreton Bay, and for inland areas of the catchment||Planning, development approvals||Planning, development application of building codes etc.|
|Services including waste management||Sewage treatment plants (some councils)|
|Manage stormwater|
|Encourage public engagement with waterways|
|Infrastructure including boat ramps, public access to water|
|Health standards of recreational waters|
|Collaborations|
|Healthy Land and Water (non-government but collaboration includes government bodies; part of nationally endorsed system of regional bodies for natural resource management)||Water quality in rivers and Moreton Bay, from urban and rural sources||Coordination (through collaboration), supporting the partners to fulfil their roles effectively; facilitating on-ground actions|
|Multiple environmental functions including biodiversity||Science and monitoring|
|Community engagement||Public awareness and engagement|
|Strategies for solving sources of sediment and pollutants (targeting, best practices)|
|Coordination (through collaboration)|
|Public awareness and engagement|
|Strategies for solving sources (targeting, best practices)|
|No regulatory powers but, by agreement, provides the natural resource component of the statutory SEQ Regional Plan 2009–2031|
|Advocacy organisations|
|National||· WWF Australia||Conservation, wildlife, including marine animals, fish and birds||Advocacy roles and processes|
|· Australian Marine Conservation Society||Influence governments, directly through lobbying or by mobilising the public via campaigns. Involves exploring and summarising the science, a degree of public education.|
|· Greenpeace|
|· The Nature Conservancy Australia|
|State||· Environmental Defenders Office (Qld)||Support the public to bring public interest cases||As above|
|· Queensland Conservation Council||Conservation||These organisations may have combined roles (e.g. member services, building public awareness, advocacy)|
|· Wildlife Queensland||Wildlife||Note: Birdwatching associations, stewardship groups (e.g. Seagrass Watch, catchment bodies) may conduct some advocacy.|
|· Sunfish Queensland||Represents recreational fishers|
|· Queensland Seafood Industry Association||Represents commercial fishers|
|Regional – local||· Moreton Bay Eco Alliance||As above, with regional foci||As above|
|· Save Moreton Bay|
|· Moreton Bay Seafood Industry Association|
|· Brisbane Region Environment Council|
|Stewardship/community action groups|
|All local, though some may connect with national networks||· Catchment management bodies (11 coordinate as the Brisbane Catchments Network, covering the Brisbane River, principally in the Brisbane metropolitan area)||Community-based management of catchments, local areas||Approaches differ, but these organisations tend to focus on on-ground action and building community awareness through those activities.|
|· Landcare and coastcare groups. (voluntary organisations focusing on on-ground works to rehabilitate environments)||All are voluntary organisations, run by committees of their members. They also rely heavily on volunteer labour (their members and others), and applying for small grants.|
|· Citizen science/community-based monitoring groups, including birdwatching groups (e.g. Queensland Wader Studies Group), MangroveWatch, Seagrass-Watch, Reef Check||Monitoring, public awareness||A degree of endorsement and cooperation comes from federal, state and local government funding for certain activities. Many activities involve multiple partners.|
|Environmental education centres||Environmental awareness, often with schools and families||All of these centres are coastal, open to the public, often run programs with schools|
Formal management
Formal management is framed by a range of legislation and associated regulations, in which three levels of government—federal, state of Queensland and local— play interacting roles alongside aspects of Aboriginal management enjoying legal force under native title legislation. While the Australian Government’s role is not overt other than under the Ramsar Convention and migratory bird agreements, these can trigger Commonwealth environmental impact assessments under the Environment Protection (Biodiversity Conservation) Act 1999 (e.g. the Wyaralong Dam assessment (9)). While much of the legislation and hence formal management arrangements affecting the Bay and catchments is state legislation, it often requires local governments and industry to act as well. These parties are prominent in the collaborative organisation Healthy Land and Water described below.
Despite recent arrangements to bring fisheries habitat managers and marine parks in Queensland under a single authority (in 2012), the reality of management over Moreton Bay is that it remains highly divided according to specific functions managed by a number of separate authorities. Although applying to the same waters, fisheries, marine park management, the Ramsar site, shipping and maritime safety, are all under separate legislation, policy and organisations.
Recognising native title over much of the Bay and islands means that those native title holders represented by the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation are now part of the formal decision-making. Other Traditional Custodian groups are not yet brought under formal management, other than some provisions that apply in certain circumstances through cultural heritage and native title legislation, such as the ability to form cultural heritage management plans and Indigenous Land Use Agreements.
There are further management interests in water quantity and quality. The official responsibility for meeting water quality standards in the rivers and Bay rests with the Department of Environment and Science (Queensland), but the practical actions required draw in local governments and a wide range of land and water users. A collaboration of state government, local governments, science organisations, water utilities, commercial organisations and community groups formed in the late 1990s. This was originally under the name of the Moreton Bay Waterways and Catchments Partnership, followed by a number of subsequent name changes including Healthy Waterways, and more recently Healthy Land and Water (6). This began with a focus on the Bay and lower catchments, and extended to the entire catchments of Moreton Bay in the 2000s. Significant achievements of this collaboration are a strong water quality monitoring process, an evidence-based approach with close scientific participation in the collaboration, and significant improvements to water quality in the Bay following upgrades to sewage treatment plants. The Ramsar site ensures Australian Government interest in activities within the Bay. An example is the approvals process for the construction of the Wyaralong Dam, which required consideration of the changes in flows on mud crab populations within Moreton Bay (9).
Below we briefly outline the process for evaluating and adjusting the boundaries and zoning of the Moreton Bay Marine Park. This process is different to other management processes in the Bay. It illustrates challenges of achieving an integrated approach and associated whole-of-Bay outcomes. The range of management frameworks and approaches increases the complexity of the management system, and can be challenging for managers and other stakeholders alike.
While we will not attempt to document the complexity of the management of land areas, it is important to note that catchment management, including cities and rural areas, is separated from marine management. Rivers flow into the Bay, yet there is no statutory or formal connection in their management. Marine park and fisheries legislation and management arrangements have no formal influence beyond their respective aquatic boundaries. This means there is no formal mechanism for guiding land-based activities in the catchments that affect the water quality and other environmental integrity issues in the Bay. This must be achieved through non-statutory collaboration, one of the main functions of Healthy Land and Water.
Moreton Bay Marine Park zoning processes
The first Moreton Bay Marine Park Zoning Plan was implemented in 1997 (Marine Parks (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan 1997). The marine park had five zones and provided for green zone protection of 0.5% of the Bay. This 0.5% area did not include representation of all habitat types in the Bay. The 1997 Zoning Plan expired on 1 September 2008, and following a substantial review during 2007/2008, a new zoning plan came into effect on 1 March 2009. The new zoning plan was based on research that had become available over the past 10 years, and on expert advice from an independent panel. The revised zoning plan protected 16% of the Bay, including a minimum of 15% of each habitat type. To support the transition to the new zoning, a structural adjustment package was implemented to buy out licences of commercial fishers who were impacted by changes. The new zoning plan had four zones: green zones (the highest level of protection), yellow zones (highly protected), blue zones (habitat protection), light blue zones (general use), and a series of go slow areas to reduce potential for boat strikes on turtles and marine mammals. These zones were similar to those used in other marine parks, including the Great Barrier Marine Park, and improved consistency in marine park management along the Queensland coast. The zoning plan also includes designated mooring areas allowing for environmentally friendly moorings. A monitoring program assessed social, ecological and economic changes in and around Moreton Bay.
We note that formal management is more focused on ‘top-down’ control and compliance through regulation than on encouraging desired behaviours. An indicator is the number of signs along the Moreton Bay coast listing forbidden actions, and very few enjoining positive engagement with the coastal and marine environment (Fig. 1). Formal management is also understood in a limited way—other than the native title determination over some two-thirds of the Bay’s waters, there is low recognition of Aboriginal custodianship, and of the activities and commitment of stewardship and citizen science groups. Similarly there is little role for the general public, who are treated as users of the environment (often being viewed principally in terms of their damaging actions) rather than positive contributors to its care. Yet a study exploring how people value Moreton Bay and its tributaries (3–5, 10) suggests a strong desire among waterway users throughout the region to protect and look after waterways in South East Queensland to maintain their ecological integrity and ensure people can continue to derive cultural, recreational and economic benefits. (This does not necessarily translate into general public willingness to manage actively, according to surveys conducted on behalf of Healthy Land and Water).
Figure 1. Signage on Moreton Bay coastline showing different styles of communication which can invoke either positive and negative responses.
Overlooked and unofficial dimensions of management
In a holistic picture of what constitutes ‘management’, a number of other roles and highly committed organisations and members should be recognised.
Traditional Aboriginal Custodians take a holistic and social–ecological perspective over managing their land and sea country that contrasts sharply with the sectoralism of government. Native title rights are transitioning the Quandamooka peoples into formally recognised governance roles, though the level of effective interaction with government arrangements is yet to be determined. Unfortunately, interaction between Traditional Custodians and other organisations is sporadic. A celebrated exception is the cooperation between Traditional Custodians, state government and other organisations in the clean-up effort following an oil spill off Moreton Island in 2009 (11).
Activist organisations and peak bodies concentrate on political and social influence and educational roles to mobilise public opinion in favour of changes, or influence political decisions directly. Examples are the organisations promoting conservation of Moreton Bay over the decades and those representing fishing interests.
Stewardship groups generally focus on on-ground work in local areas (Landcare and similar groups) or on a wider scale (catchment management bodies, the Brisbane Catchments Network). The catchment management bodies often coordinate, and offer support to, the more local organisations. These organisations are particularly active in restoration, as well as social influence and educational roles.
Science organisations, involving formally qualified scientists mainly working for universities, government and the CSIRO, influence management through research providing an information base, and the design and oversight of environmental monitoring procedures. At times they may assist cautiously in advocacy, especially on behalf of conservation. Citizen science organisations contribute to monitoring particular habitats and species (e.g. reefs (12), mangroves (13), seagrass (14), marine megafauna (15), and birds).
Recreational groups, such as surfers, divers, birdwatchers and fishers, also conduct some stewardship activities and monitoring (e.g. Birds Australia, Carpbusters).
Education organisations such as environmental education centres and the University of Queensland’s marine research station on Stradbroke Island play a role in the capacity building of future generations, increasing stakeholder knowledge of the Bay. This is likely to foster potential for stewardship and improved management in the future.
Media organisations take initiatives in promoting certain information and stories, and are used by other actors such as activist organisations, lobbyists and government for informal influence. For instance, media can be used to influence public opinion, and hence gain support for a policy, leverage in an advocacy campaign, or votes for a local government to commit more strongly to waterway protection.
These organisations and their efforts influence formal governance and sometimes political decisions, contribute constituent support for policies and investment, build and contribute local knowledge, and contribute significant and unpaid effort to on-ground management. They are recognised and supported to varying degrees, for example stewardship groups have been supported under federal–state programs since the 1990s (2, 16), and advocacy organisations and peak bodies are periodically consulted at times of policy change. Funding for Aboriginal custodial activity is less clear-cut. In general it is not supported in the same way as non-Indigenous stewardship organisations, but periodically specific funds are available to those organisations conducting specific on-ground activities.
The different actors and types of management also influence one another. For example advocacy organisations seek to achieve policy change, directly by lobbying governments and mobilising the public to support (or resist) the proposed policy changes. In the process of their advocacy, they may undertake–or indirectly achieve–public awareness activity (e.g. recognising the importance of ecological process or threatened species, or of the activities, livelihoods, and sustainable practices of fishers). This can mobilise campaigning in support of their cause. On-ground stewardship groups build community awareness and achieve tangible effects. Governments foster the activities of the stewardship groups, at least to some degree, through programs such as the National Landcare Program, and through part-funding of the regional bodies for natural resource management.
Effective management of Moreton Bay and its catchments as a complex system will depend not only on the involvement and commitment of diverse actor groups, both formal and informal, but also collaboration among them. This will require a ‘new governance’ approach whereby unofficial management actions receive greater recognition. ‘New governance’ involves tackling problems in a way that is collective and decentralised, and therefore depends on principles of inclusivity and networked actors (21). Dedicated effort is needed to build relations between the diverse actors operating in natural resource management of Moreton Bay in order to foster and build a new governance approach, whilst also acknowledging the challenges associated with legitimising new roles and responsibilities of different actor groups (22).
Conclusions and implications
Our inclusive analysis suggests that Moreton Bay and its catchments are managed by a system that is part-formal and part-informal, with many specialised components operating at different scales. Their interactions change perpetually as trajectories and outcomes shift according to the land and seascapes being managed. Members of the public harbour awareness, interests and values towards these environments. They need to be acknowledged within this management picture as people who care about the outcomes, are willing to contribute their efforts, and who will vote to achieve them.
This suggests some new directions for the management of waterways in South East Queensland. A more expansive view of management would recognise the important customary and often voluntary stewardship roles played by Traditional Custodians, stewardship organisations, such as catchment management bodies and Landcare groups, and voluntary monitoring organisations, such as creek and Waterwatch organisations. The collaboration Healthy Land and Water is already well recognised and connects some of these organisations. The role and uses of collaboration could be more strongly formalised, which would extend the basis for coordination and inclusion, for example by better connecting between land and sea similarly to the way Indigenous people view their coastal estates.
The more holistic view of what constitutes ‘management’, and who contributes to it, also opens opportunities to move from a dominant reliance on a ‘control’ way of thinking, focused on preventing damaging activity (e.g. limiting fishing activity, boating speeds through zoning and regulation), to incorporate the positive dimensions of caring and collaboration. A collaborative narrative may foster new opportunities for building relationships between formal and informal organisations that value waterways in South East Queensland in similar ways, and that hold shared objectives to manage these aquatic environments and/or resources sustainably. Monitoring and evaluation can expand from biophysical threats and damage, to social, economic and cultural benefits and contributions, as Healthy Land and Water has been doing since 2015.
The wide range of people’s values towards waterways has management and communication implications (3-5). It expands the set of considerations from the past trade-offs between uses and protection, to incorporate love of nature, aesthetic appreciation, and spiritual and symbolic connections. As the region’s local governments are already recognising, members of the public have some interests in the Bay and rivers that differ from those that have been the focus of past management. They like some areas to be protected, or restored to a relatively ‘intact’ state, so as to enjoy and learn from nature firsthand, and other areas to be controlled and maintained in a modified state to allow convenient access for recreation and enjoyment. Others want to see waterways and marine spaces managed to a condition that they know will allow populations of species such as fish, turtles and dugongs to remain viable so close to a high-growth urban area. Expectations in the upper catchments show that local waterway management should be focused on local issues and needs, not necessarily for the benefit of the Bay (10). While the need to control potentially damaging uses will continue, as will purely moral and ecological reasons for protecting areas and species, engaging public interest and cooperation through appeal to the specific ways in which they appreciate and use waterways offers a wider repertoire of management options.
Recognising the way in which formal and informal management is conducted will help all stakeholders to engage more effectively and to work to achieve mutual outcomes. Such empowerment is important and will help to ensure that Moreton Bay and catchments are managed for all users into the future, not just for user groups that are well versed in working within a complex management environment.
Acknowledgements
This study was conducted under ARC Linkage grant LP100200475, with partners Queensland Government, Healthy Waterways (now Healthy Land and Water), Traditional Custodians and SEQ Catchments. The authors thank Nicola Udy, James Udy and Michael Holmes for team discussions contributing to some of the ideas presented in this paper. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.
with a variety of predecessor names
Fisheries habitat administration and marine park management first came together in 2012 in the then Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing; they are now in the Department of Environment and Science. Formally, this means that under the Administrative Arrangement Orders, one minister is responsible for the Marine Parks Act 2004 and the Fisheries Act 1994 as they relate to ‘fish habitat areas’. The other ‘fish habitat’ parts of the Fisheries Act (marine plants and fish passage) are the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. | https://moretonbayfoundation.org/articles/managing-for-the-multiple-uses-and-values-of-moreton-bay-and-its-catchments/ |
It is a great pleasure to be here this morning and I would like to thank organisers for the opportunity to address this session.
I am a Yamatji woman from Western Australia and, out of respect for cultural protocols. I recognise and thank Traditional Owners of the country on whose land we are meeting today in Broken Hill.
We must never forget that the Traditional Owners have had responsibility for looking after this country for thousands of years and I pay my respects to current day descendents. As the Chairperson of the Indigenous Land Corporation I am proud that the ILC is a major sponsor this National Land and Sea Management Conference.
As many of you here today would know, the ILC is an Australian Government independent statutory authority established to provide social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits to Indigenous people by assisting them to acquire land and manage Indigenous-held land. In acquiring land and managing Indigenous-held land the ILC Board has made it clear that these areas of general benefits – social, cultural, environmental and economic – have key factors which link them – that is, the ability of land to also provide training that will facilitate employment outcomes and in doing so encourage sustainable economic development. Unfortunately, there is a belief in some sectors that the acquisition of land by itself is the only outcome which is required. The ILC does not agree with this view.
The ILC Board, and indeed many other Indigenous organisations and communities, takes a more holistic view of land ownership and land management, and believes that sustainable economic outcomes are not mutually exclusive from the need to protect culturally or environmentally significant areas. The ILC is involved in many exciting projects across the nation. In just the last couple of weeks you would have seen the announcement that the ILC is in the process of acquiring the Ayers Rock resort at Yulara for $300 million. This is the largest land acquisition and land management project the ILC has initiated since it was created in 1995. The acquisition of Ayers Rock Resort by the ILC is a huge step and a massive challenge. But, unless we are prepared to take huge steps and challenge ourselves as a nation, we will fail to make real progress in Closing the Gap in Indigenous disadvantage. Indigenous people want to be part of Australia’s continuing economic development. This can only happen if Indigenous people have opportunities to actively participate in the economy. That means training that leads to real jobs, now and for future generations.
The ILC and its partners have a long-standing commitment to both sustainable Indigenous economic development and the Australian tourism industry. Following the acquisition, the ILC will establish a National Indigenous Tourism Training Academy at Ayers Rock Resort. At present, just a handful of the 670 staff at the Resort are Indigenous. This is not acceptable. The ILC is aiming to have 200 Indigenous people employed at the Resort by the end of 2015, with the number of Indigenous staff reaching 340, or more than 50% of total Resort staffing, by the end of 2018. The establishment of the tourism academy at the Resort will see 200 Indigenous people in training each year from 2013. After five years of operation, it is anticipated that 500 Indigenous trainees will graduate from the academy with around half of them gaining employment at the Resort and the remainder being placed in other jobs in the tourism, hospitality and other industries across Australia.
The needs of International and Australian visitors, to be able to enjoy a memorable and quality tourism experience when they visit Uluru and surrounding attractions, will remain paramount and undiminished by this ground-breaking sale. The economic development opportunity for Central Australian Indigenous communities posed by this sale is huge. The ILC and its partners Wana Unkatja, the Australian tourism industry and the Australian and NT governments, all have a stake in ensuring the long-term success of the Ayres Rock Resort at this landmark location in the centre of Australia. That is the future – and now to the present. In my presentation today, I will present several case studies which reflect the ILC’s practical approach to assisting Indigenous economic development through land management projects that seek to balance protection and production. These case studies focus on the socio-economic benefits being delivered through long-term land management projects which, in turn, are developing sustainable businesses. I have included an overview of ILC projects in Brewarrina in NSW, at Miniyerri and Fish River in the Top End and look at existing and future key collaborations which can deliver benefits across large regional areas.
CASE STUDY 1: MERRIMAN STATION, NSW
The ILC bought Merriman Station near Brewarrina in late 2006 so local Indigenous community organisation Canbac could run an Indigenous shearing training school to secure Indigenous jobs in the pastoral industry. Brewarrina is a town steeped in sheep history, but in recent years the region lost 95 per cent of its stock in the worst drought in 100 years-then floods saw it declared a disaster area. I am sure the irony of that is not lost on anyone here. However, I am pleased to say that the rain has revitalised the country and now confidence in the sheep industry is returning and job prospects are up.
As producers look to rebuild their flocks the Merriman Shearing School is getting young Indigenous people ready for work. The ILC has built 10-bed shearers’ quarters as well as an amenities block with kitchen and dining and recreation room. The shearing shed and manager’s house has been refurbished and water points added to handle a larger flock. The project is supported by a major contract with Fletcher International, Australia’s largest sheep production company, to shear 27,000 sheep in 2010. Merriman’s trainees live at the station, earning full wages while they receive accredited training under the watchful eyes of Indigenous trainers and mentors who have had a long association with the shearing and pastoral industry.
The first trainees in 2009 were snapped up by employers across the region and up to 20 young Indigenous people will qualify as shearers in 2010. I think this partnership between the ILC, Canbac and a leading industry player is a great example of the benefits that can accrue not only to Indigenous people, but also to the wider community when we break down barriers and provide real training that guarantees employment.
CASE STUDY 2: FISH RIVER STATION, NT
I am proud to announce that he ILC has recently played a major role in the acquisition of Fish River Station on the Daly River in the Northern Territory. Fish River is Australia’s newest conservation reserve and will provide new jobs and business opportunities for its Traditional Owners.
The180,000 hectare property 150 kilometres south of Darwin, was purchased through a partnership with the National Reserves System, and conservation not-for-profit groups The Nature Conservancy, Pew Environment Group and Greening Australia. Fish River Station protects long stretches of the Daly River, with fresh and saltwater crocodiles, billabongs fringed by savanna woodland and pockets of rainforest. Its wetlands are a stronghold for the pig-nosed turtle and habitat for another seven freshwater turtle species and a huge diversity of fish, from barramundi to the threatened freshwater sawfish and the critically endangered spear-toothed shark. Fish River is now part of the National Reserve System.
Fish River also helps build Ecolink, the conservation corridor which will connect Port Augusta in South Australia to the Top End, giving native species room to adapt in the face of a changing climate, fire and drought. The purchase will lead to new jobs for Indigenous rangers controlling weeds and feral animals, caring for threatened species and managing fire and opportunities and for Traditional Owners to establish ecotourism businesses.
The Indigenous Land Corporation will initially manage the property and support Traditional Owners to build on their extensive knowledge of the area so they can take over the lead management role within a few years. This is a great partnership with Traditional Owners, the ILC, Australian Government agencies, the Northern Territory and the major conservation non-profits The Nature Conservancy, Pew Environment Group and Greening Australia – all working together for a conservation outcome and new opportunities for Indigenous communities. The partners will contribute ongoing management funding and employ Indigenous Rangers and work with Traditional Owners to develop enterprises that complement and help protect the significant biodiversity values of the property.
CASE STUDY 2: WALIBURRU STATION, NT
At Waliburru Station in the NT, formerly known as Hodgson Downs, the ILC has assisted the local Minyerri community, Traditional Owners and Rangers to develop a new pastoral enterprise which is successfully marrying economic, cultural, social and environmental needs. At the request of Traditional owners, the ILC signed a six-year grazing licence agreement on Waliburru in 2007, with an option to extend the agreement to 2018, to help bring the land back into production and to train and employ young people living at the Minyerri community, which is located on the station. In 1995, Hodgson Downs was granted to Alawa 1 Aboriginal Land Trust under the NT Land Rights Act. Historical connections with pastoralism was a key driver for people to acquire the 323,000 hectare station, but their enthusiasm also stemmed from their need to protect and maintain the land’s cultural landscape. Over the years the station’s infrastructure had become rundown and only a small cattle herd had been maintained to supply meat to the local community.
The ILC, employing people from Miniyerri, has now established essential infrastructure, including over 375km of new fencing, yards, sheds, dams, water points, access roads and a homestead precinct including staff and visitor accommodation and a training centre. In 2008-09 the Waliburru workforce had risen to 25 and the property was carrying over 10,000 head of cattle. While the project is about economic development and training, community members strongly support their ranger program, and see that as growing as the station develops. The clearances for station infrastructure were facilitated by senior Traditional Owners working with an Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (NT) anthropologist. This work resulted in the protection of sacred country, and perhaps as importantly, the transfer of important cultural knowledge from senior custodians to younger custodians. Traditional owners have also formulated a land management plan with the Miniyerri Rangers, and now there is the capacity to implement cooperative arrangements for weed, feral animal and fire management with rangers and stockmen working together.
A key part of the project is the succession arrangements that are incorporated into the Waliburru Development Plan, where the ILC is assisting Traditional Owners to develop their capacity with the aim of taking control of their business by 2018. This model of using land to create a sustainable enterprise to provide accredited training and jobs, at the same time building the capacity of the community, is also being adopted at Gunbalanya, on the Oenpelli flood plain.
CASE STUDY 4 – COLLABORATION
My final case study in this presentation has many parts but it focuses on one key word – ‘collaboration’. In today’s world, no one agency has the physical and financial resources to support large-scale, regional projects on its own, so collaboration becomes a key consideration if sustainable socio-economic benefits are to be achieved on Indigenous land. An example of how collaborations are shaping much of the ILC’s land management work is the NT Ranger Project. This is a joint initiative between key Northern Territory and Australian Government agencies, the Northern Land Council, the Central Land Council and the ILC to address invasive weed, fire and feral animal issues, animal disease monitoring and degraded site rehabilitation while building local Indigenous landholders’ capacity through training and job creation.
The project involves a number of NT Indigenous communities with a focus on natural resource management training. Utilising the skills acquired through this training, some Indigenous land management groups established under the strategy have now developed their own enterprises. This has included winning contracts for environmental management work for the NT Government and other government agencies and Indigenous people have derived full or part-time contract employment from these enterprise activities. Looking into the crystal ball, the next big challenge for Indigenous communities is the carbon collaboration and what role they will play as Australia moves towards a greener future. There are enormous opportunities within the new green economy to close the gap and reduce the dependence of Indigenous communities on government assistance through creation of jobs, income and sustainable change.
We must minimise the risk arising from the impacts of a changing climate and ensure that regional, rural and remote Indigenous communities are ready to face these impacts by adapting to changes as they occur. In doing that we must maximise the opportunities that may present themselves from the green economy in jobs and small business development as well as community-wide projects that will result from changes to regulations, legislation and above all, technologies.
The opportunities are many but carbon abatement, carbon sequestration, biomaterial processing, forestry, water management, waste and recycling and renewable energy are just some of opportunities which come easily to mind.
It is a huge challenge but at the same time it presents an exciting possible future for indigenous people living on the Rangelands.
CONCLUSION
The case studies I have outlined are but a few examples of the diversity of the more than150 land management projects the ILC has underway across Australia, that aim to deliver sustainable benefits to Indigenous communities and groups. While land management projects may be geographically different, and offer different opportunities to communities, they share four common factors in that they seek to:
- Develop a sustainable Indigenous economic base on Indigenous-held land.
- Develop Indigenous capacity, self-reliance and pride.
- Provide training and skills development opportunities and creating jobs.
- Protect cultural and environmental values.
The ILC believes these are critical elements if land ownership and land management projects are to deliver sustainable benefits to Indigenous people. This work is not easy and Indigenous Australians face many challenges, including building strong governance, developing capacity, providing accredited training and building the infrastructure necessary to develop enterprises and create jobs.
But, we should never let those challenges overwhelm us. The ILC believes there are no quick-fix solutions and that, to assist in developing Indigenous capacity and thereby achieve lasting outcomes, there must be long term commitment. That is why some of the agreements the ILC has entered into with Indigenous communities and Traditional Owners have a span of 15 years or more. The work we are all doing to maintain and strengthen culture, connection to country and sustainable economic development through training and job creation , is vital to this generation and generations to come.
In closing, I would like to thank everyone who is working with Indigenous people to build a brighter and more sustainable future.
Thank you. | https://www.ilsc.gov.au/home/news/ilc-partnerships-in-land-management/ |
Plunge the Depths of Marine Education!
Two Million Square Kilometres of Planning
Prepared by: Ester Guerzonni, National Oceans Office
The world's first and largest regional marine plan - more than two million square kilometres of waters in Australia's south east - is being developed by the National Oceans Office. Industry, the community and interest groups are a key source of knowledge and are invited to help shape this world-leading initiative.
Beginning in February, the Oceans Office will hold a number of industry consultations, seminars and public meetings throughout the year to shape the future direction for managing Commonwealth waters in the South-east Marine Region.
Initial meetings will bring representatives up to date with the work completed in assessing the South-east Marine Region. In April, the Office will release a discussion paper which will mark the beginning of an extensive campaign to understand the interests, objectives and desires of the many parties who have an interest in, or derive a living from, our marine environment.
The Office has worked extensively with industries, communities and research organisations to understand the physical environment, biological communities, the types of impacts human activities have on the ocean, the economic benefits we derive from the ocean, and the overall social and historical connections the community has with the deep ocean.
This assessment stage has occupied the Office for much of 2001, and in the first half of this year, the vast amount of knowledge accumulated is being released in a series of reports. Gathering this knowledge has taught us much about how groups view their relationship with the marine environment. 2002 is about moving forward and consulting with more people to understand what they would like to see in the regional marine plan - their objectives, their interests and their concerns.
This understanding starts to shape the final plan. It is important that all stakeholders have their say at this point.
By the middle of the year, the Office will be developing options for the plan with the help of industry and community representatives. This will mean revisiting earlier discussions, and holding more consultations to negotiate options which provide the best outcomes, the least risk, and the most effective management arrangements for all parties. The Office wants to hear from groups first-hand and to work through any concerns with everyone involved.
The South-east Marine Region is the first regional marine plan being implemented under Australia's Oceans Policy. The Policy was launched in 1998 to provide a framework for the people of Australia to explore, use, protect and enjoy our extensive marine resources.
To keep up to date with developments and to find out about meetings, visit the Oceans Office website (www.oceans.gov.au) or phone the National Oceans Office on (03) 6221 5000.
Background Information
Background Information
Regional Marine Planning: An explanation
Regional marine planning is a way of achieving the Oceans Policy vision. It uses large marine ecosystems as one of the starting points for the planning process by creating planning boundaries that are based on ecosystem characteristics - a major step towards ecosystem-based management.
Each region is seen as a whole working system where natural processes and human activities interact. To manage these interactions, we first need to understand the physical environment, biological communities, the types of impacts human activities have on the ocean and the social and cultural values we hold for the ocean. Through regional marine planning we will learn much about how all groups view their relationship with the marine environment. We will also discover how a regional marine plan can put in place a decision-making and management framework that can sensibly meet these wishes as well as maintaining the health and vitality of the ocean.
For the environment, regional marine planning provides a way of managing our activities so that biodiversity is maintained and further environmental damage is avoided.
For industry, regional marine planning creates a business and regulatory environment to develop, use and export Australia's ocean resources, technology and expertise to their full commercial potential, while maintaining the environment on which they depend.
For communities, it means people can participate in decision-making about oceans access, conservation and management, building on the existing social and cultural relationships that all communities have with the ocean environment.
For Indigenous people, it provides a forum to explore how we can address issues of access, economic development and the cultural aspirations of Indigenous people for Sea Country, as well as providing opportunities for consultation and participation by Indigenous people in the planning process.
3D FLYOVER SOUTH EASTERN MARINE REGION
At the MESA conference in South Australia we were pleased that Ester Guerzoni and Anne Morgan from the National Oceans Office (NOO) were able to participate at both a preconference workshop and to present at the conference itself.
The NOO is seeking input from marine educators as to the content and materials for both their website and for schools. If you have ideas they would be delighted to hear from you and get some directions from educators as to what they want and need.
The presentation at the MESA conference itself was a world first with a sneak preview of of some spectacular views of the South East Marine Region developed as a 3D fly through the region based on bathymetric data collected in the investigative phase of the Regional Planning Process.
The results were breathtaking with massive seamounts rising abruptly from the abyssal plains, huge canyons where water pours out of Bass Strait, and some spectacular images of the Macquarie Rise in the Southern Ocean. NOO hopes to have some of these images online soon. | http://www.mesa.edu.au/conf2002/oceans.asp |
Achieving an effective and functional balance between the conservation of the endangered Mediterranean Monk seal population, the protection of priority habitats (Posidonia beds and the unique Coralligenous beds– tragana) and human activities that are taking place in the wider area around Gyaros, is the ultimate goal of the “CYCLADES LIFE” project.
In view of this not easily achievable goal, the project’s team will formulate a “Consortium of Stakeholders” with the participation of local key stakeholders, involved groups, bodies, entities and representatives of professional, governmental and civil society institutions from both Syros and Andros and from the central relevant authorities and bodies from Athens.
The selection of the Consortium’s participants will be based upon the baseline work conducted during the preparatory actions (socio-economic study), that will map the social and economic aspects and structures of the local communities of Syros and Andros, and will identify the bodies who are directly involved or affect the wider area of Gyaros.
The Consortium will be composed of 15 representatives and the objective of its membership is to represent as fully as possible the central authorities as well as the key stakeholders of local community, such as local municipalities and other regional or authorities, professional and amateur fishermen, tourist business associations, divers, and local and national NGOs.
In order for the Consortium of Stakeholders to exercise effectively its role as the co management and governing body of the MPA, specific protocols will be formulated so as to guide and govern its operation. It will play the central role in the formulation of the necessary conservation and management proposals, as well as on the delineation of the boundaries and the zonation system of the new MPA. Moreover, it will be consulted during its preparation and will contribute in the final formulation of the Special Environmental Study, agreeing upon the required Ecosystem Based Management Plan, which will be part of the official establishment of the Wildlife Refuge and the Marine Protected Area.
The above procedure will ensure the effective operation of the Consortium so as to implement the appropriate strategies, based on the principles of marine spatial planning, and to promote conservation activities and management measures that will secure the protection of the Marine Protected Area and the sustainable development of the local communities.
The main objective of this action is to bring together the key stakeholders in a collaborative structure, the “Consortium of Stakeholders” so as to become acquainted with the project area, to participate in the design and jointly decide on the proposed conservation measures and to share responsibilities as a path to the successful management of the new Marine Protected Area. In fact the ultimate objective of the “CYCLADES LIFE” project is for the Consortium of Stakeholders to become the main body responsible for the management of the new MPA, by implementing, monitoring and evaluating the agreed co-management plan.
Its members will meet at regular intervals, while the open consultation, debate and agreement between institutions, authorities and relevant groups involved directly in the region, is essential, so that the management decisions that will be taken to be applicable and effective towards achieving the balance between the protection and conservation of the marine environment and the sustainable use of marine resources and services. | http://cycladeslife.gr/en/the-program/actions/cooperation/consortium-of-stakeholders/ |
Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, announced $5.8 million in Indigenous and Local Communities Engagement and Partnership Program funding for 21 projects with Indigenous groups. This funding will allow for longer-term Indigenous participation in engagement activities linked to Oceans Protection Plan initiatives or Canada’s marine safety system.
This funding will support:
- Building local capacity and expertise to help Indigenous communities take a greater role in the design and implementation of aspects of the transportation system and environmental protection measures.
- Fostering federal-Indigenous and multilateral partnerships that will lead to greater participation in engagement of marine safety and environmental protection activities.
“The Oceans Protection Plan funding I’m announcing today fosters an ability for Indigenous communities to build capacity and more fully participate in the marine safety system and the marine sector,” said Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport.
The $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan is the largest investment ever made to protect Canada’s coasts and waterways. This national plan is creating a world-leading marine safety system that provides economic opportunities for Canadians today, while protecting our coastlines and clean water for generations to come. This work is being done in close collaboration with Indigenous peoples, local stakeholders and coastal communities.
Since the Oceans Protection Plan started in November 2016, over 50 initiatives have been announced in the areas of marine safety, research and ecosystem protection that span coast-to-coast-to-coast.
The Indigenous and Local Communities Engagement and Partnership Program will be funding 21 Indigenous groups in the following provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador (1); Nova Scotia (2); Quebec (5); Ontario (1); British Columbia (7); Nunavut (2); Northwest Territories (2); and National (1). Click here to see the organizations that received funding, what the funding will go towards, and how much funding was received.
All applications for Indigenous Local Communities Engagement and Partnership Program funding were required to meet pre-determined eligibility assessment criteria. Once confirmed, each application was evaluated by a Selection Review Committee against merit criteria, which included project relevance, application quality, value for money and experience of the applicant. | https://www.watercanada.net/ilcepp-funding-awarded-for-21-projects-across-canada/ |
The aftermath of the World War saw drastic political, cultural, economic, and social change across Eurasia (Europe and Asia), Africa, and even in areas outside those that were directly involved. Two empires collapsed due to the war, old countries were radically reformed, new ones were created, boundaries were redrawn, international organizations were established, and many new and old ideologies took a firm hold in people's minds.
The World War also had the effect of bringing political transformation to most of the principal parties involved in the conflict, transforming them into electoral democracies by bringing near-universal suffrage for the first time in history, such as Germany (German federal election, 1919), Great Britain (United Kingdom general election, 1918), and Turkey (Turkish general election, 1923).
Treaty of LausanneEdit
After the Lausanne Peace Conference of 1919, the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on 28 June 1919, between Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire on the one side and France, Italy, Britain and other minor Entente powers on the other, officially ended war between those countries. Included in the 440 articles of the Treaty of Lausanne were the demands that both sides pay economic reparations. The treaty drastically limited the Serbian military machine: Serbian troops were reduced to 40,000 and the country was prevented from possessing major military armaments such as tanks, aircraft, armored vehicles and chemical weapons.
Influenza epidemicEdit
Historians continue to argue about the impact of the 1918 flu pandemic had on the outcome of the war. It has been posited that the Central Powers may have been exposed to the viral wave before the Allies. The resulting casualties having greater effect, having been incurred during the war, as opposed to the allies who suffered the brunt of the pandemic after the Armistice. When the extent of the epidemic was realized, the respective censorship programs of the Allies and Central Powers limited the public's knowledge regarding the true extent of the disease. Because Spain was neutral, their media was free to report on the Flu, giving the impression that it began there. This misunderstanding led to contemporary reports naming it the "Spanish flu." Investigative work by a British team led by virologist John Oxford of St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Royal London Hospital, identified a major troop staging and hospital camp in Étaples, France as almost certainly being the center of the 1918 flu pandemic. A significant precursor virus was harbored in birds, and mutated to pigs that were kept near the front. The exact number of deaths is unknown but about 50 million people are estimated to have died from the influenza outbreak worldwide. In 2005, a study found that, "The 1918 virus strain developed in birds and was similar to the 'bird flu' that today has spurred fears of another worldwide pandemic, yet proved to be a normal treatable virus that did not produce a heavy impact on the world's health."
Ethnic minoritiesEdit
The Austro-Hungarian empire was near total collapse at the end of the war. Some of the ethnic groups, such as the Czechs and Slavs, had influential organizations who were sometimes not fully satisfied with their fellow ethnics remaining part of the empire. For example, Czechs and Slovaks had formed the Czechoslovak Legion, who fought for the creation of Czechoslovakia on the Entente side. The two sides, for different reasons, negotiated various Minority Treaties in an attempt to deal with the problem, but by the 1930s, these treaties became increasingly unenforceable. One consequence of the massive redrawing of borders and the political changes in the aftermath of the war was the large number of European refugees. These and the refugees of the Russian Civil War led to the creation of the Nansen passport.
Economic and military cooperation amongst these small states was minimal, ensuring that the powers of Germany and the Soviet Union retained a latent capacity to dominate the region. In the immediate aftermath of the war, defeat drove the Soviet Union to focus internally but ultimately would compete with Germany to dominate eastern Europe.
Political upheavalsEdit
New nations break freeEdit
German and Austrian forces in 1918 defeated the Russian armies, and the new communist government in Moscow signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. In that treaty, Russia renounced all claims to Finland, Livonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the territory of Congress Poland, and it was left to Germany and Austria-Hungary "to determine the future status of these territories in agreement with their population." Later on, Vladimir Lenin's government also renounced the Partition of Poland treaty, making it possible for Poland to claim its 1772 borders.
RevolutionsEdit
A far-left and often explicitly Communist revolutionary wave occurred in several European countries in 1917-1920, notably in Germany and Hungary. The single most important event precipitated by the privations of the World War was the Russian Revolution of 1917.
GermanyEdit
In Germany, there was a serious threat of a socialist revolution which led to the establishment of a number of democratic reforms in the country, old imperial elite losing much of their authority, and the creation of constitutional monarchy.
On 28 June 1919 Germany signed the Treaty of Lausanne. A notion that the treaty limited German gains in eastern Europe. While this was not the intent of the treaty, it none the less took root in German society and was never accepted by nationalists. The German government disseminated propaganda to further promote this idea, and funded the Centre for the Study of the Causes of the War to this end.
The treaty demanded from Germany reparations as well as pay for their vast gains in eastern Europe. In order to finance the purchases of foreign currency required to pay off the reparations, the German government printed tremendous amounts of money – to disastrous effect. Hyperinflation plagued Germany between 1921 and 1923. In this period the worth of fiat Papiermarks with respect to the earlier commodity Goldmarks was reduced to one trillionth (one million millionth) of its value. In December 1922 the Reparations Commission declared Germany in default.
Germany gained relatively small amounts of territory in the west by annexing Luxembourg and a larger amount of a reestablished Poland. Most of Germany's overseas colonies were returned, with the exception of islands in the north Pacific Ocean. Nazi propaganda would feed on a general German view that the treaties were glorious—many Germans accepted the peace treaties as legitimate, and later gave their political support to Adolf Hitler, who was arguably the first national politician to both speak up and take action in enforcing the conditions.
Russian EmpireEdit
On 3 March 1918 the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia was forced, under threat of continued German advance, to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Many Russian nationalists and some revolutionaries viewed the one-sided treaty as a humiliation. At the time of the armistice with the western Entente, Russia was in the grips of a civil war which left more than seven million people dead and large areas of the country devastated. The nation as a whole suffered socially and economically. As to her border territories, Lithuania, Livonia and Finland all gained a lasting independence, though they repeatedly had to fight the Soviet Union for there borders. Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan were established as independent states in the Caucasus region. These countries were proclaimed as Soviet Republics in 1922 and over time were absorbed into the Soviet Union. During the war, however, Turkey captured the Armenian territory around Artvin, Kars, and Igdir, and these territorial losses became permanent. Romania gained Bessarabia from Russia. The Russian concession in Tianjin was occupied by the Chinese in 1920; in 1924 the Soviet Union renounced its claims to the district.
Austria-HungaryEdit
With the war having taken its toll on the Central Powers, the people of Austria-Hungary lost faith in their allied countries, and even before the war, radical nationalism had already led to several demands for greater autonomy in south-central Europe after the armistice in 1918. As the central government had become ineffective in vast areas, Austrian Emperor Karl I attempted to fill the void with a radical reformation of Cisleithania. During this same period, the population was facing food shortages and was, for the most part, demoralized by the losses incurred during the war. Various political parties, ranging from ardent nationalists, to social democrats, to communists attempted to set up governments in the names of the different nationalities. These moves created de facto governments that complicated life for diplomats, idealists, and Austria-Hungary's allies.
The Western forces officially supported groups that wanted independence from Austria-Hungary, but rarely had the means of returning the leaders of these groups to Austria-Hungary. They had to deal with local authorities who had their own agenda to fulfill. At the peace conference in Lausanne the authorities had to reconcile these representatives with the competing demands of the nationalists, the strategic or political desires of the Central Powers themselves, and other agendas such as a desire to implement the spirit of the Pope's Seven Points.
For example, in order to live up to the ideal of "examining ... rival claims" laid out in the Seven Points, Austrians, whether Austro-German or any other ethnic group, should be able to decide their own future and government. However, the Germans especially were concerned that a geographical end of the old Empire would be a huge security risk. Further complicating the situation, delegations such as the Czechs and Italians made strong claims on some German-speaking territories.
The result was treaties that compromised many ideals, offended many allies, and set up an entirely new order in the area. Many people hoped that the new federalized Empire would allow for a new era of prosperity and peace in the region, free from the bitter quarreling between nationalities that had marked the preceding fifty years. This hope proved far too optimistic. These changes were recognized in, but not caused by, the Treaty of Lausanne. They were subsequently further elaborated in the Minority Treaties.
The 1919 treaties generally included guarantees of minority rights, but there was no enforcement mechanism. The interwar years were hard for religious minorities in the new states built around ethnic nationalism. The Jews were especially distrusted because of their minority religion and distinct subculture. This was a dramatic come-down from the pre-war days. Although antisemitism had been widespread during before the war, Jews faced no official discrimination because they were, for the most part, ardent supporters of the multi-national state and the monarchy. Many of these religious minorities found themselves in hostile situations because the regional governments were intent on defining the national character of their states, often at the expense of the other nationalities.
The economic disruption of the war and the incorporation of new territories created great hardship in many areas. Although the new Austrian state set up as a democracy after the war, with the spread of fascism, it reverted to some form of authoritarian rule. Many nationalities quarreled amongst themselves, leaving the Austrian state too weak to compete effectively. Later, when war came a second time, Austria was unable to resist the attacks by the Soviet Union, and later fell under German domination to a much greater extent than had ever existed.
Ottoman EmpireEdit
At the end of the war, the Entente continued to occupy the Levant and Mesopotamia. While the Entetne continued to support the Arabs struggle for independence, the Ottoman government collapsed. The Treaty of Lausanne, a treaty that gave the Ottomans islands in the Aegean Sea but didn't mention the remaining Ottoman territories, was signed by the Ottoman delegation, although it was never ratified by the Sultan.
The announcement that the treaty was signed triggered a nationalist movement to rescind the terms of the treaty. Turkish revolutionaries led by Mustafa Kemal Paşa, a successful Ottoman commander, rejected the terms agreed at Lausanne and under the guise of General Inspector of the Ottoman Army, left Istanbul for Samsun to organize the remaining Ottoman forces to resist Arab forces. On the eastern front, the Turkish–Armenian War and signing of the Treaty of Kars with the Russian S.F.S.R. took over territory lost to Armenia and post-Imperial Russia.
On the western front, the growing strength of the Turkish nationalist forces led Ottoman government, with the backing of the Sultan, to march deep into Anatolia in an attempt to deal a blow to the revolutionaries. At the Battle of Dumlupınar, the Sultan's army was defeated and forced into retreat. With the nationalists empowered, the revolutionary army marched on to claim Istanbul, resulting in the Chanak Crisis in which the Ottoman Grand Vizier, Ahmet Tevfik Paşa, was forced to resign. After Turkish revolutionaries gained control over Anatolia and Istanbul, the Lausanne treaty was superseded by the Treaty of Sèvres which formally ended all hostilities and led to the creation of the modern Turkish Republic. As a result, Turkey became the only power of the World War to negotiate with the Entente as an equal.
The Treaty of Sèvres formally acknowledged the new Entente influence in the Middle East, the cession of large amounts of Ottoman territory on the Arabian Peninsula, and British sovereignty over Cyprus. The treaty granted France influence in Syria and Lebanon and British Protectorate of Mesopotamia and Palestine, the latter comprising two autonomous regions: British Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became part of what is today Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire became a pivotal milestone in the creation of the modern Middle East, the result of which bore witness to the creation of new conflicts and hostilities in the region.
Great BritainEdit
In Britain, funding the war had a severe economic cost. From being the world's largest overseas investor, it became one of its biggest debtors with interest payments forming around 40% of all government spending. Inflation more than doubled between 1914 and its peak in 1920, while the value of the Pound Sterling (consumer expenditure) fell by 61.2%. Reparations in the form of free German coal depressed local industry, precipitating the 1926 General Strike.
British private investments abroad were sold, raising £550 million. However, £250 million in new investment also took place during the war. The net financial loss was therefore approximately £300 million; less than two years investment compared to the pre-war average rate and more than replaced by 1928. Material loss was "slight": the most significant being 40% of the British merchant fleet sunk by German U-boats. Most of this was replaced in 1918 and all immediately after the war. The military historian Correlli Barnett has argued that "in objective truth the Great War in no way inflicted crippling economic damage on Britain" but that the war "crippled the British psychologically but in no other way".
Less concrete changes include the growing assertiveness of Commonwealth nations. Battles such as Gallipoli for Australia and New Zealand, and Vimy Ridge for Canada led to increased national pride and a greater reluctance to remain subordinate to Britain, leading to the growth of diplomatic autonomy in the 1920s. These battles were often decorated in propaganda in these nations as symbolic of their power during the war. Colonies such as the British Raj (India) and Nigeria also became increasingly assertive because of their participation in the war. The populations in these countries became increasingly aware of their own power and Britain's fragility.
In Ireland, the delay in finding a resolution to the home rule issue, partly caused by the war, as well as the 1916 Easter Rising and a failed attempt to introduce conscription in Ireland, increased support for separatist radicals. This led indirectly to the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence in 1919. The creation of the Irish Free State that followed this conflict in effect represented a territorial loss for Britain that caused the greatest outrage. Despite this, the Irish Free State remained a dominion within the British Empire.
After the World War women gained the right to vote as, during the war, they had had to fill-in for what were previously categorised as "men's jobs", thus showing the government that women were not as weak and incompetent as they thought. Also, there were several significant developments in medicine and technology as the injured had to be cared for and there were several new illnesses that medicine had to deal with.
FranceEdit
France's chief aim for decades was to have Alsace-Lorraine returned, the region which had been ceded to Prussia in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War. At the 1919 Peace Conference, Prime Minister Aristide Briand's aim was to abandon revenge against Germany and seek reconciliation in the following years. To this purpose, the former commander of the Entente forces, Général de division Ferdinand Foch, had demanded that for the future protection of France that the war should be renewed. Based on history, he was convinced that Germany and France would again go to war, and, on hearing the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne that had resulted in little more than uti possidetis, he observed that "This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty years."
The destruction brought upon French territory was to be indemnified by the reparations negotiated at Lausanne. This financial imperative dominated France's foreign policy throughout the 1920s. However, Germany refused to pay the amount demanded, and obtained support from the United States. Thus, the Dawes Plan was negotiated in 1924 and then the Young Plan in 1929. Also extremely important in the War was the participation of French colonial troops, including the Senegalese tirailleurs, and troops from Indochina, North Africa, and Madagascar. When these soldiers returned to their homelands and continued to be treated as second class citizens, many became the nuclei of pro-independence groups.
Furthermore, under the state of war declared during the hostilities, the French economy had been somewhat centralized in order to be able to shift into a "war economy", leading to a first breach with classical liberalism. Finally, the socialists' support of the National Union government (including Alexandre Millerand's nomination as Minister of War) marked a shift towards the French Section of the Workers' International's (SFIO) turn towards social democracy and participation in "bourgeois governments", although Léon Blum maintained a socialist rhetoric.
ItalyEdit
In 1882 Italy joined with the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to form the Triple Alliance. However, even if relations with Berlin became very friendly, the alliance with Vienna remained purely formal, as the Italians were keen to acquire Trentino and Trieste, parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire populated by Italians.
During the World War Italy aligned with the Entente, instead of joining Germany and Austria. The Italians claimed the alliance had merely defensive prerogatives, while accusing the Central Empires of starting the offensive. With the Treaty of London, Britain secretly offered Italy Trentino and Tyrol as far as Brenner, Trieste and Istria, all the Dalmatian coast except Fiume, full ownership of Albanian Valona and a protectorate over Albania, Antalya in Anatolia and a share of the Turkish and German colonial empire, in exchange for Italy siding against the Central Empires.
After the armistice, Francesco Nitti, Italy's President of the Council of Ministers, and Tommaso Tittoni, its Foreign Minister, were sent as the Italian representatives to Lausanne with the aim of preserving as much Italian land as possible. In particular, there was an especially strong opinion about the support from France, which Tittoni was the Italian ambassador during the war.
Nevertheless, by the end of the war the Entente realized they were in a limited position regarding claims in Central Europe and the Middle-East. In the meetings of the "Big Six", in which Tittoni's powers of diplomacy were praised for his ability to negotiate with Austria-Hungary, the Great powers were only willing to keep Venice in Italian hands. All other territories north of the Piave river were lost to Austria-Hungary. In addition the great powers were worried about Italy's imperial ambitions; Briand, in particular, was a staunch supporter of Turkish rights on the Dodecanese islands against Italy. As a result of this, Nitti refused to support other Entente powers in the negotiations. In Italy, the discontent was relevant: The large amount of Italian lands transferred to Austria-Hungary caused the greatest outrage; many felt the Country had taken part in a meaningless war. This idea of a "great humiliation" (grande umiliazione) became an important part of Italian Fascist propaganda.
ChinaEdit
The Republic of China had been one of the Entente powers; during the war, it had sent thousands of labourers to France. At the Lausanne Peace Conference in 1919, the Chinese delegation called for an end to Western imperialistic institutions in China, but was rebuffed. China requested at least the formal restoration of its territory of Jiaozhou Bay, under German colonial control since 1898. But the Europeans rejected China's request, instead granting transfer to Japan of all of Germany's pre-war territory and rights in China. Subsequently, China did not sign the Treaty of Lausanne, instead signing a separate peace treaty with Germany in 1921.
The Austro-Hungarian and German concessions in Tianjin were placed under the administration of the Chinese government; in 1920 they occupied the Russian area as well.
The substantial accession to Japan's territorial ambitions at China's expense led to the May Fourth Movement in China, a social and political movement that had profound influence over subsequent Chinese history. The May Fourth Movement is often cited as the birth of Chinese nationalism, and the Kuomintang considers the Movement to be an important period in Chinese history.
JapanEdit
Because of the treaty that Japan had signed with Great Britain in 1902, Japan was one of the Entente powers during the war. With British assistance, Japanese forces attacked Germany's territories in Shandong province in China, including the East Asian coaling base of the Imperial German navy. The German forces were defeated and surrendered to Japan in November 1914. The Japanese navy also succeeded in seizing several of Germany's island possessions in the Western Pacific: the Marianas, Carolines, and Marshall Islands.
At the Lausanne Peace Conference in 1919, Japan was granted all of Germany's pre-war rights in Shandong province in China (despite China also being one of the Entente during the war): outright possession of the territory of Jiaozhou Bay, and favorable commercial rights throughout the rest of the province, as well as control over the German Pacific island possessions that the Japanese navy had taken. Nevertheless, the Western powers refused Japan's request for the inclusion of a "racial equality" clause as part of the Treaty of Lausanne. Shandong reverted to Chinese control in 1922 after mediation by the United States during the Washington Naval Conference. Weihai followed in 1930.
Territorial gains and lossesEdit
Nations that gained or regained territory or independence after the World WarEdit
Note: Countries which only briefly gained independence are not taken up in this list.
- Albania: gained Kosovo, Metohija and the western parts of the Vardar region from the Kingdom of Serbia
- Byelorussia: independence from the Russian Empire
- Bulgaria: gained parts of Eastern Macedonia from the Kingdom of Greece, Southern Dobruja from the Kingdom of Romania, and most of the Vardar region from the Kingdom of Serbia
- Finland: independence from the Russian Empire
- France: gained territories in the Middle East from the Ottoman Empire.
- Ireland: Irish Free State (approximately five-sixths of the island) gained independence from the United Kingdom (but still part of the British Empire)
- Germany: gained control of Luxembourg, and border territory from the Kingdom of Poland
- Japan: gained Jiaozhou Bay and most of Shandong from China and the South Seas Islands (both controlled by German Empire before the war)
- Livonia: United Baltic Duchy gained independence from the Russian Empire
- Lithuania: independence from the Russian Empire
- Ottoman Empire: gained the North Aegean islands from the Kingdom of Greece, and the Dodecanese islands from the Kingdom of Italy
- Poland: independence from the Russian Empire
- Romania: gained control of Bessarabia from the Russian Empire
- Ukraine: independence from the Russian Empire
- United Kingdom: gained territories in the Middle East from the Ottoman Empire
- United States of Greater Austria, as the successor state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Nations that lost territory or independence after the World WarEdit
- China: temporarily lost Jiaozhou Bay and most of Shandong to the Empire of Japan
- Greece: lost a part of Eastern Macedonia to the Tsardom of Bulgaria, and North Aegean islands to the Ottoman Empire
- Italy: lost territory on the Venetian Plain to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Dodecanese islands to the Ottoman Empire
- Montenegro declared union with the House of Habsburg and subsequently became incorporated into the United States of Greater Austria
- Romania: lost control of the Carpathian Mountain passes to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Southern Dobruja to the Tsardom of Bulgaria
- Russian SFSR, as the successor state of the Russian Empire
- Serbia: lost the Vardar region to the Tsardom of Bulgaria, Kosovo and Metohija to the Principality of Albania, and the Zlatibor region to the United States of Greater Austria
- Turkey, as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire
- United Kingdom: lost most of Ireland as the Irish Free State, Kingdom of Egypt in 1922
Social traumaEdit
The experiences of the war in the west are commonly assumed to have led to a sort of collective national trauma afterward for all of the participating countries. The optimism of 1900 was entirely gone and those who fought became what is known as "the Lost Generation" because they never fully recovered from their suffering. For the next few years, much of Europe mourned privately and publicly; memorials were erected in thousands of villages and towns.
So many British men of marriageable age died or were injured that the students of one girls' school were warned that only 10% would marry. The 1921 United Kingdom Census found 19,803,022 women and 18,082,220 men in England and Wales, a difference of 1.72 million which newspapers called the "Surplus Two Million". In the 1921 census there were 1,209 single women aged 25 to 29 for every 1,000 men. In 1931 50% were still single, and 35% of them did not marry while still able to bear children.
As early as 1923, Stanley Baldwin had recognized a new strategic reality that faced Britain in a disarmament speech. Poison gas and the aerial bombing of civilians were new developments of the First World War. The British civilian population had not, for centuries, had any serious reason to fear invasion. So the new threat of poison gas dropped from enemy bombers excited a grossly exaggerated view of the civilian deaths that would occur on the outbreak of any future war. Baldwin expressed this in his statement that "The bomber will always get through". The traditional British policy of a balance of power in Europe no longer safeguarded the British home population. Out of this fear came appeasement.
One gruesome reminder of the sacrifices of the generation was the fact that this was one of the first times in conflict whereby more men had died in battle than to disease, which had been the main cause of deaths in most previous wars. The Russo-Japanese War was the first conflict where battle deaths outnumbered disease deaths, but it had been fought on a much smaller scale between just two nations.
This social trauma made itself manifest in many different ways. Some people were revolted by nationalism and what it had caused; so, they began to work toward a more internationalist world through organizations. Pacifism became increasingly popular. Others had the opposite reaction, feeling that only military strength could be relied on for protection in a chaotic and inhumane world that did not respect hypothetical notions of civilization. Certainly a sense of disillusionment and cynicism became pronounced. Nihilism grew in popularity. Many people believed that the war heralded the end of the world as they had known it, including the collapse of capitalism and imperialism. Communist and socialist movements around the world drew strength from this theory, enjoying a level of popularity they had never known before. These feelings were most pronounced in areas directly or particularly harshly affected by the war, such as central Europe, Russia and France.
Artists such as Otto Dix, George Grosz, Ernst Barlach, and Käthe Kollwitz represented their experiences, or those of their society, in blunt paintings and sculpture. Similarly, authors such as Erich Maria Remarque wrote grim novels detailing their experiences. These works had a strong impact on society, causing a great deal of controversy and highlighting conflicting interpretations of the war. In Germany, nationalists including the Nazis believed that much of this work was degenerate and undermined the cohesion of society as well as dishonoring the dead. | http://central-victory.wikia.com/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_World_War |
1918, the year of what came to be known as the Wilson Doctrine, and of the armistice that brought an end to the first world war, was the year of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires which, along with the revolutions in Russia the preceding year and the beginning of civil war, led to national insurrections which changed the map of Europe. This new European reality was composed of changes to frontiers and the renaissance of emerging nations which became states. The Baltic States, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus ... were transformed into independent nations, albeit for a very short period during this initial phase and subsequently, after many historic vicissitudes, including the tragedy of another world war, finally became sovereign states at the end of the 20th century.
Iceland, Finland and Poland also became independent 100 years ago.
Not all the States created in 1918 survived this centenary, although their nationalities certainly have. For example, the plurinational states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia disappeared as legal-political structures in the last decade of the 20th century, but their Nations emerged to gain access to statehood.
The last one hundred years have also witnessed the germination of the extraordinary idea of the European Union as a reaction against the wars that raged across the Continent and against nostalgia for the 19th century sovereign Nation-States that caused so many tragedies in Europe.
For us this centenary is the chance to conduct an analysis of where we came from in order to ascertain where we are going. Europe is like a kaleidoscope the inner workings of which change, but its Peoples remain and adopt different positions. In this regard, the increase of political statuses following the collapse of Empires and States has been a historical constant in the evolution of our continent.
From this historic centennial perspective, at this Seminar we examined the future of Europe as a sovereign entity operating in a multipolar world, the epicenter of which has shifted towards the Pacific within the last few decades, and catch a glimpse of the scenarios of the internal players: States, Nations, regions, cities. | https://www.iedonline.eu/events/2018/construction-of-europe.php |
PEM Editorial — November 14, 2011
A HISTORY of Public Space in post-colonial countries is long overdue. Such a narrative would be a powerful one indeed if it also adopts the fall of empires as its background.
We no longer ponder about the strange phenomenon of the string of empires – colonial or traditional – that fell in dramatic domino fashion throughout the 20th century. This started with the 1911 Xinhai Revolution of China, which celebrated its 100th anniversary on October 10 this year.
By the end of the so-called First World War in 1918, at least four others had disintegrated including the Russian Empire, The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The victorious empires and colonial powers—Britain, France and Holland—would chug along for a while yet. The US, in the meantime, had heralded its coming global influence.
Some of the fallen would rise again, while others would not. In the intermediate spaces, a stream of nations rose to declare independence—by definition, from imperial control. These ranged from countries such as Finland, Poland and Yugoslavia to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. The badly defeated Ottoman Empire officially ended only in 1923, and in its stead arose as many as 30 countries.
This process of imperial disintegration accelerated after the so-called Second World War with the fall of colonial powers such as Britain, France and Holland, allowing for the rise of huge numbers of countries in Asia and Africa. Some of these were as big as empires in themselves, such as India, and some were small, such as Singapore. Malaysia laid somewhere in between. This imperial disintegration was not a mono-directional affair, however.
While the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian empires ended for good, the Russian and Chinese empires managed to rise again, to return to the global fray. While the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian empires ended for good, the Russian and Chinese empires managed to rise again, to return to the global fray.
Thus, new nations rose on wobbly legs under the heavy shadow of new imperial stand-offs—the so-called Cold War.
Now we come to what I wish to say about Public Space. The existential uncertainty of newly acquired nationhood meant that governments took it as a god-given right to be authoritarian. Nation Building became the only game in town, or countryside. Public Space was an unaffordable luxury.
But as existential fears grew less justified as these polities matured, the inherent tension between state control and civil liberties could not help but increase. That is the impasse where post-colonial and post-imperial societies now find themselves; be they located in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East or South-East Asia.
In the Malaysian context, we see that the words most bandied around today include audacious ones like “change” and “reform”. The federal government’s recent promise to repeal the Internal Security Act, lift emergency declarations and end the requirement for annual printing licences are guarded attempts to lessen the tension.
The big challenge now is whether the country—and many other countries for that matter— can gather enough courage to switch from existentialistic nation building mode to confident adulthood mode. The political battles now fought daily between the government and the opposition express exactly this fateful gathering of courage.
But if there is anything at all we learn from history, it is that no outcome can be taken for granted. | https://wikibeng.com/2011/11/01/securing-public-space-in-the-post-imperial-age/ |
Andrew Robarts. Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Editor: Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters. Facts on File, 2009.
Over the course Ottoman empires fought of a century the Russian and Ottoman empires fought five wars (1787-1792, 1806-1812, 1828-1829, 1854-1856, and 1877-1878) for control over the Black Sea region. (For the 1854-1856 war, see Crimean War.) While ideological factors (such as nationalism and pan-Slavism) played a role in fomenting conflict between the Ottoman and Russian empires in the 19th century, the overarching geostrategic concern that drove Russo-Ottoman conflict during this period was the Russian Empire’s military and economic goal of securing an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea. For Russia, the achievement of this goal required, first, possession of ports on the Black Sea coast and, second, navigational rights through the straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.
Starting in the 1770s with the acquisition of a small foothold on the northern Black Sea littoral, the Russian Empire, by 1878, had occupied a large portion of the Black Sea coast from the delta of the Danube River in the west to the Georgian-Ottoman frontier in the east. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Ottoman Empire was capable of mounting offensive military operations against the Russian Empire. However, by 1878, the Ottoman military generally found itself in a defensive posture and was reduced to countering Russian penetration into Ottoman territory. In the Balkans, Russian war plans generally focused on bridging the Danube River and striking toward Istanbul through Ottoman Rumelia. In eastern Anatolia, Russia’s strategic goals centered on capturing key Ottoman cities in the region—Kars, Erzurum, and Trabzon.
Russo-Ottoman War of 1787-92
On August 19, 1787, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Russian Empire in an effort to regain territorial and political control over its long-standing vassals, the Crimean Tatars. This war, following the Russo-Ottoman War of 1768-1774, resulted in the Ottoman Empire’s ultimate loss of the Crimean Khanate and the permanent establishment of a Russian political and military presence on the northern shore of the Black Sea.
The declaration of war against the Russian Empire was driven by a pro-war faction within the Ottoman government. Angered by the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Kücük Kaynarca (1774) and the lack of Ottoman response to the Russian annexation of the Crimea in 1783, this pro-war group included the religious establishment (ulema), exiled Crimean Tatar nobles, and Grand Vizier Hoca Yusuf Pasha.
For the Russians, renewed warfare with the Ottoman Empire provided an opportunity to realize long-standing imperial goals in the Black Sea region. In an ideologically driven plan known as the “Greek Project,” Russian Empress Catherine II (Catherine the Great) envisaged the reestablishment of a Byzantine state on Ottoman territory with Constantinople (the ancient name of Istanbul) as its capital. More concretely, the Russian Empire sought to improve its military and political position in the Black Sea region and to fulfill its long-term geostrategic goal of gaining a commercial and naval outlet through the straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles. The triumphal and highly public procession in 1786 by Catherine II (1762-96) to her new Crimean lands, coupled with the pro-Orthodox Christian activities of Russian consular officials posted in the Danubian principalities of Wal-lachia and Moldavia, vassals of the Ottoman Empire, provoked this pro-war faction in Istanbul. These were the immediate causes of the Ottoman declaration of war in the summer of 1787.
The principal focus of the first armed clashes between the two empires was control over the key Ottoman fortress town of özi, on the mouth of the Dniester River. In the spring of 1788, a combined force of over 100,000 Russian soldiers attacked özi. Following a long siege, the Russians captured this fortress in December 1788, killing 9,500 Ottoman soldiers and taking 4,000 prisoners.
In 1789 the Ottoman army, under the command of Hasan Pasha, advanced north of the Danube River into the Danubian principality of Wallachia. Under the highly effective leadership of Russian General Alexander Suvo-rov, the Russian army beat the Ottoman army in two key battles in the open field at Foschani in July and on the Rimnik (Boza) River in September. Following these two losses, the Ottoman army, hampered by confusion at the command level and subject to heavy desertions, ceased to be an effective fighting force. The 1789 campaign season was one of the most disastrous in Ottoman history.
In 1790 Gazi Hasan Pasha replaced Hasan Pasha as commander of the Ottoman army in the Balkans. As a result of losses incurred during the war, the Ottoman army was now composed almost entirely of peasants and raw Anatolian recruits. The largest military encounter of the war occurred in December 1790 around the Ottoman fortress town of Ismail in the Danubian estuary. In one of the bloodiest battles of the 18th century, the Russian assault on Ismail resulted in the death of 26,000 Ottoman soldiers and civilians and the capture of 9,000 Ottoman soldiers. In that same year, the Russian Black Sea fleet forced the Ottoman navy to retreat to its ports in the Bosporus. In so doing, the Ottoman Empire effectively ceded naval control of the Black Sea to the Russians. In August 1791, on the eastern shores of the Black Sea, the Russian Empire gained control of Anapa, thereby defending its protectorate of Georgia and eliminating the Ottoman Empire’s last stronghold in this region.
British and Prussian alarm at this demonstration of Russian military strength motivated these two European powers to support the Ottoman Empire as a bulwark against Russian aggression in the Balkans. In 1791, British diplomatic pressure, coupled with Prussian war preparations against the Russian Empire, brought the Russians to the negotiating table. Following protracted negotiations, the Ottoman and Russian empires signed the Treaty of Jassy on January 9, 1792, ending the Russo-Ottoman War of 1787-92.
Russo-Ottoman War of 1806-12
The conflict between the Russians and the Ottomans that began just 14 years later must be understood within the context of the rise of Napoleonic France. Impressed with the military success of Napoleon, especially at Austerlitz in December 1805, the Ottoman Empire moved to improve its relations with France. Alarmed by developing Ottoman-French relations, the Russian Empire raised an army in southern Ukraine and resolved to occupy the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia as a preventive measure against French influence in the Balkans.
The immediate cause of war between the Russian and Ottoman empires in November 1806 was the Ottoman removal of two pro-Russian rulers or hospo-dars in the Danubian principalities and their replacement with hospodars friendly to France. This unilateral action on the part of the Ottomans contravened agreements reached earlier between the Ottoman and Russian empires. On November 24, 1806, two Russian armies (one under General I. I. Michelson and one under General K. I. Meyendorff) moved across the Dneister River and occupied the Danubian principalities. In response, the Ottomans declared war on the Russian Empire. The only effective Ottoman resistance to this initial Russian incursion came from the Danubian notable (see ayan) Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, who, commanding an army of 60,000, repulsed a Russian attack on the key fortress of Ismail on the Danubian estuary.
While the Danubian principalities and the Balkans constituted the principal theater of conflict in the Russo-Ottoman War of 1806-12, Russian and Ottoman forces also engaged in hostilities at sea in the northern Aegean and on land in the southern Caucasus and eastern Anatolia. Under the Ottoman-Russian defensive alliances of 1799 and 1805, the Russian navy had been allowed to sail through the straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles. In July 1807 the Russian navy defeated the Ottoman navy off the north Aegean island of Lemnos and blockaded ships attempting to enter the trait of the Dardanelles. Additionally, in the spring of 1808, the Russians defeated an Ottoman army of 30,000 commanded by Yusuf Ziya Pasha at Arpa Su in eastern Anatolia
In the spring of 1807, another Ottoman army of 30,000 soldiers crossed the Danube River with the objective of recapturing Bucharest and preventing a link between the Russian army and Serbian rebels. Succeeding in driving a wedge between the Russians and the Serbs, the Ottoman army laid siege to Bucharest in June 1807.
The Ottomans were also able to repel a Russian attempt to cross the Danube at Giurgevo, located in present-day Romania across the Bulgarian port city of Ruse. The Ottoman spring offensive of 1807 showed promise but was curtailed by two events, one external and one internal, which had a profound effect on the course and outcome of the war. On July 7, 1807, Napoleon and Czar Alexander I signed the Treaty of Tilsit. This treaty, which delineated Russian and French spheres of interest in the Balkans, made clear to the Sublime Porte that French material and diplomatic support for the Ottoman Empire, including assistance in reclaiming the Crimea, would not be forthcoming. A series of internal political crises in Istanbul from 1806-08 also severely hampered the Ottoman Empire’s military capabilities in the Balkans and the Danubian principalities. On May 29, 1807 a conservative alliance of Janissaries and ulema, threatened by a series of reform measures, including the creation of a European-style army corps (see Nizam-i Cedid), imprisoned Sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807) and forced him to abdicate the Ottoman throne. The reign of the new Ottoman sultan, Mustafa IV (r. 1807-08), was brief. In a struggle for power in the summer of 1808, Selim III’s nephew ascended to the sultanate as Mahmud II (1808-39). These dynastic struggles, which occupied the attention of the regular Ottoman army and the armies commanded by the provincial notables in the Balkans, forced the Ottoman army to seek a defensive posture against the Russians and retreat behind its fortified Danubian line.
The Russian Empire’s occupation of the Danubian principalities sapped the Russian army’s war-making capabilities in the Balkans and, as a result, the Russians were unable to take advantage of these political crises in the Ottoman capital. Russian military doctrine of the early 19th century compelled armed forces to rely on local inhabitants for supply and provisioning. The severe socioeconomic dislocation caused by the presence of a Russian army of 80,000 in the Danubian principalities resulted in widespread looting in the countryside, out-migration of peasants, and a severe drop-off in agricultural production. Regular outbreaks of the plague also contributed to a reduction in the overall fitness of the Russian army in the Danubian principalities. Throughout the course of the war the Russian army lacked adequate supplies which, coupled with resistance offered by an Ottoman army encamped in Shumla at the base of the Balkan mountain range, left it incapable of a sustained military effort beyond the Danube River. The Russians did succeed, however, in capturing Ismail in September 1809, Ibrail (Braila) in January 1810, and Silistra, on the Ottoman side of the Danube, in August 1810.
Fearing a French invasion of the Russian Empire, Alexander I’s advisers in Saint Petersburg urged the czar to break the stalemate in the Balkans. In 1811 the Russians, seeking a speedy end to their hostilities with the Ottoman Empire, increased their military and diplomatic pressure on the Sublime Porte. Under General M. I. Kutuzov, the Russian army scored a series of military victories along the Danube at Vidin, Slobodzia, and Rusçuk (Ruse). Reducing their territorial demands from retention of the Danubian principalities to a slice of eastern Moldavia (subsequently known as Bessarabia), the Russians signed a peace agreement with the Ottomans, the Treaty of Bucharest, on May 28, 1812. By the time the treaty was ratified, Napoleon’s armies were already deep into Russian territory.
Russo-Ottoman War of 1828-29
The roots of the Russo-Ottoman War of 1828-29 war lay in the emerging national consciousness of the Orthodox Christian populations in the Ottoman Balkans and the imperial ambitions of the new Russian czar, Nicholas I, in the Black Sea region. Following the Greek War of Independence in 1822, Britain, France, and Russia signed the Treaty of London in 1827 calling for the creation of an autonomous Greek state. The Ottomans refused to agree to the formation of an independent Greek state and this, coupled with Russian demands for the restoration of its privileges in the Danubian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, resulted in a Russian declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire in April 1828. In declaring war at this time, Nicholas I (1825-55) sought to engage the Ottoman army before the extensive military reforms initiated by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 could take effect. The Russian declaration of war was welcomed in Istanbul by some members of the political elite who viewed the war as an opportunity to reclaim territory lost to the Russian Empire in the Black Sea region during the preceding 60 years.
Upon the declaration of war, a Russian army of 100,000 mobilized rapidly, moving in three columns through the Danubian principalities toward Ottoman Rumelia south of the Danube River. In contrast, the Ottoman military was ill-prepared. The Janissary component of the army had been smashed by Mahmud II in the 1826 Auspicious Incident and the Ottoman navy had been virtually destroyed at the Battle of Navarino in October 1827. The Russian Empire enjoyed naval supremacy on the Black Sea and was able to avoid the supply problems that hampered its previous campaigns in the Balkans by opening up a supply route through the Bulgarian port of Burgas. The Ottoman army that took the field in 1828 under the command of Agha Hüseyin Pasha was a ragtag army composed primarily of Crimean Tatars and other irregular forces.
Meeting little Ottoman resistance, the lead column of the Russian army occupied Bucharest and Craiova, took Ibrail on June 16, and, following battles in Kustenje and Mangalia, occupied Dobruja. The second column of the Russian army crossed the Danube in June and attacked the Ottoman fortress of Silistra on the southern side of the Danube River, while the third column laid siege to a series of Ottoman fortresses along the Danube. On October 11, the Russians captured the important Danubian port city of Vidin. Following the initial Russian onslaught the Ottoman army, toward the end of the 1828 fighting season, fell back on the natural defensive line of the Balkan mountain range, regrouped around Şumla under the command of the able Ottoman commander Hüsrev Pasha, and prepared to defend this key Balkan mountain pass against an expected Russian invasion in 1829.
In 1829 the Russians opened up a second front in the war in the eastern Black Sea region. By the spring of 1829 the Russians, under the command of General Paskievitch, had occupied the Georgian port of Poti and captured Arda-han, Kars, and Bayazid in eastern Anatolia. In July 1829 the Russian army occupied Gümüşhane and the key eastern Anatolian city of Erzurum. These gains were followed by the siege of the important Black Sea port of Trabzon.
At the start of the 1829 campaign season in the Balkans, the Russian army faced an Ottoman army composed of untrained irregulars. Additionally, the Ottoman army suffered from food shortages due to a Russian naval blockade of the trait of the Dardanelles. When the Russian army moved on Şumla the Ottoman army disintegrated, abandoned its artillery on the field, and fled into the Balkan Mountains. Rather than risk encountering the remnants of the Ottoman army in the Şumla Pass, the Russian commander, General Diebitsch, led his army on an arduous nine-day march through the Balkan Mountains and emerged south of the range in August. Encountering little effective resistance, the Russian army moved rapidly on Edirne, the capital of Ottoman Rumelia. Following a three-day siege, the Russians occupied Edirne on August 22 and were now only a few days march from Istanbul. Despite the effective collapse of the Ottoman army, however, the Russian army was not in a position to move in strength on the Ottoman capital. The overextension of its supply lines and the spread of disease had taken a severe toll on the Russian troops. Mahmud II and his advisers, however, were unaware of the diminished state of the Russian army, and after a Russian demonstration in the direction of Istanbul, the Ottoman government, following the advice of French and British diplomats in Istanbul, sued for peace. The Treaty of Edirne, signed on September 14, 1829, concluded the Russian-Ottoman War of 1828-29.
Crimean War 1854-56
In general, the Crimean War followed the broad 19th century pattern of Ottoman-Russian geopolitical and ideological conflict for control over the Black Sea region and influence over Orthodox Slavic populations in the Balkan peninsula. The first phase of the war (1853) unfolded in a now familiar pattern: failed diplomatic negotiations between the Ottomans and the Russians; Russian military offensives into the Danubian principalities and eastern Anatolia; and Ottoman ability to slow the Russian advance coupled with a lack of military strength to seize the initiative. What distinguished the Crimean War from previous Ottoman-Russian conflicts, however, was the rapid internationalization of the war. While the British and French had exerted significant diplomatic pressure in Saint Petersburg and Istanbul during previous periods of Ottoman-Russian hostilities, in the Crimean War British and French troops were directly deployed in 1854 to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian aggression. In this second phase of the war, the combined land and naval forces of the British and French allowed for forward operations on Russian soil (the Crimean peninsula). Ottoman military contributions in the second phase of the war were generally confined to support and supply operations. In the treaty that ended the war (the Treaty of Paris, signed on March 29, 1856), British and French support resulted in relatively advantageous peace terms for the Ottoman Empire.
Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-78
The Treaty of Paris, which concluded the Crimean War (1854-56), had severely reduced the Russian Empire’s influence, militarily and diplomatically, in the Black Sea region. After the introduction of sweeping domestic reforms in the 1860s, the Russian Empire, in the early 1870s, once again turned its attention to affairs in the Ottoman Balkans and the southern Caucasus. Influenced by a pan-Slavic ideology that, in its diplomatic and military worldview, envisioned Russian dominion over Orthodox populations in the Ottoman Balkans, the goals of Russian foreign policy in the early 1870s were focused on the reclamation of Russia’s previously strong position in the Black Sea region. One of the prime architects of this pan-Slavic foreign policy was Count Nikolai Ignatiev, the Russian ambassador in Istanbul.
Against this background, the events that sparked another round of warfare between the Russian and Ottoman empires were uprisings in the mid-1870s in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. While these uprisings are generally studied within the context of the rise of 19th-century European nationalism in the Ottoman Balkans, more mundane issues also animated the Ottoman Empire’s Orthodox subjects in the Balkans. In the mid-1870s droughts, famine, and floods in Anatolia forced the Ottoman government to shift the weight of the empire’s tax burden onto the empire’s Balkan subjects. Increasingly onerous taxes, coupled with measures employed to raise revenues, promoted instability and provoked armed rebellion in the Balkans.
Events in Bulgaria in April 1876 internationalized these domestic Ottoman disturbances. Taking advantage of the rising discontent among the Bulgarian population of the Ottoman Empire the leaders of the Bulgarian national movement called for a mass uprising against Ottoman rule. While the uprising itself did not garner widespread support, in the ensuing intercommunal strife, Bulgarian rebels killed 1,000 Muslim Ottomans, including women and children. With most of their regular and professional forces involved in counter-insurgency operations in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Ottoman government relied on irregular troops (basibozuks) and armed, ill-disciplined Circassian refugees to suppress the uprising in Bulgaria. The violent suppression of the April uprising resulted in the death of an estimated 10,000-12,000 Bulgarians, including women and children, at a time when political instability in Istanbul deflected central government attention away from affairs in the Balkans. In May 1876 Sultan Abdülaziz (r. 1861-76) was deposed; his successor, the mentally unstable Murad V (r. 1876), was replaced by Sultan Abdülhamid II (r. 1876-1909) three months later, in August 1876. The Sublime Porte was thus unprepared to cope with the public reaction in Great Britain and Russia to the violent suppression of the April uprising in Bulgaria (reported in the foreign press as the “Bulgarian atrocities”). Reports of these atrocities in British newspapers shocked and horrified the British public and resulted in a shift in British public opinion against the Ottoman Empire. This shift in public opinion tempered Britain’s traditionally pro-Ottoman foreign policy. In Russia, the Bulgarian atrocities, resonating widely among the educated segment of Russian society, provoked calls for war against the Ottoman Empire and the liberation of the Ottoman Empire’s Orthodox populations in the Balkans.
In an effort to defuse the growing crisis in the Balkans, European representatives assembled for diplomatic talks in Istanbul in December 1876. Pre-empting discussions focused on the socioeconomic condition of the Ottoman Empire’s Christian populations, Sultan Abdül-hamid II, during the course of the conference, issued a constitution. The first of its kind in Ottoman history, the 1876 constitution called for the full equality of all Ottoman subjects regardless of religion. From the Ottoman perspective, the 1876 constitution satisfied demands made to the Sublime Porte concerning its Orthodox Christian subjects in the Balkans. Therefore, all further demands made at the conference in reference to this population were rejected by the Ottomans.
In early 1878, the Russian Empire, believing that all avenues for a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to the Balkan crisis had been exhausted, initiated preparations for another round of war against the Ottoman Empire. These efforts included the negotiation of Austrian neutrality and the extraction of a Romanian guarantee for the safe passage of Russian troops through Romanian territory. Throughout the course of the ensuing Russo-Ottoman war, the French and Prussians would remain neutral. While British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli argued for British intervention on the side of the Ottomans, anti-Ottoman sentiment prevailed in the British Parliament. It was only toward the end of the war, with Russian troops threatening Istanbul, that the British threw their support behind the Ottomans.
On April 24, 1877 the Russian army, operating out of its recently established headquarters in Kishniev, Bessara-bia, crossed the Pruth River into Romania and declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The military course of the war was very much a reprise of the Russo-Ottoman War of 1828-29. Expecting an easy victory, Russian war planning focused on sending the bulk of the Russian army across the central Balkan Mountains and, upon capturing Sofia, moving down the well-supplied Maritsa River valley to Edirne. In late June 1877 the Russian army bridged the Danube at Sistova. An advanced detachment, under the command of General Gurko, took Turnovo on July 7 and, despite heavy Ottoman resistance, secured the strategic Shipka Pass over the Balkan Mountains on July 19. The main Russian army, now joined by Bulgarian and Romanian fighters, moved south from the Danube toward the Shipka Pass. To remove a potential threat to Russian supply lines, the main Russian army attacked the Ottoman fortress town of Pleven, but here the Russian advance bogged down. Multiple Russian attacks on the fortress were repulsed by Ottoman troops under the capable command of Osman Pasha. The resistance at Pleven forced the Russian high command to alter its military plan and undertake a lengthy siege of the fortress. The siege of Pleven would last for five months and at its height involved 120,000 troops (84,000 Russian, 36,000 Ottoman).
In April 1877 the Russian army moved across the Ottoman-Russian border in eastern Anatolia. In May the Russians captured Ardahan and in June they took Baya-zid. In November 1877, following a five-month siege, the key Ottoman city of Kars fell to the Russians, and in late January 1878 the Russians occupied Erzurum. The deterioration of Ottoman authority in eastern Anatolia resulted in a significant outbreak of intercommunal violence. As a result, during and after the fighting, 60,000-70,000 Muslim refugees left Russian territory in the southern Caucasus and resettled in the Ottoman Empire. Conversely, 25,000 Ottoman Armenians sought refuge in Russian territory.
In late November, 1877, Pleven fell to the Russians. Following up on this victory, the Russian army crossed the Balkan Mountains and took Sofia on January 4, 1878. Moving down the Maritsa River valley, the Russians captured Plovdiv on January 17 and Edirne on January 20. The Russian army was now in a position to seriously threaten Istanbul and a forward move by the Russians from Edirne toward the Ottoman capital provoked a British response in the form of a strong naval demonstration on the Sea of Marmara. Although exhausted, racked by disease, and as low on supplies as they had been in 1829, the Russian army, it was thought, might be in a position to challenge for Istanbul. The British presence around the Ottoman capital convinced the Russians instead to seek an armistice with the Ottomans. Conducted at the Russian encampment in San Stefano (Yeşilköy) and led by Count Ignatiev, the Russian-Ottoman armistice talks resulted in a bilateral treaty. Signed on March 3, 1878, this treaty, known as the Treaty of San Stefano, officially ended the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-78. The provisions of the treaty, however, were later amended during the Congress of Berlin in 1878.
The terms imposed on the Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of San Stefano were harsh. The treaty called for the creation of an autonomous Greater Bulgaria under the protection of the Russian Empire. As it was envisioned, this Greater Bulgaria was to have stretched east-west from the Vardar and Morava river valleys in Macedonia and southern Serbia to the Black Sea coast and north-south from the Danube to the Aegean coast (except for Salonika). Bosnia-Herzegovina was granted autonomy. Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro were recognized as independent states and their borders were drawn to maximize Ottoman territorial losses. Bessarabia was returned to Russia. In eastern Anatolia, the Russian Empire took direct possession of Kars, Ardahan, Batumi, and Dogubayazit.
The terms of the Treaty of San Stefano elicited a swift reaction from Great Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Pre-war negotiations with the Russians had led the Austrians to believe that they would receive Bosnia-Herzegovina in return for their neutrality. The British were worried that the creation of a Greater Bulgaria as a Russian protectorate would result in the construction of a Russian navy in the north Aegean (most likely at the port of Kavalla). This could disrupt the balance of naval power in the eastern Mediterranean. Couching their protests in diplomatic terms, the British and Austrians argued that diplomatic protocol, in so far as the Treaty of San Stefano fundamentally altered the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1856), required further consultations with the European powers over the terms of the Russo-Ottoman armistice. In these demands, the British and Austrians were supported by the powerful and influential German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Able to defeat the Ottomans militarily, but unable to challenge Britain, Austria, and Germany diplomatically, the Russians agreed to participate in these consultations.
From June 13 to July 13, 1878, representatives of the major European powers convened in Berlin to renegotiate the Treaty of San Stefano. Despite working against the interests of the Russian Empire, the revised treaty, known as the Treaty of Berlin, severely reduced the Ottoman Empire’s territorial possessions in the Balkans. The principal changes in the Treaty of Berlin concerned Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The idea of a Greater Bulgaria was dismissed and in its place Bulgaria was partitioned three ways. Northern Bulgaria—from the Balkan Mountains to the Danube River—was declared an autonomous principality. Central Bulgaria (Eastern Rumelia)—from the Balkan Mountains to the Rhodope Mountains—was given limited autonomy within the political framework of the Ottoman Empire. The southern parts of Rumelia—south of the Rhodope Mountains—remained an integral part of the Ottoman Empire. The autonomous Bulgarian principality (called “Berlin” Bulgaria) represented only 37.5 percent of the territory of Greater Bulgaria (“San Stefano” Bulgaria). Bosnia-Herzegovina was placed under the protection of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The independence of Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro was recognized. Serbia was given possession of the Morava River valley (around Pirot and Vranya) in what had been part of Greater Bulgaria. Dobruja, around the Danubian estuary, was attached to independent Romania.
The territorial and political realignment of the Balkans that resulted from the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-78 formed the basis for future irredentist claims on the part of newly independent Balkan states. Few of the newly constituted Balkan nation-states were wholly satisfied with postwar territorial arrangements and maintained designs, along ethnic-national lines, on territories outside their internationally recognized borders. Conflicts resulting from this irredentism would destabilize the Balkan Peninsula in the first and second decades of the 20th century.
In the Treaty of Berlin, the Russian Empire was given Southern Bessarabia and retained Batumi, Arda-han, and Kars. Additionally, Russia was awarded a large war indemnity. According to the Treaty of Berlin, the Ottomans were required to pay the Russians more than 800 million French francs ($340 million in current U.S. dollars) in war damages. Russian claims on Ottoman revenue in the ensuing years hampered Ottoman investments and reduced Ottoman economic prosperity. For the Ottomans, the Treaty of Berlin resulted in the loss of 8 percent of the empire’s most productive territory and the loss of 20 percent of the empire’s total population (or 4.5 million subjects). Additionally, the war and the territorial alterations imposed at the Treaty of Berlin resulted in an in-migration of an estimated 500,000-600,000 Muslim refugees from the Ottoman Empire’s former Balkan possessions. The loss of the Orthodox Christian populations in the Balkans, coupled with the influx of Muslim refugees from the Balkans and the Russian Empire, significantly altered the demographics of the Ottoman Empire. By the early 1880s, Muslim subjects accounted for roughly 75 percent of the Ottoman Empire’s population. | https://omnilogos.com/russo-ottoman-wars-1787-1878/ |
The end of the Great War of 1914 to 1918 brought about the collapse of four great empires. The Russian Empire was torn apart by a revolutionary Civil War between Bolshevik Reds and nationalist/conservative Whites; the Ottoman Empire was partitioned by Britain and France without the consultation or consent of Arab nationalists; the Austro-hungarian Empire was replaced by myriad new Slavic states who fought over borders and political settlements; and the German Empire lost a chunk of its eastern marches to birth the first independent Poland since 1795. In The East: War Without End, 19181923, a new exhibition at Musée de l’armée, the French national military museum in Paris, tells the story of these conflicts, many of which are largely overlooked in the west yet continue to define much of modern geopolitics.
The legacy of 1918 can be seen in the poisonous ethnic and cultural fault lines that have led to war in Crimea and Ukraine, and Franco-british division of the Middle East that created nearly a century of instability in the region.
Collecting artefacts from museums across Eastern Europe as well as its own archives, In
The East: War Without End, 1918-1923 is on at the Musée de l’armée until 16 January 2019. | https://www.pressreader.com/uk/all-about-history/20181206/281586651657072 |
June 28, 2019 is the centenary of the Treaty of Versailles. The notorious treaty, signed by Germany on June 28, 1919, was the most important of the peace treaties that ended the First World War. Although each defeated nation signed its own treaty, the entire settlement is often called the Treaty of Versailles. The war and peace settlement caused a century of statism and war. On the centenary of the Treaty of Versailles, it is appropriate to reassess its consequences and its lessons for the future.
In early January, 1919, delegates from Britain, France, Italy, and the United States congregated in Paris. Initially, the Allies’ plan was to have a preliminary conference amongst themselves to decide on the peace terms to offer Germany. After the brief preliminary conference, the plan was to invite Germany to a full-scale peace conference to negotiate the terms.
As the Allies squabbled amongst themselves, the preliminary conference gradually developed into the full-scale conference. The Germans were not summoned to Paris until early May. And when they finally arrived, they were never allowed to negotiate the terms of the treaty. Thus, the Treaty of Versailles was a dictated treaty, not a negotiated treaty.
It was unfair for the Allies to dictate the terms of the treaty to Germany. This violated precedents set after the French lost the Napoleonic wars and the Franco-Prussian war. Breaking these precedents was bound to breed contempt for the treaty in Germany. The various military clauses, reparation clauses, and territorial clauses added fuel to the fire.
The military clauses of the treaty disarmed Germany. But the German disarmament was supposed to be part of general European disarmament sponsored by the League of Nations. While the Germans were disarmed by the treaty, the Allies did not fulfill their promise to disarm. This was unfair, and the Allies’ broken promise infuriated German public opinion.
German reparations received too much attention in the aftermath of the war. This was due in large part to John Maynard Keynes and his highly influential book The Economic Consequences of the Peace. Keynes’s entire analysis of the reparations problem was fatally flawed, for it was based on a mercantilist theory called the transfer problem. Economic science shows that the transfer problem does not exist.
Economic historians have increasingly recognized that the reparations imposed on Germany were not as onerous as Keynes insisted.
The reparations section of the treaty included Article 231 – the infamous war-guilt clause. Article 231 required Germany to accept responsibility for starting the war. This clause was unfair, because Germany was not solely responsible for the war. All the major European powers share the blame. Interestingly, Keynes and John Foster Dulles were the lead draftsmen of Article 231.
An unfortunate consequence of Keynes’s book was to shift attention away from the territorial problems with the treaty. As the title of his book suggests, Keynes’s criticisms of the treaty were entirely economic; he never criticized the territorial clauses. The really significant problems with the peace settlement were the imperialistic territorial clauses.
Prior to the conference, the Allied leaders assured the world that the peace would be based on the principle of national self-determination. Their actions proved otherwise. At the conference, the Allies imperialistically carved up the world and created new but unsustainable nation states with government coercion.
The Versailles Peace Treaty meant Germany would lose 13 percent of its territory and 10 percent of its population. In the West, Germany lost Alsace-Loraine to France. The residents of Alsace-Loraine were never allowed to decide for themselves whether they wanted to rejoin France. The Allies’ violation of the principle of national self-determination in Alsace-Loraine embittered the Germans.
In the east, the Allied leaders imperialistically carved up Germany (along with Russia and Austria-Hungary) to recreate Poland, a country that had ceased to exist in 1795. To resurrect Poland, millions of Germans, Lithuanians, Byelorussians, and Ukrainians were denied the right to self-determination. Moreover, President Wilson had promised the reborn Poland access to the sea, so the Allies created the Polish Corridor. The Polish Corridor cut off East Prussia from Germany, and it contained the German city of Danzig. The Polish Corridor meant Poland was loathed in Germany.
The Allies created the new nation of Czechoslovakia by carving up Germany and the shattered Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, and Hungarians in the new Czechoslovakia were denied the right to self-determination. This was also the case for three million Germans in the Sudetenland. In Germany, Czechoslovakia was a constant reminder of the Allies’ bad faith on the issue of self-determination.
Finally, the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the unification of Germany and Austria. This prohibition violated the Austrians’ right to national self-determination. The territorial clauses regarding Alsace-Loraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Austria meant the right to self-determination had been unfairly denied to millions of Germans and other Europeans.
Any person interested in the preservation and proliferation of humanity must despise Adolph Hitler and his vile Nazi regime. But it must be asked: how could a lunatic like Hitler rise to power in Germany? The answer is the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles. The German population thought the treaty was unfair, and they wanted someone to oppose it. The treaty created the platform for Hitler’s rise to power. For this reason, the Treaty of Versailles must be considered a major cause of the Second World War.
Italy was the weakest power at the outbreak of the Great War. Although Italy had a defense treaty with Germany and Austria-Hungary before the war, these nations had not been attacked. This meant Italy was not obliged to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers. Instead, Italy remained neutral and opportunistically shopped around for territory.
The Central Powers offered Italy territory, but Italy wanted a piece of Austro-Hungarian territory called South Tyrol. This would give Italy a defensible border in the Alps. For obvious reasons, the Austro-Hungarians refused to promise their own territory to Italy. The Allies, by contrast, were happy to promise Italy this territory. On April 26, 1915, Britain, France, and Russia signed the imperialistic Treaty of London with Italy. With this agreement, Italy would get South Tyrol, Austrian Littoral, and Northern Dalmatia when the Allies won the war.
At the peace conference, President Wilson refused to uphold the Treaty of London. This enraged the Italians. The Italians were granted South Tyrol, and this pushed the Italian border up to the Alps. But the Allies broke their promises on Austrian Littoral and Northern Dalmatia. Rather, the Allies gave this territory to the new nation of Yugoslavia.
The Allies’ failure to uphold the Treaty of London left many Italians feeling cheated. The Allied victory became known as the “Mutilated Victory” in Italy. The Allies’ broken promises to the Italians at the Paris Peace Conference launched Benito Mussolini and his fascist regime into power in 1922.
The Paris Peace Conference had a significant impact on Asia. Prior to the war, the Western powers exercised imperialistic control over most of Asia. Britain controlled modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, along with Hong Kong and Singapore. France controlled modern day Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Russia took territory in Northern China; the Netherlands had Indonesia; the United States controlled the Philippines.
China and Japan were the only real significant independent Asian countries before the war. But China was on the verge of losing its independence. The British, French, Germans, and Russians all exercised control of territory in China via concessions. But Japan was China’s greatest threat. Before the war, Japan had already taken Taiwan and Korea from China, and they controlled Manchuria. The First World War halted European expansion in China, but this left Japan unchecked to wrest away more Chinese territory.
Japan entered the war on the side of the Allies. Before the war, Germany had control of islands in the Pacific, and Japan took these islands during the war. Germany had controlled a territory in China called Shandong, and Japan seized these German concessions. The Japanese made secret imperialistic agreements with Britain during the war that would allow them to keep the German Pacific islands and Shandong.
The Japanese had two demands at the Paris Peace Conference. First, they wanted the Allies to uphold their secret wartime agreements on Shandong and the German Pacific islands. Second, they wanted a racial equality clause. In other words, the Japanese desired a clause in the peace treaty stating that Europeans and Asians are of equal racial quality.
Like the Japanese, the Chinese joined the war on the side of the Allies. The Chinese believed that contributing to the war effort would prevent the Europeans and Japanese from expanding in China after the war. China had one major demand at the Paris Peace Conference: Shandong. This territory had a large Chinese population, and it was culturally important because it was the birthplace of Confucius. But the British had promised Shandong to the Japanese. The Allies found themselves in a dilemma over Shandong.
According to the principle of national self-determination, the Chinese had the proper claim to Shandong. Sadly, the principle of imperialism prevailed over the principle of national self-determination. The peacemakers upheld their imperialistic wartime agreement and granted Shandong to the Japanese instead of the Chinese.
Why grant Shandong to the Japanese? The Allies felt they had two choices: 1) meet the Japanese demand for a racial equality clause, or 2) reject the racial equality clause, but appease the Japanese with Shandong. The peacemakers, especially Wilson, could not overcome their racist inclinations, and they refused the Japanese demand for a racial equality clause.
The Japanese received Shandong, but they were disillusioned by the treaty. The Allies’ refusal to include the racial equality clause made the Japanese lose faith in the West. The treaty bred Japanese militarism and put Japan on the road to war with the United States.
Incredibly, the ramifications in China were just as disastrous. The peacemakers’ decision on Shandong ignited protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. These protests evolved into the May Fourth Movement, and the Chinese communist movement was born. Seventy-five million Chinese died as a result of Mao Zedong’s communist regime. Eventually, Communism would spread to Korea and Vietnam, resulting in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and ongoing tension between North Korea and the West.
The geopolitical problems in the Middle East over the last century have their roots in the First World War and the Paris Peace Conference. Before the war, the British controlled Egypt, the French controlled Algeria and Tunisia, and Italy controlled Libya. By contrast, the Ottoman Empire controlled modern day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
At the beginning of the war, the Allied Powers made secret imperialistic agreements to carve up the Ottoman Empire. For their part in the war, the Russians demanded the expansion of its territory down to Constantinople. This was a sensitive issue for the British, for it would give Russia influence in the Mediterranean waters around the Suez Canal. India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, and Britain shuttled their troops to India through the canal. In short, the Suez Canal was essential to Britain’s imperial control over India.
The British would agree to the Russian demand for Constantinople, but only if Britain was guaranteed certain territory around the Suez Canal. This territory included modern day Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and southern Iraq. British control of these territories would create a bubble around the Suez Canal and thereby secure the British route to India.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement of January 3, 1916 was a secret treaty between Britain and France to carve up the Middle East after the war. France would get the territory of modern day Syria, Lebanon, and northern Iraq, while Britain would get the territory of modern day Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and southern Iraq. Later, the Russians and Italians assented to the treaty.
Unfortunately, the British made promises to the Arabs inside the Ottoman Empire that were incompatible with Sykes-Picot. The British and French controlled territory in India and North Africa that contained vast numbers of Muslims. The British and French were terrified that the Turkish sultan would incite Muslim revolts inside their empires. They were desperate to knock the Ottomans out of the war to avoid an Islamic uprising.
British military campaigns against the Ottomans were disastrous. As a result, the British devised a plan to destabilize the Ottoman Empire from within. The plan was to have the Arabs revolt against the Turks. The British promised Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca, that he would be made king of a unified and independent Arab state after the war if he revolted against the Turks. Hussein agreed. His son Faisal, advised by Lawrence of Arabia, led the Arab revolt against the Turks. The Arab revolt played an important role in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
At the peace conference, the British broke their promise to establish a unified and independent Arab state. Instead, they created a handful of new nations in the Middle East that would be dominated by Britain and France. In 1921, the French created the Kingdom of Syria. The British convinced the French to make Faisal the ruler of Syria, but he had no independence. He was exiled by the French in July 1920. The French created the state of Lebanon in 1920, and transferred territory from Syria to Lebanon. This act of imperialism still irritates Syrians today.
The imperialistic Sykes-Picot Agreement led to the creation of Iraq. According to Sykes-Picot, the British would get Baghdad and Basra, while the French would get Mosul in the North. The British realized the importance of oil much earlier than the French, and the British suspected there was oil in Mosul. In 1918, the British convinced the French to relinquish their claim to Mosul. In this way, the British took control of the entire territory that is now Iraq. The British formed the Kingdom of Iraq in 1921, and Faisal was made king.
The British promise for an independent Arab state was incompatible with Sykes-Picot. But British promises to European Jews further complicated the situation in the region. On November 2, 1917, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration — a public statement supporting a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. Czarist Russia was the great anti-Semitic power before the war, and this made many Jews reluctant to support the Allies. The English believed the Balfour Declaration would foster Jewish support of the Allies and weaken Jewish support for the Central Powers.
Sykes-Picot gave the British control of Palestine. In 1921, the British carved Jordan out of Palestine and made Hussein’s son Abdullah king. However, the creation of Jordan infuriated both the Jews and the Arabs. On the one hand, the Jews thought the Balfour Declaration granted them the entire territory of Palestine. Thus, they viewed the creation of Jordan as a broken promise. On the other hand, the Arabs in Palestine revolted at the idea of a Jewish homeland in their territory. There has been tension between the Jews and Muslims in the region ever since.
The war and peace treaties resulted in the creation of new and unsustainable nation states in the Middle East. For those living in the Middle East, even the names Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, etc., are constant reminders that Britain and France betrayed the Arabs. In the end, British and French imperialism in the Middle East caused a century of turmoil in the region.
The First World War and the Paris Peace Conference led to Nazism in Germany, fascism in Italy, militarism in Japan, extremism in the Middle East, and communism in Russia, China, Korea, and Vietnam. What must be learned from the war and peace settlement? Here is the most important lesson: the free market economy is the only way to lasting world peace.
The war was caused by Europe’s imperialistic intervention in foreign trade. In the decades before the war, there was a massive drive by the European powers to expand their empires. This put the European powers on a collision course. Why the imperial expansion? The European powers did not allow other powers to trade freely in their empires. For this reason, the European powers viewed imperial expansion as the only way to gain new markets for their goods. Europe’s rejection of the principle of free trade was the fundamental cause of the First World War.
The peacemakers at the Paris Peace Conference could not establish a durable peace, because they refused to renounce the imperialistic system that caused the war in the first place. During the war, the British and French made imperialistic agreements to carve up the globe after the war. At the peace conference, they used the peace treaties to enshrine British and French imperialism. The Allies used the treaty to fortify their empires, and the result was a century of war.
Government intervention in the free market economy is the fundamental cause of all modern wars. Government intervention in the domestic economy makes it impossible for domestic producers to compete with foreign producers. To level the playing field, government must enact protectionist measures to shield hobbled domestic producers from foreign competition. Any government that intervenes in the domestic economy must inevitably embrace protectionism. And protectionism leads to conflict and war.
Free trade between nations is required to maintain world peace. But free trade between nations is impossible if nations intervene domestically. External free trade requires internal free trade. The path to lasting world peace starts with the free market economy at home. The great lesson from the First World War and Treaty of Versailles is this: the free market economy at home and abroad is the only way to establish durable peace between nations. | https://library.mises.org/print/46967 |
Any kind of conflict, fight or rivalry has an impact on humanity. If this conflict is in the shape of a war, it has far reaching consequences. It is impossible to understand twenty first century world politics and the dynamics between the various countries, if we do not study the impact of world wars which have been witnessed by the humanity. The effect, impact and causes of World War I are the factors that have also shaped today’s world. All the reasons that are responsible for the world war are important in their own ways and they all are connected to each other. There are several reasons and factors that lead to the World War I.
Nationalism in First World War
Nationalism refers to the sentiments, when a country promotes themselves and ranks them above all and its citizens love their country and are patriotic about it. In the 19 century, there was a sudden upswing in the nationalistic feelings in various European countries. Most of the civilians were extremely patriotic about their country and also felt strongly about loosing their mother land. People wanted to fight for their land. The people of each country were really enthusiastic about the war therefore, they didn’t really plan as to how will they tackle the problem when it arrives. Nobody had any idea what kind of situation they will be in? What it would be like and what consequences will this war lead them into?
There were reasons as to why people were so enthusiastic about the war. One, they were indoctrinated by their teachers that they should have a strong trust in their country and their leader and secondly, they thought that the war is going to finish in 4 months thus, the victory wasn’t far away. Plus, they wanted to win because they didn’t want to loose their country (land). On the other hand, many European countries were being ruled by multi-racial empires.
That means empires inhabited by people of different races. E.g. Russian empire contained more non-Russians than Russians. The Austro-Hungarian Empire included Serbs, Croats, Poles, Czechs and many others. All these people didn’t feel patriotic about their country as they were ruled by other empires. The nationalist movement in these empires caused lots of conflicts before 1914. These conflicts lead to the war due to strong sense of nationalism.
Militarism in World War I
Militarism in simple words means preparing for the war. Most of the European countries after becoming economically strong started improving and developing their armed forces. As the people were very enthusiastic about the war the leaders motivated young men to become soldiers so that there would be no space left for a fault.
World War I Naval Arms Race
Another major inclusion in the armed forces was the strengthening of the Navy. The naval race was a race where all the world empires were building up their own versions of the dreadnought which was the most powerful ship ever designed. The naval race was between Britain and Germany. After Germany launched the dreadnought into the naval race, they started building 41 battleships and 60 cruisers. The British also started to take more interest in the navy and ordered to build more battleships. Germany also built a second version of the dreadnought called Rhineland. Then the British made another battleship called HMS Neptune which was a super dreadnought compared to the British.
In 1914, when the war started the British won the naval race which lead to the Germans wanting to take revenge. Secondly, the Germans introduced a ‘Schliffen plan’ which is a war plan. Their Schliffen plan was to quickly defeat France and then slowly approach on defeating Russia. They assumed that it would be easy to defeat France as they thought that they were very slow in mobilizing or get ready for action). The fact that this plan didn’t work out the way they imagined really frustrated the Germans which is why they fought the war which great enthusiasm. It is said that if the schliffen plan had been succeeded, then the war would be over in matter of weeks because once they defeated France, they didn’t have to fear as Russia wasn’t that developed. Plus, the British didn’t have big troops. They lacked troops so it would be easy to defeat Britain.
Imperialism in First World War
Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries to expand their empire overseas and make colonies and makes them follow their own laws. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. The amount of lands ‘owned’ by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany. When Germany emerged as fastest growing economy, it caused considerable anxiety in Britain. New trade markets were made in order to improve the economy and higher salaries were offered to motivate the workers which lead to increase productivity. Later in late nineteenth century Germany acquired a number of overseas colonies giving serious completion to British. These economic and colonial rivalries also lead to lot of mistrust between these countries. These rivalries were not a direct cause of war as most of the colonial conflicts had been settled well before 1914.
Kaiser (German ruler) made new policy called ‘weltpolitik’ which means world policy in English. The Germans wanted to rule the world and they were sure they will win, so they already prepared laws and regulations for the whole world but this didn’t happen which disappointed the Germans. Secondly, German wanted to expand their army into the Ottoman Empire.
Alliance System in First World War
When countries join hands and agree to help each other in the war in order to gain victory is called alliances. Many alliances were made in order to reach their target. The first alliance was the Austro-Serbian alliance. The austro-serbian alliance was made in the 1881 in which Austro-Hungarian made an alliance with Serbia to stop Russia from gaining control in order to expand their empire. The second alliance was the Dual alliance which was established in the 1879. This alliance was made between Germany and Austria in order to get protection from Russia. The third alliance was the triple alliance between Germany, Italy and Austria 1882. This alliance was made so that Italy would stop taking the Russian side. In this alliance the main countries were Germany and Austria-Hungary and Italy was just at the background.
The current state was 2 on 3 but if Italy joined Russia then, they will have more people thus, greater chances of wining. Franco-Russian alliance war the fourth alliance which was agreed in 1892 between France and Russia in order to protect themselves from Germany and Austria-Hungary. Agreement number five was the entente cordiale which was between Britain and France. This alliance was made is 1904. This alliance wasn’t a formal alliance between France and Britain. This meant Britain was no longer isolated. In 1907 Britain made a similar agreement with Russia who already had made an alliance with France.
Significance of Triple Alliance
There were six alliance systems in total. At the start, there were six alliances which resulted two in the end. On the one hand were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in the Triple Alliance. On the other hand were France, Russia and Britain in the Triple Ententes. Triple entente is a bit stronger term. It means that no matter what, all of these countries are going to stick together and fight for each other. Triple alliance was, all the three countries were friends and they will work together but there was no guarantee that they will always fight for each other. They can separate as well. So, there was a lot of backstabbing and making small groups within the large group and everybody made deals in order to get the best of what they could achieve.
Effects of Alliance System in First World War
The Alliance system had two important effects-
a) It might encourage powers to act rashly in the knowledge that they would receive support. E.g. the Austrian government’s actions in provoking a war with Serbia in 1914 can be partly explained by the knowledge that Germany was likely to back them up.
b) It meant that if war broke out between any two powers all other powers in the two sets of alliances were likely to be dragged in as well. This is what happened in 1914.
Assassination in First World War
All these countries were involved in the fight because Austria-Hungary’s demands against Serbia activated a sequence of alliances. Within weeks the major European powers were at war; their global empires meant that the conflict soon spread worldwide. At first, when the Austrian/ Hungarian prince, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife got assassinated on the 28th June, 1914. Hungary and Austria wanted independence but at the same time the other European countries wanted to rule those two countries therefore they tried to conquer Austria and Hungary. As a result there was a fight between most of the European countries.
The European countries had a lack of troops, thus they made alliances with other European countries but they all had their own demands. In this way many other countries got involved. Then the countries started making plans and tricking their partners. For example: Japan was helping Italy and Italy didn’t want to give half of the land to Japan, so Italy partnered with Greece, Serbia and Montenegro and conquered Albania.
Causes of Assassination
The Italy tricked Japan by telling Greece to kill all the Japanese troops after the captured Albania. Like this the other countries made plans and distributed the small groups into allies and enemies. Allies: ENTENTIES and enemies: CENTRAL powers. The entities won the victory and Hungary and Austria got independence from each other. Another reason which could be one of the roots to the problem because the prince Archduke Franz Ferdinand was Austro-Hungarian but many Serbs lived in Austria –Hungary. So, the government predicted that this assassination was planed by the Serbs as they didn’t like the fact that they were being rules by Austria-Hungary. This was true because later it was proved that the assassin was Serbian nationalist.
Balkan in First World War
Siberia was the most powerful state in Balkans. Siberia was looked upon as threat because Austria-Hungary wanted Siberia to be dealt with. Thus, they came up with a logical excuse to get rid of Siberia. This didn’t work as there were more Serbs than Austro-Hungarian. If Serbia was removed then there wouldn’t have a large population.
Balkan Causes of World War I
Nationalism, imperialism, militarism, assassination, alliance system and the Balkan problem caused this tragic event (war). The rivalry between the various European empires and their nationalistic movement lead to competition between each empire. This also led to the development of industrial, economic and social factors. This caused the invention of the new warfare which brought wealth. With the use of wealth, the empires developed their armed forces which is militarization. Militarization led to the war. Militarization is also the reason how the leaders started colonizing (imperialism) and increasing their empire. Through this, they gained power. This tells us how all these world causes are related to each other. In summary, nationalism is connected to militarism because with the help of weapons the empires protected themselves and their land from getting captured. Secondly, Militarism is connected to imperialism because all the empires used new weapons to conquer each land and expand their empire.
Rival Sovereign States
Rival sovereign states: Europe was divided into different sovereign states. Often there was a lot of competition among them for power, influence and domination within the continent. When they did not achieve this by peaceful means, they had to often go to war. E.g. the French government’s desire to avenge its defeat at the hands of the Germans in 1870-71. Austria’s conflict with Russia over, which of them should have the greatest influence in the Balkans. Germany’s challenge to the naval and economic power of Britain, all these rivalries resulted in to a major war. This all are the causes which lead to the world war one.
Course of the World War I
As soon as Austria threatened Serbia a state of war gripped the world. Germany attacked Belgium and France. Italy broke from the Triple Alliance and joined allies for sake of territorial gains in 1915.Japan joined Allies while Turkey came to side of Central Powers. Even US was drawn into conflict on side of Allies in 1917.There was a tremendous attack of Germany on Paris and an invasion of East Prussia by Russians. Power of defensive developed and there was a rapid elaboration of trench warfare with enormous losses. The third phase was of military deadlock which passed slowly into one of aggression upon combatant population behind fronts by destruction of food supplies and by attacks through air.
Actual warfare ceased in November 1918 when an armistice was signed by both parties. As part of Peace of Paris (1919), separate treaties were drafted and imposed on defeated powers such as Treaty of Versaillies on Germany,treaty of St Germain on Austria,Treaty of Sevres with Turkey etc.The 1919 also saw the foundation of the League of Nations.
Consequences of World War I
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Cessation of nearly every sort of productive activity that contributed to military operations.
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Destruction of industry and rising inflation.
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Fall in production of food throughput world due to calling up of peasantry to fronts.
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There was a permanent change in realm of finance with transferring of wealth from Europe to America.
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Education and scientific work was restricted or diverted to fulfil the military needs of the nations.
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Wide spread resentments and disillusionment with the compromises in treaties and continued violence in certain part of the world and mutual distrust between the victor nations.
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Emergence of different kinds of movements such as an increasingly strong pacifist movement, violent nihilist movement.
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Tremendous loss of human lives in the nations. Total causalities were 27 million out of which 8 million actually died in war.
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Birth of number of independent European states and reorganization of boundaries of many old states.
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Adoption of new set of ideologies by nations such as Marxism, Fascism and socialism.
Significance of World War I
The significance of World War I from a global perspective is that it began the undermining of Europe’ supremacy- a process that was completed after World War II.During World War I Britain lost a quarter of its foreign investments, France a third and Germany lost all. The reverse of this trend was seen in new financial strength of US. In 1914 the US owed about $ 4 billion to European investors but by 1919 the US had become a creditor nation to the tune of $3.7 billion by 1930 this had risen to $ 8.8 billion. Many European industrial areas were devastated while American factories grew manifold under the wartime demand. By 929 US was responsible for 42.2% of the world industrial output.
Ideas of Wilson and Lenin
In all parts of the continent the old order was being questioned and challenged. Many Europeans were looking up to Wilson and Lenin. Wilson’s 14 points had started up a ferment of democratic hope and expectancy. The millions of dead and wounded, ruins of cities and villages made large masses receptive to the call for revolution. Demonstrations were staged in the streets of London, Paris and Rome.
Europe After World War I
Finally European domination was undermined by World War I because of the repercussions in the overseas colonies. The spectacle of one bloc of European powers fighting another to the bitter end damaged the prestige of the nations .No longer they were regarded as divinely ordained to rule over the colored. Many soldiers from the colonies fought in the war. The colonials who returned home after such experiences were not likely to be as obedient to European masters as before.
Revolutionary ideas in the colonies were also spread by propaganda spread with the conduct of the war. The revoluntary phases of self-determination of people left its imprint on the colonial world as well as upon Euope.Equally influential were the ideologies of socialism and communism. The War gave hope to the colonies of getting freedom from slavery. | https://www.giftwonders.com/world-history/world-war-i/ |
According to the author Imperial and imperialist policy led to war. The first and Second world wars led to the disappearance of the classical empires – Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Ottoman, Japanese. The post-Second world war bipolar world because of the logic of confrontation between two world systems largely continued to develop in international relations the logic of empires, the logic of the strict antagonism. The collapse of world socialist system led to the emergence of a unilateral world and the dominant role of one superpower, which is by the logic of Imperial policy pursued a policy of forced democratization. But such a condition could not last long, for neither the resources nor the capacity of this hegemony was not enough to ensure the peaceful development of mankind. More and more countries demanded a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other States, peaceful coexistence and cooperation within the framework of the cooperative strategy. Most people call it the multi-polar world. The transition from a unilateral to a multipolar world will require greater effort and resolution of international and inter-state matters on the basis of principles of equal security, compromises, and mutually beneficial cooperation. | https://interactive-plus.ru/en/keyword/109216/articles |
Many of us are unfortunately completely unaware of the events which occurred from 1914 onwards, and the lasting drastic impact these have had in shaping the Muslim world as we know it today. From the dismantling of the Ottoman Caliphate, to the occupation of Palestine and all the way up to today; it is important to be aware of certain key moments in history in order to understand why the Ummah finds itself in its current position.
Background
Turning our attention to 1914, we find the British Empire ruled much of the world, controlling over a quarter of the globe, whilst the USA was not yet a world power. Other large empires of varying strengths included the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and of course, the Ottoman Caliphate. The Muslim world may have had its share of issues and certainly was not as strong as it once was, yet it still had a united caliphate, global ummah and therefore, a ray of hope.
However, on 28 June 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire led to the “war to end all wars” and the collapse, or at least significant weakening, of many of the globe’s superpowers. The archduke was killed by a group of Serbian nationalists in Sarajevo, igniting nationalistic and ethnic tensions which had been simmering for decades and led to an ultimatum being issued to Serbia by the Austro-Hungarians.
Eventually, they attacked Serbia, leading the Russians to come to their ally’s defence; indeed, European alliances at the time were very complicated and it was all-too-easy to get sucked into war. Soon the Germans got involved; allied with the Austro-Hungarians. They used the war as an excuse to invade a number of neighbouring countries including France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Slowly but surely, every European and world power was forced into the war, ending up with two camps; the “Allied Forces” of the Russians, the British, French, Italians and USA, versus the “Central Powers” of the Germans, the Austro-Hungarians, the Bulgarians and, crucially for Muslims, the Ottomans.
Whilst there was the odd skirmish in Muslim lands, what became known as The Great War (and later known as World War One) was largely fought within Europe, as it was very much a European issue.
The involvement of the Ottomans
Sultan Mehmed V ruled the Ottomans from 1909 through to 1918. Although the empire ruled much of the Arab lands, it had been in decline for some time already and it is said that the Sultanate had become a figurehead position for the last 100-150 years. The empire had lost Bosnia and Albania before the Great War began and the economy was in tatters, whilst European nations were colonising various lands in their military ascendancy.
In sharp contrast to early Muslim civilisations and much like today’s Muslim world, the Ottoman’s had to rely heavily on others for technological support. The British had provided this support through much of the 1800s until the relationship broke down in 1880, leading to a partnership with the Germans instead. This partnership eventually grew very strong, symbolised by the famous Orient Express in 1889; a luxurious direct train between Germany & Turkey.
When the war broke out, the Sultan was determined to keep it a European issue, and thus attempted to remain neutral. However, certain groups including a nationalistic secular movement known as the Young Turks as well as the Grand Vizier Sa’id Halim Pasha and Minister of War Enver Pasha were working in the background to form a secret agreement with the Germans in August 1914 which became known as the “Ottoman-German Alliance”.
The Minister of War, Enver Pasha is said to have instigated an attack on a Russian vessel in the Black Sea in late October 1914, resulting in the Russians declaring war on the Ottomans on 3 November, with the British and French following suit days later. The Sultan was now left with no choice but to support the secret alliance and, in his role as caliph, proclaimed jihād against the Allied Forces on 14 November.
Various battles ensued, and in early 1915, the British and the French launched the Gallipoli Campaign; a joint attack seeking to conquer the great capital Constantinople. Starting with a failed attempt to take control of the Dardanelles Straits, a land invasion was then launched on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915. The Allied Forces faced fierce resistance and the invasion proved to be a disaster for them, losing over 150,000 servicemen in an eight-month battle. In January 1916, the Allied Forces withdrew in defeat.
The battle was brutal for the Ottomans too, losing 60,000 of their forces with nearly 100,000 injuries. This victory would end up being their only one of note during the war yet its significance toward the future of Turkey cannot be understated. Victory saw great praise heaped on one commander in particular, a former member of the Young Turks and secular revolutionary seeking the end of Islamic rule; Mustafa Kemal. On the back of his role in this battle and through a wave of a national pride, he would later go on to become the first president of the newly formed Republic of Turkey, with lasting implications.
Returning to the war, various Ottoman lands began to fall to the Allied Forces in quick succession. In 1915, the British invaded Iraq and by March 1917 they marched to the former Abbasid capital, Baghdad – taking down the Ottoman flag and raising the British flag. Later that year General Allenby, who was based in Egypt (which was under British “protection” at the time), launched a series of campaigns into Gaza and Jaffa and eventually marched into Jerusalem victorious on 9th December, ending four centuries of Ottoman rule of the Holy City and fulfilling his promise to capture it “before Christmas”.
Large cities continued to fall; Damascus in October 1918 and eventually Istanbul on 13 November. By now, three of the great capitals of Islamic history were held by the Allied Forces, as was Jerusalem. This was amongst the lowest points that the ummah had witnessed throughout its history.
The immediate aftermath of the war
The war officially came to an end on the 11 November 1918 when Germany surrendered, marking the conclusion of the largest conflict seen by humanity. 70 million had fought, and nearly 10 million soldiers had died. It was the first time that modern technology had been used with such savagery, including air forces and the development of chemical weapons.
By the end of the conflict, four of the world’s largest empires were decimated; the German Empire, the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and of course, the Ottoman Empire. Whilst the impact of the fall of the Ottoman Empire is our main concern in this discussion, it is worth noting that this was perhaps a mere side-point for the West at the time.
The Great War naturally had severe consequences across the globe; some European lands had lost more than 20% of their men whilst famine soon ensued, resulting in the death of millions more. Some reports suggest 3 or 4 times more than the number killed in battle. Worse-still, the world was in the midst of an influenza pandemic commonly known as Spanish Flu, which was widespread between 1918 – 1920. This was the worst plague man had seen since the Black Death of 1320. It is estimated that up to 5% of the Earth’s population (100 million people) died as a result, spanning the entire globe.
One result of these combined factors was the obvious damage to worldwide economies and the vast shortfall in manpower in the work-place. Large social reforms were needed and, for the first time in human history, the roles of men and women were to be re-studied. The workforce was in short supply of men, and women were needed; the majority leaving the sanctity of the home for the first time.
It is worth noting that in 1918, nearing the end of the “first-wave feminism”, women in the West were still greatly discriminated against and it was considered a victory when the Suffragettes succeeded in securing the right for women over 30 to vote, provided they owned a property. It would be some time yet before Western women in general would share equal voting rights (amongst other rights) with their male counterparts. However, a big turning point in the feminist movement was the introduction of women to the workforce on a mass scale from 1918 onwards.
In the next part, we will consider the total collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate and the resulting British-led conversations on how to divide the Muslim lands.
Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
Largely based on a lecture by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi at the Memphis Islamic Centre: | https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/history/the-shaping-of-the-modern-muslim-world/ |
As the world marks the 105th anniversary of World War I (1914) and remembers the beginning of the war, we recall how it led to an implosion of great empires — Russian, German, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian — devastated the European continent, drastically reshaped the erstwhile global order and ushered in a period of instability, which finally resulted in the outbreak of the second World War in 1939.
Russia, during the time, was not prepared to enter the war. Nevertheless, when Saint Petersburg’s sincere diplomatic efforts to prevent the conflict failed, Russia completely carried out its commitments to the allies — Serbia, France and Great Britain.
On August 1, 1914, Germany had declared war on Russia. Within the next few days, France and Great Britain were drawn into the warfare. In no time, the Reichswehr was beating against the gates of Paris. St Petersburg took up the ally’s call to attack the opponents immediately and thus began the fateful offensive in Prussia. The subsequent crush of the advancing army, led by General Samsonov, was the price that Russia had paid for saving the French capital — the sacrifice that Supreme Allied Commander, Ferdinand Foch himself had admitted.
That was indeed the first but not the last instance when Russia had come to the allies’ rescue. In 1916, after suffering a number of setbacks, it launched a large-scale assault, led by General Aleksei Brusilov, supporting French efforts. Soon Russia had reacted to a request from the French for help by sending in 45,000 troops to the Western front, where they stood against the Germans alongside with the Indian Cavalry Corps.
Overall, the Russian entry into the war prevented the early rout of the Western allies, thus forcing Germany and Austro-Hungary into a warfare they were doomed to loose.
In 1914, German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish armies lost more than 10 lakh troops at the Russian front while lost 9.8 lakh at the Western and Serbian fronts. In the course of the war, the Germans and the Austrians deployed almost half of their troops against Russia.
After the break out of hostilities, St Petersburg concentrated on strengthening the bonds within the Entente, isolating the Triple Alliance, searched for new allies, worked on future settlements, but was unable to reap any of the benefits. A war period of two and a half years led to an overstrain of Russia’s economy, breakdown of its army, a series of political turmoils, collapse of its monarchy, the 1917 October Revolution and the civil war.
The history of the World War I teaches many universal lessons, which are relevant even today. One of the most important is that of inadmissibility of imposing one’s own sense of exceptionalism upon others with blind use of force. It reminds us of tragic consequences of excessive ambitions of political leaders as well as of importance to firmly uphold the hard-won principles of sovereign equality of states, non-interference in their internal affairs and collective methods for settling crises by political and diplomatic means. | https://opinionexpress.in/learnings-from-world-war-i/ |
New Book on World War I and the Jews
How did the Great War affect the Jews?
What impact did World War I have on the Jewish population around the world? This is the question that World War I and the Jews: Conflict and Transformation in Europe, the Middle East, and America attempts to answer. This broad collection of essays is co-edited by Marsha Rozenblit, Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History at the University of Maryland and Jonathan Karp, Associate Professor of History and Judaic Studies at Binghamton University.
One of the key themes examined is whether World War I divided global Jewish communities or brought them more closely together. While the war resulted in the greater isolation of many Jewish communities as traditional institutional and philanthropic ties were suddenly curtailed, transnational Jewish philanthropy managed to assert itself in the long run with the emergence of international relief agencies. One of these was the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) or “the Joint,” which was founded in the fall of 1914 as the first Jewish organization in the United States to dispense large-scale funding for international relief.
By the war’s end, JDC had raised and distributed about $15 million of aid to endangered Jews abroad. Its role as a beacon of international Jewish solidarity during the conflict is highlighted in several of the essays. In “Louis Marshall during World War I: Change and Continuity in Jewish Culture and Politics,” M.M. Silver discusses change and continuity in American Jewish life during World War I, by focusing on the activities of Louis Marshall, one of JDC’s early leaders. Silver writes that “the Joint’s emergence was transformative in terms of the levels of practical support provided by the organization and also in terms of reorienting American Jewry’s understanding of its place in the world.”
In “Women and the War: The Social and Economic Impact of World War I on Jewish Women in the Traditional Holy Cities of Palestine,” Michal Ben Ya’akov writes movingly about the devastating effect of the war on the local economy of Palestine. Contact with the outside world ceased with the outbreak of the conflict as the Ottoman government closed foreign post offices as well as most consular offices and foreign banks. As a result, the conflict cut the Jewish community, from its traditional ethnic, familial, and philanthropic ties, such as the age-old halukah donations, which the diaspora sent to the Jewish communities of Palestine. Those who were on the economic and social fringes of civilian society, especially the women living alone in the urban centers were hit hardest.
In this desperate situation, JDC stepped in. It managed to send food and supplies to Palestine in the spring of 1915 through the intervention of Henry Morgenthau in Istanbul and Otis Glazebrook in Jerusalem and remained involved in lifesaving activities throughout the conflict and postwar period. An interesting point noted by Ben Ya’akov is that it was mostly women who carried out the Joint’s activities in Palestine, visiting homes to distribute the food and aid but also collecting information on the poor.
Other contributions in the volume, including David Engel ‘s “World War I and Its Impact on the Problem of Security in Jewish History” and Carole Fink’s “Jewish Diplomacy and the Politics of War and Peace,” provide valuable insight into why the Great War was a watershed event for Jewish communities in Europe, America and the Middle East. The conflict allowed Jews to demonstrate their patriotism and to dispel anti-Semitic stereotypes about “Jewish cowardice” by fighting for their home countries. The war destroyed the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Empires under which 80 percent of the world’s Jews lived and replaced them with a system of nation-states in Eastern and Central Europe, which confronted Jews with new challenges. The Great War also saw Jews winning the right to a measure of self-determination through the issuance of the Balfour Declaration in November 1917. Finally, the war, with its lot of suffering, devastation and nationalist agitation, had a deeply destabilizing effect on the Jews’ sense of belonging as it did on all Europeans. | https://archives.jdc.org/wwi-and-the-jews/ |
Clayer and Bougarel’s prodigiously researched book is a political and institutional history of the Muslims of south-east Europe since the nineteenth century, focusing on empires, states, political parties, and religious institutions.
CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2017
April 2017 • £45.00
9781849046596 • 288pp
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There are roughly eight million Muslims in south-east Europe, among them Albanians, Bosniaks, Turks and Roma — descendants of converts or settlers in the Ottoman period. This new history of the social, political and religious transformations that this population experienced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries — a period marked by the collapse of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires and by the creation of the modern Balkan states — will shed new light on the European Muslim experience.
South-east Europe’s Muslims have experienced a slow and complex crystallisation of their respective national identities, which accelerated after 1945 as a result of the authoritarian modernisation of communist regimes and, in the late twentieth century, ended in nationalist mobilisations that precipitated the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo during the break-up of Yugoslavia.
At a religious level, these populations have remained connected to the institutions established by the Ottoman Empire, as well as to various educational, intellectual and Sufi (mystic) networks. With the fall of communism, new transnational networks appeared, especially neo-Salafist and neo- Sufi ones, although Europe’s Balkan Muslims have not escaped the wider processes of secularisation.
A specialist on Albanian Islam, Nathalie Clayer is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies at EHESS in Paris. She is also a historian of religion and nationalism in the Ottoman and post-Ottoman eras. | https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/europes-balkan-muslims/ |
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1893
New Zealand introduces unrestricted women’s suffrage. At this point women win the principle of full political equality.
1905
Einstein’s theory of special relativity published. It transforms the nature of modern physical knowledge.
1917
Russian Revolution creates the first successful, long-term revolutionary state.
1918
End of the First World War. The Habsburg and Ottoman empires collapse; maps of Europe and the Middle East are redrawn.
1939
Outbreak of Second World War: Fifty million die worldwide in the world’s largest and most deadly conflict, which ends the long age of imperialism.
1945
End of Second World War; when the first nuclear bomb is detonated, mankind develops the means to destroy itself.
1949
Communist China founded: China is created as a single territorial unit with a common administration and a modernising economy.
1959
Invention of the silicon chip is the major technical invention of the past century, making possible the computer age.
1960
First contraceptive pill made available for women, who can now make their own biological choices about reproduction.
1989-90
Collapse of Communist regimes in Europe: marks the end of the long communist experiment; Asian communism is also transformed. | https://www.memrise.com/course/122043/50-key-dates-of-world-history/5/ |
World War I or the First World War, 1914 - 1918, was the first war that involved nations spanning more than half the globe, hence world war.
It was commonly called The Great War or sometimes the war to end all wars until World War II started, although the name "First World War" was coined as early as 1920 by Lt-Col � Court Repington in The First World War 1914-18.
Some scholars consider the First World War merely the first phase of a 30-year-long war that spans the time frame of 1914 to 1945.
It is accepted that the triggering event for the war was the death (June 28, 1914) of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and his morganatic wife Sophia in Sarajevo, Bosnia at the hands of a pro-Serbian nationalist assassin (a Bosnian Serb student named Gavrilo Princip).
Princip was one of a band of seven assassins present that day in Saravejo[?]. All were members of the Black Hand anarchist society[?]. He and his six accomplices were arrested and tried by the authorities. According to an account published by one of his Black Hand associates, there were 21 assassins involved, but this statement has not been confirmed.
A complex situation existed amongst the predominantly monarchical countries and empires that existed in 1914 Europe. Disagreement exists amongst historians as to when and where this situation began, but there is agreement that it is an important factor in understanding how the assassination led to unprecedented bloodshed in a war involving nations that had no direct involvement whatever with Franz Ferdinand's assassination or his country.
Many of these European empires and countries also has colonies overseas. Following the lead of Britain under Benjamin Disraeli, even the once hesitantly imperialistic Otto von Bismarck was eventually brought to realize the value of colonies for securing (in his words) "new markets for German industry, the expansion of trade, and a new field for German, activity, civilization, and capital".
The absolutist Central Powers, led by a newly unified, dynamically industrializing German Empire, with its expanding navy, doubling in size between the Franco-Prussian War and the Great War, were strategic threats to the markets and security of the more established Allied powers and Russia.
The Entente Cordiale was thus a gentleman's agreement between Britain and France designed to slow further German expansionism. The Entente Cordiale, along with the Franco-Russian alliance, served a common geopolitical interest.
France and Britain were thus forced to end their centuries of longstanding hostility. British policymakers feared the prospect of another German military victory over France like the Franco-Prussian War, which could have reasonably resulted in a German take-over of France's formal colonies, a sort of reversal of the actual outcome of the Great War, after which Britain occupied the vast majority of German and Ottoman colonies as "protectorates". This prospect was especially frightening considering that French colonies tended to be closely situated to Britain's; Nigeria, for instance, was surrounded by French territory, India was near French Indochina, and so forth.
Following the death of Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1888, his son, Frederick ( or Friedrich) III inherited the crown of Prussia and the throne of the German Empire. He died shortly after succeeding to the throne of cancer of the larynx, and was succeeded by his son, Wilhelm II. A terrible diplomat and worse politician, Wilhelm II largely impeded the aging Chancellor Bismarck's attempts to preserve the diplomatic balance of power that kept France isolated, and hampered Bismarck's domestic realpolitik that kept conservative parties in relative power in the Reichstag. After the 1890 elections, in which the center and left parties made major gains, and due in part to the disaffection of the Kaiser having the same Chancellor that guided his grandfather for most of his career, Bismarck resigned. Shortly thereafter he died, having been made a duke by his thankful Empire, and perhaps fortunately for him, he died before he could watch Wilhelm II destroy the diplomatic and military gains that he had achieved.
Strategic competition between the British and German Empires following the retirement of Bismarck would intensify the drive to consolidate existing spheres of influence and grab new colonies. Examples of these conflicts include the Moroccan Crisis[?] of 1905 and the Tangier Crisis. These conflicts began when Kaiser Wilhelm's recognized Moroccan independence from France, Britain's new strategic partner. During the Second Moroccan Crisis, the German Empire sent its navy to Morocco, testing the precarious Anglo-French Entente once again.
The specific breakdowns of the alliance system that kept Bismarck's Germany premier are almost unforgivable to Kaiser Wilhelm II. Russia had entered a defensive agreement with the German Empire during Bismarck's time. Wilhelm refused to renew it for indeterminate reasons. When England, which had long been isolationist, content to rule her overseas empire, and the oceans in general, came out of her isolation, she sought first to ally with the German Empire. It might be remembered that the German monarchs were of the House of Hanover, which was related to or intermarried with a great many of the German noble houses, including the Hohenzollern rulers of the German Empire. Instead, Wilhelm, disparaging England's "Contemptible little army", rebuffed their offer, and started a pointless naval arms race. Wilhelm thus gained the direct enmity of two of the major powers of Europe, which allied themselves, as we will see, with Germany's third, and most venomous, albiet weakest, enemy, France.
The network of European alliances formed along the lines of imperial interests.
British gravitation towards the Franco-Russian alliance, fuelled by alarm at the German Empire's challenge to British naval supremacy.
subsequent German and Austro-Hungarian challenges to the Anglo-French-Russian "Triple Entente"
Austrian regional security concerns grew with the near-doubling of neighbouring Serbia's territory as a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. After the Sarajevo assassination, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, acting primarily under the influence of Foreign Affairs Minister Leopold von Berschtold, sent an effectively unfulfillable ultimatum containing fifteen demands to Serbia (July 23, 1914), to be agreed to within 48 hours. The latter agreed to all but one of these terms. The Austro-Hungarian Empire nonetheless broke off diplomatic relations (July 25) and declared war (July 28) through a telegram sent to the Serbian government.
The Russian government, which saw itself as a guarantor of Serbian independence, mobilized[?] on July 30. This mobilization was ordered by Nicholas II who was under pressure by his military staff to do so. This followed a breakdown in crucial telegram communications between Nicholas and Wilhelm II. The German Empire, allied by treaty to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, demanded that Russia stand down its forces (July 31), but the Russian government persisted, as demobilization[?] would have made it impossible for her to re-activate her military schedule in the short term. The German Empire declared war against Russia (August 1) and, two days later, against the latter's ally France.
August 23, Japan declared war on the German Empire.
August 14, China declared war on the German Empire.
The outbreak of the conflict is often attributed to the alliances established over the previous decades - Germany-Austria-Italy vs. France-Russia; Britain and Serbia being aligned with the latter. In fact none of the alliances was activated in the initial outbreak, though Russian general mobilization and Germany's declaration of war against France were motivated by fear of the opposing alliance being brought into play.
Britain's declaration of war against the German Empire (August 4) was officially the result not of her understandings with France and Russia (Britain was technically allied to neither power), but of Germany's invasion of Belgium, whose independence Britain had guaranteed to uphold (1839), and which stood astride the planned German route for invasion of Russia's ally France.
The German Empire's plan (named the Schlieffen plan) to deal with the Franco-Russian alliance involved delivering a knock-out blow to the French and then turning to deal with the more slowly mobilized Russian army. The German plan involved demanding free passage across Belgium and Luxembourg. When this was denied, Germany invaded, occupying Luxembourg rapidly but encountering resistance before the forts of the Belgian city of Li�ge. Britain sent an army to France, which advanced into Belgium.
The delays brought about by the resistance of the Belgians, French and British forces and the unexpectedly rapid mobilization of the Russians upset the German plans. Russia attacked in East Prussia, diverting German forces intended for the Western Front, allowing French and British forces to halt the German advance on Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September 1914) as the Central Powers (the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires) were forced into fighting a war on two fronts.
The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October - November 1914, threatening Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and the East via the Suez canal. British action opened another front in the South with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamia campaigns, intially the Turks were successful in repelling enemy incursion. But in Mesopotamia, after the disasterous Siege of Kut the British reorganized and captured Baghdad in March 1917. Further to the west in Egypt, initial British failures were overcome with Jerusalem being captured in December 1917 and the Egyptian Expeditionary Force[?] under Edmund Allenby going on to break the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo.
Italy, until now notionally allied to the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires but with her own designs against Austrian territory in South Tyrol, Istria and Dalmatia, joined the Allies in May 1915, declaring war against Germany fifteen months later. Italian action along the Austrian border pinned down large numbers of enemy troops, though the crushing German-Austrian victory of Caporetto (October 1917) temporarily invalidated Italy as a major threat.
The perception of war in 1914 was almost romantic, and its declaration was met with great enthusiasm by many people. The common view was that it would be a short war of manoeuvre with a few sharp actions (to "teach the enemy a lesson") and would end with a victorious entry into the capital (the enemy capital, naturally) then home for a victory parade or two and back to "normal" life. There were some pessimists (like Lord Kitchener) who predicted the war would be a long haul, but "everyone knew" the War would be "Over by Christmas...."
After their initial success on the Marne[?], Entente and German forces began a series of outflanking maneuvers to try to force the other to retreat, in the so-called Race to the Sea[?]. France and Britain soon found themselves facing entrenched German positions from Lorraine to Belgium's Flemish coast. The sides took set positions, the French and British were the attackers and the Germans were the defenders. One consequence of this was that the German trenches were much better constructed than those of their enemy, the Anglo-French trenches were only 'temporary' before their forces broke through the German defences. Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next four years, though protracted German action at Verdun (1916) and Allied failure the following spring brought the French army to the brink of collapse as mass desertions undermined the front line.
Around 800,000 soldiers from Britain and the Empire were on the Western Front at any one time, 1,000 battalions each occupying a sector of the line from Belgium to the Arne and operating a month-long four stage system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over 6,000 miles of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for around a week before moving back to support lines and then the reserve lines before a week out-of-line, often in the Poperinge or Amiens areas.
Not even an initially devastating array of new weapons achieved the required victory: poison gas (first used by the Germans on Russian soldiers without much success in battle of Bolimow[?] on January 1, 1915. More known and often quoted as first usage is attack on Canadian soldiers at Ypres on April 22, 1915), liquid fire introduced by the Germans at Hooge[?] on July 30, 1915) and armoured tanks (first used by the British on the Somme on September 15, 1916) each produced initial panic among the enemy, but failed to deliver a lasting breakthrough.
The Russian initial plans for war had called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia and German East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, they were driven back from East Prussia by the victories of the German generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes[?] in August and September 1914. Russia's less-developed economic and military organisation soon proved unequal to the combined might of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. In early 1915 the Russians were driven from Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw on August 5 and forcing the Russians to withdraw from all of Poland.
Dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew despite the success of the June 1916 Brusilov offensive[?] in eastern Galicia against the Austrians, when Russian success was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces in support of the victorious sector commander. Allied fortunes revived only temporarily with Romania's entry into the war on August 27: German forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units in Transylvania, and Bucharest fell to the Central Powers on December 6. Meanwhile, internal unrest grew in Russia, as the Tsar remained out of touch at the front, while the Empress's increasingly incompetent rule drew protests from all segments of Russian political life, resulting in the murder of Alexandra's favorite Rasputin by conservative noblemen in December 1916.
In March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak centrist provisional government, which shared power with the socialists of the Petrograd Soviet[?]. This division of power led to confusion and chaos, both on the front and at home, and the army became progressively less able to effectively resist the Germans. Meanwhile, the war, and the government, became more and more unpopular, and the discontent was strategically used by the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, in order to gain power. The triumph of the Bolsheviks in November was immediately by followed by an armistice and negotiations with the Germans. At first, the Bolsheviks refused to agree to the harsh German terms, but when the Germans resumed the war and marched with impunity across the Ukraine, the new government acceeded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, which took Russia out of the war and ceded vast territories in the east - including Finland, the Baltic provinces, Poland, and the Ukraine - to the Central Powers.
Early in 1917 Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare[?]. This, combined with public indignation over the Zimmerman Telegram[?], led to a final break of relations with the Central Powers. President Woodrow Wilson then requested that the United States Congress declare war. This was done on April 6, 1917. (Only one member of Congress, Jeanette Rankin of Montana, voted against the war).
The United States Army and the National Guard had mobilized in 1916 to pursue the Mexican "bandit" Pancho Villa, which helped speed up the mobilization. The United States Navy was able to send a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, and a number of destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland, to help guard convoys. However, it would be some time before the United States forces would be able to contribute significant manpower to the Western and Italian fronts.
The British and French insisted that the United States emphasize sending infantry to reinforce the line. Throughout the war, the American forces were short of their own artillery, aviation, and engineering units. However, General John J. Pershing[?], American Expeditionary Force commander, resisted breaking up American units and using them as reinforcements for British and French units, as suggested by the Allies.
The entry of the U.S. into the war the previous year had made the eventual arrival of U.S. troops certain, while Russia's withdrawal and the Italian disaster at Caporetto allowed the transfer of German troops to the West. Four successive German offensives followed, that of May 27 yielding gains before Paris comparable to the first advance.
On March 21, 1918 Germany launched a major offensive, "Operation Michael", against British and Commonwealth forces. The German army developed new tactics involving stormtroopers, infantry trained in Hutier tactics (after Oskar von Hutier[?]) to infiltrate and take trenches.
The Allies reacted by appointing French Field Marshal Foch[?] to coordinate all Allied activity in France, and then generalissimo of all Allied forces everywhere.
The German offensive moved forward 60 km and pressed the British lines so much that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, issued a General Order on April 11 stating "With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end." However, by then, the German offensive had stalled because of logistical problems. Counterattacks by Canadian and ANZAC forces pushed the Germans back.
The American Expeditionary Force, under General John Pershing, entered the battle lines in significant numbers in April 1918. At the Battle of Belleau Wood[?], from June 1 to June 30, 1918, the Second Division, including the United States Marine Corps, helped clear out the German offensive threatening Paris.
On July 18, 1918, at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry[?], French and American forces went on the offensive.
The British Army, using a large number of tanks, attacked at Amiens[?] on August 8 causing such surprise and confusion that German commander-in-chief, General Ludendorff, said it was "the blackest day of the German army."
On September 16 the First United States Army, which had recently been organized from the American Expeditionary Force, eliminated the Saint-Mihel[?] salient, which the Germans had occupied since 1914. This salient threatened the Paris-Nancy railroad line. American forces were short of artillery support, which was provided by the French and British. This also was the first use of the U.S. Tank Corps, led by Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton. Four days later, the salient was cleared out.
On September 26 American forces began the Meuse-Argonne Offensive[?], which continued until the end of the war. A key German observation post on Hill 305 in Montfaucon d'Argonne was captured on September 27. Approximately 18,000 Americans fell during this offensive. This was the first offensive conducted by the United States as an independent army. General Pershing's general thrust was the Rhine River, which he expected to breach early in 1919.
On October 24 the Italian Army, with very limited American assistance, began the Vittorio Veneto[?] offensive against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which lasted until November 4.
Germany requested a cease-fire[?] on October 3, 1918, followed by Austria-Hungary on November 8, 1918. The fighting ended with an armistice agreed on November 11 at Compi�gne[?].
When Wilhelm II. ordered the German High Seas Fleet to sortie against the Allied navies, they mutinied in Wilhelmshaven starting October 29, 1918. The Kaiser fled to Holland, which granted him political asylum. On November 9, the Republic was proclaimed, marking the end of the 1871 German Empire. See Weimar Republic for details.
The consequences of the War were long lasting. The June 1919 Treaty of Versailles put an official end to the war with Germany. The treaty required that Germany accept responsibility for starting the war and pay heavy reparations. It included a clause that would create a League of Nations, an international organization that should prevent a new war. The U.S. Senate never ratified the treaty, however, despite Woodrow Wilson's campaign to support the treaty and his idea for a League of Nations. The U.S. instead negotiated a separate peace with Germany (August 1921) which included no requirement to join the League.
The First World War was different from prior military conflicts: it was a meeting of 20th century technology with 19th century mentality and tactics. This time, millions of soldiers fought on all sides and the casualties were enormous, mostly because of the more efficient weapons (like artillery and machine guns) that were used in large quantities against old tactics. Although the First World War led to the development of air forces, tanks ,and new tactics (like the Rolling barrage and Crossfire), much of the action took place in the trenches, where thousands died for each square metre of land gained. The First World War also saw the use of chemical warfare, and aerial bombardment, both of which had been outlawed under the 1909 Hague Convention[?]. The effects of gas warfare were to prove long-lasting, both on the bodies of its victims (many of whom, having survived the war, continued to suffer in later life) and on the minds of a later generation of war leaders (Second World War) who, having seen the effects of gas warfare in the Great War, were reluctant to use it for fear that the enemy would retaliate and might have better weaponry.
Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred in this war. See Ypres[?], Vimy Ridge, Marne[?], Cambrai, Somme, Verdun, Gallipoli. See Wars of the 20h Century (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/war-list.htm) for various totals given for the number that died in this war. For instance, is it proper to consider the Influenza pandemic (see below) as part of the overall death count for the war, given the important part the War played in its transmission?
Perhaps the single most important event precipitated by the privations of the war was the Russian Revolution. Socialist and explicitly Communist uprisings also occurred in many other European countries from 1917 onwards, notably in Germany and Hungary.
Social trauma: The experiences of the war lead to a sort of collective national trauma afterwards for all the participating countries. The optimism of 1900 was entirely gone and those who fought in the war became what is known as "the Lost Generation" because they never fully recovered from their experiences. This was especialy acute in France where a huge number of their young men were killed or injured during the conflict. For the next few years the nation became obsessive in its mourning and thousands of memorials were erected, one for each village in France.
Nearly 15 percent of the land area of the German Empire was ceded at Allied insistence to various countries. The largest confiscated part of Germany was given to Poland; this part was called the "Polish Corridor" because of its access to the sea. In addition the western powers helped Poland gain another huge chunk of land in Ukraine. Britain occupied the vast majority of German and Ottoman colonies as "protectorates".
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken into many pieces. The new republics of Austria and Hungary were established, disavowing any continuity with the empire. Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia formed the new Czechoslovakia. Galicia was transferred to Poland and South Tyrol and Trieste were to Italy. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Vojvodina were joined with Serbia and Montenegro to form Yugoslavia. Transylvania became part of Romania.
Because of the intermixed population and partly because of the interests of great powers, the new borders did not always follow ethnic divisions. The new Yugoslav peoples had large minorities in virtually all neigbouring countries. Hundreds of thousands of Germans continued to live in the newly created countries. A quarter of ethnic Hungarians found themselves living outside of Hungary.
Also extremely important was the participation of French colonial troops from Indochina, North Africa, and Madagascar without these soldiers France would almost certainly have fallen. When these soldiers returned to their homelands and continued to be treated as second class citizens they became the nucleus of many indpendentist groups.
Many towns in the participating countries have a war memmorial dedicated to local residents who lost their lives.
Hew Strachan[?] ed.: "The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War" is a collection of chapters from various scholars that survey the War.
The first major television documentary on the history of the war was the BBC's The Great War (1964), made in association with CBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Imperial War Museum. The series consists of 26 forty-minute episodes featuring extensive use of archive footage gathered from around the world and eyewitness interviews. Although some of the programme's conclusions have been disputed by historians it still makes compelling and often moving viewing. | http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/ww/WW_I |
There are roughly eight million Muslims in south-east Europe, among them Albanians, Bosniaks, Turks and Roma -- descendants of converts or settlers in the Ottoman period.
This new history of the social, political and religious transformations that this population experienced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- a period marked by the collapse of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires and by the creation of the modern Balkan states -- will shed new light on the European Muslim experience.
Southeast Europe's Muslims have experienced a slow and complex crystallisation of their respective national identities, which accelerated after 1945 as a result of the authoritarian modernisation of communist regimes and, in the late twentieth century, ended in nationalist mobilisations that precipitated the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo during the break-up of Milosevic's Yugoslavia.
At a religious level, these populations have re--mained connected to the institutions established by the Ottoman Empire, as well as to various educational, intellectual and Sufi (mystic) networks.
With the fall of communism, new transnational networks appeared, especially neo-Salafist and neo- Sufi ones, although Europe's Balkan Muslims have not escaped the wider processes of secularisation. | https://www.speedyhen.com/Product/Professor-Nathalie-Clayer/Europes-Balkan-Muslims--A-New-History/18533726 |
In some cases, the easiest solution to covering wallpaper you're no longer happy with in your home is to paint over it. The thought of stripping all the walls of your room and the hours of sanding that inevitably follow might be too much to bear. Instead, masking them with paint might seem alluring.
But, the answer to whether you can safely paint over wallpaper isn't clear cut. In short, yes, it's possible - however, there are some important things you should know before you do so.
When painting over wallpaper, your finish isn't going to be as smooth and clean as it would be on a sanded wall, and it's also unlikely to last as long either. And yet, in older houses where wallpaper has been used for decades to mask imperfect walls, putting your paint straight over the wallpaper is likely to be far easier than removing it first.
If you're wondering how to paint a room considering whether it's worth stripping your wallpaper before you paint, we've asked some experts for a better insight into when it's best to simply paint over it and tips on how it's done.
Lilith is an expert at following news and trends across the world of interior design. She's committed to helping readers make the best choices in their homes through sharing practical tips and innovative solutions for all their DIY needs. For this piece she asked painters and decorators for their advice on whether you can paint over wallpaper.
Can you paint over wallpaper, and if so, how?
In short, you can safely paint over wallpaper, but most decorators would advise against it as it won't result in the same seamless finish as when you paint directly onto a wall.
'It's usually better to remove wallpaper before painting, but occasionally the expense of doing so or the state of the block behind it may restrict your options,' explains Robin Antill, Director of Leisure Buildings (opens in new tab).
If you do decide to paint over your wallpaper. Robin has a few tips to ensure a smoother finish.
First, examine the seams. 'Make sure the edges are tightly bonded to the wall,' he says. 'Use wallpaper adhesive to fix any lifting by securing it. If you don't, paint and primer may leak under and deteriorate the margins.'
Next, he advises applying an oil-based primer. 'If you use latex or water-based primer, you'll re-activate the chemical glue in your wallpaper paste, causing it to come away,' he explains. When it comes to painting, wait at least a day for the primer to cure completely and avoid paint finishes with a high shine like satin. 'These may highlight any flaws or roughness in the wallpaper,' Robin says.
In some cases, you might need to score the wallpaper first so the primer and paint can adhere. 'To do this, use a scoring tool or utility knife to lightly score the surface of the wallpaper,' says Steven Hill, Founder of DIY Gazette (opens in new tab). 'Be sure to score evenly across the entire surface.'
What is the best primer to use for painting over wallpaper?
Normally, when it comes to how to paint a room, you can use two in one primer and paints on your walls. However, since wallpaper can be textured or sometimes has a nonporous layer on top, it's important to use a heavy duty primer before painting over it.
As mentioned, water or latex primers can cause your wallpaper to peel, so an oil-based primer is best. Some brands now offer a special wallpaper cover up (we love this one from Zinsser (opens in new tab)) which are especially good for smoothing over textured wallpapers such as grasscloth.
A primer or wallpaper coverup will protective the surface of your walls while also increasing the adhesion of the paint so it has a cleaner finish.
Is it better to paint over wallpaper or remove it?
If you're still pondering whether it's worth removing your wallpaper before painting, it's best to apply your common sense. Are you just feeling extra lazy and want to save the hassle of stripping the walls? If the answer is yes, it's definitely worth removing it.
However, perhaps you've moved into an old house with textured wallpaper that looks as though it's been there as long as the house itself. You might be concerned of the risks involved with tearing down the wallpaper, especially if you're worried about damaging the underlying drywall, a common wallpaper mistake to avoid. In this case, painting over wallpaper could save you costly repairs further down the line.
You should also bear in mind the quality of the wallpaper. 'If the wallpaper is in good condition and you're confident it will provide a good surface for the paint to adhere to, then painting over it is an option,' explains Steven. 'But if the wallpaper is in poor condition or you're not confident it will provide a good surface for the paint to adhere to, then removing it is the best bet. Hire a professional if your need to.'
Lilith Hudson is the Junior Writer on Livingetc, and an expert at decoding trends and reporting on them as they happen. Writing news articles for our digital platform, she's the go-to person for all the latest micro-trends, interior hacks, and color inspiration that you need in your home. She discovered a love for lifestyle journalism during her BA in English and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham where she spent more time writing for her student magazine than she did studying. Lilith now holds an MA in Magazine Journalism from City, University of London (a degree where she could combine both) and has previously worked at the Saturday Times Magazine, ES Magazine, DJ Mag and The Simple Things Magazine. | https://www.livingetc.com/advice/can-you-paint-over-wallpaper |
We are removing plants and dirt from the fountain near the Japanese Garden to assess whether it can be made into a functioning fountain. The first task is the removal of the plants and dirt that are currently in the 3 tiers. Then, we'll determine if there is a way to get it watertight again.
We are also going to send a small team to paint the bathroom by the first hole on the golf course.
Paint and painting supplies will be gathered from the storage space, but please bring gloves and garden tools to work on the fountain project. Bring a wheelbarrow too if you have one. | https://poipurotary.org/event/kukuiolono-project-day/ |
Rolling acrylic paintings for storage and shipping is a fairly common practice, and many painters have likely rolled, un-rolled, and re-rolled their own paintings with some success. However, while we know it can be done, it is still not our best recommendation. There are definite risks to be aware of, such as the imprinting or ferrotyping of the surface, the sticking of interleave materials, and sometimes cracking if handled at cold temperatures. Some materials, like paper or bubble wrap, can also leave pieces stuck to the surface, creating a major restoration project that may never get the work back to its original state. The first part of this article will address these issues in more depth, and show examples of the type of damage that can occur when rolling acrylic paintings using some typical interleaf materials. In the second part, we will share what to do if you feel you must roll and ship your painting.
Testing
We tested 7 pieces of canvas painted with 1:2 blends of Fluid Carbon Black and Regular Gel in Gloss, Semi-Gloss and Matte sheens. These mixtures of 2 parts Gel and 1 part paint were applied in three areas on each piece of canvas with a palette knife, creating both smooth and textured surfaces, and allowed to dry for a week. The 10″ x 15″ pieces of canvas were then rolled paint side out on 2″ diameter cardboard rolls with a range of inter-leaving materials:
- No inter-leaving
- Polyethylene Plastic
- Dartek film (Nylon)
- Silicone Release Paper
- White Kraft Paper
- Tissue Paper
- Glassine
We also tested a panel that had a glossy acrylic surface wrapped with bubble wrap for several weeks at a range of temperatures. The damage to the surface is quite evident in the photo below:
Temperature
Fine art grade acrylic paint and medium films are generally quite flexible, and so can be rolled easily at warmer temperatures, but this inherent thermo-plastic nature of acrylic allows it to go back and forth throughout its life, moving from very soft and flexible at warmer temperatures, to harder and potentially brittle at very cold ones. These changing characteristics can cause problems when the painted surface is in close contact with another surface for an extended period of time, or when suddenly flexed or shocked at cold temperatures.
Interleaving Materials
Glossy acrylic paintings will be much more susceptible to imprinting and surface change, even if non-stick materials such as polyethylene plastic sheeting, or silicone release paper are used. With enough pressure, heat and time, sticking and ferrotyping can still occur. While polyethylene sheeting can be peeled off , its creases and even the micro-texture of its surface can still leave a lasting change. We have even seen silicone release paper stick to acrylic films after weeks of pressure and warm temperatures.
Matte surfaces will be less prone to sticking, but thicker layers can still be compressed and imprinted. A matte acrylic can also become glossy if burnished or pressed against a very smooth material, while a glossy acrylic can become matte if pressed against a textured one. Stain paintings, and very thinly painted matte surfaces, can often be rolled and unrolled with much lower risks and usually with no noticeable damage since the paint has become so integrated into the canvas or ground.
The following images point out the most significant damages. Polyethylene Plastic, Dartek Film or Silicone Release Paper were able to be removed without any tears, but there were still changes to some of the surfaces, especially any raised or textured areas. Rolling with no interleaf material was not terrible, but of course left canvas texture imprinted on raised areas and even some canvas fibers stuck in places. Rolling with the paint against the cardboard tube picked up fibers from the cardboard on glossy raised areas. As expected, it appears that relatively thinly applied acrylic paint, especially with lower sheens, can be rolled successfully with minimal visible changes to the surface, but we would still caution that we feel there will always be some risk.
Paintings rolled with no interleaf material will tend to be imprinted by the canvas texture pressing directly against the surface, dulling glossy surfaces and sometimes causing canvas fibers to get stuck to the acrylic. Glossier paint in particular can stick to most surfaces and, even if the material can be peeled off, will leave a changed surface at some level. So simply using a material that does not stick to a relatively soft and tacky acrylic film does not insure success. It is better than peeling hundreds of small pieces of bubble wrap plastic or tissue paper from the surface of your painting, but the result is still a permanently damaged piece of art.
Recommendations
The only way to ensure that a painting will survive shipping or storage with no changes to the surface and appearance of the work is to have nothing touching the painted surface and nothing causing any pressure from either the front or back. This continues to be our best recommendation and something we have covered in this Just Paint article:
Safe Handling and Transportation of Acrylic Paintings
However, because this is not always possible, we wanted to provide at least one potential way to roll paintings that should help lessen some of the risks even if it cannot remove them altogether. Please note that the following method assumes rolling, unrolling and shipping in a climate controlled environment. As we showed earlier, acrylics can get quite brittle at colder temperatures and can crack if flexed, shocked or suddenly creased. As with all rolled paintings, this works best with a relatively thinly painted work having a satin or matte surface. The glossier the painting, and the thicker the textures, the greater the chance of damage.
A Method for Packing a Rolled Acrylic Painting for Shipping
Materials:
- Double wall custom box to accommodate measurements
- silicone release paper
- white foam roll 1/16th poly foam
- Thin wall 10″ Diameter tube, 4 “ longer than painting width ( sonotubes work well )
- Masking Tape
- ½” rigid insulation foam to line box and make “donut” at each end.
Method:
- Wrap 10” diameter tube in thin packing foam sheet. Foam can be spiraled onto tube. Leave 2 inches blank on ends of tube. Tube must fit into recessed holes at each end of the box.
- Painting is laid face-down onto silicone release paper. Thin foam sheet placed on top of this, covers back side of painting entirely. Foam sheet can be seamed with tape but seam/tape side doesn’t contact the canvas.
- Painting is rolled onto already-padded tube and secured at edges with tape.
- Painting roll is covered with plastic sheet but plastic is not contacting any surface of the canvas. Taped to secure onto tube so it doesn’t shift.
- Pre-cut “donuts” fit onto ends of tube. Secure with tape. The entire thing is placed into the box so the tube is suspended. 3-4 Inches around tube to sides of box. Nothing touches artwork other than the silicone release paper.
Artwork is suspended inside the box with very little pressure on the surface of the painted side of the work.
We would like to thank artist Kate Petley who was very kind and generous in allowing us to use some of her photos, ideas and methods for packing rolled acrylic paintings.
As always if you have questions, let us know in the comments or email us at [email protected].
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What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “hoarder”? For many, it is a clip from a popular television show of a person navigating their way through a home in total disarray, with belongings stacked to the ceiling. For some, that memory may not be from television, but from an experience in real life.
Hoarding tendencies can vary between individuals, however the underlying behaviour is consistent. The term “hoarder” is used to describe a person who keeps excessive contents within their living space that interferes with (or completely prevents), day-to-day functions and/or use of rooms. Medical professionals have linked hoarding tendencies with various mental disorders. Severe cases often take a long time to emerge, but when it does happen there are many additional risks and concerns that surface.
It is safe to say that when living in a condominium, your lifestyle affects those around you, and vice versa. This applies to what occurs both inside and outside a unit. Sadly, hoarding can go far beyond an annoyance or nuisance; it can present safety issues for residents and risk to the real property of the condominium corporation, creating (sometimes significant) financial burden on the corporation. There are many steps, costs, and considerations involved with clearing out, cleaning, sanitizing, and eliminating hazards within a hoarded unit.
Before any steps are taken to address suspected hoarding, it is important to remember that a messy resident is very different than a hoarding resident. If the Board of Directors has reason to believe there is a hoarding resident, action must be taken quickly. Consult with the corporation’s legal counsel to review the matter. The following is a non-exhaustive outline for dealing with a hoarded unit:
INFORM
Prepare an inventory of information available to the corporation
- How the Board became aware of a potential issue;
- Complaints received by other residents;
- Anticipated damage(s) in the unit;
- Copies of communication with the unit occupant, etc.
Keep the information inventory up to date throughout the matter.
INSPECT
Schedule an inspection of the unit
- Review the corporation’s bylaws to confirm any requirements for a unit inspection are met
- It is advisable to have a representative from the Board of Directors attend the inspection, as well as another agent of the corporation
- Upon gaining access to the unit, visually assess if there are any hazards or if it is safe to enter
- If entering the unit, be mindful and respectful of the feelings and privacy of the occupant
- – it is their personal living space and having people in the unit can be distressing
- Take photos and make written notes to document the condition of the unit (do not forget any outdoor exclusive use areas)
- Ensure photos and notes are related to the hoarding
Hoarded units can pose physical health and safety risks, including falling contents, unattended elements such as uncovered electrical wires, mould, exposure to human and/or animal waste, etc. If at any point during an inspection a safety concern arises, stop, and immediately exit the unit. Do not re-enter until proper arrangements can be made with the relevant professionals so the inspection can continue safely.
ASSESS
Once an inspection is completed, the Board will have a better idea of what the corporation is facing and what resources will be required.
It is very common for occupants or assisting friends/family to request the opportunity to remove the contents and clean the unit themselves, with the belief that the problem can be solved by a thorough cleaning by either themselves or a cleaning company.
- A biohazard assessment needs to be performed by a certified biohazard company in any hoarding situation to evaluate potential risks contained in the unit. The presence of mould, insects, vermin, human and/or animal waste, require biohazard services
- Other services that may be required include: content removal, content storage, pest control, mould remediation, asbestos abatement, trades (i.e. plumbing, electrical), etc.
There is no one-size-fits-all checklist for how to handle hoarders in condominiums. The technical elements and number of moving parts involved can be overwhelming. Continue to consult with the corporation’s legal counsel throughout the process for guidance to avoid potential missteps. Dealing with a hoarding situation is challenging for condominium corporations as it requires striking a balance between compassion and the enforcement of the bylaws, legislation, and protection of other occupants and owners. | https://www.ccinorthalberta.com/hoarding-how-to-deal-with-a-messy-situation/ |
Trump orders assessment of security risks of Chinese-made drones in US fleet
Outgoing US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing US agencies to prioritize removing Chinese-made drones from American government fleets and to assess any security risks, Reuters reported.
It came about one month after the US Commerce Department blacklisted dozens of other Chinese companies, including drone maker DJI.
In a response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on December 18 that China has urged the US to stop the unjustified crackdown on Chinese enterprises.
"It seriously interferes with the regular scientific and technological exchanges and trade between the two countries, and will cause damage to global production, supply and value chains," said Wang. | https://www.shine.cn/news/world/2101193413/ |
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Tohono O’odham Nation (TON) requested the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) evaluate human exposures and potential public health impacts at the Cyprus Tohono Mine Site and advise on actions needed to reduce exposures, if necessary. The site is a copper mine located on the Tohono O’odham Nation, 32 miles south of Casa Grande, Arizona. While the mine is currently inoperative, the Cyprus Tohono Corporation (CTC) is evaluating whether to resume mining activities. ATSDR used environmental data collected by EPA and input from tribal officials and community members to evaluate a number of exposure scenarios and draw the following conclusions.
A health consultation is a verbal or written response from ATSDR or ATSDR’s Cooperative Agreement Partners to a specific request for information about health risks related to a specific site, a chemical release, or the presence of hazardous material. In order to prevent or mitigate exposures, a consultation may lead to specific actions, such as restricting use of or replacing water supplies; intensifying environmental sampling; restricting site access; or removing the contaminated material.
In addition, consultations may recommend additional public health actions, such as conducting health surveillance activities to evaluate exposure or trends in adverse health outcomes; conducting biological indicators of exposure studies to assess exposure; and providing health education for health care providers and community members. This concludes the health consultation process for this site, unless additional information is obtained by ATSDR or ATSDR’s Cooperative Agreement Partner which, in the Agency’s opinion, indicates a need to revise or append the conclusions previously issued. | https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/26327 |
Objective Goal of this work is to assess the feasibility to perform COVID-19 RNA tests within hospitals and communities experiencing SARS-CoV-2 virus outbreaks, to ultimately provide recommendations for hospitals with so-called fever clinics. In China, these specialised clinics within a hospital, specifically receive outpatients who have fever symptoms.
Methods A team with expertise in the Exposure Analysis of Critical Control Points (EACCP) framework first identified potential infection routes during the testing for SARS-CoV-2, then constructed and tested flow diagrams, which were confirmed under actual conditions, demonstrating the feasibility to be carried out in hospitals with fever clinics. The team determined critical control points to mitigate the exposure risks at each control point.
Findings The sampling and inactivation steps of clinical samples in fever clinics appeared to be associated with particularly high risk levels of exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Moderate levels of exposure were associated with storage and transportation of samples for inactivation; Low risk levels were associated with the transportation, storage and detection steps after inactivation.
Conclusion To minimise risks of infection for personnel, optimised processes to carry out SARS-CoV-2 RNA tests in hospitals with fever clinics in China are proposed. The high risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure during procedures preceding testing are the sampling and biological inactivation, which can be reduced by using full personal protective equipment and the use of BSL2 facilities in fever clinics or mobile BSL2 platforms. The implementation of the Exposure Analysis of Critical Control Points framework could facilitate rapid responses to outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. | https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-33080/v1 |
The Safety Mission
Nuclear energy is already one of the safest ways to generate electricity. The next generation of nuclear reactors incorporates major advancements that increase resilience. Although each type of advanced reactor has different safety features and characteristics, the lessons from past incidents has led to selections of designs that maximize safety outcomes.
The key factors that determine accident risk are:
- Accident probability: the likelihood of an accident
- Accident consequence: the severity of an accident, often measured in terms of contamination and exposure risk
For a nuclear power reactor, accident risk is driven primarily by the probability of excessive heat generation leading to damage to the fuel elements and subsequent atmospheric release of radioactive fission products outside the core vessel, the building housing the vessel, and the power plant site.
In the case of Chernobyl, a fundamental design flaw combined with operator errors and negative safety culture led to a loss of control over nuclear fission reactions and subsequent steam explosions. At Fukushima, the loss of off-site power and flooding of backup generators led to loss of pumping power which made it impossible to adequately cool the fuel, even after shutdown. Fuel elements melted and released radioactivity.
Advanced nuclear designs are designed to prevent these types of outcomes.
Inherent Safety by Design
Advanced reactor designs all have inherent safety features, which take advantage of principles of physics or materials, rather than relying primarily on active systems. Similar to the way that advanced body structure design in automobiles can reduce the probability and effects of a collision, these features can reduce both the likelihood and consequences of severe accidents.
Several design strategies are described below, although the list is not comprehensive.
Accident likelihood can be reduced through:
- Resilient, passive cooling and other passive systems. Most conventional Generation III+ reactors (i.e. AP1000) and advanced reactors feature passive safety systems to maintain cooling in the event of loss of off-site power and other unusual events. Such systems are typically gravity-fed or pool-based, meaning that they rely on natural phenomenon like heat convection instead of powered mechanisms.
- More robust fuels to reduce reactor damage risk. Molten-salt fuels are designed so that in the event of a loss of power, the fuel form and surface area of its container cause it to cool and eventually solidify. TRISO fuels are made of a coated material that acts as a containment system and tolerates extremely high temperatures.
- Coolants operating at or near atmospheric pressure to reduce likelihood of coolant loss. Coolant that is highly pressurized (like water) is likely to escape the cooling system if the pressure boundary is broken. Many advanced reactor designs use coolants that operate near ambient pressure, which means they would not be propelled out of the reactor if pressure was lost.
Accident consequences can be reduced through:
- Low pressure operation preventing radiation dispersal. In addition to preventing damage to the reactor core or containment, low pressure operation limits the dispersal mechanisms for radioactive materials in the event of a severe accident.
- Maintaining lower inventories of radioactive products in reactor core. By reducing “source term,” (fuel, fission products, and other byproducts) in a reactor, the potential scale of an accident is reduced. Source term can be reduced through operating more efficiently, building much smaller units, and by removing fission products during operation.
- Advanced fuels that prevent fission product release. Advanced fuels like TRISO and other ceramic fuels feature their own containment function for radioactive particles, preventing their release. Beyond the reactor itself, the use of radioactive materials poses safety challenges across the supply chain. These risks are well understood, well managed, and do not cause significant public safety hazards in the U.S. Mining, transportation, fuel fabrication, wet storage, and dry storage have been routinely managed for over fifty years with minimal safety risks.
Fusion Safety
Fusion technologies do not face the same type of accident risks as fission. Due to the physical difficulty of sustaining a fusion reaction, the process of fusion stops once magnetic or inertial confinement is broken. In very severe accidents, off-site radiological exposure is possible but would be limited. | http://nuclearinnovationalliance.org/safety |
Not Available The long-term objectives of this research are the development for widespread use of closed, sterile, inexpensive disposable sets and their automated control systems for rapidly thawing and washing frozen platelets. The benefits in health care are a greatly extended storage time for frozen platelets compared to room temperature storage; a major reduction in the risks and incidence of bacterial growth in stored platelets; the removal of toxic cryoprotectants; a decrease in platelet damage during storage; the decrease in outdating during storage; and the improved logistics of platelet collection and administration. The use of unique hollow fiber counterflow fluid exchangers and automated control systems provide the potential for substantial technological innovation and low costs. The proposed research will evaluate the feasibility of this technical approach by the fabrication and testing of disposable sets actuated by automatic programmable control systems. In vitro testing with human platelets will permit comparisons between the proposed new methods, devices, and solutions and those reported in the literature or used currently. | https://www.linknovate.com/affiliation/cybergenetics-corporation-736256/all/ |
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed a new technique for observing the proteins that operate by that controlling code – called the epigenome – and assembled a library of interactions between the proteins and key positions on packets of DNA.
“There are all sorts of genes that do not play an active role in the life of a cell, but they are still there in the DNA,” said John Denu, UW-Madison bio-molecular chemistry professor. “There are instructions signaling which genes will be active and which will not, and we have developed a method that matches the code readers to the epigenetic code.”
In order to fit meters-long strands of human DNA into a miniscule cell nucleus, the DNA is spooled around proteins called histones to form a string of beads called nucleosomes. When the wound DNA must be read to guide cellular function, subtle differences in the chemical makeup of the histones guide the proteins that do the reading.
“They’re scanning the DNA-protein complex for information, and they’re seeing on one nucleosome you’ve got one kind of chemical modification – say, phosphorylation – and this one you’ve got another – methylation,” Denu said. “Based on what they see, they bind in a certain way to the DNA. They’re taking those instructions and saying ‘OK, this is a gene we should express,’ or, ‘This is a gene that has been turned off.'”
With UW-Madison graduate students Adam Garske, Samuel Oliver and Elise Wagner, Denu recreated a section of a histone called H3 that sticks out among the DNA beads. The H3 tail is a handy starting point for the protein readers, and has been singled out as particularly active in expressing or silencing genes.
Strings of molecules that make up H3 were attached to tiny resin beads, each bead carrying one of 5,000 variations on the different chemical modifications that could possibly occur on the histone’s tail. The beads were doused with five different reader proteins active in human cells, with the full array of protein-binding preferences showing up as a range of blue coloring on the beads.
The library of compatible epigenetic interactions included the revelation of a new chemical mark that draws the attention of reader proteins, and showed protein readers simultaneously interpreting multiple chemical marks.
“They’re paying attention to what else is going on in that histone, and that’s how you can get the complexity of regulating gene expression,” Denu said. “The code on the histone can work like a switch, turning a gene on or off. It can also work like a rheostat, and decide whether that gene will be expressed a little bit or a lot.”
The code-exposing method, published Feb. 28 in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, improves on tests that were able to examine just one or two protein-marker interactions at a time. Command of the epigenetic code could yield a new understanding of tumors and developmental diseases and provide a precise tool for counteracting or correcting the damage done by gene mutations.
“If we know the code that is recognized by a particular code reader, we can design particular drugs that target that interaction,” said Denu, who worked with collaborators at the University of Colorado-Denver and Princeton University on the research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The chemical markers at work in epigenetics can be altered even by diet or physical activity, making them far more malleable than DNA.
“You can’t change somebody’s DNA,” Denu said. “If there’s a mutation that we find is over-expressed in certain types of cancer, there’s not a whole lot you can do to reverse that mutation. But if you could just turn down that over-expression, perhaps you could disrupt that disease specifically.”
The histone library method will be key to the epigenetics research Denu will lead at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery when the public-private labs open at UW-Madison in the fall. | https://www.healthcanal.com/genetics-birth-defects/6107-uw-madison-biochemists-take-a-bead-on-gene-controlling-code.html |
This book: Recognizing a significant need to continually update the current body of knowledge on management development with the latest innovations in high quality research and practice in various parts of the globe, this book provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date work on the state of research and practice in management development. Hill and Stewart provide examples of both management development research and practice to inform and stimulate future research and to encourage the use of research-based practice in organizations. In particular, the book: • - Explores and assesses the various and varying meanings attached to the term ‘management development’ and its use • - Provides a range of examples of research and practice to inform and support the teaching of management development as a subject • - Provides a resource to HR practitioners and line managers to develop research-based and critically analyzed management development interventions. Drawing on the expertise of a wide array of contributors, the term ‘management development’ is explored and critically analyzed both conceptually and practically. This impressive volume is essential reading for students and academics across a range of sub-disciplines including human resources development, human resources management and leadership.
Academics and researchers face a challenge of making sense of the role e-democracy plays in the democratic process and with what implications. This requires a deeper understanding of the objectives and assumptions that underpin e-democracy innovations, as well as institutional and technology structures that condition their role in democratic engagement. This paper interprets case study data collected from three UK local authorities in light of Giddens Structuration theory to make sense of the role e-democracy plays in the democratic process. From the data, it elicits and identifies categories of social structures as perceived by different actors surrounding e-democracy. The insights gained suggest that social structures influence actors in prioritising, shaping and appropriating e-democracy and thus, in moderating its role in local democracy. Using these insights the paper offers some useful suggestions for enhancing democratic engagement through e-democracy projects.
This paper develops a structurational framework for examining e-democracy. This framework draws on the Giddens structuration theory, Owanda Orlikowski's Structurational Model of Technology (SMT) and her technology-practice lens, to bring into focus democratic practices facilitated by Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). An examination of social practices mediated by technology assists in uncovering the underlying structures that enable and constrain actors in democratic engagement. The framework ties together the technology-shaping process and technology-use process, that both act on each other to shape the emergent role of e-democracy. It sensitises researchers to the dialectic interaction of institutional mediation structures, technology mediation structures and human agency. In particular, this framework draws attention to 11 key social structures and agency issues that need to be explored by researchers for building a deeper understanding of how the role of e-democracy is enacted and its impacts moderated in the democratic process. This paper argues that this framework provides a useful lens for analysing social issues surrounding e-democracy.
This paper addresses the lack of knowledge about awareness of consumer protection in South Africa, especially amongst disadvantaged consumers. Literature shows that there is a high correlation between the level of economic development and the awareness of consumer rights. The more developed a country is, the more aware its people will be in terms of their consumer rights. The less developed a country is, the lower the level of consumer rights awareness consumers will have. Consumers, like any other citizens of a country, have a right to be protected by the law. Private and nongovernmental organisations and the consumer councils should to ensure that the interests and rights of consumers are well protected. The study involved a literature review and an exploratory empirical study into the effect of income and education on awareness of consumer protection by a sample of Durban consumers. A strong, positive relationship between consumer protection awareness and income and education was found. Recommendations for actions which should improve consumer protection awareness amongst low income, poorly educated consumers, are suggested in, this study, while, further research to develop a deeper understanding of the problem, and are also suggested. | https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/2948/discover?view=list&rpp=10&etal=0&group_by=none&page=4 |
Extended historical and spiritual overview
The John W. Doorly Trust was set up to advance the teachings of John W Doorly by scientific and educational activities within the framework of a Christian ontology or Science of Being as established by Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) as “Christian Science” and further developed by John W Doorly (1878-1950) and his students, notably Dr. Max Kappeler (1910 – 2002). In accordance with the teachings of John W Doorly, and its Deed of Trust, The John W Doorly Trust focuses on the research of the Science of Being and its practice as a pure Science of Christianity. The objective of its work is to promote an awareness of a spiritual and scientific understanding of the fundamentally new conception of the world and of man as described by the Science of Being (and as it is beginning to develop in many areas of the sciences and the arts) and to make the same practicable for all levels of society.
To this end, the John W Doorly Trust maintains in safe keeping and distributes the works of John W. Doorly and cares for The John W Doorly Archive. The Trust may also engage in publishing and educational activities, and also pursue a constructive dialog between the conception of the world as described by the Science of Being and the worldviews of other scientific disciplines.
John W Doorly began his systematic and methodical studies and investigation of the Science of Being and its practice as a pure Science of Christianity as early as 1907. This took the form of studies in Christian Science – a designation chosen at the time by Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) to describe the Christian ontology discovered and elaborated by her, particularly in the period 1866-1910.
The Bible and the Christian Science Textbook “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (by Mary Baker Eddy) provided the basis for John W Doorly’s research, teaching and publishing activities, and in consequence The John W Doorly Trust.
In the language of her day, Mary Baker Eddy states: “Most thinkers concede that Science is the law of God; that matter is not a law-maker; that man is not the author of Science, and that a phenomenon is chimerical, unless it be the manifestation of a fixed Principle whose noumenon is God and whose phenomenon is Science.” (from: Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellany, page 347 ff.).
In other words, everything is based on one fundamental axiomatic Principle of all Being – underlying all of existence like a fundamental law and first cause from which all other laws are derived, and which is self-declaring, self-operating, self-applying and self-understanding on all levels of consciousness or awareness.
It does this through the system of categorial symbols known as the fundamenal root notions of Being, that is, this Principle of Being is described in terms of seven synonymous aspects, four modes of operation and four dimensions (also known as “levels of consciousness); these categorial symbols are synonymous in the sense that they all refer to the one Principle of Being and at the same time each category describes a different aspect of the said Principle.
In her textbook “Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures”, Mary Baker Eddy elucidates: From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude come spiritual rules, laws, and their demonstration, […] (Page 112).
In an article entitled “The principle of spiritual synonymity – the foundation of the system of Christian Science” by Hanns-D. and Eva-M. von den Steinen, this is further specified as follows:
“The fundamental aspect of the above-described system of Christian Science is the synonymity of its categories. […] This synonymity is system-generating. The fundamental categories with their root notions form a network of law-governed interrelationships and references of meaning which present themselves through infinite ideas in very specific forms. The synonymity is fundamental for the infinite meanings arising from the ideas, that is, the elements of the system and their interrelationships within the system. […] Naturally, their infinite meanings are not equal; rather, depending on function, that is, on the place value of the statement in the respective context, their content is different. Otherwise there would be no need for different expressions. […] The equivalence does not refer to the content of the terms but rather to the core area which they all refer to, the weight which each of the root notions has within the system […]. As a result of the fact that the root notions have infinite meanings, there results an interplay of categories and ideas from within the interrelationships of the system and its laws; this is designated in Science & Health as the “divine infinite calculus”.
Infinite systems of meanings and laws form the spiritual structures and idea systems of Being. We can find them in the deep layers of the revealed texts as given in the Bible and the Textbook, for these revelatory books release their spiritual treasure as soon as their texts are scientifically interpreted using the framework of the system of synonymity immanent in these texts. The result will be the basic patterns of Being according to which the universe, the world, man and his life are infinitely individualized. These are the basic patterns of consciousness which need to be understood because they allow us to experience practically the unity and harmony of all of Being.
This required a deep and wide-ranging study and systematic and scientific text interpretation of the Bible and Science & Health. This task was effectively done by John W Doorly (London, England) for the Bible and Dr. Max Kappeler (Zürich, Switzerland) for Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures. Today, the symbolism in the Bible and Science & Health has become transparent to our understanding, thereby rendering the potent power of their spiritual statements practically applicable for all. | https://johndoorlytrust.org.uk/spiritual-overview/ |
Urban spaces have always expressed the demands and desires of their users. So, reading of these spaces, as a text, which is possible by understanding the meaning making process in its context, could be beneficial to perceive lots of urban issues. Throughout the production of meaning in urban spaces, human gets into interaction with his surroundings and his mind is united with the environmental context of meaning. This process leads to make a legible space for its users with specific structural and behavioral characteristics.
This study is aimed to discuss the meaning making process and space reading from a special point of view. The main subject of this study is the analysis and description of how to produce and reproduce meaning in urban spaces. The emphasis of this study is on social and cultural contexts of urban spaces as a readable “text”. Accordingly, the issue of meaning making process has been studied from a specific approach that is founded on “semantics” in linguistics, including two main perspective: “Structuralism” and “Interpretation of the reader”. Based on Structuralism perspective meaning is the product of “syntax of elements” in sentence and the “text”. So, meaning comes from the language structures and the author has a critical role in meaning making. On the other hand, in interpretive perspective, meaning is product of paraphrasing and interpretation of the reader. So, the reader “discovers” the meaning and “creates” it. The second approach has an interactive perspective. According to this approach meaning is the result of both, “structure” and “interpretation” or in other words, “language” and “the world”. Today, this approach has lots of advocators due to its inclusion and multidimensional substance. This approach is widely used in explaining issues in many fields of human sciences. “Structuration theory” of Anthony Giddens in sociology is one of this theories that has been fed from the interaction concept in semantics. This theory consists of two main themes: “structure” and “human agency” in social phenomena. The term “structure” generally refers to "rules and resources" and more specifically to "the structuring properties allowing the 'binding' of time-space in social systems". These properties make it possible for similar social practices to exist across time and space and that lends them "systemic" form. Agency, as Giddens calls it, is human action and is critical to both the reproduction and the transformation of society. The theory of structuration is a social theory of the creation and reproduction of social systems that is based on the analysis of both structure and agents , without giving primacy to either. Comparison and accommodation of this viewpoint with context of city and urban spaces, as a text, leads to form a framework for analysis of meaning making factors in urban spaces.
Description of procedures and determining the factors of meaning production throughout this point of view could help to define a proper framework for improving the knowledge and practice of designers to create the meaningful spaces.
Methodology
The methodology of this study, is mainly formed on an explanatory and interpretative method. This study is inspired by semantic theories and approaches about reading a text that is generalized to social science to conceive social phenomenon in “life text”. Accordingly, the urban space has been considered as a text and its meaning production processes have been addressed in this paper. First, the idea of “urban space as a text” has been explained and then, the parameters of its meaning combination has been analyzed. Finally, the hypothesis has been examined in urban context, “Persian Bazar”.
Results and discussion
By accommodation of characteristics of society and spaces, and considering it as a “text” the structuration theory could be generalized to urban spaces. The urban space as a text, includes mental and spatial aspects that is describable and is connective like the language and also makes situations that human proof himself.
It has been concluded that written space (structure) and verbal space (act of interpretation) are the main factors in reading and interpretation of living spaces. The meaningful space, on one hand, has the practical conditions of people daily lives and their mental structures and on the other hand provides a place for arranging the act and behaviors that are based on beliefs, attitudes, goals, choices of their users. So, the structure of space along with cultural and social properties which are expressed in behavioral patterns of the users, produce meaning.
For examining this result, Persian Bazar has been studied throughout the concept of structuration theory. Bazar has been considered as a meaningful place with a legible and coherent structure and as a collection of behavioral patterns and social acts that represent the Islamic-Iranian lifestyle. The study shows that the association and contribution of spatial structure and physical characteristics with current activities of this spaces make Bazar meaningful.
Conclusion
This study tries to discuss meaning production in urban spaces by utilizing the “linguistics” and “Sociological" approaches. The method that has been applied in this study is a viewpoint for perceiving meaning from the text in linguistics and extending it to urban spaces. Since meaning production in a text depends on “language structure” and “interpretation” of it, so in generalizing this concept to space, two parameters have been considered: “structure of space” and “human agency”. So, syntax of space and combination of physical elements with behavioral acts in space lead to emerging meaning.
In conclusion, acts and behaviors of human that origin from his cognition about the world, have significant place in perceiving the city and communicating with its spaces. In other words, Interactions between human agency and environmental structure, cause the meaningful perception from the space and connection to environment.
Keywords: meaning of urban space, interpretation, structuralism, structuration theory, human agency
|کلیدواژهها [English]|
|meaning of urban space, structure of space, structuration theory, Tabriz Bazaar, behavioral pattern|
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Gender schema, a mental framework that organizes and guides a child’s understanding of information relevant to gender.
Category: Psychology & Behavioral Science
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FORM is the shape and underlying structure of an entity or piece of work, including its organization, essential nature and external appearance.
Form in MYP mathematics refers to the understanding that the underlying structure and shape of an entity is distinguished by its properties. Form provides opportunities for students to appreciate the aesthetic nature of the constructs used in a discipline.
LOGIC is a method of reasoning and a system of principles used to build arguments and reach conclusions.
Logic in MYP mathematics is used as a process in making decisions about numbers, shapes, and variables. This system of reasoning provides students with a method for explaining the validity of their conclusions. Within the MYP, this should not be confused with the subfield of mathematics called “symbolic logic”.
RELATIONSHIPS allow students to identify and understand connections and associations between properties, objects, people and ideas—including the human community’s connections with the world in which we live. Any change in relationships brings consequences—some of which may occur on a small scale, while others may be far-reaching, affecting large systems like human societies and the planet as a whole.
Relationships in MYP mathematics refers to the connections between quantities, properties or concepts and these connections may be expressed as models, rules or statements. Relationships provide opportunities for students to explore patterns in the world around them. Connections between the student and mathematics in the real world are important in developing deeper understanding. | https://myigiisp.weebly.com/mathematics.html |
A Little Bit about Sacred Geometry
Sacred Geometry is ancient. It is complex. It is a belief system that in the past influenced and was found interwoven into many different cultures, civilizations and spiritual paths. There is evidence of it in symbolism associated with major religions, and the ancient Egyptians, Greek and Mayan cultures, among others. But, what is it? One way to explain Sacred Geometry is to say it is an attempt at understanding the mathematical geometry and symmetry that occurs naturally in nature. Or you could say it is an attempt to understand shapes and number sequences. In Ancient times shapes and numbers had different symbolic meanings. Some describe Sacred Geometry as a geometric blueprint and some describe it as the blueprint to life and creation.
Its basis are principles of the connection, inseparability and the union between us and everything in creation around us. In a sense, our Oneness with the Universe.
In Modern times Sacred Geometry studies patterns, ratios and shapes that are found in the natural world such as those found in flowers, neurons, honeycombs, snowflakes, the shell of a nautilus, and atoms. From Shamans to scientists there are many beliefs about Sacred Geometry and over the centuries, each different group has ascribed various meanings to numbers, patterns and shapes.
I think that one commonality between most of these varied groups is that geometry in nature exists and there is some level of energy or power associated with it.
I personally, am fascinated by Sacred Geometry and combine elements of it with crystal work. I think it enhances my grids and lends an energy and symbolism that is absent without it.
The Platonic Solids
The Platonic Solids are the shapes known to the Ancient Greeks as the repeating patterns which are the building blocks of life. Plato equated the Tetrahedon with Fire, the Cube (Hexahedron) with earth, the Icosahedron with water, the Octahedron with air, and the Dodecahedron with the constellations and heavens. Some say that these geometric shapes are instruments of dialogue between man and God, allowing us to find unity in natures diversity.
The Platonic Solids are considered to be the archetypical foundation of all forms. They are believed to emit vibrations that are associated with sounds, colors, and nature’s elements. They represent the basic structure of health. The Platonic Solids contain all the major mathematical principles found throughout nature and the universe. They are the building blocks of nature and linked to the Chakras.
Please see the photos below to see the shapes of these Platonic Solids.
Tetrahedron:
- Its element is Fire
- It is a symbol of willpower, courage, passion and self-confidence.
- It is related to the Power of Creation.
- It’s function is – Manifestation, increases vitality and stimulates action.
Hexahedron or Cube:
- Its element is Earth
- It is a symbol of stability, structure, productivity, and sensuality.
- It is related to safety, security, grounding, self-confidence.
- Its function is – Grounding and brings material consciousness .
Octahedron:
- Its element is Air
- It is a symbol of mental power, inspiration, and new beginnings.
- It is related to the Law of cause and effect
- Its function is integration and balance of the spiritual and material realms.
Dodecahedron:
- Its element is Spirit
- It is a symbol of wholeness, divine connection, completion.
- It is related to the responsibility of decision and spiritual consciousness.
- Its function is Spiritual evolution, clearing of energy, linking to the spiritual.
Icosahedron:
- Its element is Water
- It is a symbol of emotions, dreams and intuition.
- It is related to the flow of change
- Its function is Transformation, movement, flow and change. | https://www.crystal-dragonfly.com/chakras-sacred-geometry/sacred-geometry/ |
The origins of Reiki go back to the Buddhist tradition in the distant pat. One of the forms of Buddha revered in Tibet and China was the "Healing Buddha". Esoteric meanings are associated with the Reiki symbols and principles. These meanings originate in the Buddhist concepts of healing.
While Dr. Usui rediscovered Reiki by studying Buddhist sutras, much of the hidden, esoteric sense has been overlooked in the subsequent teaching of Reiki to Christian practitioner in the West.
The underlying symbology and esoteric sense provide new deeper understanding to the action and principles of Reiki and can enhance the practice, regardless of your own particular religious or philosophical background.
Reiki and the Healing Buddha reconnects Reiki with its Buddhsit antecedents and provides both the experienced practitioner and the interested lay person with insights and view points on Reiki.
"An important, well written book, providing an essential contribution toward the discovery of the path of Reiki founded by Dr. Mikao Usui."Walter Lubeck, Reiki Master
Maureen Kelly is a Reiki Master residing in New Zealand. She was the editor and publisher of "Reiki News", a newsletter for Reiki practitioners in New Zealand. She has been delving deeply into the Reiki history and background in her pursuit to gain a deeper understanding of where Reiki originated. This book is the result of her intensive research into the history and background of Reiki.
Introduction
A well-known American Reiki Master once told me that she had "gone past Reiki". Reiki, as it is presently taught, lacks the depth and complexity that the human mind likes. After several years at master level a Reiki practitioner can feel as though they have come to a dead end. When this happens it becomes necessary to reach back into the rich and intricate heritage from which Reiki has come for greater depth and understanding.
As I progressed through the Reiki degrees I found myself searching for more. The feeling of "Is this all?" would not go away. It led me to take several Second Degree Advanced classes with Reiki Master Randall Hayward, who had been researching Reiki for several years, and Margaret Underwood who had done her Reiki Master training with Randall. During one class a desire was triggered within me to do my own research into the Reiki symbols. Although my search began with the Reiki symbols, it eventually widened to encompass the whole Reiki system leading me to a new understanding of the Reiki story and to Reiki's relationship to Buddhism and in particular to the Healing Buddha.
The journey has been one of discovery of both myself and of Reiki. The more I have learned about Reiki the more amazed I have been about Reiki and the more I have come to love and appreciate this wondrous energy that we all Reiki. Fir me it has become more understandable which remaining one of the great mysteries of our times.
The sacredness of the Reiki symbols has, I believe, never really been undertood nor truly acknowledged within Reiki.
This book is my attempt to explain why these symbols are sacred as well as point out the symbolism of the Reiki story, and to bring to Reiki practitioners a deeper understanding of both. The Reiki symbols have appeared in other books with, I believe, inadequate or incorrect information about them. Unfortunately those books, as the only published records of the Reiki symbols, have become written authorities on the symbols. This book is also my attempt to "set the records straight" concerning Reiki and its symbols. Because of the numbers of Reiki and its symbols. Because of the numbers of Reiki practitioners and masters in the world today the only way to reach the majority is by the written word rather than the traditional oral communication which is the normal practice of Reiki.
This book has been primarily written for those who have already attended Reiki classes and had the energy we know as Reiki activated within them. The reader cannot and will not become a Reiki practitioner or master simply by reading this book. By far the most important element of the Reiki system is the initiation ritual which is performed by the Reiki Master during a Reiki class. This ritual activates the chakras and attunes students life force to the creative healing power of the universe so that they can channel the Universal Life Force Energy (Reiki) through their hands easily, whenever they place their hands on themselves or someone else. To my knowledge the Reiki initiation is unique. It may be similar to the initiation Jesus Christ gave his disciples so they could heal with their hands as He did, which is now lost to Christianity. It nearest counterpart today is the "empowerments" or consecrations administered by Buddhist monks.
It is my hope that this book will also help those who translte the sacred and spiritual writings of Asia to take seriously much things as symbols, initiations, life force and healing energies for it is my experience that they are not just words. For me Reiki is evidence that symbols, initiations and life force energy are dynamic and effective.
My respect for Mikao Usui, who rediscovered the method of healing known as Reiki, has increased enormously. How did he find his way through the sutras, decipher their meanings and become initiated to the energy itself? I found it a slow, painstaking struggle to wade through the Buddhist writings, and I knew about Reiki before I started, he didn't. The other thing which amazes me about Mikao Usui is that he took Reiki out of Buddhism and made it available to everyone. | https://www.exoticindia.com/book/details/reiki-and-healing-buddha-idj955/ |
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Semiotics – study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics, which, for its part, studies the structure and meaning of language more specifically. Also called semiotic studies, or semiology (in the Saussurean tradition).
What type of thing is semiotics?
Semiotics can be described as all of the following:
- Academic discipline – branch of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined (in part), and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong.
- Social science – field of study concerned with society and human behaviours.
Branches of semiotics
Three main branches
- Semantics – relation between signs and the things to which they refer; their denotata, or meaning
- Syntactics – relations among signs in formal structures
- Pragmatics – relation between signs and the effects they have on the people who use them
Subfields
- Biosemiotics – growing field that studies the production, action and interpretation of signs and codes in the biological realm. Biosemiotics attempts to integrate the findings of scientific biology and semiotics, representing a paradigmatic shift in the occidental scientific view of life, demonstrating that semiosis (sign process, including meaning] and interpretation) is its immanent and intrinsic feature.
- Cognitive semiotics – study of meaning-making by employing and integrating methods and theories developed in the cognitive sciences as well as in the human sciences. It involves conceptual and textual analysis as well as experimental and ethnographic investigations.
- Computational semiotics – attempts to engineer the process of semiosis, in the study of and design for Human-Computer Interaction, and mimic aspects of human cognition through artificial intelligence and knowledge representation.
- Cultural semiotics –
- Design Semiotics –
- Product Semiotics – study of the use of signs in the design of physical products. Introduced by Rune Monö while teaching Industrial Design at the Institute of Design, Umeå University, Sweden.
- Law and Semiotics –
- Literary semiotics – approach to literary criticism informed by the theory of signs or semiotics. Semiotics, tied closely to the structuralism pioneered by Ferdinand de Saussure, was extremely influential in the development of literary theory out of the formalist approaches of the early twentieth century.
- Music semiology – "There are strong arguments that music inhabits a semiological realm which, on both ontogenetic and phylogenetic levels, has developmental priority over verbal language." (Middleton 1990, p. 172) See Nattiez (1976, 1987, 1989), Stefani (1973, 1986), Baroni (1983), and Semiotica (66: 1–3 (1987)).
- Gregorian chant semiology – current avenue of palaeographical research in Gregorian chant which is revising the Solesmes school of interpretation.
- Organisational semiotics – examines the nature, characteristics and features of information, and studies how information can be best used in the context of organised activities and business domains. Organisational semiotics treats organisations as information systems in which information is created, processed, distributed, stored and used.
- Semiotic anthropology – semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce and Roman Jakobson applied to anthropology.
- Semiotic engineering – views HCI as computer-mediated communication between designers and users at interaction time. The system speaks for its designers in various types of conversations specified at design time. These conversations communicate the designers' understanding of who the users are, what they know the users want or need to do, in which preferred ways, and why.
- Semiotic information theory – considers the information content of signs and expressions as it is conceived within the semiotic or sign-relational framework developed by Charles Sanders Peirce.
- Social semiotics – expands the interpretable semiotic landscape to include all cultural codes, such as in slang, fashion, and advertising. It considers social connotations, including meanings related to ideology and power structures, in addition to denotative meanings of signs.
- Urban semiotics – study of meaning in urban form as generated by signs, symbols, and their social connotations. It focuses on material objects of the built environment, such as streets, squares, parks, and buildings, but also abstract cultural constructs such as building codes, planning documents, unbuilt designs, real estate advertising, and popular discourse about the city, such as architectural criticism and real estate blogs.
- Theatre Semiotics – extends or adapts semiotics onstage. Key theoricians include Keir Elam.
- Visual semiotics – analyses visual signs. See also visual rhetoric.
History of semiotics
- History of semiotics
- Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School – scientific school of thought that was formed since 1964 and led by Juri Lotman. Among the other members of this school were Boris Uspensky, Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov, Vladimir Toporov, Mikhail Gasparov, Alexander Piatigorsky, Isaak I. Revzin, and others. As a result of their collective work, they established a theoretical framework around the semiotics of culture.
Methods of semiotics
Semiotic analyses
- Semiotic democracy
- Semiotic elements and classes of signs
- Semiotics of interactive media
- Semiotics of music videos
- Semiotics of photography
- Semiotics of social networking
- Semiotics of wrestling characters
General semiotics concepts
- Biosemiotics –
- Code –
- Computational semiotics –
- Connotation –
- Decode –
- Denotation –
- Encode –
- Lexical –
- Literary semiotics –
- Modality –
- Representation (arts) –
- Salience –
- Semeiotic –
- Semiosis –
- Semiotic square –
- Semiosphere –
- Semiotic elements & sign classes –
- Sign –
- Sign relational complex –
- Sign relation –
- Umwelt –
- Value –
Semiotics organizations
- International Association for Semiotic Studies
- International Association for the Semiotics of Law
- International Society for Biosemiotic Studies
- Semiotic Society of America
Semiotics publications
- The American Journal of Semiotics
- Elements of Semiology
- Semiotica
- Semiotics: The Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America
- Sign Systems Studies
- Versus
Persons influential in semiotics
- Mikhail Bakhtin –
- Roland Barthes –
- Marcel Danesi –
- John Deely –
- Umberto Eco –
- Algirdas Julien Greimas –
- Félix Guattari –
- Louis Hjelmslev –
- Vyacheslav Ivanov –
- Roman Jakobson –
- Roberta Kevelson –
- Kalevi Kull –
- Juri Lotman –
- Charles S. Peirce –
- Augusto Ponzio –
- Ferdinand de Saussure –
- Thomas Sebeok –
- Michael Silverstein –
- Eero Tarasti –
- Vladimir Toporov –
- Jakob von Uexküll –
Cognitive semioticians
- Per Aage Brandt –
- Peer Bundgård –
- Riccardo Fusaroli –
- Svend Østergaard –
- Frederik Stjernfelt –
- Kristian Tylén –
- Mikkel Wallentin –
- Jordan Zlatev –
Literary semioticians
Social semioticians
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Outline of semiotics" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on original research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice. | http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Outline_of_semiotics |
By Subrat Patnaik
(Reuters) – Apple Inc’s iPhone 12 mini U.S. sales were just 5% of overall sales of its new phones during the first half of January, industry data provider Counterpoint said on Tuesday, adding to signs of muted demand for the new smaller version of its flagship device.
Smartphone users have switched to larger devices in recent years as they devour more video content on-the-go and binge on visually rich social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and Snapchat.
Graphics: Global share of small-screen smartphones steadily declines – https://graphics.reuters.com/APPLE-IPHONE/rlgpdewkbvo/chart.png
J.P. Morgan analyst William Yang said in a note last week that weak demand for the smaller iPhone 12 and 12 mini might lead Apple to stop production of the mini in the second quarter. | https://itcareersholland.nl/apple-iphone-12-mini-sales-slow-as-smaller-smartphones-lose-appeal-report/ |
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