The Pagoda by Patricia Powell

Introduction ‘Pagoda,’ a book by Patricia Powell talks about a big secret. Lowe, a Chinese immigrant who runs a shop in Jamaica, is trapped between black and white villagers and faces threats from both groups. After living together with Miss Sylvie for convenience for thirty five years, their marriage changes to be a marriage of love as they come into reality with revelations of their past.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Pagoda by Patricia Powell specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Separation from her daughter for more than twelve years makes Lowe to write a letter with details of the origin of their family. Prior to the completion of the letter, the shop was reduced down to ashes together with Cecil, the person who fetched her to Jamaica, mistreated her sexually and who assisted her in putting up the shop. As a result of this incident, Lowe began a new life as a result of the freedom fr om debts of Cecil. She decides to build a Pagoda, school and a social place where all Chinese citizens could meet. As she engaged in these activities, she struggled to come out of the fact that she had lost his livelihood as well as drifting from Chinese culture and the prevailing secret of her family. Faking identity Lowe had escaped her marriage more than thirty five years ago by going away on a ship to Jamaica, and being unaware that the ship had more than five hundred Chinese men who had been forcefully taken from China and were bound for forced labor. Due to the fact that Chinese women are never allowed to immigrate to foreign countries, Lowe camouflages herself as a man and maintains the same identity for more than thirty years. The author tries to bring out implications which destiny and freedom can have on an individuals’ life regarding gender and family relationships. Kidnapping of Chinese men to provide cheap labor in the sugar plantations in Jamaica is also documen ted. Living conditions in China in the late 1800s was harsh making Lowe to search for new prospects in the Island of Jamaica. Lowe began realizing many losses in life after the grocery shop was burnt down, including the loss of her daughter, language, historical background and identity. These led her to intend to live a genuine life including building the Pagoda, a social cultural centre for the Chinese people. As she began the new life, a revelation of a life of fake identity, historical violence and betrayal was unfolded. She recognizes that she is not the only one with the dark past, but also Miss Sylvie. Lowe and Sylvie continue sharing their past but something else comes up, Lowe has an affair with a black Jamaican woman called Joyce which makes Sylvie to run away because she could not hold the past experiences.Advertising Looking for critical writing on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Afterwards, L owe realized that she genuinely loved Miss Sylvie and thereby writing a letter to her daughter Elizabeth. Submerged in misery and lamentation, Lowe admits in the letter that she has never lived her life fully but through faking identities. According to the author (Powell,117), the character of Sylvie as a woman surpassed the boundaries imposed upon women in the late 19th century by depicting her as an autonomous, rich and influential owner of land. She is forced to tackle the past full of wrong choices, deceit and masked identity. Lowe deals with problems of injustice in Jamaica in an area dominated by the blacks and her target is to cut across racism and get recognition within the society. However, the struggle of Lowe with identity is much emphasized than any other character in the book. The years of lies have lowered Lowes’ spirit to the extent that ‘self’ had no meaning in her life but just a collection of fiction. She no longer knew the beginning or the end of some things happening in her life, whether her stories corresponded or whether people understood the gaps in links. Despite the frustrations and difficulties that she undergoes, Lowe goes on with the dream of building the Pagoda so that Chinese living in Jamaica can have a place to refresh and practice their traditions and experience their identities. The author tries to investigate colorfully the fertile heritage and landscape of Jamaica in the late 19th century. Conclusion The context of the story is interesting because of the nature of the community involved, a Chinese community in Jamaica while Lowe, the main character, revolves around with issues related to gender identity. I was a little bit unsatisfied with the main character in the story because she had big challenges in her life while she kept other people out of her life, at the same time she seemed discontented with her life. There is lack of connection, relationships among people in the story while the author tries to bring out lack of hope in the bid to build a community of Chinese people in Jamaica. Towards the end of the story, there seems to be optimism concerning pardon and love, but remains only to be hope in the authors’ imagination but not in the written context.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Pagoda by Patricia Powell specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Works Cited Powell, Patricia. The Pagoda. New York: Knopf, 1998. This critical writing on The Pagoda by Patricia Powell was written and submitted by user Paloma Q. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident The Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7 - 9, 1937 marks the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which also represents the beginning of World War II in Asia.   What was the incident, and how did it spark nearly a decade of fighting between two of Asias great powers?   Background: Relations between China and Japan were chilly, to say the least, even prior to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.   The Empire of Japan had annexed Korea, formerly a Chinese tributary state, in 1910, and had invaded and occupied Manchuria following the Mukden Incident in 1931.   Japan had spent the five years leading up to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident gradually seizing ever-larger sections of northern and eastern China, encircling Beijing.   Chinas de facto government, the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek, was based further south in Nanjing, but Beijing was still a strategically pivotal city. The key to Beijing was the Marco Polo Bridge, named of course for the Italian trader Marco Polo who visited Yuan China in the 13th century and described an earlier iteration of the bridge.   The modern bridge, near the town of Wanping, was the only road and rail link between Beijing and the Kuomintangs stronghold in Nanjing.   The Japanese Imperial Army had been trying to pressure China to withdraw from the area around the bridge, without success. The Incident: In the early summer of 1937, Japan began to carry out military training exercises near the bridge.   They always warned the local inhabitants, to prevent panic, but on July 7, 1937, the Japanese commenced training without prior notice to the Chinese.   The local Chinese garrison at Wanping, believing that they were under attack, fired a few scattered shots, and the Japanese returned fire.   In the confusion, a Japanese private went missing, and his commanding officer demanded that the Chinese allow the Japanese troops to enter and search the town for him. The Chinese refused.   The Chinese army offered to conduct the search, which the Japanese commander agreed to, but some Japanese infantry troops tried to push their way in to the town regardless.   Chinese troops garrisoned in town fired on the Japanese and drove them away. With events spiraling out of control, both sides called for reinforcements.   Shortly before 5 am on July 8, the Chinese allowed two Japanese investigators in to Wanping to search for the missing soldier.   Nonetheless, the Imperial Army opened fire with four mountain guns at 5:00, and Japanese tanks rolled down the Marco Polo Bridge shortly thereafter.   One hundred Chinese defenders fought to hold the bridge; only four of them survived.   The Japanese overran the bridge, but Chinese reinforcements retook it the following morning, July 9. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the two sides negotiated a settlement of the incident.   The terms were that China would apologize for the incident, responsible officers on both sides would be punished, Chinese troops in the area would be replaced by the civilian Peace Preservation Corps, and the Chinese Nationalist government would better control communist elements in the area.   In return, Japan would withdraw from the immediate area of Wanping and the Marco Polo Bridge.   Representatives of China and Japan signed this accord on July 11 at 11:00 am. The national governments of both countries saw the skirmish as an insignificant local incident, and it should have ended with the settlement agreement.   However, the Japanese Cabinet held a press conference to announce the settlement, in which it also announced the mobilization of three new army divisions, and harshly warned the Chinese government in Nanjing not to interfere with the local solution to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.   This incendiary cabinet statement caused Chiang Kaisheks government to react by sending four divisions of additional troops to the area.   Soon, both sides were violating the truce agreement.   The Japanese shelled Wanping on July 20, and by the end of July the Imperial Army had surrounded Tianjin and Beijing.   Even though neither side likely had planned to go into an all-out war, tensions were incredibly high.   When a Japanese naval officer was assassinated in Shanghai on August 9, 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in earnest.   It would transition in to the Second World War, ending only with Japans surrender on September 2, 1945.

Sabra and Shatila Masacre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Sabra and Shatila Masacre - Essay Example The Sabra and Shatila Massacre is considered a forgotten incident in the western media. [2] How ever the incident is considered to be a controvercial issue with the Palestinian, Arab and International Muslims, alleging Israel to be the main culprit behind the tragic incident, acusing the Jewish State of Master minding the Israel event incidents. Israel on the contrary partially agrees of its link with the incident but denying any knowledge of a mass murder during the time of its procession clearing itself with the direct massacre of the refugee camp inhabitants. Israel supported Bachir and considered the maronite forces to be the counter balance to the PLO and thus the relationship between Israel and Maronites became stronger, with the Falangists in particular, by the passage of time. How ever, nine days before he was due to take oath, Bachir was assasinated in a bomb detonation attack at the head quarters of the Phalangists party on 14th September 1982. The attack was alleged by the Falangists to be the work of PLO activists which later became a misperception as investigations and confessions later on reveald a Syrian hand in the assasination. Mr.Arial Sharon, who is considered the master mind behind the incident, declared that there were 2000 PLO activists in the refugee camp. Sabra and Shatila was surrounded by tanks and and soldiers with check points to monitor entry and exit of people. Despite of the check points around 150 Falangists, motivated with the feeling revenge after the assasination of their leader, entered the Sabra and Shatila Refugee camp alleging it to be a sanctuary and breeding nest for the PLO activists and aiming to wipe out their presence iniatiated. -these fighters are alleged to inserted by Israel- A plan of defence Minsiter Ariel Sharon [3] According to witnesses, a carnage of mass murder, rape, desecration of corpses & demolition of buildings with the residents still inside. The "genocide" as discussed above cotinued for 62 hours from 16th September going on to Saturday morning and had resulted in casualties speculated to be in 750-3400 estimated by various sources. IDF intelligence suggests a death toll to be between 700-800 persons [4] Dr. Ang Swee Chai, an eye witness to the Massacre reveals in her book " From Beirut to Jerusalem: "The truth hit me painfully...Besides being shot dead, people was tortured before being killed. They were beaten brutally, electric wires were tied round limbs, eyes were dug out, women were raped, and often more than once, children were dynamited alive. Looking at all the broken bodies, I began to think that those who had died quickly were the lucky ones. Extract from p67 of the book "From Beirut to Jerusalem". [5] United Nations Condemns On Dec 16 1982 United Nations Organization's General Assembly condemned the massacre terming it as an act of "Genocide" The General Assembly, Recalled its resolution 95 (I) of 11 December 1946, It also recalled its resolu

Summarize the articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarize the articles - Essay Example le being that additional emphasis should go into preparing teachers to think outside the box especially when faced with various setbacks (Wright & Wilson, 2011). It is also important for teacher trainers to adapt and familiarize themselves with emerging technologies that boost student engagement and participation in class. The purpose of this research was to establish, test and verify the attitudes of junior high school students towards the use of technology using the Attitudes Toward Technology Scale for Junior High School Students as developed in 2005 by Yu et al. The study was to specifically establish a model of junior high school students’ attitudes toward technology, determine the relevance of the model and analyze the correlations among the various factors in the model. These factors are based either in the affective domain or PATT and its related studies. (Yu et al, 2012). The study also identifies three theoretical schemes of attitude towards technology as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and behavior and intention use. The findings of this study show that identification with technology and experience with technology curricula were the primary factors influencing the students’ intentions to pursue careers in technology (Yu et al,

Caring for the Earth and Its Inhabitants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 58

Caring for the Earth and Its Inhabitants - Essay Example This study stresses that, the natural systems of the world are negatively affected either directly by the change in temperatures or indirectly by changes in sea level, melting of glaciers, alterations in forest patterns, changes in pH of oceans, climate change etc. One of the foremost impacts of the climate change has started to occur in the Arctic and the Antarctic regions since their high altitudes play a major factor in the rate of warming of these regions. Rapid melting of ice has aid the prospects of ice-free summers which can potentially eradicate an entire biome from the region. The biodiversity of these regions ranging from algae to the polar bears are accustomed to living on ice and the elevating temperatures pose a grave threat to their existence. The global climate change has also affected the marine system of the world. This has primarily occurred owing to the acidification of the ocean waters. The increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also leads to enhanc ed dissolving of the gas into the ocean waters which increases the acidity of the waters and affects both plant and animal life. Ocean acidification leads to coral bleaching and dissolution of shells and skeletons of marine organisms. It is an undeniable fact that global warming has been accelerated by anthropogenic activities and it is up to us to control the damage. Conservation of animals is not the only option since we need to work at the very roots of the problem. One of the most important steps at the individual level is to decrease the carbon footprint. This can be done by altering our habits of energy usage, decreasing waste and recycling. At the societal level, we need to enhance green technologies, reduce emissions and adopt sustainable energy sources such as wind, hydro etc.

Conflicts of Interest in Auditing and Consulting

Conflicts of Interest in Auditing and Consulting Conflicts of interest: how can the provision of consulting and advisory services be consistent with the requirements of auditor independence? One of the key issues identified as a cause of the Enron scandal is that the company managed to provide misleading financial information to investors and analysts over a period of several years, indicating around $100 billion of annual revenues. However, once the accurate numbers emerged showing the state of the company’s balance sheet, lenders withdrew their funding; the SEC increased the pressure on the company; and the company went bankrupt in less than two months. Sloan et al (2002) argue that the only way to avoid such incidents happening is to discourage companies from producing dishonest numbers, whilst making auditors afraid of certifying anything which could be seen as misleading. In general, the principle of auditor independence should mean that auditors are vigorous and unrelenting in their verification of accounting data. However, in the case of Enron, the auditors: Arthur Andersen, were signing off significant amounts of accounting data from their own consulting arm, who were providing Enron with consulting and advisory services. As such, there was likely physical evidence that Arthur Andersen’s auditors ignored several material accounting violations caused by both Enron and Arthur Andersen’s consultants. Unfortunately, it is difficult to prove this evidence given that all documents related to Enron were shredded by the auditors as soon as the scandal came to light, making it difficult to be certain around the extent of the complicity or the conflicts caused by Arthur Andersen providing Enron with substantial amounts of consulting services, at the same time as signing off company accounts which were later found to be almost completely inaccurate (Sloan et al, 2002). As a result of this, the legislation governing publicly listed companies in the United States was rapidly tightened through the Sarbanes-Oxley, or SOX, Act; which was intended to boost investor confidence. This legislation was based on the argument that a stock market is formed from a collection of share issuing firms; individual and institutional investors; and a body of accountants, lawyers and analysts. As such, the SOX Act was intended to ensure that each of these groups regained their own confidence in the system, and also confidence in each other. As such, the Act focused on promoting transparency and understandable data from the viewpoint of the final users of accounting data, rather that the provider (Kalafut, 2003). The main method by which SOX attempts to minimise and avoid conflicts of interest within the firm is by requiring corporations to establish corporate auditing committees; which are responsible for dealing with the auditors. This is because, previously, if auditors had any queries around the content of the financial statements, they had to seek out the management personnel responsible for generating the data. This meant that the managers could potentially shape the auditor’s interpretation of the information, particularly if the auditing company were also providing consulting or advisory services as occurred at Enron. In such an instance, the advisory staff may well themselves have exerted influence over their own auditors to ensure that the information was treated in a way that is favourable to the consultants, and not in a way that provided a true representation of the actual situation and data. The audit committee is supposed to avoid this by ensuring that the auditors only communicate with the committee members, who are all independent from the management of the firm, and hence can look at any advisory services provided by the auditor with an independent and critical eye (Lansing and Grgunch, 2004). As a result, the act also recommends that one of the audit committee members should be a financial expert with a good knowledge of accounting principles and financial statements from a firm or firms in similar industries. This allows the committee to accurately discern the true nature of any financial instruments, such as the off balance sheet financing and other special purpose entities used by Enron to cover up its financial difficulties. This will also be vital if an auditing firm is providing significant non auditing services, as they may well use their auditing experience to advise their client on how best to structure their business to present it more favourably from an a ccounting point of view. Financial experts on the audit committee will have similar experience, and hence will be able to help the auditors make a fair assessment of the true nature of any creative accounting. The other main part of the SOX Act which is designed to minimise any conflicts between the provision of consulting services and advisory services is that the penalties for being caught have been increased dramatically. In particular, the Act has increased the penalties which any CEOs and CFOs found guilty of violating any provisions of the Act would face. As part of this, CEOs and CFOs now have to sign off on the audited accounts and other statements that their companies file with the SEC, and will thus be held responsible if they certify statements which contain any false or misleading information. CEOs and CFOs who do so could face fines of up to $5,000,000 and potentially imprisonment for up to 20 years. As such, this places a significant responsibility on CEOs and CFOs, who are typically the board members responsible for appointing auditors and any advisory services, to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between the auditing and advisory services provided. With all this regulation, one would expect that the disadvantages of auditors providing their audit clients with other services would be so great that many companies would not even consider it. However, it is important to note that there are some benefits which can be obtained within the current legal and regulatory framework. For one, Marks (2007) argues that auditors’ in depth knowledge of their clients’ and comparable firms’ accounts can allow them to advise firms on their governance processes, efficiency and other aspects of their financial performance and how to improve them. In addition, audit firms will be better able to advise firms how to legally avoid as much tax as possible, whilst avoiding anything which could be considered tax evasion. This is particularly important in the modern business world, where the removal of exchange controls and trade barriers makes tax avoidance more possible than ever before, but also provides significant potential for com panies to fall foul of one or more of the tax regimes in which they operate (Sikka and Hampton, 2005). This helps to explain why many auditing firms also have large tax practices, as well as advisory services. In contrast, the only real disadvantage of a company providing both audit and other services is the potential for regulatory violations and conflicts of interest. Of these, the potential regulatory violations were immediately seized on by the US Congress following the Enron scandal, as it emerged that Enron paid Arthur Andersen $25 million in auditing fees, but a further $23 million in fees for other consulting work. However, it was the potential for conflicts of interest which emerged as the strongest disadvantage, with many corporate boards worrying that continuing to buy consulting services and auditing services from the same firms would damage investor confidence, and lead to a drop in share prices (Kahn, 2002). As a result, of the Big Four accounting firms currently in the market: Deloitte, Ernst and Young, PWC and KPMG; PWC stopped providing consulting services to audit clients; Ernst and Young sold it consulting business and KPMG and Deloitte both divested of their consulting businesses throughout 2001 and 2002 (Kahn, 2002). This meant that none of the Big Four auditors, which together audited around 90% of the major companies in the US and UK, provided any substantial consulting services following the Enron scandal, although they did continue to provide tax and some transactions advisory services. However, by 2003 Deloitte had reversed its decision, and brought the consulting business back into the overall business, which then comprised auditing, tax accounting, corporate finance and consulting. This decision was taken in spite of industry concern around conflicts of interest and the provisions of the SOX Act, in the belief that Deloitte could provide its clients with the advantages of i ntegrated professional and accounting services, whilst avoiding any of the potential regulatory concerns (Bryan-Low, 2003). Indeed, five years after the Enron scandal, Accountancy (2006) reported that the majority of accountancy firms, particularly the Big Four firms, have begun offering a wider range of services, and that the boundaries between these services are blurred, with inconsistent levels of disclosure. For example, PWC details specific revenues for audit, accounting and tax; however it also includes ‘advisory services’ in its revenues as an umbrella term for consultancy, corporate finance, and corporate recovery services. Also, whilst KPMG details separate categories including corporate finance, forensic accounting, transaction services and risk advisory services, the ‘risk advisory’ services are effectively the same as the consulting work offered by other accounting firms (Accountancy, 2006). This indicates that, even if the regulatory conflicts can be completely resolved, it will be difficult for shareholders to assess the true nature of their auditor’s revenue s, and hence the potential for any damaging conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, future steps to address any issues as a result of this are likely to be hampered by the fact that SOX is already proving a significant regulatory burden to publicly listed companies in the United States. In addition, Fisher and Quick (2004) claim that the true problem is not the conflict between auditing and other services, but the fact that the Big Four accounting firms are so dominant, auditing all of the FTSE 100 companies in the UK. With there being no true competition to the Big Four amongst their main clients, the market has come to resemble and oligopoly, and with many senior accountants at clients coming from the Big Four firms, there is a danger that former accountants working in senior management may simply favour their alumni firms when choosing auditors. Whilst this should be mitigated by the presence of the audit committee, minimising the impact of this ‘old boys’ network’ amongst the major accounting firms would go a long way towards r educing any potential conflicts of interest, and increasing the scrutiny given to the provision of additional services, particularly amongst the Big Four. In conclusion, and as the Enron scandal demonstrated, whenever an auditor of a publicly listed company also obtains significant revenues from providing their client with additional services, there is always the potential for a conflict of interest. In Enron’s case, this led to Arthur Andersen covering up significant losses which ultimately caused Enron to go bankrupt. The SOX Act should help to reduce this, by enforcing the use of an audit committee to prevent such conflicts, and increasing the pressure on executives to ensure that accounting data is fair. However, most of the major accounting firms continue to provide these services, hence the potential for conflict of interest remains. Possibly the only way to avoid this would be to attempt to break up the dominance of the Big Four, and create a more competitive market where the top firms have a wider choice of auditors, and hence can hold these auditors to higher standards of quality and transparency. References Accountancy (2006) Blurred boundaries. Accountancy; Vol. 137, Issue 1355, p. 35. Bryan-Low, C. (2003) Deloitte Chief Wrestles to Get Consultants Back in Firm. Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition; Vol. 242, Issue 33, p. C1-C7. Fisher, L. and Quick, C. (2004) The Big Four old boys club. Accountancy; Vol. 133, Issue 1327, p. 29. Kahn, J. (2002) Deloitte restates its case. Fortune; Vol. 145, Issue 9, p. 64-69. Kalafut, P. C. (2003) Communicate Value to Boost Investor Confidence. Financial Executive; Vol. 19, Issue 5, p. 28-29. Lansing, P. and Grgunch, C. (2004) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act: New Securities Disclosure Requirements in the United States. International Journal of Management; Vol. 21, Issue 3, p. 292-299. Marks, N. (2007) Internal Audits of Governance. Internal Auditor; Vol. 64, Issue 6, p. 31-32. Sikka, P. and Hampton, M. P. (2005) The role of accountancy firms in tax avoidance: Some evidence and issues. Accounting Forum; Vol. 29, Issue 3, p. 325-343. Sloan, A. Isikoff, M. Hosenball, M. and Thomas, R. (2002) The Enron Effect. Newsweek; Vol. 139, Issue 4, p. 34.

Politics of the people Essay -- Analysis, South American Politics

Politics of the People touches on a multitude of topics discussed this term. The article brings to light the issues in South America. Specifically in the Amazon, surrounding big oil companies, the destruction of land and environment, and the destitution of the people of Ecuador and how the people and NGO's have taken action to fight it. In this territory of the Amazon according to Judith Kimerling, â€Å"the oil spills and contamination of this region of Ecuador equal or supersedes those of the 1989 Alaskan Exxon Valdez oil spill.†(81). What this means is that this area has been polluted greatly and since 1993 the inhabitants of this territory have been fighting big oil. The land is unusable with that level of pollution. This land has been taken over by OCP's which are large pipelines running through the land to transport oil, this is a fantastic example of the industrialization of a 3rd world country. An NGO by the name of Accion Ecologica was one of the groups that early on spoke out in recognition of the devastation happening to the land. The devastation of the land in Ecuador reminds me of a film about fracking I saw and how the people who lived on the land were the first to notice the problems with big companies taking over the natural resources. In the article they spoke of â€Å"large flames that soar through the sky, creating an immense heat and loud, searing noises.†(82). This is just one example of the inconvenience of the developing oil company in the Territory. Additionally the people live on this land have been speaking out and noting they are having health problems and that it is spreading to the animals, one man's home was destroyed by an explosion of a pipeline behind his home (82). Due to these extreme concerns ... ...with. Lastly the companies that go to these lesser countries to mass produce whether it be oil or denim do so because the laws are less strict and they see a loop-hole around taxes and fees and environmental laws. In the Texaco/Chevron case â€Å"Chevron's attorney argues that the local communities should blame their government†(90). I think that the people are already blaming their government but the at the end of the day the oil companies are to blame too. The goal of this whole ordeal was to â€Å"raise awareness among its partners about the struggles of other around the globe† (92). I would deem their goal as successful, and as oil companies continue to make mistakes whether it be bypassing human rights and environmental rights knowingly or just have neglected equipment and back up plans in case of a spill like in the gulf coast, the people of the world are aware now. Politics of the people Essay -- Analysis, South American Politics Politics of the People touches on a multitude of topics discussed this term. The article brings to light the issues in South America. Specifically in the Amazon, surrounding big oil companies, the destruction of land and environment, and the destitution of the people of Ecuador and how the people and NGO's have taken action to fight it. In this territory of the Amazon according to Judith Kimerling, â€Å"the oil spills and contamination of this region of Ecuador equal or supersedes those of the 1989 Alaskan Exxon Valdez oil spill.†(81). What this means is that this area has been polluted greatly and since 1993 the inhabitants of this territory have been fighting big oil. The land is unusable with that level of pollution. This land has been taken over by OCP's which are large pipelines running through the land to transport oil, this is a fantastic example of the industrialization of a 3rd world country. An NGO by the name of Accion Ecologica was one of the groups that early on spoke out in recognition of the devastation happening to the land. The devastation of the land in Ecuador reminds me of a film about fracking I saw and how the people who lived on the land were the first to notice the problems with big companies taking over the natural resources. In the article they spoke of â€Å"large flames that soar through the sky, creating an immense heat and loud, searing noises.†(82). This is just one example of the inconvenience of the developing oil company in the Territory. Additionally the people live on this land have been speaking out and noting they are having health problems and that it is spreading to the animals, one man's home was destroyed by an explosion of a pipeline behind his home (82). Due to these extreme concerns ... ...with. Lastly the companies that go to these lesser countries to mass produce whether it be oil or denim do so because the laws are less strict and they see a loop-hole around taxes and fees and environmental laws. In the Texaco/Chevron case â€Å"Chevron's attorney argues that the local communities should blame their government†(90). I think that the people are already blaming their government but the at the end of the day the oil companies are to blame too. The goal of this whole ordeal was to â€Å"raise awareness among its partners about the struggles of other around the globe† (92). I would deem their goal as successful, and as oil companies continue to make mistakes whether it be bypassing human rights and environmental rights knowingly or just have neglected equipment and back up plans in case of a spill like in the gulf coast, the people of the world are aware now.