Communism works!

A communist utopia that deserves our attention. Its founder warns that we in the West are living off tomorrow's wealth, which he considers a big mistake.

Women drivers...

Do we live in a democracy?

Eurosceptic MEP Nigel Farage believes we don't:

Sorry, your suffering is not newsworthy...

It looks as if we are happy to hear stories of people in Africa killing eachother or dying from 'natural causes' such as famine, but that we don't want to know about any suffering, illness and death that we cause ourselves.

The video is from Amnesty International and there's also a short TV news report (from a channel not usually seen in Europe).

It seems that Shell has been extacting oil in Nigeria for years... at extreme environmental and human cost: entire ecosystems emptied of life; fishermen reluctantly turning to mopping up spilt crude oil; and Shell even paying armed men to allegedly 'silence' any voice of protest.

The thing is - when is the last time you heard about any of this?

• Last year Shell faced a compensation settlement of 100 million dollars.
• This year a UN report stated that it will cost up to 1 billion US dollars to clean up.

Why don't we hear anything? Who carefully choses what we information we consume? And what does our news say about our society's values and priorities?

The big debate...

Well... is he?

5 million people, 50% youth, UNEMPLOYED

Work not only provides financial security and the opportunity to plan ahead, it also ensures inclusion and builds identity. What do you think these figures mean for the future of society? For your future?

Today it was announced that there were 4.978.300 unemployed in Spain in September. This amounts to 21,5% of the population and is the highest unemployment has been since 1996.

As young people, you may be particularly interested to know that the percentage of Spanish youth unemployed, after rising above 40%, is now approaching 50%, and that RTVE reports that almost 20% of university graduates between 25 and 29 years old are unable to find work.

You may also be interested to know the differences between the sexes: while 146,800 jobs were lost in the last three months, 114,000 of these individuals were women and 32,800 were men.

Equally worrying is the fact that:

• the number of households in which all working-age adults are unemployed has risen to 1,425,200. 
• of the 4,978,300 unemployed, 2,117,300 are long-term unemployed (1+ years).

BUT before you panic, bear in mind that there are 9,058,300 households in which all working-age adults have a job and also that there are 23,134,600 people of working age in Spain.

Sexist advertisment

Here we can see that a  goverment, in this case Navarra, has contributed to sexism in our society.

   

Universities fail the poor

Since 2006, universities and colleges in the UK have been allowed to charge "top-up" fees – currently just over £3,000 a year – on the condition that they boost the proportion of their applicants who have been in care, come from low-income families or have disabilities.

But Cambridge, Bristol, Exeter, Durham and University College London are among 23 institutions that admit making insufficient progress in widening their mix of applicants in 2009-10.

In the case of Cambridge, only 12.6% of students in 2009-10 came from homes where the annual income is less than £25,000.

Read more here.

USA fails hispanic students

A White House report published in April states that less than 50% of Latino children are enrolled in pre-school; just 50% earn their high school diploma on time and, those who do are only half as likely as their peers to be prepared for college. Just 13% have a degree.


Latino parents feel that they can do little to help their children: they feel excluded and don't always speak the language.


But in the near future, Latino's will make up the majority of US citizens. They are the taxpayers, innovators and business leaders of tomorrow. If they fail, democracy fails.


Watch a video and listen to children talk about their situation here.

We don't need no education!

Functionalists argue that school provides us with the skills and knowledge necessary to 'fit in' to society and to play a useful role within it. They argue that school sorts and selects and helps match people to jobs.

Marxists, on the other hand, believe that school is there to ensure that we conform. School exists to control our behaviour and channel our energy:

• The official curriculum gives us the information we need to do jobs that create wealth for the elite.
• The hidden curriculum teaches us to obey, to divide up our day in unnatural but convenient time periods, to turn up on time, to accept boredom and to accept gender roles.

• Is the message from Pink Floyd a Functionalist or a Marxist one?
• Do you agree with their message?

 

Troy Davis

"For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls.

"All I can ask... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."  

With these words, Troy Davis settled back into his chair and received an injection of a lethal coctail of drugs. He was was pronounced dead at 23:08 in the state of Georgia (04:08 Thursday, our time), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began. 


A black man convicted of having killed a white policeman in the deep south of the USA on the basis of partial evidence and retracted confessions, Davis could have been the main character of a novel written about racism fifty years ago. But his death is real. You can read more about the case here. 


What is your opinion about the death penalty and death row? Is the ultimate negative sanction effective?

Millions will lose all their money...

This video is causing waves. A broker from the UK says what everyone has been thinking, but has been afraid to put into words.

How do you feel about what he says and how he says it?

Does he deserve the criticism that he has received?

&

How will society react if what he says is true?

Bull fighting

La naturaleza nos devolverá el golpe No entiendo, por muchas justificaciones injustificables que me den, cómo ninguna fuerza política hace nada por evitar lo sucedido en Tordesillas, en las “fiestas” del Toro de la Vega. No entiendo cómo algo así puede ser declarado Fiesta de interés turístico y Espectáculo taurino. Cada vez me sorprende más la maldad humana, ni entiendo cómo puede alguien sentirse como un héroe por provocar la muerte humillante de un animal de esa forma, que ni siquiera es por subsistencia, sino por placer de matar. Si estas personas se siente héroes por lo que hacen, para mí son cobardes y no tienen sangre en las venas, al no sentir ni un mínimo sentimiento de culpa por lo que hacen. Como este hecho, muchísimos más como la “fiesta” de los toros en sí, matanzas de focas… y un largísimo etcétera. El pensamiento que provoca estos hechos nos lleva a la autodestrucción, que es el de creer que somos superiores al resto de la naturaleza, que somos dueños del mundo y por eso nos atribuimos el “derecho” a contaminarlo todo, provocar incendios, matar, en definitiva… destruir. De hecho, el cambio climático es sólo nuestra maldita culpa. ¡A ver cuando nos enteramos!, que no somos diferentes de los animales ni de las plantas, el mundo también pertenece a ellos y tienen derecho a ser respetados. La naturaleza, más temprano que tarde, nos devolverá el golpe por todo lo que hacemos con ella, esto es irreversible y será entonces cuando pensemos: ¡No somos nadie!

20minutos.es- Carta de Madrid

Should we as sociologists remain detatched and objective about popular culture, including festivals that cause harm or pain or division? Or should we be pro-active and judge them? Should we be ready to criticise and possibly even complain?

Hunger in Barcelona

El hambre en Catalunya se triplica y afecta a 1,5 millones de ciudadanos

El Banc dels Aliments atiende a 45.000 barceloneses en agosto por la crisis

The above was the headline in La Vanguardia on 15 September 2011. Why not read about it and leave your comments here (in English!).

Riots in the UK

There were a series of violent riots across England during August 2011.

Fired by cuts, rising unemployment and poverty, these riots shocked the British people - and led to a great deal of analysis by sociologists.

To read about the riots, try here, or a Google search.

To find out who rioted and why in more detail, look at the BBC's special site.

For example, what percentage of those arrested were women? Which areas did the rioters come from?

Egypt protesters attacked by 'armed civilians' in Cairo

Pro-democracy activists in Egypt have been attacked by men in plain clothes, armed with knives, outside the interior ministry in Cairo, reports say.

It is the first attack since the fall of Hosni Mubarak last month.

Serving the citizens'

On Sunday, men in plain clothes armed with swords and petrol bombs confronted the pro-democracy activists

"The army started firing in the air to disperse us," Mohammed Fahmy told Reuters news agency.

"We tried to run away but we were met by 200 thugs in plain clothes carrying sharp weapons."

Activists who stormed the Cairo headquarters told the BBC they had found evidence of a parallel state structure that monitored all aspects of life in Egypt.

The new prime minister told a crowd of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday that he hoped Egypt's security apparatus would in future "serve the citizens".

He named as the new interior minister Maj Gen Mansour el-Essawy, a former Cairo security chief. Nabil Elaraby was named as the new foreign minister, and Mahmoud al-Guindy the new justice minister.

To watch the video go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12662504

To conclude we can now say that Egipt has now a new priminister, a new Cairo security chief, a new foreign minister and a new justice minister but at the same time civilians are still protestin

Social Networks: key terms

http://www.cuatro.com/noticias/videos/revueltas-arabes-imposibles-internet/20110224ctoultpro_8/

Arabian revolutions have been noticed thanks to the mass media.

This video includes an interview with a professional of these issues and gives his opinion about the current revolutions in the Middle-East.

Google's Power

Google launches a service to post to Twitter from Egypt

Egyptian activist creates image issues for Google

Russia blames Google for inciting turmoil in Egypt

China blocks search for Egypt microblogging in the country

tunez 2

http://www.cronicaviva.com.pe/index.php/component/k2/item/2221-revuelta-popular-en-t%C3%BAnez-provoca-fuga-de-presidente-a-arabia-saudita-videos

tunez

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/revuelta/popular/Tunez/fuerza/salida/Ben/Ali/elpepuint/20110114elpepuint_5/Tes

Bahrain oposition has abandonned the Parlament (Spanish)

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=264234&Itemid=1

Egyptian army takes to Facebook

CAIRO — The army, thrust to the forefront of Egyptian politics with Hosni Mubarak's overthrow, has turned to the Web to win over youths who used the Internet to such devastating effect in bringing down the president.

The Higher Military Council has launched its own Arabic-language page on Facebook, the website that became an essential tool alongside others like Twitter in galvanizing the masses on to the streets.

The once-feared interior ministry in Tunisia, where protesters ousted their own leader a month before Mubarak stepped down, has had the same idea.

Related story:How the Internet brought down a dictator

The Egyptian army site has over 260,000 supporters — and rising (Number of Faebook fans of 20/2/11). Among them were those who demonstrated in Tahrir Square. Some thanked the military, others called for a purge of old ministers and others urged the army to deliver on reform.

The council's site addressed its audience as the "sons of Egypt and the noble youths who ignited the January 25 revolution."

The council's statement says it launched the page "in the belief that fruitful cooperation in the period ahead with the noble sons of Egypt will lead to stability, security and safety for our beloved Egypt."

In the early days of the revolt, the authorities shut down the nation's Internet system, stunning the world with such a brazen act of censorship. Mobile lines were cut too.

But youths still found the means to keep the protest momentum going, as the numbers of those turning out of the street surged from the thousands to hundreds of thousands. On Friday, to mark the revolt, millions flooded Egypt's cities.

Ahmed N. Ibrahim, posting his comment on the council's page, wrote simply: "This is an admirable initiative. More and more reassuring."

Reflecting the anger many have toward Mubarak and his allies who they accuse of stealing Egypt's wealth, Maha Anwar Mostafa urged the council "to pursue the money of all the Mubarak family ... and freeze the foreign assets."

Others appealed to the army to remove old faces from a cabinet mainly made up of ministers appointed before Mubarak stepped down on February 11.

"I salute the Egyptian army and ask how there can be ministers from the old regime, not to mention Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq," who was also the former civil aviation minister, Mohamed Adel wrote.

Ahmed Abouraia thanked the army but listed demands, including a call that it "continue to protect the revolution until all the demands are realized."

DAVID ABADES