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Over the course of this semester I’ve read The Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis in which he discusses the cross-global history of the devastating famines and natural disasters that effected significant portions of the world in the late 19th century. In reading through the chapters it made clear to me that Davis placed the blame on a number of factors. However, in this paper I will only be discussing three that I found to have the most significance.
These three themes are the fault for widespread misery: radical climatic change, the expansion of the world economy, and the new imperialism. In the first two parts of Late Victorian Holocausts, Davis explores the conjuncture of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) episodes with the social
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Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World (pg. 219). In reading these chapters your immersed with history that brings to light the fact that both climate cycles and the politics of famine played a major role in what happened during this era. It’s refreshing to learn more about how El Nino and La Nina, as well the huge differences between famine, drought, flood, crop failure, and …show more content…
He develops an important argument about the “origins of the third world” (p. 279). The late nineteenth century’s ENSO droughts were no mere footnote. Rather, ENSO-driven climate change intersected with a century-long erosion of pre-capitalist state structures and the simultaneous expansion of commodity production and exchange, especially in South and East Asia. Famine and ecological crisis ensued, their lasting effects found in today’s extreme global inequality. Davis says that “The wealth generated by usury and rack-renting was almost entirely parasitic, with negligible productive reinvestment in cattle, irrigation or farm equipment” Davis, Mike (2002-06-17) Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World (pg.318). He seems to be saying that political ecology offers a holistic approach and sees the individual as responsible, but with a nod to the influence of geopolitics. The political element of the equation is all the more important when you realize that in the Third World, poor also means, poor in
(It should be noted that when describing hardships of the concentration camps, understatements will inevitably be made. Levi puts it well when he says, ?We say ?hunger?, we say ?tiredness?, ?fear?, ?pain?, we say ?winter? and they are different things. They are free words, created and used by free men who lived in comfort and suffering in their homes. If the Lagers had lasted longer a new, harsh language would have been born; only this language could express what it means to toil the whole day?? (Levi, 123).)
Throughout history, social and economic affairs have separated people into the rich and poor, with those in authoritative roles struggling to defend their position. Those in power have often taken advantage of those under them. In Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, severe droughts led to massive agricultural collapse in Oklahoma. The Joads were forced to leave their home in search of employment opportunities in California. Migrants often faced prejudice and aggression from the Californians. Landowners, taking advantage of the migrants desperate need for work, often treated them poorly, paying them wages too low to live on and containing them within dirty camps. Workers suffering was not only evoked the failing land, but by human heartlessness towards one another. Large banks and businesses ignored the fact that “… a majority of the people are hungry and cold…” (Steinbeck 238) Large corporations were only concerned with their own financial prospects and not the well being of the people. In Miller’s Deat...
Singer, Peter. 1986. Famine, Affluence, and Morality. In Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, ed. John Perry and Michael Bratman: 573-580. New York: Oxford University Press. Originally published 1972.
Singer, Peter. “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions. 8th ed. Eds. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 7-15. Print.
Causes & Effects of the Holocaust There are times in history when desperate people, plagued by desperate situations, blindly give evil men power. These men, once given power, have only their own evil agendas to carry out. The Holocaust was the result of one such man's agenda. In short, simplicity, sheer terror, brutality, inhumanity, injustice, irresponsibility, immorality, stupidity, hatred, and pure evil are but a few words to describe the Holocaust. A holocaust is defined as a disaster that results in the tremendous loss of human life.
The holocaust is the saddest thing I have ever heard about. With the Nazi's and other Germans blaming everything on the Jews to mass murders of the Jews and others. The Germans killed more than one million people altogether. The German leader was Adolf Hitler. So once everyone started to realize what was going on, they said, "hey jail time."
"History1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/tp/holocaust.htm - Similar Sites and Reviews | Xmarks." Xmarks | Bookmark Sync and Search. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. .
The Holocaust was the systematic annihilation of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during the Second World War. I will tell the story of the Holocaust through many different personal accounts of people involved in many different sides of this incredible story. I will do this by using the personal accounts of surviving victims, of those not directly involved in the event, though affected by it, and the defense of the Nazi party. But first, I will tell you a little about the event.
Kinealy, Christine. “’The Famine Killed Everything’: Living with the Memory of the Great Hunger.” Ireland’s Great Hunger. Eds. David A. Valone and Christine Kinealy. NewYork: University Press of America, 2002. 1-40.
The twentieth century was a time of change. With two world wars occurring within roughly three decades, it was no surprise that society became forever changed. These two world wars, however, resulted in perhaps one of the most significant and catastrophic events in history - the Holocaust. The Holocaust saw about six million Jews killed by command of German dictator Adolf Hitler. Despite resulting from World War II, however, Hitler’s massive genocide of European Jews was planned before the Second World War, and therefore was intentionalism, because of the blame from post-World War I Germany, the twentieth century movement of eugenics as a “racial hygiene”, and the actions to exterminate Jews before the outbreak of World War II.
In the late thirties and fourties, the Holocaust occured. The Holocaust was the mass genocide of eleven million Jews and other undesireables. We learn about this event to remember all who lost their lives, and make sure something this awful never happens again.
In Maurice Ogden’s poem The Hangman, Ogden writes a story of a man who chooses to not stand up for others. He does not speak “out of the fear of his Hangman’s cloak”(Ogden 2), but in the end, “the scaffold was raised for none but you”(Ogden 4). The narrator was killed because he failed to stand up for others. This story was published in 1954 which was only 9 years after the Holocaust. The situation in which the narrator was put in is similar to a person who chooses to stand by during a tragic event such as the Holocaust. Ogden chose to write this story to persuade people who are placed in this situation to act differently than the narrator did. In order to convey his message, Ogden writes to a specific audience, parallels his story to the Holocaust,
The Holocaust is a subject familiar to most people around the world. They either learned about it in school or on TV. The word “Holocaust” comes from the Greek words “holos” and “kaustos. “Holos” which means whole and the word “kaustos” meaning burned. Originally it is historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar. Throughout history the word has taken a whole different meaning. The modern definition of the word means the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews and other groups by the German Nazi “regime” during World War ll (History, 2016). The Holocaust was one of the darkest times for both Germany and the Jews who were targeted because Hitler believed that they didn’t meet his standards that would compromise
In the late 1930s and early 1940s the Jewish population was being extinct in Europe by the Germans, which were known as the Nazis at that time. If the non-Jewish people would have fought back it could have saved a lot of the Jewish peoples lives. Also you would hope that most of the Jewish people would do the same thing for you if you were forced to go to concentration camps ;therefore, most of them work for them for days without food so they do not have energy. So if there was enough people to fight back with the Nazis that were non-Jewish, you would also hope that they would fight for you if you were in their situation, and they were being taken prisoner for the Nazis own use of work then they would kill them.
Hunger and Poverty During the course of this particular essay, I will prove to you many points. Maybe not to the extreme that it will change one’s thought processes on the subject of hunger and world poverty, but enough to form a distinction between moral obligation and moral capacity. What I will not mention is the fact that Peter Singer’s outdated material (1971), though thorough in the sense of supporting his view on hunger and world poverty as well as examining this school of thought, is unconvincing to say the least. As our recent past has shown us, using Somalia and Rwanda as models, no amount of money or time on earth can come between a civil war. Terrible things happen, innocent people are slain in the names of either freedom or captivity, and land is destroyed, burned by the flames of either righteousness or wrath. But placing the burden of attempting to heal these wounds on the “well off” is not only immoral in itself, it is crazy. To consider an act a moral obligation, it must have an end that fits within the realm of reason. If someone is obligated to do something, then the purpose of that action holds meaning, therefore making the act a meaningful act. A characteristic of a meaningful act is a justifiably important end, that is, an end that which holds a higher purpose than the action against the obligated act. One can argue, using history as an example, that ending world poverty and hunger is not a reasonable goal. Singer uses the term “mora...