Thursday, May 20, 2010

Rabbit Proof Fence




The movie rabbit proof fence is about the story of the stolen generation. The stolen generation is the Aboriginals “Half castes” that were taken from their
families to be trained in white ways – to outbreed the aboriginals. The story is about Molly, Gracie and Daisy. Two sisters and their cousin Gracie –
they’re taken and after about two or three days they left the white camp to walk home with the trackers following them. Gracie is captured but the sisters
arrive home safely.
The eagle as it shows at the beginning of the movie is the spirit bird, which will guide the way and look over Molly. The Government at the
time were very racist, but they wouldn’t have realised about the fact of this racism. It was very wrong what they did to the children. It would be a
difficult story for Molly to tell as it recounts the horrible events and it would have been hard for her to go through that again. It would be terrible to explain
it – to make others understand.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

History of Noble Prizes



The noble peace prize – A history

In the 1890’s, Norwegian, Alfred Nobel donated his large fortune to the Nobel prizes.

He dedicated the award to “The person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of
standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congress”.

The united nations General Kofi Annan (Left) were chosen.

“ For their work for a better organized and more peaceful world...achieve peace and security in the world and of international mobilization
aimed at meeting the world’s economic, social and environmental challenges”

Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, shared the first Nobel peace prize in 1901 with Frederic Passy, a leading international pacifist of the time.

In addition to humanitarian efforts and peace movements, the Nobel peace prize has been awarded for work in a wide range of fields including advocacy of human rights, mediation of international conflicts, and arms control.

The nobel peace prize has been awarded to 120 laureates – 97 times to individuals and 23 times to organizations.
Of the 97 individuals awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 12 are women.
The work of the Red cross has been awarded 3 times. Others such as Amnesty international and International Panel on Climate change.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

World Hunger




World Hunger – UN
Read the United Nations Report into World Hunger and answer the following questions. The answer are to be posted onto your Blogsite.
a. How many people in the world are estimated by the United Nations World Food Programme to be chronically hungry?
830 million are estimated to be chronically hungry.

b. Why is this important?
It is important as these people are close to death and they need to be helped as they have little chance of getting out of poverty so they can’t buy food.

c. What kind of report did the agency release?
A map showing “hot spots” – where the poverty and hunger is at its worst.

d. Why does Ms. Catherine Bertini claim people have trouble getting out of poverty and hunger?
As the combination of poverty and disaster causes people to have less chance to build resources to end their hunger.

e. What is the World Food Programme’s definition of hunger?
As a condition in which people fail to get enough food to provide the nutrients for active healthy lifestyles.

g. What events have added to the problem of world hunger in the past few years?
Drought has mainly made hunger a lot worse as of the less food available.

h. What disasters have hurt the poorest countries?
Man-made and natural emergencies. In Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Tajikistan it has hit the worst.




i. Where are the largest numbers of poor and hungry people living?
In developing countries is where most of them live.

j. Where have conditions improved over the past few years? Where have they worsened?
They have improved in Bosnia, Botswana. They have deteriorated in Afghanistan.

k. How many poor people did the World Food Programme feed in the year 2000?
They helped feed 16 million people in the year 200.

l. What does Ms. Bertini say countries need in order to alleviate hunger?
They need food, water drilling and purification equipment, also better sanitation and agricultural systems.
Further Questions for Discussion:
–What is hunger?
When people can’t afford food to provide for themselves.
–What do you think it would be like to live with chronic hunger?
It would be very difficult to live with and a hard place to live at.
–Why do people care about hunger in parts of the world that are far from them?
As everyone is a human being and everyone is equal so everyone should help each other.
–Whose responsibility is the care of the chronically undernourished?
Everyones as the whole world should help.

–How does chronic hunger affect a child?
They can’t develop properly without being fed properly.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Social justice assignment

Article 1:
INDIGENOUS CRIME ACTION A FAILURE, SAYS JUSTICE LEADER.
MALCOLM BROWN
Sydney Morning Herald – January 23rd 2010.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/indigenous-crime-action-a-failure-says-justice-leader-20100122-mqor.html

Article 2:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/appeals-for-calm-after-nigeria-sectarian-slaughter-20100309-pubn.html
Appeals for calm after Nigeria sectarian slaughter
AMINU ABUBAKAR
March 9, 2010 - 1:49PM

Article 3:
In Search of Asylum
Steve Gray
http://www.bouncelot.org/poems/asylum.php
(accessed on 9/3/2010)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Promotion of Peace and Disarmament




Catholic teaching promotes peace as a positive, action-oriented concept. In the words of Pope John Paul II, "Peace is not just the
absence of war. It involves mutual respect and confidence between peoples and nations. It involves collaboration and binding agreements.”
There is a close relationship in Catholic teaching between peace and justice.
Peace is the fruit of justice and is dependent upon right order among human beings.

Participation:

  All people have a right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of society.
It is a fundamental demand of justice and a requirement for human dignity that all people be assured a
minimum level of participation in the community. It is wrong for a person or a group to be excluded unfairly or to be unable to participate in society.

Global Solidarity and Development:

We are one human family. Our responsibilities to each other cross national, racial, economic and ideological differences.
We are called to work globally for justice. Authentic development must be full human development. It must respect and promote personal,
social, economic, and political rights, including the rights of nations and of peoples It must avoid the extremists of underdevelopment on the
one hand, and "superdevelopment" on the other.

Questions:

1. What is the Catholic teaching regarding the requirement to maintaining peace?
2. Why is it wrong to exclude people from participating in society?
3. What are our global responsibilities to each other?

Answers:

1. It shows that to achieve peace we have to act not just sit around and expect it to happen.It teaches us that peace is positive and without Peace
the world would be a horrible , unsafe place to live in.

2. A everyone is equal just because people talk differently or look different doesn't mean that they are not exactly the same person that we are all Human beings
and saying that we should all be Humane.

3. Our responsibilities are that we have to treat everyone fairly and not exclude anyone as of appearences, or economic differences and even those differences
in opinion or learning.

Economic justice




  The economy must serve people, not the other way around.
All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions.
They also have a fundamental right to organize and join unions. People have a right to economic initiative
and private property, but these rights have limits. No one is allowed to a mass excessive wealth when others
lack the basic necessities of life.

Stewardship of God's Creation

  The goods of the earth are gifts from God, and they are intended by God for the benefit of everyone.
There is a "social mortgage" that guides our use of the world's goods, and we have a responsibility to care
for these goods as stewards and trustees, not as mere consumers and users. How we treat the environment is a
measure of our stewardship, a sign of our respect for the Creator.

Questions:

1. What are the rights of the worker?
2. What is a union?
3. What should peoples economic limitations be?
4. Who are god’s gifts intended for?
5. What is meant in this context by: Social Mortgage, Steward and Trustee?
6. What is one measure of our stewardship?

Answers:

1. To have productive work, fair wages and safe working conditions. They also have a right
to Organise and join unions.

2. A number of persons, states, etc., joined or associated together for some common purpose:
student union; credit union.

3. That they can't have a mass excessive wealth when others lack basic needs of life.

4. They are intended from God as a benefit for everyone.

5. The context means that in a mortgage you have to pay things off and keep track and i think a social mortgage is saying that
everyone has to look after each other and lend things or keep track of each other. Also that we owe a debt to God so we need to respect the Earth for him . I also think by steward and trustee it is saying
we need to protect and prolong the gifts that God has given us to benefit our lives.

6. That we have charities and look after eachother or that we have fundraisers and w let friends have a helping hand when there down.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Rights and Responsibilities









Rights and Responsibilities

Human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met.
Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency – starting with food, shelter and clothing,
employment, health care, and education. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities -- to one another, to our families, and to
the larger society.  


Role of Government

The state has a positive moral function. It is an instrument to promote human dignity, protect human rights,
and build the common good. All people have a right and a responsibility to participate in political institutions
so that government can achieve its proper goals. 


Questions:

1. What are every humans fundamental rights?
2. What is the role of the Government in maintaining human rights?
3. Who is responsible for assisting the government to achieve its goals?

Answers:
1. They have a fundamental right to life - and have a right to be decent so have:
- Food
- Shelter
- Clothing
- Employment
- Health Care
- Education

2. The state has a positive moral function , to promote human dignity, to protect Human rights
and to build the common good.

3. All people have a right and responsibility to be involved in political events so that the government
can acieve their goals.