Our Semester Blog Theme
January 31, 2008
For our semester long blog theme we will be following the actions in a country that is seemingly deteriorating: Kenya and a country that is on the rise: China.
“The spasm of political violence that has crippled Kenya erupted soon after the December elections, when the opposition Orange Democratic Party accused President Mwai Kibaki of rigging the vote to win re-election in a race against its leader Raila Odinga. It soon took on ethnic overtones.
More than 860 people have been killed and more than 200,000 displaced in the turmoil, the Red Cross said. The Red Cross has put the number at 863. There was no fresh violence reported in Kenya Wednesday.”
Elise Labott, Saeed Ahmed, Stephanie Halasz and Zain Verjee (updated 12:33 p.m. EST, Wed January 30, 2008) Kenya Police Deny Shoot to Kill Order
The rest of the article talks about the official stance of the Kenyan Government towards the actions of the police with regards to the rebels for more information click http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/01/30/kenya.violence/index.html
China:
“Even before the latest crisis, growing numbers of Chinese have been taking to the streets to protest against the government. Ironically, as the Chinese economy has been growing at double-digit rates, ordinary Chinese—workers upset about low wages as well as middle class city residents angered by local government policies—are staging protests in greater numbers.”
-Bruce Einhorn (Business Week) January 30, 2008 In China, a Winter of Discontent.
Although China has been expereincing an intense period of economic growth, there are still protests. The most recent disaster, massive snow fall, did serious damage to the infastrucure and left the country in a position similar to that of Hurricane Katrina (Einhorn).
The internal disorder is more remniscant of the chaos in Kenya (without the massacres) than of the economic rock that has scared most Americans.
social fact
January 24, 2008
More money is spent by pharmaceutical companies on research for lifestyle drugs (for conditions like hair loss) than on research for life-saving drugs and diseases like malaria that affect hundreds of millions of people.
Hello world!
January 17, 2008
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
