Luisa Sobral - Not there yet

perfect video,
perfect music,
perfect voice,
perfect lyrics:
I just fell in love

by: MariadeLurdes

The Americanization of the World

The American economy is an ever-present force in the world today. Pepsi ads now clutter the streets of every big city in China, Big Macs are being ordered throughout the entire world, and the term "Always Coca-Cola" is being muttered by all of Europe, although they have no idea what the phrase means. Have we gone too far in our economic Americanization of the world?

Americanization is not only changing the world, but also causing wrong judgments to be made about American life. In a recent French poll of images that come to mind when thinking of America, 67% of those polled said "violence" and 49% "inequality" as opposed to only 20% who said "freedom" and 4% "generosity". In Europe, Americans are stereotyped by globalization as being shallow, spoiled, and shortsighted.

Comment: We think that this has gone too far! We are loosing our identity by tanking America's culture! And that is a shame because America don't have one real and unique culture: it's a combo of people and races, religions, ...
So we think that there is no problem with taking some ideas of other countries, but trying to adapt them to our culture instead of copying them. We should keep our roots and maintain our originality and our dignity! The world only moves while there are different ideas to be discussed.

Barack Obama

Although Barack Obama campaign had raised some racial problems,

he was elected !

And he was seen as one hope for the world.

Some people opened their minds and stop wondering weather he was black or white, Jewish or Cristian;

and some people realized that his difference didn't stopped him from winning and became the hope for so many people.

He is the first black president of the USA and we hope that contributes to one change in society.

People have to became more unite and stop wondering about their tiny differences, because we are all made of the same. Barack Obama is the proof that anyone, no matter their roots, their believes or their skin, can make difference, and make the world a better place to live.

the racial issue in USA

Racism in the United States has been a major issue ever since the colonial era and the slave era. Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans. European Americans were privileged by law in matters of literacy, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s. Many European ethnic groups, particularly American Jews, Irish Americans, and Eastern European and Southern European immigrants, as well as immigrants from elsewhere, suffered xenophobic exclusion and other forms of racism in American society.

Historical explanation for the racial issue:The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965. They mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans.
Segregation continued even after the demise of the Jim Crow laws. Data on house prices and attitudes toward integration from suggest that in the mid-20th century, segregation was a product of collective actions taken by whites to exclude blacks from their neighborhoods.
Black-White segregation is declining fairly consistently for most metropolitan areas and cities. Despite these pervasive patterns, many changes for individual areas are small. Thirty years after the civil rights era, the United States remains a residentially segregated society in which Blacks and Whites inhabit different neighborhoods of vastly different quality.

Some researchers suggest that racial segregation may lead to disparities in health and mortality.

Let's stop racial segregation, that is pointless!

influence of immigration

American immigration history can be viewed in four epochs: the colonial period, the mid-nineteenth century, the turn of the twentieth, and post-1965. Each epoch brought distinct national groups, races, and ethnicities to the United States.

The immigrants contribute to the development of the country they go to, because they go looking for work, and they usually work harder that they would if they were in their own country.

In that sense, immigration benefits one country because it gains labor, that is necessary to raise one economically stable country.

When one country has a stable and strong economy, the population become happy, and it leads to one stable society as well; that attracts more immigrants, so we can conclude that immigration leads to more immigration and that its important to any country.

USA

Prehistoric times -territory was occupied first by Native Americans

1492 - Territory was occupied also by European colonists
1493 - Spanish explorers arrive with Christopher Columbus
1534 – France colonize North America during a period extending
1607 - First successful English colony was established
1775 - The Thirteen Colonies began a rebellion against British
1776 - Declaration of Independence

Water Art

By: Ciih*

Awesome things!

The Things we can do with our voice!
I do not particularly like the music but the creativity and imagination of this guy is fantastic!

by: margarida*

Racial Discrimination - Reflection

People never learn!

Every single day someone is killed just because someone thinks he is different.

It's time to stop treating others like they were less than us!

Ethnic cleansing is the extreme of Discrimination, because people don't just discriminate but also kill other races, giving power only to their own race.

Did you know that:

• Nearly 1 in 6 Europeans were discriminated in the past 12 months.

• 1 in 4 has witnessed acts of discrimination in the last year.

Racial Discrimination

Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government of South Africa, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained.

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation.

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.

Example: Skinheads, holocaust...

100% human

Here's one "publicity" about how we should look at the others.

I really hope you enjoy it.

The music is in portuguese ("Saiba" - Adriana Calcanhoto) but, if you pay atention to the lyrics, you'll understand why I've chosen that one.

By: MariadeLurdes