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History of Modern Britain
History of Modern Britain
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Institution
History of Modern Britain
The video present various reactions of the people to mingling and free movement of the people. There are those who felt that some people did not deserve to mingle freely with others (Marr, British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Worldwide Ltd, & 2 Entertain, 2009). These sentiments were based on racial differences and most of the people who felt this way were racists who could not understand how people belonging to different racial backgrounds could mingle. The main perspective that is presented in this clip is clash of civilization. This is because most of the sentiments that many shared during the periods that the clip is based on had different feelings towards the changes that were being made. Many people wanted everything to remain the way they were while others wanted change more than anything did. This made the society to clash as a result of various changes that were taking place.
Clash of civilization affected modern Britain in so many due to the many changes that took place in such a short period. Different groups in the society did not know what to believe and had to make big choices fast. There are those who were easily convinced to follow what the new civilization had brought while others opted to oppose many things that came with this kind of civilization. Civilization while done slowly can be effective but when it is rushed, it may cause more harm than good. In the history of modern Britain, more harm than good came from civilization.
Many of the clashes that were felt were based on cultural and religious beliefs. There are many changes that took place during the modernization period of Britain and these changes highly challenged people’s beliefs. Most people treasured their religious beliefs and did not like the fact that there were changes that were being made that did not support what they were used to.
Reference
Marr, A., British Broadcasting Corporation., BBC Worldwide Ltd., & 2 Entertain (Firm). (2009). Andrew Marr’s History of modern Britain. S.l.: BBC Worldwide, Ltd.
The Ideas of Booker Washington
THE IDEAS OF BOOKER WASHINGTON AND W.E.B DU BOIS
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The Ideas of Booker Washington and W.E.B Du Bois
Both W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were great leaders within the black community in the late 19th century and late 20th century. Each of these philosophers had their own view of racial injustice and economic progress. Washington, a reformer and an influence of his time, self-help, preached social solidarity, and accommodation. Washington urged people of color to put up with racial discrimination temporarily and concentrate on improving themselves through material prosperity and hard work. On the other hand, Du Bois was a towering political thinker and scholar who opposed Washington’s strategy. In his viewpoint, Washington’s strategy would only serve to exacerbate white oppression. Du Bois advocated for civil rights agenda and political action. He opined that the only way social change would be attained is through forming “the Talented Tenth,” a small group comprising people of color with a college education. The purpose of this essay is to describe and evaluate the ideologies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois at length.
Various factors shaped the views of Washington and Du Bois on race relations. What influence Washington’s views on relations was his early life back in Virginia. Particularly his mother’s struggles as a black woman influenced his ideologies on racial justice. Washington was born to a black mother and a white father in a hut in 1856. His mother was employed as a cook by a plantation owner, and his father was anonymous to him. Alongside his mother and siblings, Booker had been enslaved by the Borrough couple during the civil war. They were freed when he was nine years old. His mother later remarried a free black man in West Virginia. Growing up, Booker had to work at a local salt workshop every day between 4 am, and 9 am, and it was only later that he was allowed to attend school. His second job was at a coal mine where he crossed paths will Samuel Chapman, a leader of the black troops in the civil war. All these experiences shaped his ideologies on how he viewed racial oppression. He has watched his mother struggle as a slave and at the hands of white people that he slowly began to accept that racial minorities did not have power and all they could do was tolerate discrimination. On the other hand, Du Bois’s ideas were largely influenced by the extensive fieldwork and groundbreaking sociological studies he conducted. His mother insisted on his education which saw him be the first among his extended family to attend college. His father left his mother shortly after his birth so he did not know much about him. He attended Harvard University and as a scholar, he found himself taking much of his time conducting research and doing door-to-door interviews. These experiences led him to believe that poverty, lack of education, and distrust were the Black communities’ greatest challenges.
Washington and Du Bois were responding to the social forces of discrimination, racial disaggregation, and capitalism. Life was particularly challenging for people of color during the Reconstruction era in the South. Discrimination was widespread during the period of Jim Crow Laws. Additionally, it was extremely dangerous for people of color to exercise their right to vote, get employment and attend schools. With the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, there was no chance of people retaliating with violence and advocating for their rights. In his September 18th, 1895 speech, Washington told his audience in Atlanta that self-improvement was the only way out for African-American people. In his viewpoint, remaining segregated from white people was better than attempting desegregation as long as they gave black men and women access to education, economic progress, and justice in the United States courts.
The Merit of Washington’s argument was that if people of color would learn to accept discrimination as part of their life, eventually they would win the respect of their white counterparts who would then have no choice but to accept them as part of the society. This would lead to the integration of people of color in all strata of society. Washington reasoned that by concentrating on self-improvement, people of color would acquire useful industrial and crafting skills and farming skills to make them useful members of society. The merit of Du Bois’s reasoning was that to address the issue of racism in society, there was a need first to address capitalism as the underlying cause of injustice. He was no other way around discrimination rather than demanding to put an end to it. Du Bois reasoned that protesting and showing agitation was the only way for people of color to attain the respect of their white counterparts.
Notably, I see a lot of parallels in the ideologies of the two philosophers in the current society. Just like in the late 19th and early 20th century, the issue of racism continues to persist in today’s society. Although there have been strides in addressing the vice, we still have a long to go to attain equality as a society. During the times of Du Bois and Washington, people of color were had limited rights. They were not allowed to vote, go to school, and they had limited access to jobs. This has improved a great deal today but racism has shifted and adopted a subtle face. Today, racism is rampant in American society, but it is more geared towards the justice systems and institutions. There have been cases of police brutality, racial profiling where people of color get shot by white police officers. Examples are Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, who lost their lives under fatal circumstances at the hands of the people entrusted to guarantee their security.
I tend to agree more with Du Bois’ assertions than those of Washington. I believe that Du Bois had a better approach to addressing racial injustice because his strategy encouraged people to fight for their place in society. I think that following his years of extensive research and education allowed him to analyze societal problems better and develop a solution. Washington also had the people’s best interest at heart, but I fail to understand what good accepting discrimination would do. To earn people’s respect, one has to stand up and defend themselves, not display cowardice by sitting back and accepting everything that comes their way.
In closing, both Booker Washington and W.E. B Dubois were great philosophers who had great ideologies on racial solidarity, discrimination, and capitalism. While Washington maintained that people of color should accept racism, Du Bois opined that people had to rise and demand political action and acceptance of people of color. Dubois and Washington might have disagreed on ending class and racial injustice, but one thing is for sure; that they wanted to see social and economic progress for all people in society.
Bibliography
Bidwell, Rebecca Macon. “Washington and Du Bois: Using Historical Figures as Exemplars for Discussing Public Issues.” Iowa Journal for the Social Studies 29, no. 2 (2021): 58.
Dietrich, Lucas. “” At the Dawning of the Twentieth Century”: WEB Du Bois, AC McClurg & Co., and the Early Circulation of The Souls of Black Folk.” Book History 20, no. 1 (2017): 307-329.
Lungu, Nancy Bwalya, and Alice Dhliwayo. “African American Civil Rights Movements to End Slavery, Racism and Oppression in the Post Slavery Era: A Critique of Booker T. Washington’s Integration Ideology.” East African Journal of Education and Social Sciences (EAJESS) 2, no. 3: 62-68.
History of Micro-finance and Grameen Bank
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The Grameen Bank
History of Micro-finance and Grameen Bank
Although informal borrowing and lending stretches back thousands of years ago in Asia, the idea of ‘modern’ micro-finance and micro-credit occurred in the rural Bangladesh during the 1970s. The microfinance theory was founded by Muhammad Yunus (a professor at the University of Chittagong) after he was disillusioned with the poverty struck population of Bangladesh. Inspired by the 1974 Bangladesh famine, professor Yunus advanced a $27 small loan to a 42-member family to serve as the start-up resources and relieve them from high interest rates under predatory lending. Yunus’ aim was to reduce poverty and suffering of the low income members of the society who lacked collateral backings to acquire loans from the formal lending and borrowing institutions. This led to the establishment of the popular Grameen Bank (also known as “Bank of the Rural/Villages”) in 1983, with Jobra village becoming the first rural area eligible for the Grameen’s Bank services.
Target Groups and Clients
Grameen Bank targets the uncreditworthy and poor members of the society who have been marginalized by the formal lending and banking institutions on the ground of lack of collateral backing. At the onset, over 97% of the Grameen’s clients were women; however, the institution has expanded to allow male membership. Its main clients are women, unemployed persons, and illiterates. The bank therefore focuses on poverty reduction by lending at low interest rates to the less poor in the Asian community, thereby helping them acquire resources for setting-up micro-enterprises.
Application of the Program
Founded on the credence that people posses endless ability to end poverty given financial empowerment, the bank advances non-collaterally backed micro-credits to its members. Grameen Bank operates on collective responsibility and group lending system. The bank’s solidarity lending within no legal instrument can be applied in China, particularly to the women population who only access 5% credit from formal banking and lending institutions. With no joint liability applicable in case of default, grouping lending scheme would be significant in elevating poverty in the China’s villages that have been left out of the Chinese formal financial system. Such a move will no doubt improve living standards of the low income members.
Cigarette Money in POW Camp
Various theories have been advanced in regard to the origin of commodity money. In this case, a critical assessment of Cigarette as one of the widely used item of trade in the Prisoner of war camps is under focus. Past literature indicates that during the World War II, there was intensive consumption of cigarettes among the soldiers, and this made it become one of the most coveted commodities in military camps. It is worth note, therefore, that, in the event, some of the soldiers were captured and held in POW camps; cigarette got even more use. The mechanism of interaction between the prisoners and the wardens facilitated conversion of cigarette as the medium of exchanging different items for survival in such camps. In response to the limited cigarette supply in the camps, its market generated a concept of commodity money as it was adopted as the item of acquiring other basic needs like food among others. There are some characteristics that qualified cigarette as a medium of exchange (Welch, Patrick, and Gerry 228). A former prisoner of war R.A. Radford authored an article Economica highlighting the concepts surrounding cigarette and its general acceptance within the camps as commodity money. Cigarette was relatively uniform within the camp economy, desirable, and had light weight for portability.
With increasing trade volume across different regions within the POW camps, complex case, arose and cigarette supply began to dwindle. The Red Cross that was the sole supplier of cigarettes began to bring pipe tobacco in lieu of cigarettes forcing the prisoners to alter their quantity by squeezing out some. The ensuing repackaging was a case of debasement and traders began to lose confidence in using cigarette as commodity money. The change in supply of cigarette was based on the prevailing war climate which in turn affected cigarettes issued by Red Cross and forces of demand and supply hence influenced inflation and deflation.
Island of Stone Money
In the Island of stone, the increasing need for other products led to the adoption of the stone as medium of exchange. Although the stone had some evident disqualifications of being money, it was still generally accepted, and this certified its adoption. Use of the voluminous stone in Yap provides a good ground to understand what money is. Although an item may not meet all the characteristics of the US dollar for instance, it may still be used as a medium of exchange therefore qualifies to be money. The strange case of this stone is that it sunk below the ocean but was still considered to be holding a given unit of wealth and therefore continue to be used to exchange goods (Lal, Brij, and Kate 140). This stone can be compared to the contemporary virtual money that just exchange hands online but cannot be physically touched. Take the case of electricity bill clearance online where only figures change on the individual account balance; so is the case of stone which was used as a medium of exchange despite physical absence. In respect of this case, FEI qualifies as money since it’s held in trust of the people by authorized agency and generally accepted as a safe mode of transaction. It is worth to note that FEI is fiat money since it is considered legal as medium of exchange by the socio-political and economic authorities. Despite non-universality, it serves given section of society in the world as a legal tender hence its qualification as Fiat money. It is imperative to underscore the significance of confidence people hold on Fei its usefulness as Fiat money.