King Leopold II | Analysis

King Leopold II | Analysis King Leopold II has the dishonorable reputation as one of the most brutal and cruel colonial rulers of the 19th century for what he has done in Congo. Even after his merciless reign was completely turned over to Belgium, tons of books, articles, photos, and essays were released to reveal all of King Leopold IIs atrocities to the people around the world. Some scholars have tried to justify his actions arguing that King Leopold made a great contribution to modernizing and civilizing Congo. However, one cannot ignore the unchangeable fact that King Leopold II has, in fact, committed unforgivable crimes against the natives of Congo for his own wealth from ivory and rubber collected through forced labor. Therefore, despite what some people argue in helpless attempts to justify King Leopold IIs actions in Congo, what he did during his 22-year reign in Congo are too inhumane and unjustifiable for people to honor him as a sage king. Leopold II was the king of Belgium from 1865 to 1909 and was the founder of Congo Free State (Present-day The Democratic Republic of Congo). By the time Leopold II succeeded his father as king, he had travelled around the world much and had become a supporter of the expansion of Belgium into other territories. He managed to formulate an agreement with Henry Stanley, an ambitious journalist who is famous for exploring Africa, to bring Congo under European control through unfair trade and slavery. This is how Congo Free State of King Leopold II was founded and it existed from 1885 to 1907. Disappointed and outraged by what King Leopold II was doing in Congo Free State, many journalists and writers began to write about the crimes he was committing. Among these works, Mark Twain, encouraged by the Congo Reform Association, wrote a gripping literary work expressing his thoughts about King Leopold II called King Leopolds Soliloquy. It is a satiric soliloquy, or dramatic monologue published by Congo Reform Association rather than a commercial publisher, which means that Twain was writing for a cause, not personal gains. The main influence on making Twain write this particular work was Edmund D. Morel of the English Congo Reform Association who wanted Twains help in gathering support for an American branch of Congo Reform Association. This work specifically focuses on several issues regarding King Leopold II, and among these are brutality, absolute materialism, morality and media. As for brutality, 2 million to 15 million people of Congo supposedly died during the reign of King Leopold II. The exact number is nearly impossible to discover as no concrete records of Congo Free State could be found today. King Leopolds 19,000-man army used their developed weapons such as rifles, cannons, and machine guns to slowly take control of Congo from the natives who were only equipped with spears or antiquated muskets. The theme of brutality is very closely related to materialism. At first, King Leopold IIs main interest was ivory. However, in the early 1890s, with the invention of bicycles and their wide-spread usage, the demand for rubber suddenly skyrocketed and started what people call The rubber boom. Luckily for King Leopold II, nearly half of Congo Free State was covered with rubber trees that would have taken over 50 y ears to fully grow elsewhere. With an increasing demand for rubber from Congo, King Leopold II quickly came up with a cruelly effective idea to collect rubber. It was quite simple; executive officers under King Leopold II would go into a local town and take the women there as hostages. To free their wives, men had to go out into the woods and collect a certain amount of rubber. If they did not fulfill their required amount of rubber, they received cruel punishment from these officers; they were often whipped with chicotte, a lash made from hippo hide, or their hands were cut off for not meeting the demands. Also the soldiers were ordered to bring back a hand for every bullet fired. As it was not actually possible, these soldiers instead cut off the hands of the living resulting in mutilation and a decrease in the population. As for morality and press, a fairly large amount of the soliloquy is used to criticize the media (newspapers and photographs), for revealing what King Leopolds done in Congo Free State. Before the invention of Kodak, cameras, all the atrocities and chaos King Leopold II was creating in Congo Free State could not be fully known. Many articles and essays were written but there was no visual evidence for the public to prove it. Also, King Leopold II went out of his way to ensure that none of his deeds became known to the public, or as Morel puts it, Not one in a thousand of the dark deeds performed under such a regime can ever, in the nature of things, become publicly known. In King Leopolds soliloquy, King Leopold blames the results from his cruel actions on reporters and the camera, rather than himself. This also means that Leopold cares much more about how people conceive him as a king instead of the morality or justness of his actions. This can be witnessed when he says Ten thousand pulpits and ten thousand presses are saying the good word for me all the time and placidly and convincingly denying the mutilations. Then that trivial little Kodak, that a child can carry in its pocket, gets up, uttering never a word, and knocks them dumb. He also calls the camera The only witness I have encountered in my long experience that I couldnt bribe. King Leopolds Soliloquy is quite significant in its form. Twain takes the character of King Leopold himself, embattled by those who wish him to change. By presenting his ideas through a soliloquy, which is a monologue rather than a literary work with a plot or characters, he creates special tension in the readers mind. From the readers perspective, hearing such ravings and evil deeds from King Leopold IIs own mouth would have made a strong impact on their mind; it brings the reader into a greater sense of anger and disgust at the callousness of deeds and thought from the king. As effective as it may be, however, readers of this work must be aware that this is not a transcript of King Leopold II but a soliloquy written by a different person based on his imagination. Therefore, certain parts of it must have been somewhat exaggerated and may not even be true. Although most of what was happening in Congo Free State was well known by the time King Leopolds Soliloquy was written thanks to the development of technology, especially Kodak, it would have been quite difficult to be aware of all of King Leopold IIs intentions for his actions. Nevertheless, Mark Twain, with his effective usage of language and satire, was able to create quite a sensation across America. According to Justin Kaplan, it was the most effective and most widely circulated piece of American propaganda in the cause of Congo reform. Twain once said in an interview of Boston Herald on Nov 6. 1905, The condition of things in the Congo is atrocious, as shown by the photographs of children whose hands have been cut off. Leopold thinks this can go on because the Congo is a distant out-of-the-way country. But once we can get England and America to investigate, and take this matter up, something will be done. We Americans are especially interested, because it was our recognition of the flag there that led to recognition by other powers. By writing such work, considering the social and political impact of Ma rk Twain, he was trying to encourage its readers to actively participate in speaking against King Leopolds regime. By touching on pathos of the readers, Twain was clearly arousing them to active protest with his very effective writing style which may sound satiric and scornful to the readers. Advocates of King Leopold IIs reign in Congo Free State, however, argue that this is all just an accusation of the King and he made a great contribution to modernizing and civilizing Congo. In An Answer to Mark Twain by Donald Kerr, a pamphlet written in response to King Leopolds Soliloquy, Kerr states that lies and slanders are accumulated and, as stated by Mark Twain the only true thing in his soliloquy they slander and still slander. Like such, lots of controversies exist among scholars and historians regarding King Leopold IIs Congo Free State. Advocates first criticize Mark Twain for stating that King Leopold taxes his stolen nation but provides nothing in return but hunger, terror, grief, shame, captivity, mutilation and massacre More than half of the pamphlet, An Answer to Mark Twain, is dedicated to showing photographs of what King Leopold II gave them in return. It contains more than 30 photographs of schools, bridges, hospitals, villages, railways, motor-cars, and all oth er things that were built during King Leopold IIs regime. As the anger and disgust towards King Leopold II spread across the world after witnessing photographs thanks to the development of Kodak, Kerr must have thought it would be effective to show pictures supporting King Leopold IIs achievements during his reign. Advocates of King Leopold II also insist that there is no factual evidence connecting the mutilations and murders of the natives to the army of King Leopold. Kerr also questions the validity of the photographs of the mutilated natives asserting that such is the value of the photographs produced, and as it is not proved by specific dates and places that these acts of cruelty can be directly or indirectly imputed to Belgians having resided in the Congo they must be considered as slanderous. These advocates of King Leopold II endlessly try to justify the chaos he created in Congo Free State, but nothing will ever change the fact that the natives of Congo suffered greatly from the reign of King Leopold II both emotionally and physically. What people can read from King Leopolds Soliloquy by Mark Twain, and all the other evidence that people can see such as photographs, articles, essays, and historical records point to the fact that King Leopold II was willing to apply any and all possible measures to gain wealth and did not care one bit about the natives. Despite the contributions the king made to Congo, like modernizing and civilizing Congo during his reign, people of our generation remember him as a brutal and greedy colonial ruler rather than a sage king. Therefore, even though what these advocates say of King Leopold II may be true, what he did to the natives of Congo and how he gained his wealth are too inhumane and cruel to be justified.

The Heidi Chronicles Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Heidi Chronicles† by Wendy Wasserstein kept my interest so much that I could not put it down until I was to the last page. I liked how the issue of sexuality played a role along with the issue of feminist goals in this play. I believe they complimented one another in that both groups strive for equal right among the majority. For example when Peter starts to march with the other women from the Art Institute. It shows that he is standing for a cause the effects another minority group in our society: women.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I found Susan very interesting in the play. At the beginning she is always concerned with impressing the guys, rolling her skirt to appear more attractive. Peter makes a correlation in that Susan gave herself Stigmatas, resembling the wounds suffered by Jesus, in the waist with straight pins. I just find that so ironic; she tortured herself in the pursuit of men, being looked upon more as a sexual object than a human being. On the other hand, she tried to be a feminist to the point of moving to a women’s health and legal collective in Montana, where she met and dated Molly. I wonder if she really wants Molly or decided to play the other team because she was so discussed by men? Or a little bit of both.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Heidi knows a variety of men through out this play. There is Peter, I really think she likes Peter, he has a good heart, is caring for her, and believes for equal rights f...

Contribution of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Essay

Introduction The production of goods and services in the most efficient manner has continue to be the only viable and alternative for development of small scale enterprises in Nigeria and for the development, growth and survival of any economy. The development of small scale enterprises not only contributes significantly to imposed standard, they also bring substantial local capital formation and achieve high level of productivity. Small and medium scales are crucial to the development of all economies of the world. They are the modern day’s incubators of job opportunities, they provide the way for developing local technologies, raw materials and serve as the foundation of self-reliance to many countries of the world. Small and medium enterprises predominate all over the world with labor intensive method of production. The operation of small and medium enterprises not only requires less capital per worker, but also per unit labor added. Hence, cost industrialization and industrial job are not high SME’s offer the most efficient form of business. The definition of small and medium enterprises tends to differ among countries. Thus there is no universally accepted definition. This arises from difference in industrial organization of the countries at different level of economic development in part of the same country. It is also important to recognize that the definition change over time. For the purpose of this research however, small and medium scale enterprises is defined as a term used broadly to cover industries consisting of small firms ranging from household and cottage establishment to medium sized industries that are not large enough to be classified as large. In other words, small and medium enterprises are classified as enterprises embracing factories, farming and non-farming organization ranging from household to cottage enterprises. Small and medium scale enterprises are a dynamic, growing, profitable and innovative sector. It is in recognition of this that the government over the years initiated various programmes to address this crucial issue. If the strategies used where appropriate and relevant, entrepreneurship and SMEs would have striven in Nigeria thereby, contributing optimally to individual wellbeing and the economy in general. Suffice it to say that the strategy of industrialization with focus on large scale business has proved inadequate and of serious socioeconomic and environmental consequences. This therefore calls for redefinition of strategies to correct the imbalances in economic development policies. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Despite the abundant human and material resources, Nigeria has failed to develop into economic to be reckoned with from within and outside world, partnership sprits in Nigeria is at its infancy, partners in many small scale enterprises pursue individualistic goals at the expense of the overall interest of the SMEs, consequently mortality rate among SMEs is high as a result of mistrust that often develops among the owners. Beside poor partner spirit, regulatory environment, policy instability and reversals, inadequate infrastructure etc. and the misused of resources have led to the country losing it position of a promising developing nation to that of underdeveloped status. Small scale enterprises was made possible to assist and encourage Nigerians toward setting up small scale industries for the realization of self-reliance and rapid growth of the Nigeria economy PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This research attempt to analyze the role of small and medium scale enterprises in achieving economic growth and development through generating employment for youth in the country. Nigeria is endowed with the population reside both in rural and urban areas with no employment and low income. Genuine encouragement of the populace to use their own initiative to set up Small and medium enterprises, using the local raw materials and technology will have a positive impact on the socioeconomic of Nigeria and thus help in alleviating the problems of unemployment. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The role of small scale enterprises in the overall economic development is well recognized in every economy. This is because of the role the sector can play as a source of gainful employment. More than ever before, the country needs to fine tune its industrial policy to align it with development strategies so that small scale enterprises could compete favorably with the product of emerging economies. The significance of this study therefore lies on the importance the government of Nigeria attached to development of small scale industries and the study will be useful to policy makers in taking decisions which affect small and medium enterprises. This study will also serve as a blue print for the government, entrepreneurs and students alike in understanding the economics of small and medium scale enterprises. In the past various policies and measures were taken by successive governments in an attempt to foster development via small scale establishments, but most of them failed. This is because there is lack of clear understanding of the actual problems that hinder or retard the development and growth of small scale industries. Therefore, this study with the definite explanation and precision about problems will help government to make necessary adjustment in making policies or taking certain measures to improve small scale industries in the country. It is therefore intended that the findings and recommendations of this study will enable the owners of small scale enterprises, future potential enterprises as well as the both similar bodies to assess the importance of small scale enterprises toward economic development, how to establish, manage as well as fund and identify areas of their survival thereby achieving the objectives of establishing them. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The main aim of this study is to examine the broad spectrum covered by the small and medium scale enterprises, their survival in relation to youth and employment generation The broader specific objectives are as follows: 1.To analyze the contribution and impact of small scale industries to Nigerian economy 2.To examine the problems which hinder the impact 3.To assess the role of developmental policy program of small scale enterprises undertaken in Nigeria. In a nutshell, this research study is to assess the performance of policies on small scale enterprises and its impact on youth and employment generation. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This study is an assessment of the role of small and medium scale enterprises in general and its contribution to youth and employment generation in Nigeria. Writing a research of this nature cannot be done without some limitations; Data has to be collected from a reasonable number of respondents. However, some information may be missing, looking at the numerous numbers of small and medium enterprises. Bearing in mind that, the business world in the developing countries is rigid in revealing certain information which they regard as secret. The research shall be limited to areas where entrepreneurs are willing to give necessary information needed. In addition to this problem, there are also problems of limited official statistics on the number of small and medium scale enterprises, their size, and range and how they operate. As a student, time, financial constraint, lack of cooperation on the part of entrepreneurs, hastily response to questions which may reflect adequate information couple with the respondents lack of understanding and appreciation of the research topic may affect the effort to the validity of this research work.

Prejudice On The Basis Of Race, Gender, And Sexual...

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