Caste system in India...

The Indian caste system is divided according to the structure of the body of Brahma(first god of the Trimurti, the trinity of Hinduism).

The four main castes are:

-The mouth (Brahmin) is the priests, philosophers and teachers;

-The arms (Kshatriya) are the military and government;

-The legs (Vaishya) are traders and farmers;

-Feet (Shudra) are the artisans, the workers and peasants.


The Dalits are called untouchables were not generated in the body of Brahma, so do not belong to castes. The Dalits are formed by those (and their descendants) who violated the codes of the caste to which originally belonged. They are considered unclean and therefore make the work more despicable.

Outside of the caste system, there are also the Adivasi (tribal people) and Mechhas (foreigners).
There is no individual salvation (Moksha) as the only person belongs to a caste to which she must complete loyalty. If the person violating the rules of their caste, the individual is expelled, becoming a dalit.

India is a country where equality does not belong to their culture.
The Westerners believe in equality ... and it is in human rights but can not come to India and say you are 'friends' of untouchables ...This is an example of a culture very different from the West.




Sources:
http://adaniel.tripod.com/castes.htm
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castas
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Caste_AS.jpg/350px-Caste_AS.jpg

Holocaust...

The Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.

Most exterminated was Jewish, but had too militant communists, homosexuals, gypsies, Slavs, the handicapped, mentally handicapped, Soviet prisoners of war, members of the intellectual elite Polish, Russian and other East European countries, and political activists , Jehovah's Witnesses, some Catholic priests and trade unionists, psychiatric patients and criminals.

Adolf Hitler protected the Aryan race, were a basically be near a German common (in his view) white, hair and eyes clear, Catholic and with a mind divested as his.

But it is all because of race? Maybe the Jews were targets because they are smart and therefore have more success in trade etc ...

Sources:

http://www.pletz.com/nani/artigos/nani035.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust

Changes in the spelling Portuguese

The changes will only happen because three of the eight members of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries ratified the grammatical rules the document proposed in 1990.

Once the rules are built into the language will begin the transition period in which ministries of education, associations and academies of Arts, publishers and producers of learning materials receiving the new orthographic rules and may, gradually, reprint books, dictionaries, etc…

The Portuguese is the third language western most spoken, after the English and Spanish. The occurrence of having two spellings hampers the dissemination of the language. His unification, however, facilitate the definition of criteria for examinations and certificates for foreigners.

With the proposed changes to the agreement it is estimated that 1.6% of the vocabulary of Portugal is modified. This is one example that the globalization can modify cultures.

Origin of cultural diversity

Now exist consensus that the first man emerged in Europe, two million years ago. Then starting spread around the world successful in adapting to the different conditions.

The many societies have emerged separated around the globe differed significantly from each other and many of these differences persist to this day.

The most obvious cultural differences that exist between the peoples are the language, dress and traditions, there are also significant variations in the way societies are organized in their shared conception of morality and the way they interact with their environment. But part of this things are changing or being lost because of globalization.

“Can Film Bring the World Together?”

Some posts ago I said our purpose was to make you aware of the relationships among cultures.

Jehane Noujaim, who is an Egyptian American documentary film director, had a bigger propose: to change the world by creating a day in which the world come together, through the power of film. Her wish originated Pangea Day, a name easy to understand once the point is to unite people from different cultures and from different continents.

Pangea Day was a four-hour worldwide live program broadcasted from Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro for millions around the world via TV, Internet and mobile phones.

This event, which happened in May 10th, 2008, involved music, speakers and, of course, films. Those were mostly short films which made us think about a vast diversity of people from different background: since remarkable stories such as William Kamkwmamba’s, a young Malawian man who built windmills to generate electricity to his family’s home, after he was dropped out of school for lack of money; to the short film “Meninos” which shows issues a Brazilian boy faces daily: bullies and indifferent girls.

On Pangea Day, were also featured animation films, always with a lesson. One of those is “Papiroflexia” (Spanish for origami), which reminds us of our power to shape the world. Take a look.



Pangea Day also make us reflect about discrimination, integration, war, peace, sad and happy stories. It is certainly an empathy exercise: in which we can experience to “live inside so many other heads”.

So, Pangea Day was a celebration of the power of movie. It tried to change minds and to move us to action. It’s a good example of how globalization can be positive (heterogenization, in this case), making as aware of the diversity of people and cultures.

If you miss the event, find more about it - www.pangeaday.org

Occidental Universal Human Rights

There was a time when we decided to stop imposing one culture; we decided to tolerate other cultures. An idea of cultural relativism took place, which means that values, beliefs and norms are different in different cultures. So, an outside culture should not be judged by our own culture’s standards.

Hence, in relativism point of view, you may say: “according to my beliefs, I should kill him. I will kill him and you must tolerate.”

We can see that it isn’t rational to tolerate the intolerant. How can we tolerate other cultures, keeping everyone safe?

United Nations General Assembly came up whit an answer, partly as a response to the atrocities of World War II: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

Human rights include the right to life, freedom, equality, the right to food, to work, to education and to participate in culture. We believe these and other rights should be universal.

We? Who is the “we” I’ve been referring to?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Not every culture had the same role writing it, resulting in supremacy of occidental’s believes. Well, "we" is the Occidental Society.

A little ethnocentric? Although we had a good purpose, we are imposing values in other cultures. Good ones? That’s relative!

'Culture'...

The term 'culture' is often used in our blog, I think it is important to clarify its meaning ...



The culture is the values of a certain group of people, who follow the rules and the 'goods' it creates. Values are abstract ideas, while the standards are defined elements or rules that are expected to people obey.

Culture refers to the ways of life of members of a society, or groups of society. Includes how they dress, the customs of marriage and family life, forms of work, religious ceremonies and the occupation of leisure time. It also covers the 'goods' they create and have meaning for them - bows and arrows, factories and machines, computers, books, houses, etc...

Each country has its own culture, and tends to preserve it, this may cause some conflict between different societies.



Sources:

http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/sites/country/img/992_races.jpg
http://www.esas.pt/dfa/sociologia/conceito_cultura.html

Adapt or Leave

As we saw, globalization involves an interaction between cultures. But when does this relationship with other cultures start affecting ours? Should we try to keep our culture?

This issue becomes stronger when we deal with immigration.

A great example: Australia.

The majority of Australians descends from immigrants. So, this country’s culture was built by diverse waves of immigrants, being nowadays one of the most diverse cultures.

According to John Howard, who was the Australia’s Prime Minister, although Australia descends from a mix between cultures, it has it own values and beliefs. Take a look to some extracts of his speech on immigration to the Australia’s Muslim population:

"I am not against immigration." "However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand."

"This idea of Australia being a multi-cultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity."

"We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!"

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us."

“By all means, keep your culture, but do not force it on others.”

"This is our country, our land and our lifestyle, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."

We can see that this is a question hard to deal whit. Every immigrant has the right to follow his/her lifestyle, according to his/her religion or culture. However this right may collide with Australian’s own culture.

Howard gives an example related to religion. Most Australians are Christian. Actually the ‘modern’ Australia was founded by Christians. So, God is a part of Australian culture. Should Australians remove Christian symbols from, for example, schools? According to Howard, they don’t. “If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home”, he adds.

What is his solution? Adapt or leave. The same way Australians accept other religions and lifestyles, immigrants should adapt to the culture of the place they choose to live.


The truth is that somehow the relationship with other cultures affects our continuously developing culture. That is something we can’t (and shouldn’t) fight. However we can (and should) try to keep our own culture, knowing that it’s being built in a globalized world.

Source:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/howard-muslim-speech.shtml

Xenophobia

Xenophobia is an intense dislike and/or fear of people from other countries. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos) and φόβος (phobos).

The word xenophobia consists of two parts: xeno, a combining form meaning "stranger, person that looks different from you, foreigner", and phobia, "fear".

As defined by the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), it can be a fear of or aversion to, not only persons from other countries, but other cultures, subcultures, etc. in short, anyone who meets any list of criteria about their origin, religion, personal beliefs, habits, language, orientations, or any other criteria.

There are two main objects of the phobia in xenophobia: The first form is a population group present within a society that is not considered part of that society. Often they are recent immigrants, but xenophobia may be directed against a group which has been present for centuries. This form of xenophobia can elicit or facilitate hostile and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, pogroms, or in the worst case, genocide. The second form of xenophobia is primarily cultural, and the objects of the phobia are cultural elements which are considered alien. All cultures are subject to external influences, but cultural xenophobia is often narrowly directed, for instance at foreign loan words in a national language. It rarely leads to aggression against individual persons, but can result in political campaigns for cultural or linguistic purification. Isolationism, a general aversion of foreign affairs, is not accurately described as xenophobia.