Manifesto

Alejandro Giraldo S.

Ms. Sierra

Mr. Patterson

April 28, 2014

Manifesto

A home is usually defined as a place where an individual spends most of his or her time. For me, that place has been Colegio Panamericano. My interactions with those here have helped transform me into the young man I am today. A man who values good qualities in life, hard work and passion for reaching goals. A man who likes doing things with honesty and commitment.

As a man who's learned and gained so much from this school, it is my obligation to my new found knowledge and share with the rest of the world. It’s the way to show the impact the school has caused me and the responsibility I feel of transmitting all the good things to the new generation. It’s the opportunity to show how grateful I am with the school for teaching me this much in just the beginning of my life. Of a life that would be guide by the values and teachings the school and its staff taught me with patience and dedication.

All this process of learning wouldn’t be possible without the help an unconditional support of my parents, teachers and classmates. What I am today is a result of the shaping this entire people made in my life. Is not a product made in one, two or three years, but it’s

a product made in a whole life process that it about to end. Not my life of my learning

process are the one who are going to end, it’s my school life. The life that makes me the person I am.

Even though the senior year is a moment wished by everyone, that comes by with happiness and joys, it has a sad ending. The sad ending it given by the emotions that touch my soul for leaving the school. It is not living the school, its leaving our home. The place where I grew as persons and lived the experiences that helped me understand the meaning of life. Saying bye to the teachers that where by my side to helped me when I needed.  To end this chapter in my life it’s very important to thank all the important people who did part of the orientation and structuring of me as the one I am today.

I thank each and every one of those who took part in my process of growth and learning. Especially my parents who with their support have helped me realize my dreams and be the person I am today. I also thank my teachers who with dedication and commitment they have brought knowledge and fundamentals to deal with the new stage in life that is about to begin. A stage in the one I am going to survive using the tools brought from school.

In this stage I would be the example of the new generations that need help and people to guide them. An what would be better that guiding them to a directions better than mine? I have the responsibility of analyzing what I can do to make kids better than I am. Looking what is good and what is not useful during my learning process with make me just teach what would make the new generation a better generation.

After all what I have seen in the time I have lived I can join my goals into main goal. For my future I want to be the reflection of what Colegio Panamericano can form, the people the produce as an institution focused on building great people dedicated in making good to the society. People like me, that its goal it’s to be successful in everything I do no matter what it is. Doing thing with the heart, not just doing things for obligation.

As life has taught me and my teacher too, things are achieve with hard work, commitment and dedications. In other words those are the main keys to success. This is not a demotivate, but it something remarkable to say, there’s no shortcut to success. If you want something you need to work for it, and work really hard. So what I have clear in life is that I will do everything with discipline. 

             

Lightbulb Conspiracy

Lightbulb conspiracy is a documental that talks about the planned obsolescence. Planned obsolocence is an economic system in which things are created to be obsolete in few time. What this system wants is to make people by each time a new product is out. People is not obligated to be part of the planned obsolescence but their will of being update with what is new in the market makes them buy everything that's new. As a result of the planned obsolocence the society has entered in a consumerism culture in which all what matters is buying the newest things. In the film we can see how the lightbulb cartel created lightbulbs that are designed to just last few hours. Companies created thier products to last few time in order to clients need to buy more and more.

As the companies of the lightbulb cartel decreased the hours of usage of lightbulbs the produstion increased. As the people need to invest more in their products the companies need to produce more in otprder to sell as the demand needs. Sub developed countries are strongly affected with this economic system. Companies an people who is part of the planned obsolescence need to get rid of their old products. This products are taken and deposited at third world countries with try to get some valuable material from the wastes. Now companies think in how they can do to engage people with the newest products. 

The next picture is a photo of how Apple forced people to chage their devices because their charger was not compatible with new devices. 

   Credits: New York Times. 

Four Horsemen

The Four Horsemen is a film the questions the system we have created and give ways to improve the issues. After analyzing empire, they figure out that most of them have things in common. Everything is like a cycle that begins and end. The thing is that all empire have kind of the same stages on the cycle. This is a strong argument that the film uses to explain the decadence that the American Empire is suffering. Comparing to ancient empire the American Empire has go through all the stages before the empires end. What we can conclude of this is that the time for the American Empire is coming. There are many issues as the television that get away people from reality. This is a great way to make an empire collapse thanks to the lack of important information in peoples knowledge. Sports are compared of sort of the same as the distractions that existed in ancient empires before declining.

The American Empire collapse with be the automatically rising of problems to the world. It would be a devastating events that would have impact in every corner and edge of the universe. Economics with go down as so everything else until a new cycle begin. A new cycle begin when a new empire rises success. The value of contemplating this event with high probability of occurring is just the benefit of having the idea that this will occur in mind. It is impossible to stop the decadence of an empire because it is part of the cycle that all empires go by. The only thing we can do is rising a new empire so that things do not go too bad when the American Empire accomplish the cycle.

Credits: Four Horsemen documentary.

Fractional Reserve

In the documentary ZEITGEIST, we saw how the money in the United States is created. The money is created from debts, if there is no debt there is no money. The government asks for money to the federal reserve, the federal reserve gives them the paper stamped ans the government designates the value and starts circulating it. The money of the country is evaluated in the amount of gold a country has. The fractional reserve banking is a system where banks keep a percentage of the money and lend the rest to a company or individual and charge them an interest in order to gain money. The amount of money that is printed and in circulation in the US is only 3 percent of all the money that they have in circulation. The number we see of money in an account is not in the bank, that money is being lend to others. The money in does not exist, it is just a number and we never own it, it is just a loan.  

 The bank must hold an amount of cash known as a "reserve requirement" and this is controlled by a central bank, and loan out to another person so the bank by charging interest on loans of that money.  

    Photo credits: Alejandro Giraldo S. 

Colombian Monetary System

The Colombian monetary system is controlled by an autonomus entity that is related to the goverment and directed by a president and a board of directors. They are the ones who created the money in order to have control about it. One of the main purpose of the Banco Central de Colombia is to have the inflation rate low.  According to administration of the inter nation reserves the Banco Central de Colombia, Al Banco de la República le corresponde administrar las reservas internacionales del país incluyendo el manejo, inversión, depósito de custodia y disposición de los activos de reserve. " (Banco de la Republica, 2013). Its responsibility is to have a stable economy staying focus on the low inflation rate. The Colombian monetary system used to be bases in the gold standar  but in the reform of the constitution in 1991 some aspects change. Today the Colombian monetary system is not based on the gold standard. 


The Colombian monetary system and the Federal Reserve in the United States is similar in the aspect that it works separated of the government. There main objective is to have a stable economy. The federal reserve wants to have a low inflation rate an a low unemployment rate, but this is impossible according to the fisher equation. This equation says that if the inflation goes down the unemployment goes up and vise verse. So there is a paradox in the objective of the federal reserve purpose. 

"Qué Hacemos." Banco De La República (Banco Central De Colombia). N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. 
 



 

Brazil Favela

Rio police entered a favela near Rio de Janeiro months before the great football event that Brazil with host this summer. Around 1000 police, 14 armored vehicles and 4 helicopters made part of the operation. The main purpose is to improve the security and to clean the place. Police seized large quantities of drugs and weapons that were hidden near a school. This operation would help to improve the security of the place making it safer for the football event that arrives this summer to the country. Media said the residents of the place are very irritated with the presence of the police and journalists in the area.

Link:  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/03/rio-police-storm-favela-dawn-operation-2014330135441289596.html

MLA: "Rio Police Storm Favela in Dawn Operation." - Americas. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. 

It is very important that Brazil is worried for the security in their country. Hosting a large amount of people is not an easy task and that would make people talk a lot about the country. Is very important that people feel save during the event so all the comments made are of positive things about the country. Police should make a great job in order to remarkably improve the security of the country. 

 

    Photo credits to: The Australian. 

Food Inc.

The Food Inc documentary shows the truth about how food is manipulated since the crops. There are many things that we never pay attention to, but if we really what to know how dangerous food is we should see this documentary and pay attention to the ingredients food has. The market of food is manipulated by a few number of companies that only focus on their benefits and not on the harm the food cause to people. It is really sad to see how the economic interest of others ended in producing food of highly bad food.

The document Food Inc, Race and The Economic Hit Man relate because they have in common that only the few people with power and influence want to feed they attractions. Companies as Monsanto, that patent things to make people only use what they want them to use are they responsible of destroying the food quality. The affected population is the one with lower economic power, they need to eat with less money which makes them buy an consume bad quality food that will harm their bodies. This is a great issue that is there is not opposition to it, people with end up eating machine made food that will have a negative impact on the society. What worth more, your health or factories benefits?

Credits to: PRWatch.                                             

Nuclear material from Japan to United States

On a CNN article the journalist Euan McKirdy talks abouth the situation between Japan and the United States. The two countries signed an agreement which states that the nuclear material that is in Japan would be send to the US. The idea is to remove of all the hundreds of kilograms that the Asian contry has on its territory. Also they are looking for a better global nuclear security, they are working on improving it.

Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/25/world/asia/us-japan-nuclear-fuel-deal/index.html?hpt=hp_t4 

MLA: McKirdy, Euan. "Japan Agrees to Hand over Nuclear Material to United States." CNN. Cable News Network, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

It is very important that powerful countries around the world are worrying about the global situation. United Sates and Japan are making this agreements in order to benefit the enviroment. Japan is a country with big quantities of nuclear material thanks to the atomic bombas that Unites States dropped. In the article we can se the goal the US has with this plan, "The U.S. has a longstanding goal of reducing -- and safeguarding -- the world's stockpile of fissile material, in an effort to reduce access by terrorist groups, criminals and "unauthorized actors." ( McKirdy, 2014). The Japan goverment have show a great position and leadership toward the moment because they express their will of a world without nuclear weapons. Both countries are doing great things in order to prevent problems with nuclear material. 

   Photo credit: CNN. Japan and United States presidents. 

Economic Hit Man

John Perkins wrote a controversial book (Confessions of an Economic Hit Man) reveling what he find out while he travel to South America and Asia working for the National Security Agency of the United States.
But what is an "Economic Hitman"? Perkins defines economic hit men as "Highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars."

John Perkins speaks the truth about what he saw that happened in "third world countries" like Panama and Ecuador.  While he was implementing polices and convincing other countries to accept large amounts of money from the United States he realized morally and ethically, he felt it was wrong to create powerful countries at the expense of the less advantaged around the world.
Perkins speaks about his experience in Panama of how the United States helped Panama gain their independence but somehow the U.S got in control of Panama. He also talks about how Arnulfo Arias, a dictator was overthrew and Omar Torrijos emerged as a leader of state. Perkins admired Torrijoscommitment with Panama and compassion with the people. Perkins lived in Panama and he was shocked about the deaths of Presidents of Panama and Ecuador, people who gave hope, defended the poor and would have accomplish a lot more for their countries.

 

    John Perkins, author. 

 

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." Confessionsof an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins--theShocking Real-life Story of How America Built anEmpire on Third World Debt. Berrett-KoehlerPublishers, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

What is Race?

There is no one single answer to the question "What is Race?" but most of the people think race is determined by the physical appearance. Society classify people by race according to some aspects that make a group of people similar. Biologically and based on the documentary "Power of Illusion" race is not what people can see, because in our genes is impossible to found a remarkable difference to tell that race is genetically true.
The documentary strongly shows how is impossible to classify people base on their genes. There are no specific characteristics that only a certain race have. Race is just a false idea that the majority of the society thinks can be defined by physical traits. "Power of Illusion" change my way of seen people, because it makes me feel that race doesn't because we all are part of one single race group of humans that inhabit the world.

 

Photo credit: creationrevolution.com 

Pounder, C C. H, Larry Adelman, Jean Cheng, Christine Herbes-Sommers, Tracy H. Strain, Llewellyn         Smith, and Claudio Ragazzi. Race: The Power of an Illusion. San Francisco, Calif: California Newsreel, 2003.

Car Bombs in Iraq

An article in The New York Times website wrote by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS is about a series of car bombs that exploded last Saturday in Iraq's capital. The total people affected by the explosions are around 30 persons and the total of dead people is 19. Not all of the cars exploded at the same time and in the same place but the interval between one explosion and the other is just of few minutes. According to the police the places affected were all commercial areas in which the damage could be bigger.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/03/15/world/middleeast/ap-ml-iraq.html?ref=world 

MLA:  "Car Bombs Kill 19 People in Iraq's Capital." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

These attacks are frequently seen in Iraq. There are not only car bombs but also there are suicide attacks. According to the UN the last year they were more than 8,868 people killed in Iraq. The toll of violent death is very high and the authorities should take action over this. There are possibilities that the car bombs were caused by a group in the city that frequently commit violent attacks. Police should work on localizing the individuals to give an end to the group. 

   Photo credits: Ronald Shaw. 

Malaysia Airlines

The article "Disparate Theories on Fate of Jet as Search Grows" by the Journalist Thomas Fuller shows the theories of what could possibly happened with the airplane that departure Malaysia. The plane that had Beijing as destination despaired of the radars. Authorities of the country and some other countries are in the search of the plane but until the moment theres no clue. After checking the  documents of the 239 passengers of the plane authorities notice that two occupants of the plane boarded  the plain with stolen passports. There is an hypothesis that it might could be a terrorist attack. 

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp&_r=0

MLA: Fuller, Thomas. "Disparate Theories on Fate of Jet as Search Grows." The New York Times.The New York Times, 09 Mar. 2014. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. 

In my opinion after reading the hypothesis that the authorities gave I strongly believe that it could be a terrorist attack. It is very strange that two people in the same airplane ride the plane with stolen passports. It is very sad that 239 people died in the same accident and it is also a very hard situation for the relatives of the victims. I hope investigation can get a clear panorama of what really happens so families can be sure of the cause of this tragedy. 

 

   Photo credits: The New York Times. 

The Israeli wall on Palestine

The video I found on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpCtvZzfSzI is an anonymos video. It explain the issues that came with the creation of the Israeli wall on Palestine. The Palestinians are living all the consequences that cause this wall, the do not have any water resource. Also the farmers were fire from their land and they need a permission to visit their lands. Palestinians are completely limited and excluded from the land who still is their but the cruel Israelis are invading them. 

   Photo credits: CNN. 

Israel’s and Palestine’s gas and oil

The journalist Tel Aviv post on the economist an article in which he explains the situation between Israel and Palestine gas an oil conflicts. In this article we can understand what is happening with the transport of oil and gas of this countries. The obstacles Palestine have to export their gas and what the have planed for the future. The opinion of Israel is also shown, they think that Palestine plans are not possible.
Link: http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/01/israel-s-and-palestine-s-gas-and-oil
MLA Citation: "Too Optimistic?" The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
In my opinion I think it is too optimistic that Palestine think they can export all that amount of gas to Europe and some other countries around the world. Looking forward to the conflicts and disagreements these two countries have had it makes very hard that things get well fast and that Palestine can transport their gas and oil by Israeli lands. For this to happen they first need to fix the situation and get to accords that then permit them to have negotiations for fulfill their expectations related to the gas and oil exportation and management.

 

   Photo took from: The Economist. 

 

Knife attack in China

On the Washington Post the journalist William Wan post an article about a knife attack in a train station in China. About 29 people were killed and 100 injured, some say it was a terrorist attack. The group of assailants was conformed of 10 men that some were shot dead and one captured by the authorities. An attack of this level is very rare in China. The blood was all over the floor and people trying to escape of the scene.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/knife-attack-at-chinese-train-station-leaves-28-dead-more-than-100-injured/2014/03/01/0b20ed8e-a195-11e3-9ba6-800d1192d08b_story.html?tid=ts_carousel

MLA Citation: Wan, William. Washington Post. The Washington Post, 02 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. 

I found this very interesting because it is something that we rarely hear to happen in China. I don't understand why assailants do not thing in things before doing them. What they cause are tragedies not only for a society but for each relative and family of the people affected in their attack. The reaction of the authorities was very effective that could capture and kill some of the participants of the atrocious case.

    Photo credits: Washington Post.

PP

Caracas Chronicles

I found a blog http://caracaschronicles.com/2014/02/19/19f/ that show important photos and videos about the conflict in Venezuela. We can clan clearly see how the authorities are killing and harming civilians that protest for a better country. The written part explain us how the thing is going, and according to that, the police is the side of the conflict that shoots and the civilians are the ones being shoot. Take a look to the photos and videos they show the reality of what is happening.

Political Conflict

Most of the people around the globe know there are conflicts in some countries, but they really don't know the reason of them. Disagreement and different ideologies are the main cause of political conflict. This arrises whenever at least two distinct powelful political groups disagree over a way of doing things. Not always people care about what happen in other countries, but according to Colombia's geographical position, lastly we are hearing about conflict in Venezuela. 

After many years of Chavez controling Venezuela and the unconformity of the society the situation went chaotic. Around one year Hugo Chaves died of a cancer. Maduro counts with the support of the army to confront civilians that are protestist against his ideology. Leopoldo Lopez is the lider of the opposition momevent and he went to jail because of leading the movement. The streets are full of protesters that are tired of false democracy. As time passes the situation is getting worst. People are being killed and mutilated by the police.  

In my opinion Venezuela people shoud arm themselves in order to make stronger their protest. The need to talk the same language as the government to be at the same conditions. Maduro, Venezuela's actual president, is a very ignorant man who used to be a bus driver. According to his way of razoning things it would be impossible to get to an agreement between the crowd and the president.   

    Photo credit BBC News. 

Refugees

Flying their countries

Looking for a better place 

Running of situations 

that make them unsafe. 

Hoping to find a place 

That keeps them safe 

Ignoring the obtacles 

That wait them there. 

   Photo credit CNN.

About me

My name is Alejandro Giraldo Serrano and I am 17 years old. I was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia, on February 7, 1997. After I am done with school, that it will be in a few months, I plan study business administration. Something I haven't decided yet is to go one year for  exchange or begin university right after finishing school. I really like traveling and I think it is the best thing you can do in life. I love sports, that is why I enjoy them the most and maybe that is what makes a very active person. I attend to Portuguese classes for about 7 months but I do not speak it well, but i am very interested in speak this language perfectly.