Female characters Essay

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel published in 2003 which tells the story of Amir, a young Afghan boy with a traumatic past, a guilty conscience, a war-stricken homeland and a broken future. The Kite Runner explores many different issues throughout the novel; one such issue is the representation of females. Females can be seen as â€Å"material goods†, and are often shown as marginalized, weak, demeaned, and subject to many double standards in todays society, and throughout earlier history. The Kite Runner shows the idea of female representation through the development and construction of make and female characters, combined with the setting and culture in the novel. The idea of marginalized female representation is also shown in other texts such as A Lot to Learn, and Hamlet, all of which used character construction to portray these ideas. The Kite Runner portrays the idea of females as being marginalized in many different cases. There are only two females that have any backstory or focus in the book The Kite RunnerAmir’s wife Soraya, and Soraya’s mother. Hassan’s wife is also mentioned briefly. The fact that women are not focused on, and barely mentioned in the novel also show that in Afghan culture, women do not play a large role, they simply blend into the background and do as they are told. Hassan’s wife, Farzana, is described as a ‘shy woman’, ‘courteous’, and spoke in a voice just ‘barely higher than a whisper’. It seems that she cooks, cleans, and does most of the basic housework. The fact that she is so shy, polite, and quiet shows how women have been brought up in this culture. Farzana has been brought up to obey men, and to speak only when spoken to, to be polite and courteous, and to always be virtuous. The only time Farzana stood up for herself, and her family, was when Hassan was shot by the Taliban. She ‘came screaming and attacked them’ and the Taliban promptly shot her. The fact that the men could so easily and quickly shoot a woman, who was simply defending her house and family, shows again the way that women may be seen as almost worthless in the Afghan society. Soraya Taheri, Amir’s wife, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Farzana. When we first meet Soraya, she is described as a ‘slim-hipped beauty’, ‘decent’, ‘hardworking and kind’, with a ‘princess-like’ beauty to her, and she speaks with confidence, which is unlike all of the other Afghan women described in the story. Soraya has a past that she, and everyone around her, is ashamed of. After arriving in America, Soraya saw the care-free environment, the way that women were accepted, and Soraya realized that maybe she herself could have independence too. Soraya ran away to Virginia at the age of 18; she was ‘rebellious’, she felt that she should be allowed to be independent. When she returns to her family and moves to California, the rumours spread like wildfire. All of the Afghanis here about Soraya’s shameful act, and everywhere she goes, whispers follow her. No suitable suitors appear at her doorstep, and no one forgets her ‘mistake’. ‘Its so fucking unfair’, she says, and it really is. A double standard in this society, where the men can do whatever they please and ‘no one does a god damn thing’, and when a woman does something of the same nature, they are shunned. There is a small amount of talk about Baba’s wife, who died giving birth to Amir. The Afghan community claimed that Baba would never be able to marry a woman like her; she was virtuous, clever, studying at university, and to to pit all off, she was of royal blood. Baba finally does marry this woman though, and refers to her as his ‘princess’. The way that this marriage is described accentuates the idea that men want women the way they would want material goods. The marriages are described almost as if the men are simply picking an object, and showing said object off to the world. Gertrude is seen as unequal to the the almost all-male cast. Gertrude is a female character from Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet. The play is set in Denmark, early 14th century, and tells the story of a young prince, Hamlet, who gets a visit from his dead father’s ghost, and realizes that not all is right in the state of Denmark. Gertrude is Hamlet’s mother, and the queen of Denmark. After the death of her husband King Hamlet, Gertrude quickly remarries to the King’s brother Claudius. Hamlet depicts this sudden remarriage as betrayal, unfaithfulness, and the breaking of ‘sacred vows’. He feels disgusted that his mother would grieve so little, and move on so fast, and hatred for his mother beings to grow. The play Hamlet has been created so that we, as readers, see Hamlet’s point of view, but we do not see the way that the other characters think. I believe that this sudden remarriage was not simply because Gertrude was seduced, but because Gertrude could not hold her position of â€Å"power† without a male by her side. If we had Gertrude’s side of the story, I think we would realize that there were other motives to Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius. Gertrude could not run the state of Denmark, or even the castle, without a man in power with her; in the time Hamlet was set in, women were often demeaned, and were never seen as equals. To keep the state functioning as a whole, Gertrude realized she would need a new king to rule. Gertrude also may have realized how easy it would be for another man to take advantage; if they controlled Gertrude, they could control the state. Her marriage to Claudius at least guaranteed that the state was run by someone she trusted and could see as a ruler. None of these ideas were explicitly stated, because Gertrude was never really given a chance to defend herself and her actions, due to Hamlet being the focus of the story. ‘Frailty, thy name is woman’, Hamlet says, referring to poor Gertrude. He refers to the way that Gertrude was moulded so quickly to another’s will, the way her confidence faltered so soon, and how weak Gertrude really was. Hamlet is a character that has no respect for women. He holds a grudge against his mother, and as the play progresses, these dark feelings that he feels towards his mother grow stronger. Hamlet starts to feel so strongly to his mother ‘betraying’ him, that he starts to apply this idea to all women, even weak Ophelia. He seems to be under the impression that, though women are frail, weak, and delicate, all women deceive and take part in treachery. He does love Ophelia, but in the end, he feels that Ophelia would betray him, as all women do. He is applying a stereotype to all women, saying that they are will of weak and physical being, and treacherous at heart. Ophelia is also doted on quite a lot by her father and brother. Both men lecture Ophelia about staying virtuous, warning her not to ‘lose her heart’, but this is, again, a double standard. Laertes especially is being quite the hypocrite, since he, as a young man, would have been messing around with many young girls, and not had it held against him since it was socially accepted for men. Polonius also lectures Ophelia to keep her chastity, and talks to her as one would talk to a young child. He depicts Ophelia as being weak, innocent, nothing more than a child, and often gloats to the King Claudius about how ‘dutiful’ and ‘obedient’ Ophelia is as a daughter, as if she has no will of her own. He seems to be demeaning her, without even consciously meaning to, and Ophelia takes no offense to it; in that day and age, girls were simply brought up to accept it. ‘The object Ophelia’, Hamlet refers to Ophelia at one point. He says this the way he would say ‘the object of his affections’. He seems to be referring, yet again, to material goods, to objects, as if Ophelia is simply another prize he can add to his trophy cabinet. He also uses a great deal of sexual innuendos when around Ophelia, but neither Ophelia or any other members of the court find it offensive or out of context. He lays his head upon her lap and whispers comments that are obviously making her uncomfortable, but Ophelia never objects, simply because it was normal for women to be taken advantage of. Just like Ophelia being referred to as an object, the short story A Lot to Learn depicts an innocent girl as yet another material good. A Lot to Learn is a story about Ned Quinn, a scientist that has created the Materializer, a large machine that can create anything at the push of a button. The story tells the tale of Ned experimenting with the machine, and wishing for a girl. Before Ned mutters the word ‘girl’, he wishes for ‘money’, then a ‘martini’, then ‘beer’. These are two stereotypical goods that a person would probably wish for if he could have anything; money and alcohol. When Ned wishes for this girl, after wishing for two in-demand material goods, he seems to be sending a subtle message that perhaps he sees women as nothing more than objects of desire, yet another material good instead of a sentient being. If his experiment was a success, Ned would most likely hold on to this girl the way one would hold onto a trophy; a record of his achievements, simply for memories sake. The idea of being nothing more than an object is terribly demeaning, and another show of dominance from males. Women are very subtly discriminated and marginalized in this short story. As well as the idea of the girl being simply an object, Ned seems to be under the impression that this girl would obey him. Before wishing for a girl, Ned did not stop to think that maybe the girl would scream, or run in terror, or struggle; he simply assumed that the girl that appeared would obey. This is a show of Ned believing that women are weak – both physically and mentally. This shows an immediate message about dominance, the way that Ned believes that this girl would do exactly as he wished. He seemed to be under the impression that because he was a man, he is strong, powerful, and has a sense of dignity and respect, therefor meaning that the woman that he expected to appear would simply obey. Ned seems to be very confident in himself and his invention. Though he is nervous as he wishes for each new object, he seems to be under the impression that everything will turn out fine. Ned comes across a slight hitch, however, when he mutters the word ‘girl’. In our society today, the word ‘girl’ often refers to woman, not literally a girl or child. Its a misconception, just a word in our culture that has developed to mean something else from the original meaning. Ned obviously does not want the small, innocent child that appears in the machine, as he curses ‘Hell! ’. Referring to a woman as ‘girl’ is almost demeaning in a way. The fact that Ned wishes for a girl as well is slightly disturbing. Upon reading it, most people would immediately assume that Ned wants this girl for nefarious purposes, to fulfil a fantasy or something of that drift. This is another symbol of the female representation being marginalized, shoved aside as the weaker gender. All of these different characters from these three stories easily show the idea of females being marginalized and disenfranchised. Characters such as Ned Quinn, Hamlet, and General Sahib are constructed to be dominant over the female characters. The settings and culture, when combined with these strong male characters, show the many double-standards that exist between females and males, and also show the idea of females being represented as trophy objects.

Muhammad The Prophet Essay

Muhammad is considered in Islam to be a messenger and prophet sent by God to guide humanity to the right way. He is considered as the last in a series of prophets sent by God. The Quran is believed to have been presented to Muhammad by God. Muhammad is know as the greatest of all prophets to the Muslims, and his religion as the only accepted religion of God. He is seen by Muslims as a possessor of all virtues. The scattered verses of the Prophet had been inscribed not only on date leaves and shreds of leather but on â€Å"the hearts of men.† Muller says, â€Å"Now Muhammad had certainly not lived like an angel† referring to how Muhammad had raided one of their caravans in the holy month of pilgrimage. He also says this because in 632 Muhammad confused his followers by dying. In war Muhammad lied to his men promising them that if they were to die in battle that they would marry seventy dark-eyed virgins. Muhammad also had preached gospels that where unholy. I his gospels he encouraged war and had no message of peace. He also had eleven wives making him unholy, but this had to do with the time and place that he lived in. to everyone but strong Muslims Muhammad was a bad person and a mortal. But to the Muslims he was a descendent of God. Yet Muhammad was a great man, superior to his time and place. He not only preached but practiced a morality that was superior to his era. If he could be ruthless, he was more often gentle, kind, generous. He could be Christ like in his sympathy for the weak and poor. Through the fog of tradition one can see an attractive humanity, as in his unfailing courtesy touched by shyness. His humble sharing of the household chores. You can understand why he was so deeply loved by those around him. Muhammad is like Jesus in the sense that he showed complete dedication to his God. He also had a power of personality that had as deep of an impression on his followers as Jesus made on his. His basic teaching is clearer and more nearly uniform than that attributed to Jesus. The theme of more than half of the Koran is about an absolutely pure monotheism. â€Å"There is no god but God.† Allah is the God preached by the prophets, from Abraham and Ishmael through Moses to Jesus, and revealed in the Scriptures of the Jews and the Christians. Abraham was the true founder of the faith, Muhammad the last prophet, and the Koran the final perfect revelation

Introduction to Myth

Introduction to Myth: Mythos – Greek word for story (not necessarily true or false) Mythology – the study of myths Primitive people needed to make stories/myths in an effort to understand what was going on in their world. Humans are the only beings with a need to understand things; a dog doesn’t think â€Å"why me †. Primitive people, when scared, hurt, depressed, created myths to explain their pain or discomfort. All cultures make myths in their early development. Around 1200 B. C. , ancient Greeks began to take written history and to make rational and logical stories. Myth-making came to an end once this began.Myths â€Å"illustrate† the truth, much as Jesus did in his parables. He did not give an exact point, but told a story that showed what he meant. Myths may not tell the literal truth, but they illustrate human nature and human experience. Theories: Max Muller – concluded that all ancient myths are about nature and natural phenomenon. Carl Jung – noted that same kinds of myths turn up in all different cultures, such as each culture having their own version of the Great Flood. He developed his theory of the Collective Unconscious – that all humans are born with these same ideas in their brains, lying deep and unconscious.He said that myths explore these deep ideas of the collective unconscious. Claude Levi-Strauss – research on human brain, that different sides were responsible for different functions. Noted that the body is binary (2 arms, 2 ears, 2 legs†¦) and says that we think in pairs with ideas (on & off, right & wrong, good & evil, yes & no). They are pairs of opposites in conflict with each other. Levi-Strauss says that man’s entire experience is based on conflict, and that myths present the conflicts, then resolve them within the story. The 20th century was in ways spent examining and interpreting the ideas of the 19th century.Despite technological strides, it has been sai d that no ideas came from the 20th century. For example, 20th century scholars spent their lives working on the 19th century ideas of Darwin, Marx and Freud. Sigmund Freud – all human nature is driven by sex. Freud started psychotherapy. He turned his focus to myths and concluded that all myths are about sex and are a way of revealing sexual fears and desires without having to confront them every day. Characters: Zeus, Semele, Hera Zeus – lord and king of the gods. Constantly making love to females of all kinds. In this story, Zeus is making love to Semele.But Zeus is married to his sister, Hera, who always finds out about his infidelities. Hera disguises herself as an old human woman and visits Semele, who confesses that not only is she making time with Zeus, but that he love her more than his own wife! Hera says that no, he doesn’t, because with his own wife, he appears to her as he really is – as an almighty god. Usually, Zeus appears as a human â€⠀œ tall, strong, distinguished, a little bit of gray. So the next time Zeus comes around, Semele asks him to appear as he really is. Zeus denies her, saying that she doesn’t want to see that.So she bitches and moans until he gives in, makes love to her, and appears to her as the god that he is – at which point she is immediately destroyed by a bolt of lightning. That story can be analyzed by the four theories listed above. Is any single theory correct? Are none of them correct? 1. Muller’s Nature Theory – because primitive people are in constant contact and conflict with nature. Zeus is the ultimate god, even over the god of thunder, and they find thunder frightening. Lightning is Zeus’ weapon, and experiencing a lightning bolt is the closest that they could get to Zeus. So to them, a lightning bolt IS Zeus.Getting struck by lightning is getting hit by Zeus. That’s where nature comes in. Zeus is frequently depicted with a lightning bolt. 2. Jung’s Collective Unconscious – two of his ideas – Anima and Animus. Anima is the male idea of the ideal woman, the universal woman, who makes men crazy and keeps them off balance by nagging and manipulating. Animus is the idea that all women have of men – violent, destructive, aggressive, rapists. So myths provide an expression for these ideas, which lie deep in the unconscious. Both appear in this Zeus story – she nags him like crazy and he destroys her. 3.Levi-Strauss – humans are obsessed with conflict and resolution. Each of the three characters in this story are in conflict with every other conflict. But as soon as you get rid of Semele, all conflicts are resolved. 4. Freud – it’s all about sex; Castration Anxiety – a boy has one, a girl doesn’t. The boy thinks she must have cut hers off and worries that she’ll cut his off. Penis Envy – the girl looks, he has something she doesn’t, she k nows she’s never had one, and she wants one. In this myth, Semele insists to see Zeus â€Å"as he really is†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦or naked. She’s obsessed about it (penis envy).But when he stands there naked, he has to kill her (castration anxiety). Creation Know that myths conflict and contradict each other, and the Greeks did not have them in a logical order. One does, through, give a story of creation, which we compare to Genesis from the Bible. Genesis – God is already in existence at the beginning of Genesis, then he creates the universe; the creation order matches the evolutionary order. The climax of the story is when god creates the first man. But then, man complains that he needs a companion, so woman is created. Greek – starts with chaos, which in Greek means â€Å"emptiness† or â€Å"nothing†.So you start with nothing. Then five beings come into existence: * Ge – (pro. ‘gay’) – the earth (feminine; any word that ends in ‘e’ in Greek is feminine) * Tartarus – dark terrible prison located beneath the earth * Eros – passionate love * Erebus – darkness * Night – night Of the five, three are frightening and dark. It’s scary because 90% of human animal information comes from sight, and human animal has poor night vision. So night was scary for primitive humans, because their predators had either excellent night vision or great sense of smell. Night is a time when we’re defenseless.Only one of the five was imagined by Greeks to be in human form. Eros was an adolescent boy. They knew a 16-year-old boy could impregnate more women at that age than at any other time in his life. When Romans took over Eros, they turned him into the five-year-old boy we know as Cupid. Next, Ge gives birth, with no help from a man, to Mountains, Seas and Heavens: Ge does this without the help of any male. It was assumed for a long time that women made babies all on their own, with no help from men. This gave them a position of importance and prominence in society, while the men were unimportant.After all, sex was just for fun, and there was no immediate effect. No one put it together until man learned how to count – that was a bad day for women. They figured out the solar year, then the months, then that 9 months after sex, the baby came along. So it was the man involved after all. And eggs were inside and invisible, while the male secretion was obvious. So it was the man that actually parented the child, the woman was just a carrier. So now men were the most important. So later, Ge needed a husband, since men were necessary after all.She married her son Heaven, or Uranus (Ouranos). Since Uranus was the man and Ge was the woman, Uranus got all the credit. After a long dry spell when the rains came and the land became green again, it was Uranus up in the heavens that fertilized his wife Ge and gave them crops. Also, heaven must be male b ecause he’s on top and above Mother Earth. Primitive people, like children, saw the world in terms of themselves – they thought rain from the sky was male sperm impregnating the earth. Anthropomorphism – the process by which we give human form to things that are not really human.His current example was Barney, but the Greek gods had the same range of emotions (hatred, jealousy) that Greek humans had. This is man making god in man’s image, since it was the only form they knew well. (i. e. marriage of heaven and earth – putting a human occurrence to the supernatural) (True of Greek gods) So we’ve got Ge and Uranus. But Uranus hated his children – he thought they were ugly. So he stuffed each one of them back into the body of Ge (earth). Ge was in pain so she asked the kids inside of her for help, but only Cronus (youngest child) would help her.She got some iron from inside herself and formed a sickle (common instrument with curved blade to cut grain), and gave it to Cronus. Cronus hid in the evening until Uranus came back to sleep with his wife, then Cronus jumped out, grabbed Uranus’ genitals, chopped them off, and threw them into the sea, where they floated. A foam formed around the genitals, and out of that foam came Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love. (Remember: god of love is Eros) How does Cronus get out? Does he stand on his mother Ge, since she is the earth? Is Uranus the heavens or is he a man with genitals?The Greeks weren’t concerned with realistic details (didn’t think that way) – the more bizarre, irrational and violent the story, the older and more primitive it is. Now, the male is the only real parent, since he provides the visible sperm and the woman is just a carrier. So the male is the head of the family, and a male king rules over all families. So since baby-making was the important part, a castrated male could not be in charge. So Uranus was no longer chief â €“ Cronus, his defeater, became the chief god Once, he became the chief god, Cronus let all of his siblings out of Ge.And he needed to marry so he could make babies. So he married his sister Rhea. They had kids, but Cronus knew from his own experience that kids could endanger his power. So he swallowed each child whole. Rhea was distressed, him swallowing the kids and all, and went to Ge and Uranus for advice. They said to give him a rock wrapped in baby clothes next time, that he’d never know the difference. So she hid the next child, Zeus, and Cronus swallowed a rock instead. Rhea took Zeus to Crete and hid him in a cave to grow up safely away from Cronus.Once grown, Zeus tricked Cronus into spitting up all of his brothers and sisters, and there was a war between Cronus and Rhea’s generation and Zeus’ generation. Cronus’ generation (his brothers and sisters) were called the Titans. Zeus’ people chose Mt. Olympus as their war base, and after w inning, he and his siblings lived on Mt. Olympus (a mountaintop, where primitive Greeks would expect their gods to live). Zeus and crew were called the Olympians. Zeus used lightning bolts as his weapon to lead the Olympians to victory over the Titans, and Zeus took over as god of the universe until the end of mythology.Zeus hurled most of the Titans (his aunts and uncles) down to Tartarus (the deep prison) so that they could never challenge his power. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that to Cronus, his father. Cronus was sent west into exile (traveled west because it was the direction of death), never to return to Greece. Cronus went to Italy and hid there, where he used the Latin name Saturn, which â€Å"Saturday† was named after. (Hiding place of Cronus: Lateo, Latium, Latini). Cronus was still a god and presided over a golden age in Italy.Then we went further west , but the Italians recalled the golden age with a mid-winter festival called Saturnalia, in which the high point was December 25th. On that day, no one worked or went to school, and families exchanged gifts with each other. When the Catholic church took over Rome, the took over existing festival days (smoother transition), and Saturnalia was changed to celebrate the Mass of Christ (Christmas). Generations: Ge & Uranus Cronus & Rhea Zeus & Hera Creating People: The creation of the first man (male) was very unimportant.Myth is not even clear as to who did it. Some versions say Zeus created man out of dirt. Others say Zeus’ cousin Prometheus (son of one of the Titians) created man and had sympathy for humans. But male human life was pathetic and weak and helpless and inferior to animals – humans can only walk better. So Prometheus went to heaven and stole fire and gave it to man. Now, every human had fire for warmth, light and protection. When Zeus found out, he was so angry that he wanted to offset the gift of fire, so he gave man something very terrible – wom an. The creation of woman was a big deal.Hephaestus, the craftsman, constructed the first woman and handed her over to Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love and the most beautiful. Aphrodite gave woman irresistible beauty and charm, then handed her over to Athena, goddess of wisdom. Athena taught woman important and useful skills, then handed her over to the god Hermes, who among other things is god of the practical joke. Hermes gave woman the character of a thief and the mind of a bitch. Then all of these gods – Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hermes – brought woman before Zeus, who named her â€Å"all gifts†, or Pandora. Zeus had a gift for Pandora – a big jar (not a box!! , ceramic, 4 or 5 feet tall. She asked what was in it, but Zeus refused to answer – just take it with you, he said. Zeus took her and her jar down to earth and the society of men. Prometheus had an earthly brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus means â€Å"forethought†, and thinking before speaking or acting. His brother Epimetheus†¦well, not so much. Afterthought. Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept any gifts from gods, but he took one look at Pandora, she of irresistible beauty and charm, and took her and her jar in. Life was good for a while, but Pandora was so curious about the jar.She’d go and listen to it, shake it, smell it. Finally, one day she opened the seal, and out came all of the ills that we face – sickness, death, disease, pain, famine, drought – only hope was left in the jar, and it remained there when she finally got the lid back on. So, hope was left in the jar – what was â€Å"hope† doing in a jar full of evils? The Greeks were deeply pessimistic and felt that life was hard and cruel, with no â€Å"happy ending†. Note that most myths end unhappily and violent. So to them, hope was the greatest evil of all – hope makes you think none of the evils would happen to you .But the certain future is that we’re all going to die, so the Greek pessimism is based in reality. But hope makes us think that none of that will happen to us. Second Creation – The Great Flood: In the Old Testament, God wipes out horrible man and saves only Noah’s family. God tells him to build an ark, and despite sure ridicule, Noah does. He puts a male and female of each animal on the ark with his family, and survive when the rains come and flood the land. He sends out doves until one returns with an olive branch – a sign of dry land. The ark sets down on Mt. Ararat and Noah and his family reproductively recreate the human race.Every culture has a flood story. Were the Biblical stories made up as the myths were to make sense of the world around them? But there are flood stories all over the world – proof of a great flood? The earth goes through warming and cooling periods – did a warmth come through and melt the glaciers, flooding all in habitable land? Many ancient cities were built in river valleys – at some point or another, every river will challenge its banks and flood, which would create a version of the same story all over the world. So some myths may well be based in reality. The Greek Flood version:Zeus went down to earth disguised as a human to check out human society and found it disgusting, corrupt, evil and treacherous. So Zeus returned to Mt. Olympus and told the other gods that he was going to flood the earth to get rid of the evil human race. The other gods provided an answer to the question â€Å"why does man exist? † If Zeus destroyed all humans, there would be no one left to worship the gods. That are how humans were perceived in greek myth; they were only there to worship the gods. So Zeus goes back and finds a husband/wife worth saving, Deucalion and Pyrrha.They were pious and just – they had the right relationship with the gods and they had right in their dealings with othe r humans. (This parallels Jesus’ two great commandments – love only one god and love thy neighbor). Usually, Greek myth is not concerned with human morality, but here it mattered to Zeus. So Zeus puts Deucalion and Pyrrha in a boat and flooded the land. After the waters subsided, Deucalion and Pyrrha saw that they were the only people left, and they were terrified. Being pious, they prayed to the gods for advice. They were told â€Å"Take the bones of your mother and throw them over your shoulder. You often see strange answers when people talk to gods. This was even weirder because the Greeks prioritized proper burial, so digging up bones didn’t sound appropriate. So Deucalion and Pyrrha tried to figure it out, and came up with ‘mother’ was Ge, Mother Earth. So they threw rocks and stones over their shoulders, and where they landed, the new human race formed. But why did they have to throw it over their shoulder? That parallels Lot and his wife lea ving Sodom and Gomorrah. She looks back over her shoulder after being warned not to, and is turned to a pillar of salt.She wasn’t supposed to see the supernatural. So that’s why they threw ‘bones’ over their shoulders – so they couldn’t see the supernatural event. You can’t watch – you’ll destroy yourself (Zeus destroying Semele) or you cancel out the event. Greek religion was not a monotheism (one god), or a polytheism (many gods), but a form of polytheism, henotheism – belief in one god most powerful, but other gods exist. Zeus is the powerful one here, over other gods and humans. Now, Zeus was sleeping with any woman he could get his hands on – human, goddess, nymph – because his power came from baby-making.Unsentimentally, â€Å"father† is like a dog that sires, just a baby-maker. Morality didn’t matter, Zeus was the great father god up in heaven, a carouser (but that’s due to anthropomorphism as well). So Zeus marries his sister Hera and appoints two of his brothers to control parts of the universe, under his command and authority. Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the world of the dead. Zeus has control over heavens and the earth Hera is the goddess of marriage – she understands marriage, she’s not nice or sweet, but cunning and cruel, with sexual jealousy being the worst.Her Latin name is Juno, so June weddings are traditional and girls wanted to marry in her month to gain her blessing. Poseidon – god of the sea – Latin name Neptune, often shown as jolly, but he’s not. Poseidon was associated with horror, sea monsters, tidal waves and earthquakes. He also constantly was having affairs, one with a human girl named Scylla. Poseidon’s wife (no name given) finds out about the affair, waits for Scylla to get in the bathtub, then poisons the water. When Scylla stood up, she had a ring of wolves heads growi ng out of her waist.Poseidon came back to make love to her – no way, wolfie. She begged him to hide her, so he put her in a cave near the edge of the Mediterranean sea, where she waited for sailors to come too close, where she’d capture them and feed them to the wolf heads. Poseidon is an example of gods being more than just gods. Poseidon is god of the sea, but Poseidon also is the sea. The Mediterranean is violent, like Poseidon. Gods always have the character of what they’re god of. Hades is god of the dead. There were no temples built to Hades to honor him with statues and sacrifices.Every human makes his individual sacrifice to Hades by their own death. The earth had three layers – the top layer which Greeks walked on, the land of the dead (underworld), and Tartarus, the deep prison in which the Titans were kept. Dead people go to the underworld. The Greeks believed in immortality of the soul, and that the souls of all people go to these dark, unhapp y caverns for eternity. Odyssey – Homer – told the stories of the travels of Odysseus, who goes to the entrance of the world of the dead and looks in (the west’s oldest account of death).He saw that the ghosts of the dead were transparent, recognizable, and too weak to talk or to touch, and they shrieked like bats. Odysseus kills an animal and drains its blood, which they drink to give them the strength to talk to him. This makes sense – the body rots away when you die, leaving only bones and eventually dust. The Greeks knew to love live, because the afterlife had none of the pleasurable experiences of life in the body. To the Greeks, the afterlife had no place of reward nor punishment – all souls went to the same gloomy place, longing for physical life and the pleasures of the body.Alternatively, Christianity teaches that the pleasures of the soul are better than of the body – that the body is somehow dirty. Gymnasium literally means to tak e off close in the gym. The Greeks, though, praised nudity. They figured that God made the body, so every part of it, down to the armpits, should be considered beautiful. So the Greeks imagined gods in beautiful human forms, thinking there was no form any higher or more beautiful. Cronus & Rhea Hestia —– Hades —– Poseidon —– Demeter —– Hera —– Zeus Hestia is one of the oldest children, the goddess of hearth (fireplace).She is elusive in Greek myth. She just stayed home and kept the fire going – never married, just stayed home. The Temples to Hestia always had fire going for people who needed it. Her Roman name was Vesta, as in Vestal Virgins. No real stories about Hestia. Demeter – Zeus’s sister, goddess of Agriculture; recall that the father is the only real parent, but if the mom/female doesn’t feed and nourish the child, it dies. Therefore, the earth, which provides food to people, i s female. So Demeter is also the goddess of Motherhood. Anthropomorphic form of mother Ge.Demeter’s daughter is Persephone, whose father is unclear, maybe Zeus. The father is irreverent between the mother and child relationship. Demeter completely loved her child (an anthropomorphic transference of emotion). Hades was Persephone’s uncle, but he fell in love with her. Being god of the dead, he knew he could not persuade her to love him, so he opened up the earth, rose up in his chariot, swept her up, and took her back with him to the underworld as the earth closed. So Demeter comes back and can’t find her daughter. She goes nuts. Searched and searched.Finally, the sun, who sees all, tells her that Hades had abducted her. Now, gods cannot interfere with other gods – only Zeus has that power, so she knew there was nothing that she could do, and couldn’t get Persephone back. Demeter disguised herself as an old human woman and went to work for a family with a newborn baby. She transferred the love she had to someone else’s child. She loved the child, and wanted to give the human child a divine gift. So every night, she’d hold him in the fire to make him immortal. One night, the real mother walks in and sees her holding her baby in the fire.She screamed madly and rushed toward Demeter. Demeter became very angry and threw the child on the floor – angry because the fantasy she had built up to battle her own grief had been shattered. Now she had to face the fact that her child Persephone was gone. The family of the baby found out she was a goddess and were very frightened, and built her a temple on that very spot. Demeter walked into the temple and started to grieve. The Earth went barren and would give no fruit, responding to Demeter’s grief. Recall that the goddess of earth IS earth. Without food, people started dying in droves.Eventually, the other gods went to Zeus to get him to do something – if all the people died, there’d be no one to worship them. Zeus sent a messenger to Hades to give it up. Hades stood before Persephone and handed her a pomegranate. She took one bite and handed it back to him. He then took her in his chariot and brought her back up to earth and set her down next to Demeter’s temple. Demeter saw her and was overjoyed, and the earth bloomed and grew. But because she ate part of the pomegranate, she must go back to Hades for part of each year, and during that time, Demeter grieves for her and the earth does not give food.This fits into Muller and nature – it explains the seasons and why food does not grow during certain parts of the year. Putting the story in such human terms made it easy for the Greeks to understand that season. In some societies, a man and woman sharing a meal (the pomegranate), especially in his home, means that they’re married. This is still continued with the bride and groom sharing cake, the oldest part of the modern ceremony. New story: Orpheus was the best musician in the Greek world. â€Å"Orpheum† theatres are still named after him. He was so good that wild animals would come to listen to him, such as the lion in the statue.He played a lyre, a stringed harp-like instrument. Trees would also uproot themselves and move closer to him when he played, and rocks would roll over toward him. This shows the power of music – it has no physical benefit, yet it has a tremendous effect on us. On Orpheus’ wedding day to Eurydice, his bride stepped on a poisonous snake, was bitten, and died. So Orpheus went to Hades and pleaded for him to send his dead wife’s soul back to earth. He brought his lyre, and got ready to play to persuade Hades. Orpheus appeared before the court of Hades and began to sing about how much he missed Eurydice.It was so moving and powerful that even Hades, god of the dead, wept. So Hades allowed the soul of Eurydice to return to earth, but Or pheus was told he must walk back up to earth the way he had come and Eurydice would be sent after him. But – Orpheus could not turn around and look behind him to see if she was indeed following him. Remember, you can’t look at the supernatural, such as the dead coming back to life. So Orpheus starts walking back up the dark, gloomy corridors, excited about getting his Eurydice back. He tries to listen for her behind him – he tries to look peripherally at the walls to detect her shadow moving.He sees nothing, and begins to doubt. After all, the gods had never allowed the dead to come back to life before – maybe Hades had just told him that to get rid of him. He became convinced he would never get his Eurydice back, and grief overtook him. It seemed so simple when Hades agreed, but now he simply could not believe it was true. So he turned around – and there was Eurydice, right behind him, beautiful as ever. But as soon as Orpheus looked, she was snat ched back to the land of the dead – he had cancelled the miracle and had lost her again, but this time it was entirely his own fault!He ran back down to Hades to beg him to let her return, but Hades said he would not grant it a second time. So Orpheus had to return to earth alone. He became a hater of women – not because they had wronged him, but because Orpheus was afraid of getting hurt again. So now he became famous for two reasons – his music and his hatred of women. He was singing in the woods one day, alone he thought, when a group of women came upon him and killed him, tearing him apart. He then joined Eurydice in the underworld.The Greeks made this myth to show that, theoretically, it was possible to survive permanent death in some joy, if you did exactly what the gods or priests said. The Great Greek Gods of Olympia: Aphrodite – name means â€Å"born from the foam†, that being the foam of her father Uranus’ genitals when they were c ast into the sea. Her Roman name is â€Å"Venus†, and she is the Greek goddess of love, being the most beautiful of all gods and goddess. But it’s not hand-holding warm and fuzzy love – it’s uncontrollable sexual desire that makes you crazy and not concerned with the risks or consequences of such passion.Now the Greeks through the powers of the weather came from heaven, that the sea’s power was from the gods, and even the earth can feed or starve – they personify the powers of nature in gods. So why sex? They thought that inside you there are also powerful forces, and Greeks needed to understand why sexual wantonness was so powerful, so there’s a goddess for it. Now since gods are what they represent, Aphrodite is sex – a real slut. Humans are not instinctively monogamous – promiscuity was instinctive, and Aphrodite is the goddess of the promiscuity. She did sleep around a lot, with human and with god.But Aphrodite was m arried to Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen who crafted Pandora. Hephaestus is the only physically imperfect god, having crippled legs. So the only imperfect god is married to the most perfect goddess. The Greeks that only a disabled person would stay inside all day (outside good to Greeks! ) and make things with his hands. Manliness was defined by fighting and hunting, but Hephaestus cannot fight. Now Hephaestus had a brother, Ares (Roman – Mars), the god of war, and because war was hated, Ares was the most hated god, even among the other gods. But he was a perfect physical specimen.As soon as Hephaestus would leave for his shop, Ares would sneak in the back door for a little lovin’ from Aphrodite. Eventually, the sun, who sees all, told Hephaestus about the affair. So Hephaestus made a giant, strong net and concealed it above the bed. The next day after he left for work and Ares came in, the net came down and held them in place, so tightly that they could not even mov e out of their lovemaking position. So Hephaestus comes in, but gods cannot harm one another – so he went out and invited all the other gods and goddesses to come in and take a long look.The goddesses were too modest, but the gods came in. They laughed, pointed, measured, discussed what they would do if they were in Ares position, which many of them probably had been. So there was no physical violence, but lots of laughing and humiliation. Hephaestus freed them, and Ares never entertained Aphrodite again. So sexuality was beyond the Greeks control – that’s why they had to have a god for it. Pygmalion – a rare Greek happily-ever-after myth. Pygmalion (a guy) was a sculptor, but he was very lonely. So he carved a statue of a beautiful woman and eventually fell in love with the statue.So he went to the temple of Aphrodite, made sacrifices, and prayed for the statue to be a real woman. So he gets home, and the statue comes alive. They lived happily ever after . So how does this parallel Greek life? The man who finds the perfect woman is the man who creates her himself. This reflects the frustration that the Greek people had in finding someone to love. This myth was a fantasy – not of coping with reality, but of escaping from it. Cybele – not a Greek myth, but a Near-Eastern legend on which a Greek myth was based, but changed and adjusted, as we’ll see.Most Greek culture was adapted from ancient near east. The story is violent and bizarre. Cybele was the great mother goddess, who was both male and female. She decided that she’d be much better off just being female, so she cut off her male genitalia and threw it away. Where it landed, the first almond tree grew. Along came Nana, a nymph (Greek for â€Å"bride†) – nymphs are half-human and half-divine, they live forever and are always young and beautiful, but they have no god-like power and cannot leave the area where they’re assigned. Nana t ook a white blossom off that first almond tree and put it between her breasts.It disappeared there and she turned up pregnant. She named her son Attis, and he was a perfect example of a young man. So much so that Cybele, mother goddess, fell in love with him. But Attis loved someone else, so Cybele’s love drove him insane until finally he castrated himself and died from the wound. Cybele was so distraught that she asked the other gods to bring him back to life. They agreed, but with the condition that he’d have to be castrated and die every year. The Greek version: Myrrha – Myrrha was a human girl whose only real parent was her father, since her mother died when she was very young.She loved her father dearly and deeply – too much, because she realized that she wanted to sleep with him, even though she knew it was wrong. She eventually became physically lovesick and depressed over it. When the nanny who raised her noticed that Myrrha was sick, she asked wh y. Myrrha tried to hide it, but eventually blurted out the truth. Well, the old woman nanny was only concerned with Myrrha’s happiness, so she went to the father and told him that a young girl in town wanted to sleep with him – but the girl was shy and wanted her identity to be concealed, so there must be no lights.He agreed. So the old woman told Myrrha that she had arranged it, and Myrrha was horrified! She had wanted it, yes, but now that it was possible†¦. Eventually, she decided to go ahead with it. So she started to visit her father repeatedly in his dark room. She got pregnant. In the meantime, the father was getting curious about who his lover was, tried to recognize her around town and couldn’t, so one night he hid a lantern in the cupboard and closed the door. While his lover was in his dark room, he took out the lantern, saw his own daughter, and realized what he had done.He was furious that he had been tricked and tried to kill Myrrha, who praye d to Aphrodite. Aphrodite transformed her into a myrrh tree (which is where the name came from). Myrrh trees give off an aromatic sap that was used in embalming – the symbolism of Jesus getting a gift of myrrh signified that he would die. This myth helps explain why myrrh sap is used in embalming – death is associated with sadness, and the sap is the sad tears of Myrrha. But Aphrodite saved Myrrha’s baby – a boy child named Adonis. Adonis was a perfect young man, and Aphrodite herself fell in love with him.It was a dangerous world, and Aphrodite was concerned about Adonis, but he didn’t care, and he went boar hunting. Boar hunting was very challenging and dangerous because the boars are smart and would hunt their hunters. So boar hunting was done in groups – they’d use dogs to track and corner a boar into a cave. The hunters formed a semicircle around the cave and the dogs would drive the boar out. The plan was that when the boar came out and saw all the hunters, it would freeze for just a second – long enough for the hunters to kill it. But some boars didn’t freeze – they just charged out and killed a hunter or two in the process.Charge – bye Adonis. Aphrodite grieved and asked the gods to bring Adonis back. They agreed, but once a year Adonis would have to be killed by a boar and come back again. Both Attis and Adonis are called ‘resurrection gods’. With a woman loving both of their dead bodies, we saw a statue of how that resembles Mary holding the body of crucified Jesus. A whole religion grew out of Adonis. Now, for a god to fall in love with a human was considered disgusting to the gods, much like a human falling in love with a chicken. But Aphrodite delighted in making gods fall in love with humans for her amusement.So Zeus decreed that Aphrodite would fall in love with the next human she saw. That human was a shepherd named Anchises. It was summer, and in the summ er shepherds worked naked. So she transformed herself into a beautiful human girl and approached him – told him that she was under a spell and the only way to break the spell was for him to sleep with her. Anchises became uneasy†¦he could tell she was a god because 1) gods were tall, where Greeks were short, 2) gods were blonde, where Greeks were dark, and 3) gods smell good, not like meat-eating Greeks who stank.Anchises thought it was too good to be true, but still he agreed. Afterward, he rolled over and went to sleep. Aphrodite didn’t care about him any more – she had conquered and the novelty was gone, so she decided to tell him her real identity. She woke him up and told him and Anchises was filled with terror – thinking she had used him up and that he’d be impotent. She laughed at him and assured him it would still work. So she went back to Olympus, and he, like any other guy, went to the nearby city of Troy and bragged that he had made love to the goddess Aphrodite.Bad move, he should’ve kept quiet. Zeus was angry with him and struck him with a lightning bolt which crippled him. Aphrodite, on the other hand with it being revealed that she had slept with a human, was mocked, ridiculed and humiliated. Test 1 info: Need a sheet of paper 25 short answer questions (fill in the blank) 1 extra credit question (from book) Zeus’ generation was named from ___? Name one of â€Å"Heaven† daughters? Greek name for â€Å"heaven† was Uranus Rhea Who said that myth resolved conflict? Levi struass

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My Drum Major Instinct Essay Stalking is a very serious matter, despite society’s tendency to trivialize the experiences of many female victims. There have been numerous overlooked cases in which female victims have been stalked for various amounts of times and taken action to have the stalker removed, just to have him/her eventually come back up in some sort of manner. Many top box office hits have the clichà © plot of the stalker who murders the girl, but people don’t realize that stalking is a real problem many actually face. There have been quite a few of these incidents, maybe not resulting in murder, but still uncomfortable for women to deal with, close to my community. Just recently in Hamilton, Ohio, a sexual predator was arrested for counts of stalking teen girls by driving by their homes multiple times, texting them up to 80 times per day, and watching them exit school. This is why I want to take the initiative to be a drum major for peace, justice, and righteousness for women in surrounding communities who are dealing with unwanted contact or stalking. To be a drum major is to be a leader. Leaders take the time to go out of their way and stand up for what they believe in. Leaders take the initiative and set the standard for people to follow. To be a drum major for women, the first task is awareness. Anyone trying to get a point across must first make people aware of the problem and their cause for reaching out. The problem is that many women find themselves being stalked, file restraining orders, and still don’t get the justice they are searching for. Some women even change their whole identity to hide from their stalker in fear of getting hurt. To make people aware of this, one must take the initiative reach out to the common people. This might include going to churches, local meetings, or even starting my own organization to make people aware of the problem. The second thing I must do is writing and actually acting upon the problem. I must write to local officials, to state officials, and finally to the nation’s Congress. If I write letters to each of these, my point will be made. It would help to have other people on my bandwagon to help write, or maybe even sign petitions. That is where more awareness and reaching out come in. Once I get enough people to realize the problem is serious and that they could help save millions of women’s lives, then I would consider myself a leader in my cause. The final thing I must do to further my cause is to keep on with it. In order to be a drum major for peace, justice, and righteousness in my community for women, I must stick with my intentions and keep my values strong so that hopefully one day laws will be changed and justice will be served.

Audit Report on Database Security and Performance Management

Audit Report on Database Security and Performance Management EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report covers a review of the Security and performance issues, with the respect to the size and capacity of the data management in Organic Cosmetics Ltd. We are running a company with a total number of over 100 employees and large customer base national and international. In summary, we found some deficiencies in security integrity and performance in terms of query optimisation and as well as areas where improvements are warranted as listed below; 1. No proper procedure of reducing Sensitive Data Exposure which will in turn be devastating to the company, if not sorted out as soon as possible. 2. Deficiency in the way of detecting Threats from Inside and Outside 3.Deficiency in the way of developing Secure Applications 4. In terms of performance optimisation, there is no proper indexes set up to optimise and speed up retrievals of queries that are taking too long to execute. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The main aim for the report is to carry out the proper procedures and techniques that is best to carry out the better security performance and query optimisation for administrative management performance. And after a proper consultation with experts and detailed research we have all that is takes to implement and effect changes to these deficiencies. Some of our objectives are; Reducing Sensitive Data Exposure in Applications by introducing an Oracle Advanced Security data redaction which provides selective, on-the-fly redaction of sensitive data in query results prior to display by applications. Limiting Sensitive Data Exposure When Sharing Data, we have been able to put in place Oracle Data Masking and Subsetting. Deficiency in the way of developing Secure Applications, we have been able to source out advanced and more sophisticated security measures introduced by oracle Database 12c Real Application Security, which is Oracles next generation database authorization framework and the industrys most advanced solution for developing secure applications called Basic Fine Grained Access Control (Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD)) and the Real Application Security (RAS). Performance optimisation, there is no proper indexes set up to optimise and speed up retrievals of queries that are taking too long to execute. There should advance form of scalability which is the ability of a system to process more workload, with a proportional increase in system resource usage, there we have to choose an efficient execution strategy for processing a query. APPROACH The best possible way of reducing sensitive date exposure is by the Redaction process. Redaction is the process of scrubbing out data. Imagine a paper document with certain fields scratched out with a black marker. Oracle Advanced Security data redaction works similarly but on application data stored in the database. Because it is enforced inside the database, it is possible to consistently redact database columns across different application modules accessing the same data. Data redaction minimizes changes to applications because it does not alter actual data in internal database buffers, caches, or storage, and it preserves the original data type and formatting when transformed data is returned to the application. Data redaction has no impact on database operational activities such as backup and restore, upgrade and patch, and high availability clusters. Because we handle a lot of big transactions OCL, it will be better to use data redaction to make sure our data are secured. The movement of production data dramatically increases the risk to data and increases the overall cost of security and compliance. Masking of data before it is moved from production eliminates the risk of data breaches in non-production environments by irreversibly replacing the original sensitive data with fictitious data so that data can be safely shared. Using Oracle Data Masking and Subsetting enables entire copies or subsets of application data to be extracted from the database, obfuscated, and shared with partners inside and outside of the business. Most importantly, during the obfuscation process, application integrity is preserved by maintaining data relationships across application tables. Oracle Data Masking and Subsetting improves security by reducing the scope of data exposed to partner organizations. Compliance costs are lowered by narrowing the compliance boundary for test and development groups. Below is an example of data being masked. Instead of four rows in Name and salary column the masking has reduced it the rows and interchanged the data store in each column rows. The solution to deficiency in the way of developing Secure Applications is by adopting the following process, which we have been able to source out. It is an advanced and more sophisticated security measures introduced by oracle Database 12c Real Application Security, which is Oracles next generation database authorization framework and the industrys most advanced solution for developing secure applications called Basic Fine Grained Access Control (Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD)) and the Real Application Security(RAS). Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD), introduced in Oracle8i, is widely used today to enforce fine grained access control within applications. It allows application developers to associate a stored PL/SQL program unit with an application table, view, or synonym. The program unit fires when the application object is accessed via SQL. The program unit computes a predicate or where clause that is appended to the original SQL statement. In many cases, the program module will query specific meta data tables containing information on user roles and privileges as nearly every application today has its own unique set of security tables. Another common approach used with VPD is to initialize an Oracle application context when a new application user is initialized within the application. Real Application Security(RAS). Unlike the basic Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD), Oracle Database 12c Real Application Security (RAS) provides a robust declarative model that allows developers to define the data security policy based on application users, roles and privileges within the Oracle Database. The new Oracle Database 12c RAS technology is more secure, scalable, and cost effective than the traditional Oracle VPD technology. Real application security provides a declarative interface that allows developers to define the data security policy, application roles, and application users without requiring application developers to create and maintain PL/SQLstored procedures. The data security policies are defined inside the database kernel using the Oracle Database 12c RAS API. The permissions associated with business objects are stored in Access Control Lists (ACLs). ACLs are a key component of RAS and store the privileges assigned to principals and control the type of operations: select, insert, update and delete that can be performed on the objects. These are some of the usefulness of Real Application Security provides the next generation authorization architecture for applications that will be needed in Organic Cosmetics Limited (OCL): 1.Uniform Data Security: The RAS Security model allows uniform specification and enforcement of access control policies on business objects irrespective of the access path. It overcomes the limitation of custom built approaches that only work when an object is accessed via the specific code path that has access control logic embedded into it. 2. Secure End User Identity Propagation: Application sessions allow the end user identity and associated attributes to be conveyed securely to the database allowing the database to use the information for end-user access control and auditing. 3. Declarative and Fine Grained Access Control: RAS policy components encapsulate the access control requirements of the application in the form of declarative policy on data for application users, application roles, and application privileges. With column security, RAS model extends authorization to the column level to protect sensitive data such as SSN. With support for master-detail, parameterized, delegation, and exception based declarative policies, RAS meets the real-life deployment requirements of applications. Then for the issuesof performance optimisation and quick table accessibility, there is no proper indexes set up to optimise and speed up retrievals of queries that are taking too long to execute. Finally, there is an indexing system that can be set up to help sort the out accessibility of records quickly. Basically there are 3 kinds of index, but we have chosen the Function index. In a function index you index an expression rather than a column. Eg supposing you wanted to regularly retrieve orders that havent been shipped, so no value in shipdate. A basic B-tree index couldnt be set up because it wouldnt include nulls in the index, so function based could be used: eg: CREATE INDEX non_shipped_index ON ord   (NVL(shipdate, null)); CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Based on our findings and recommendations I believe if we could make appreciate changes as soon as possible we can be able to sort the deficiency issues in our database management system and also to improve our services. 1.4 REFERENCES WHITEPAPER, O. (2015) Oracle Database 12c Security and Compliance. Available at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/security/security-compliance-wp-12c-1896112.pdf (Accessed: 08 February 2017).

The European Neighbourhood Policy Politics Essay

The European Neighbourhood Policy Politics Essay Because of the big-bang enlargement to the East, in May 2004 the European Union acquired ten new member states and simultaneously several new neighbours. At about the same time, it began to flesh out a European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) to make sure that the newly enlarged Union would be surrounded by a ring of friends.  [1]  Specifically, in March 2003 the Commission presented its Communication Wider Europe Neighbourhood: A new Framework for relations with our Eastern and Southern Neighbours,  [2]  followed by a Strategy Paper on the ENP in May 2004.  [3]   In general, the ENP is the EUs mechanism for ensuring the maintenance of shared values beyond its borders. In other words, it provides the EU with additional tools for fostering new neighbours. Its objectives like stability, prosperity and co-operation help the EU to develop a privileged relationship with its neighbours while it also offers many other advantages to them, building upon a mutual commitment with them. On the other hand, it must be underlined that the EU faces some daunting challenges in its relations with its neighbours. Because of this, not only the ENPs aim to bring some order to the EUs relations with its neighbours but also the effort to develop a privileged and mutual relationship between them, are prevented in a great extent. So, does the ENP really provide the suitable structure for dealing with the main challenges? This essay will first present and analyse the substance of the ENP. It will then scrutinize its results and, finally it will criticize and evaluate the ENP taking into consideration the invectives that it offers and the challenges that the EU faces in its relations with its neighbours. The substance of the ENP The ENP framework is proposed to the 16 of EUs closest neighbours Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine. Russia has its own special relationship with the EU and it is not part of the ENP. More precisely, the ENP was developed in 2004, with the objective of avoiding new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and its neighbours and instead strengthening the prosperity, stability and security of all.  [4]   The 2004 enlargement brought the EU closer to the east and as a result created an instant need to ensure that the wider neighbourhood was stable to avoid the risk of instability overflowing into the larger EU.  [5]  As the European Commission has noted: Existing differences in living standards across the Unions borders with its neighbours may be accentuated as a result of faster growth in the new Member States than in their external neighbours; common challenges in fields such as the environment, public health, and the prevention of and fight against organised crime will have to be addressed; efficient and secure border management will be essential both to protect our shared borders and to facilitate legitimate trade and passage.  [6]  Moreover, the enlargement fatigue was established and the EU wanted to fend off yet another round of enlargement. Hence, the ENP was launched to deal with all of these challenges.  [7]   The ENP also includes the countries of the southern Mediterranean, though the dividing line between the EU and these countries was not shifted with the 2004 enlargement, and the problems posed by those borders have long been a concern. The southern Mediterranean countries were included in the ENP to balance the EUs southern and eastern dimensions, responding to concerns of southern member and non-member states.  [8]   The ENP, which is primarily a bilateral policy between the EU and each partner country, is further enriched with regional and multilateral co-operation initiatives: the Eastern Partnership (launched in Prague in May 2009), the Union for the Mediterranean (the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, formerly known as the Barcelona Process, re-launched in Paris in July 2008), and the Black Sea Synergy (launched in Kiev in February 2008).  [9]   The ENP is first and foremost an attempt to create good neighbours, who conform not only to EU values (democracy and human rights, rule of law, good governance, market economy principles and sustainable development) but also the EU standards and laws in specific economic and social areas. A secondary aspect of the ENP is to prevent the emergence of new dividing lines as mentioned earlier, through a variety of means including more cross-border cooperation.  [10]   Specifically, in attempting to stop the emergence of new dividing lines in Europe, the Commission has two broad approaches: firstly, to encourage and support financially the inclusion of the neighbours in European networks of all kinds such as transport, research and education, energy, environment, culture and so on and, secondly, to foster cross-border cooperation and specially concrete projects to link neighbouring regions across the EUs new border. The Commission is simplifying as well the funding of such programmes, which has been complicated.  [11]   In this point, it must be mentioned that, the ENP remains distinct from the process of enlargement. However, it does not prejudge for European neighbours how their relationship with the EU may develop in future in accordance with Treaty provisions. According to the ENP framework, the EU offers all but institutions to the neighbours: as much it can do without actually enlarging.  [12]   Plus, in early 2004 the Commission began preparing Actions Plans for the most advanced neighbours. The Action Plans are central to the ENP (12 of them were agreed) and they set out an agenda of political and economic reforms with short and medium-term priorities of 3 to 5 years. The ENP is not yet fully activated for Algeria, Belarus, Libya and Syria since those have not agreed Action Plans.  [13]   The Action Plans are supposed to be differentiated according to the various neighbours specific circumstances, and drawn up after held with each neighbour. Promoting joint ownership of the plans should better ensure that the neighbours will meet the objectives set out in them. Each country individually determines the nature and strength of its relationship with the EU.  [14]  In addition, other political objectives prominent in the Action Plans are cooperation in the fight against terrorism and on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and ensuring international justice through support for the International Criminal Court.  [15]   Furthermore, from January 2007 the European Neighbourhood Policy and Strategic Partnership with Russian Federation are financed through a single instrument the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). It is designed to target sustainable development and approximation to EU policies and standards supporting the agreed priorities in the ENP Action Plans, as well as Strategic Partnership with Russia. In detail, it encourages economic integration and political cooperation between the EU and the neighbours, promotes sustainable development and poverty reduction, and addresses security and stability challenges posed by geographical proximity to the EU.  [16]   The results of the ENP The ENP has shown that it offers a solid basis for strengthening ties between the EU and its neighbours. It has opened the policy to all eastern and southern neighbours who share EUs commitments to democracy, open society and economic prosperity. And, as countries go further down the reform path more possibilities (more financial support, integration with the EUs internal market, participation in the EUs policies and programmes) for closer cooperation with the EU open up to them.  [17]   Since the ENP policy was proposed, good progress has been made on developing and implementing the main instruments of the ENP the presentation of 12 Country Reports, the adoption of 12 ENP Action Plans, implementation and monitoring through relevant subcommittees, adoption of a new instrument (Neighbourhood Investment Facility -NIF) to better provide assistance to these countries in support of the objectives agreed in the Action Plans.  [18]   The NIF was established at the end of 2007 and it is a significant source of funding for the neighbourhood. The Facility funds projects of common interest focussing mainly on energy, environment and transport. A Governance Facility has been set up too. It provides additional support to countries that have made most progress in implementing governance reforms.  [19]   Moreover, for the Financial Framework 2007-2013, about à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬12 billion in EU funding are available to support partners reforms, an increase of 32% in real terms as compared to 2000-2006 Financial Framework. Until 31 December 2006, EU assistance to the countries of the ENP and to Russia was provided under various geographical programmes including TACIS (for eastern neighbours and Russia) and MEDA (for southern Mediterranean neighbours), as well as thematic programmes such as European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).  [20]   Additionally, new forms of technical assistance have been extended to ENP partners. A large number of twinning and Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) arrangements, is in place with countries across the neighbourhood.  [21]  Neighbourhood countries joined also the EUs programmes and agencies like the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme.  [22]   Furthermore, it must be stated that, to the east the reforming government of Moldova is being rewarded with generous aid. In the meantime, the EU has frozen assets and restricted visas for Belaruss leaders after they rigged elections and suppressed protests.  [23]  A border monitoring mission was also in place along the Moldovan-Ukraine border to help address the frozen conflict in Transnistria while an agreement on easier visa procedures for Ukrainian citizens and others was in the works.  [24]   In May 2011 the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission suggested a new policy response to a changing EU neighbourhood based on more for more, less for less, a mutual accountability and a shared commitment to the universal values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law and involving a much higher level of differentiation.  [25]  New policys items are money, market access, and mobility. This approach has been authorized as well by the European Parliament and the European Council.  [26]   The Economist justified the new policy as follows: Policies should be better tailored for each neighbour. Europe cannot change geography, so it will have to deal with countries on its rim, democratic or autocratic. But in its circle of neighbours, it must always demonstrate that its best friends are the democrats.  [27]  Along this line, the EU responded to the Arab Spring and sent an obvious message of unity and support to the people of the southern Mediterranean. Moreover, it responded to EU eastern neighbours efforts towards closer political association and deeper economic integration.  [28]   The evaluation of the ENP Undoubtedly, the ENP should be seen as one of innovative efforts undertaken so far in the history of the European Communities external relations. This exposes it to a great deal of controversy in a vast diversity of opinions thereupon. Indeed, the ENP has been evaluated in most different ways, from very critical in which it is seen as an ineffective project, to statements saying that this is one of the EUs foreign policy that really works correctly. If we take into account the aforementioned results of the ENP, we realize that it does promote good relations between the enlarged EU and its neighbours. It definitely has an interest in promoting prosperity, stability and security among its neighbours by working with them to support their transition. But what about the group of people who support that the ENP is an ineffective project? Why do they strongly believe it? Those who believe that the ENP is an inadequate policy claim that the EU has to deal with three serious challenges: that of confronting the ghost of enlargement, which haunts EU relations with its neighbours, the challenge of influencing positively the serious problems distressing several of those neighbours and, that of building a neighbourhood with some degree of cohesiveness.  [29]   The unavoidable consequences of admitting some countries to full membership of the EU and excluding others produce insiders and outsiders. This dimension inside the ENP, make awkward bedfellows, especially given that east European countries are reluctantly seen as potential member states while the Mediterranean countries have not been considered appropriate for EU membership.  [30]  The hope of EU membership is a major incentive for reform amongst members. As it has already been mentioned Europes neighbourhood policy remains distinct from the process of enlargement as it offers countries everything but institutions. And this does not mean as stated earlier that neighbourhood countries have no chance of being official members of the EU. For instance, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine could be considered as candidates for EU membership at some point in the future. All have experienced a democratization process and have moved away from the direct political influence of the Russian Federation.  [31]   Nevertheless, these states represent a low priority on the enlargement agenda because of the likely impact on the EUs budget, the poor state of their economies, and the need to strengthen political reforms at home before considering accession. So, there is a large development gap between the EU and some potential members, which makes meeting membership conditions increasingly difficult. Thus, the EU is becoming more diverse.  [32]   The second challenge facing the EU is how to deal with countries of concern. Generally speaking, the challenges facing EUs neighbours often go beyond their borders. It is a fact that, the partner countries are faced with poverty, unemployment, mixed economic performance, corruption, weak governance and frozen conflicts in certain regions.  [33]   Countries of concern include Belarus and Libya, but several other neighbours like Syria are also problematic mainly because of their lack of respect for human rights and democratic principles and, because of security concerns. Even more, the list of sites of conflict in the Middle East is tragically long. In this point, someone could wonder if the ENP gives the EU more leverage or more possibilities to exercise influence in these cases than it had before.  [34]   For fostering fundamental reform in the neighbours, Action Plans should provide a real incentive for reform. The truth is that, clear benchmarks linked to clear benefits are being absent in Action Plans. There has to be a real effort so that Action Plans lend a serious concentration to the ENP and enable the focus to be on specific, measurable and time-bound objectives.  [35]   The third challenge for the EU is how to connect the dissimilar countries and regions included in the ENP. The ENP is a policy based on strengthening the bilateral links between the EU and each neighbour a policy for neighbours rather than a neighbourhood policy. And while there is an undeniable need for reform in the neighbours, there is also an undeniable need for all the neighbours to cooperate with one another. In relation to this statement, we realize that strengthening the multilateral and/or regional elements in the ENP would help to tackle not just the cross-border problems that affect the EU but also those that affect all of the neighbours.  [36]   Additionally, some analysts consider that the new policy to a changing EU neighbourhood after the emergence of the Arab Spring, based on more economic benefits for more democracy with the new policys items (money, market access, and mobility) is not bold enough to make an important difference.  [37]  Regarding money, at times of austerity there is no more for foreign-policy aims while concerning markets, many north African countries already enjoy free trade in industrial goods, and the southern Europeans want to restrict some agricultural products. As for mobility, with anti-immigrant parties gaining ground, few governments are ready to open up to north Africans.  [38]   There is little doubt that the Arab awakening was a priority for European foreign policy in 2011. Europe used a collection of instruments, including active diplomacy, special envoys, sanctions and military action. However, its technocratic response fell dramatically short of Marshall Plan for which some initially called.  [39]  Plus, the Arab Spring has shed light on the close personal and business ties between governing elites in EU member states and their Mediterranean counterparts. For example, Frances Foreign Minister Michà ¨le Alliot-Marie was forced to resign due to public outrage over her links to the ousted Ben Ali regime in Tunisia.  [40]  In 2008, the EU tried to negotiate an association agreement with Libya and earmarked à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬60mln in ENPI funds to the country over the 2011-2013 period.  [41]   To sum up, in the south the promotion of democracy and the rule of law has been an illusion. Arab neighbours have no the ambition of returning back to Europe while eastern neighbours, know that the EU is not ready to expand beyond the Balkans. Without the lure of membership, the EU struggles to find effective foreign-policy. Conclusions The ENP is a useful policy promoting stability, prosperity, welfare and security in the post 2004 era between the EU and its neighbours. But is the ENP sufficient to deal with the aforesaid challenges? This challenge is undoubtedly enormous and requires more ambitious policy response. Not only should the ghost of enlargement be vanished but also the serious problems distressing several of the neighbours. Furthermore, the EU should try hard through the ENP to build a neighbourhood with some degree of cohesiveness. As we all know, on 12 October 2012 the Nobel Prize Committee decided to award the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union for over six decades contribution to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. Although the EU is at present undergoing serious economic difficulties and considerable social unrest the award served as a reminder that the EU had largely brought peace to a continent which tore itself apart in two world wars in which tens of millions died. According to this, the EU should focus on what it sees as the EUs most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights. No one would disagree that one way for the EU to enforce its struggles for achieving the aforementioned goals, is through the ENP. It is an ambitious policy, which has the potential to make an enormous difference to the prosperity and stability of both the EU and its neighbours. So, the EU has to strengthen the ENP in order to provide concrete and credible incentives for reform. Hence, a strong ENP has to be set out. The vision contained in the ENP the real and mutual relation of EU to its nearest friends and vice versa should be a reality for the stability and wealth of both.