The Problem of Leadership in Cuba, Mexico and Brazil Essay

The Problem of Leadership in Cuba, Mexico and Brazil - Essay Example 2. Cuba The Cuban tale of independence was preceded by two more important events namely the independence of Haiti in 1791 and the call for independence from Spain in the 1820’s. The Haitian revolution had proven beyond doubt that people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds could operate together to subdue not one but three colonial powers to claim their independence. The Cuban revolution and its constituents resembled the Haitian insurgents in racial composition as the call to arms was taken up by blacks, mulattos and whites alike. Previously the Cuban domain had remained faithful to Spain even though other nations were claiming their independence. Cuba was given the motto â€Å"The Always Most Faithful Island† by the Spanish Crown although small plans for insurgency had been unearthed throughout the 1830’s and 1840’s. The loyalty towards the Spanish Crown stemmed from dependence on Spain for trade as well as protection from pirates and unease at the rising power of the United States. The actual insurgency was initiated by Carlos Manuel De Cespedes who was a sugar plantation owner. Carlos freed his slaves and declared that any slaves who were presented for military service would be freed. The conflict emerged in 1868 and became known as the Ten Years War with the emergence of a new government supported by blacks, mulattos and white men. Throughout the struggle race was nearly dismantled as a classification as white men served under blacks and blacks and mulattos rose to prominence as colonels, generals and the like. The newly formed government was not recognised by the United States though other European and Latin American governments recognised it. The war ended in 1878 with the Pact of Zanjon as Spain promised greater autonomy to Cuba. In the following year another insurgency was initiated by a Cuban patriot better known as Calixto Garcia. This effort was labelled as the Little War but it received little support. Slavery was abolished generally in Cuba following these events and abolition was completed in the 1880’s. The next conflict in Cuba emerged in 1895 with forces led by Jose Marti who was finally killed in the battle of Dos Rios on May 19, 1895. The large Spanish army outnumbered the insurgents as local people were forced into concentration camps by the military governor of Cuba. The final end of the war in 1898 placed leadership in the hands of the influential whites and some mulattos. Following independence Cuba saw social and political corruption along with short regimes that boomed and waned in rapid succession till the socialist revolution. 3. Mexico Mexico was ruled by a republican general Porfirio Diaz who took over Mexico during the French intervention. Porfirio was in charge of the country from 1876 to 1880 and then from 1884 to 1911 through five consecutive reelections and the period became known better as Porfirio. This era was characterized by large progress in economics as wel l as the arts and sciences though economic disparity was on the rise along with political repression. Election fraud associated with Diaz’s fifth election instigated the Mexican Revolution of 1910 which was led by Francisco I. Madero forcing Diaz to resign in 1911. However Francisco was overthrown only two years later in a coup by the conservative general Victoriano Huerta which put the nation into another civil war

The effectiveness of English subtitles in a Culturally important Essay

The effectiveness of English subtitles in a Culturally important Italian film - Essay Example Italian thinking facilitated certain closeness inside their country. "Like most family-concentrated societies, Italy is a relational culture. This stems from a history in which trust did not extend much beyond the front door or, at most, the city-state. There is an order of precedence: family first, then neighbourhood, then town, region and, finally, country," (http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.aspsubchannel_id=159&story_id=11484&name=Italy Today, Italy is a part of European Union, and in the new globalised world, she cannot be called a great player. As one of the Nation States of EU, she hobnobs with other Member States, and the close proximity of other cultures touches her in many ways. Italy's flourishing tourism, has become a national industry today and the country is reaping the harvest of her great art centres. Most of her guests are from English speaking countries and now with the world accepting English as the common language, Italian Government has made unprecedented efforts to include English as one of the languages in the curriculum in schools. "Through the foreign language we renew our love-hate intimacy with our mother tongue. We tear at her syntactic joints and semantic flesh and resent her for not providing all the words we need. In translation, the everyday frustrations of writing assume an explicit, externally projected form. If we are impotent, it is because Mother is inadequate. In the process of tra nslation from one language to another, the scene of linguistic castration-which is nothing other than a scene of impossible but unavoidable translation and normally takes place out of sight, behind the conscious stage-is played on center stage. (Johnson, 1985, pp. 143-4), http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/perform/docs/AP1Bollen.pdf On that very drive, some of the Italian cinema is given English subtitles, facilitating tourists to understand the Italian cinema and Italian culture. These movies are used as tools to teach English to students. This is a clever idea, as Italian children, while watching the movies, can have the facility of reading the English translation, and the relative meanings would be understood readily. The Italian movie, Caterina Va in Citta (Caterina in a big city), directed by Paola Virzi, a fast-paced comedy, culturally rich, has got English subtitles along with other movies like Marco Ponti, Le fate ignoranti, Pinocchio, La finestra di fronte, and many more. English subtitles, to some extent are an indication of Italy's accepting English as a common language between Member States of European Union. There is a need for large number of English teachers in Italy. "The answer is that to gather sufficient "manpower" the Ministry of Education decided to run 500-hour training courses also for tho se teachers who had no experience at all of English but wanted to have a try," http://www.onestopenglish.com/Magazine/teacher_letters/teaching_english_italy.htm People are aware of English now, due to satellite TV programmes, Internet and English magazines. In a globalised, European Unionised Italy, Italians have realised that English has gained importance as a passport to work abroad and today, Italians, with their saucy attractiveness, are anything but homebound. While being