Sunday, March 22, 2020

Battle of Blair Mountain

Table of Contents Introduction Defence Conclusion Works Cited Introduction The war,Battle of Blair Mountain, struck the United States in 1921. Logan County, West Virginia, was the battlefield that ended the lives of at least a million souls. Rich and powerful strangers seized the town of Annedal getting hold of the coalfields that the resident coal miners used as the source of their daily bread. Rondal LIoyd is among the thousands affected. In an attempt to protest the oppression, he is arrested and tried of treason. Owing to the fact that Rondal is fighting for his rights, I, the attorney, declare him not guilty.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Battle of Blair Mountain specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Defence Firstly, Rondal is a genuine resident of Annedal. He is a beneficiary of the resources available in the place. This is where he gets the income to sustain himself and his family. The absence of this cru cial necessity can mark an end of life to the recipients. Any normal being is required to maintain a constant availability of what he/she terms as his/her source of income. It enables one make the necessary developments. These include personal, private and public. Any force or people depriving one of this requisite are severely rejected. This is exactly what Rondal was doing and is far from being an offence. Secondly, we all preach about love, peace and harmony as forces that pull us together regardless of our relationships. When present, people share, work, and interact freely with one another. Unity and strength are highly nurtured. Not anything that culminates into conflicts that on the other hand peels off the walls of unity can be tolerated. Following the attack of his fellow miners whom he loved to work with, Rondal had to be in the frontline protesting this. This is in fact a natural response. Not only people but also any living organism portrays it and Rondal is one. He had to obey the laws of nature. In addition, personal property need not be taken without the owners consent. Anyone in need of anything he/she does not own has to follow the right channel of getting it. He/she has to seek permission from the owner. The owner is free to accept or reject the opinions of the interested. In view of the United States army, it had no evidence of a report showing any agreement to occupy the town. There were no documents showing their ownership of the coalmines. There decision to occupy the town, displace the miners, and begin their own businesses was on the expense of the residents and untimely. What do you expect of such a situation? It is obvious that the affected have to oppose it and Rondal was in a battle that purposed to curb this and hence innocent.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lastly, the plan of the United States government to own the mines was not new . Rumours were all over that coal-tapping companies would be established in the town of Annedal. The US government did not give out a hint on how the displaced will be handled. The relevant bodies failed to respond to the miner’s requests for action to be taken before the event, a sign that they supported the strangers. One would expect an increased tension to those who are to be affected. Normally, where tension rises, conflicts arise as people try to fight it back or in other words, peace and tension never coexists. The tension so created influenced the residents’ peace of minds. When people rose to fight this back, Rondal could not be an exception because this is not a crime but a way of raising peace. Conclusion As a result, the battle brought forth the awareness that people’s rights need not to be interfered with, as well as the establishment of labour movements that made Blair Mountain appear in the list of secure places. If Rondal participated in a battle that could yield such results, I declare him innocent before the court. Works Cited Corbin, David. Ed. â€Å"TheWest Virginia Mine Wars: An Anthology.† 2nd ed. Martinsburg,W.Va: Appalachian Editions, 1998. Lee, Howard. â€Å"Bloodletting in Appalachia: The Story of West Virginia’s Four Major Mine Wars and Other Thrilling Incidents of Its Coal Fields.† Morgantown, W.Va: West Virginia University Press, 1969. Savage, Lon. â€Å"Thunder in the Mountains: The West Virginia Mine War, 1920-21.† Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990. This essay on Battle of Blair Mountain was written and submitted by user Kolton Christensen to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Free Essays on The Devil And Commodity Fetishism In South America

This essay discusses Michael Taussig's ethnography of plantation and tin mine workers in South America in his book, The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America. The work deals mainly with the structure of society and the problems existing among the Columbian plantation workers and the Peruvian and bolivian tin mine workers when a capitalist economy is introduced. Taussig's perspective for interpretation of these societies is unashamedly Marxist. His aim is to interpret the effects of the disruption these societies experienced from what he calls, the capitalist exploitation of market based oppression, dating from the Spanish conquest to the present day. He tries to achieve this by analysing the subsequent changes in their folk beliefs. Comparing pre-conquest (use value market) beliefs, rites, magic, with those of the post-conquest (commodity driven market) periods of history. Taussig emphasises that in order to see the situation these societies find themselves in clearly we must look at them through precapitalist eyes. Stressing the importance of a self effacing critique of the capitalist world view, (one that the western reader has probably reified) is critical to comprehending the task he has undertaken. His aim is to show that the "alienation" experienced by individuals in a society, developed hand in hand with the change from a use value, or reciprocal exchange based economy, to a market based, non-reciprocal one. One that does not emphasise human relationships, but is focused on commodities (things), and in so doing fetishizes the commodities. The analogy his argument hinges on is the fetishization of the devil in the previously mentioned social groupings. Whereas in precapitalist times the gods or spirits in their folk beliefs were not inherently or predominantly evil, now because of the influences brought to bear on them from a commodity based market, their beliefs have changed or at least include... Free Essays on The Devil And Commodity Fetishism In South America Free Essays on The Devil And Commodity Fetishism In South America This essay discusses Michael Taussig's ethnography of plantation and tin mine workers in South America in his book, The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America. The work deals mainly with the structure of society and the problems existing among the Columbian plantation workers and the Peruvian and bolivian tin mine workers when a capitalist economy is introduced. Taussig's perspective for interpretation of these societies is unashamedly Marxist. His aim is to interpret the effects of the disruption these societies experienced from what he calls, the capitalist exploitation of market based oppression, dating from the Spanish conquest to the present day. He tries to achieve this by analysing the subsequent changes in their folk beliefs. Comparing pre-conquest (use value market) beliefs, rites, magic, with those of the post-conquest (commodity driven market) periods of history. Taussig emphasises that in order to see the situation these societies find themselves in clearly we must look at them through precapitalist eyes. Stressing the importance of a self effacing critique of the capitalist world view, (one that the western reader has probably reified) is critical to comprehending the task he has undertaken. His aim is to show that the "alienation" experienced by individuals in a society, developed hand in hand with the change from a use value, or reciprocal exchange based economy, to a market based, non-reciprocal one. One that does not emphasise human relationships, but is focused on commodities (things), and in so doing fetishizes the commodities. The analogy his argument hinges on is the fetishization of the devil in the previously mentioned social groupings. Whereas in precapitalist times the gods or spirits in their folk beliefs were not inherently or predominantly evil, now because of the influences brought to bear on them from a commodity based market, their beliefs have changed or at least include...