UNPFII

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an organization that deals with issues related to the indigenous people of the world.  In the world today there are many challenges that these people face such as the women of these nations feel they are not able to raise their voices and state opinions, climate change can be devastating to the people, and they feel like their way of life is being taken away from them. 

            Indigenous women’s today are the target for most of the discrimination. They are subjected to illiteracy, extreme poverty, trafficking, lack of access to ancestral land, violence, poor health care, and many more things. When different villages fight against one another, the women are exposed to most of the pain and suffering. This can become very hard on them and make it difficult to try to raise a family, and do everyday household activities. Today the UNPFII is trying to get more involvement and participation for women available.

            Indigenous people all have a close relationship with the environment. They are very concerned about the high altitude regions with glacier melts that are affecting many of their people. Because of the glaciers it is resulting in more water in the short term, but in the long run there will be less water as glaciers and snow cover shrink.  Indigenous people also depend a lot on the environment for hunting and trapping. They feel like the change in species available to them is becoming smaller, which means they have less variety.

            I think the main issue that these people are dealing with is the fact that their ways of life are being taken from them shortly. They feel like their culture is being taken from them, and they are no longer able to participate in their special cultural activities. I think they have a point, but I also think that they need to adapt to the things that are happening around them. Maintaining your culture is important, but I personally believe that they need to assimilate to other cultures.                        

            There are many issues that these people face. Climate change, women not being able to voice their opinion, and the feeling that their culture is being taken from them are only a few of the issues. I think the UNPFII means well and they are trying to help these people all around the world work through their problems. From what I understand, I don’t think they are enforcing these changes hard enough. If they truly want to make a difference they need to start taking action on these issues that they talk about, and make more progress so life for these people can change.

Silk Road

In the beginning of the first century transporting goods from place to place was not always an easy task. Many people did not get to enjoy the luxury of having a variety of food, clothing, and other materials because they were not located in the right area. When the “Silk Road” was formed it was possible to receive and trade materials with other countries. Also, people got to share knowledge, religious beliefs, social customs, and many more things. However, issues did arise such as duty having to be paid, and people getting beat up, or harassed.

  When the “Silk Road” first opened many people were exciting, and longed to travel and explore other peoples ideas, and trade with them. Before this time, what they were able to acquire was very limited, so when this change was put to action people grew excited, and they were eager to learn more about the other people and what they were all about. This was a positive thing, and people started to “come out of their shell” and learn about the ideas of other people.

Another great thing about the “Silk Road” was that people got a chance to not only trade goods, but to share ideas with one another. Ideas such as inventions, religious beliefs, artistic styles, social customs, and even languages were shared among the people. When this happened I think the people would have got a greater perspective on life, and would have learned to look at things from another prospective. I think this is a really good thing because they could become globalized. This is really important because a lot of our countries customs are ideas from other countries. It is important to learn and be aware of other countries. Since the “Silk Road” was formed the people of these countries were able to do that.

Although there were many great things that came along with the “Silk Road” many bad things came also. One of the bad things that happened was when the Arabian countries decided that they would make the travelers passing through their country pay a duty on their items. This caused a great stir among the people. Another negative thing that happened was people would get beat up, and badly hurt while traveling this road. Many gangs and harmful people would be around these roads, and steal  things from the foreign travelers. These are just a few of the negative things that happened.

Overall, I personally believe that the “Silk Road” was a good idea. It gave people a chance to mingle among other people and lifestyles; it also gave people a chance to adapt ideas and customs from other countries, which helped them to become globalized. Unfortunately, bad things did happen such as extra money having to be paid, and gangs hurting people. However, I believe that this was a really good idea that brought a lot of happiness to the people, and effected their lives for the good.