Anti-trust behavior of Microsoft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anti-trust behavior of Microsoft - Essay Example Further, there were no technical barriers to enter into the market as the product was not developed by using some unique skills or material which were not available to other suppliers in the market.   (Chan, The Seattle Times)There are however, certain other conditions to be met if one can completely characterize a firm as a pure monopoly. One of the key characteristics of monopoly market structure is the high barriers to entry either through technological sophistication or through other legal barriers. Further, seller must have the ability to discriminate on price by either reducing the quantity or price in order to sell more. It was the overall quality and ease with which a general consumer can use Microsoft’s operating system which made it the number one choice for the consumers. The price as well as the graphical user interface of the operating system actually made it simpler for the end users to operate the system.Monopolies could be good because they are quick to achie ve the economies of scale and avail lower average variable cost. Low cost therefore could result into the low prices therefore monopolies could be helpful in allowing consumers to enjoy lower prices. For example, Google’s search engine services are offered free of cost despite the fact that Google also has achieved the virtual status of a monopoly in the search engine market. Though Google is a monopoly however, its services are offered free of cost to every user therefore this type of monopoly can be good.

How to Become a Lawyer Essay Example for Free

How to Become a Lawyer Essay Career Description: * Criminal lawyers have the same basic duties as other lawyers. * First, they advise their clients of their legal rights and responsibilities, as well as any potential problems. * Second, they represent their clients before the courts. Third, they research rules, regulations, and previous cases. * Finally, they prepare legal documents. In each case, lawyers interpret the law and apply it to specific situations. In the courtroom, criminal lawyers act on one of two â€Å"sides:† the defence or the prosecution. * Defence attorneys represent people who have been charged with criminal offences (for example, murder or theft) by making a case that supports their clients’ innocence. * On the other hand, prosecuting attorneys—usually called Crown attorneys or Crown counsel—act for the government on behalf of the public. They form cases against defendants by convincing juries to view the facts as evidence of guilt. * Both prosecuting and defence attorneys are responsible for preparing their cases before and during the trial. Education Training: To become a lawyer, you must attend law school and complete a law degree. Before applying to law school, you must complete at least 2 years of undergraduate studies at university (except in Quebec, where you can get into law school straight from a CEGEP). However, because the admission process is extremely competitive, most applicants have at least a bachelor’s degree. Bachelor’s degrees usually take 4 years to complete. To get into law school you need very good marks. You almost always need to write an aptitude test called the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) as well. After graduating from law school, you still need to work for approximately 1 year as an articling student, under the direction of licensed lawyers (fortunately, you usually get paid for this part) before you can become a licensed lawyer. Then you have to successfully complete the bar admission program, including classes and exams, which several weeks to several months to finish.

Parent Teacher Behavior

Parent Teacher Behavior The correlation of a good parent and teacher relationship Parents and teachers constitute two of the most important information sources of young childrens social skills. However, Parents and teachers often are very influential adults in childrens lives, and thus they can provide important perspectives and information concerning childrens behavior. Parents are unique compared to other adults in that they often have observed their childrens behavior across time and across diverse situations. It declared that parents often are aware of subtleties in their childrens behavior and are able to observe them in different contexts, and, therefore, they should be included in the assessment of their children. Inclusion of mothers, fathers, and teachers as assessors allows for comparisons regarding their agreement about childrens behavior across situations with consideration of physical location as well as with sensitivity to differential behavioral values. (Mouly, 2000) In research it has been found that teachers benefit from involvement with parents. Teachers who had high involvement with parents indicated that they were more proficient in instructional and professional activities, devoted more time to instruction, and maintained better parent relationships than did teachers who had little contact with parents. As a result of these reciprocal benefits of parent-teacher relationships, others have encouraged the use of home school collaboration programs to help modify childrens academic and social behavior in school. (Slavin, 2005) Parents play an important role in an exceptional childs life and must inform teachers of their special conditions since no two children are alike. (Mouly, 2000) Teachers can be very helpful in supporting a childs treatment once parents inform them about the disorder. Parents can provide information to the teachers and school personnel about their childs medication or other special needs. From here, teachers can provide parents with occasional progress reports. Even if a child is not active at school, teachers should be informed that treatment can improve the childs ability to learn. However, misunderstandings between student, parent and teacher are common, but can be lessened with early communication between parent and teacher. The first contact between parent and teacher should be made before problems arise with the student. Parents can get involved in school activities in many ways, they can assist teachers with class once a week, volunteer to talk to the class on a particular topic, help with field trips or donate supplies for special events or projects. Some techniques that have effectively been used when working with parents of exceptional students are as follows, effective use of home liaisons, teachers who go on visits with home liaisons to enhance communication between school and parents, treating the parents with respect, encouraging their continued assistance with their childs education, and complimenting them on participation in their childs education. Some other suggestions for improvements that could be made are, training parents specifically in their roles in Individual Education Plans and School Evaluation Teams; obtaining through interviews and observations, viewpoints and feelings of parents; communication through media forms (announcements about appropriate meetings); guest speakers for parent meetings who would give in depth training concerning parental rights, early intervention, and transition plans; all teachers should be required to make personal contact with parents even if there is no apparent intervention neede d, this will keep the door of communication open; activities taught at school that would have a parent participation component included at home. It is very important that teachers help the parents of exceptional children to learn their rights. (OCD, 2005) Some of these parents dont know them at all and some only know bits and pieces that seem misconstrued. Teachers are required to have the parents sign their parental rights at all the meetings with the Diagnostician that would be concerning the childs education. It would be helpful for the parents to know and understand what they are signing for them to feel more comfortable. Most parents are kind of scared to sign things that they are unsure about, and then they are tense and unable to really make the best decisions about their child. (Slavin, 2005) In conclusion, I feel that working with parents of exceptional students will cause a mix of emotions. You are required to be on your toes at all times and they expect you to know everything, but as long as you treat them with respect and follow the simple guidelines from this paper, you shouldnt have a problem. You just have to keep in mind that you are teaching their pride and joy exceptionalities and all. References Mouly, G. (2000). Psychology for effective teaching. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. OCD Resource Center, (n.d.). Child adolescent ocd. Retrieved Mar. 20, 2005. Slavin, B. (2000). Learners with exceptionalities. Ford, D. (1996, Aug 05). Good parent-teacher relationship benefits children. College ofAgriculture and Home Economics, Retrieved Mar 20, 2005 Jones, D. (1997, Mar ), Working with navajo parents of exceptional children. Communication is the key. Retrieved Mar. 20, 2005, from Children, Youth and Family Establishing a parent-teacher relationship. (1998).

Abortion Should Remain Legal Essay example -- The Right to Life, Pro-Li

Abortion. This one word, or statement in this case, can be defined as death to some and as life to others. With two completely different explanations of a word, it is obvious that abortion is probably one of the leading topics of controversy in the world today. So, who will win the fight? The pro-choice supporters, or the pro-life supporters? It has been a battle since the first laws of abortion were enforced in the 1820’s. Neither parties are right, however neither is wrong. Abortion is a personal opinion that is conducted according to the personal reason. Honestly, although there are several people, pro-choice to be exact, that disagree, the question I ask is â€Å"Why should abortion be legal†? Isn’t it murder? Isn’t it taking a helpless souls life? In a case of an abortion, the child doesn’t stand a chance. It is unfair to the innocent and selfish of the one who makes the decision to abort the child. A legitimate reason can’t be found to take a life. When someone hits a motorist and kills them by car accident, they are prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter. These people serve time for the crime that they commit. Abortion only differs in one way; it is voluntary. The average punishment for voluntary manslaughter is life behind bars. If someone abuses a child to the point of death, they are prosecuted for homicide and will likely serve their entire life in prison. Abortion is the same as child abuse to the point of death. With legalized abortions, at the time that someone has the abortion, they hav e the procedure, and walk free and clear, several feeling no regret or guilt from their actions at all. They should have to pay for their selfish acts. The right to a legal abortion is allowing the mistake of pregnancy to become ... ...ose that are sexually assaulted. As for those that it is a personal choice to discontinue the pregnancy, I do not believe that it should be legal for personal reasons. There are thousands of people that are waiting to adopt newborns, therefore if there is not a health concern for the mother or the child, the abortion should not be allowed. I believe that this would teach our society to practice safe sex and to administer birth control more freely. So, abortion, legal or not legal? That is our question. Thinking critically, I believe that it is necessary to be a legal procedure only with limitations however. I also believe that it is the business of the pregnant women that is considering the abortion. Our society does not have a right to judge someone by the actions. Only God will judge us one day and he is the one for us to assure that we will do by his will.

History and Development of Equity Essay

It is important to appreciate, especially when reading older cases on the law oftrusts, that there were, until 1873 in England, two main separate courts – courts of lawand courts of equity. Trust law was a product of courts of equity. We will thus look at:(i)the meaning of â€Å"equity† that is associated with courts of equity;(ii)the origins of courts of equity; (iii) the development of the law of uses and trusts; (iv) the transfer of equity jurisdiction to Canada; (v) the current status of the fusion of law and equity. II. Objective: Be able to describe four different meanings that might be associated with â€Å"equity† andthe definition of â€Å"equity† that is important for our purposes. The word â€Å"equity† has several different meanings. Let’s examine some of thosemeanings and then focus on the meaning that is important to us in understanding the lawof trusts. A. Equity as â€Å"Fairness† One meaning of the word â€Å"equity† is â€Å"fairness† or â€Å"justice†. This is oftenreflected in expressions such as â€Å"employment equity†, â€Å"pay equity† or â€Å"distributionalequity†. People speak in terms of what is â€Å"fair† or â€Å"just† but there is often considerabledisagreement as to what is fair or just. This concept of â€Å"equity† is not the concept ofâ€Å"equity† that we mean when we speak of what courts of equity did. B. Equity as Net Worth The word â€Å"equity† is also used to mean net worth. That is, the amount one retainsafter creditors have been paid. For instance, shares in a corporation are often describedas â€Å"equity investments†. The shareholders are entitled to what is left over after thecreditors are paid off. Similarly, people speak of having â€Å"equity† in their house. Forexample, a person might buy a $400,000 house by making a $100,000 downpayment andborrowing the remaining $300,000 to pay the rest giving the lender a security interest (orcollateral) in the house by way of a mortgage. The $100,000 would be that person’sequity in the house. If the person were able to pay off $50,000 on the loan then theperson’s equity in the house would rise to $150,000 (i. e. the value the person would have 2 invested in the house net of paying the lender (or creditor)). The person’s equity in thehouse would, of course, vary with the market value of the house. This use of the word â€Å"equity† has its origins in a creation of courts of equity. Courts of equity developed the concept of the equity of redemption. To borrow money aborrower often had to provide some form of security interest (or collateral). A commonmethod of doing this was to convey the legal title to the lender until the debt was paid. The agreement under which the loan was made required the lender to reconvey theproperty to the borrower if the debt was paid by a specified date. If the borrower failed topay by that date the lender could keep the legal title to the property. Often lenders wouldretain the property even though the borrower was just a day late in paying. Courts ofequity addressed this by allowing the borrower to pay in a reasonable period of time,often allowing the borrower as much as several years to complete payment on the debt. This was known as the equity of redemption – the right of the borrower to pay off thedebt and get the property back (and thus the value of the borrower’s interest (or equity ofredemption) was the value of the property less the amount of the unpaid debt. While the equity of redemption was a product of the courts of equity it is still notthe concept, or definition, of equity that we are looking for. C. Equity as a Corrective to Law Legal rules can work injustices in situations that weren’t anticipated when the rulewas created. All legal systems need some mechanism to address this problem. In civillaw systems it is usually a combination of broadly drafted code provisions and liberalinterpretation together with a concept of non-binding precedent. In England courts ofequity arguably had their origins in the performance of this corrective to law function. But as courts of equity developed they developed their own rules that were often rigidlyinterpreted and thus arguably came to no longer perform this corrective function. D. Mere Equities There are also what are referred to as â€Å"mere equities†. These are defences to legalactions that were created by courts of equity. Consider, for instance, the defence of setoff in the context of an assignment. In the 17 th century courts of equity developed the concept of assignment. Suppose, for example, A owed B $10,000. B could assign to Cthat right to receive $10,000 from A. But suppose that B owed A $3,000 in a separatetransaction. If B had claimed the $10,000 from A, A could have set the right to receive$3,000 from off against B’s claim for $10,000 (i. e. allowing A to just pay $7,000). C wassaid to take â€Å"subject to the equities† when B assigned to C the right to receive $10,000from A. That allowed A to assert the right of set off against C thus allowing A to just payC $7,000. C would have to seek the other $3,000 from B. Other â€Å"mere equities† that Ctook subject to would include claims that A might have as defences to B’s claim. Forinstance, A might have claimed against B that the debt arose due to duress, mistake,misrepresentation or fraud. A could also assert these defences against C. In other words, 3 C took subject to the equities of the situation between A and B. These defences of Awere so-called â€Å"mere equities†. E. Maitland’s Definition of Equity The meaning of equity that is relevant for our purposes is the meaning thatMaitland gave: â€Å"Equity is now that body of rules administered by our †¦ courts of justice which,were it not for the operation of the Judicature Acts, would be administered onlyby those courts which would now be known as Courts of Equity. † Equity came to be a body of rules. Here is a simple story that perhaps roughlycaptures how this came about. Spouses A and B have two children, X and Y. Oneevening X goes to spouse A and asks to stay up beyond the specified bedtime of 8:00p. m. X argues that there are special circumstances that particular night in favour of beingable to stay up beyond the normal bedtime. A says no. The rule, according to A, is thatbedtime is 8:00 p. m. – no exceptions. X goes to spouse B, the established ultimateauthority in the house, and makes the argument in favour of extending bedtime to 8:30p. . on the particular evening. Spouse B thinks the arguments in favour of extending thebedtime are fair and allows X to stay up until 8:30 p. m. The next night child Y goes tospouse A to ask for an extension of bedtime beyond the normal bedtime of 8:00 p. m. Spouse A sticks to the rule of 8:00 p. m. so Y goes to spouse B. Y makes arguments infavour of extend bedtime on this particular night to 9:00 p. m. The perceptive spouse B(whose pe rception greatly shortens the story) sees the potential for things to unravelthrough a series of claims for exceptions. Spouse B realizes that some restrictions, orrules, will be needed on just when the decisions of spouse A will be interfered with. Spouse A in the story is, of course, intended to be somewhat analogous to a court of lawwhile spouse B represents a court of equity. While spouse B, or a court of equity, mightbegin with the simple notion of doing what is â€Å"fair,† or providing a â€Å"corrective† to thelaw, eventually some rules are created as to when a â€Å"corrective† order will be provided. TheChancellor would draft new writs for actions in the common law courts but by 1350 thecommon law courts had begun refusing new writs on the basis that they were not inconformity with the law. This led to more substantive bases for complaints wherelitigants felt they could not get justice in the common law courts. It was in the context ofthese complaints that the Chancellor began performing equity in the sense of a correctivejustice. For example, courts of law at the time took written documentation of a debt asirrefutable evidence that the debt was owed. Normally when the debt was paid thewritten document would be cancelled. Sometimes, however, the document was notcancelled and the lender would claim again on the debt. Because the written documentwas irrefutable evidence of the debt, the debtor could not prove by other means that thedebt had been paid. The debtor could then file a bill with the Chancellor and provideother evidence that the debt had been paid. The lender would then be called upon toanswer a series of questions posed by the Chancellor. If the defendant (the lender) couldnot provide satisfactory answers the Chancellor would make an order telling thedefendant not to enforce the judgment received from the common law court. This cameto be known as a â€Å"common injunction. † 5 3. Equity Follows the Law and Acts in Personam Here one can see a couple of important things about equity. First, equity followsthe law. The Chancellor did not say the common law rule that written evidence of thedebt was irrefutable. That rule remained. Thus equity took the common law as given andsimply acted in response to decisions of the common law courts. This is sometimesreferred to as the rule that equity follows the law. Second, equity acts in personam. Theorder of the Chancellor did not create a legal right or a property right. If the Chancellorfound in favour of the plaintiff the Chancellor would make an order against thedefendant. 4. From Ecclesiastic Chancellors to Non-ecclesiastic Chancellors Until the early 16 th century chancellors were bishops, archbishops or even cardinals. They were thus usually trained in Roman law and canon law (perhaps lendingsome weight to the notion that the law of trusts may have had its origins in Roman lawand canon law concepts). After the early 16 th century chancellors were seldom ecclesiastics. By the mid 15 th century (around 1430) a court of chancery was set up at Westminster. B. Development of the Law of Uses and Trusts Objectives: 1. Note the early form of the â€Å"use. † 2. Identify and explain three ways in which the â€Å"use† was employed in its earlydevelopment. 3. Note the non-recognition of the use and one of the benefits of its non-recognition. 4. Briefly discuss the recognition of the use. 5. Discuss the reasons for the Statute of Uses and its effect. 6. Note two word formulas that were used in an attempt to avoid the Statute of Uses andthe eventual recognition of these formulas. 7. Explain the reason for the enactment of the Statute of Wills. . â€Å"Uses† – Franciscan Friars, Crusades and the Form of the â€Å"Use† Uses and trusts was an area in which the Chancellor began developing a body ofsubstantive law. As noted earlier, early forms of trusts may have included the concept ofthe use employed by donors to Franciscan friars or by owners of estates leaving on thecrusades. These early forms of t rusts were expressed as conveyances to the use ofanother. In other words, X would convey property â€Å"to A to the use of B† (â€Å"use† derivingfrom the Latin term opus, ad opus meaning â€Å"on behalf of†). In addition to the possible 6 early employment of uses by Franciscan friars or in relation to the crusades, people cameto realize a number of other ways of employing â€Å"uses† to their advantage. 2. Other Ways in Which the Use was Employed a. To Avoid the Feudal Burdens of Wardship and Marriage For instance, the use could be employed to avoid the feudal burdens of wardshipand marriage. The male heir of a tenant under the age of 21 and the female heir of atenant under the age of 16 became the ward of the Lord if the tenant died. The Lord tookthe profits of the land until the child reached the age of 21 (or 16 in the case of a female)and had the right to determine the marriage of the child. This could be avoided byputting the land in the hands of one’s friends, say A, B and C, for one’s own use (i. e. Xconveys to A, B and C for the use of X). This way if X died the feudal burdens ofwardship and marriage did not apply to X’s children since X did not â€Å"own† the land (i. e. was not the legally recognized tenant). A, B and C were the legally recognized tenantsand it was they who owed the feudal burdens. If A died, however, A’s children did notbecome wards of the Lord because the rights in the land passed to B and C by right ofsurvivorship. b. To Avoid the Feudal Requirement of Forfeiture for Treason or Escheat for Felony Feudal land law required that the rights to land be forfeit for treason or wouldescheat to the Lord if the tenant commited a felony. This could be avoided by theemployment of the use since once X conveyed the property to others for the use of X, Xwould no longer be the legal owner (or tenant). Thus commition of treason or a felonycould not result in forfeiture or escheat since X had no property to forfeit. X, however, could still enjoy the profits or use of the land by virtue of the device of the use. c. To Avoid Creditors The use also allowed one to avoid creditors. X would convey to A, B and C to theuse of X. If creditors sought to claim the rights to the land as an asset of X, X’s simpleanswer was that the rights to the land did not belong to X. This was facilitated in theearly days not only by courts of aw not recognizing the use but by the fact thatChancellor also did not, in those early days, recognize the use. Thus X had no legal titlethat the creditors could seize and also had no equitable title that the creditors could claim. d. To Effect Testamentary Dispositions of Land Courts of law held early on that one could not, on one’s death, make a gift of landby testamentary disposition. This was avoided by conveying the property during one’slife to another for the use of oneself and then, on death, to the use of those to whom onewished to make a gift. In other words, X would convey the property to A for the use of Xduring X’s life and then to the use of Y. 7 3. Non-recognition in Courts of Law or byt the Chancellor The use was not recognized in courts of law. Initially it was also not recognizedby the Chancellor. Thus there was no legal mechanism for enforcing uses. It was largelya matter of honour and one had to rely on other mechanisms of enforcement rather thanan order for damages from a court of law. On the other hand, it was the non-recognitionof the use in courts of law that gave it some of its advantages. For instance, theavoidance of creditors or feudal burdens depended on the law not recognizing the cestuique use as having any right or title to property enforceable in a court of law (or even anequitable interest recognized in the Court of Equity). 4. Subsequent Recognition by Chancellor This reluctance of courts of law to enforce uses led to appeals to the King toenforce the use. Appeals to the King were made on the basis that the King was theresidual source of justice. The King could provide justice where the courts wereunwilling to (or unable to because the complaint did not fall within the recognized formsof action). Initially the Chancellor did not recognize the use but, with an increasingnumber of complaints against faithless trustees, the Chancellor began to recognize usesby about the beginning of the 15th century (in 1420). The Chancellor would make anorder against the feoffee to uses (trustee) to comply with the obligations they had agreedto in favour of the cestui que use (beneficiary). For example, if A conveyed land to B forthe use of C but B retained the profits of the land to himself C could complain to theChancellor. The Chancellor would call upon B to explain why he had kept the profitsand if he had no good explanation then he would be ordered to restore the profits to C(i. e. , what we would now call the remedy of â€Å"accounting†). The right of the cestui queuse was against the feoffee to uses and thus a personal (or in personam right) but later itwas held that these beneficial rights could be enforced against third parties other than abona fide purchaser without notice and thus the right of the beneficiary came to lookmore like a proprietary (or in rem) right. 5. Later Statute of Uses to Prevent â€Å"Uses† The recognition of the use by the Chancellor led to an increased employment ofthe use. The employment of the use to avoid feudal burdens led to a reduction in thefeudal rights to Lords, most notably to the ultimate Lord, the King. There was also theconcern that rights created through the use could be created without writtendocumentation (i. e. , orally or by an oral direction to the foeffee to uses). The King’sresponse was to urge Parliament to pass the Statute of Uses in 1535. This statuteprovided that the person in whose favour the use was made became the legal owner of therights to the land. In other words, prior to the Statute of Uses when X conveyed to A for the use ofB, A was the legal owner of the land but it was to be used for the benefit of B. After theStatute of Uses when X conveyed to A for the use of B the conveyance to A was ignored 8 and the whole expression was treated as a conveyance directly to B. Thus B became thelegal owner. So let’s go back to the employment of the use by X to avoid the feudal burdens ofwardship and marriage. X conveys to A, B and C for the use of X. This conveyance onlyoperated to convey property from X to himself and thus was no conveyance at all. Inother words, X could no longer avoid feudal burdens by the employment of the use. Xstill had the legal title to the land in spite of the purported conveyance. 6. Ways Around the Statute of Uses As suggested above, the use had a number of advantages. Not surprisinglyattempts were made to recapture its benefits despite the Statute of Uses. It was not longbefore creative ways were found to avoid the effect of the statute. Of the techniques ofavoiding the Statute of Uses perhaps the most important was the employment of a useupon a use. The use upon a use was effected by conveying â€Å"A to B for the use of C in trust forD† or â€Å"A unto and to the use of B in trust for C†. In the first wording the Statute of Usesoperated to make C the legal owner of the land. But C held the land in trust for D. Courts of law did not recognize the second use (or trust) since it was repugnant to the usegranted to C [Tyrrel’s case (1557), 73 E. R. 336]. Initially Courts of Chancery alsorefused to recognize the second use. Courts of Chancery, however,later came torecognize the second use [in Sambach v. Dalston (1634), 21 E. R. 164]. The effect of this was that the use was restored to its pre Statute of Uses statesimply by the addition of a few words in the form of conveyance. 7. The Statute of Wills One of the advantages of the use was to effect a testamentary disposition of rightsin land. With the enactment of the Statute of Uses, and before the recognition of the useupon a use, the use could no longer be employed to effect a testamentary disposition ofproperty. The apparent abolition of the testamentary employment of the use was not wellreceived. It led to a rebellion which resulted in the Statute of Wills in 1540 whichpermitted a person make a testamentary disposition of property. 9 C. Development of Equity and Trusts After 1550: From â€Å"Conscience† toâ€Å"Equity† Objective: Briefly describe the development of Equity and trusts from 1550 to 1700. 1. Growing Popularity of Courts of Equity and Conflict with Courts of Law The early simplicity of procedure in Chancery courts made them popular. Thenumber of matters brought before the court of chancery in the 16 th century grew significantly. This led to competition between Chancery and common law courts. Judges in common law courts did not like the common injunctions issued by Chancerycourts. In Finch v. Throgmorton in 1598 [3 Bulstr. 118] the validity of commoninjunctions was referred to all the judges of England and were pronounced by them to beinvalid. Lord Chancellor Ellesmere continued to issue common injunctions. Lord Coke,who became chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench in 1613, criticized commoninjunctions claiming that the tendency of courts of equity to re-examine common lawjudgments and to issue orders against the enforcement of common law judgments tendedto subvert the common law. In Heath v. Ridley in 1614 [2 Cro. 335] Lord Coke broughtthe issue to a head when he refused to accept a common injunction issued by LordEllesmere. The King ruled in favour of Lord Ellesmere and Lord Coke was laterdismissed from office. 2. Courts of Equity Survive the Civil War and Removal of the Monarchy After the English Civil War in the 1640s and 1650s Parliament voted in favour ofthe abolition of the court of chancery (in part because of its close association with themonarchy) but the House could not agree on legislation to transfer chancery jurisdictionto the common law courts. Thus the court of chancery survived through to the restorationof the monarchy. 3. Seventeenth Century Developments – Equity as a Body of Substantive Law By the late 17th century the role of Chancery was expanding with control overwardship and the development of fiduciary guardianship, the equity of redemption, andassignment of choses in action. In other words, the court of chancery was developing itsown substantive law. The court was applying â€Å"equity† as a body of substantive law ithad developed and was less the court of â€Å"conscience† it had been in the past. Many developments in equity came to be reflected in the â€Å"common law† itself oftenthrough legislation (e. g. Statute of Wills), but sometimes by common law courtsborrowing concepts from equity. The development of reporting of Chancery decisionsafter 1660 contributed to the development of a body of principles of equity. By the endof the 17th century the court of chancery had developed concepts such as the equity ofredemption and the assignment of choses in action. 10 The way the trust was being used was also changing. By the late 17th century thetrust was being used not just to hold property but to manage property by giving trusteeswide powers to manage the property, improve it, mortgage land, pay off debts, provideincome for widows and dependants, educate children, etc. D. Equity and Trusts, 1700-1900: Disaffection, Reform and FusionObjective: Briefly describe the development of Equity and trusts from 1700 to 1900. There were developments of equity in the 18th century. Equity was the mainsource of protection of copyrights and trademarks since these could be protected throughthe equitable remedy of injunction. Equity† was becoming more and more a body ofsubstantive law rather than just a collection of equitable maxims. The 18 th century also saw the development of of the business trust in part inresponse to the Bubble Act of 1720 that had prohibited an early precursor to thecorporation referred to as a joint stock company (which was really a large partnership). Trusts in the 18 th century in creasingly took the form of a fund of investments, such asstocks and bonds, that the trustee would administer for the benefit of others rather thanbeing used primarily for the holding of land. However, growing procedural complexity caused the court of chancery to becomeincreasingly slow and inefficient resulting in a reduction in cases. The Chancellor dealtwith all cases directly. Proceedings were done by way of written interrogatives followedby written depositions in response. Copies were made for all parties and werehandwritten by law writers. Fees were paid instead of salaries which gave personsinvolved an incentive to prolong proceedings. The slow process was remarked on by aToronto lawyer (Skivington Connor) in 1845 concerning the process of the court ofchancery in Ontario at the time, That’s the business I like, the pace slow and dignified, the pay handsome, and agentlemanly understanding among practitioners to make it handsomer. †There was some response to the slow pace of the court of chancery prior to the enactmentof the Judicature Act of 1873. In 1813 a vice-chancellor was appointed. A Court ofAppeal in Chancery was created in 1851 and the Court of C hancery was given powers touse juries to try facts. Similarly in the 19 th century common law courts were given powers to grant injunctions and admit equitable defences. Thus there was somemovement toward fusion of courts of law and courts of equity. Eventually the Court ofChancery was abolished in 1873 and the common law courts took over the administrationof both the common law and equity. 11 III. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITY IN CANADA Objectives: Be able to briefly trace the history of the exercise of equitable jurisdiction in the Atlanticprovinces, Ontario, Quebec, the West and the North. The reception of equity jurisdiction in Canada varied from province to province inthe eastern provinces. The timing of the settlement in and creation of most of the westernprovinces was in the latter part of the 19 th century when the merging of courts of law and courts of equity was already being considered in England. A. Atlantic Provinces In Nova Scotia the Governor, as Keeper of the Great Seal, exercised equityjurisdiction (as early as 1751 when the first bill in equity was filed). This approach wasextended to Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick when these colonies were created(in1769 and 1784 respectively). In Nova Scotia matters were decided on the advice of acouncil until 1764. In 1764 three â€Å"Masters in Chancery† were appointed to assist theGovernor. Initially these Masters in Chancery were not legally trained but by later in the19th century legally trained masters of the rolls were appointed in Nova Scotia, NewBrunswick and Prince Edward Island. The merging of law and equity jurisdiction occurred in New Brunswick and NovaScotia well before the enactment of the Judicature Act in England in 1873. In NewBrunswick in 1854 and in Nova Scotia in 1855 the position of master of the rolls wasabolished and equity jurisdiction was transferred to the Supreme Court. The merging ofcourts of law and courts of equity in Prince Edward Island did not occur until 1974. Newfoundland did not follow the model of the Governor exercising equityjurisdiction. Instead equity jurisdiction was exercised by the Supreme Court and thispractice was later codified in 1825 (almost 50 years before the merging of courts of lawand courts of equity in England). 12 B. Ontario and Quebec Quebec Equity jurisdiction lasted only briefly in Quebec. From the Royal Proclamationof 1763 the Governor of Quebec sat as Chancellor until Quebec Act of 1774 restored thecivil law system to Quebec. Ontario Governors in Ontario, curiously, refused to exercise equity jurisdiction. It hasbeen suggested that this may have been due to pressure from lenders since without theexercise of equity jurisdiction there would be no equity of redemption in favour ofdebtors. Eventually pressure from debtors mounted and a legislative form of equity ofredemption was adopted. The establishment of a Court of Chancery followed shortlyafterwards in 1837. This may have been in response to pressure from lenders again. Thelegislature having created a legislated equity of redemption for borrowers, the lendersmay have wanted to have the corresponding right of foreclosure which was also adevelopment of equity cutting off the right of redemption after a reasonable period oftime. The Ontario Court of Chancery was later absorbed into High Court of Ontario in1881. C. The West and North When courts were being established in the west and north the move towardsunifying courts of law and equity was well advanced. Thus when courts were establishedin these jurisdictions they were given jurisdiction over both law and equity. It was,however, the practice in Manitoba and British Columbia to have divisions of the courtwith a division administering law and another division administering equity with theusual restrictions on courts of law not being able to give equitable remedies. Later thesedivisions were abolished (e. g. , in Manitoba in 1895). 13 IV. FUSION Objectives: Be able to: (i)Distinguish between procedural and substantive concepts of fusion. (ii) Provide an example of the potential practical effect of the distinction. (iii) Briefly discuss the current status of the debate over the fusion of law and equity. A. Procedural vs. Substantive Fusion What did the Judicature Act in England in 1873 do? Did it merge the rulesapplied by courts of law and the rules applied by courts of equity into a single body oflaw? Or did it simply allow for court proceedings to be started in one court that hadjurisdiction to apply rules of law and rules of equity without any formal merging of thetwo bodies of rules? In other words, did it provide for substantive fusion or proceduralfusion? Substantive fusion means that the rules of law and equity are merged into a singlebody of rules. Procedural fusion means that one can apply to a single court following asingle court procedure and that court could administer both rules of law and rules ofequity and apply remedies of the sort that were formerly available in either a court of law(e. g. damages) or a court of equity (e. g. injunction, specific performance, accounting). The difference is often captured by the Ashburner’s [Principles of Equity (London: Butterworths, 1902)] so-called fluvial metaphor: â€Å"The two streams of jurisdiction, though they run in the same channel, run side byside and do not mingle their waters.In that metaphor law and equity are perceived as two separate streams (courts) that cometogether (in one court). Ashburner’s statement using the fluvial metaphor says that thefusion was procedural only. In other words, the two streams came together but the watersof the two streams (rules of law and rules of equity) did not intermingle but ran side byside in the same channel (i. e. could be applied by the same court). In the metaphorsubstantive fusion is perceived as an intermingling of the water from the two streams intoa single integrated stream. The Judicature Acts dealt with some areas of conflict and provided a general rulethat where rules of law conflicted with rules of equity the rules of equity were to prevail. Cases: [Walsh v. Lonsdale (1882)] [United Scientific Holdings v. Burnley Council, [1978] A. C. 904 (H. L. )] 14 [Fusion resulting in equity prevailing over common law or was it in fact common lawprevailing over equity] [LeMesurier v. Andrus (1986) Ont. C. A. ] B. An Example of the Practical Legal Effect Canson Enterprises Ltd. v. Boughton [1991] 3 S. C. R. 534 In Canson Enterprises Ltd. . Boughtonthe plaintiff had purchased land and thenbuilt a warehouse on the land. The warehouse was severely damaged when thesupporting piles began to sink. The plaintiff successfully sued the engineers but theyturned out to be judgment proof. The plaintiff then sued its solicitor who had made asecret profit from the purchase of the land. They claimed that as a solicitor the solicitorowed them a fiduciary duty not to make a secret profit from a transaction in which thesolicitor was acting on behalf of the plaintiff as purchaser. That claim was based onprinciples developed by courts of equity which had long held solicitor’s to owe fiduciaryduties to their clients and had drawn on the fiduciary duty principles they had developedin the context of trustees in setting out the scope of a solicitor’s fiduciary duties. The defendant solicitor claimed that while he would be required in equity toaccount for the profit he had made he would not be liable for the damages to thewarehouse (which were much greater than the secret profit) because his secret profit didnot ause the loss to the plaintiff from the damage to the warehouse. The plaintiff arguedthat since the claim for breach of fiduciary duty was a claim in equity principles such asremoteness, mitigation, and causation which were principles developed by courts of law,did not apply. In other words, the plaintiff was saying that there was procedural fusiononly. If a claim was based on principles that had been developed in courts of equity thenthe appli cable rules were only those drawn from developed by courts of equity not thosedeveloped by courts of law. C. The Current Status of the Fusion Debate A majority of the Supreme Court of Canada held that there was no real distinctionbetween damages in a common law claim and equitable compensation in a claim inequity and thus common law concepts of remoteness and causation could be used inassessing the remedy. In other words, they did not stick the solicitor with the fulldamages to the warehouse. Madam Justice McLachlin, as she was then, felt that theresult could be reached on equitable principles with respect to equitable compensation. Neither the majority judgment nor the judgment of Madam Justice McLachlin make itclear whether law and equity were substantive fused or merely procedurally fused. Theyboth seemed to feel that the application of common law principles and equitableprinciples in the particular case were consistent so their was no need to draw on commonlaw principles into an equitable claim. However, Madam Justice McLachlin did note thatâ€Å"we may take wisdom from where we find it, and accept such insights offered by the lawof tort, in particular deceit, as may prove useful. It thus appears that where there is aconflict one the court will resolve it with broader policy considerations. 15One should thus be alert to the potential differences between rules of law andequity and how they may impact the result but also be ready to argue for a particularresult from a policy perspective (much as the plaintiffs did in Canson by arguing that toensure that fiduciaries are held to high ethical standards they shou ld be strictly liable forall losses flowing from a breach of duty).

Arab Spring Complete Research Work

Syed Muhammad Jalal Ud Din Asad Shah SMC Ba 5 (Journalism) Course Instructor Ma’m Rida Sohail International Mass Media and its Impact Mid-term Assignment – Arab Spring 16/11/2012 Introduction The Arab Spring, referring to the chain reaction of revolutions in the Arab world, is considered to have begun in Tunisia when a small produce seller lit himself on fire to protest the government taking away his job.Some say that this event, coupled with enough pressure from outside media sources, sparked the revolution of the younger generation in Tunisia that overthrew their prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi; others argue that the area was ripe for revolution thanks to the infusion of democracy in Iraq. Regardless of the initial cause, this single countries act started a snowball effect of democratic revolution that has rolled its way through Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Lybia, in a few smaller instances in other countries. Detailed Summary of â€Å"Arab Spring†On 17th December 2010 something occurred in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid that should lead to a so-called â€Å"revolution†. On that day, a desperate Tunisian teenager, who tried to support the livelihood of his family with his vegetable stand there, lit himself. Again and again he was bullied and also harassed by the behaviour and conditions of the Tunisian police in this village. His self-immolation happened one year ago and he died of his injuries. This sad act sparked major protests by angry and frustrated young people in Egypt.Some followed Muhammad Buazizi example and also committed suicide after his sad death. The first so-called revolution in the Arab world has been triggered. Whether this â€Å"revolution† has been really triggered all alone from within Egypt by this sad act should be questioned. It wasn’t the first demonstration against the rise of food prices, but those protests were not able to overthrow the dictator. This changed with these protests in spr ing 2011. One should consider that these developments around these demonstrations have been driven from the outside, too.For example, the name of Former U. S. diplomat Jeffrey Feltman appears repeatedly in connection with these so-called revolutions in the Middle East. The events in Tunisia spilled over to other states and for example, the Tunisian dictator quickly left his homeland to find asylum in Saudi Arabia. Some say a bit too quickly. Even before the wave of â€Å"revolutions† (â€Å"Arab Spring†) reached Egypt, this interesting wave reached the both states Morocco and Algeria. Again, the people took to the streets in protest against rising food prices and against the corruption within the country.Of course, the people in Algeria and Morocco also protested against the injustice. Finally, the demonstrations in Egypt began on 25th of January. These protests in Egypt were primarily socially motivated demonstrations, in which the people wanted to give vent to their anger. Triggered by the financial crisis (U. S. is mainly to blame for this) the food prices and housing prices also increased in the Arab countries. Where the foreign/western countries did not intervene, the demonstrations disappeared again. Take a look at Algeria.It seems that nowadays hardly anyone reminds about Algeria that there people also protested against the government and that these demonstrations were brutally dispersed or even mowed down. It seems that the Western governments decided secretly that an Algeria under the lead of Bouteflika is safer for Europe than an Algeria, which is ruled by Islamists. Some experts of the Middle East talk about the beginning of these demonstrations and revolutions about an â€Å"Islamic revolution† (even Islamistic revolution) which is masterful ignored by the West till today.The West even ignores these statements about an â€Å"Islamic revolution† gladly. However, the results of the first elections in Tunisia and Egypt spea k for themselves: In both countries the Islamists have gained extremely more power and influence. Not surprising at all. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt supported and still supports the protests against the power of the Egyptian military. It sometimes seems that the Muslim Brotherhood also forces chaos within these protests because it might be useful for their goals.Not to mention that the Muslim Brotherhood offered people money to vote for them at these elections in Egypt. A wonderful example of the democratic sense within the Muslim Brotherhood. Sure a lot of people are able to recall the 11th February. The Egyptian dictator Mubarak resigned at this day and handed â€Å"all† the power to the Western-backed military. At the moment, the Egyptian military clings to the power in Egypt and the Egyptians are not able to reach a break to rest after their â€Å"revolution†. But this revolution in Egypt was not the last revolution of this â€Å"Arab Spring† in 2011.The Yemenis were encouraged by the events in North African countries and started to take to the streets, also to demonstrate against their Yemeni government. Shortly before this outbreak of â€Å"revolution† in Yemen, the people were again humbled by the corrupt government and the proposed constitutional amendment, which would keep the Yemeni leader Saleh for some more years in office. The frustration of the Yemenis erupted finally. As far as we know, the Yemenis always have demonstrated in a peaceful manner against the government and military.The bloodshed started as the clan of Sheikh Ahmar began to act against the Yemeni government to enforce the interests of the clan and this Sheikh. After a longer period of a back and forth and a long stay in Saudi Arabia, Saleh finally agreed to the proposal of the Gulf Cooperation Council and left his post in Yemen. Nobody exactly knows the future of Yemen. What is only certain to say is that the near future won`t be easy for the country and that you are actually able to call Yemen a failed State. Yemen always was a â€Å"forgotten† country and the situation within the country is really getting worse.The Libyan revolution should not necessarily carry this title of a â€Å"revolution†. Viewing at Libya it is indeed clear that foreign countries supported those â€Å"rebels† to overthrow the ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Not to mention the clear statements about the events in Libya by independent journalists like Lizzie Phelan and others. Although both Western countries, France and Italy, extolled the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi until early 2011 and both governments did everything in motion in order to impress the leader in oversee, it was above all France, which quickly forgot about the alliance and any agreements.It seems that the huge fear of an independent and more powerful Africa and a Libya with major projects was behind the intentions of the Europeans and the Americans. Some would al so say that this was behind the intentions of the West to destroy the structure and plans of this country. Not to mention the huge amount of important mineral resources, of course. The armed rioters were celebrated as rebels and supplied with arms and money by the West / NATO. First they helped to pass the Libyan city of Benghazi as a liberated ity to the rebels and afterwards they started a war, based on lies, to determine the fate of the finally murdered Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. After Muammar Gaddafi’s assassination and the capture of his son, Saif al-Islam, it suddenly became very silent about the situation in Libya. It seems that they want to prevent, that the Western population learns something about this false revolution in Libya and above all, they want to create time to bury all corpses of innocent. So that there won`t turn up any unpleasant questions. The truth is sometimes very brutal. Libya is now exploited and finally ruled by al-Qaeda and CIA related people .Also people in Bahrain were at the beginning of this year encouraged by the events in other Arab countries and they went on the streets to protest. The majority Shiite population wanted to achieve more equal rights and above all, that the Bahraini opposition will lose their status as mute puppets in the government. In Bahrain, it was a brutal crackdown of the â€Å"peaceful demonstrations† by the government. And all words, which U. S. President Barrack Obama had about these violence by a regime, was a gentle criticism that the Bahraini ruling family should not act brutally against demonstrators. But this was not enough.The Bahraini ruling family asked for help with the crackdown of protesters and the friendly Saudis delivered tanks and their soldiers to â€Å"bring down† the demonstrations in the neighbouring state. After all, no one really outraged about that and no one spoke about a â€Å"humanitarian intervention† in Bahrain or even in Saudi Arabia. It`s a h ypocritically world, isn`t it? The reporting on the brutal events in Bahrain has been suddenly discontinued. They remained silent. The West and others did not want to risk, that the Bahraini ruling house loses its power. After all, the United States of America own an important military base in Bahrain.Furthermore, they couldn`t risk, that the Shiites in Bahrain are really successful in receiving more power and also co-determination in the country, because this would mean that the Iranian influence is increasing in Bahrain. Nothing, what the West really wants. If there will be a resume about the so-called Arab Spring in these days, it seems that nobody is going to mention Bahrain just as Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait The Saudi king tried to bribe his people with money, to buy it finally. But this strategy has not worked especially in the east of Saudi Arabia, on the border to Bahrain, where many Shiites live.Especially in this region a lot of Shiite people were constantly on the s treets to show their protest. By a new fatwa, which declared such demonstrations against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia as un-Islamic, this known ruling family has created an almost free rein in the suppression of the demonstrations. Of course, such a fatwa is used to ban protests against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia and to justify crackdowns of protests. Also such a fatwa does not seem to be very Islamic finally, but that’s nothing new in Saudi Arabia. The fool’s freedom for the Saudi ruling house is intensified by the looking away of the West.Who wants to lose Saudi Arabia as a partner in these days? After all, there are still many sources of oil which can be exploited. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is a good partner of the West in the fight against Iran – though this country is not necessarily a true friend and ally of the West. Saudi Arabia has a very strong interest to keep the power of Iran limited and to take care with every option that the power of I ran doesn`t increase. After all, it is often about the supremacy of Sunnis and Shiites in the Arab-Islamic world. Saudi Arabia isn’t interested in losing its (religious? power/influence to Iran. At the beginning of this year 2011 there were also demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and the police in Jordan. The people protested for a new government. The Jordanian prime minister was replaced. The frustration of the Jordanian people is still palpable and there, but you do not hear anything any longer about Jordan. They do not want to take the risk to overthrow a Sunni ruler – especially not in a country where the majority of the population is actually Palestinian. It would not be foreseeable, which reaction would be triggered.So while the West deliberately keeps silent about some regions, they are running on full speed when it’s about other countries which are not the â€Å"favourite children† of the United States, other countries and organ izations. One of the best examples is Syria. In Syria, the demonstrations began relatively late and were fuelled from outside. Not to mention the financially and other support for the Syrian opposition groups within and abroad by the United States – this support started already by the Bush administration and is still continued under the administration of Peace Nobel Prize-†owner† Barrack Obama.The demonstrations in Syria began peaceful, although foreigners were smuggled into the country to force violent situations within those protests. The peaceful protests were soon stopped because of this. The arming of several bunches of extremists, Islamists and criminals did the rest. The weapons were smuggled in quantities beyond the borders of the country – even before these demonstrations in Syria have started. A not to be underestimated role in the so-called â€Å"uprisings† in Syria may have played the comeback of an U. S. ambassador to the U. S. embassy ( Damascus) in February this year.Of course, this comeback of a questionable U. S. ambassador to Syria was also helpful with the policy against Syria This â€Å"Syrian unrest† is happening since nine months – although it is said that there is a horrible crackdown of protesters by the Syrian army and security forces. Not to mention that a real â€Å"unrest† looks different to the real events within Syria. But in favour of Western policy it is sure useful to sell these events in Syria to the Western population as a â€Å"peaceful unrest† of â€Å"peaceful demonstrators†, who just want freedom and democracy.The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be overthrown, without any foreseeing of the consequences. It is easy to see these attempts of overthrow the Syrian government and President in connection with the â€Å"Foreign Policy† of America, Israel and probably (mainly? ) AIPAC. It is written on the flags of America to protect Israel, which th e U. S. President Barrack Obama again made clear in the last days. Because of this and the powerful AIPAC lobby within the USA, they have on their agenda to destroy the so-called â€Å"Axis of Evil† – despite the probably consequences.An upcoming President of the United States needs a huge financially base to become president and he also needs the support of such Lobbies and positive opinions about his attitude to Israel. Real independence is sure something different. If you destabilize Syria, an important supply line between Iran and Hezbollah is interrupted. But the West has made up its plan without Syria, which still holds well against all sanctions, propaganda and lies of Western countries, organizations as the NATO and questionable media. But it is in the stars how long Syria will survive this.What is sold as â€Å"Arab Spring† is absolutely a huge lie. A lie, what is becoming increasingly obvious, especially after the Islamists won the non-independent & qu estionable elections in Egypt and Tunisia. A lie, which has the end, that the bloody crackdown on Shiite protesters in Bahrain and the situation and events in countries such as Jordan and Algeria are simply not included in the so-called retrospective analysis. A hypocritically sale of the so-called â€Å"Arab Spring† – a recapitulation, which is more than blind in one eye. A lie by which a war was fought in Libya (and there are still clashes, of course).With tens of thousands of casualties – with a big thanks to NATO and Western interests. Whether one can still speak of a â€Å"spring† is more than questionable. The Arab states became puppets of the West, even more than already in the past. The West has tried to use his influence and how this failed â€Å"Arab spring† will going to end will be sure turn out in future. The West still missed to reach all goals yet, because the government in Syria is still not collapsed and the majority of the Syrian population supports the President Bashar al-Assad and the promised reform process.Also the Iran is far too powerful to attack it, without fearing huge consequences. There still other Arab states where dictators are in power. The West just seems to be blind or is this behaviour a confirmation of the imperialistic lies and propaganda? If you want to sell the so-called â€Å"Arab spring† as a real pro-democracy movement of the Arab youth, then you should not keep simultaneously the dictators of the Gulf States, Jordan, Algeria and Morocco in office and power. The Arab Spring is a farce, which has plunged many countries into chaos.These countries will have to fight with the consequences for the next decades. The problems, why the Arab youth mainly protested on the streets, are still there – everywhere. The acts to solve these problems of the Arab youth and societies are not even started yet if you consider Iraq, which is served as an example of democracy in this region; yo u quickly recognize that this supposed democratic government is much more corrupt than the former dictator. How the Arab population and primarily the Arab youth are going to handle this is unclear.Maybe more â€Å"Arab springs†, maybe more victims and wars. Probably. One is clear – the Arab neighbours have been weakened and this is one of the main goals of Western interests, Imperialism and also of Zionism. It is said a picture explains better than 1000 words, but when picture muddle up with words then the following appears The Nature of the Arab Spring The Arab Spring is the name that has been given to the recent wave of protests and political unrest in the Arab region of the world.This phenomenon began with the Jasmine revolution in December 2010 that overthrew the authoritative Tunisian government and has spread to neighbouring countries including Egypt, Syria and Libya. The Arab Spring has exhibited a common demand for democracy and civil rights from the nations in volved and has already lead to revolutions in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and has caused political changes across many other Arab Countries. Shifting political attitudes and values regarding democracy amongst the Arabs can be seen in the following graphNote the Democracy preference and Reject strong Leader in the Middle-East column. This survey was taken a year before the Arab Spring. The data it shows predicts remarkably well the opinion of the Arab people and was a sign of things to come. The findings have undoubtedly been correlated with the events of 2011. What is ironic is the high preference for democracy in Middle East compared with Eurasia and the fact that Middle East & North Africa region had the lowest democracy index rating (3. 43, 2010) according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2010).This highlights another great disparity between the desire of the people and the reality. Arab Spring and the youth It's often said revolutions eat their young, but rarely has it been such a feast. On the streets of Tunis and across the Middle East, the young revolutionaries have been taken aback. A movement that spread on Face book, Twitter and YouTube is today being run by a generation that lived without computers most of their lives. Now, if the Arab Spring fails to incorporate the younger generation, it could meet the fate that so many revolutions do – leaving out those who first sparked change TunisiaThe democratic process in Tunisia is very encouraging. Regime change took place almost with no victims compared with Egypt, Libya and Syria. The elections brought to government a moderate, enlightened Muslim party, which raised the fears of secularists but is trying by all means to assure its opponents that it is open to sharing power, accepting peaceful transition of power through the election polls and building a civil state. Morocco and Algeria The king of Morocco went far beyond that of Jordan. He does not have to deal with similar delicate internal elements .As a matter of fact, he started a process of internal conciliation several years ago, and trying to preempt a revolution in his country, he allowed a reformed constitution to be legislated in May 2010, and free democratic elections on Nov. 25 of that year. The Islamic movement won the majority as expected, but the change is taking place peacefully though seriously. The change will have an impact on Morocco’s relations with its neighboring Arab countries. A positive improvement in relations with Algeria is developing.If this continues, it will allow for opening the borders between the two countries, which have been closed for 17 years. The Arab Spring is changing the way of thinking among the new regimes. The political climate between Morocco and Algeria will have an impact on resolving the dispute over the Western Sahara. This may allow for the resurrection of the Maghreb Union, which was created in 1989 but crippled as a result of deteriorating relations between Algeria and Morocco. Elections are scheduled in Algeria for 2012, and the regime promises free and democratic elections.If this happens, and it most probably will, it will add a new dimension to the reform movement in North Africa. Syria The Syrian version over the protests is similar to that of the rest of the world in that the larger, general class of the country, in this case the Sunni Muslims, are protesting the rule of the elite sect, the Alawites in Syria – including the current President Bashar al-Assad, due to the apparent disparity between classes. The protests began in mid-March but have escalated as Assad backed down for original promises of peace-talks and reform and has begun to oppose the protests with force.The situation has since escalated as military members, once members of the elite sect, have begun to defect to the protestor's side, putting the country on the brink of civil war. These latest developments in Syria and the rest of the Arab Spring are important because they prove that international accountability can, in fact, produce large-scale change in a country. When enough people or media outlets that carry enough weight get behind even a single person that is willing to stand up to the injustice, enough momentum can be generated to cause institutional change.The average American must care because we are a part of that momentum. If the average citizen lacks care, the media lacks support over certain topics, and international accountability and pressure loses its power. The Arab Spring reminds us that individual people with the courage to generate change have power if a watching world is willing to respond. By staying up to date and active in the discussion of these events, the average American too can have a part in great change for millions around the world. Egypt What where the students’ goals? The Egyptian revolution began on the 25th of January.Tens of thousands of marchers occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest against Preside nt Hosni Mubarak and his government. Egyptians had been growing angrier over a number of issues including government corruption, rising prices, poverty, and social seclusion. The major point leading to the revolution was the overthrowing of the Tunisian government by fellow Arabs. As the demonstrations in Egypt grew more violent, protestors rallied behind a common goal, the complete overthrow of the President Hosni and his government. How did they communicate? The protestors consisted mostly of young â€Å"tech-savvy† Egyptians.On January 28, in an attempt to prevent the protestors from communicating, the Egyptian government shut down internet access and some mobile phone services were shut down in certain areas. This only fuelled public anger with the government demonstrators begin using non-wireless dependent devices to communicate. Through fax machines, land lines, and radio broadcasts, the protestors have been able to still coordinate their movements and get information o ut of the country. What were their activities? Isolated pockets of protest erupted into country wide demonstration on January 28 as thousands protested the government in Tahrir Square.They were met with repressive opposition by police forces (Asser). The government responded to the protests by shutting down all internet providers in order to cut off communication among the protestors. This only fuelled public anger. Protestors turned to land lines connections, fax machines and in some cases dial up connections through foreign nations such as Sweden and France to spread information (Daily Mail Reporter). Quickly, police forces melted away and the army was called in to keep the peace. On February 1st the demonstrations in Tahrir Square had terminated into the â€Å"March of The Million. Looting soon became rampant through the streets and neighbourhoods set up armed night watch groups to protect their homes. The protestors had been relatively non-violent, but on February 2 pro-governm ent demonstrators marched in Tahrir Square to meet the anti-government forces. The Scene soon erupted into violence as both sides began throwing stones and petrol bombs. Since then, the anti-government Forces erected barricades around Tahrir Square and voiced their refusal to leave until President Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down from power (Asser). Were they successful? The Protestors were successful.Under mounting pressures, President Hosni Mubarak resigned from presidency, finally ending his nearly 30 year rule. Power was then given over to the military which began drafting a new government and constitution. What has happened most recently? Since the resignation of President Mubarak, power has been given to the military which has dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. The military said that it would give up control after a parliamentary election in the fall and a referendum was released in March for the public to vote and ratify amendments to a new constitution.Si nce then however, the military has-been blamed for slowing the pace of democratizing the nation and remaining loyal to the core of President Mubarak’s government, leading to fresh protests in the recent months. In august, Hosni Mubarak was brought into court to be tried for the deaths of those who died in the protests. In October, the military released a statement saying that an election would be held for parliament in November followed by a separate election for president. The military also announced they would now retain power even after the elections in order to see the transfer to democracy through.The Parliament will play a subordinate role to the military council for the time being until the new government is fully established and a new constitution is ratified, a process which might last until 2013. At the moment the future of Egypt has promising potential, but is still unclear. What would I have done? I would have joined the protestors in the streets. I love that I li ve in a democracy and if I lived in country like Egypt that limited my rights, I know I would jump at a chance to change things.However, if I heard that looters were out, I think would go home and help be part of a neighbourhood watch to protect my friends and family because I feel that they should come first before government. Libya What were the goals of the students? The major protest credited with starting the revolution was a demonstration held in the city of Benghazi. The protestors were angry over the imprisonment of a human rights activist named Fethi Tarbel. Tarbel openly spoke out against the government, especially in regards to the 1996massacre at Abu Salim prison where more than a 1,000 prisoners were executed.The protestors were met by police forces that used water cannons to break up the crowds and eye witnesses reported that police were driving their cars at high speeds into the crowds. The situation quickly erupted into an anti-Gaddafi protest that spread to neighbou ring towns. Public anger over the nation’s rampant unemployment, poverty, civil rights violations, and lack of free speech fuelled the protests which demanded an end to Gaddafi and his regime. How did they communicate? Revolutionaries had to be careful about communicating online because the government was monitoring sites like face book, twitter and other social networking sites.Some groups adapted and began using Mawada, one of the biggest dating sites in the Middle East, to secretly recruit new members and communicate. They would pose as couples on Mawada and swap coded messages to each other disguised as poetry and love letters. For the most part however, Libyans did not embrace the internet for communication as Egypt and Tunisia did in their revolutions. According to Nasser Wedaddy, a civil rights outreach director for the American Islamic Congress, Libyans were very afraid of the government monitoring the internet.What got information spread around was actually people ou tside of Libya who, free from Libyan jurisdiction, were able to take what photos and videos were uploaded and spread them around the media, creating much of the support for the anti government forces. What were their activities? The protests that began in Benghazi evolved into a revolution and soon rebel forces consisting of civilian recruits and army personal that had defected made the city of Benghazi their base and quickly forced all security forces out of the city.Riots spread to neighbouring cities and rebel forces burned down police stations and seized local radio stations to spread propaganda against the government. Pro Gaddafi forces moved to open war with rebel forces, engaging in ground assaults and bombing raids. Anti-government rebels were forced to retreat from the better armed pro-Gaddafi forces. Due to attacks on civilian targets, the western nations of the world gave their support to the rebel cause and began launching air raids on government strong holds and militar y groups.With military advice and equipment provided by NATO forces, the rebels began slowly advancing on the capital of Tripoli and held the city of Misrata in western Libya which was under heavy siege. After months of little progress, the rebels pushed forward with a new offensive and captured Tripoli. The rebels established the National Transitional Council which was recognized as the new legitimate government of Libya. Rebel forces went on to capture the rest of the loyalist held cities which finally resulted in the death of Gaddafi. Were they successful?The rebel forces were successful. In their last major offensive, which took place from August 13to October 20, they captured the capital city of Tripoli and all other cities still held by loyalist forces and on the 20th of October Gaddafi was finally killed in a rebel attack on his strong hold Role of Women As the world hurries to analyze and understand the events of the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011, numerous factors will be considered, most of them highly relevant and perhaps with more of a demonstrable effect on events than the levels of female subordination.It is for this very reason that it is necessary to conduct research into the effects of female subordination. There has been talk of women’s rights in the context of the uprisings of the different Middle Eastern and North African countries, but there needs to be real, in depth analysis of the relationship between the treatment of women and the changes occurring in societies as a whole. In analysis of the events that occurred in 2011, I expect there will be much made of the nature of the previous regime, the personal styles of each of the dictators, and the economic situations of the countries, including the role of resources.I strongly believe that the factors, as well as the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the threat of terrorism and the presence of oil, are factors that affect women acutely and intensely, and that we can learn more abo ut these different factors by examining them through the lens of the treatment of women. While it is difficult to establish whether it is a case of causation or not, there is a strong correlation between the treatment of women and the repression of society as a whole. Studying the way women are affected in these situations will provide further insight into societies and prospects for the future.I have proposed analysis of specific events with the aim of developing this line of analysis further. I propose examining the relationship between the subordination of women and the level of protest experienced in varying countries knowing that it is possible that it the relationship I have predicted may not be accurate, but secure in the knowledge that it will lead to a better understanding of the factors shaping the situation in the Muslim world and potential developments in the future.It is my hope that this research would contribute not only to the study of women’s rights and the i mportance of gender equality, but also to the field of democratization studies as we observe countries that uphold the rights of women making successful, peaceful transitions to consolidated democracy. The â€Å"Social media revolutions† We have seen so far what the most important phenomena on the Arab Internet were in the years before the revolutions. But when it comes to gathering people, fast-paced communication, and – ultimately – performing a revolution, both blogs and forums are fundamentally flawed.Here comes the unique role of modern â€Å"actual† social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. , with their widespread and mass usage, free access and equal rights. Through social networking sites, a single message – regardless if it is a manifesto, the date, time and place for a gathering or a video showing defenceless citizens killed by the army – can reach thousands of people within minutes, each and every one of them being abl e to express their opinion on the matter, gives a suggestion or share an idea, everybody being able to become an activist and organizer.As far as it is possible – because they are in many cases very intertwined – I'll try to examine separately the role played by the different channels of the social media online ecosystem. Facebook Facebook is, probably, the biggest site on the Internet now – it is almost as frequently visited as Google’s search engine page; as of September 2011, it is confirmed to have as many as 800million accounts (which is more the 1/10 of the entire human population).Naturally, it is the most popular social networking platform in the Middle East and North Africa as well for example, Egypt alone has more than 7 million Facebook subscribers; in Tunisia they form a rough 1/5 of the population of the country, and that ratio is typical for most of the countries, with the exception of Libya, where there are only around 50,000 accounts (this fact can be attributed to the heavy censorship and restrictions by the country's previous regime).This figures are the main reason why Facebook was the most important communication tool in most of the Arab spring revolutions; even though it is impossible to say that the access to the social network per se has become the reason for the revolution, it is completely impossible to tell the story of events preceding and following the iconic January 25th 2011 without accepting the crucial role that Facebook played in them. The driving force of these events is much older, and it was encoded in the very nature of the Egyptian pre-revolution regime and social structure of the country.However, it is safe to say that the revolution itself was sparkled in, and with some reservations, by Facebook. That revolution revolves two â€Å"pages†, one created in protest to the murder of Khalid Said, tortured and killed by Egyptian police for posting materials exposing corrupt officials – â€Å"We are all Khalid Said†, which is English-speaking and for that reason has drawn to itself not only Arabs, but many western supporters of the Egyptian cause, and â€Å"The April 6 youth movement†, which is in Arabic; the second is far older and originally emerged around a protest action in 2008, but kept its popularity.Combined, at the time of the protest, the two major groups consisted of more than half a million people, which grew literally in a few days after they were founded. Basically, there were no events that directly preceded the protest of the 25th; there was just an idea for a peaceful demonstration that circulated through the community pages; the rally itself was simply the act of moving the anti-government protest from the online world to the physical one.That was the very role played by Facebook – it was where the protest brewed, and when it was ready to move on the streets, it managed to gather some 50,000 people on the very first day, due t o the good organization and widespread information on the social network.The follow-up of that event did not differ from any other people's uprising – more and more attended every next protest, clashes with the police and the army occurred, and, ultimately, the Mubarak government was overthrown. The important and new parts here are the methods of organization and spreading of information, which amplified and facilitated the process of overthrowing the regime.Egypt is the most clear example of the use of Facebook during the Arab Spring, it being the place where the ideas and organization grew; in Tunisia, for example, as the first country to start the chain of revolutions, no such simple and differentiated organization existed; of greater importance there was the online presence of the members of an informal group called â€Å"Takriz†, who have been doing their activist work online for the past 10 years, and just embraced Facebook as a new operational space, very useful when it comes to rapidly sharing information and reaching a broad audience.Members of this group even admit that the organizations of football club supporters were equally important to Facebook groups and â€Å"Facebook activism†. The crucial importance of Facebook is very well expressed in the words of one of the members of Takriz: â€Å"Facebook is pretty much the GPS for this revolution. Without the street there's no revolution, but add Facebook to the street and you get real potential. For that reason, when the drastic event which could be used as a pretext for mass protest activity happened – in this case, the self-inflammation of Muhammad Bouazizi – the organization was already laid, the contacts were already built and the signal for the protest was given, they grew extremely fast. Here, if not on the same scale, it served exactly the same role it did in Egypt – a public sphere in which to discuss new ideas and find followers, n organizational net work to coordinate common actions, as well as a source of inspiration, proof that the activist is not alone in his quest. In the Middle Eastern countries in which anti-government protests are now ongoing organization through Facebook is not such a common phenomenon: the only example is Syria, where the biggest protest group (in Arabic) has no less than 320. 000 members, and it is updated hourly with information, pictures and videos from the protests.In Bahrain and Yemen the groups are negligibly small and not much visited; in these cases the fact must be kept in mind that the revolutions here are more isolated and involve much less people than those in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and the use of Facebook is not so widespread, so the need for an online public sphere is not so acute. Twitter Twitter is a completely different social network; where Facebook has complexity and many different ways to communicate and organize, Twitter has only one – simplified messages shared with the entire world, no preferences given.While Facebook can hold an entire manifesto, Twitter is limited by its 140 characters for a single message (called â€Å"tweet†); it has no pictures or video service by its own but is forced to use third-party applications to achieve that functionality. For these reasons, even though it is the second biggest social network in the world, it has only a fraction of Facebook’s user count. The Arab countries make no exception: there are only 5 million Twitter users, and almost half of them are from the UAE that is the primary reason why it was never used as a primary tool for organizing protests or gathering supporters â€Å"in the field†.Yet, Twitter played an equally important role in the uprisings. Due to its simplicity, this network is extremely well-suited to use through smart phones and mobile devices; usually the content of user profiles is updated on hourly, if not minutely basis. For that reason, while Facebook was used in the long-term planning and announcements, Twitter was the â€Å"in-the-field† tool, which allowed fine coordination between the protesters. Furthermore, an even more important role played by Twitter was bringing information on the protests outside the countries where the uprisings took place.One of the first things the regimes did when the revolutions started was to suppress all possible media channels and prevent the proper covering of the events. For example, the reporters and crew of Al-Jazeera, which is deemed to be the biggest, and actually one of the few truly independent broadcasting media in the Arab World, were forbidden to enter the country the moment when the unrests started, and for that reason the television had to rely entirely on a network of â€Å"credible and reliable† people, who had previously assisted the media, tweeting and updating information from the scene of events on minutely basis.Thus, these â€Å"twitters† turned out to be the key so urce of information for the covering of the protests and the development of the events; in Tunisia, for example, reporters of many media were allowed free passage only after president Bin Ali stepped down. Finally, Twitter was also the place where all the supporters of the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the world were exchanging news, opinions and analyses; #Egypt (with reached over a 1 ? million mentions only in the first three months of 2011) was the most used hash tag for 2011, which denotes the events in Egypt as the most discussed topic worldwide.So, Twitter was also the place where the news was spread, and keeps being spread even today. It also served as platform of the liberation campaigns, which were previously carried mainly by blogs – a fresh example comes from October 2011 when Twitter was the main space where the campaign â€Å"Alaa took place†; it called for the liberation of an Egyptian blogger who was â€Å"held for questioning† by the temporary military rule for more than two weeks, but at the end was released under popular pressure. YouTubeThere is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words; if that is true, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. There is a reason why YouTube's own search engine is second only to Google’s in terms of daily searches, and videos can sometimes reach over a few million views in a few days – the so-called â€Å"viral video† phenomenon. Video materials from the period before and during the Arab Spring period make no exception to this rule: they accumulated a lot of attention. Technically, we can separate the videos from the period into two different categories.One is what I would call â€Å"propagandist† videos: usually very graphic videos, depicting actions of the regimes, like torture, murder of civilians, bribery etc. , which were distributed and uploaded by activists aiming to raise awareness of both the Arab public and the world audience about these issues ; an iconic example here is the story of Khalid Said himself ,who was dragged out by the authorities from an Internet cafe, while he was uploading a video showing a government official taking bribe.Often, such videos were driving force powerful enough to organize mass protests, unite and focus the will of the crowds – a good example of that is Syria, where, in the end of May, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing â€Å"The corpse of a 13-year-old boy who appears to have been sexually and physically tortured by Syrian security officials†. On the very next day, mass protests of women and children broke out in the entire country, ultimately leading to a counterattack by the Syrian army, which took 15victims, and thus escalating the conflict.A similar example comes from Tunisia: a video from the days following the beginning of the revolution, showing â€Å"Kasserine's hospital in chaos, desperate attempts to treat the injured, and a horrifying image of a dead you ng man with his brains spilling out, filmed by a medical student working in the hospital. The footage was so graphic that according to a member of Takriz â€Å"That video made the second half of the revolution† Rallying large number of people shocked both by the state of the patients and care offered in the state hospital and the brutality of the government attempts to suppress the protests.The popular videos from Egypt represent the other case, or what I call â€Å"journalistic â€Å"videos: footage from the protest itself, used as a channel of spreading information about the uprisings outside Egypt itself, which have gained relatively big popularity on YouTube; for example, a hobbyist video of the first day of protest has been watched over 600. 000 times, and even simple political analyses of the current situation made inside the country have reached over 300. 000 views.Such videos were also the main source of footage for many media, since those were prohibited from enter ing the â€Å"hot zones† or the countries whatsoever and taking any recordings of the events. That also worked the other way around – YouTube was the only way protesters could access the news coverage and analyses made by various media, which were otherwise banned in their countries, for example Al-Jazeera or BBC Miscellaneous The three websites discussed above are the channels with the biggest significance for the Arab Spring; it is impossible to enumerate all the various sites and connections used during the revolutions.Photographers, both media-employed and hobbyists, shared photos on sites like Flickr and 500px; discussions were carried out on boards like 4chan, and personal communication was carried out via peer-to-peer online services like Skype etc. Conclusion for Social Media While reviewing the role of social media in the Arab Spring, one fact is obvious – it is an over-exaggeration to state that â€Å"the media is the massage†. Regardless of the amplifying effect that social media gave to all that took place, the events were invariably based on a real-world fact which reverberated in the virtual space.Still, there are at least three main functions which social media performed during the Arab revolutions 1. ) Public sphere – it was the place where ideas were discussed, information was spread and through which public awareness was raised in the first place 2. ) Organizational space – it was where the uprisings were planned and an invaluable organizational tool during the protests; 3. ) Information source – it was the only way information could â€Å"leave† the countries and reach the world publicity and conventional media.The significance of social media consolidated by the fear with which they were treated by the pre-revolution regimes. Each of them, at some point, tried to sever the access to such sites, ultimately blocking the entire Internet access or even stopping cell phone service (in the c ase of Egypt). The regimes were afraid of a medium which they could not control, and, in the end, their fear turned out to be well-grounded: the dictators were ousted by the wrath of their peoples, â€Å"amplified through Facebook†.My personal opinion is that the Arab Spring is not going to be the last â€Å"Social network revolution†. There is a good reason why the leading figure of the unrests now taking place in Russia after the parliamentary elections, Alexei Navalny, is a well-known oppositional blogger, and the organization of the protest took place in Facebook; so did that of the currently popular â€Å"Occupy†¦ † movements happening all over the world. Who knows where the opposition is brewing the next uprising in their twitter personal messages†¦ The Ultimate Conclusion The Arab Spring was not a surprise.The surprise was why it took so long to come. Many reasons came together to produce these drastic developments: the refusal of the regimes to accept the principle of the transition of power through elections and their insistence on a monopoly on power, as well as corruption, poverty, unemployment and the marginalization of youth and ethnic groups. The young generation, which represents 70% of the population, was the common element in leading the revolutions in these countries, whereas the aged ruling leaders of these countries belonged to only 7% of the population.And finally, the collective awareness, as witnessed in Tunisia when a young man protested by setting himself on fire and when a youngster died in a police station in Egypt brought masses to the streets. Arab dictatorships ruled with an iron fist and disgraced their own people to the extent that their arrogance went far enough for them to believe that they could pass their reign by inheritance to their sons. Their countries’ resources were exploited as their own and were shared between their family members, relatives and friends, while their people were l eft in poverty and underdevelopment.The U. S. and Europe knew the reality of these regimes, but for their own interests cooperated with them and turned their eyes from their severe violations of human rights and democratic values. The Arab Spring cannot be compared with the European Spring in Eastern European countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eastern Europe’s culture, mentality and proximity to Western European countries enabled a smooth change and transition there, while these elements do not exist in the rebelling Arab countries.We all know the results: Arab dictators in Yemen, Libya and Syria declared, â€Å"It’s either me or to hell with them† and launched a war against their own people. The war in Syria is still on; no one can predict its results, but one thing we can be sure of: The people broke the barrier of fear and came out in a massive protest that will not be turned back. Masses went out to the streets and public squares in a peaceful protest and civil disobedience. But the rulers confronted it with excessive power and violence, which led to a violent reaction from protestors, pushing some of them to seek foreign intervention.No one can predict where these revolutions are heading. They all are speaking about democracy, free elections, dignity, justice, human values, etc. But translating this into reality is another issue. So far, Libya, Yemen and Egypt have proven that this will not be an easy task. The U. S. and Western European countries fear a real change in the rebelling Arab countries which may threaten their interests and concerns, and are trying to contain these revolutions.The fact that these Arab countries control the world’s largest oil reserve, located in a central strategic junction between the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and that any change may threaten the future existence of Israel can explain this. Many fears are expressed now by Arab intellectual circles about the fate of these revolutions which raised so many hopes in the beginning but soon faded as result of bloodshed, destruction and failure to make the transition to democracy smoothly and within a reasonable amount of time. The Arab Spring may not blossom soon.Good governance, transparency, democracy and rule of law have not been realized yet. Hatred and suspicion of the intentions of Western countries is growing. Conspiracy theories have become a fashion. Past experiences with the West and its relations with the former regimes are not forgotten but instead strengthens the fears that what’s going on is a new return of colonialism with new faces and new regimes. The Arab people have tried Western methods and values, and their bitter memories about their past cooperation with the former regimes are still fresh. The U.S. , the supposed leader of democracy, is losing its credibility due its double standard policy— calling for democracy and human rights for one people and denying it to another, by supporting the Israeli occupation and denying the Palestinians’ right to statehood. The recent position in the Security Council against Palestine’s membership in the UN is used as strong evidence of the U. S. ’ biased position against the Palestinians. The Arab revolutions are inspiring revolutions worldwide — even against the corruption and failure of the Western economic system.The double standard policy of the West, together with the failure of the Western system, discourages Arabs from adopting Western values, and has made them focus on the necessity of change. This change, for many people, could be achieved only by adopting the modern pragmatic Islamic approach. The Islamists seem to be the future. Whatever the U. S. or Europe may try to do to hinder this development, it will not succeed. Replacing the dictators of the past with new ones with the blessings of the West will not survive for long. The masses have learned their lesson and wil l not give up until they achieve their rights. S