Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Essay Example It has gained popularity and support from different quotas who believe that the movement has positioned itself ideologically and consistently hence the need for its political recognition. The current membership of FARC is approximately 18,000 members, 30% of the recruits being under the age of eighteen years and surprisingly, the leadership structure is composed of 49% women. This paper will therefore discuss the political and social effects that have so far resulted from the actions of FARC. The social effects are the drug trafficking, displacements, rape, terrorism, hostages, kidnappings, lack of freedom of the press and other issues. It will also look into the political implications the movement has caused Colombia since its inception. It will finally, provide a different point of view of analysts who believe that the movement is necessary to stem out errant political leaders such the Uribe regime and the former and current presidents in Colombia who are so self centered that they have e economically downgraded the country's economy. Between the years of 1930s and 1950s, hundreds of rural based Colombians driven by their communist ideology began organizing themselves into formidable structures of security and cooperation with the aim of responding to the capitalistic expansion of the ruling interests1. They believed that the state had isolated them and therefore they needed to group all the poor members of the society (small land holders, semi-proletarians, rural workers and peasants) and champion for their rights. The group wanted to establish a corrupt free society, stable and based on local control mechanisms. These localized groups continued to expand their bases and by early 1960s, they had over sixteen groups of communities from all areas of southern and central Colombian republic. These communities were very peaceful to the central government, but to some extent, they were considered a threat to national security especially to the ruling class, land owners, the U.S geopolitical interest and the rising urban capitalists. During the Kennedy administration, the central government through its military targeted regions with strong offensive communities After its founding in the mid 1960s, the insurgency expanded in almost all parts of the country especially during the neo-liberal period when economic policies accompanied by increased repression by the state were practiced. FARC has increased its social, paramilitary and economic presence in Colombia sine that time. In fact, by 1999, the insurgent had almost conquered all the regions of the country. A few years later, reports indicated that they had occupied more than 93% of all the Colombian regions. Within the four decades since the inception of the political movement, FARC ha transformed itself from being a mere peasant-landless struggle to a complex national social force that had threatened even the United States. Currently, the movement has increased its membership base to include; intellectuals, the displaced, Afro-Colombians, unionists, urban workforce and almost all the indigenous population. With an extensive

Apple Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Apple Inc - Essay Example The paper outlines the history of the Apple Inc. and describes it. The company operates across the globe through its 317 retail stores established in ten countries of the world. It also runs an online store to sale its hardware and software products to the consumers all over the world. It has surpassed Microsoft and has become the world’s largest and most valuable technology company. The company employs 46,600 people as full time employees whereas 2,800 people work as temporary fulltime for the company in different countries of the world. The annual sales of the company reached the level of $65.23 billion in the financial year 2010 whereas its assets are calculated US$ 75.18 billion. Apple Inc. was established in 1976 in California by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Steve Job and Steve Wozniak have 45percent of the company’s share each whereas the 10% remaining shares are owned by Ronald Wayne. They created the company with the intention of providing inexpensive and simple to use computers to the consumers. Initially the name of the company was Apple Computer, Inc. It operated with this name for thirty years and in 2007 that word computer was excluded from its name in order to reflect the broad variety of consumer electronic products and services being produced by the company other than the computers. Apple introduced its first system in 1976 with the name Apple I that was sold for $666.66 at the local electronics stores followed by Apple II and Mac. The company continues with the production and released of different models.... Apple introduced its first system in 1976 with the name Apple I that was sold for $666.66 at the local electronics stores followed by Apple II and Mac (Kunkel, 2006, p186). The history of Apple is marked with several important developments and decisions that contributed towards the success of the company at international level however, it has been widely regarded that the success of the company was geared up in 1984 with the production and release of its 1984 commercial directed by Ridley Scott. It was aired during the Super Bowl XVIII. It Big Brother that tell the people what to think and chose giving them no freedom of choice whereas Apple stands as the heroine giving freedom and choice of thinking to the customers. The commercial was interpreted differently however, it played vital role in bringing notoriety to the Macintosh line of computers (Jeffrey, 1988, p32). Apple II was released in 1977 that contained several enhanced features like the BASIC programming language, 16-bit pro cessing using the MOS Technology 6502 1 MHz microprocessor. After the first release they continued working to improve the capabilities and functions of their products and several subsequent models of Apple II were released having improved speed and better designed as compared with the original model of Apple II. The company also released the first ever external 5.25† floppy disk controller, read-only memory (ROM)-based Microsoft-based BASIC language program called AppleSoft and first thermal printer, the SilenType. In 1983, Apple released Apple IIe that became the most popular and best-selling of Apple II model. Some of the initial products of Apple Inc. failed to gain the popularity and success among the masses like the first Apple portable and Newton. However,