Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Green Party
The German Green Party
History
The
German Green Party is a political party in Germany. The party was established
in Germany on January 13, 1980. The
party is opposition to pollution, use of nuclear power, NATO military action,
and certain aspects of industrialized society were principle campaign issues.
The Green party originated from conservatives and from civil initiatives. Some of the important individuals that helped
launch the Greens were Petra Kelly, Lukas Beckmann, Rudolf Bahro, Joseph Beuys,
Antje Vollmer and several others. This
congress laid their ideological foundations proclaiming the famous Four Pillars
of the Green Party.
Four Pillars
The Four Pillars of the Green Party
are social justice, ecological wisdom, grassroots democracy, and Nonviolence. Social justice is justice exercised within a
society, particularly as it is exercised by and among the various social
classes of that society. Definition from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice).
Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where
as much decision-making authority as practical is shifted to the organization's
lowest geographic level of organization: principle of subsidiarity. Definition
from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots_democracy). Nonviolence has two
(closely related) meanings: (1) It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of
abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle (e.g.
"She believes in nonviolence."), or (2) it can refer to the behavior
of people using nonviolent action. Definition from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolence).
These four aspects create a political party that some individuals can relate
to.
Group Interaction
Our
group interacted well with each other. Our group had one meeting to discuss the
topic but not all of our members made it. We discussed what needed to be
accomplished and did it in a timely manner. I feel everyone in the group did
their part of the project well with no conflict.
My opinion about the Green Party.
I think
that the Green party has its place in government. The party is a conservative
based political group that is for green power. They are for wind and solar
power and that is one of the reasons I believe in this party. They are for
peace and are against nuclear weapons. They are for social just no matter what
type of social class the individual is in. This party is conservative which as
we all know can be good and bad.
URLs
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
A German Culture Blogging Adventure…In Lower Saxony
Its landscape mainly consists of
the North German Plain. There’s also a small amount of highland in the south
and heath, bog land with some forest thrown in there in the north and a small
12 island, island chain called the East Frisian Islands to the northwest
floating in the North Sea. 325 miles of coastline are below sea level protected
by dikes similar to ones in the neighboring Netherlands.
Lower
Saxony’s biggest river is the Weser who runs through most of the lower half of
the state and whose tributaries (the Fulda and the Werra) all flow into the
North Sea. The fertile marshes that come at the mouth of these rivers creates a
wonderful pasture land that supports the flourishing farming economy in the
region. The northeastern area of the state is less fertile as it is mainly the
Lüneburg Heath. The south central part contains two large lakes; Steinhuder and
Dümmer, as well as the Weser, Deister, and Herz mountains.
The climate
in this area is mild winters, moderately warm summers, and steady year round
rainfall.
Population
The population of Lower Saxony is a
little under 8 million people and it has an area of 47,609 square km. The south
central belt holds the highest amount of the population while the northlands
population is much sparser in comparison. The people Lower Saxony
generally consider themselves as Low
German, an ancient Saxon line of origin and the use of Plattdeutsch (a mix of
Dutch, Frisian, and English, very distinct from the more common High German.
Some literature in the area is still printed in Plattdeutsch). Four-fifths of
the state is Protestant with a Roman Catholic minority.
Age structure
- 0–14 years: 13.9% (male 5,894,724/female 5,590,373)
- 15–64 years: 66.3% (male 27,811,357/female 26,790,222)
- 65 years and over: 19.8% (male 6,771,972/female 9,542,348) (2007 est.)
- 0–14 years: 13.7% (male 5,768,366/female 5,470,516)
- 15–64 years: 66.1% (male 27,707,761/female 26,676,759)
- 65 years and over: 20.3% (male 7,004,805/female 9,701,551) (2010 est.)
- At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
- Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
- 15–64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female
- Total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2010 est.)
Economy
Agriculture is a big part of the economy in
Lower Saxony. They grow wheat, potatoes, rye, and oats, the also raise beef,
pork and poultry in this region. Mining has also been an important source of
income for Lower Saxony. The most things mined now is iron and lignite but
silver ore was a big part in the past. Lower Saxony is also an important
supplier of crude oil in Europe.
Manufacturing is also a large part
to the economy with Hannover and Braunschweig being the main base of
diversified industries. The biggest Lower Saxony manufacturer is Volkswagen
having five production plants throughout the state. Chemicals, rubber goods,
dyes and inks, radios, and other electronic equipment are also produced in this
area.
Lower Saxony exports mainly with the United
States. In 2008 they exported 5,297,000,000 Euros worth of products to the
United States. Mainly do to the fact of
the five Volkswagen plants.
A helpful thing to any good
economy is having good transportation. Hannover is the most important road and
railway junction in Northwestern Germany and also has the main airport for the
state.. There is also a line of waterways that have greatly increased movement
in the area helped along by the rivers in the area.
Cities
- Hanover (German:
Hannover) — state capital
- Brunswick — the Lion City and
centre of scientific research
- Cuxhaven — a
popular seaside resort
- Goslar — beautiful
mediaeval town and base for the Harz mountains
- Göttingen
— ancient university town
- Hildesheim
— wonderfully reconstructed old town around the market square
- Lüneburg
— charming historic town and gateway to the Lüneburg
Heath
- Oldenburg —
cultural hub of the Oldenburg region with a beautiful castle park
- Schoeningen
(German: "Schöningen") - mankind's oldest weapons ever found on
earth over 320,000 years old
A Brief
History
Lower Saxony was created by the
British military government merger with the Prussian state of Hanover and the
State joined the Federal Republic with a new constitution on June 1st
1993. Before 1871 Lower Saxony was
comprised of people from the Saxony tribe mainland in the early 1500’s Saxony
was known as the “lower Saxony circle” which survived for several centuries as
a “sub-principality” of the “Brunswick and Luneburg”. It was mainly a medieval town. Before 1918
Lower Saxony was still a part of this until 1919 when Brunswick became a free
state. From this time till 1948 parts Lower Saxony belonged to the Prussian
province of Hesse-Nassau.
Up to this point most of Lower Saxony had been put together with the “Constituency Association of Lower Saxony"
done in 1920. So with the addition of a few more cities in 1947 Lower Saxony as
it is known today was formed.
Theater
There are three state theaters, one in Hannover, one in Brunswick, and one in Oldenburg. There are also two state playhouses as well as numerous independent theaters all over the place. Many of the smaller theaters really like their Low German.
There are three state theaters, one in Hannover, one in Brunswick, and one in Oldenburg. There are also two state playhouses as well as numerous independent theaters all over the place. Many of the smaller theaters really like their Low German.
The programs of these theatres
and playhouses are enriched by a number of outstanding seasonal events - Lower
Saxony's dance and theatre festivals. Among the most important of these are the
Oldenburg Ballet Festival (annual), the Gandersheim Cathedral Festival
(annual), the Tanztheater International (International Dance Theatre) (held
annually), Arena (held biennially, 2011), the festival Theaterformen (Forms of
Theatre) which takes place in alternate years in Hannover und Brunswick, the
Hildesheim Transeuropa Festival (held triennially,2012) and the Oldenburg
Prisma Festival (biennially, 2011).
Heritage
A variety of churches, manors,
gardens, and castles testify to the rich cultural history and how the people of
the past lived. There are 44,000 historical monuments that comprise of 82,000
structures. Including Cathedral and St Michaelis in Hildesheim, the
castles of the Weser Renaissance (such as Hämelschenburg, Bevern and Schwöbber),
the Fagus factory in Alfeld, the Rammelsberg mining museum, the Old Towns of
Lüneburg and Goslar, the Town Halls in Osnabrück and Lüneburg, the Castle of
Celle and two splendid hunting lodges: the Jagdschloss Clemenswerth in Sögel and
Jagdschloss Gödens.
Lower
Saxony also has a large thing for archaeology after the finding of the oldest
recorded spears (400,000 years old). Another find was the battle site between
German tribes and Roman legions in 9 AD.
Linguistic Diversity
Lower Saxony has one of the smallest linguistic areas in Europe called Saterland, they still speak Sater Frisian there which is the third variety of Frisian spoken to be granted official language recognition. Then there is the aforementioned Plattdeutsch, there are 8 million speakers in 8 German states and the highest quantity of them are from Lower Saxony the number coming in around 2 million. There are three varieties of Plattdeutsch present in Lower Saxony; Northern Low German, Easfalian, and Westfalian.
Lower Saxony has one of the smallest linguistic areas in Europe called Saterland, they still speak Sater Frisian there which is the third variety of Frisian spoken to be granted official language recognition. Then there is the aforementioned Plattdeutsch, there are 8 million speakers in 8 German states and the highest quantity of them are from Lower Saxony the number coming in around 2 million. There are three varieties of Plattdeutsch present in Lower Saxony; Northern Low German, Easfalian, and Westfalian.
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/hamburg/554091/pdf/German-American-Partnership-LowerSaxony.pdf 8/30/2012
http://wikitravel.org/en/Lower_Saxony 8/30/2012
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