Guernica and The Death of General Wolfe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Guernica and The Death of General Wolfe - Essay Example The republican Forces which were loyal to the newly elected government, were under the attack from a fascist coup which was led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco (Guernica). Prosperity and stability to the people of Spain was a word of promise by Franco, yet only death and destruction were the subjects of deliverance from his side. Anticipating a bold visual protest to Franco's corruption from Spain's most prominent artisans, colleagues and representatives of the democratic government came to Picasso's place in Paris in order to ask him to paint the mural. Picasso used to avoid politics generally, and used to disdain over political art, though his sympathies clearly fell parallel to the new Republic. The official theme of Paris Exposition is a celebration of the modern technology. The organizers hoped that this vision of a prosperous future will jolt the nations out of the economic depression and social unrest of the thirties (Guernica). With the unfolding of plans, the Aeronautics Pavilion generated huge excitement, featuring the latest technological advances in aircraft design and engineering. As a result, no one would have ever suspected that this dramatic progress would result in such a dire consequence. On the 27th of April, 1937, unprecedented outrageousness was perpetrated on behalf of Franco against the civilian citizenry of a little Basque village in the northern Spain. The hamlet was pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three hours because it was chosen for bombing practice by Hitler's burgeoning war machine. The town people were cut down as they eloped from the crumbling buildings. Guernica burnt for three days consecutively and sixteen hundred civilians were killed and wounded (Guernica). By the 1st of May, the information of the massacre at Guernica reached Paris, where more than a million protestors flooded the streets to voice their atrocities in the largest May Day demonstration the city had ever come across. The reports of all the eye-witnesses filled the front pages of the news papers of Paris, leaving Picasso stunned by the black and white photographs. Picasso was appalled and enraged when he rushed through the crowded streets in his studio, and qu ickly sketched the first images for the mural he called Guernica. This brought an end to his search for an inspiration. From the beginning itself, Picasso chose not to represent the horror in Guernica in realistic or romantic terms. He transferred some key figures such as a woman with outstretched arms, a bull, an agonized horse, which were refined sketch after sketch, and then were brought in to the capacious canvas, which were reworked by him several times. He quoted that, a painting is not thought out and settled in advance, however, whilst it

International Law & Humanitarian Issues Assignment

International Law & Humanitarian Issues - Assignment Example Some of the laws like the Antarctic treaty have so far been abided to by different nations. But the biggest challenge has been turning these international agreements, protocols into legally bidding laws has been difficult (Doyle,  2004). The reason behind the lukewarm reception of these laws if because invasive state of these agreements and approach towards a respectable common heritage. Issues like environmental protection through laws have been approached by conventions or declarations. These conventions have not been effective since they deal with establishment of framework on dealing with many of these pertinent issues. Conventions are not aimed coming up with substantive goals. Therefore, they have not been able to come up with results that could lead to formation of legal agreements. As a result, some countries have been hesitant in agreeing to the convention and protocols (Dunoff,  2010). Question 2 It is a known fact that the world belongs to mankind and it is this reason that the people argue that international laws interfere with. However, it is not right for international law to trump all property claims all over the world. This is because each nation is recognized in International laws on their sovereignty. The UN charter which forms the basis for all international laws respects peace and human rights. Therefore, the right to ownership of property forms part of the human rights. Moreover, the recognition of sovereignty of any state by the UN charter affirms the right to ownership of property by any person (Westra, 2007). It is only in rare cases that the UN charter and international laws trump up ownership of property by individuals or states. Conflicts over ownership of land, islands or territorial boundaries in the sea are resolved by use of international laws. These laws are supposed to protect and restore human rights and therefore these laws should not trump up ownership of land. For instance, the conflict over ownership of Abyei region in Sudan or the Mindanao Islands between Japan and China are being solved using international laws (Martin, 2006). Question 3 The regime of innocent passage tends to benefit countries which use the routes through shallows regions like straits. In most cases it is the coastal nation that tends to benefit from the regime of innocent passage. This is because this state or nation has the right to decide on the issue of regime of innocent passage. While on the other hand nations or people with interests in different sections tend to be harmed from the regime of safe passage (Dunoff,  2010). For instance, the long standing conflict over the Gibraltar islands as clearly shown the benefit of regime of passage to nations where their internal waters are also locations for passage. Nations with commercial or political interests can be harmed by the law of regime passage. For instance, trading or war vessels with intentions of conducting work in regions where other nations determine passage are usually harmed. The UN article 2(4) does apply in the case of regime of passage especially in regions like straits where other nations have jurisdiction other than passage (Westra, 2007). This is because unlike the high seas where sovereignty cannot be applied as is the case of regime of passage. Question 4 The question of who should be vested with governance due to the conflicts and problem facing the world is quite difficult. However, in my view I think that political leaders are best suited for making decisions in consultations with experts. Political