STEP 1: Find a popular news article from within the past five years that reports on the results of a research study related to lifespan development. This should not be a blog entry, but a published article from a news source such as Time Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek, NPR, CNN, Fox News, etc. A great place to look is the APA’s Psychology news portal. Read through the article and ensure that it is descriptive and sufficiently long enough in order to draw conclusions from the original research mentioned.
STEP 2: Go find the psychological study or studies that are mentioned in the news report. Sometimes those are not freely available online, so you may have to track down the original study through the library’s website or goggle scholar. The study should have been performed within the past five years.
describes the research method, research design, hypothesis, independent and dependent variables (if applicable), and any reliability or validity concerns
The final section of the Capstone Paper must review the challenge and recommend a strategy for addressing the challenge based on research. Along with the strategy, define the potential financial or budgetary impact the strategy might present, including the additional costs that may arise if the problem or issue is not resolved effectively. Describe the metrics that the organization might consider for measuring the outcomes of the strategy utilized to resolve the challenge.
Your paper must be at a minimum of 10 pages in length(excluding the title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style guidelines as outlined in the Writing Center. In addition, you must use at least five scholarly sources to support and defend theories, informational resources to define and describe the organization, and the course text for further support. Remember to incorporate information that you have learned from this course as well as your personal experience. Review feedback received on assignments submitted during Weeks 1, 2, and 3. All revisions, corrections, or recommendations must be included in the final paper.
Freedom of expression (FOE) and freedom of association (FOA) are critical to the sustenance of democracy within a given country. Violation of these two freedoms threatens democracy. Turkey is regularly rebuked and castigated for various human rights violations (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). The country’s authoritarian leadership is well known for censoring and criminalizing speech. This censorship extends beyond the traditional forms of communication to include social media and the internet. Protesting and picketing is a very dangerous endeavor in Turkey, considering the various restrictions placed on the freedom of association. Just to show the scale of the human rights violations in this country, out of the 20,657 judgments passed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), sixteen percent of them list Turkey as the defendant (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). As long as authoritarian leadership continues in Turkey, the numerous violations of the freedoms of expression and association will become a regular feature within the country.
Turkey
Turkey first earned recognition as a country from the international community in 1923. This came after the War of Independence, which lasted from 1919-1923. Mustafa Kemal Pasha led this war and sought to get rid of the terms espoused under the Treaty of Sevres (Dural, 2012). The war was quite intense, but Mustafa’s troops were making incredible progress, considering by the end of 1922 the French, Greek, and Armenian troops within Turkish territory, had been expelled, with the Turkish Provisional Government, situated in Ankara, working towards getting rid of the traditional Ottoman ideals and becoming a republic. Within the same year, the country’s Parliament formally got rid of the Sultanate, putting an end to over six hundred years of Ottoman rule (Dural, 2012).
In 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne replaced the Treaty of Sevres, and as such, officially recognized the sovereignty of the newly created Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal Pasha then became the country’s first president (Dural, 2012). Turkey is a member of the United Nations and joined the organization on June 26, 1945. Even though Turkey had moved from a monarchy to a republic, democratic ideals were still not recognized and adhered to, with the country operating under a single-party government. However, one year after joining the UN, the country had its first multiparty elections. Turkey has had its fair share of military-driven coup d’état in its attempt to embrace multiparty democracy.
The first coup took place in 1960, followed by another one in 1980. Modern-day Turkey straddles between Europe and Asia (Dural, 2012). The current government is under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Even though Istanbul is the country’s largest city, Ankara is its capital city. The fact that approximately eighty percent of the country’s inhabitants are Turkish makes it reasonable that it would recognize Turkish as its official language. However, there are other languages spoken in the country, including; Kurmaji, Zaza, Laz, Kabardian, and Arabic. Like most other countries around the globe, Turkey has numerous ethnic groups living within its territory, such as the Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Albanians, Laz, Circassians, and the Bosniaks (Dural, 2012).
The country has an estimated total population of slightly over eighty-three million people. Turkey rests on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia. Greece and Bulgaria border the country on its northwest side, with Georgia lying on the northeast, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran bordering it to the east, and finally, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. According to a study conducted in 2016 by Ipsos, eighty-two percent of the country’s citizens were Muslims, predominantly the Sunni faction. Thirteen percent were religiously unaffiliated, while the remaining portions were Christians and Jews. Religion, especially its place within public life, has been the source of intense debate, considering it was founded on a secular basis. For quite some time, Muslim women were not allowed to do the hijab when in school or any government building because the hijab got equated to political Islam. However, the government softened this stand and, in 2011, allowed university students to wear the hijab. In 2013 Muslim women were permitted to enter government buildings wearing the hijab. Turkey is one of the countries with the highest adult literacy rate across the world. As of 2011, ninety-four percent of the adults were literate.
The country’s membership in the European Union places it not only under the jurisdiction of the European Union Court of Human Rights but also under the union’s Parliament (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). The European Parliament exercised this jurisdiction on March 13, 2019, when it requested countries within the European Union to suspend any accession talks they may be having with Turkey, in light of the country’s rampant human rights violations. In 2013, the country’s government faced intense protests throughout Turkey, fuelled by the plan to destroy Gezi Park. People were protesting against the replacement of the park with a shopping mall. Even though this was the trigger, the protests soon evolved and begun covering issues centered on violations of the freedoms of expression and association (Cinar & Sirin, 2017).
By September 2013, eight individuals lost their lives, over eight thousand five hundred people suffered various injuries due to violent measures rolled out by the government to shut down the protests (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). Koc Holding is one of the companies that supported the protestors, and as such, gave them sanctuary within their premises. Once the government realized this, they slapped the organization with a tax investigation. The culmination of these widespread protests was the unsuccessful coup d’état of July 15, 2016. Erdogan’s government reacted poorly to this and responded with mass purges characterized by numerous human rights violations (Cinar & Sirin, 2017).
FOE and FOA in Turkey
Freedom of Expression
Like most other countries in Europe, Turkey acceded to a couple of international legal instruments that uphold the freedom of expression (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). On August 15, 2000, Turkey accepted to get bound by the dictates of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; they also did the same thing for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These two legal instruments underscore the importance of signatory countries ensuring that their citizens have the freedom to speak and express their opinions and ideas, as long as doing this does not interfere with another individual’s ability to enjoy their fundamental human rights.
Turkey’s Constitution, under Article 26, accords citizens the freedom of expression (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). Despite the existence of these legal guarantees, Turkish citizens have for a long time suffered due to censorship and criminalization of free speech. Law 765 was the first legal instrument within the country to restrict the freedom of expression. This old penal code remained in force from 1926 until it got replaced by Law 537. Even though the old one got replaced, the new law still maintained some of the restrictions placed on the FOE. Besides Law 537, there are other edicts that do the same thing, such as Law 5816, also known as the offenses against the memory of Ataturk, Press Law, Law on Political Parties, Articles 215, 216, 217 of the Turkish Criminal Code, which criminalizes any offense against public order, and finally the Anti-Terror Law (Cinar & Sirin, 2017).
The country has the highest number of jailed journalists. Almost all these instances of jailed journalists can be attributed to the Anti-Terror Law. The government uses the various provisions outlined in it to label journalists and any other people who speak up as terrorists, arrest them, and then prosecute them. Between 2013 and 2018, over one hundred thousand cases got instituted within Turkey under the auspices of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Freedom of expression is very important, considering it is the lifeblood of genuine Constitutional democracy, helping keep it vibrant, peaceful, and stable. Whenever citizens of a country feel angry or get frustrated at the performance of any institution of a government, this freedom gives them a platform to speak up and let out their frustrations. By doing this, people are able to calm down and, to some extent, even move on with their lives. More importantly, FOE allows for a vigorous exchange of ideas and promotes accountability.
The Turkish government deprives its citizens of this by restricting their freedom of expression. Human Rights organizations and other non-profits dealing with human rights have not remained silent on the FOE violations taking place in Turkey. On July 21, 2020, the Human Rights Association (iHD), in collaboration with the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TiHV) and the Initiative for the Freedom of Expression, released a joint report documenting the rampant violations of the FOE in Turkey. Their report outlines various incidences where people’s freedom of expression was violated, with many victims getting detained and arrested. For example, on July 17 in the town of Dersim, law enforcement authorities violently intervened against a group of protestors after a press statement instigated them to protest against the rampant sexual violence meted out against women (Bianet, 2020). By doing this, the government was restricting the protestors’ ability to freely express their dissatisfaction with the sexual attacks targeting women.
On July 1, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) punished Tele1 Channel with a five-day media blackout. This happened after the government took offense with some sentiments expressed regarding the Directorate of Religious Affairs during a show known as “Karanliktan Aydinliga” (Bianet, 2020). According to a statement by Article 19 and Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, FOE is still under threat in Turkey, with law enforcement authorities using Anti-Terror Laws to detain, arrest, harass journalists, human rights watch groups personnel, political opponents, lawyers, and academicians. (Article 19, 2020). This continues to happen despite the numerous adverse judgments against the Turkish government at the ECtHR, whereby the court pointed out how various laws within the country are continuously used to violate FOE, and as such foster dissent.
Criminal remedies for these violations are almost non-existent in Turkey, considering the slow and inconsistent decision-making by the country’s Constitutional Court (Article 19, 2020). All this can get attributed to the authoritarian government in place. The Executive, under the leadership of Erdogan, has centralized most of the political and constitutional authority, taking away Legislative and Juridical autonomy. As such, courts are increasingly becoming wary of handing out directives that may displease or anger the president, an aspect that makes them ill-equipped to handle FOE violation cases (Article 19, 2020). Political interference is very high within the Turkish Judicial system. Politically motivated prosecutions are quickly becoming the norm, with anybody speaking against the government immediately getting detained, arrested, and prosecuted. According to a report by Amnesty International, the country’s members of Parliament could soon give the government more censorship powers, especially within the digital environment (2020). The MPs are expected to pass a set of laws Amnesty International classifies as “draconian social media laws” that will allow the government to censor online content and even prosecute social media users (Amnesty International, 2020).
Freedom of Association
The same international legal instruments that require the Turkish government to uphold the freedom of expression also place a similar obligation on the government when it comes to the freedom of association (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). Basically, FOA encompasses the freedom people enjoy to organize, form, and participate in groups. This freedom is an integral part of any society, considering it allows people to track the human rights situation within the country. Without this freedom, people would not be allowed to form political parties, trade unions, NGOs, and other associations. The ability and capacity for citizens to come together and unite for a common purpose is critical in the fight against human rights violations (Cinar & Sirin, 2017). For example, when the draconian social media censorship laws in Turkey take effect, people should be allowed to form associations and protest against such a move.
Unfortunately, Turkey is one of the countries that heavily restricts the freedom of association. The country’s Constitution under Article 34 recognizes FOA, and as such, people seeking to come together do not have to inform authorities before they do this (Fontenille, 2019). Despite such an allowance, the Turkish government has over the years disbursed meetings for lack of requisite permission, even though the law allows people to freely associate without having to seek permission. Although the country has a relatively long history of restricting the freedom of association, the situation worsened after the unsuccessful coup d’etat of 2016 (Fontenille, 2019).
According to a report by Amnesty International, Erdogan’s government instituted blanket bans on all assemblies across the country (Amnesty International, 2019). With such a directive in place, law enforcement authorities then began violently breaking up any assembly, arresting and detaining members of human rights watch groups and other associations, intimating they support terrorism. For example, in November 2017, the Ankara governorate imposed a ban on all LGBTIQ events. However, this ban got overturned in May 2019 by a court. In response to this, Middle East Technical University (METU) students organized a pride march within the institution (Amnesty International, 2019). Despite the fact that the ban no longer existed, the university’s management banned the event and called in law enforcement personnel to break up the March. As expected, these officers used unnecessary and excessive force to do this.
In March this year, local authorities in the city of Istanbul banned the International Women’s Day March using tear gas and other violent means to shut down the March (Amnesty International, 2019). Any person from the opposition, be it Kurdish women, mothers, prisoners, or socialists, would more often than not get arrested, with the government pointing to national security and public order offenses. All these actions are geared towards restricting the freedom of association. Even though Turkey ratified ILO Conventions such as Convention 98 that gives workers the right to come together and form unions to advocate for their welfare, the government still finds a way to limit such freedom.
Just as it happens to violations of FOE, the Turkish Judicial system is doing little to elevate the suffering of numerous citizens deprived of their freedom to associate with whomever they please. The government even went ahead and passed a law that would change the landscape and functions of bar associations (Freedom House, 2020). The legal profession in Turkey is one of the remaining politically independent institutions within the country. As such, they provide an independent oversight mechanism, protecting citizens from the excesses of the government. Most legal scholars around the world argue that such a law is an attack on bar-associations freedom of association. The Turkish Parliament passed legislation that altered the structure of these associations.
Initially, lawyers within a province could only be represented by a single bar association (Freedom House, 2020). Such a situation allowed bar associations to gain considerable power and influence not only within their provinces but also nationally. However, the new law seeks to erode such power by allowing multiple bar associations to operate within a single province. The government diluted the power of these associations by artificially creating competition within the Union of Turkish Bar Associations. By eroding their power, the government ensured that members of these associations would not have enough power and influence to challenge the various human rights violations taking place within the country (Freedom House, 2020). Initially, lawyers fighting against the government took comfort in the fact that their bar association would support them, and considering the influence they have, authorities would not mistreat them arbitrarily. However, the new law puts all this at risk, taking away the peoples’ last line of defense against human rights violations.
Conclusion
From the discussion above, it is clear that the Turkish government, under the stewardship of Erdogan, is preventing citizens from enjoying their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of expression and association. Journalists, personnel from human rights watch groups, political opponents, and even individual protestors can no longer feel free to express their opinion or even come together and work towards a common goal. They fear the government will harass them, detain, and prosecute them. The country’s Judiciary should protect them against the arbitrary exercise of power. However, the lack of independence and political influence from the Executive makes it harder to do this. I believe it is high time the international community, more specifically the United Nations and the European Union, plays an active role in helping bring the dire situation in Turkey to an end. Rather than continuously criticizing the country, the EU and the UN should institute more punitive measures to force human rights compliance within the country. Finally, people should work towards strengthening the country’s Judiciary.
Article 19. (2020, March 2). Turkey: Failure to Act on European Court Judgements put Freedom of Expression at Risk. Retrieved from https://www.article19.org/resources/turkey-failure-to-act-on-european-court-judgements-puts-freedom-of-expression-at-risk/
Cinar, OH & Sirin, T. (2017). Turkey’s Human Rights Agenda. Research and Policy on Turkey, 2(2), 133-143.
Dural, B. (2012). The Leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atataturk: Turkish Independence War Introduction. European Journal of Scientific Research, 8(21), 184-200.
Fontenille, M. (2019, June 7). In Turkey, the Right to Freedom of Association and Unionization Remains Under Threat. Equal Times. Retrieved from https://www.equaltimes.org/in-turkey-the-right-to-freedom-of?lang=en#.X8lgSx6Ear_
Khalsa is an order that was established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 during the Baisakhi festival. Khalsa means pure, and the initiation of Sikhs into the order was done in a ceremony that involved taking sweetened water referred to as Amrit. The Sikh men who were initiated into the Khalsa order adopted the name Singh as their surname while women adopted Kaur’s name. The Sikhs who were initiated into the Khalsa were supposed to uphold the highest morality and codes of conduct. Khalsa started with the baptism of five members by Guru in public, which was followed by the initiation of many others in the Khalsa order.
Singh, Nikky-Guninder Kaur. The Birth of the Khalsa: A feminist re-memory of Sikh Identity. SUNY Press, 2005.
Singh explains the origin of the Khalsa that formed the basis of the Sikhism religion. The author also discusses how Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa in 1699 during the Baisakhi festivities by preparing the Amrit and the five men’s baptism to join the family of the Khalsa (Singh xi). The author proceeds to discuss how the Khalsa became an integral part of the Sikh, although it is also a minority proportion of the Sikh who are formally baptized into the Khalsa order. According to the author, all Sikh women and men trace their name, personality, prayers, and religious rites, including what they do and the way they wear to the birth of the Khalsa in 1699. The approach taken by the author of this article, Singh Nikky-Guninder Kaur, is a female perspective (Singh xviii). Singh argues that men have only done the recording of the event of the birth of the Khalsa. As a result, the Sikh Khalsa men are perceived as hypermasculine subjects, while Sikh Khalsa women are perceived as silent and passive objects in the birth of the Khalsa. Additionally, this has led to Sikh women being subjected to a cultural burden that is centuries old. The author also argues that the dramatic Baisakhi event in the birth of the Khalsa does not recognize the role of the Sikh women because the society during the times of Guru Gobind Singh was patriarchal.
McLeod, Hew. “The Five Ks of the Khalsa Sikhs.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 128.2 (2008): 325-331.
In this article, Hew Mcleod discusses how Sikh men are recognizable by their uncut beards and hair and the wearing of turbans. The author also indicates that in the United States and many other countries, the wearing of turbans by Sikh men has made many people brand them as Muslims. As a result, the Sikhs in the United States were more vulnerable even than the Muslims following the 9/11 Twin Towers destruction (McLeod 325). This was after a Sikh man was gunned down for being mistaken to be a Muslim who were associated with the terrorism behind the attack. The author proceeds to provide a description of how the Sikh Khalsa men can be identified by describing how the turbans they wear can be identified. However, it is difficult in most instances to differentiate between Sikh Khalsa women from the Punjabi Hindu women.
Only people who are well informed can recognize the Sikh Khalsa women by associating them with the male Sikh Khalsa. The author of this article explains the origin of the Five Ks in Khalsa or the five Khalsa symbols and how an observer can recognize a Sikh Khalsa since many of those living overseas are no longer wearing turbans and are cutting their beards (McLeod 326). The author indicates that many Sikhs Khalsa do not observe the traditions and the number of Khalsa men who cut their beards and do not wear a turban is larger than those who follow the tradition. According to the author, it has become difficult to recognize a Sikh Khalsa by their appearance since the Five Ks of the Sikh Khalsa established by Guru Gobind Singh concern only the outside appearance (McLeod 328). The author of the article indicates that despite the Five Ks being the major way to identify a Sikh Khalsa, many of the Khalsa do not follow the tradition.
Syan, Hardip Singh. “Debating Revolution: Early eighteenth-century Sikh public philosophy on the formation of the Khalsa.” Modern Asian Studies (2014): 1096-1133.
In this article, Hardip Singh Syan analyzes the public debate that took place among Delhi’s Sikh community after Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa. This debate and its details were expressed in a Sikh text referred to as Sri Gur Sobha written in the early eighteenth century (Syan1096). The text explains the division among Delhi’s Sikhs into anti-Khalsa and pro-Khalsa factions. This division created a conflict that led to the persecution of Delhi’s Khalsa Sikhs. The author examines how the conflict occurred and how it reflects wider socioeconomic and political processes in Sikh society and in early modern India (Syan1097). The author also discusses the establishment of the Khalsa order, whereby the first five members to be initiated into Khalsa had the willingness to sacrifice their lives for Guru Gobind Singh. The author takes the approach of examining how the establishment of the Khalsa order did not only add the rich religious landscape in India but also associated with political ambitions that challenged Mughal’s authority in the Punjab region (Syan1098). According to the author, Khalsa Sikhism was associated with the notions of soldierliness and sovereignty that are clear in the Khalsa’s initiation ceremony. Becoming Khalsa was not a process of merely displaying faith in Guru Gobind Singh by wearing a specific dress code. It was a complex process that required devotion to the Guru in forming a militant organization of righteousness that was added to the religious community (Syan 1104).
Robinson, Catherine Anne. “Raj Karega Khalsa (the Khalsa shall reign): the legacy of Tat Khalsa in portrayals of the Khalsa, the impact on Sikh studies and implications for Sikhism in education.” Religions of South Asia 1.1 (2007): 65-80.
In this article, Catherine Anne Robinson explains how Khalsa tends to be a representation of Sikhism. The author provides an explanation of the origin of the Khalsa and the elements that define true Khalsa. The author also indicates the way Tat Khalsa or true Khalsa has influenced teaching and research in Sikhism by examining the history of Sikh studies (Robinson 65). In the article, Catherine Anne Robinson demonstrates how Khalsa’s current form was shaped through activities that campaigned for true Khalsa in the early twentieth and late nineteenth centuries. According to Robinson, the traditionalist Sikh ideology perceived Sikhism as embedded in Hinduism. Additionally, being a member of the Khalsa order was not a privilege over other allegiances and affiliations as an element of the true Sikh Khalsa (Robinson 68). However, Khalsa has been reformed and has profoundly influenced the Sikh ideology to become a significant differentiating element between Sikhism and Hinduism. This author takes an approach of critical reflection of how Khalsa in Sikhism is represented in education. The author examines the origin of the Khalsa ideology and how it has evolved to become the identity of the Sikhs (Robinson 68). The author provides scholarly views on how the standard version of establishing the Khalsa order is featured in Sikhism.
Pilgrimage, H. A. Y., J. “The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of World Religions.”
In this article, the author explains the topic of Khalsa, whereby it describes Khalsa as the Sikh community in which the members have gone through formal initiation into the Khalsa order (Pilgrimage 176). The author explains the establishment of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in a ceremony that had the intention of turning the Sikhs into a military organization that was willing and ready to defend their faith and identity. The author describes the ceremony of initiating Sikhs into the Khalsa through baptism using sweetened water. The author also indicates how the Khalsa Sikhs were required to adhere to the stipulated code of behavior, including caring for the needy, maintaining marriage vows, and courage in conflict. The author further discusses how Sikh Khalsa men were recognizable in public by not cutting their beards or hair, wearing donning clothes and a steel bracelet on their right wrists, and crying a small dagger (Pilgrimage 176). This author takes the approach of providing a description of how Khalsa Sikhs were not hiding their faith and how they had to learn how to maintain their pride in public. They had to be ready to defend their identity and religion. Men had to adopt the name Singh in their surname, and women adopted the name Kaur.
Comparing the findings of the article, including their approaches
The findings of the five articles analyzed have various similarities despite the scholars using different approaches. In all the articles, the authors have discussed the establishment of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh. All the scholars of the analyzed articles also discuss the initiation of the Sikhs into the Khalsa. The authors also provide a description of the features that make Sikh Khalsa men recognizable in public. However, the article by Hew McLeod indicates that all Sikh Khalsa men do not observe these observable features like not cutting their hair and beards and wearing turbans. The articles have differences in the approaches used by each scholar. The article by Singh Nikky-Guninder Kaur takes a female perspective by arguing how the event that led to the birth of the Khalsa does not recognize the role of the Sikh women because the society was patriarchal (Singh xix). The approach taken by Hew McLeod is also different from the rest because it explains how the majority of Sikh Khalsa men are no longer recognizable by wearing turbans and not cutting their hair because this tradition is not observed by all Sikh Khalsa (McLeod 326). The article by Hardip Singh Syan also takes a different perspective by analyzing the public debate among Delhi’s Sikh community after Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa. This scholar examines how the establishment of the Khalsa order added to the rich religious landscape in India and associated with political ambitions (Robinson 68). The article by Catherine Anne Robinson also takes a different approach to the topic by examining the origin of the Khalsa ideology and how it has evolved to become the true identity of the Sikhs. The article by Pilgrimage provides a summary of the Khalsa order by discussing how formal initiation is carried out and how Sikh Khalsa men are recognizable in public.
Reflection on What I Have Learned About How Each Scholar Approaches the Topic
There are several lessons that can be derived from how the various scholars approach the topic of the Khalsa. Among the lessons that I learned is that despite the approaches taken by the various scholars, the Khalsa is depicted as a principle that forms the basis of the Sikhism religion (Pilgrimage 176). I also learned that despite the scholars taking different approaches on the topic, the process of initiation into the Khalsa order had been described in the same way. I also learned that it is only a minority of the Sikhs who are initiated in the Khalsa despite the Khalsa being an integral part of the Sikhism religion. From the approach taken by Hew McLeod, I learned that it is not all the Khalsa Sikh men and women follow the traditions provided by the Five Ks of the Khalsa (McLeod 329) This is because McLeod indicates that the majority of Sikh Khalsa men living overseas cut their hair and beards and do not wear a turbine. The scholars also indicate that the Khalsa was established as a military organization aimed at ensuring that the Khalsa Sikhs defend their identity and faith.
References
Singh, Nikky-Guninder Kaur. The Birth of the Khalsa: A feminist re-memory of Sikh Identity. SUNY Press, 2005.
McLeod, Hew. “The Five Ks of the Khalsa Sikhs.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 128.2 (2008): 325-331.
Syan, Hardip Singh. “Debating Revolution: Early eighteenth-century Sikh public philosophy on the formation of the Khalsa.” Modern Asian Studies (2014): 1096-1133.
Robinson, Catherine Anne. “Raj Karega Khalsa (the Khalsa shall reign): the legacy of Tat Khalsa in portrayals of the Khalsa, the impact on Sikh studies and implications for Sikhism in education.” Religions of South Asia 1.1 (2007): 65-80.
Pilgrimage, H. A. Y., J. “The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of World Religions.”
“Policing ‘Vancouver’s mental health crisis’: a critical discourse analysis” Article Summary
Summary
Boyd and Kerr (2016) investigated the mental health crisis in Vancouver using the police recorded evidence for five years. The study is based on the fact that the police department encounters mentally ill people more often when undertaking their duties. It is because the system for looking after people with mental health problems in Vancouver became ineffective, thus leaving people with mental health disorders to engage in law violating acts. The body of literature contributing to the completion of the study includes the police reports that can be accessed from the police department of Vancouver. Boyd and Kerr (2016) approached the topic by evaluating the discourses of mental health and dangerousness in the existing mental health system. The thesis statement that guides the reader throughout the study is that police have about mental health can apply in other areas. Therefore, analyzing the police department’s mental health information can assist psychiatrists and policy-makers in their work toward improving the lives of mental health patients.
Supporting Evidence
The first point that supports the thesis is the role of the police department in Vancouver as the only agency with the ability to make claims about the social problem related to mental health issues (Boyd & Kerr, 2016). The study states that one can only understand the real issues encountered in mental health by looking at how the police say about the mentally ill population. It is because when people with mental health disorders do not receive enough treatment, they end up in violent activities that lead them to jail. For example, a person with a personality disorder may become the perpetrator of domestic violence, which calls for police involvement, especially when someone is injured. The police department is also efficient in communicating the data collected in the field. Therefore, one can access records of the entire locality in one police station. Generally, Boyd and Kerr (2016) explain that the police department is the best place to access information related to mental health disorder victims’ social problems.
Another point that supports the thesis statement is the discourses of dangerousness associated with mental illnesses, as presented by the reports retrieved from the police department. All the reports held some negative representation of mental illness, showing how dangerous it can be in society. Some reports used the word danger to refer to the action of mentally ill people. It means that there is no good in mental health problems, especially during a crisis. Boyd and Kerr (2016) explored dangerousness discourse in police reports using two approaches. The first approach is the danger that the mentally ill people may expose themselves. For example, they might have extreme experiences of depression, which can make the victim develop suicidal ideation. The second approach is the danger that victims of mental problems pose to others when they become violent.
To support the above points, Boyd and Kerr (2016) used actual police reports as an example of how mental health disorders are a problem to society. For example, one report stated that most violent crime incidences are a result of mental health problems. This kind of problem is linked to the lack of collaboration between health providers and law enforcers, which means that problems cannot adequately get solved. Within the report, a proposed solution indicated that the institutions that deal with mental health should seek more resources and share information with the police department to avoid increased mental health problem incidences. Through these points, Boyd and Kerr (2016) explain how the police department can provide information to be used in other mental health agencies, as declared in the thesis statement.
Significance/Implications
Boyd and Kerr (2016) explain the article’s significance by acknowledging the importance of police roles when it comes to maintaining the well-being of people who live with mental problems. The reports they give about mental health problems helps to indicate the failure of mental health institutions that are supposed to care for mentally ill people. Also, the police department’s information eliminates any ambiguity that arises when people try to understand how mental health leads to social problems. Besides, the finding can apply to the development of a new policy. Policy-makers depend on what the public refers to as the problem. Therefore, by learning how poorly managed mental health care may lead to problems, policymakers can make informed decisions.
Also, Boyd and Kerr (2016) explain the significance of the findings by indicating its importance in knowing the kind of people who need help in society. Boyd and Kerr (2016) targeted the mentally ill people, but the explanation indicates that mental health patients who cannot access the care are the most vulnerable group in violent crimes. Therefore, the findings give insights on what to do to help the target population.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the thesis statement evolved allowed seeking information about social problems related to mental health patients, and the information can help health providers and policy-makers. The first main point discusses how police agencies provide a reliable source of information about mental health problems at the community level. The second point indicates how dangerous mental health problems can be in society. Therefore, as specified in the thesis statement, the reader can acquire information about mental health issues and the problems that policy-makers and health providers must solve. However, the study should have answered the following question. What instruments that the author used to verify the validity and reliability of the police report?
Reference
Boyd, J., & Kerr, T. (2016). Policing ‘Vancouver’s mental health crisis’: a critical discourse analysis. Critical Public Health, 26(4), 418-433.
Freedom of expression (FOE) and 
Khalsa is an order that was established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 during the Baisakhi festival. Khalsa means pure, and the initiation of Sikhs into the order was done in a ceremony that involved taking sweetened water referred to as Amrit. The Sikh men who were initiated into the Khalsa order adopted the name Singh as their surname while women adopted Kaur’s name. The Sikhs who were initiated into the Khalsa were supposed to uphold the highest morality and codes of conduct. Khalsa started with the baptism of five members by Guru in public, which was followed by the initiation of many others in the Khalsa order.